Closed Chelsea 1-0 Steaua Bucharest

[DJames 729]

Who said top of the table boring match but again top of the table we in! Bring on the draw! Sucky performance for local supporters though

[bluesman2610 1,226]

Since this was probably the last time I saw KDB play in a CFC-shirt I made him my MOM. Yes it was ME!!

While I still could (wanted to have done it at least once)

I actually thought he was pretty good for not getting much game time.. that ball to Hazard was delicious

[Alan Partridge 1,124]

Our midfield was god awful at times, Lampard and Mikel both constantly struggle to pass FORWARD. I had to laugh when our Midfield and defence was playing keep ball and than suddenly Oscar ran back, received the ball and showed both Mikel and Lampard how to pass forward.

Tonight the Lampard lovers cant slate Mikel for being too conservative when Lampard was the exact same.

Yeah, Cole loves a sideways/backwards pass too.

Although he misplaced a few, Luiz was always looking to make a forward pass.

I personally would still have him in the midfield for some matches. Mikel can only break up play and Lampard is a pedestrian when playing deep.

[Barbara 15,149]

I think there are two sides of the coin... or two ways to see the glass and there isn't a right or wrong way. There are positives and negatives and both should be addressed imo.

Positive

- best defense in UCL

- top of the group

- escaped the more challenging sides in 1/8s

- a clean sheet

- a clean sheet against a crappy side attack - which is progress when we conceded three goals to each of the two worst scoring sides in EPL

Negative

- our pivot still sucks

- our strikers still suck (the goals Ba missed today and how he never ceases to find himself offside drives me crazier than Fernando missing the obvious sitter)

- we still have no pattern

- we have no effective CAM atm

We have two wingers playing very well (I just read a very harsh post on André - I mean, I didn't read it because I couldn't get past the first two lines. WTF? He was LIVELY in a second half we looked like a team of zombies!!!!), but none of the guys who can play CAM (Oscar, Mata and Willian) are particularly shining at the moment. Willian was my MOTM and two weeks ago I was saying my AM would be him + 2, but we can't forget (and he reminded me that in the EPL match and today too) he's in transition from Russia to English football, so he will oscillate and he's had. The flair, the class, the objectiveness and vision are all there, but sometimes he fails in execution (he had great passes today, such as the through ball he passed to Ba - who missed it, ofc, but he still missed a few passes that weren't that difficult). So while I think the 30M will pay off with time even if we're overcrowded in the position (imo he is better than de Bruyne - as he should, for he's older and more experienced - and I think once he hits form and completely adapts here, he's also more incisive than Oscar and faster than Mata, offering something completely different to them, which gives us more options depending on the opposition, and he's class), I think he'll fluctuate especially because his adaptation process is detracted by the amount of matches he plays. Hazard and Oscar had considerable quick adaptations because they'd played a lot last season, it sort of forces the process to speed up). Oscar is a couple of steps down from his start of the season and Mata is still very far from the creative player he was two seasons and his stats show that. They aren't awfully bad, but they aren't at the same level as Eden or André...

David Luiz is a breath of fresh air. Yes, he'll make mistakes. But it's refreshing to see a CB anticipating balls, literally throwing himself into balls like he did today whereas other defenders (not only Cahill) would rather wait, watch, and hopefully guess the opponent's move and block the shot/pass instead of taking a risk to attack the opponent. I know some people don't like the style (or Luiz), but I do and I think he's had a very good match, even if he wasn't that much tested by Steaua, still he was there doing his thing and it made me happy.

Oscar didn't impress at all. Ba is still terrible. Schwarzer wasn't tested, but I'm happy he had his UCL debut. A pivot with Mikel and Lamps can be hurtful to watch, but Rami needed a rest and if there was a match where a Mikel + Lamps pivot with all limitations the combination of the two brings wouldn't jeopardize the result was today, so I can live with that. Hazard continues to play very well and so does André imo. Cole wasn't missed at all, I'd rather have a confused and out-of-place Azpili over current-Cole every day of the week, although I wish Bertrand actually had a chance (against weaker sides) and Azpili had a chance to play on his original position. Ivan still can't cross for life, but that header should have gone in.

So I'm happy with the outcome, but not with the means we've reached that. But still, I guess we've been lucky with UCL since the start (the group itself, losing to Basel, but seeing Basel going to Europa League instead - and therefore preventing to get them again down the road, now a considerable easier team in 1/8 when a lot of good sides qualified, finishing first, etc), so maybe despite our struggles we may go deeper than I've expected because at least in UCL luck seems to be working our way and I believe that while we aren't favorites to win it, we can knock out any opposition - even Bayern, Barça and RM - because that's the thing about UCL knock-out stage, the unexpected can happen. ManCity and Arsenal - who are in good moments - can draw one of the big three aforementioned and who knows, they can knock them out too. City did win - with a mixed team - against Bayern. So I hope things keep working our way even when we haven't been delivering well enough to earn them. Also I think it's very realistic to expect us to be performing better two months from now when UCL resumes. It's natural for this team to progress and I hope it does.

