Closed Chelsea 2-1 Aston Villa

[Jype 6,398]

Not a good match and I think Villa deserved something out of this but I'll happily take the three points. A hard game was to be expected with that lineup so I'm very happy for the result but something needs to change if we want to win next week's games too. Lukaku has to start and something must be done to the midfield, not to mention the defense. Hope Luiz and Azpilicueta are ready by then.

Lots of controversial decisions by the referees. Ivanovic against Benteke was a clear red card and he was very lucky to stay on the pitch. Not giving them the penalty was an okay decision due to Agbonlahor pulling Terry's shirt but I've seen those given many times as well and had it been the other way around I'd have been furious. Was Brana's goal offside too?

Anyway, top of the league for now. KTBFFH!

[ZanSnake 1,211]

Deja vu with the scenario of Chelsea playing bad, but still getting the points.

Could be a decisive tool for the title.

Ivanovic and Ba i wanted to slap to make sure they had their head on, more so Ba, but Ivan redeemed himself the best way he knows how - scoring.

Lukaku brought a surge of energy up-front, which brought a lot more directness from Hazard during the latter half of the game, which i think is a good indication. After all, Lukaku won the free kick with his pace, couldn't imagine Ba doing that - he might just walk off as the defender got closer to the ball. Ramires was the one man anchor, and deserves to start again Man United alongside either Mikel, Bieber or Essien, definitely need an improvement for Man Ure.

[FabHazard 655]

Its not about a DM, its about a DLP who will:

1) Run the game better than Lampard

2) Help Ramires more than Lampard does.

3) Just be quicker, the central midfield must move fast.

may be but i feel derossi can do all the jobs you mentioned

[Barbara 15,149]

Exactly.Except does seem when its them getting scrappy results its the sign of champions.Anyone else they're just lucky.

Hey ho 2 games down..6 points...

yeah, I mean, did I like what I watched?

The amount of curse dropping from my normally quiet mouth said otherwise. But I agree with you, and I feel like we now have the champions luck on our side, but mainly the forced result.

But that's how champions do it. I said in the English Football thread the other day that ManUtd force the wins, they somehow leave with the win when they play like crap. I don't mind us doing the same as normally we would have dropped points here.

I'm not saying I like to play like that, but the result is the most important thing at this point. The team will improve. It's still transitional and tentative. Mata was completely out of shape, I disagree with everyone who said Oscar had a bad match... thing is apart from Cech and Ramires nobody played really well. Maybe Terry too, but that's about it.

Eden started as if he was going to be the man, it lasted a few minutes - not 30 as I read (in my opinion). Mata slowed down our transition, there were way too many long passes - most of which inaccurate and Mourinho made a mistake with Ba imo. This match wasn't for him.

I can also see the confidence slowly building on Lukaku and for God's sake, let's not start the boy in the most important match we have in this beginning. Why throw him to the lions? Burn Torres or even Ba again. I'm more concerned about how we'll defend against ManUtd than I am about who will score for us. Someone will and although Lukaku could be the man to solve the match, let's have the kid come from the bench again, without putting all the pressure on his shoulders. We should protect him now. It sucks we don't have someone else to count, but I'd rather protect him than use him and risk him being burned, disrupt the mental progress he's doing for one match... one match we aren't even sure if he'll score or not.

He's our super sub now, and until he feels like he can boss those games, let's be careful with him. He has to play at least 30 minutes though. It seems he loves to score against ManUtd

[Jase 43,479]

Second match of the season only and we already experienced through panic attacks and nervy moments. Never dull with Chelsea eh?

Admittedly, we escaped with a few lucky decisions from the referee but then again, we got screwed quite a lot in the last run of games last season. So yeah...On the other hand, we didn't play well but still managed to get the win and at this early stage of the season, can't ask for better I guess. Winning games will always help to breed winning mentality especially for a team like ours now.

Also, we have played 2 games, won 2 and have 6 points. Top of the table. No doubt we still need to improve a lot as many of our ongoing problems are still visible but players are still finding their feet under Mourinho and still yet to fully understand one another on the pitch. Will only get better collectively as it goes, I hope.

[The Skipper 20,593]

I agree that our 2nd goal was offside and that Ivanovic could've also been sent off but what I do disagree with is the supposed blatant penalty. Yeah JT touched the ball with his arm but his arm only went up because of Agbonlahor. It was pretty much involuntary.

[iceboy 992]

Oh come on in the first half they had one shot and benteke scored. No drama please. 3 points for us that is important.

Edited August 21, 2013 by iceboy

[nadavTKL 1,787]

may be but i feel derossi can do all the jobs you mentioned

I dont think so. His passing and vision arent good enough to be considered as a DLP.

[ulsterchelsea 3,213]

I disagree.

With Rafa, we wouldn't start with Iva at right back, Terry Cahill in central defense and Ramires Lampard in the pivot.

We don't know what we would have bought and we would have the automatisms of the last three four months wich were quite good if you think that we played every three days and he had not the pre-season to do optimal tactical and physical work.

I think with a fresh team we would have beaten them easily.

I mean under Rafa last season when we crumbled under every wave of pressure not if the fat one was in charge now

[Jose M 140]

Average display but Mou got us the 3 points. As much as I love Oscar I think the three behind Lukaku should be hazard-Mata-KDB.

[The Skipper 20,593]

Lukaku has to start against United for me.

[Chelsea? 892]

Same old Chelsea.

[Sheva. 5,373]

Villa fan here, felt Chelsea did enough to deserve the win but as you could imagine I do feel a little cheated by the ref. He called Benteke for two or three lesser handballs than the Terry one. The Ivanovic goal was tough seeing how he was offside in the replay but great delivery. Felt he should've been sent off after the high kick on Benteke or even the late challenge near the sideline. Oh well, we had our chances and I'm pleased that we played well enough to give you a good run. Wasn't 8-0 like last time which nearly demoralized us enough to get us relegated! Good luck against United

You did well, perfectly stopped our attacking midfielders from getting into their groove; your midfield 3 worked tirelessly, very impressed with them. Agbonlahor didnt have his best game though, apart from the obvious moment before HT - he looked frustrated and really never got going.

And Weimann would have scored against any other goalie in the league lol.

[Hysteria 159]

Ramires is a beast, MOTM for me. Boring game but we did our work, 3 points, we need to remember that AV is never an easy game.

About our striker situation, Lukaku would be my first choice to face Utd.

[Weckerz 3,781]

I agree that our 2nd goal was offside and that Ivanovic could've also been sent off but what I do disagree with is the supposed blatant penalty. Yeah JT touched the ball with his arm but his arm only went up because of Agbonlahor. It was pretty much involuntary.

Aren't most handballs in the box involuntary?

What do you mean by 'his arm only went up because of Agbonlahor'? I've got no means to review atm, did he actually pull JT's arm upwards?

[Hutcho 8,443]

Lukaku has to start against United for me.

I agree.

One thing we pretty much know for certain is that it won't be ba. So its either lukaku or torres. And for me he earned his chance with that impact he made.

I expect to see torres though. Could be wrong, but that's the feeling I get.

[bushman 2,043]

Misplaced though, blatant penalty and Ivanovic could have been sent off 3 times.

Were you watching the game or highlights only ?

[Sidzeret 2,257]

We dictated possession. We deserved to win

Top of the table....What more could we wish for given that we didn't play exceptionally well.