Closed Southampton 2-1 Chelsea

[didierforever 7,349]

that game looks like a nailed on defeat for me

they will knock us out of CL with AVB in our own backyard

some things are just written, and this one looks very much like it, you couldn't have set it up any better than this for them

now that u say this it does seem so fucking obvious. avb WILL end up having the last laugh.

well we cant cry, can we? we had our share of luck last year, so it was bound to go bad soon or later...

[The only place to be 11,313]

It's obvious that Rafa's goals are different than Chelsea's. I used to think there was no point in sacking him, but appointing a manager just to play for the Premier League might make sense. Mata and Hazard need to be rotated like everyone else, but I'm sick of sitting our only two dangerous attacking players in the same game. The entire team was poor. Lampard and Mikel will get a lot of the blame because that's just where people have decided to lay it this year and while they were poor, but our front 4 was even worse than they were. No movement at all, lost possession easily, kept letting defenders catch up to them, and were beaten to almost every ball. Ivanovic and Terry were very at fault for the first goal, but aside from that actually played pretty well. Our fullbacks were also poor.

I've though Moses was looking like a future rotation player for Chelsea so far this year, but I'm not even sure he'll rise to that. He's been our worst fairly regular player by a fair margin this season. Maybe he needs to play regularly to improve, that's not unusual, but it's been a very poor first season with Chelsea.

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.

[OneMoSalah 8,614]

We were pressed, nobody was calm or wanted to be brave/bold today. The fact that Rafa decided to put on Yossi instead of Demba too, just whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat the fuck man.

[Alabama 1,992]

as much as i dislike benitez for putting out wrong tactics and fair team selection....the players have their major share of blame....Lampard is no more a starter, he is just clueless kips giving Mikel a hell of work 2do...Moses Oh shit!!! So shitty 2day...d fact remains outside Mata and Hazard our starting linw will continue 2 struggle

[Alabama 1,992]

as much as i dislike benitez for putting out wrong tactics and fair team selection....the players have their major share of blame....Lampard is no more a starter, he is just clueless kips giving Mikel a hell of work 2do...Moses Oh shit!!! So shitty 2day...d fact remains outside Mata and Hazard our starting linw will continue 2 struggle

[The only place to be 11,313]

We were pressed, nobody was calm or wanted to be brave/bold today. The fact that Rafa decided to put on Yossi instead of Demba too, just whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat the fuck man.

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'.

[didierforever 7,349]

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.

i know that, u know that , any one who calls himself half a chelsea fan would know that, then how can u rest 2 of our most important players in the same game or atleast have a bloody plan B where we can simply ping the ball ahead because of our useless link up play with the wingers and the attacking mid guy, and thus play BA who can win atleast 1 aerial ball out 100 that we put today unlike torres, but no we had nothing. so the important question is y play these 2 together when we know we would get our asses kicked , also i dont think ramires played a single match in the last 2 weeks so let him have a run out.

mikel-lamps pivot is a disaster, but our team selection, our planning and everu bloody thing on whole was totally shambolic. nobody would dare raise a finger against azpi because he is our new blue eyed boy, when he could put a single decent delivery into the box despite being in a good position over and over again.

[bushman 2,043]

If Rafa is not to be blamed, then whom are we to blame when the key players are rested for some meaningless cup for Monday ?

All I read here about some fucking double pivot...change this....how do you remedy it if you got shitty Marin or Yossi on the pitch ?

[Alabama 1,992]

Rafa is a clown....

[juko 19]

but we don't laugh

[OneMoSalah 8,614]

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 9,570]

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.