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

Well... wasn't expecting it to be a cake walk when I saw the lineup. Oscar, Luiz, Willian and Cole haven't played for various reasons and Mikel and Lampard in the pivot was always gonna mean slow build up.

The combination of Cole, Terry, Mikel, Ivanovic, Lampard make slow boring football; none of them move the ball quickly enough for us to make incisions in the defense. Today was a perfect example of why we should experiment with one of our attacking players in the pivot...DeBruyne or Oscar for me, perhaps Willian. We just don't have the types of players who think the game fast and can control/dictate a tempo

[Sheva. 5,373]

It's tough to watch Lampard fail to do his job every other game, and still play because he's the only option considered for that role.

I thought with our lack of options, Mourinho would at least consider playing Oscar or KDB there, but never. Oscar is better than Lampard in almost every aspect; fresher, faster with or without the ball, aggressive etc etc.

IMO there's no reason why he can't be our Modric kind of player, but instead he starts as CAM and actually stays in that position for less minutes than the other AM's

I know it won't happen though, so hopefully Mourinho is seriously considering adding another option in there, if we care about winning something this season.

As for this game overall - we didn't play great, but should still have been at least 3-0 with the easy chances Ba and Hazard missed. Schwarzer motm for his record-breaking debut

[Korea 734]

You guys know we played 4-3-3.

What pivot?

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

I love what Lamps has done for CFC and I feel he has great purpose from a leadership standpoint but I tired of seeing him as a regular now. He's a once every 3 game performer, he needs to be getting less time on the pitch now.... Its getting ridiculous.

[The only place to be 11,313]

I love what Lamps has done for CFC and I feel he has great purpose from a leadership standpoint but I tired of seeing him as a regular now. He's a once every 3 game performer, he needs to be getting less time on the pitch now.... Its getting ridiculous.

And play who instead?

I'm getting tired of people bashing him when we lack other options. Last night wasn't a vintage performance by any means, but it was measured and controlled. He's still the only one of our midfielders who can play the occasional ball forward and provide some attacking impetus from that position.

Every player was muted last night, but at least he didn't fuck up like Mikel did. How he gets caught in possession and nearly gifts Steaua a goal from nothing I don't know because the one thing he's supposed to be good at is 'shielding' the ball. Thank god we're being linked with Matic because this might signal the end of his Chelsea career.

All in all it was a shit game to be at. No-one seemed up for it and once again the lack of quality in key positions was evident. Happy for Schwarzer to get a game because he deserves it after a great career, nice to see Luiz back in the team and put in a mistake-free performance under no pressure whatsoever, nice for Ashley to get back into the swing of things and grow into the game and that's about it.

Not quite sure why Willian is getting so many plaudits because I thought he was pretty ordinary and wanted to see De Bruyne come on for more than 10 minutes. So we're through as probably the worst group winners in the competition bar United.

[didierforever 7,349]

And play who instead?

I'm getting tired of people bashing him when we lack other options. Last night wasn't a vintage performance by any means, but it was measured and controlled. He's still the only one of our midfielders who can play the occasional ball forward and provide some attacking impetus from that position.

Every player was muted last night, but at least he didn't fuck up like Mikel did. How he gets caught in possession and nearly gifts Steaua a goal from nothing I don't know because the one thing he's supposed to be good at is 'shielding' the ball. Thank god we're being linked with Matic because this might signal the end of his Chelsea career.

All in all it was a shit game to be at. No-one seemed up for it and once again the lack of quality in key positions was evident. Happy for Schwarzer to get a game because he deserves it after a great career, nice to see Luiz back in the team and put in a mistake-free performance under no pressure whatsoever, nice for Ashley to get back into the swing of things and grow into the game and that's about it.

Not quite sure why Willian is getting so many plaudits because I thought he was pretty ordinary and wanted to see De Bruyne come on for more than 10 minutes. So we're through as probably the worst group winners in the competition bar United.

agree with everything u said except for the last part. i feel willian was brillint last night. especially in the first half when oscar seemed a little off-pace and hazard was getting double or tripled marked. willian was dynamic, poppong up everywhere, chased the ball down brilliantly on a number of occasions and if his decision making in and around the box had been a little better, he could have had a couple of assists easy.

