Closed Chelsea 0-2 Swansea

[Shogun 721]

I've only read like two pages of this thread but I'll try give a take on my neutral view on this match.

Dominated the game but was incredibly wasteful, you must have had about 20 shots in that match and over half of them were off target. Regardless of how useless Torres was, he wasn't to blame for all those opportunities that couldn't even hit the target.

Mata should have put you ahead when he was 1 on 1 in the penalty area and just hit at Tremmel but then again the way he has played this season I suppose you can't expect him to come up with the goods every single time.

Ivanovic was desperately unlucky with the first goal, in most games if that mistake is made ten 9 times out of ten it will come to nothing but Michu produced a bit of magic and Turnbull was a little bit too far off his line for me. The second was just dreadful.

On the penalty appeal that Ba was booked for diving, I have the same opinion as Chris Coleman and Dennis Wise in the studio. For me it's not a penalty and not a dive. The ball is going out for a goal kick even if Ba doesn't clash with the keeper, also the keeper is already past Ba and in my view Ba ran into his legs more than anything. The problem with this is that referees seem to think it HAS to be a dive or penalty when it doesn't.

Offside goal was unlucky but I don't think you can attach too much blame to the linesman. Ba's shin is probably the only offside bit of his body and within a split second he probably looked well offside to the linesman. He was like 1/10 offside but I'd be annoyed if that was given against Everton.

Ba looked very good when he came on, Hazard ran the show for parts but for Irony I put Ivanovic man of the match.

[super_frank8 186]

I hope rafa is just saying that he didn't think ba was any better than torres in his short time on the pitch to keep the peace as if he actually believes that then he is either a) delusional

worst manager ever

C) torres fan boy

D) roman has told him you can't touch torres.

The correct answer is:

E) All of the above

[DJames 729]

We played "good" football today too bad we could not play good football and convert those chances into goals. Luiz, Hazard, Azipilcueta were all hard working and tried to change the way the match was going for us too bad they were unsuccessful. I like Ivanovic, he's usually solid and trustworthy but he was terrible today and those two goals he gave away were very unfortunate. Hope he improves by next match. Hopefully we will do better in the 2nd leg!

[GodZola 630]

Teams are able to plan against redundant rafa tactics. Curious, does anyone think rafadyce can get a result vs le arse? Just for the record, RDM was able to goto Emirates twice & come away unbeaten both times. Sorry, telly tubby is not better than RDM. People might say he is, but look at the current results. I don't see a clear edge for telly tubby. If you do, please educate me so I might be tempted to jump on this ship of fools.

Think my post clearly outlines were I stand, I have always been open minded to new managers as we have had so many & I am not judgmental this especially with Benitez in mind but I have seen enough to know he isn't 'our man' & will be stunned if he is still here come August, then again I didn't think RDM was either but didn't agree with his sacking.

[JLC 13]

Ok crosses started working when BA came on?

There's no scientific explanation needed, BA plays in the box and attacks the ball - hence creating more chances than Torres

Torres is the weak link up front...

And I'm not saying that he isn't. But please give me one example of a cross in the box that he even had a chance on. Every cross was over his head or no where near his position in the box.

[JLC 13]

Errrrm, im sure you didnt miss torres playing hide and seek, and touching the ball only 19 times in 81minutes. Today was a true definition of playing with 10men.

What a stupid and pointless argument considering I said Torres was hidden..

[GodZola 630]

I think everyone saw that torres was shit vs Leeds except a minority. And some people will say about his goals this season and whilst some have been quite spectacular the majority are tap ins and are unimportant or came with a bad performance. He still can't score a 1 on 1 and seems to get lost for 75 Mins on the pitch. And on the rafa front... The blame comes to him on how late he made the changes not the team setup. I would have played torres before giving ba a run of games starting with Stoke and we dominated throughout... I can't remember them having a good chance that wasn't an Ivan present... If he puts ba on at half time or even 60 Mins I am confident we don't have a 2 goal deficit going into the second leg. We saw what he could do in 10 Mins.

Think you missed my point, Torres was worse against Leeds than tonight but gets more flak than ivanovich who prob has cost us the tie.

As for the game you say you would play Torres but state earlier that he 'gets lost for 75 minutes'?! This is a semi final at home, we needed to make a statement, play a centre forward that has movement that brings others in to play & you think Oscar playing right wing was correct? The set up was to a better word - hopeless, its been the same against 2 other London sides at home were we again failed to score? It's not rocket science, you know a side is going to put all 10 men behind the ball so you don't start with 5 defenders, you play 3 at the back & even then they ain't marking no one, you then play a more attack minded set up were you have more players in & around their penalty box perhaps starting with 2 up top & with lamps - he gets goals.

