Closed Chelsea 2-1 Aston Villa

[bushman 2,043]

Thought it was a very average performance but credit has to go to Villa as they came here and did a very good job getting in amongst us and sticking to a clear plan. A win is a win but we must be 100% better than this v United, a United who regardless of Moyes are capable of really getting at us especially with RvP leading the line.

Ba is a liability, caught offside a stupid amount of times and him and Torres are like two people you just don't want to have to rely on, and is exactly why we need a top class forward NOW!!

Well said. When I posted about BA yesterday, folks were up in arms. I honestly feel, BA is not it. He runs around aimlessly, I feel.

When Lukaku came on, yesterday or against Hull, the team seems to spruce up, I feel.

[Stingray 9,441]

Yes, sometimes we all need to apply some puns here. After all, so many inveterate Belgium supporters here, I couldn´t help it.

stil, I actually did windmills before in my time

Ps: you have inveterates from all nationalities, I think. They just stand out a bit due to the recent influx

[Special Juan 27,429]

Well said. When I posted about BA yesterday, folks were up in arms. I honestly feel, BA is not it. He runs around aimlessly, I feel.

When Lukaku came on, yesterday or against Hull, the team seems to spruce up, I feel.

The striker situation right now at this club is not funny at all. We have a very average player in Torres, Ba isn't even good enough as a back up and Lukaku isn't even tried and tested here.

If anything will stop us challenging for the league it's our forward options.

[Roquila 1,335]

Reminds you, their morale is on a highest level after the Arsenal game and also their fitness level must be better than ours.

My finger was pointing at the defence

[Hutcho 8,443]

motm? really?

He was okay, that was about it, I wouldn't say he was great.

It's evident we need a new striker, Lukaku is not ready to be a starter, Ba is a squad player and Torres is far too inconsistent.

Yeah. If It was official of meant anything then Cech/rambo was probably a more realistic option.

No one really stood out. None of the AM 3. Hazard was great at times and not so at others. Ivan should have been off but scored. JT and cahill had a good game but were a bit liable for their goal. Rambo started well. Lamps had some good moments bit some bad also.

Lukaku though just bossed it when he came ok and seemed to lift the whole team. Perhaps it's because he wasn't on for long and could just go all out. But that is why I picked him.

[bushman 2,043]

The striker situation right now at this club is not funny at all. We have a very average player in Torres, Ba isn't even good enough as a back up and Lukaku isn't even tried and tested here.

If anything will stop us challenging for the league it's our forward options.

I agree wholeheartedly here. Please do not hammer me here, but what I am about to say may not be very popular here.

Since I read, manures would like to have Mata as part od Rooney´s deal, I am not sure whether Chelsea shouldn´t go for it.

After all Chelsea have an abundance of creative attacking talent on their squad. In the Hull´s game Oscar played very well. When Mata came on yesterday, things looked pretty slow. I am not saying Chelsea should, but there are too many mid-fielders, I feel.

[borriske 330]

if it was avb,rdm or benitez we would have lose it 2-1 probably. like few others mentioned winning these kind of matches are the key to the title.

well ba failed as a striker last night but torres would have failed as i dont know what ever that is.

I'm having difficulties with these 'under x or y we would have lost, but thanks to jose...' We dominated possession (like we would have last year), but created nil danger. In the end it was two Cech saves and some luck with the ref that won us the game, not Mourinho.

But as you said, in a 38-game season there are always gonna be games like this, and winning them is vital.

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

My finger was pointing at the defence

Oh, I see. Lol.

[Special Juan 27,429]

It's hard not to be OTT in your assessment as we must remember this is the second game in. Players are not at 100% yet but we will get there and Jose will get them there, patience is key. One top striker and we are set to go, lets get behind the lads and rip United a new one at OT.

CAREFREE!!

[nachikethas 1,149]

I'm having difficulties with these 'under x or y we would have lost, but thanks to jose...' We dominated possession (like we would have last year), but created nil danger. In the end it was two Cech saves and some luck with the ref that won us the game, not Mourinho.

But as you said, in a 38-game season there are always gonna be games like this, and winning them is vital.

oh thought jose was playing too!

that was just an expression dude.

[Jose M 140]

Start KDB and he will control thr game vs United. I expected Mata to take control against Villa, but unlike KDB his movemant from inside right and switching with Oscar was poor. The only two changes we need for United is Lukaku upfront and KDB down the right.

