Closed Chelsea 1-2 Basel

[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 21,681]

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.

[Spenzy2010 8]

I'm starting to think maybe Jose has already started having issues with the players u know, because they didn't seem to care and neva played for him tonite... Em, Eto shouldn't be playing for us, like for real Torres seem a lot better and commtted to the team than he is at the moment. 100,000 a week! He doesn't deserve that at all.

[xPetrCechx 13,546]

FINAL WHISTLE VERDICT: RECOVERY MISSION

http://www.chelseafc.com/news-article/article/3463239/title/final-whistle-verdict-recovery-mission

Nothing Special...

Just some blah blah blah.... need to work hard..

[kellzfresh 7,226]

what if we've only gotten used to torres and with any other we play shit

[tmessy 139]

drop Torres and Schurrle they said.
we will win they said.

pretty dumb starting XI in my opinion. This is the champions league. we need guys who know how to handle the atmosphere.

Listen i know im pretty gun-ho for starting torres (he fits in best with our team) but i cannot recall a recent game (other than the munich game) that torres started and we failed to pick up the W.

I wonder what is going on. I love seeing him (torres) and shurrle playing out there. wouldve loved to see them two and willian, but i guess thats why im not the chelsea manager.

oh well. dont even know what to say, im speechless. especially with torres' european record..... alright im done.

damn.

lets go blues

[Blue Traveler 256]

Hazard need to be benched it seems he is taking his starting place for granted!

Eto'o is not fit & ready yet not in this one nor the last one in this case Torres oddy makes a better choice

And i have problem with the way Luiz play. Pianfull to say but Benitez was right in playing him in midfield area he can not stick with the defensive work he just like to go forward and that a problem!

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

[Jase 43,479]

drop Torres and Schurrle they said.

we will win they said.

pretty dumb starting XI in my opinion. This is the champions league. we need guys who know how to handle the atmosphere.

Listen i know im pretty gun-ho for starting torres (he fits in best with our team) but i cannot recall a recent game (other than the munich game) that torres started and we failed to pick up the W.

I wonder what is going on. I love seeing him (torres) and shurrle playing out there. wouldve loved to see them two and willian, but i guess thats why im not the chelsea manager.

oh well. dont even know what to say, im speechless. especially with torres' european record..... alright im done.

damn.

lets go blues

Only Van Ginkel was the new one in the Champions League tonight. The others have played in it before. It's not that they don't know how to handle the Champions League atmosphere but there was no reaction or drive or full commitment when we really needed it to win the game in the second half.

[Blue Traveler 256]

We're so pathetic in recent weeks i can't even expect to win the next matches!!

[Blue Warrior 109]

The kick up the arse we needed. Lets see who has the pride and determination to wear the famous blue shirt. Its how you react to adversity.

[The_Flash 1,144]

Totally agree Jose has go to serious, line them all up and see who has has it to play for Chelsea, who wants to play for this grea club and who's egos are too big. I think he has to tough and not scare to bench like Hazard whose attitude has been bad and really tell them to buck up their ideas this is like when AVB was in charge. Do they not like Jose or what is he bloody problem, everyone deserves better.

[English Freak 456]

Disgusting performance after 70 mins..

There was always a risk that bringing in too many new players in the same transfer window would create disjointed performances.

I'm expecting more losses like this one, this season.

[didierforever 7,349]

What a fucking performance. What a fucking shambolic, sickening, mind-fucking performance.

What has happened to THE CHELSEA. The never say die Chelsea, the team that always showed character and spirit. This is a shadow of that team. World class talent and all count for shit is you cant show the fucking fire to win.

