Closed Sparta Prague 0-1 Chelsea

[nullabletype 987]

Rafa is such a monumental ballbag. I'm at a loss as to why he keeps putting Benayoun out there.

[kellzfresh 7,229]

Rafa is such a monumental ballbag. I'm at a loss as to why he keeps putting Benayoun out there.

Liverpool connection?

[Rupert 130]

Liverpool connection?

Some Chelsea supporters are unbelievably ignorant in their blind prejudice. Benayoun was sold by Rafa from LFC to Chelsea. He was the only LFC player to stab Rafa in the back publicly after he left even though Rafa had brought him to LFC and given him the best few seasons of his life. Benayon was influential and scored some important goals late in games for LFC. The fact that Rafa doesn't hold his treachery against him says a lot for Rafa. But frankly, I believe he plays him now only because he is a short of experienced players with bottle and to save the legs of the rest of the squad. Benayon will be moved on in the summer.

[AndersonBLUE 819]

Most boring an uninspired game I have seen in a long time... Hope I never have to sit through a game like that ever again, that was not a 3rd place PL team out there today.

[karaclouds 47]

With Rafa in charge, Chelsea may not finish in the top 4 this season. I don't get why he keeps starting Torres and then makes up an excuse about how Torres isn't 100% fit but he's playing well for the team..

The match was a disgrace, the amount of attacking talent (minus the Spanish flop) we have, we should of won the game by 2 or 3 goals...

On top of that, the fact that Chelsea TV keep saying that 'he is doing really well in training' are just excuses that we've all gone past the point of being tired at!

On the match - I thought Marin played okay, Oscar's goal was good, and once again the moaner was having a 'good' game by Rafa's standards. I wonder if Roman notices all the resentment the fans are growing/grown towards Torres?

[Alabama 1,992]

i cant c chelsea goin far in this tornament if we continue to field torres as our striker....somebody need to pls introduce islam feruz

[karaclouds 47]

i cant c chelsea goin far in this tornament if we continue to field torres as our striker....somebody need to pls introduce islam feruz

I think the problem is, if we progress onto the next round, we may probably face ajax. We need some experience in attack, unfortunately in our situation atm we have Ba, who is cup tied; and Torres, who is more interested in being offside and moaning. If we still had Lukaku we would using him in the Europa League. Feruz hasn't been loaned out yet, which is what is needed for him to progress as a player, thus gaining experience towards the top level.

[The Mak 4,459]

Just close this thread and bury it in a deep hole somewhere, along with all Europa leagues threads with games as boring as this!

[Changingman_2000 876]

Such a dull, listless, limp performance. Almost akin to a meaningless end of season game.

[Alabama 1,992]

I think the problem is, if we progress onto the next round, we may probably face ajax. We need some experience in attack, unfortunately in our situation atm we have Ba, who is cup tied; and Torres, who is more interested in being offside and moaning. If we still had Lukaku we would using him in the Europa League. Feruz hasn't been loaned out yet, which is what is needed for him to progress as a player, thus gaining experience towards the top level.

dat means we will be out the tornament very soon.....

[bushman 2,043]

All I read here:

meaningless, boring, useless game last night.

Meanwhile, a terrific winner by Oscar, which should see Chelsea through to the last 16 failed to be mentioned here.

That aside, this was a joyless, soulless, miserable experience, for the players, & the fans whose only delight, these days, is calling for Rafa´s head.

Since Sparta has not played a competitive game in two months, they should have been swatted by Chelsea like a fly in 20 minutes but were not.

Oh well. Let´s see how Chelsea will perform again on Sunday.

[The only place to be 11,313]

Hmm not convinced on the critiscising of Marin...

Like his 2nd start?

Some players need a run of games and the rest of the team were absolute shite - he had nobody to pass too when he got forward.

Look at Danny after a few games at ScumPool he's been playing well.

Marin needs a bit of time - ok he's no Messi but at least offers width and a bit of excitement!

He looked busy on the ball but that was about it. I'm not writing him off because he's suffered from the same problems the other players have suffered from - a useless twat up-front and Lampard and Ramires in midfield. Mata was completely anonymous last night too, and not for the first time this season.

What was encouraging was that Oscar played like his Brazilian self when he came on. Yes it was against shitty opposition but he was dropping deep and controlling the tempo beautifully and his goal was obviously well taken.

We've talked on this forum before about the choice we've got to make regarding Cech (who had a dodgy game himself) and Courtois but I think we're going to have to make another at some point in the future in the number 10 spot......Mata or Oscar?

[bushman 2,043]

Cech will stay for several years. Everyone knows it. Courtois might be part of Falcao´s deal.

Mata plays in so many games he can not play well in all of them, simple as that. He needs rest urgently. I would like to see him being rested on Sunday, not even dressed for that meaningless game.

[Ollie 4,400]

One of the worst games ever really, this tie should be dead now and we should be resting players now for 8 or 9 days instead of going into the 2nd leg with still a bit of work to do. Very disappointed with Hazard's performance more than anyone else, for all the ability he has, you'd think this would be a perfect game for him to light up and excite but no, he was anonymous. I would vote Oscar MOTM but he only played 8 minutes, it's not right. Marin in the first half was our only player actually trying to do something and a few of his mazy runs lead to some good chances.

