Closed Southampton 2-1 Chelsea

[Alabama 1,992]

Rafa is a clown....

[juko 19]

but we don't laugh

[OneMoSalah 8,886]

This is Rafa - he doesn't change the system, but changes the personnel instead.

Southampton's players stepped up all over the pitch, whilst we lacked leadership despite having Cech, Lamps and Terry on the pitch. Yet you'll still get people on here saying that we shouldn't give young players a chance because they don't have 'experience'.

Some of the young players we have would be better just to throw in, the likes of De Bruyne especially considering hes well not an established international but hes getting regular games for Belgium, as Lukaku has done for a few years now too. I'd like to have seen Rafa take a gamble with De Bruyne and recall him, possibly the same with Romelu but I suppose, even if he had suggested it he would probably have been told no haha.

[FabHazard 655]

In summer our main priority should be double pivot.With this midfield we cant win shit.where is the playmaker like modric,schweinsteiger,xabi alonso?with this shit midfield we allowed them to press high.lampard is not good enough.He was no where near the player when he was 5years ago. Also marin proved our doubts.moses was awful today.FFS sign luke shaw.

[juko 19]

yes rafa but why always rafa . we have to buy better players cuz this team is shit( not be able to beat this kind of team)

[TorontoChelsea 4,064]

Actually that would be Rafa. Or Torres.

Lamps and Mikel were appalling today and showed no composure in possession and no determination in defence. This isn't the first time that's been the case either and any team that puts pressure on that double-pivot will get some something out of the game.

They were poor but they weren't near appalling. The same is true of any team. If you pressure the midfield, the attacking midfield needs to drop deeper to get the ball.The gap between the central midfielders and the attacking midfielders was too large. Marin, Oscar, and Moses just stood around waiting to receive passes. In the middle of the pitch, Chelsea had Lampard and Mikel and later Ramires. Southampton had 3-4 players in that space all the time. Only Lambert and Rodriguez played in attacking positions and Clyne and Shaw played wide. Schneiderlen, Davis, Cork, and Puncheon (and later Ward-Prowse) all crowded the middle of the park. What Chelsea needed to do is to attack through different positions because Southampton had just clogged up the centre of the pitch and only had their fullbacks wide, but Chelsea was not able to take advantage of this. Their fullbacks played very well and our attackers (and fullbacks) didn't. Other teams have taken this pressing our midfield as their defensive tactic because we simply don't have another way to score. We lack width, good spacing, and discipline so when our midfield is pressed, they pass it backwards or sideways.

[RedWhite&BLUE 37]

Marin and Moses were negated by Shaw and Clyne. Without those outlets we weren't able to spell together much of anything.

[DDA 9,941]

Reading some of the comments on here about Moses are fucking disgraceful.

I'm more than pissed off about todays bullshit but as alway reading the comments in here during a loss are just pathetic!

[edetarod 2,155]

i swear i've seen championship teams deal better with pressing than we do

we don't even try to football our way out of it

we crumble completely under the slightest bit of pressing

[The only place to be 11,313]

They were poor but they weren't near appalling. The same is true of any team. If you pressure the midfield, the attacking midfield needs to drop deeper to get the ball.The gap between the central midfielders and the attacking midfielders was too large. Marin, Oscar, and Moses just stood around waiting to receive passes. In the middle of the pitch, Chelsea had Lampard and Mikel and later Ramires. Southampton had 3-4 players in that space all the time. Only Lambert and Rodriguez played in attacking positions and Clyne and Shaw played wide. Schneiderlen, Davis, Cork, and Puncheon (and later Ward-Prowse) all crowded the middle of the park. What Chelsea needed to do is to attack through different positions because Southampton had just clogged up the centre of the pitch and only had their fullbacks wide, but Chelsea was not able to take advantage of this. Their fullbacks played very well and our attackers (and fullbacks) didn't. Other teams have taken this pressing our midfield as their defensive tactic because we simply don't have another way to score. We lack width, good spacing, and discipline so when our midfield is pressed, they pass it backwards or sideways.

