Closed Chelsea 4-1 Cardiff

[DJames 729]

Another slow start with us only really getting into the game around the 70-80 minute mark. We stuck it out kept going at it and have the 3 points as our reward. Too bad Cech couldn't have a clean sheet on his 300th match milestone. Entertaining match none the less with Luiz blunder, Eto'o's goalie poach and Mourinho in the stands. One of US indeed

[wiefisoichiro 12]

Hazard back to his best

Betrand is musch better than cole

Etooo class

[Barbara 15,149]

I never said that they aren't able to perform without each other - what I did say is that they perform better when both are on form, simply because I believe they have a great understanding. That's why I attributed Mata not playing/having a poor start to the season as one of the reasons why Hazard is as well but I'm not saying that that was the sole reason though.

I think we have to put things into perspective.

Last season the alternative was Moses or even Marin and a still far from top Torres. Oscar was struggling to adapt and so was Eden to a certain extent.

So we had one spectacular player - fully adapted and on top of his form - and it obviously makes it easier for any other player to link up with him.

This season we have great talent and a huge upgrade from Moses/Marin to Schürrle/Willian/KDB. So while I don't take away of how great Mata+Hazard was last year we can't establish (imo) that they're the best partner for each other when conditions are completely different this season and when we have better talents in the team than we did last season.

On top of their form, who wouldn't link up well with a player of Mata's caliber when he's also on his best? I think Mata is the one that could benefit the most from Oscar's rise, from Schürrle/Willian/KDB arrivals because those guys are top quality and they make his work easier, as well as they offer him more options.

Also it's very positive for the team to be less dependable in one single player like we were dependable of Mata last year. Some might think the overloaded season didn't take a toll on him, but I disagree. It started with the injury he picked during pre-season and it passes through his difficulty to find his best form.

He's been given more than enough chances to regain form since that Swindon match. He's been playing all matches ever since if I'm not wrong (I guess he came as a sub in one of them, but my memory may be failing me). He's got a good streak of matches and while he's improved, I feel like he isn't even 70% of the player he was last year and I ask myself how realistic is it for us to expect that player season in and out. He was overplayed, the whole team at some point was built around him and we exhausted him. Should we do it again?

I for one don't want the team to be built around any of our players, but around a style or a philosophy. I'd rather Mata to play 80-85% of what he played last year for us, and also have Schurrle, Willian, Kevin, Oscar and Eden playing in high level and adapting to whoever are the other two attackers playing with them. In summary I'd rather have the team collectively playing better and relying less in one single player - no matter who that player is - than have what we had last year (which was special in its own way).

I don't think the double task Mourinho required from Mata (and everyone else) by pressing high, pressing with intensity through the whole match and moving behind to defend has damaged Mata's game that much. I think we may be expecting something that came out of a sacrifice, an outstanding year and tactics that won't be employed anymore (building the team around him). All in all we don't need Mata to play like that if the team as a unit plays better, but I think he can still bring his level up a couple of notches, as well as the team as an unit.

Considering all this I think the Mata-Hazard partnership currently is overrated. It wasn't overrated last year at all and we don't need Mata to have Hazard by his side for him to play well the same way we don't need Hazard for Mata to play well - as we shouldn't. Expecting Mata to do the same is asking him to sacrifice himself again (with the too high amount of matches and amount of action during the matches) and we may be wearing him off even more as I can't really dissociate his 'worse' form now from how much we demanded from him last season and the toll it took on him.

(again a ridiculously long post, lol, sorry).

[Alabama 1,992]

glad seeing willian getting better understanding of the team...3 good points

[Special Juan 28,141]

Watched it again, Oscar is a joy to watch.

[bushman 2,043]

Even though, I was happy to see Chelsea winning, 3 points in the bag I still like to point out the following.

The score of 4 to 1 was not indicative of the play.

I thought, Cech made a crucial save, the most important save of the game, which kept Chelsea in the game. Had they scored then, Chelsea down 2 zip, not sure how we all be looking at it today.

In recent games, Jose risked audaciously by his subs, happy to say, it worked. Sometimes, it works, but it won´t forever.

Still I am puzzled, why it takes for Chelsea an hour to get rolling.

