Closed Everton 1-2 Chelsea

[Jase 43,479]

Believe it or not, this is the first time we have won 3 consecutive away league games in a single season since August-September 2009! We beat Fulham, Sunderland and Stoke then. Now, it's Sunderland, Norwich and Everton.

[TrippingStep 336]

Too bad that Moses goes to afcon.

Hazard was poor today, like he had a poor entrance against Norwich. He had no legs.

I think he should not start this week's matches, to rest him.

Him and Mata should have more rest in the second phase of the competition if we don't want them to be burn out.

Oscar should start in the middle.

[Paul1970 250]

An idiot Everton fan on Twitter with some ******* tweets.

Go and report him.

Connor.....what street corner is your mum working on.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

A great win after a really sloppy start.

We must keep Frank, the board must be crazy to let him go at this time.

As much as I share the sentiment, a lot of whether or not Frank will get a new deal has to do with him. Obviously no one knows what is going on in the negotiations, but unless Frank accepts a HUGE pay cut, then I have to admit that giving him a new deal doesn't make much sense because something like 150k/wk for a player who will most likely miss more than half the games is unrealistic in a business sense.

[ulsterchelsea 3,221]

Great win, possibly the best so far this season. Really tough place to go and proved tricky for us in the past plus we needed to win to overhaul the yids and stay close to the mancs. The win was all the better seeing as we started so poorly and everton looked well up for it and also because the main man super frank got the 2 goals. All in all (and with qphar getting beaten) good day. Bring on the scum on Wednesday. Super frank motm, ktbffh

[Milan 17,957]

I went through the live match chat and what a frustrating read at the beginning! Looking forward to MOTD or some extended highlights.

Just two questions - any extended highlights?

And at the end, you were very frustrated by Torres. Did he miss a sitter or what happened?

[Sheva. 5,373]

I went through the live match chat and what a frustrating read at the beginning! Looking forward to MOTD or some extended highlights.

Just two questions - any extended highlights?

And at the end, you were very frustrated by Torres. Did he miss a sitter or what happened?

Counter attack, Oscar played a good ball to him and he couldn't even get a shot off. Typical.

[rafafan 10]

Wow, cannot believe some of the comments here !!

Cech made 2 saves, turnbull 1, header against the bar, and free kick onto a post, from an everton team probably played there best game of the season, but then Chelsea had chances too, like mata first half, cole first half just missing the cross by inches, torress could have had a hatrick second half, mata could have scored, Oscar as well.

Considering Everton scored after 60 seconds they were bound to be super confident for first 20 minutes, but your team played there way back in then started controling it, you are also the first to beat them at goodison this season, and first win against everton in 8 games.

Not even going to get involved in the match details, but just make a small point in saying that if you had that kind of durability defensively, the tactical discipline, the pressing, the speed of counter attacks, then you would still be in the champions league ! these kind of tactics and win like that today takes 4-6 months on the training pitch not 5 weeks !!!

[Jase 43,479]

Coming from behind to end Everton's unbeaten home record this season and win at one of the toughest grounds in England. Can't ask for more really. The players showed great character and resilience to stay in the game and take our chances when it came. Yes, we had a little bit of luck but given that some other teams have enjoyed loads of them already this season while we have to endure some misfortunes ourselves, we probably do deserve a bit of it.

The 3 points gained today is certainly valuable given we last won there in 2008 and the fact that Man United and Tottenham have lost at Goodison this season while Arsenal drew. Heck! Even Liverpool drew the game after going 2-0 up. Coupled with the win at Norwich, the ground where Man United and Arsenal lost too this season, gaining 6 points over this Christmas period have been great!

[DYC. 7,542]

Counter attack, Oscar played a good ball to him and he couldn't even get a shot off. Typical.

Tbf to Torres in this case, that really was a excellent tackle from Distin.

[Styles 9,790]

This is the kind of win that wins you Championships. Just an utter shame about the annual November collapse otherwise we'd be right up there.

Torres was Torres but hopefully Ba will put him out of his misery soon.

[cousin benson 76]

>>OK so Manure's upcoming fixtures are;

Wigan. Away. Wigan have lost 4 out of their last 6 games, so expecting United to win this one. However Wigan did beat them last time at home in April.

.

Liverpool. Home. Hard to call, a draw is possible.

Tottenham. Away. Now I'm expecting Spurs to win this one as they're playing well.