I disagree. I think players with 700+ appearances between them should be able to space themselves better and look to control the tempo rather than aimlessly hoofing the ball up to a guy who can't win the ball in the air, get behind defenders or simply hold it up when it's played to him on the ground.

It's not like this is a new thing either - we've known the pivot was a weak spot all season and any team that can push up on it will get results. Lamps isn't suited for that position and Mikel simply isn't good enough, so why anyone should be surprised about this I don't know.

[Miracle 249]

DID THEIR KEEPER MAKE A SAVE ?!?!?!

[Special Juan 28,141]

Disgraceful from the off. Pathetic showing doesn't do this lot justice one jot. Awful team selection and that's because the approach and attitude was wrong from the word go and we got everything we deserved.

Counted eight times that we went down the flanks and nobody was in the box, just a few players ambling and showing no willing or determination what so ever.

I would deduct their wages for this, and how this fat fucker still has a job is beyond me.

[kellzfresh 7,229]

marin and moses were owned by clyne and shaw, everytime we gave them the ball it was like passing on a wall when the ball simply came back harder and southampton kept countering, plus both our fullbakcs had awful games. oscar played more as a 2nd striker than as a link up guy thus there being no connection whatsoever between our pivot guys and our forwards. the only option was to ping the ball ahead and hope for something to happen or pass on the wing and defend a soton counter. plus the soton pressing dint help us either and we were forced to long balls.

That was no excuse for that nonsense they were doing. Torres was the striker and not drogba, they can't be pumping balls foward and hoping drogba does all the work for them anymore. If david luiz did that the whole forum will be screaming and slating him. They could have done it once in a while but not pumping the ball in the sky every single time

If they kept it simple between theirselves and allowed the attackers to drop in, we wouldn't have had an abmysal first half with only 39% possesion.

[Billy. 2,742]

we were outclassed because of the stupid line up, hence the bitching. Its warranted when a manager does not prioritize what the club needs.

With that line up we should be beating Southampton

[Special Juan 28,141]

With that line up we should be beating Southampton

That's easily said but along with that has to be approach and attitude. Team like Southampton's motivation talk is not needed, just tell them who they are playing and BANG!!!

With us and other teams it's...."Ah we can beat these"

[Korea 734]

Cech punts!

[NiclasCFC 2,582]

Rafa should get the sack because of what he did today, putting himself ahead of the team. The main thing for our Team this season is to secure Champions League Football but that will not affect Rafa's CV, but the FA-cup or the EL will. He does not give a fuck about us finishing in the top 4 he just wants a fucking trophy to his fucking disgusting CV.
FSW OUT!

[Hutcho 8,443]

The lineup should be good enough, but why make it harder for ourselves. We already had the biggest handicap without Mata, so why make it harder for ourselves. After hazard came on we looked more dangerous, but he can't do it alone. 2-1 down and Ba doesn't even get on the pitch? WTF is going on there. The teams performance was shit, the manager was shit. Just shit across most areas.

If the next premier league lineup is even close to this one, then someone needs to do something, because full strength we should still get top 4. But we have decided to make it extra hard for ourselves.

[juko 19]

the talent misses on the bench understood

[Milan 17,958]

Rafa should get the sack because of what he did today, putting himself ahead of the team. The main thing for our Team this season is to secure Champions League Football but that will not affect Rafa's CV, but the FA-cup or the EL will. He does not give a fuck about us finishing in the top 4 he just wants a fucking trophy to his fucking disgusting CV.

FSW OUT!

I can't really understand it. Is that so difficult to sack him? Nobody likes him, even the players are already talking about a new man. The results and performances are just awful, top 4 in danger. He is not sacked because there are only 10 or how many games left? He can kill our season and ambitions FFS!