Closed Chelsea 1-2 Basel

[edetarod 2,155]

i'm not even surprised

[Stats 7,142]

When people were complaining after the Everton match that was a bit of an overreaction because we done well but tonight we were truly shocking and things really need to be looked into after losing this game. Basel are a good team and underrated but we simply should not even be drawing these kind of games, let along losing. I don't think it is a case of even underrating them as Cahill said in his interview because we saw the threat of them last season but our team is strengthened more than last season yet we have lost.

Even when Oscar scored, it came completely out of the blue and you would think we would press on but no, shit performance second half as well. I think a lot of people saw Moruinho as an 'automatic fixer' but as this game proved there are much bigger issues and he is not some magician who will automatically fix things. We have some of the best attacking talents in Europe but the cohesion within the team is not there. Every single game we have played, the performance has been sluggish and not really impressive. It just creates a whole loads of questions again because now people will air their doubts over Eto'o and saying he is not good enough anymore for the PL. Still early to judge him but that is what 6 games or so played and not one goal from our striker and that worries me, really.

A shame City got Fernandinho because he is the sort of player I think we need in our team. MVG can drop deep etc but he clearly is not as ready as some people think. That is expected though with his age and little experience of playing on the big stage but tonight right from the offset the atmosphere was poor and there just seemed little effort by the players even when we were down. Really odd for us to lose a CL group stage game and the performance with it.

Worrying thing is though Jose does not know what is his best team and the way the manager wants us to play and how the team responds to him is not working.

[different level 1,056]

Bunch of losers... Should we be surprised really? Since the start of the season we've had only one good half against Hull...

[The Skipper 20,609]

So lates Blame them...

What the hell? I'm not blaming them, where the hell did you get that from?

All I'm saying is that the atmosphere was flat and that reflected in our play.

[zolayes 14,489]

Can i just say.. i was at tonights game and we were SHIT!

stop over rating them ,,,they were nowhere near that good

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

Simple. The team hasn't gelled yet and need to gain some understanding of each other.

Really wanna see DeBruyne get a run out soon, he is probably the best passer on the team. Our best moments of the season occurred with Oscar, DeBruyne and hazard played together. I'd like to see that combination again

[edetarod 2,155]

just glad this happened in the group stages and not in the league

oh wait...

[The_Flash 1,144]

It's not often ok NEVER that I agree with Jamie Carragher but he said we are playing with 10 men without s decent striker and I have to agree. We played as if we didnt have enough men. It's very worrying.

I think this merry go round of changing strikers doesn't work either. He needs to just pick one and play them and play them, we need consistency. Just play Torres say, we've paid for him.

[zolayes 14,489]

Bunch of losers... Should we be surprised really? Since the start of the season we've had only one good half against Hull...

Hush your mouth ,,theyre not a BOL they are a BOW unless in USA they are a BOJ ... (not quite a blow off job)

[Barbara 15,149]

You know what I call overreaction? Blaming everything on the Willian's signing. That's really nonsense.

The problems we have currently aren't with him or Kevin or André - although one might complain one should play more than the other. Some prefer André, others Kevin and Willian needs a couple more matches to see if anyone will prefer him.

Our problems are conceptual. We aren't a team. We have no identity, we're making mistakes individually and failing to deliver collectively. none of the three players mentioned above have made capital mistakes in my opinion - least of all Willian who only played today and had an okay debut.

No one in our board came and said we didn't have more money to spend and that's why we didn't sing other players. Signing Willian didn't stop us from signing other players. We didn't sign others either because we didn't want or the players/team didn't want them to come to us. Willian has nothing to do with that...

Now the problems we do have: our CM looks weak compared to other big teams. Ramires, Lampard and Mikel are quality players for specific roles and actions during the matches, they are also deficient in other areas as well and even we combine two of them (no matter what the combination is) we still have issues. As Mourinho is convinced we don't need a new signing there - or the ones they tried didn't come - we'll have to improve that zone with hard working and trying to make those players work on their limitations. The problem is Lampard is 35, Mikel is very limited technically (on anything that doesn't involve defending) and Ramires is a B2B without much ceiling to improve in the areas he does need improvement (ball control, first touch, wise tempo, etc...). I guess we'll have to manage with them.

Hazard and Mata are under-performing - to their own standards. Oscar is following up his progress from last season - but among the three he was clearly the least important last season, the least decisive, the one that struggled more adapting to English football. when I said he continued from where he stopped, I mean he's improving. He's a better EPL player now, he continues to prove he's our best UCL player (at least from the midfield up), he's being bolder, going for the plays more often, adding up confidence, but still he isn't at the same level both Mata and Hazard had already showed for us. We need Hazard and Mata to resume from where they left last season. Hazard finished the season very well, showing he was finally adapting and Mata has been fulled adapted for a while now and only flourished even more last season. But this season both have been sort of MIA - Mata more than Eden.