[The only place to be 11,313]

agree with everything u said except for the last part. i feel willian was brillint last night. especially in the first half when oscar seemed a little off-pace and hazard was getting double or tripled marked. willian was dynamic, poppong up everywhere, chased the ball down brilliantly on a number of occasions and if his decision making in and around the box had been a little better, he could have had a couple of assists easy.

I like Willian's workrate and I've thought he should be given a go in the middle more, but I just felt he was a little off last night. Maybe I dozed off and missed some of his contributions (which is possible because that match was a good cure for insomnia) but I thought he was a little up-and-down to be honest.

I'll have to watch the game again....with some strong coffee.

[bushman 2,043]

Somehow, an underwhelming display from Chelsea against a team who offered a very little resistance.

In my view, plenty of spluttering performances are seen by Chelsea in recent weeks. This team, hopefully draws a weaker side, if there is one from now on, wins a game or two, but that´s about all I see from Chelsea.

The Blues will face either Milan, Zenit,Leverkusen,Olympiakos or Galatasaray.

As they say, perhaps luck will be on Chelsea´s side ?

[didierforever 7,349]

dont understand the bashing we are getting here. it was a professional performance. we did what was expected of us , and that is to get a WIN. or would people like us to play as good as we did against stoke but end up losing the game. after being a goal up, the onus was on bucuresti to do the attacking and press us for the ball, they dint and we dint need to do anything else than keep the ball among ourselves. so what the hell are people cribbing about? its time for some fans to really grow up!!!

schwarzer - dint have anything to do for about 80 odd minutes until bucuresti atlast had a shot on goal. still he should keep the GK spot for the next match. 7/10

iva - good performance. a couple of times he made a brilliant dash down the right only for willian to ignore him and once hazard put him thru but it was too wide for his liking. defensively it was a flawless performance. 8/10

DL-JT - brilliant performance from the 2 CBs. luiz was phenomenol. dint try anything fancy with the ball, but still put in more useful/critical balls than FL and Mikel combined, i think. defensively, too i think he was brilliant. booted everything out of the way if he was in 10% doubt and i just hope he can keep this up. JT was his usual self. 9/10

cole - had a lot to prove in this match, and i feel he did. start of the first half, he felt a little dodgy and slow and almost got caught on the ball in our own D, but i feel it was a decent performance. could have done better on a couple of occasions inside the bucuresti box. 7.5/10

mikel - horrendous. was he sleep-walking. his only role in the team would be to shield the back 4 and not give the bloody ball away when in possession but he did none of the 2. a woeful performance from our only recognized DM in the squad. high-time for a change. we need a DM in winter. no doubt. 3/10

lamps - nothing flashy. bucuresti were too deep and we in genral had no penetration for lamps to make his trademark late runs and effect the game. so attackingly he was simply left to taking 30 yard shots. defensively he was okay, put in some crunching tackles and sliding tackles. 6/10

hazard - tried hard but was double-tripled marked the enitre match. just get a feeling that he plays best with mata on the pitch. 7/10

oscar- seemed off the pace in the first half but that would be acceptable. but good closing down off the ball, good defensive work but again, those balls to break down defences from our main AM missing. 6/10

willian - the only forward/midfielder who was having an effect on the match. very dynamic, great on the ball, brilliant forward runs and movement too, but just his decision making was a little skeptical. 8/10

BA - got a goal but overall poor performance. but i would take that one goal ahead of torres' workrate and blah blah blah... could have so easily got a hat-trick. that ball from willian to find him 2 yards from the goal was orgasminc but at the same time, the miss gave me a de-erection. dint win aerial duels too and after watching DD play for GALA and again effecting the match from a mere head down of the ball. just shows u the poor-quality of strikers we have. unfortunately there is no immediate remedy and solving the problem of the mid should be our forst concern. 6/10

subs -

schurrle - was okay. a bit direct but the other 10 men around him barely wanted to play so even he gave up. 6/10

rambo - does what he does best. hope mikel can learn a few things from this guy. 7/10

kdb - felt he was great in the 12-13 minuted he got. that change of play from the left wing to find hazard on the right wing was just OH MY GOD!!! some of his runs were great too. dont think he will get game time in the next match but just hope he can rip sunderland apart in the COC. 8/10

[bushman 2,043]

dont understand the bashing we are getting here. it was a professional performance. we did what was expected of us , and that is to get a WIN. or would people like us to play as good as we did against stoke but end up losing the game. after being a goal up, the onus was on bucuresti to do the attacking and press us for the ball, they dint and we dint need to do anything else than keep the ball among ourselves. so what the hell are people cribbing about? its time for some fans to really grow up!!!

schwarzer - dint have anything to do for about 80 odd minutes until bucuresti atlast had a shot on goal. still he should keep the GK spot for the next match. 7/10

iva - good performance. a couple of times he made a brilliant dash down the right only for willian to ignore him and once hazard put him thru but it was too wide for his liking. defensively it was a flawless performance. 8/10

