Closed Chelsea 1-2 Basel

[obiwan92 217]

Worst loss of the season and we've only played a few games...

WTF IS UP WITH OUT FINISHING.

I truly believe if Lukaku was playing, we'd all be celebrating now...

[Stats 6,980]

Why didnt Mata play from the start and why was Willian subbed off?

Mata was poor. He did nothing when he came on to even change the game so I doubt he would have been any different from the start. Back to the summary of our other players. Hazard was poor but I am not concerned, I am sure once he gets his full confidence back, he will produce the goods no doubt. Cole, poor once again, could not handle Salah and as usual can not go forward. MVG, nothing special but it was his first competitive start. Lamps done a brilliant pass for Oscar's goal but apart from that was awful. To summarise our only good player to day was Oscar, the rest of the team was poor.

Hopefully this is just a blip but it is worrying that we lost 2-1 to Basel at home, really shocking for us.

[Kojo 4,676]

I am someone who is against overreacting to single results but we're now what, 5, 6 games into the season and we have looked poor in all of them. I am struggling to think why a team with so many attacking weapons is so feeble going forward. (Really, only Oscar, Lampard, and Ivanovic have been somewhat consistently dangerous offensively I think Cole clearly needs a break. He has bad ankles and can't play twice a week, every week. Van Ginkel was really poor not that at is says anything about his future. It's just one bad game. (And it has the positive of stopping people thinking that he was an elite player rather than a project) We saw the good and the bad of Luiz again. His excellent pass to Lampard helped set up the goal but he was once again completely out of position a number of times. Also, not sure what planet Hazard was on during the game. Tried to dribble 6 players at once, not tracking back at all, diving multiple times. Awful.

This is the second straight game where I found Mourinho's subs baffling. Mikel for Van Ginkel made sense. MVG was poor and on a yellow. But Ba for Lampard? Lampard was one of our only offensive weapons and it completely once again imbalanced the team. If Mourinho thought Lampard should come off, why not De Bruyne who is a much more natural fit? (Also the second game where I thought Eto'o should have come off and didn't) It's incredibly frustrating. Willian was OK but he strikes me as another one of the same. An attacking midfielder who likes to drift into the middle. We have five of those already! Our lack of width and poor spacing and poor movement in the attacking midfield was a massive issue last year and doesn't seem to have changed.

There is obviously a problem with either Mourinho getting his message to sink in or players not being able to execute it. Things will get better. We have too much talent for them not to, but this is just awful right now.

Don't worry about it, I'm sure we will sign Isco, Ozil and another 10 CAM's in January, that should fix the problem.

[mac.bo 48]

Another season of our weakness in the middle of the park been shown already, brilliant Cfc backroom staff for not realising this again!!! Yeah lets keep going out and wasting money on positions we dont need clap clap clap

[Hutcho 8,443]

We have 6 wingers/CAMS most of whom would want onto the majority if great teams. Yet why is it the only person I ever see crossing it into the box is Ivanovic. Like seriously. Every single time.

[King11Didier 916]

We should have bought new left back and better striker.Or take back PvA and give him more chances and keep Lukaku,not buying some old striker.
Awful performances and like Kojo said,maybe the lose was better because if we won this match,fewer would talk about our awful performance.
Hard work in front of Mou.

[yuvala 2,167]

I wonder what is the problem here ...

- We have good players, great players.

- We have one of the best managers around.

What the hell ?

[Kinol 337]

We have lost three consecutive games. Lost at home to the worst team in the group. When you're living in cloud cuckoo land even the mildest criticism is an overreaction I guess.

Worst team? I would say they are the best, after us.

[iceboy 992]

Chelsea 1 Basle 2: Abramovich enters Blues' dressing room to address stars after Mourinho's toothless side make dreadful start to campaign

[Jusek 2,031]

José losing at the Bridge, that's worrying.

[obiwan92 217]

I wonder what is the problem here ...

- We have good players, great players.

- We have one of the best managers around.

What the hell ?

The manager loves counter-attacking.

Our team is built on fluid, almost tiki-taka style

I honestly believe the Mou has to stop imposing himself. Not every squad can play the same way.

[Bosnian Blue 2,471]

That was an absolutely horrible game.

[Barbara 15,149]

I agree with someone else who complained about those complaining about overreaction ( ) because not all critics are overreaction...

There are facts. We made mistakes today. If we state those mistakes and we say we're complicating our way in the easiest possible group it doesn't mean we're overreacting. we are stating facts. Or does a loss home help us in anyway? Or can we deny mistakes were done? I don't agree with people saying we won't qualify, José should be sacked, and whatnot. We need to be patient, but we also need to be fair with the mistakes we did.

It's one thing to complain about one match and how it happened, it's another completely different thing to say we're fated to failure. It's too early to judge the team and Mourinho, both need time, but we can criticize the mistakes done. Nothing is lost, except the match - that is. But mistakes were made and they should be acknowledge. There is overreaction, I agree, but there is also a lot of fair assessment about our mistakes. We will improve and the results will come.

Our attack continue to be a big liability as well. Eto'o was probably too battered from the match against Everton, but the alternatives are so hopeless... and I happen to disagree with whoever think that Lukaku would have made a difference... because it seems like we'll listen that record the whole season... along with the Sturridge and the Moses tracks.

[zolayes 14,489]

We have lost three consecutive games. Lost at home to the worst team in the group. When you're living in cloud cuckoo land even the mildest criticism is an overreaction I guess.

let me say ...this is the merest blip in our journey to the Quadruple KTF .. KTBFFH ,,,tonight didn't happen ..wake up tomorrow and find we won 3 0

[LegenTerry 263]

Bringing out Mata was the mistake. Sort of. He had three options 1) Kevin for Willian (the best of them) or Hazard; 2) Mata for Oscar - but that didn't make any sense as Oscar was by far our best player in the pitch; 3) Mata for Willian or Hazard.

There are two problems with the Mata sub 1) Mata has been poor this season.

Mata is poor? He wasn't playing any match yet,maybe he had playing 30 in total this season

[LayZ 201]

We looked good against Bayern but have looked absolutely woeful since...this brand of counter attacking football clearly doesn't work against teams who park the bus or are at least patient in possession...which does not bode well for our premier league hopes...

On a sidenote,who subs both midfielders at the same time?

[polo 18]

Torres was the best today

[Magic Lamps 11,446]

Bucharest are far worse than Basel. Anyway, Mourinho was outfoxed tactically my Murat Yakin, we allowed them far too much space for the 1-1 and the 1-2 was a series of individual mistakes.