Closed Roma 1-2 Chelsea

[Sidzeret 2,257]

Would've looked better on Schwarzer if it had been a own goal....he looked half-baked there.

[Arief 40]

Shirley Schurrle was shockingly awful. Can't dribble can't pass can't defense and very poor first touch except a decent shot and a decent set piece.

He needs to put his acts together quick otherwise his pecking order will be even under Moses.

Yeaaah!! I mean i know its still pre season, but he havent impressed me since the day 1 he's here.

[Christacinto 137]

That was 23 minutes(?) of all-out awesomeness from Hazard; Ramires was the key changing in my opinion though.

Mikel - Essien were just... *sigh*, I would give anything to see Mikel replaced in the squad by someone like de rossi.

My favourite team to start against Hull is definitely:

Cech

Luiz Ivanovic

Azpilicueta Cole/Bertrand

MVG/Essien Ramires

Oscar/KDB

Mata Hazard

Lukaku

With the players before the / being my first choice, and the ones behind it close runners up.

Peace brothers, am ANXIOUSLY awaiting the first whistle to blow

[Goemaere 131]

Van Ginkel was shit today. Hope he does better against hull if he plays. Hazard was amazing so were lamps and ramirez

[didierforever 7,349]

That was 23 minutes(?) of all-out awesomeness from Hazard; Ramires was the key changing in my opinion though.

Mikel - Essien were just... *sigh*, I would give anything to see Mikel replaced in the squad by someone like de rossi.

My favourite team to start against Hull is definitely:

Cech

Luiz Ivanovic

Azpilicueta Cole/Bertrand

MVG/Essien Ramires

Oscar/KDB

Mata Hazard

Lukaku

With the players before the / being my first choice, and the ones behind it close runners up.

Peace brothers, am ANXIOUSLY awaiting the first whistle to blow

azpi wont be available.

[Styles 9,790]

Oscar was awful, did almost everything wrong and his first touch was shocking.

Last two games have been a good reality check for the team.

[yuvala 2,167]

Oscar was awful, did almost everything wrong and his first touch was shocking.

Last two games have been a good reality check for the team.

Yea I also thought Oscar wasn't really good.. dunno if 'awful', but not a great game for him.

Saw some comments about how he played well though.

[chelsea blue 615]

Amazing save by Blackman

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=593kjzDX9MQ

[Muzchap 8,966]

The biggest problem we have (still) is Tempo...

We are too slow and laboured in our build up play

You can't expect Miracles from Jose - it will take a long season to get right.

The massive overreaction here is driving me mad! Everybody needs to CHECK their emotions.

We COULD challenge for the title but I'm not expecting it - a top 3 finish and decent CL run will do me fine - what we need hasn't changed - CONSISTENCY OF MANAGEMENT FOR THE NEXT 3-4 years - to I impress upon the team a playing style and mantra - from there we can build a platform to dominate!

It seems now we pigeon hole people immediately - Schurrle is Marin (who is playing well in pre-season btw) - that's just ridiculous, give the guy 2 seasons and then judge!

How would you like your Boss/Lecturer to declare you are shit at your favourite subject after just a few weeks? There's a reason why exams and gradings are done at the END of a season/year - it allows for a holistic AVERAGE of performance - discounting bad and super performances and giving a MEAN result!

As for Schwarzer - better to happen in a Pre-Season game - he won't make that mistake again

So plenty to be positive about

[Leif 6,006]

Taking off your captain (Terry) and throwing on another striker (Lukaku) is bold. It paid off. It won us the game. This is what Mourinho does and what we've been missing ever since he originally departed.

Apparently, Inter were once about to lose so Jose played with 4 strikers in the last few minutes. They won.

[Jase 43,479]

@,

Scoreline in the thread title

Apologies but I stated clearly that the change to the scoreline will only start from the Hull City game onwards.

3 at the back? Didn't Ramires just move to RB when Terry went off?

Ramires - Cahill - Ivan - Bertrand

It was probably a bit of both, depending on how you view it. At times, it looks like a back 3 with Ramires and Bertrand being the wing backs and van Ginkel dropping back to CB alonside Cahill and Ivanovic.

[Azpinator 2,325]

Dirtiest player in the entire Serie A. Absolutely no sportsmanship and a grade A cunt. Wouldn't want him anywhere near my team.

Clearly Mata and Lamps don't think so, basically because they don't have their Juve-fan mode turned on, or a Juve-fan mode.

[Barbara 15,149]

^ if we decide not to sign a proper DM because of Essien, than mourinho is deluded. clearly the position where we need a world-class signing the most. but mourinho thinks that mikel, essien, lampard, MVG and rambo are enough

they're enough.

How many teams in the world have better than those 5? I'm not talking about the 2 main guys, but the 5?

We need to know that no team has world class in every single position and then some "world class -(A-)" subs to every position.