[Stef 15]

Ok this may seem as a strange question but how do you upload an image here (yes I suck at this)

[Special Juan 27,429]

Petr Cech give yourself and enormous pat on the back, fucking amazing goalkeeper. Some of those saves last night were just tremendous.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

ugly game but in no way did Villa deserve to win ... suggest you calm down the season has only started

They were the better side at 1-1 and creating more chances when we should have had a man sent off. They would probably had scored had the ref made the right call. Then that same man goes and scores the winner from an offside position. And he should have been sent off again after the goal for a second yellow but the ref booked Benteke instead for taking a kick to the head.

Performance wise, Villa were the better side apart from the opening 10 mins. They defended much better and they created more than we did. They had 4-5 clear goal scoring opportunities and we were lucky that Cech made three excellent saves (and that three of those chances didn't fall to a striker). On the other hand, we scored from an own goal and an offside. I can't remember us creating a single chance other than those two in the first 80 mins. Only in the last 10-15 mins when Villa pushed for an equalizer and left spaces at the back did we manage to create something and even those were only half chances.

It was a terrible performance, there are no two ways about it, and in a normal game where we do not get as much luck as we did last night, we'd most probably lose.

[didierforever 7,349]

well that was one cakewalk, right guys? OH WAIT...

i feel we took our foot off the pedal to early in the first half, even before the goal, villa had started making the odd chance and for the last 15 minutes of the first half, i dont think we had a single move except for hoofing the ball to BA. we were really lucky to get 3 points off this game and should be buliding on the win.

here's my player analysis -

CECH - MOTM without a doubt. no keeper in the world could have done anything to stop the goal, so i dont think any blame can be put on him. the rest of the game he was a beast. handling the cross, vital-vital stops and saves and even his distribution was PERFECT. 10/10 for me.

IVANOVIC - a lot of good and bad moments in the match for me. let agbanlahor go past too easily in the lead up to the goal. also could/should have been sent off twice in the match. but crucially got the winner. 6/10

CAHILL - was good. won most of the aerial battles against benteke. good tackles and covered JT and IVA whenever wiemann and agbanlahor ran behind them. could not have stopped the cross from agbanlahor for the goal.7/10

JT - was very average. really slow and could have conceded a penalty. had the the goal covered for the benteke goal but unluckily it was a beast of a finish,6/10

Cole- his usual self. though he dint venture forward much during the match because of wiemann's speed. 7/10

Ramires - a very close 2nd to cech for MOTM. beast in the mid, good distribution, excellent tackling and probably could have had a goal if hazard had put him thru in the counter towards the end.9/10

Lampard - felt he was really tired towards theend.dint close down the villa mid a no of times and gave delph/westwood plenty on time on the ball. attackingly was decent. 7/10

Hazard - POOR. lost the ball countless number of times. i feelhe is still in pre-season mode. needs to get his act to together before the united and bayern match. 5/10

Oscar - great ball to put hazard thru, defensively did more than his share of work. brilliant start to the season. 8/10

Mata - dint seem match-fit or even fit. levels below his standards. was not at all influential and could not control the game at all. 5/10

BA - if we are buying a new striker then this would probably have been his last match. simply put, he was awful. for the major chunk of the first half we tried to play him behind the defence but neither was he able to hold the ball, nor was he able to make a significant contribution to the attack. will probably be sold if we DO get a new striker.5/10

LUKAKU - HE IS OUR BEST STRIKER. PERIOD. won plenty of headers, ran a lot and his performance was characterized by the slide tackle he put on clark to concede the throw-in. a brilliant turn and shoot which got the side netting, link up play was good too and work rate was immense. SHOULD START AGAINST UNITED. 8/10

schurlle - provided much needed width for us since MAZACAR was too narrow. a decent performance. 7/10

MVG - not much to do.

[MAF 162]

Am i the only one who thinks we are too dependant on Hazard again? Last season i think he played the most minutes out of the entire squad, even with his suspension, and now we're seeing the same pattern. I though Shurrle was going to provide some copetition on his position...

[Hutcho 8,443]

Am i the only one who thinks we are too dependant on Hazard again? Last season i think he played the most minutes out of the entire squad, even with his suspension, and now we're seeing the same pattern. I though Shurrle was going to provide some copetition on his position...

He will. But simply put Hazard isn't really in competition with anyone because in his position he is no.1.

It's a bit like the Left back position. Schurlle is in competition with hazard in the same way bertrand is in competition with Cole. But the advantage for schurlle being he can play in other positions as well.

[Stef 15]

Am i the only one who thinks we are too dependant on Hazard again? Last season i think he played the most minutes out of the entire squad, even with his suspension, and now we're seeing the same pattern. I though Shurrle was going to provide some copetition on his position...

Exactly my idea, even though he didn't deliver enough yesterday. I'm sure it had to do something with the players around him who weren't at their best either. I noticed a change in his play the second Lukaku and Schürrle came on, I think all noticed that it gave him a boost of energy.