Closed Real Madrid 3-1 Chelsea

[Dion 2,476]

Ramires never ceases to amaze me. He's not very flashy and people won't talk about him often but he's such a good player. Especially when the team is playing defensively. Such a classy goal

Not really surprised with the result. I hoped for a win but I think everyone knew RM were the favourites today. There's still plenty of time to fix our team, though.

[Dion 2,476]

Maybe the Mata Luiz rumors were true.

I really think that Mata Oscar Hazard will struggle this season as Mourinho is at first a counter-attack coach. Mata Oscar are better in a possession based game.

If we play Terry, the central defence will stay deep.

At Real, even if he had a good numbers of points in la liga, Real were much better at counter-attack than possession.

With the quality they had, I thought they should have destroyed Manchester United.

Terry Cahill were praised because of all the blocks against Ac Milan but We shouldn't have to block that many shots against AC Milan and expecting the same against Real.

I don't know about Oscar. Brazil NT doesn't play what we would call possession style football and still Oscar performs brilliantly. More so than in a blue shirt. I think Hazard's speed would also come handy in a counter-attacking style. Mata... I have my doubts.

[Ankit 3,176]

Looking at the some of the reactions here, it feels like we have been knocked out by Real in the CL. It's a ore season game! Chill the fuck out! It's a good wake-up call for the team but more so for the fans here!

[Vybz Kartel 1,613]

Im leaning towards a Kalas, Luiz partnership think it is our future, we can implement the high line which AVB envisioned for our attacking play

[Barbara 15,149]

Maybe the Mata Luiz rumors were true.

I really think that Mata Oscar Hazard will struggle this season as Mourinho is at first a counter-attack coach. Mata Oscar are better in a possession based game.

If we play Terry, the central defence will stay deep.

At Real, even if he had a good numbers of points in la liga, Real were much better at counter-attack than possession.

With the quality they had, I thought they should have destroyed Manchester United.

Terry Cahill were praised because of all the blocks against Ac Milan but We shouldn't have to block that many shots against AC Milan and expecting the same against Real.

I personally don't believe rumors they're leaving. I think Luiz is the kind of player Mourinho longs to work with because he sees the potential and based on how he played under two different managers on Brazil NT he can say that all Luiz needs is guidance and leadership (upon him). So I think he's excited to have a chance to do to him what he did to Marcelo. You can't compare the player Marcelo is now and the player he was 3 years ago, the merit of course belong to the player that always had had such potential, but the credit should go to the manager that was able to develop it while others couldn't.

If Luiz spent more time with the NT - especially under Felipão - it would reflect more on Chelsea, so I think Mourinho is looking forward to work with Luiz.

As for Mata, there are a few things about Mata that I don't think Mourinho particularly likes, but Mata is such a humble guy and he works so hard, that I think whatever difficulty Mourinho sees now could be overlooked and overcame depending on how Mata reacts. Their personalities may clash because I feel like Mourinho is a bit too much for Mata too, so I don't know if could have some relationship issues, he could be benched once the other guys improve their levels (Hazard, Oscar, de Bruyne and Moses, as I think Schurrle may take longer). But I doubt Mourinho wants Mata out of the team. I fear for Mata wanting to be out of the team if he feels left out or not valued enough. Although again the guy has no ego, and I love how he handles himself, so maybe it won't happen at all.

I agree Oscar will struggle a bit to work under Mourinho, but for different reasons than Mata. I think Mourinho likes Oscar attitude while playing better than he likes Mata's - although Mata obviously produces better offensive results. Mourinho likes the balance. His players - except the guys he calls untouchables - all have to excel in their ability (defending or attacking), but also have responsibilities in the weaker side. So if Hazard really develops further I think he may favor Hazard over Mata, not Oscar over Mata (because that makes no sense) for Oscar hard work, allowing Hazard to have more freedom.

I think Mourinho loves Ramires and I'm sure he's very happy with Marco, Moses and Kevin because those guys are like gems in his hands. No one can deny Mourinho is vain (I mean in the vanity sense, to have his ego stroked), he likes to be recognized, he likes to take credit for the things he does and he knows he can make those three (along with Hazard) much better than they are. Much, much better. Whereas I think he will work more about tactical development with Oscar and Mata rather than technical as with those three.

I have no idea what Mourinho thinks of our three strikers though. I think Lukaku will have special attention because of his age, but I'm curious to see what he means to do with Ba and Torres and if he's able to do it.