Seemed like we were resting players and conserving energy for Brentford ffs. A league 1 side at home! Something is so wrong with this team atm, it's scary to even think we can finish in the top 4. I'll be amazed if we do with this cunt in charge.

Still... on the plus side, Oscar's goal has pretty much killed the tie, but we should be 3-0 and move on now, honestly a big chance missed yet again, pathetic performance.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

It's clear that either the players don't give a toss, OR Rafa instructed them to play within themselves, knowing full well the amount of games coming up and that the calibre of opposition was poor. I'm going to take heart in the latter idea...

[petr.breu 1,618]

Horrible and boring football, but a great experience for me. Chelsea fans on stadium were bad, i heard just 4 chants (Chelsea, Chelsea, Chelsea; Champions of Europe; Super Super Frank; Carefree)...

Marin was great, MOTM for me... And what a goal from Oscar...

However, I will never forget this match...

[Ollie 4,400]

If we had just scored 1 more goal, the tie would be dead now, that's what annoys me. There's still a little bit in it which means he'll probably need to play Mata again ... Too many games, yes... but we'd basically have 1 game less if we did what we should've done. Coulda played the U21's, Malouda and all in the 2nd leg, even the Under 12's.

[Eggman 118]

jesus all this whining about our players - who are all crap

I think this is complete bollocks. We have one of the finest squads available, and there are a lot of teams playing massively better football with far less talented players. So, if we do not win or defend well, or create almost no chances, this has nothing to do with the quality of the players - and will thus not be solved by buying another shitload of overpriced stars.

It must be obvious by now that it is the lack of decent management that plagues Chelsea. And this has been going on for a long time: not just with the advent of that Spanish waiter. RDM may be a club icon, but as a manager he did not have any constructive ideas - safe relying on the individual class of other club legends. That might work, sometimes. But not in the long run, obviously.

If you saw how Real played against Manure: pretty awesome. Constantly players making runs, infiltrating in the space left by another player who made a run, falling back, changing positions. That's how you create chances, as a team, not by relying on individual flashes (although Real could easily do that with the talent they've got). Too bad they didn't finish them off.

Thus, untill we have a new manager, who gets the time to build a team and a style of play, there will be no improvement - except the occasional match in which one of our players has a good day.

[Stingray 9,441]

jesus all this whining about our players - who are all crap

I think this is complete bollocks. We have one of the finest squads available, and there are a lot of teams playing massively better football with far less talented players. So, if we do not win or defend well, or create almost no chances, this has nothing to do with the quality of the players - and will thus not be solved by buying another shitload of overpriced stars.

It must be obvious by now that it is the lack of decent management that plagues Chelsea. And this has been going on for a long time: not just with the advent of that Spanish waiter. RDM may be a club icon, but as a manager he did not have any constructive ideas - safe relying on the individual class of other club legends. That might work, sometimes. But not in the long run, obviously.

If you saw how Real played against Manure: pretty awesome. Constantly players making runs, infiltrating in the space left by another player who made a run, falling back, changing positions. That's how you create chances, as a team, not by relying on individual flashes (although Real could easily do that with the talent they've got). Too bad they didn't finish them off.

Thus, untill we have a new manager, who gets the time to build a team and a style of play, there will be no improvement - except the occasional match in which one of our players has a good day.

This! I agree.

[Muzchap 8,966]

He looked busy on the ball but that was about it. I'm not writing him off because he's suffered from the same problems the other players have suffered from - a useless twat up-front and Lampard and Ramires in midfield. Mata was completely anonymous last night too, and not for the first time this season.

What was encouraging was that Oscar played like his Brazilian self when he came on. Yes it was against shitty opposition but he was dropping deep and controlling the tempo beautifully and his goal was obviously well taken.

We've talked on this forum before about the choice we've got to make regarding Cech (who had a dodgy game himself) and Courtois but I think we're going to have to make another at some point in the future in the number 10 spot......Mata or Oscar?

As usual great post

I agree on Mata but it's unrealistic for us to keep relying on him, he's only human and will have 'off' games - that's why we need at least 2 players per position. I also think our midfield and defence don't help him, he has to drop deeper and deeper beyond halfway line to receive the ball and then has too much to do with the opposition pressing and NO runs ahead of him (Azpi being exception).

I think the fundamental problem is our lack of runs - if we're running in behind and stretching the game - very hard for opposition to press, however if we keep doing what we are doing dropping deeper they can get 10 men behind the ball and we have to beat every single one of them to create a goal scoring opportunity = unrealistic in my eyes.

We've gone from too much with RDM to too little under RB - the 'pendulum' effect if you will and it's starting to make our team and players look ordinary

I also think Cech is getting shaky, he's reminding me of Grobelaar lately. I think he needs to chill and we need to keep Courtious! A top GK is harder to find than a striker... Courtious should get a run of games next season, maybe he plays all cup games? That's pretty even with Cech then and in 2014/2015 season sees him take the majority...

BUT none of the above will be fixed whilst FSW is here - he is truly NOT a tactical genius, he's a complete fucking idiot!