Closed Southampton 2-1 Chelsea

[didierforever 7,349]

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.

we tried keeping it simple but it dint work. the punting was majorly done in the 2nd half. and towards the mid of the 1st when oscar dint drop deep in the defense and moses lost a couple of balls in the mid and marin never even tried. by the way this is not the first time we have had problems against teams who press but normally mata helps us out.

as for david luiz, he pings the ball ahead with more than 2-3 players in a good positon to pass to and for that matter, takes a 30-40 yard strike too.

[Backstreet09 499]

I actually kinda like Rafa And still believe he's a world class manager but the lineup he put up today, was the worst one could have imagined. It was a nightmare and, seriously it was awfully terrible. I'm not trying to defend him, but our squad is not good enough for any sorta rotation and that has screwed us yet again.

I'm not a pessimist but I've seriously started to doubt our chances for the top4 finish, 'cause Arsenal today against Reading, were absolutely gorgeous. It was the best sorta football I've seen in a long time. Purely class and well they have really scared a part of me.

Bertnand is totally shit, I've said it before and I'm saying it again . He was totally and utterly useless, we've given him a lot of chances and I think it would be fair to conclude, he's not a chelsea material.

Mikel showed his class yet again, I mean if i'd have to watch mikel play or twilight, I'd totally see that gay vampire movie. TOTALLY

Moses was unbelievably shit yet again, I know it's too early to conclude but he hasn't even had a above average game after AFCON.

Torres had another positive game, he was sharp and if he keeps playing like this, I reckon there'd be a lot bids for him in the future.

This is literally a season to forget.

[Azpinator 2,325]

I ask myself the same damn question during every single match: DO THESE PLAYERS ACTUALLY TRAIN TOGETHER?! The only kind of chemistry we see is between Mata and Hazard (who is from a different planet).

Fucking Benitez, just when you think he can't fuck us up more!! I kinda enjoyed the international break since I didn't get to see his fat ugly face.

Bertrand and Benayoun disgust me.

[bababoom 4,478]

Torres had another positive game, he was sharp and if he keeps playing like this, I reckon there'd be a lot bids for him in the future.

Haha, well played.

[Keikoismad 162]

i will call it. BRING KEVIN DE BRUYNE BACK AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.

Ive seen him play in person multiple times at Genk, and have followed him ever since. How long before the board realises he is the real deal? He is really really good in his position, and i truly

mean really really really good. In fact, he is a very very very talented player, by many Belgians considered as good in his position as Hazard's in his.

And what does the board do? Sure they loan him out to some German club.

So i say GET KEVIN BACK SOONER RATHER THAN LATER.

It's unbelievable really, we have some fine players out on loan and it's clear our squad is a little too thin to rotate. And since we're a top top football club, we are competing in multiple tournaments so we have to rotate. Big suprise isn't it?

Get KEVIN BACK

[MetsajCFC 1,255]

So many e-managers here. Keep calm, nothing's going to change before the summer and we all know it. Our squad is weak on paper and on the field, we lack leadership and initiative from players, our manager was a mis-fit from day one. A season to forget. Only thing I can't understand is why did we prioritize FA Cup over Premier League? I'd much rather get into top 4 than MAYBE win the FA Cup and bust in the league. On second thought we might use a gap year to re-build and get our act together, sort our managerial situation and get some stability since Mourinho days.

[Special Juan 28,141]

Bertrand isn't anything special. Get's exposed more often than not, he will end up at a mid table PL team or a Championship team in the next two years.

[Mufassir08 2,400]

i will call it. BRING KEVIN DE BRUYNE BACK AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.

Ive seen him play in person multiple times at Genk, and have followed him ever since. How long before the board realises he is the real deal? He is really really good in his position, and i truly

mean really really really good. In fact, he is a very very very talented player, by many Belgians considered as good in his position as Hazard's in his.

And what does the board do? Sure they loan him out to some German club.

So i say GET KEVIN BACK SOONER RATHER THAN LATER.

It's unbelievable really, we have some fine players out on loan and it's clear our squad is a little too thin to rotate. And since we're a top top football club, we are competing in multiple tournaments so we have to rotate. Big suprise isn't it?

Get KEVIN BACK

Knowing our board we will most probably sell him to leverkusen in order to sweeten the deal for schurrle or atleast thats the rumour right now.

[juko 19]

i love eden(he's my favourite player) but man of the match is not allowed

[Rupert 130]

The team was not good enough today. It needs to hire Rafa on a 5 year contract, to clear out the dead wood, to bring in the right kind of players - a strong aggressive defensive midfielder and a genuine winger - and install zonal defending. Southampton have been playing well lately and have a number of impressive scalps, but they scored from a free kick which is unacceptable. If Rafa is given support he will bring on the youth, recruit the best in Europe and get them playing with hunger and aggression. He can do only so much with the left-overs he found on his arrival.

