Closed Brentford 2-2 Chelsea

[Jase 43,479]

You selected Mata ahead of Oscar by mistake BluesMaster. There is no option to vote for Oscar who IMO was MOTM. But I will click Mata for the starting 11, assuming you will change his name around with Oscar

Oops. Thanks for pointing that out.

Might want to re-vote again since others have voted previously. Sorry.

[The only place to be 11,313]

So relieved, we're not the only team to struggle against lower league teams.

Arsenal have drawn at Bradford and Leyton Orient, Man Utd drew at home to Exeter and away at Burton Albion. Tottenham drew aty Crawly last season, Villa have messed up this season against Bradford and Millwall in the space of a week. Us and Liverpool both got knocked out by Barnsley... remember us against Wycombe too. It happens.

I have to give our boys a bit of credit, it was very tough to play on that pitch and we did show a bit of courage to come back.

We will finish the job at home. We scored 2 wonderful goals too. Their pen was a blatant dive and our pen was blatant to me but maybe that's me being biased.

I just admit i'm pretty happy to get away with a replay there.

Sorry, everyone knows that you can get the odd cup upset here and there but we were outplayed for 45 minutes by a League One team. Our team struggled to do the absolute basics on what was admittedly a shit pitch, but that's really no excuse.

No-one in this thread seems to want to say what was blindingly obvious - Frank Lampard and John Terry had varying degrees of bad game. Now I'm sure they'll be plenty of people who will pipe up with names of other players who had bad games, or managers who were shit and that's fair.

But these two players, two cornerstones of this team for about a decade now, had not just bad games but toothless, gutless games (Frank in particular). This season is a watershed for this club, and it's fucking sad to see.

[DONI. 1,291]

Missed this geezer.

His passion <3

[Bosnian Blue 2,471]

The first 45 minutes were so woeful that I couldnt watch the second half. No, I did not want to.

[chrismada9 1,948]

I'll just say this, if we don't sign at least a midfielder and a striker before the January transfer window closes, I will demand the board (Gourlay, Buck) to be removed from the club!

Nobody understands how to run Chelsea at the moment! Even Roman has made shocking and clueless decisions!!

[Amblève. 4,995]

I'm gonna boycott today's MOTM voting. None of the players deserves my vote.

[nullabletype 987]

The only thing more boring than our woeful performances is reading sarcastic posts from mugs who still manage to whinge about Torres when he scores an equalizer and keeps us from tumbling out of the F.A. Cup at the hands of League One opponents. Nobody asks you to like him, but in a game where virtually every player was garbage, he at least produced something to keep us in it. Credit where credit is due.

Thought Ba done well to get the ball to Torres, and Oscar's goal was brilliant. A terrible performance overall, though I should expect us to water them at the Bridge.

[skeeo 37]

thought Marin was excellent

[The only place to be 11,313]

The only thing more boring than our woeful performances is reading sarcastic posts from mugs who still manage to whinge about Torres when he scores an equalizer and keeps us from tumbling out of the F.A. Cup at the hands of League One opponents. Nobody asks you to like him, but in a game where virtually every player was garbage, he at least produced something to keep us in it. Credit where credit is due.

Thought Ba done well to get the ball to Torres, and Oscar's goal was brilliant. A terrible performance overall, though I should expect us to water them at the Bridge.

Did you actually watch the game? He was garbage for 80 minutes and then he scored. You can understand how people feel when they've been slapped in the face for two years by this cunt can't you?

[Sheva. 5,373]

Did you actually watch the game? He was garbage for 80 minutes and then he scored. You can understand how people feel when they've been slapped in the face for two years by this cunt can't you?

I have been criticizing Torres forever, and i still think we should sign a striker this window etc but regardless of performance he stepped up late in the game and kept us in the Fa cup. Fair play to him, nothing more than that.

[The Mak 4,459]

thought Marin was excellent

...for Brentford.

