Closed West Ham 0-3 Chelsea

[robsblubot 3,259]

So, is the general consensus that other line ups wouldn't have worked today? That's causality gone wrong.

We will certainly need Mourinho's tactical genius when we play a top side with equally capable players. Or when we play a tough opponent like Southampton, esp away from home. Really, what player from WHU would be good enough to be a squad player at Chelsea? 1 or 2? None for me.

[Special Juan 27,106]

My little lad said at 40 minutes "dad we have controlled this and Oscar has been immense"

That's from a seven year old lad.

Drink up CFC fans enjoy your night! take care from special Juan.

[zolayes 14,489]

Hardly a match to watch for bystanders. WHU had a poor game; some of it was due to our pressuring high up the pitch (esp Oscar), but most of it was just lack of teamwork and overall ability on their side.

Their back line is so technically inapt - showcased by their inability to pick up a pass - that applying pressure against them will always produce results; it's like we've provided a playbook to be used against them at the moment. City and Everton prob done the same before.

Very risky to take much out of this aside from the 3 points of course. They may or may not improve in the future esp in Jan. If they do, that's good news for us since they will be making their opponent's life more difficult later on. We've played 2 of the worst sides in the premiere, Fulham and WHU. We've won both matches, so if they (or either one) improve that'd be great news.

Their also had no aggression, no drive, did not foul us much, which we'd expect in away games against smaller sides. So, very strange and easy match, esp for a "derby." (hardly so these days)

Happy for the result and that's about it - no conclusions to be made about tactics or performances IMO.

They were made to look crap .. A performance like that would beat any in the PL I think ..But I see a glass as half full while you see it as half empty ...

Perhaps you would be happier supporting the Palace.

[Barbara 15,149]

I've missed his trademark goals

x

[robsblubot 3,259]

They were made to look crap .. A performance like that would beat any in the PL I think ..But I see a glass as half full while you see it as half empty ...

Perhaps you would be happier supporting the Palace.

table disagrees...

Everton and City destroyed them away as well. Are they not relegation fodder right now?

Ignore these facts if you wish, but we did not break a sweat today.

Just putting things into perspective, something ppl here seem to chose to ignore. A performance like that was only possible because WHU allowed us possession without pressure. So, on the same token they've allowed us to play like that.

[Sheva. 5,373]

So, is the general consensus that other line ups wouldn't have worked today? That's causality gone wrong.

We will certainly need Mourinho's tactical genius when we play a top side with equally capable players. Or when we play a tough opponent like Southampton, esp away from home. Really, what player from WHU would be good enough to be a squad player at Chelsea? 1 or 2? None for me.

We have played something similar to this against City before and got dominated.

Better teams will make us pay for essentially having no threat on the right, but West Ham are a struggling side and we were able to just keep the ball on the side Hazard was pretty easily.

[Rmpr 8,977]

I missed the game, how were we?

[zolayes 14,489]

table disagrees...

Everton and City destroyed them away as well. Are they not relegation fodder right now?

Ignore these facts if you wish, but we did not break a sweat today.

did you actually watch the match ,,, WE DOMINATED the game ,,, Since you cant see that suggest you watch NFL

[zolayes 14,489]

I missed the game, how were we?

according to rob gu .... hammers were crap so we werent better than average

[robdog 2,084]

I've missed his trademark goals

x

Hey Barb, your *.gifs don't show the build up. There was some great Champagne footie on display by CFC. The end result was the goal.

[Mustafa 885]

I missed the game, how were we?

Excellent. Lamps was my MOTM simply because he scored 2 goals. He looked like his old self... making run into the box, arriving late and generally just getting himself into goal-scoring positions.

Oscar was superb too. He didnt let the Hammers defenders breathe for a single minute all game !! Brilliantly taken goal and his overall play was very good

Eden was actually good tonight imo (with my very high expectations for him). He looked very comfortable on the ball, rarely lost it. Assisted Oscar's goal beautifully. I noticed that he made a lot of good positive runs in behind the defense and the pass was played through only once all game which was really disappointing (on that occasion, the ball had juuusstt a little too much on it and it ran away from him).

Mikel was phenomenal. I reckon if he didnt play today, we wouldnt have won this game so comfortably. He gave Lampard license to go forward (and bag a pair of goals) and he was so calm in his position throughout. Excellent defensive cover from him all night.