[zolayes 14,489]

Knowing our board we will most probably sell him to leverkusen in order to sweeten the deal for schurrle or atleast thats the rumour right now.

And GIVE Courtois to Atletico so they will take Torres

[The only place to be 11,313]

The team was not good enough today. It needs to hire Rafa on a 5 year contract

How about nobody rises to this rancid bait today?

Everyone knows we were shit and there's enough discord without having some troll come in on the wind-up so if we starve him of the oxygen of vitriol he looks to elicit, he'll eventually die.

[OneMoSalah 8,886]

If we sell De Bruyne we might as well sell Hazard, Mata and everyone else and replace them with average players like Schurrle, Marin and Fellaini........

[Special Juan 28,141]

It seems that every time we take to the field of late, away from home, and against teams of this ilk it's just a matter of time before we go a goal down.

[Hamilton 2,120]

WTF happend?

Didn't watched the game, but wtf..

[Jase 43,479]

Other than Benitez's horrendous rotation of players today, there's one thing I cannot understand about his sub. Why on earth did he decided to bring on Ramires for Mikel and then asked him to play the latter's role in the pivot? I know Lampard offers the goal threat in the team but other than that, he doesn't give much else and yet Benitez kept him on instead. Mikel might not have the best of games today but partnering him with Ramires makes much more sense than the Ramires-Lampard combo as already illustrated in the difference in performance at OT recently. By asking Ramires to just sit in the pivot basically takes everything away from him. His biggest strength is making those driving runs at the opposition's defence and create chances for us, which is similar to what Lampard does but yet Benitez stick him in the pivot and continue to allow Lampard to get forward when it was hardly even working when playing alongside Mikel. Should have went with Mikel and Ramires in the pivot, ask Mikel to sit and then allow Ramires to make his marauding runs. Furthermore, Southampton were playing with a high line and having someone running deep from midfield can cause major problems but we didn't even look to exploit it!

[Special Juan 28,141]

WTF happend?

Didn't watched the game, but wtf..

Shit attitude, lack of commitment, wrong starting line up and a pathetic performance.

[TrippingStep 336]

Other than Benitez's horrendous rotation of players today, there's one thing I cannot understand about his sub. Why on earth did he decided to bring on Ramires for Mikel and then asked him to play the latter's role in the pivot? I know Lampard offers the goal threat in the team but other than that, he doesn't give much else and yet Benitez kept him on instead. Mikel might not have the best of games today but partnering him with Ramires makes much more sense than the Ramires-Lampard combo as already illustrated in the difference in performance at OT recently. By asking Ramires to just sit in the pivot basically takes everything away from him. His biggest strength is making those driving runs at the opposition's defence and create chances for us, which is similar to what Lampard does but yet Benitez stick him in the pivot and continue to allow Lampard to get forward when it was hardly even working when playing alongside Mikel. Should have went with Mikel and Ramires in the pivot, ask Mikel to sit and then allow Ramires to make his marauding runs. Furthermore, Southampton were playing with a high line and having someone running deep from midfield can cause major problems but we didn't even look to exploit it!

Nothing made sense today.

Everyone know Southampton is a high energy team who runs a lot and yet he starts the game with Terry Ivanovic Lampard Mikel.

With Luiz Ramires, we could have players that can run from deep and break their pressing organisation.

The same with Hazard who can draw defenders away.

And cole has much more composure on the ball than Bertrand.

Ba has scored three goals against Southampton this year and he didn't start and even play one minute while in the last 20 minutes, we were around their box.

With his movements he could have forced an error from them, scored a header or cutting a pass inside the box.

Torres is awful in the box.

[Jase 43,479]

Nothing made sense today.

Everyone know Southampton is a high energy team who runs a lot and yet he starts the game with Terry Ivanovic Lampard Mikel.

With Luiz Ramires, we could have players that can run from deep and break their pressing organisation.

The same with Hazard who can draw defenders away.

And cole has much more composure on the ball than Bertrand.

Ba has scored three goals against Southampton this year and he didn't start and even play one minute while in the last 20 minutes, we were around their box.

With his movements he could have forced an error from them, scored a header or cutting a pass inside the box.

Torres is awful in the box.

That somehow slipped my mind.

It was crazy to see him bringing on Benayoun instead of Ba while he continue pumping crosses into the box without any sort of a big physical presense upfront. As you said, it made no sense!

[bushman 2,043]

Rafa´s plan to protect Chelsea stars ahead of the fucking FA Cup tie backfired today.

I believe he should be fired asap. This man will prevent Chelsea from reaching top four places in PL.

As I wrote earlier here, Chelsea do not have the squad to play in all three competition now.

Even though, it´s not his fault only that the team is short on players but this dimwit was clearly told to secure top four PL places.

Is he totally clueless or is he doing it on purpose ?

I do not wish the team to lose games but one thing I believe Chelsea would be better off to lose on Monday. Otherwise, this Rafa is going to fuck it up royally.