I for one praised how our defence blocked AC Milan, but the styles are completely different and so is the level of players when you have Real Madrid on the side. It exposes our problems. It's normal - and even expected - to lose to them, but it does show where we must improve to turn this situation around just like he did in Madrid against Barça.

[Peppen 934]

3-1 against one of the absolute best sides in the world (Bayern, Barca and Madrid) is not bad at all, considering our line-ups, changes and missing two of our nailed on starters Luiz and Mata.

The attitude may not have been the best, but seriously CALM down. I've just read the post-match thoughts of Mourinho, and I completely agree. Preseason is the time to make mistakes so he can analyse them and correct them. We have a young team, and they are bound to make mistakes throughout a season, and show dire attitude too. If we overreact everytime this happens, Roman may as well end up doing something stupid.

Give the team some support (not blindly), Madrid is not easy opponent. Considering our victories against Inter and Milan with the exact same youthful setup and the vast changes made at halftime, I think this team has an unbelievable amount of potential both in the short term and long term.

I for one can't wait, and don't really care about the result!

[Ankit 3,176]

'For me, it's perfect we made mistakes so that we have them to work on. As I said last week, we had five victories in pre-season and zero points. Now we have five victories and one defeat, we still have zero points, it's not a drama.'

'They play in La Liga, we play in the Premier League, if we meet them in the Champions League and lose it's a different story but a summer tournament is a summer tournament.'-Jose Mourinho

[Dion 2,476]

3-1 against one of the absolute best sides in the world (Bayern, Barca and Madrid) is not bad at all, considering our line-ups, changes and missing two of our nailed on starters Luiz and Mata.

The attitude may not have been the best, but seriously CALM down. I've just read the post-match thoughts of Mourinho, and I completely agree. Preseason is the time to make mistakes so he can analyse them and correct them. We have a young team, and they are bound to make mistakes throughout a season, and show dire attitude too. If we overreact everytime this happens, Roman may as well end up doing something stupid.

Give the team some support (not blindly), Madrid is not easy opponent. Considering our victories against Inter and Milan with the exact same youthful setup and the vast changes made at halftime, I think this team has an unbelievable amount of potential both in the short term and long term.

I for one can't wait, and don't really care about the result!

Totally agree. We've learned more in this game than in all other pre-season games together. If pre-season ended before we faced RM we wouldn't have realized there's still a lot of work to do before we can take on the top3 teams in the world today.

[TorontoChelsea 4,064]

Pre-season has really started to get hyped up in the past few years. It is still meaningless, but people now pay way way too much attention to it. (These B.S. trophies and tournaments help). Maybe it's not a bad thing we lost. People were insanely overreacting to our wins so insanely overreacting to our loss brings things back to the middle somewhat.

[Cech's helmet 220]

Our playing WITHOUT the ball has been horrible for the past 2 years. we can't pressure opponents. the only player who is good at covering/pressuring opponents is Ramires. we need to work on our off-ball movement. we never close down, we basically just stand there looking at the ball. we never try to win it. we need to close down fast, we give teams an easy time to keep possession as much as they want. it's getting bloody annoying now.

[Peppen 934]

Totally agree. We've learned more in this game than in all other pre-season games together. If pre-season ended before we faced RM we wouldn't have realized there's still a lot of work to do before we can take on the top3 teams in the world today.

Pre-season has really started to get hyped up in the past few years. It is still meaningless, but people now pay way way too much attention to it. (These B.S. trophies and tournaments help). Maybe it's not a bad thing we lost. People were insanely overreacting to our wins so insanely overreacting to our loss brings things back to the middle somewhat.

Completely agree. I actually think it was a good thing to lose, I myself was guilty of being carried away. This team is soooooooo young, and although not exactly the same degree of implementing a new generation like last year, it is still crowded with players whom are unfamiliar to such strong teams as Madrid. Like Jose said, 5 victories, 1 defeat, zero points. The only aspects that really matter is: a) fitness exposing of flaws c) more goddamn fitness.

While I do agree that the attitude may not have been the best, just think about what we've had to endure for the last 2 seasons. The Rafa Reign. How dire was the attitude at some points, both fans and players? Villas Boas? We are stacked with potential, and a few potential world-beaters, yet we bemoan a loss to Real Madrid doing preseason friendlies. I've done it myself, so it's not to bash the people that do, but we need to cut our team a little slack.

