Closed Chelsea 3-1 Southampton

[Thendo 1,088]

he was good? he lost the ball/he threw away the ball/he gifted the ball about 5 times in the first half.

we have a player in mikel who is a decent DM and can do what essien must have done today. i simply cant see the use of essien in this squad except for taking some valuable minutes away from our youth.

Well I think it's up to what we do in january and if we get a quality CM neither Essien or any youth player will get much time on the pitch anyway, with Ramires as a starter and Mikel,Lampard fighting for the same spot.

[Henrique 9,133]

When the result is good people forget the bad things.

Its another game where the team had a rubbish 1st half, and had to fix thing in the 2nd half. It happened in, lets say, 10 out of 13 PL games. The team will not win the trophy if it doesn't change.

For me Mourinho job is still poor at best.

[xPetrCechx 13,548]

When the result is good people forget the bad things.

Its another game where the team had a rubbish 1st half, and had to fix thing in the 2nd half. It happened in, lets say, 10 out of 13 PL games. The team will not win the trophy if it doesn't change.

For me Mourinho job is still poor at best.

Average...

[didierforever 7,349]

Well I think it's up to what we do in january and if we get a quality CM neither Essien or any youth player will get much time on the pitch anyway, with Ramires as a starter and Mikel,Lampard fighting for the same spot.

for me, we HAVE to address the CM problem in jan. no other way around it. which means we will buy a DM/CM like one of the "benders" or witsel or some MR.X.

so with rambo, mikel, lamps, MR. X, i dont see a place for essien in the squad. he should be sold.

[The Skipper 20,593]

When the result is good people forget the bad things.

Its another game where the team had a rubbish 1st half, and had to fix thing in the 2nd half. It happened in, lets say, 10 out of 13 PL games. The team will not win the trophy if it doesn't change.

For me Mourinho job is still poor at best.

Poor is a bit extreme but I agree, the win did mask a lot of deficiencies.

Personally, I'm satisfied with the result but the performance wasn't all that and that was down to I think Mourinho's initial team selection. He also made a bold risky move by going 442 but luckily for us it worked out alright today.

[kobematabryant 400]

Mata was fabulous for us today, I want to know why Mata wasn't playing against Basel.

[Thendo 1,088]

for me, we HAVE to address the CM problem in jan. no other way around it. which means we will buy a DM/CM like one of the "benders" or witsel or some MR.X.

so with rambo, mikel, lamps, MR. X, i dont see a place for essien in the squad. he should be sold.

One can only hope we solve the CM issue come january, but I think we'll keep Essien until the summer.

Anyone know how long he got left on his contract?

[didierforever 7,349]

One can only hope we solve the CM issue come january, but I think we'll keep Essien until the summer.

Anyone know how long he got left on his contract?

he has got one till 2015 summer.

[Sidzeret 2,257]

essien - any squad in the world has some deadwood and this should tell us exactly who that is for us. i loved the "BISON". essien in my mind will always be the guy who scored screamers, literally bulldozed past players, bullied the other teams' midfielders but this is not that guy. this is not 10% of that guy. it is time we sold him, be it for 1mil or 500K but that is what should be done. players like AKE deserve a chance more than essien does and free-loaders like him who are earning 100k/week are threatening the development of those players. time for the us to move on from him. he will never be even the shadow of the player he was. 0/10

Hate to see him this way. Not even a shadow of his former self. Still remember that screamer against Barcelona. Pretty much the same volley today-too bad it fucked up.

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

I swear people here give absolutely no credit to the opposition. Its like all Chelsea have to do is show up and a win is guaranteed. As for those calling Mourinho poor... Good Lord.... I can't think of a more idiotic thing to say, its like people have only been watching football for 4 months.

IT WILL TAKE LONGER THAN 4 MONTHS FOR THIS YOUNG TEAM TO UNDERSTAND AND CORRECTLY IMPLEMENT THE BRAND OF FOOTBALL JOSE INTENDS TO PLAY! THIS ISN'T GOING TO HAPPEN OVERNIGHT WITH THE YOUNG SQUAD WE HAVE...

Why is this so obvious to me and not to other Chelsea fans who have seen us go through 5 managers in 3 yrs???

very strange group of fans I must say.

[Vybz Kartel 1,613]

What made me happy was we created chances today, legitimate chances thts why i want mata to play because he brings others into the game more than Oscar

[Rom2013 446]

I swear people here give absolutely no credit to the opposition. Its like all Chelsea have to do is show up and a win is guaranteed. As for those calling Mourinho poor... Good Lord.... I can't think of a more idiotic thing to say, its like people have only been watching football for 4 months.

