Closed Chelsea 1-0 Steaua Bucharest

[Barbara 15,149]

Worse, last year we'd play great but still not get the win.

absolutely. I'll take this years outcome (finishing first) over europa league's passport last year when we finished 3rd in the group, regardless of how better we played then (which overall we didn't imo, only offensively) and how better our opponents were. As I said I feel like we're in a luck streak in UCL, I hope it's kept that way til the end.

[bushman 2,043]

first things first, i dont think we were lucky. the amount of half chances we had, if we were lucky we would have scored 3 atleast.

i would like to see chelsea playing awesome football and all that but not if it directly interferes with our result. we are playing a 35 year old CM as a DM and his partner in the pivot was mikel who was hopeless last night. when we play the free-flowing game, our midfield tends to lose control of the match and we tend to concede some goals. yesterday was not a match to take any chances. it was to get back to the basics and just win.

as for top teams, we played one name in that list and literally gave them hell. we were 1 scond away from beating them. the difference in class is not much. infact i feel the only difference would be in consistency rather than the actual class.

Somehow, you are still missing the point. The whole team is not good enough to beat the top teams, that´s the bottom line here.

Chances are not converted, the strikers are useless, plenty of goals are allowed in from set pieces....etc.

You can go on & on make excuses, still the team is not among the best.

[The only place to be 11,313]

Is the team playing better this year ? You know, the most amazing thing about it, Chelsea is playing better than an average football, but are only a few points off the 1st place in the PL, won their group in the CL too. It just puzzles me a bit.

The Premier League is weak and our Champions League group was amazingly kind, despite us losing to Basel home and away. Now you'll start to see the competition heating up and hopefully we'll improve.

absolutely. I'll take this years outcome rather than europa league's passport last year, regardless of how better we played then and how better our opponents were. As I said I feel like we're in a luck streak in UCL, I hope it's kept that way til the end.

Looking back, we were a Europa League level side and we won it. That's not a bad result.

Personally I'd like to see us building something, a new footballing ethos. That might take time but we've already fluked one Champions League - it would be nice to be the best team in Europe as well.

[Barbara 15,149]

Looking back, we were a Europa League level side and we won it. That's not a bad result.

Personally I'd like to see us building something, a new footballing ethos. That might take time but we've already fluked one Champions League - it would be nice to be the best team in Europe as well.

I meant UCL group stage. I'll take finishing 1st any day rather than ending 3rd and going to Europa League, even if we had better matches last year (which I don't think we did, we were terrible defensively against Juve and Shakhtar, so we were somewhat better offensively last year, but much worse defensively) and our opponents this year were much worse.

I'm one of those people that while think we should have done better and gone into last 16, I don't belittle our Europa League title, I just don't like how much we struggled last year to win it as we faced some very bad sides, but the title itself, I welcome because we should have taken it as seriously as we did.

[The only place to be 11,313]

I meant UCL group stage. I'll take finishing 1st any day rather than ending 3rd and going to Europa League, even if we had better matches last year (which I don't think we did, we were terrible defensively against Juve and Shakhtar, so we were somewhat better offensively last year, but much worse defensively) and our opponents this year were much worse.

I'm one of those people that while think we should have done better and gone into last 16, I don't belittle our Europa League title, I just don't like how much we struggled last year to win it as we faced some very bad sides, but the title itself, I welcome because we should have taken it as seriously as we did.

I'm with you on that one.

For me this year is all about the league. I have no real aspirations for us to win the CL because there are clubs further along in their development than us. I think one of the Madrid teams could actually win it this year, but I just want us to prove we're the best team in England first and then build from that.

But hey, if we could do both by May then I won't moan.

[didierforever 7,349]

Somehow, you are still missing the point. The whole team is not good enough to beat the top teams, that´s the bottom line here.

Chances are not converted, the strikers are useless, plenty of goals are allowed in from set pieces....etc.

You can go on & on make excuses, still the team is not among the best.

no, i am not missing your point, but u r missing mine.

u cant compare how chelsea play against sunderland, stoke and then extrapolate that to see where we would lie in among the top teams.

those are big nights, with players giving more than their 100%, trying to put their best efforts. as i said before if u want to compare how we will fare against the top teams, then use our matches against them as an example.

we were not among the best in 2012 too, but that dint stop us from winning the CL.

[bushman 2,043]

The Premier League is weak and our Champions League group was amazingly kind, despite us losing to Basel home and away. Now you'll start to see the competition heating up and hopefully we'll improve.

Looking back, we were a Europa League level side and we won it. That's not a bad result.

Personally I'd like to see us building something, a new footballing ethos. That might take time but we've already fluked one Champions League - it would be nice to be the best team in Europe as well.

Well, either teams are getting better in the PL or the top teams had gotten worse. As for CL, I agree, Chelsea were in one of the weakest groups, even there they were beaten by the Swiss, twice. I believe, Chelsea is getting a bit further, but that´s about all.

[bushman 2,043]

no, i am not missing your point, but u r missing mine.

u cant compare how chelsea play against sunderland, stoke and then extrapolate that to see where we would lie in among the top teams.

those are big nights, with players giving more than their 100%, trying to put their best efforts. as i said before if u want to compare how we will fare against the top teams, then use our matches against them as an example.

we were not among the best in 2012 too, but that dint stop us from winning the CL.

OK see you around. Devils advocate.