So possible/hopefully United can lose 5 points in next 3 games

>>And City's are;

Stoke. Home. Stoke haven't lost in their last 6 games, so a draw is possible,

Le Arsenal. Away. I think the home side can win this one, if not then a draw is possible,

Fulham. Home. City win,

So possible 5 point loss for City in next 3 games

Chelsea can catch up here if we win are next 3 games [hard but being optimistic]

[kellzfresh 7,229]

Rafa prepared the team for an intense high-pressing Everton who would fight for every ball and second ball especially in the opening 15 minutes.

But despite the preparation we showed our fundamental weakness as a team - disarray and slight panic when under high speed attack. Our playmakers were too slow in their first touch and too slow and rushed in releasing the ball and they gave it away almost every time for the first 24 minutes.

Hazard does not convince when he is under pressure and has no space. His bad pass led to the first goal. Mata looked like he had not adjusted to the speed of English football for the first 25 minutes.

There was also too may wild clearances and aimless long balls and the team was spread out and not compact enough. They lost touch with each other and Torres was isolated for most of the first half. This is the exact opposite to the way Rafa likes his teams to play so I put it down to the player's weak mentality under pressure.

Rafa was able to get them focused and organised at half-time. But you could see the fatigue in Chelsea legs. Eventually, as expected, Everton lost energy and Chelsea became more comfortable but still not safe.

Moses instead of Hazard was an improvement and while I did not want Oscar to start because he has also been slow and wasteful lately I thought bringing him on towards the end was a great move. He was under instruction to hold the ball and run down the clock - you would think he rest of the team would have figured that out when they were in the lead, but they didn't. Oscar did it very well and posed a threat on the counter.

Lampard scores so many by just being in the six yard box - I'd like to see Torres do more of that. Another, deserved win for the team coming after a grueling four weeks - great credit to Rafa. Lampard, Luiz (who never stopped trying even when he made mistakes)

But worries about Chelsea central defence and how easily Cole gets rounded and caught out of position.

Fantastic post, shows u watched the match properly

[Jase 43,479]

Tbf to Torres in this case, that really was a excellent tackle from Distin.

Given what happened, yes, it was good tackle but from our perspective, the reason why Distin got the tackle in was because Torres ran too close to Distin. Torres did not run wider and create that space between himself and Distin. Had he done so, the ball would have been played perfectly to Torres's path, taking Distin out of the picture and he would have scored. Distin then wouldn't be able to put that tackle in!

If that was the chance to win the game 2-1 OR had Everton equalized, would you really be saying it's an excellent tackle from Distin? I don't think so. The old Torres would have ran wider or heck, any striker would have done that. It's a basic and common thing!

[Styles 9,790]

This win gives me hope for Stoke away in a few weeks. Stoke work as hard as Everton but have far less quality.

[Jase 43,479]

This win gives me hope for Stoke away in a few weeks. Stoke work as hard as Everton but have far less quality.

Still need to find a way to cope with their physical and aerial threat. Suffered that against West Ham and then Everton today.

[DYC. 7,542]

Given what happened, yes, it was good tackle but from our perspective, the reason why Distin got the tackle in was because Torres ran too close to Distin. Torres did not run wider and create that space between himself and Distin. Had he done so, the ball would have been played perfectly to Torres's path, taking Distin out of the picture and he would have scored. Distin then wouldn't be able to put that tackle in!

If that was the chance to win the game 2-1 OR had Everton equalized, would you really be saying it's an excellent tackle from Distin? I don't think so. The old Torres would have ran wider or heck, any striker would have done that. It's a basic and common thing!

But that's because I pretty much never expect to control the ball perfectly with his first touch. You know this every time he steps on the pitch. He used to have his pace to camouflage his average touch. Players like Van Persie and Berbatov would've burried that.

And rememeber, I didn't say there was nothing Torres could do about it but it really was a excellent challenge. Not many defenders have the guts to go in like that inside the penalty area. If he was a second too late, it would have been a penalty.

What does slightly annoy me though is the fact that Torres is expected to score any clear cut chance/opportunity he gets. Impossible of course. That's why Torres and Chelsea will never work. And no I'm not implying Torres failing here is not his own fault.

[Styles 9,790]

Still need to find a way to cope with their physical and aerial threat. Suffered that against West Ham and then Everton today.

Agree, our problem today was the second ball. Once we started winning more those we got our way back into the game.

[Milan 17,957]

[Jase 43,479]

But that's because I pretty much never expect to control the ball perfectly with his first touch. You know this every time he steps on the pitch. He used to have his pace to camouflage his average touch. Players like Van Persie and Berbatov would've burried that.

Yes but had Torres run wider, the ball would have played in nicely which will likely result in him being 1-on-1 against Howard and he would probably score with his first touch on the ball.