Great performance. Genuinely satisfied

[didierforever 7,349]

great win, good performance. 3 points most importantly.

for me the most troubling part is still the start of the game. we are slow to non-existent in our starts which seems to help teams' confidence. until the goal, which was a defensive howler, we were average at best. not at all threatening and i cant remember a decent oppurtunity. our best hope for a goal seemed to be off the ball, hoping for oscar/etoo to nick the ball off a defender. and in some ways, that is exactly what happened. we desperately lack a play to break down a defence.

that said, while on the counter, we are phenomenol. absolutely awesome. also, 4-3-3 makes us look far more comfortable with lamps and rambo getting the freedom to move up the pitch while mikel can do the dirty work.

this is my player assessment-

cech- he made a save at 92:55. so i really dont have anything to rate him on except for his cross handling, which was good and his ball distribution, which was great, i remember one of his kicks on a counter found etoo spot on. 7/10

iva - there is something very wrong when u get outplayed by downing. twice or thrice downing could have posed us a serious problem f only he had some1 to aim at in the center. disappointing performance in the defence though today i felt he was better in possession. but his clearance header almost off jarvis' head was brilliant. 5/10

GC&JT - solid. never looked troubled and dealt with almost everything thrown in the box brilliantly. 8/10

azpi - how the hell did he let demel go like that. not that hazard and FL were faultless but a few times, he seems to show the attacker the wrong side. but overall he was really good. many interceptions and a couple of good clearances when JT-GC missed their men or the ball. 7.5/10

mikel - for people who mindlessly and childishly critisize mikel, this is why he is in the team. he is a brilliant shielder and very calm on the ball. a near to perfect performance - unsung but awesome. 8.5/10

FL - the FL of young. he is at his best when he is playing in the opponent's box. a constant goal threat and having continous pops from long range. we should really try playing 4-3-3 with rambo-mikel-lamps/oscar-mikel-lamps/rambo-mikel-oscar. good to see such a performance. 8/10

rambo - THE BOSS!!! that ball to hazard was so awesome, he should have even got on the scoresheet but thrice (i think) he was ignored on the far post or simply not passed to. 8/10

oscar - MOTM. POTY (so far). just fabulous. full of running, closing down and a constant threat. though he needs to improve on his play with the back to the goal. 9.5/10

hazard - started awesomely, and couple of his flicks were wondorous. he is coming back to his own. but i still cant understand how, how for the sake of god, could he miss the ball rambo played to him to get him clear on the goal. all-in-all, very good. 8/10

etoo - nothing too flashy, good link up play, good couple of shots but not a threat in the box or rather not the threat we would want a PL chasing team to be. 7/10

subs-

ba - pretty much the same as etoo. 6/10

schurlle - was a threat on the counter but his decision making let him down. 7/10

essien - would have loved it if he had scored with his first touch.

[Sheva. 5,373]

I missed the game, how were we?

We played like any top team should in a game like this. In control of the game, and we buried the game early by getting 2 goals in the first half.

The front 3 had some really good link-up play also, and Lampard had the freedom to finally join the attack with Mikel protecting the defence.

[Barbara 15,149]

so when we lose to Newcastle or draw with West Brom at home we go on and on about how shitty we were against 'weaker' sides, but then we completely dominate a match against a weaker side and no credit should be given?

Yeah, they were poor, yeah, that formation needs more sharpening to work against stronger teams, it doesn't change the fact though we had a very solid match, we made them look worse than they are and we were in control all the time with basically all of our players having their best match so far this season.

I know we shouldn't get carried away here, but it almost makes me feel like Chelsea can't win with some fans these days, there's always the bad side of things arising. I'm quite happy myself. We struggled against Fulham, despite winning, and that was a terrible display from us imo. I'm happy today we didn't give space or chances for accidents to happen.

[tapa 11]

thanks for the penalty otherwise it would be very hard

[quickpassnmove 924]

good to win but that's the side with no striker, plus the benefit of our PK.

next.

[robsblubot 3,259]

did you actually watch the match ,,, WE DOMINATED the game ,,, Since you cant see that suggest you watch NFL

I did... WHU did not foul us enough, were not aggressive enough, and made horrendous mistakes in the back, one of which led to our first goal. Like I said, yes, good pressure from Oscar and cia, but Oscar does that in every match for Chelsea and Brazil!

Things don't happen in a vacuum... are you trying to tell me that we'd have dominated anyway had we played Barcelona or Arsenal? You can't be serious.

Just take a look at the standings and better yet, check WHU results at home.

[Mustafa 885]

etoo - nothing too flashy, good link up play, good couple of shots but not a threat in the box or rather not the threat we would want a PL chasing team to be. 7/10

I'm not particularly happy with his link up play. It was decent today but I reckon his awareness isn't good enough. The amount of times he has a runner on the opposite flank and he plays the simple pass to the lad right infront of him.... is just too much for me. He had quite a few bad touches and imo the only thing he's better than Torres at is his willingness to take shots and take on defenders. Everything else, i reckon Torres is on par or even better than him at.