Closed Chelsea 1-2 Man City

[The only place to be 11,313]

We lost it where we've lost every game this season - in the midfield.

Is it even worth criticising Mikel anymore? Most people know by now that he's nothing but a passenger. If Thursday didn't make that clear then he put in another reminder today - if you still don't get it then you're beyond help I'm afraid.

What was encouraging was how good Oscar looked there when Mikel went off, and not for the first time. He's not a winger, he can't play wide, he needs to play through the middle and that means putting him in the double pivot.

Ivanovic lost his man once again proving why we need a no-nonsense shit-kicker in defence and if it isn't going to be JT anymore, we need to go into the market.

But honestly, City are the best team in England and they've got our number at the moment. I can't be bothered to have a pop at Foy because he's a bad ref and we already knew that. City probably deserved to win on the balance of play but there was enough guts, determination and quality on show (except you Mikel) to be proud of and encouraged for the future.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Can't get over how bad that Aguero challenge was. Hope the FA throw the book at him. Preferably a really large book, like a dictionary.

[Kojo 4,676]

No complaints from me. Better team won. Maybe if we decided to show up for more than just the last 30 we would have stood a chance. Also started the second half awfully giving away a sloppy goal.

Neither of the full backs put in a decent cross all game, ramires showed excellent determination and fight. Onwards and upwards

Look I admire your respect for the other team, but how you can just say no complaints I just can't get my head around it.

Aguero just drop kicked David Luiz and got no sending off? Zabaleta, Toure & Kompany made about a thousand fouls and no sending offs. Kompany sexually assaulted Torres in the box, and no penalty, and you have no complaints about any of it?.

You know I didn't complain with the luck Nasri had, because they deserved to be at least 1-0 up before half time, but 2nd half I say we just about made that even, we played very well, City had the upperhand of the game overall maybe. But that doesn't mean there can't be any complaints, I am sick to death of stupid shit referees like Chris Foy refereeing these games, they are big games and they have fucking idiots refereeing them.

Foy makes mistakes wherever he goes, that man is a disaster referee, yeah we've had trouble with Clattenburg and Webb but hell they've had some good games and are decent referees on average. Foy on the other hand, I've never seen a good game from that man ever.

[Billy. 2,742]

i didnt really see the tackle anyone got a clip and also why your at it the goal and pen aswell please lol

[JDY 1,290]

Remember when we used to play Arsenal and they played nice little passes in and around our box, but with no cutting edge, only for us to power through and physically dominate? This reminded me of that, except now we are becoming like Arsenal, and City the old Chelsea.

Was at the game also. Such a dire first half and sloppy in the opening minutes of the 2nd half. You can't afford to give a team of that quality a 2 goal lead and expect to come back. As people have said above, the game was lost in the midfield. Overrun is an understatement.

[Styles 9,790]

i didnt really see the tackle anyone got a clip and also why your at it the goal and pen aswell please lol

[Billy. 2,742]

wow that was bad

[dejavuetall 1]

Idiota- the ref and shitty

[Jase 43,479]

Remember when we used to play Arsenal and they played nice little passes in and around our box, but with no cutting edge, only for us to power through and physically dominate? This reminded me of that, except now we are becoming like Arsenal, and City the old Chelsea.

Yeah and we also used to bully and be physical on Arsenal in the past and it yielded successful results. Now the same thing is happening with us and Man City. We are the new Arsenal and City are us, as you said. Men vs Boys.

[robdog 2,084]

i didnt really see the tackle anyone got a clip and also why your at it the goal and pen aswell please lol

I got this pict from a post in this thread:

Yes that is an armbar that Kompany is using. Perfect technique if this was a cage fight, but this was a footie match

[Bosnian Blue 2,471]

If only he was smart enough to go down, Foy the idiot would have awarded us with not only a penalty, but a red card to Kompany aswell.

[Stats 7,144]

It is getting bloody annoying facing City now. We have lost to them 3 times this season and drawn one. Also IIRC we have lost at the Etihad for the last 4-5 seasons now. Getting so annoying. I am proud with the way we upped our performance second half but it is the same story every time we play them. They dominate the midfield, have all the possession and we only get our act together in the second half. I mean last game at the Etihad they had Kompany out and we had our full team available and the only time we really threatened them was the penalty that Ba earned which ended up with Lamps missing.

Today, Silva is out, there most influential player and they still manage to play almost Barca like football against us for 3/4 of the match. Something needs to be sorted because even when we play them at home we get dominated. So frustrating, yet teams like Arsenal seem to know how to play well at the Etihad.

I have such a revenge feeling that when we play them next we batter them because losing to them 3 times in one season irks me.