The facts are we lost, created a few chances but on the whole not a great deal but it could of been so different if he would of gone for a more attacking line up & made changes at half time.........

[kellzfresh 7,229]

I simply find it funny more people are bashing Torres than Ivanovic. But that's how things go. Torres was hidden most of the game, however, I don't really think he was played a ball that he could do anything with for most part of the game. Ba came on and that's when the crosses started working. I want Ba to start, but I really don't think Torres deserves the amount of criticism he has been getting when he was never played a threatening ball and he was in perfect position to score at one point bot azpi played an awful cross in. Ivanovic was terrible this game. Two LOUSY mistakes that cost us the game. Take this with a grain of salt as I am just not a Luiz fan but I think he was sub par, his passes were off for most of the game. Hazard played well, Mata couldn't finish. I thought Oscar was more efficient today than he has been for most of the most recent matches. Ramires was brutal imo. Ba had to very good chances, wish he could've scored them. That's my personal assessment of the game.

He was hiding behind the defender dats why he didnt get any ball

[Sheva. 5,373]

What the fuck is up with us having managers that can't make right substitutions? seems to be a regular occurrence the past few years.

[bababoom 4,478]

They have to be related. There's no other explanation. Loyalty to a fellow Spaniard isn't enough to explain how far Balague will go to defend Benitez.

They're friends, plus he does overrate Spanish players and the La Liga.. so this doesn't surprise me.

[bababoom 4,478]

Torres was not that bad today. Mata lost two incredible chances, and Ivanovic was terrible. Torres has nothing to do with the result.

Oh Fuck off, alright that's a tad harsh...

But come on, first you were saying Luiz hasn't made a mistake since coming here (something along those lines) and now this, he only had two shots on target and 16 touches of the ball, at least Mata was trying to get into the box and score.

[Rmpr 8,977]

What the fuck is up with us having managers that can't make right substitutions? seems to be a regular occurrence the past few years.

You criticized Benitez?

[francozola 2,040]

Well we need to sign another striker, because Ba is great but he can't play every game and this other striker that we have is absolutely useless and cannot be relied upon at all. About 10 mins before he was subbed off, Azpi (I think) whipped a cross in -- one of those dangerous between-the-CBs-and-goalkeeper types -- and the only player who was running into the box to try and basically score a tap in was Mata. And that just fucking sums Torres up doesn't it? If Ba was on the pitch then it would have been 1-1.

A few minutes later I think it was Azpi again who crossed and he chose to cross it deeper to some other player and Torres was in his usual stance of 1) stop suddenly 2) stare at the team-mate who crossed/passed 3) hang arms slightly forward to show displeasure. You fucking tit there is a reason why they don't pass it to you: they don't fucking trust you. I can't imagine what must go through some of our other players heads when they're playing with him.

[Sheva. 5,373]

You criticized Benitez?

Lol, I'm willing to give any manager a chance, but will also admit when they fuck up.

[Rmpr 8,977]

Lol, I'm willing to give any manager a chance, but will also admit when they fuck up.

Benitez did the same mistakes he did against Corinthians, we all saw we were losing control of the game and he waited and waited.

Just like if Moses or Cahill had scored in Japan things would have been different, if Mata and Ramires and Luiz had scored today we would have won. However, is not every time everything works out and a manager's job is to make changes so the team gets back on track.

For me, this was similar to what happened in QPR as well...

[Sheva. 5,373]

Benitez did the same mistakes he did against Corinthians, we all saw we were losing control of the game and he waited and waited.

Just like if Moses or Cahill had scored in Japan things would have been different, if Mata and Ramires and Mata had scored today we would have won. However, is not every time that everything works out and a manager's job is to make changes so the team gets back on track.

For me, this was similar to what happened in QPR as well...

He brought on Hazard earlier against QPR, but delayed the Mata substitution.

But the one today was inexcusable for me. We needed a goal, our #9 is playing badly as usual but this time around we have the leagues 3rd highest scorer on the bench and he somehow doesn't fucking bring him on till the 82nd minute? total pisstake, i wanted to punch my screen.

[Spike 12,049]

This club is an enigma.

[communicate 2,703]

Benitez did the same mistakes he did against Corinthians, we all saw we were losing control of the game and he waited and waited.

Just like if Moses or Cahill had scored in Japan things would have been different, if Mata and Ramires and Mata had scored today we would have won. However, is not every time that everything works out and a manager's job is to make changes so the team gets back on track.

For me, this was similar to what happened in QPR as well...

I really don't understand why. I mean both times we were losing 1-0, I probably can understand if it was still 0-0.