[Thistle 77]

[Laylabelle 9,535]

Even though, I was happy to see Chelsea winning, 3 points in the bag I still like to point out the following.

The score of 4 to 1 was not indicative of the play.

I thought, Cech made a crucial save, the most important save of the game, which kept Chelsea in the game. Had they scored then, Chelsea down 2 zip, not sure how we all be looking at it today.

In recent games, Jose risked audaciously by his subs, happy to say, it worked. Sometimes, it works, but it won´t forever.

Still I am puzzled, why it takes for Chelsea an hour to get rolling.

I'd rather this hour to get going atm then the conceding in the last minute crap we had going on at the start..gotta step it up though or going to become stuck

Crap opener from them...dodgy from us for our goal but ref at fault...shouldnt have stood but then there are always goals in a season that shouldnt yet do and ones that should and dont etc

Got there in the end..another 3..

[Jusek 2,031]

MOTD highlights in HD:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x166k7m_chelsea-4-1-cardiff-city-extended-highlights_sport

[bushman 2,043]

I'd rather this hour to get going atm then the conceding in the last minute crap we had going on at the start..gotta step it up though or going to become stuck

Crap opener from them...dodgy from us for our goal but ref at fault...shouldnt have stood but then there are always goals in a season that shouldnt yet do and ones that should and dont etc

Got there in the end..another 3..

What do you mean the ref was at fault ?

I hope, you do not think he was wrong in Eot´o poke at the free ball.

[Laylabelle 9,535]

Kinda it made sense it my head lol....ref at fault for letting it stand rather then the un sportsmanship bollocks that seems to been sprouted up against Eto.Ball was bounced,in play,saw a chance and he took it...aint the only player to do something like that

[bushman 2,043]

Kinda it made sense it my head lol....ref at fault for letting it stand rather then the un sportsmanship bollocks that seems to been sprouted up against Eto.Ball was bounced,in play,saw a chance and he took it...aint the only player to do something like that

The goal stood & Chelsea won.

[Jase 43,479]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFKFrVunm5Q

[OneMoSalah 8,886]

Watched the whole game earlier.

Was very disappointed with Luiz's overall performance to be honest. Lucky he didn't end up sent off, he was reckless and all over the place. He made the mistake but everyone makes mistakes and plays bad at some points, needs to get himself sorted out for the Schalke game though.

Eto'o was superb. His link up play, running of the channels, work off the ball and goal was great. When he's out wide he has a good eye for a pass, he played some great passes; one into Mata that Juan took a total airshot at, two different passes into Hazard that lead to two chances. Hes starting to look close to 75-80% match fit, hes obviously still got a bit to do but hes starting to look better in our team.

Hazards performance in my eyes was still quite average for him but probably his best of the season, he still looks a bit reluctant to take players on a times but his passing is much better, still needs to do more work on his shooting. Got into a few good positions and took tame shots, especially the second goal he scored which went in due to terrible goalkeeping, 9 times out of 10 would have been saved and there was another good chance he had where he produced a tame effort straight at David Marshall. Hopefully he can continue to build on that though and get much better.

Mata was also disappointing but still I suppose hes still adapting to playing out on the right, hes working off the ball though but hes not influencing the game as much, think he will come through it still. The airshot he had from Eto'o's pass is just showing the sort of season he's had so far, not much has gone his way. Suppose Oscar's rise playing in that number 10 role has took some of the attention of Mata though.

[Fernando 6,585]

I have liked the gamble that Mourinho puts when losing a game.

However that tactic of only leaving 3 at the back will take us so far.

Eventually a good team will make us pay badly.

What we need to do is start playing good from the beginning and then try to shut down the game with a possession game/or counter attacking.

[cardiffkickaball 10]

Hi again,

I posted up a preview to the Cardiff game last week and now it's time for the post-match. I'm not expecting you to agree with the Mourinho paragraph (!) but hopefully there's something to appreciate elsewhere. You deserved your win, we had our memorable moment and didn't really expect much more than that. Link to the blog is below:

http://cardiffkickaball.wordpress.com/2013/10/22/chelsea-4-1-cardiff-post-match/