Anyway at least we did not get slaughtered although we rode our luck. We done well later in the second half. I thought Bertrand had another good game and I thought Azpi done well as well.It was good that we saw the football we can play in the second half. Some of the play between Hazard, Oscar and Mata was a joy to watch later on but we need to learn next time we play City because they will have a similar set up. Our weakness is we seem to pay them too much respect.

[Backstreet09 499]

Yes that is an armbar that Kompany is using. Perfect technique if this was a cage fight, but this was a footie match

WWE need to add football field in their "don't try this at home, school, or anywhere" advertisement, cause they are lads like Kompany who are so naive that they forget they are here to fucking play a football game not wrestling or shit

[Jype 6,398]

If only he was smart enough to go down, Foy the idiot would have awarded us with not only a penalty, but a red card to Kompany aswell.

Nah, with the way Foy was refereeing the game Torres would have been yellow carded.

[Tortilla9 390]

How was that Aguero tackle not even a yellow, much less a red? Was he given the benefit of a "striker's challenge"? Or the ref just an idiot?

[Korea 734]

I think Aguero didn't get carded cause of his reputation.... Sometimes, when you have bad reps, you don't get the benefit of the doubt. However, Aguero has a pretty good rep...

Also, the Kompany challenged on Torres was def. a pen and a card, if Torres flopped and fell... However, he didn't. I totally didn't realize Kompany had a yellow before this incident. Maybe, if the ref called a foul, it would of been a yellow and a sending off, which prevented the ref from pulling the card, since he didn't want to be put in that position.

[Rupert 130]

Clubs - owners and executives - have been too influenced by the Barcelona model as they understand it. They understand it as pretty ticky-tacky passing by smallish players. They forget that Barcelona has crushing players like Javier Alejandro Mascherano and Carlos Puyol and others.

Chelsea lacks a crushing fast-paced central defender to replace the over-the-hill Terry and a non-nonsense midfielder - Oscar is not a strong enough defender or good enough playmaker. Under pressure too many Chelsea players lose composure and control of the ball in their passing. They also need a winger or playmaker capable of playing fast through balls and crosses to bring the best out of a Torres or Demba to shake up the opposition defence.

If Rafa accepts a new contract he will insist that new players be brought in just as has in his previous positions. Chelsea has a good nucleus and is beginning to develop character and fight. Man City were stronger today but the Chelsea fightback was impressive and on another day, with a penalty, the story might have been different.

[English Freak 456]

I think Aguero didn't get carded cause of his reputation.... Sometimes, when you have bad reps, you don't get the benefit of the doubt. However, Aguero has a pretty good rep...

Also, the Kompany challenged on Torres was def. a pen and a card, if Torres flopped and fell... However, he didn't. I totally didn't realize Kompany had a yellow before this incident. Maybe, if the ref called a foul, it would of been a yellow and a sending off, which prevented the ref from pulling the card, since he didn't want to be put in that position.

I don't know about Aguero's reputation...but Chris Foy has made shocking decisions against Chelsea in the past...so it wasn't a surprise when he decided not to send-off Aguero and/or Kompany.

[English Freak 456]

Clubs - owners and executives - have been too influenced by the Barcelona model as they understand it. They understand it as pretty ticky-tacky passing by smallish players. They forget that Barcelona has crushing players like Javier Alejandro Mascherano and Carlos Puyol and others.

Chelsea lacks a crushing fast-paced central defender to replace the over-the-hill Terry and a non-nonsense midfielder - Oscar is not a strong enough defender or good enough playmaker. Under pressure too many Chelsea players lose composure and control of the ball in their passing. They also need a winger or playmaker capable of playing fast through balls and crosses to bring the best out of a Torres or Demba to shake up the opposition defence.

If Rafa accepts a new contract he will insist that new players be brought in just as has in his previous positions. Chelsea has a good nucleus and is beginning to develop character and fight. Man City were stronger today but the Chelsea fightback was impressive and on another day, with a penalty, the story might have been different.

He's leaving at the end of this season. Deal with it

[Strike 7,490]

I thought Hazard had his worst game in Chelsea shirt and he could not have chosen a better place to do that. May be i expect a lot from him but he kept loosing balls and never looked like making a correct decision whenever he had the ball.

Azpi was below par as well but i ll give him a by for this match considering he has been playing non stop for the past 2 weeks.

Although , looking at the way our team played without the iconic figures of Lampard, Terry , Drogba, i am quite pleased with the way we performed after going down 2 goals. That showed that these young ones have balls and they just need a better manager and experience. I certainly sense a very bright future looking at the way we played the last 35 mins. I'm just satisfied all of them played for shirt and gave everything, thats enough for me.

We will get better next season, let's have patience.

What a coincidence that he has a bad game as soon as the waiter daftly decided to stick him on the right wing...