Closed West Ham 0-3 Chelsea

[Phil Driver 503]

When our top players play well we play well ,Lampard,Terry,Hazard,Oscar and Ramires we do not have enough top players and some average ones like Mikel who we have to carry and when our top boys are quiet or not available we struggle. Yesterday our top players were superb and that carried us through .

[Stats 7,147]

When our top players play well we play well ,Lampard,Terry,Hazard,Oscar and Ramires we do not have enough top players and some average ones like Mikel who we have to carry and when our top boys are quiet or not available we struggle. Yesterday our top players were superb and that carried us through .

Yeah once again, lets's criticize Mikel rather than complimenting him. YAWN. Getting boring now. Why can you not just state he had a solid performance rather than picking him out as "average". You really don't like him do you? The reason why Lamps was so effective yesterday was because of how well Mikel done in his role (which Lamps acknowledged himself) but let's ignore that.

Every player was good yesterday and not just our "top players".

[Phil Driver 503]

No he is average/poor we got away with it yesterday thanks to Lampard and our great players, Mikel did little, in fact he played two hospital balls to Lampard at the start of the 2nd half but West Ham did not press and made it easy for him ,our forward players were the key yesterday we did not need a sitter in that match it was an easy game for him .

When our class players perform you can carry the odd passenger ,but when they do not you cant rely on a slow sideways passenger and you will lose/draw.

Lampard/Hazard and Oscar made us tick ,big Fat Sam made a gross error in not playing Diame ,he crucified Mikel last season when Ramires partnered Mikel at West Ham ,Lampard was the difference . Him and JT did not play last season in the 3-1 debacle.

[Muzchap 8,966]

WTF??

I agree - how anybody can say Hazard played well is beyond me - he's looking distinctly average...

Happy to be proven wrong - but he isn't really doing what I expected he would do - he just seems average this season, slightly better than Moses... I had hoped he would have pushed on like Oscar, but he's nowhere near...

Quite disappointed in him TBH.

[Stats 7,147]

http://www1.skysports.com/football/live/match/287405/analysis

[Jase 43,479]

When our top players play well we play well ,Lampard,Terry,Hazard,Oscar and Ramires we do not have enough top players and some average ones like Mikel who we have to carry and when our top boys are quiet or not available we struggle. Yesterday our top players were superb and that carried us through .

@The Skipper, just like I said before.

[Sheva. 5,373]

I agree - how anybody can say Hazard played well is beyond me - he's looking distinctly average...

Happy to be proven wrong - but he isn't really doing what I expected he would do - he just seems average this season, slightly better than Moses... I had hoped he would have pushed on like Oscar, but he's nowhere near...

Quite disappointed in him TBH.

I thought he had a good game, read 2 match reports who gave him a rating of 7.6 and 8. Mourinho also said he played well....

[Weckerz 3,781]

I agree - how anybody can say Hazard played well is beyond me - he's looking distinctly average...

Happy to be proven wrong - but he isn't really doing what I expected he would do - he just seems average this season, slightly better than Moses... I had hoped he would have pushed on like Oscar, but he's nowhere near...

Quite disappointed in him TBH.

Care to elaborate why you thought he was bad? Did you miss the flicks and brilliant touches he had setting up attacks, especially in the first half?

That Henrique fellow even said it's his worst game in a Chelsea shirt.. Is this place filled with trolls and people with zero football intelligence or is it me who's deluded? I honostly dont get it.

[Phil Driver 503]

He is class , he can do things other ordinary players are unable to do ,the fella is right his flick from Lampard's forward early pass into Oscar for the goal was sublime ,the Hazard,Oscar and Lampard link was a joy to watch .

[Muzchap 8,966]

Care to elaborate why you thought he was bad? Did you miss the flicks and brilliant touches he had setting up attacks, especially in the first half?

That Henrique fellow even said it's his worst game in a Chelsea shirt.. Is this place filled with trolls and people with zero football intelligence or is it me who's deluded? I honostly dont get it.

He just looked a little lost tbh. Sure his flicks are important and credit where it's due - I just thought for a guy with all of his attributes he would be absolutely ripping defences apart - maybe I expect too much?

He's so quick and has great balance - just want him to show more in a game, flicks are cool and linkup play is important - but I honestly thought he would be the one marauding down the line and taking the game to the opposition. I honestly thought he played better last season and this season he would kick on another level... Maybe he needs to adapt to Jose's management.

It's not his worst game - massively far from it...

It is just my opinion though perhaps, like Lampard, I expect too much from him and it's hard to consistently hit those standards.

I would have given him a 6-7 for that match - but I really want to see a 9-10 Hazard performance - with our up down season, if he can hit some form and some goals, we will be realistic title contenders...

Maybe I have rose tinted glasses - but did he seem more 'explosive' last year?

[zolayes 14,489]

I agree - how anybody can say Hazard played well is beyond me - he's looking distinctly average...

Happy to be proven wrong - but he isn't really doing what I expected he would do - he just seems average this season, slightly better than Moses... I had hoped he would have pushed on like Oscar, but he's nowhere near...

Quite disappointed in him TBH.

the people who say that have actually watched football and understand it ... YOU KNOW NOTHING ... google to find the reference ,,,

TBH you are AFT

[Muzchap 8,966]

the people who say that have actually watched football and understand it ... YOU KNOW NOTHING ... google to find the reference ,,,

TBH you are AFT

Oh - because 'experts' say so - I'm not allowed an opinion? I guess you still think the Earth is flat? Seeing as the 'experts' used to peddle that theory...

