Closed Singha All-Stars 0-1 Chelsea

[Bosnian Blue 2,471]

Hmm. I disagree. I think Messi is one footed in the way he dribbles perhaps but he can still produce a world class pass/finish with his right, he's done that plenty of times. Messi isn't anywhere near as one footed Robben or Mata is.

Not really. Take a look at the goals he scored with his right and you'll see that almost all of them are similar - simple shots from inside the box, or little chips. I've seen Ronaldo scoring screamers from 30 yards with both feet, but I've seen Messi do it only with his left. I agree he isn't extremely one-footed as Robben is. It doesn't mean hes not a great player, you can look at it from a different perspective though and say how fantastic he is having done all that only with his left. Its just not my thing, I like different players, probably because I play like that.

[November33rd 84]

Lol @ using Ronaldo and Robben as examples. Two completely opposite ends of the spectrum as Ronaldo is one of the most two-footed players maybe ever and Robben is maybe the most one footed player ever.

[Bosnian Blue 2,471]

Lol @ using Ronaldo and Robben as examples. Two completely opposite ends of the spectrum as Ronaldo is one of the most two-footed players maybe ever and Robben is maybe the most one footed player ever.

And I said what ?

Read it again.

sorry for going way off-topic

[Heisenberg 1,824]

[DJames 729]

I must say I'm pleased with the current batch of players. Some need a bit more work no doubt which Mourinho will see too. But the coming seasons looks to be mighty impressive. KDB definitely came with his A game today and was highly instrumental on the pitch (passing, crossing, ball distribution, positioning). I can't wait to see more of him with this (and better) form. Schurrle was ok, MvG was a bit better. Chalobah, Wallace, Piazon and Traore all need to go back out on loan. Ba needs to get back some form. It was nice to see Lukaku play, with a bit more practice he can be our starter for the season. All in all a good start to pre-season

[TrippingStep 336]

I don't think we can make accurate analysis after a match like this.

The players that played in the confed cup weren't there, we put mixed teams in either half.

The ball bouncing a lot on this pitch, heavy legs, hard to play fast moves in small spaces to tear apart this team sitting very deep eventhough they were bad at defending.

And I think that on training, we have worked a lot on quick transitions from defence to attack, the blueprint of Mourinho's team, but the opposition never really attacked.

During the us tour, we will have a better idea.

I just hope that against team that sits deep, we will be good to watch.

The Real matches against Manchester that were sitting deep disappointed me by the lack of very good attacking moves.

And it's not like Manchester were that good in defence.

[NishC300 1,865]

http://livefootballvideo.com/fullmatch/world/club-friendlies/singha-all-star-xi-vs-chelsea

FULL MATCH RECORDING IN GREAT QUALITY!

And highlights too.

[AndersonBLUE 819]

Essien performed like it was 5 years ago which was nice to see. Could have used him last season in there.

KDB was as good as I am sure we had all hoped. And Mourinho must see it as well which is why he was given the extra time. Hazard was as expected. Gonna be a great season. Lukaku out performed ba even excluding the penalty.

Wallace looked very promising. All in all I'm fairly happy with the first game back.

Or he kept KDB out longer to further analyze him to help him make a decision

[Hutcho 8,443]

Or he kept KDB out longer to further analyze him to help him make a decision

Or he kept him out longer because he felt he was in great shape.

Either way, he would have been impressed by what he saw yesterday, even if it was in a pre season friendly.

[Fernando 6,585]

Watched the match on Chelsea tv.....fuck me, all this money this club has and we can't even get HD?????

Not to mention if we can get some better commentators then the usual. Today's' commentator was great, but there is one there that tends to come up a lot and he is horrible!

I fall asleep in a matter of minutes listening to him!

[CHOULO19 24,332]

This is the only sort of thing I can ever take from pre-season. Possible tactical moves by the manager. Even then, Mourinho could easily switch to something else if this doesn't work but it's still interesting because I agree with you, I think Oscar fits into Mourinho's system very well. This board is going to be very difficult to be on until the season starts. People trying to read anything into individual performances in pre-season are going to annoy me to now end. It doesn't matter who looks good, it doesn't matter who performs well. Pre-season games are totally and utterly meaningless. Go back and look at the pages for Marin and Piazon this time last year People were mentioning Marin in the same breath as Iniesta, talking about Piazon playing regular minutes. I know we're all excited that (semi but not really) competitive football is back, but pre-season means nothing!!! (And yes, the "so and so looks great, you can tell he..." or "So and so sucks" stuff drives me crazy.)

I'm guessing that that 'rant' wasn't really aimed at me?

On any account, judging players and hyping them is inevitable during preseason. We have nothing else to talk about, what do you expect?!

[TorontoChelsea 4,064]

I'm guessing that that 'rant' wasn't really aimed at me?

On any account, judging players and hyping them is inevitable during preseason. We have nothing else to talk about, what do you expect?!

Not at you at all. You always have some perspective. Just a general rant looking through the the player threads with all the "you can tell (by a few good/bad passes/runs/tackles in one meaningless game) that player X is amazing/awful.

[Jase 43,479]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdkbnRVlELk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-b-eeSq8Eww

[nachikethas 1,154]

how was jamal guys? no mention at all.

[Ryan Fong 2,776]

how was jamal guys? no mention at all.

He rarely touched the ball.

[nachikethas 1,154]

He rarely touched the ball.

thanks

[NishC300 1,865]

Saw the game's recording yesterday since I was away when the game was live.

The new guys looked good. Wallace is an amazing dribbler and could be a really good back up since our only other right back is Azpi and that Wallace is a very different full back, so he would provide us another different type of 'weapon'.

Van Ginkel was good. He hit some good ambitious balls, but we did get a lot of time and space in the middle as well.

De Bruyune's gr8 for delivering set pieces.

Can't jump to too many conclusions since it was a friendly against a pretty shit side.

[SeB 1,281]

A minor tactical note: I think Jose is trying to customize that number 10 position judging by the roles Piazon and then Kevin played in the match. It looks like Jose wants whoever is playing in that role to drop off more often and play the ball from deep in the field to give us a numerical advantage in the middle when getting the ball out of defense. I predict to see a lot of Oscar and Kevin playing in that number 10 position and not Mata and Hazard.

Oh, and I think it's safe to say that we've been practicing set pieces in training.

That's what I've been expecting for months in that positions. Fact that we played 4-2-3-1 was an issue in itself as we should have a genuine midfielder playing on top of the double pivot, what Hazard and Mata failed "to be".

I liked De Bruyne's availability on the full width of the pitch to provide options, so that it's easier for midfielders and full backs to play the ball forward and be less predictable.

Beside the obvious work on set pieces, one of my satisfactions was also related to that very player in the hole (not having a player with the suited behaviour with/without the ball has been one of our actuall issues on the pitch for some time - let aside the little squad depth). It was about transitions, but not attacking ones

Last season we were 2v3 in midfield, our midfielders couldn't come out to press (because the opponent's deepest player was available in support) and couldn't sweep to block the angles toward the inside of the field. Piazon and De Bruyne's rigor to take steps back to come closer to the double pivot allowed Ramires to cut easily in Wallace's back because there was two players left in the central zones of the pitch:

Piazon and Essien fall back toward their goal whereas Ramires has cancelled the 1v2 Wallace faced in the channel:

The sequence ends as follows, Ramires blocks the cross and concedes a throw-in. The fact he, as a midfielder, covered Wallace resulted the back three not to be scattered and be able to protect the six-yard zone properly.

Essien and Piazon do end their run where they're expected to, at the edge of the penalty area to challenge for second balls on crosses ahead of the first line of defence (CB + opposed full back):