Would it better if we had another guy there? Yeah, and so another guy in the defence, and so a better replacement for Cole as Bertrand has one decent match out of 20, then we might need a good right winger because no one we play there play their best in the position (for some people). Then we must sign not one, but two strikers, etc, etc, etc.

I guess we're fine there, I don't think we'd be less competitive because of that area. there's some experience, there's some holding quality, there's some box to box quality, there's some defensive quality. So I think we've got it covered.

Just came back from RFK.

The game was OK, decent as friendlies go. I actually broke a rule of mine by attending this match... "if the players don't give a damn I sure as hell don't either... " still, not many opportunities to see the players in action.

JT and Luiz still make a wonderful pairing. They were the only thing holding Chelsea together in the first half because the midfield vanished. Essien has moments that remind us of the player he once was, but he was lost most of the time. Mikel was the usual Mikel, simple passes, no risk, no carrying the ball, and a few tackles... nothing horrible and nothing great... I just expect more from our starting holding mid.

I was not impressed at all by KDB, and for me the difference between him and Oscar became very clear in the second half. KDB was just not helping enough in the middle which caused Roma to dominate in the first half. Shirley had another poor game, but I still see more potential in him than Moses. I'm sorry I just don't see enough technique in Moses and have seen too many players doing what he does, and some a lot better than him.

Second half was far more interesting. We had a midfield in the second half. And we had a player, in Hazard, beating his marker and creating chances. Oscar did very well by always getting involved in the play, defense too. Ramires, the usual extremely high work rate and a good performance.

Nice to see some variation in tactics with 2 FWs and Ramires in the RB position. Very attacking-minded and interesting for the right occasion.

Still very worried about the striker position.

Now that's an assessment I completely agree with.

I still stand by we could use a backup CB just in case Terry gets injured again - or worse, Luiz does - but we definitely need a striker.

I've watched the match replay and it was insufferable to see how our strikers are overall just harmless.

The best without a doubt was Ba, who I always criticize, but because he scored the winner Lukaku is being hyped (again) - even though he needed the help of the defence because the camera from the back angle shows that ball was going to go wide otherwise (or maybe Ramires or Oscar who were nearby could have pushed it into the net). It was Ba who fought as a crazy for the ball, and also Ba also passed the ball to Lampard score. So I appreciate those link ups, and I appreciate Lukaku's goal (I more than appreciate it because he needed to score a goal against a significant opposition that isn't from Asia to build up some confidence), but both are still weak overall.

I think Ba last night showed the best performance from a striker in the whole pre-season as far as I can remember (as I write this I watch Robin scoring a beautiful header - *cries*) because although in whatever match Lukaku ran the channels, and another match Torres had decent link ups, it was only yesterday that one of our strikers (the less reliable of them generally) really did something to help us win. I'm one of those people who believe the striker is the to score us goals (whether by netting themselves or assisting) while I appreciate work rate it's not enough if they simply run channels, do link ups, have good runs, but never end up in goals!

The only positive note is that at least Lukaku can develop throughout the season - and that's the only thing that comforts me - and maybe we could have a more reliable striker as the competition goes. Ba is a question mark for me. He's been here only for a semester and he could use more time. The striker is the position that depends more on squad chemistry and a position that really requires a lot of confidence, so maybe Ba could turn the tables around this season. I'm still not sure. And Torres while having a completely different attitude on him under Mourinho, working very hard every match, still doesn't score or creates clear goal chances for others. I can't overlook those things.

And if someone secured a starting position against Hull last night was Ba, not Lukaku... sorry to disagree with most. The thing is I don't think last night was about assuring starting positions because of course one game isn't enough. The thing is the three of them produced so little in those 4 friendlies that it's hard to pick someone.

[Sheva. 5,373]

Nothing from Mou?

[Jase 43,479]

Nothing from Mou?

Doesn't look like it. Rui Faria gave the post-match thoughts instead.

http://www.chelseafc.com/news-article/article/3344650/title/final-whistle-verdict-positive-trip

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Clearly Mata and Lamps don't think so, basically because they don't have their Juve-fan mode turned on, or a Juve-fan mode.

Not exactly a Juve related opinion. Most people in Italy share that opinion. Don't get me wrong, he's an amazing player, but he's the type of cunt that will always try to elbow a defender in the face and intentionally injure an opposition player in a tackle.

[Azpinator 2,325]

Not exactly a Juve related opinion. Most people in Italy share that opinion. Don't get me wrong, he's an amazing player, but he's the type of cunt that will always try to elbow a defender in the face and intentionally injure an opposition player in a tackle.

Still, Mata and Lamps wouldn't take a pic with such a horrible person. I think he's just an easily-angered player.

Most people in England (and the world in general) share a negative opinion about JT, but that to me still doesn't make him a cunt.

[Magic Lamps 11,655]

Totti probably is a cunt, but he respects Lamps and Mata as they respect him.