IT WILL TAKE LONGER THAN 4 MONTHS FOR THIS YOUNG TEAM TO UNDERSTAND AND CORRECTLY IMPLEMENT THE BRAND OF FOOTBALL JOSE INTENDS TO PLAY! THIS ISN'T GOING TO HAPPEN OVERNIGHT WITH THE YOUNG SQUAD WE HAVE...

Why is this so obvious to me and not to other Chelsea fans who have seen us go through 5 managers in 3 yrs???

very strange group of fans I must say.

Because people think this team can play like old Barcelona, and they think Mata is a star. The problem is that the team is not good enough (mostly because many of the key players have 21 or 22 y/o) and Mata is worst than any great player in a big european club.

We don't have a proper forward, there are problems in the CM position, we have 3 or 4 CAM and people want them to play together. It's unbelieveble.

If you want to dominate and win games like Bayern, Real or Barcelona you can forget it.

[Sheva. 5,373]

Mata is worst than any great player in a big european club.

So? Mata doesn't have to be our star player, but we sign too many inexperienced kids that he automatically is.

[Korea 734]

Today's game was exciting...

It's a good thing we were down a goal cause Chelsea probably would of played with less urgency than they did today.

I agree with other posters, Mata+oscar or Mata-hazard or Oscar and Hazard usually do work. However, its the three combined that dont work....

[quickpassnmove 924]

Really happy we got that win. nice work, Blues.

only disappointment for me was not being able to create more attack from the left side with Hazard, Essien, and Azpi. would have been nice to see some quick support to prevent the double defenders on Hazard. happens all the time.

[The only place to be 11,313]

A weird performance in that Southampton looked good, but never really created much whereas we had a poor first half and then came out in the second half looking like a different team.

Ivanovic was brilliant today, marshalling that right-side on his own. His part in the first goal illustrates his importance at set-pieces.

Azpi always looks to do something when he gets the ball, although at times the fact that he's a rightie playing on the left is painfully obvious.

JT and Cahill didn't have to do a huge amount, but they looked fairly solid doing it and their goals were massive.

Rami was a machine. Essien really needs more games. He relies on his strength more because he can't get away from players like he used to, but he showed some nice touches. Best not to dwell on his first touch too much.

Hazard seems to be completely under-rated, but I think he's invaluable at just being a consistent protector of the ball in the final third. He just needs to start showing that magic...the x-factor that we all know he has.

Oscar and Mata don't work together well. They cannibalise each others' space and both are looking to set the tempo which leaves gaps in key areas. It's looking increasingly like it's one or the other.

Torres looked like a part of the team, rather than a misfiring outcast. Needs to add goals to his game but did well.

Ba simply caused problems for this Southampton team. He's a decent option off the bench, but everytime I see him I just think Lukaku should be taking his place in the team. Nice bloke apparently, but I have little love for him.

Lamps was good when he came on, working hard and putting some nice passes in. He recycled play well for Terry's goal and that's something we miss with other options.

So after the doom and gloom of Basel it was actually a fairly comfortable win in the end. A lot of good points and plenty to work on, but the same underlying issues remain.

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

A weird performance in that Southampton looked good, but never really created much whereas we had a poor first half and then came out in the second half looking like a different team.

Ivanovic was brilliant today, marshalling that right-side on his own. His part in the first goal illustrates his importance at set-pieces.

Azpi always looks to do something when he gets the ball, although at times the fact that he's a rightie playing on the left is painfully obvious.

JT and Cahill didn't have to do a huge amount, but they looked fairly solid doing it and their goals were massive.

Rami was a machine. Essien really needs more games. He relies on his strength more because he can't get away from players like he used to, but he showed some nice touches. Best not to dwell on his first touch too much.

Hazard seems to be completely under-rated, but I think he's invaluable at just being a consistent protector of the ball in the final third. He just needs to start showing that magic...the x-factor that we all know he has.

Oscar and Mata don't work together well. They cannibalise each others' space and both are looking to set the tempo which leaves gaps in key areas. It's looking increasingly like it's one or the other.

Torres looked like a part of the team, rather than a misfiring outcast. Needs to add goals to his game but did well.

Lamps was good when he came on, working hard and putting some nice passes in. He recycled play well for Terry's goal and that's something we miss with other options.

So after the doom and gloom of Basel it was actually a fairly comfortable win in the end. A lot of good points and plenty to work on, but the same underlying issues remain.

100% gold star.

[Tomo 21,685]

Many say Mata and Oscar cannot play together but i don't think that's true, i think the problem is when the Mazacar play together, we are just far too narrow, i can't believe it's a coincidence our performance got better today when the trio got broke up.

Mata and Oscar played together in Romania (when Hazard didn't) and Carrow Road and those were two of our best displays this season. None of those 3 are a problem in themself's, they just can't play together at the same time.