Lets start with the HERO of tonight EDEN FUCKING HAZARD. What a BALLON D’OR winning performance from him. What the fuck does he think this is? A bloody fucking pre-season match!!! Or did he think he had come to take a bloody stroll in the park? Its time he is DROPPED, made to sit on the bench till he actually gets an urge to fight for the team and fight for his place. And please don’t tell me that I am exaggerating. 6-7 pre-season matches, and now its been 6 matches in to the season and he has been downright PATHETIC, DISGRACEFUL. Who the fuck does he think he is? Cristiano Ronaldo??? The reason we were so ineffective in the first half was because hazard came central which pushed Oscar wide. And then he kept losing the ball trying to go past the whole basel team. Just fucking stay on the wing and do your bloody job. If you are unable to get past your man then just pass the bloody ball to another fucking player.

As for the performance jose has to take the fall. No excuses. The player seem un-motivated, dis-interested, and while we thought that having a big squad will make them fight for their place, the players’ attitude has been utterly shambolic. Why was mata sent in with a 1-0 lead. It was so fucking obvious that we were going to concede if our defence and mid was not shored up and still, he took out willian who was atleast providing cover for iva unlike the great hazard, and put in mata who seemed like he wanted to be anywhere else except for Stamford bridge. Lost the ball which led to the goal and was completely un-influential.

Another thing is the tactic we are using of attacking with our fullbacks. For me ivanovic was the man of the match, for his brilliant work-rate, defence and contribution to the attack, but why do we need our full-backs to attack when we have so much creativity in the team. Why cant the likes of willian and hazard just stay on the wings, stretch the defence rather than going central and using iva and cole to provide width. And while I am on this subject lets talk about COLE.

Has lost half his pace

Is useless in an attack

Slows the game down immensely with his mind-bogglingly stupid passes back to the center backs which gives the teams time to settle and get back into their defensive shape.

I mean what the use of cole bombarding ahead and leaving space behind him for salah to run. Twice, fucking twice salah could have put basel ahead in the first half if he could have put a half-decent ball in the box and it was no fucking surprise that he scored.

So why not give Bertrand a real shot.

As for the season, I was expecting so much out of it, but its proving to be a DISASTER. We don’t have a goal-scorer and the only one who could have done something has been sent out on loan. The midfield 3 look clueless without mata, and we simply don’t have that cutting edge without him playing at his best. The defence is in a poor condition. The team has no identity, no character. We look worse than arsenal for fuck’s sake. Simply not looking forward to the weekend for a derby match against fulham. Expect to be disappointed again.

[The_Flash 1,144]

What a fucking performance. What a fucking shambolic, sickening, mind-fucking performance.

What has happened to THE CHELSEA. The never say die Chelsea, the team that always showed character and spirit. This is a shadow of that team. World class talent and all count for shit is you cant show the fucking fire to win.

Lets start with the HERO of tonight EDEN FUCKING HAZARD. What a BALLON DOR winning performance from him. What the fuck does he think this is? A bloody fucking pre-season match!!! Or did he think he had come to take a bloody stroll in the park? Its time he is DROPPED, made to sit on the bench till he actually gets an urge to fight for the team and fight for his place. And please dont tell me that I am exaggerating. 6-7 pre-season matches, and now its been 6 matches in to the season and he has been downright PATHETIC, DISGRACEFUL. Who the fuck does he think he is? Cristiano Ronaldo??? The reason we were so ineffective in the first half was because hazard came central which pushed Oscar wide. And then he kept losing the ball trying to go past the whole basel team. Just fucking stay on the wing and do your bloody job. If you are unable to get past your man then just pass the bloody ball to another fucking player.

As for the performance jose has to take the fall. No excuses. The player seem un-motivated, dis-interested, and while we thought that having a big squad will make them fight for their place, the players attitude has been utterly shambolic. Why was mata sent in with a 1-0 lead. It was so fucking obvious that we were going to concede if our defence and mid was not shored up and still, he took out willian who was atleast providing cover for iva unlike the great hazard, and put in mata who seemed like he wanted to be anywhere else except for Stamford bridge. Lost the ball which led to the goal and was completely un-influential.