[Irakozium257 350]

I dread to think how the rest of this season is gonna shape up if we don't buy new players, we're stuck with that clueless piece of shit of a manager , a thin squad, only one creative player who gives you optimism. Before Mata came, I realized how clueless and useless some players are, Torres and Ramires (offensively) especially, Marin really couldn't do much, but I remember him tracking back and showing spirit. That referee was the worst I've seen since that Clattenburg vermin, and him denying us a stonewall penalty when we're drawing in the last minutes with a risk of a replay makes me wanna crush his head with my feet, if you've seen the movie Drive, you'll know what I'm talking about.

[Dogz 2]

Sunday afternoon..... i know its Sunday because i was watching Antiques Roadshow.....i think it was being broadcast from Syon House, West London or very near there....anyway you never guess what was on show....

A goal scored by Fernando Torres !

Now thats a real rarity and was valued as priceless, though some say they're valued at approximately £1,000,000. each nowadays.

This goal was a particularly good one and manufactured just in the nick of time, before they shut shop. Looks like the new craftsman D Ba might have had a hand in it !

[Sheva. 5,373]

Why was Ba tactically put on the wing? I know he drifted towards the centre but why can't both strikers be played up top together, one behind the other rather than always putting one of them on the wing?

I really do not understand this. AVB did the same and so did RDM. You can also count Carlo for playing Anelka out wide but at least that worked lol.

Whenever we need a goal, our managers for some reason decide to send one out to play on the wings, baffling.

[Ollie 4,400]

I'm a bit worried about Bertrand too, he's a LB and only a LB. Just because he is left footed doesn't mean he can play as a LW, he was so poor today and always has been there. it's better playing Cole ahead of Bertrand in my honest opinion. Marin.. well i can't moan at him, i've played football on pitches like that and for players like Ramires, Oscar, Mata and Marin and some extent Torres, who like to dribble and run with the ball, it's not easy at all.

In games like this you have the play the good old fashioned English way and fight fire with fire. I was mostly concerned about how bad the back 4 were, they are players who have played on pitches like this many times but today they struggled big time.

Good sign though to start with 6 English players.

You gotta take the positives, we were resilient on a shit pitch in a proper FA Cup game, we scored 2 great goals and we're still in the cup. It was never gonna be pretty.

[nullabletype 987]

Did you actually watch the game? He was garbage for 80 minutes and then he scored. You can understand how people feel when they've been slapped in the face for two years by this cunt can't you?

I agree he was rubbish for most of the game, but wasn't everybody bar Oscar and Mata?

So why then, when he scores and keeps us in it, do we need to read post after post of people crying about him? Nobody is asking you to like him, nobody wants you to buy his merchandise, and nobody is asking you to forgive his performances of the last two years. But he did score today, and like it or not, he did keep us in it. And petulant moaning wont change the fact that today, if it wasn't for his goal, we'd be dumped out on our holes.

So how about we bash everybody who was crap today. And not dwell on the guy who regardless of normal form, actually managed to save us for a change.

[TorontoChelsea 4,064]

I also blame some of this on fatigue. In the last 6 weeks, we've played 13 games. Cole has 11 starts and 1 sub, Mata has 11 starts and 2 sub appearances. Lampard has 10 starts 3 subs. Ramires has 9 starts, 2 subs. Etc...It was obvious that we needed more depth in central midfield going into the year and instead, the team loaned out Essien and sold Meireles and didn't buy a replacement. That Cole and Lampard who are both over 30 are playing twice a week over such a long stretch, is ridiculous. I don't like Rafa and want him gone but he's right that a squad of this little depth can't compete.

[Jase 43,479]

I really do not understand this. AVB did the same and so did RDM. You can also count Carlo for playing Anelka out wide but at least that worked lol.

Whenever we need a goal, our managers for some reason decide to send one out to play on the wings, baffling.

It worked for Anelka because he can play in that position. The others can't but the managers want to play them and not adaptable enough with their tactics that they decide to just stick at whichever position possible.