We continue to have no efficient attack. Eto'o is a clear improvement in the quality, in the link-up, first touch, vision, etc, but there are three aspects that need to be considered 1) it'll take time for him to adapt to the style and the physicality 2) he showed clear signs of tiredness today - wasn't nearly as creative and productive as he has been in the weekend 3) he will help our attack, but he isn't the final answer we needed because of his style, his age, our style, our problems, etc... Having him is better than having no one or only Ba, Torres and Lukaku imo, it doesn't mean he completely solves the problem for us, even if we talk about only one season. I do believe he'll start scoring, but I also doubt he'll be able to play twice a week in high level. The alternatives to him are awful as Ba is useless in our style and Torres is too inconstant and inconsistent.

In addition to time for Mourinho to see what works with the players he has at his disposal, the struggles that come with establishing a new philosophy and identity, those are the problems we have and I don't get why so many people keep bringing the Willian signing as a cause to any of those 4 key-issues we have right now. Money was never and is never going to be the problem as long as Roman is there. Signing Willian didn't stop us from signing a DM or a ST. Still we should have made better on both departments as Marco is for the future and way down the road - and Eto'o is a palliative rather than the conclusive answer we needed. Better him than no one at all though.

[kellzfresh 7,229]

Where is the link up play between our players on the flanks?

Ashely cole and hazard?? wtf is up with them they dont communicate or give near enough crosses into the box.

bayern cross

barca pass then cross

rm cross

manutd cross all the time

chelsea come into the middle all the time wtf

Ivanovic even comes to the middle, hazard and cole just seem lost

The flanks is the main problem with our play, they are horrible

[The Skipper 20,609]

Hazard and Mata are under-performing - to their own standards.

Probably the biggest reason why we haven't had a good start to the season. Our two best players have not been playing to the level we expect them to be.

[Mufassir08 2,400]

Probably the biggest reason why we haven't had a good start to the season. Our two best players have not been playing to the level we expect them to be.

In mata's case not playing regularly is the problem.

[Jase 43,479]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEE2POb5Qbk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5d1IYkDe5i0

[zolayes 14,489]

That was BAD ..worse than bad really ..

BUT luckily it is only the first game

I still think we can go there and beat them .

I think we can top the group .

Perhaps we can make the semi final.

I think we have a chance of Capitol One Cup

Even a chance of F A cup .

I now have doubts of PL title and would settle for third .

Still in September and expectations being down graded ....It's a FUCKING long time to May ,,,,and the weather's only gonna get worse

[Behemoth 266]

The team is too young, and there are far too many new faces for the team to gel the way it should, the way any team does under Jose. They need a full season together to truly perform at a great level. Too much instability in the team right now. The strikers also need to start producing, the midfield can't be blamed for everything. If they win something this season, I'll be happy because right now, it seems like its a sacrificial lamb for next year.

[Golo 0]

Got to start dropping Hazard. Liability to the team. He only really tries for 70 mins then just starts messing about with the ball and losing it in crucial areas and gets tired while also not helping Cole. Does not seem like a 90 min player to me with Jose tactics.Similar to Joe Cole. He was average against Hull and Villa, Poor at Old Trafford and Goodison and awful against Basel.

[Styles 9,790]

I wonder what is the problem here ...

- We have good players, great players.

- We have one of the best managers around.

What the hell ?

We have many players that aren't suited to playing together and they never will be. Football is about relationships all over the field i.e. fullbacks + wingers, AM + forwards, midfielders linking play etc. We have virtually no good combination play happening anywhere on the field, and that has been the case for a few seasons. Hope it'll get better but I won't hold my breath because some of these players just don't fit together into a team.

[Wiillowhobo 28]

I think its becoming more apparent that we have a conflicting identity between the manager and the team.

The team has players more suited for flowing attacking football. Jose wants to go back to his first reign of a robust team that relied on counter attacks.

One has to give way.

I agree!

[Tomo 21,751]

I don't see why people are blaming tonight on signing Willian It was after he went off things started to crumble. Ok Basle were doing well, but it was after that sub they started to create proper chances.

I don't get the drop Eto'o for Torres brigade either, ok the Cameron wasn't great tonight but i felt he was there, we weren't playing with 10 and got involved with the play without tripping on the ball.