Another thing is the tactic we are using of attacking with our fullbacks. For me ivanovic was the man of the match, for his brilliant work-rate, defence and contribution to the attack, but why do we need our full-backs to attack when we have so much creativity in the team. Why cant the likes of willian and hazard just stay on the wings, stretch the defence rather than going central and using iva and cole to provide width. And while I am on this subject lets talk about COLE.

Has lost half his pace

Is useless in an attack

Slows the game down immensely with his mind-bogglingly stupid passes back to the center backs which gives the teams time to settle and get back into their defensive shape.

I mean what the use of cole bombarding ahead and leaving space behind him for salah to run. Twice, fucking twice salah could have put basel ahead in the first half if he could have put a half-decent ball in the box and it was no fucking surprise that he scored.

So why not give Bertrand a real shot.

As for the season, I was expecting so much out of it, but its proving to be a DISASTER. We dont have a goal-scorer and the only one who could have done something has been sent out on loan. The midfield 3 look clueless without mata, and we simply dont have that cutting edge without him playing at his best. The defence is in a poor condition. The team has no identity, no character. We look worse than arsenal for fucks sake. Simply not looking forward to the weekend for a derby match against fulham. Expect to be disappointed again.

Very well said and sadly i have to agree I really saw good things by based on these last few performance I only see disaster

[zolayes 14,489]

Only Van Ginkel was the new one in the Champions League tonight. The others have played in it before. It's not that they don't know how to handle the Champions League atmosphere but there was no reaction or drive or full commitment when we really needed it to win the game in the second half.

agree in 2nd half I saw 60 % effort at most before they scored ,,,after that not more than 80 % ,,,if only losing hurt them as much as it does the fans ..

felt sorry for those at the game today but I always feel sorry for our travelling fans when they are betrayed ....translation ..betrayal less than 100% effort

[The Mak 4,459]

The major problem for me is that we don't have an identity yet, and it doesn't seem like we're working towards one either. It seems that the attacking players are confused about what we might be doing (except for Oscar who has pretty much been our best player this season) which is really sad. I think the vision is for our attacking players to be dynamic, fluidly interchanging positions to confuse the opposition but it really isn't working. We don't seem to have a focal point anywhere in the team based on that last game.

This is similar to what I felt from the game overall, as it seems just too easy to point to individual mistakes or players (or even to José at times). I think the key thing you've said was 'focal point' and for me, for the past 2 years at least, that has been Mata.

Now as much as I love Oscar, I have always said that he just is not as good as Mata going forward. Say whatever about his defensive abilities and work-rate, but as an attacking midfielder I feel Mata is better at this moment. And for the past few years, no matter how imbalanced our team was, he has always made us look as cohesive as we possible could be. We have always praised him for his vision and passing; whereas Oscar, we've praised him more for his individual ability i.e. scoring magnificent goals. Oscar won't really dictate the tempo of a game, however Mata can. And since we have virtually no DM/CM who can dictate the game, the onus has really been on the little man for the past 2 years.

The first half in particular, the front 3 just seemed to be meandering around the centre with no real purpose. I felt (a fully fit) Mata would've brought some order to the attacking 3 as his constant off the ball movement forces the others to move as well. Players in the team are also used to the playing with the little man 90% of the time. It's all very well saying this in hindsight. I could be completely wrong though.

I'm just saying this for this particular game however. The whole Mata Vs. Oscar is a whole other debate. And I am in no way belittling Oscar's contribution to the team as a whole. For example, he was our best player tonight (though I voted for Brana purely because of the effort he put in) but I just think (a fully fit) Mata would've brought some attacking order to the team as a whole. Perhaps that's what José was trying to accomplish with the sub. Also, I probably would've started Oscar in the Everton game instead since it was ripe for counter-attacks.

Maybe what I'm just trying to say is that it just seemed to be too much too soon; to try to take the heartbeat out of our attacks (Mata) for the past two years along with introducing a bunch of new players is a bit much at this early stage. Maybe José just wants to get his own stamp on the team A.S.A.P. in an attempt to get as far away as he can from what he perceives as 'Benitez's team'.