[Blue Warrior 109]

Its not a complaint. Its a judgement on the result and what it takes to be successful. We won, I have no issue.

[kellzfresh 7,226]

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.

Perfect understanding of the situation. We are playing a lot of games this period. No need to get burned out attacking and running at all cost.

We were conceding too many goals from corners so we limit the opponent to one corner all night. Doctors orders...

[YouNameIt 1,511]

atm our best option must be Schurrle or bring back Bamford ( joking about him ....................I think )

I agree, I would like to see Schurrle having another go or two as CF. But it might be hard since we have 3 strikers atm.

Schurrle

Hazard - Oscar - Willian

[CHOULO19 24,332]

absolutely. I'll take this years outcome (finishing first) over europa league's passport last year when we finished 3rd in the group, regardless of how better we played then (which overall we didn't imo, only offensively) and how better our opponents were. As I said I feel like we're in a luck streak in UCL, I hope it's kept that way til the end.

Spot on with the last sentence. We got the best group in as long as I remember, we got an early goal in a lot of the matches, players made some serious mistakes against us especially that Georgievski guy, and the groups panned out in a perfect way for us for the last 16 draw.

May that luck continue..

[CHOULO19 24,332]

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

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.

Not sure if you read what I said... I love Lamps there is just no way in hell at 35 he should be our day in, day out holding midfielder. I know Van Ginkel was supposed to get some game time and that would've made for more of a rotation but for my money, Ramires should be the only automatic starter in the middle of the pitch with Essien, Mikel and Lampard rotated according to need.

This has nothing to do with last night, I've been thinking this for a little while. In order for CFC to move on we need to revolutionize the squad and to me that means slowly weening off of Lampard, Terry and Cole. They were great stewards for club and country but its time for the weening process to begin... Lamps should play every 3rd game and come on as a sub.

Lampard had a 95% passing rate last night. He shot too much in the first half but overall was fine. Like you, I am sick of people attacking him when he's ordinary when everyone else is also ordinary. Like you, I also don't get the love for Willian's game yesterday. He played very well for a while but then was really poor for a long while too and gave the ball away really carelessly a number of times. Our attacking midfield has gotten away with getting almost no blame for a couple years no matter what happens. When they don't track back, the central midfield gets the blame for being overrun. When they don't create, strikers get the blame, when they don't move properly, the central midfield and RB/LB get the blame, etc...and yesterday was a perfect example for me. They were absolutely ordinary. Their spacing was poor, their movement was atrocious (there was one moment later in the game when Luiz had the ball at the centre line as looking to go forward for about 10 seconds and there was just nothing so he turned and passed to Terry which summed it up.) and they didn't really create very many chances against what was a very poor side.Yes, Ba missed a great chance, but how many times did we get the ball into him in dangerous areas? Once? Twice? Ba had 2 shots all game. Against a team like that, he should have been getting 5 or 6 good chances. And you can't blame the central midfield because our attacking midfielders had the ball constantly. It wasn't a case of not getting the ball to them. It was a case of them having the same attack plan which was to try to dribble the ball past the entire defence.

This is why this stat is bullshit and overused... Where did his passes go? did he even once make an incisive pass? For me the problem yesterday was having Ivanovic, Cole, Terry, Mikel and Lampard in our back six. Everyone of those guys like a slow build up and don't take any risks threading a ball through our turning to trying and move it forward. Each time the ball comes to their back to the defender, it would go right back to where it came from... Nobody tried to take on the defender, nor should they since they don't possess the technical ability. That's the problem I had with yesterday's lineup and was the main reason for the laborious build up and lack of incision.

[The Mak 4,459]

All passes made by Mikel and Frank last night...ponderous is one word.

[MHL 47 378]

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.

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.

Mikel - Acceptable with the ball when he's facing away from our goal, susceptible to being robbed when half-turned and likely to be robbed when facing our goal and being passed to by the keeper or centre-halves. He's a one-trick pony in his retention of possession under pressure. Namely if he can't protect the ball using his frame/strength he/we're in trouble. Additionally because this is likely to be in our half of the pitch and with other midfielders upfield of him and our full backs stretched out providing width and space, the opposition has a very advantageous attacking situation. Needs replacing soon as, in my opinion, the negatives outweigh the positives. There seems to be a bit of frustration amongst one or two players that the ball gets stuck in front of the back four and doesn't get to them quickly enough, when they may have found themselves space to operate in. That then means that our lone forward is marked tightly as well and has no space to play in or space to run into. We have a bit of a disease with this, and have done for a few seasons. Change is needed, not in formation but personnel. Might see some major changes in the summer perhaps.

I too was disappointed not to see De Bruyne start, not to big a risk given the fact that Steaua were possibly the worst side we've faced for years in the CL. Wouldn't hurt to see Oscar play centrally with Lampard (holding) and De Bruyne starting. he could interchange with Oscar certainly and perhaps the holding player.

Disappointing performance, but it did the job. Hopefully convinced Jose (if he's not already!) that we need new blood in central midfield and a forward.

[MHL 47 378]

All passes made by Mikel and Frank last night...ponderous is one word.

Lack of penetration - would be three more!

[AndersonBLUE 819]

Best player Hazard? Are you having a laugh! Willian was head and shoulders above everyone else today. Shit performabce by a team that is obviously being rotated too much.

Willian wasn't better than Hazard in this game. Only one pass stood out for Willian, the rest were wayward, but like you said most of the team didn't play very well.