DL-JT - brilliant performance from the 2 CBs. luiz was phenomenol. dint try anything fancy with the ball, but still put in more useful/critical balls than FL and Mikel combined, i think. defensively, too i think he was brilliant. booted everything out of the way if he was in 10% doubt and i just hope he can keep this up. JT was his usual self. 9/10

cole - had a lot to prove in this match, and i feel he did. start of the first half, he felt a little dodgy and slow and almost got caught on the ball in our own D, but i feel it was a decent performance. could have done better on a couple of occasions inside the bucuresti box. 7.5/10

mikel - horrendous. was he sleep-walking. his only role in the team would be to shield the back 4 and not give the bloody ball away when in possession but he did none of the 2. a woeful performance from our only recognized DM in the squad. high-time for a change. we need a DM in winter. no doubt. 3/10

lamps - nothing flashy. bucuresti were too deep and we in genral had no penetration for lamps to make his trademark late runs and effect the game. so attackingly he was simply left to taking 30 yard shots. defensively he was okay, put in some crunching tackles and sliding tackles. 6/10

hazard - tried hard but was double-tripled marked the enitre match. just get a feeling that he plays best with mata on the pitch. 7/10

oscar- seemed off the pace in the first half but that would be acceptable. but good closing down off the ball, good defensive work but again, those balls to break down defences from our main AM missing. 6/10

willian - the only forward/midfielder who was having an effect on the match. very dynamic, great on the ball, brilliant forward runs and movement too, but just his decision making was a little skeptical. 8/10

BA - got a goal but overall poor performance. but i would take that one goal ahead of torres' workrate and blah blah blah... could have so easily got a hat-trick. that ball from willian to find him 2 yards from the goal was orgasminc but at the same time, the miss gave me a de-erection. dint win aerial duels too and after watching DD play for GALA and again effecting the match from a mere head down of the ball. just shows u the poor-quality of strikers we have. unfortunately there is no immediate remedy and solving the problem of the mid should be our forst concern. 6/10

subs -

schurrle - was okay. a bit direct but the other 10 men around him barely wanted to play so even he gave up. 6/10

rambo - does what he does best. hope mikel can learn a few things from this guy. 7/10

kdb - felt he was great in the 12-13 minuted he got. that change of play from the left wing to find hazard on the right wing was just OH MY GOD!!! some of his runs were great too. dont think he will get game time in the next match but just hope he can rip sunderland apart in the COC. 8/10

No one is looking for pretty football only. I certainly look for much better than what I saw, last night.

Your analyses are somewhat too optimistic, in my view.

[BleedsBlue 1,549]

Happy with the 3 points but I just felt that we could have done much better.

[didierforever 7,349]

No one is looking for pretty football only. I certainly look for much better than what I saw, last night.

Your analyses are somewhat too optimistic, in my view.

maybe, but for me the MAIN thing is a win. no one is going to remember how we played against stoke in 2 weeks' time, the only thing people will remember is we lost 3-2 against a team who had scored 6 goal in 7 home matches before this (i think).

december is a hectic time, u need a few games like last night's where u can literally sail thru. this game was exactly that. so on the whole, i am not going to compain one bit about last night.

[bushman 2,043]

maybe, but for me the MAIN thing is a win. no one is going to remember how we played against stoke in 2 weeks' time, the only thing people will remember is we lost 3-2 against a team who had scored 6 goal in 7 home matches before this (i think).

december is a hectic time, u need a few games like last night's where u can literally sail thru. this game was exactly that. so on the whole, i am not going to compain one bit about last night.

Well, I agree with you on the win. However, these unconvincing wins can not go on for much longer. Soon, much better teams are coming & Chelsea just might get clobbered. Personally, I am not looking for a win at all cost only. I would prefer to see Chelsea playing football & not a hoof ball only.

[didierforever 7,349]

Well, I agree with you on the win. However, these unconvincing wins can not go on for much longer. Soon, much better teams are coming & Chelsea just might get clobbered. Personally, I am not looking for a win at all cost only. I would prefer to see Chelsea playing football & not a hoof ball only.

its not like all we are doing is putting in unconvincing wins.

whu - 3-0, one of the best performances this season

soton - 3-1, should be 3-0 without the first 10 seconds and another brilliant performance.

sunderland - 4-3, brilliant attacking display countered with hopeless set-piece liability.

stoke - 2-3, brilliant football but hopless defending.

after recent performances, we needed a steady display rather than a flamboyant one. after conceding 6 goals to 2 of the worst attacking teams in the PL, we needed to go back to the basics and do what was need-ful. this match was exactly what the doctor ordered.