I'm well within my rights to demand more of a £30million player...

[Muzchap 8,966]

He is class , he can do things other ordinary players are unable to do ,the fella is right his flick from Lampard's forward early pass into Oscar for the goal was sublime ,the Hazard,Oscar and Lampard link was a joy to watch .

No denying his ability - but City today had a front 4 that were doing that and more. I actually thought the other 7 City players looked hopeless, but the front 4 (Aguero, Navas, negredo and Nasri) looked unplayable - that's what I hoped our front 4 would play like...

I think we're someway off that this season...

That's all...

[didierforever 7,349]

No denying his ability - but City today had a front 4 that were doing that and more. I actually thought the other 7 City players looked hopeless, but the front 4 (Aguero, Navas, negredo and Nasri) looked unplayable - that's what I hoped our front 4 would play like...

I think we're someway off that this season...

That's all...

it all depends on the manager and your team. i remember demel going past azpi-hazard and then frank in the 80th or so minute. this is just to point out that hazard was defending deep even in the 80th minute and not taking things lightly. and a big cheers to him for that.

compare this to city. their front 4 have been set to just play attacking football. nasri/navas/silva dont help their fullbacks the way our wingers do, not even half of it.look at oscar and how deep he plays sometimes to help our pivot, u dont see that with aguero. and i feel this is one of the main reasons for city's pathetic away form. u can argue that we have not been much better than them away from home but our away fixtures so far have been tough (united, everton, spurs, newcastle) compared to city's (cardiff,sunderland,villa,stoke and just one good team in us). inspite of these fixtures we have managed to rack up more points.

so as i see, its the way, u r setup to play that will be the difference. mazacar played all this fancy football last year but at what cost? i personally would rather see us grinding winS than see us play beautiful football in one game and then losing the next one.

[zolayes 14,489]

Oh - because 'experts' say so - I'm not allowed an opinion? I guess you still think the Earth is flat? Seeing as the 'experts' used to peddle that theory...

I'm well within my rights to demand more of a £30million player...

you are allowed your opinions and people are permitted to say you are wrong ... Actually I dont think the Earth is flat ..

But I did study Ptolemy's epicycles .. oh and Nuclear chemistry

[AndersonBLUE 819]

what was our away support like at the ground?

[Spike 12,049]

the people who say that have actually watched football and understand it ... YOU KNOW NOTHING ... google to find the reference ,,,

TBH you are AFT

Is that necessary?

[The Skipper 20,609]

what was our away support like at the ground?

My mate went, he said we were good like most away games.

[remains of the day 564]

Is it any coincidence that our best performance of the season came when playing a 4-3-3 formation? There's no way anyone can tell me that it wasn't a 433 - although a more narrower version (4-3-2-1?).

Regardless, a 3 man midfield is more suitable for the players we have with the exception of Mata (who isn't playing anyway). It allows us to control the midfield without Oscar being required to spend the majority of the game helping lamps and Ramires. With the extra man in midfield, naturally he was more free to contribute much more offensively and have more of a direct impact in attack. It also allows us to use Mikel's strengths - his composure on the ball - while also playing Ramires & Lampard and utilizing their strengths. Mikel looked more in his element in a 3 man midfield so did Ramires and of course we know Lamps was basically born to play in this formation! All the players just looked comfortable out there. It probably won't be our default system since we have a zillion attacking midfielders that suddenly will be competing for 2 positions instead of 3 but the 4231 system works when you have the right players for the double pivot, we don't have the right players and persisting with it is like trying to fit square pegs in round holes. There's no point in playing 3 attacking midfielders at once when the players in the double pivot can't optimize their strengths, the system then won't function. 4 assists between Hazard, Willian, Schurrle, Kdb, Mata & Oscar (1 or 2 of which, I think came against west ham) - something is not working.

[Barbara 15,149]

Is it any coincidence that our best performance of the season came when playing a 4-3-3 formation? There's no way anyone can tell me that it wasn't a 433 - although a more narrower version (4-3-2-1?).

Regardless, a 3 man midfield is more suitable for the players we have with the exception of Mata (who isn't playing anyway). It allows us to control the midfield without Oscar being required to spend the majority of the game helping lamps and Ramires. With the extra man in midfield, naturally he was more free to contribute much more offensively and have more of a direct impact in attack. It also allows us to use Mikel's strengths - his composure on the ball - while also playing Ramires & Lampard and utilizing their strengths. Mikel looked more in his element in a 3 man midfield so did Ramires and of course we know Lamps was basically born to play in this formation! All the players just looked comfortable out there. It probably won't be our default system since we have a zillion attacking midfielders that suddenly will be competing for 2 positions instead of 3 but the 4231 system works when you have the right players for the double pivot, we don't have the right players and persisting with it is like trying to fit square pegs in round holes. There's no point in playing 3 attacking midfielders at once when the players in the double pivot can't optimize their strengths, the system then won't function. 4 assists between Hazard, Willian, Schurrle, Kdb, Mata & Oscar (1 or 2 of which, I think came against west ham) - something is not working.

I picked 4-3-3 as my favorite formation for our players even before the season started. I liked 4-2-3-1 just like the next person, but I think 4-3-3 suits our players much better. I do hope Mourinho gives this formation a few more goes and maybe he'll be convinced it works better? I mean it's my personal preference and I think we played well in a few matches we played 4-2-3-1 and if he sticks with it we can still be a solid team, but the 4-3-3 is so tempting and so perfect for us!