[Barbara 15,149]

hence why I said it was a reality check - for us, not for the team. Mourinho knows pretty well where this team stands. He saw today better than ever where he should focus his efforts. It's a reality check for us, not losing to RM - the 3-1 score is so meaningless that it makes no sense to bring it up. But it's useful for us to know where the team stands as well. Go read the last two games post-matches and see if we weren't maybe thinking higher from the progress than we should. I use the word 'we' loosely, so don't take it particularly if you were cautious then too.

There are undeniable advances compared to last season, the main one being squad depth imo, but all the problems are still there to be handled and obviously they can't be handled in 4 weeks - 3 of them without 5-6 key players to the team. But it's only fair and okay for fans to come here and point those deficiencies as we're doing.

This nonchalant reaction 'it's okay, it's only pre-season' is more 'toxic' imo. The main purpose of pre-season is to get fit, get used to the new style, test formations and solve problems. The same way Mourinho saw problems and will talk to his team (of coaches) and then to the squad, we can discuss the same.

I didn't read one poster here saying we're fucked, we're a terrible team and that we're such a failure and should add 5 players to the squad. I saw people saying we played a terrible match in some aspects (whoever defends our defence is quite optimistic imo) and that's because of a lot of reasons most people covered: we had a mixed team, they're one of the main teams in the world and they played their best, we have a very young squad, Mourinho is here for less than a month, etc, etc, etc, etc. But that's it. We're just pointing out what should be pointed out in friendlies instead of ignoring all the issues and saying it's okay because it's a friendly or it's okay because it's Madrid. No, it's okay for us to see how deep those problems run and work to fix it.

Mourinho says it's okay to have lost. But he stresses that there are things he needs to work on the team and saying so isn't wrong... by him or by fans. Ignore our problems seems unwise. We have to learn what they are to work to improve them.

[Mouri_Matic 560]

Everyone still licking Lukaku? If he can't do anything in a friendly what do you think he will be able to do in a CL game against these teams?

Just showed why we needed a striker because Lukaku is just potential, he is not gonna shine in most big games. Ba and Torres are just useless.

Now we must bid for Suarez if Rooney bid fails. I am sure Liverpool would accept £45-£50m and prefer to sell him to us than Arsenal.

[Shane 2,275]

Everyone still licking Lukaku? If he can't do anything in a friendly what do you think he will be able to do in a CL game against these teams?

Just showed why we needed a striker because Lukaku is just potential, he is not gonna shine in most big games. Ba and Torres are just useless.

Now we must bid for Suarez if Rooney bid fails. I am sure Liverpool would accept £45-£50m and prefer to sell him to us than Arsenal.

I'd like us as a club to show and touch of class and not sign Suarez, he is a fucking runt which completly overshadows his footballing abillity. The way he's handled the Liverpool thing now is cringe worthy aswell.

[Vybz Kartel 1,613]

Dont worry everything will be alright I trust in Mourinho to fix it, remember 04/05 we didnt click until like October and we were unbeatable after that

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LanCLS_hIo4

[Ankit 3,176]

Everyone still licking Lukaku? If he can't do anything in a friendly what do you think he will be able to do in a CL game against these teams?

Just showed why we needed a striker because Lukaku is just potential, he is not gonna shine in most big games. Ba and Torres are just useless.

Now we must bid for Suarez if Rooney bid fails. I am sure Liverpool would accept £45-£50m and prefer to sell him to us than Arsenal.

So a friendly game in USA=Champion league match? Good to know!

I am just glad people in the Chelsea's board don't hit the panic button as quickly as you have done!!

[Mouri_Matic 560]

So a friendly game in USA=Champion league match? Good to know!

I am just glad people in the Chelsea's board don't hit the panic button as quickly as you have done!!

Oh you haven't seen panic yet, wait until the season starts and our strikers struggle then you will know what panic is. Actually last year was a pretty good example but it seems you haven't learn anything from it.

[The Skipper 20,593]

Didn't watch the game but I'm glad the people that are overreacting don't manage the team. Anyone taking anything too serious out of this game needs to check themselves.

Real played as if this was a proper competitive game as they had something to show/prove to Mourinho. We didn't take the game that seriously. Simple.

Nothing too serious to deduce from this game at all IMO.