Closed Chelsea 2-1 Crystal Palace

[5354 204]

Luiz was actually playing well today pple have an agenda against him but he saved us a lot today Ivanovic is the problem his leaving his flank way too exposed and making the defense vulnerable

i think he's under alot of pressure. he doesnt seemed happy to be playing. seems like he was been instructed to kick the ball upfield instead of passing or bringing it out the defence

[communicate 2,703]

We rely too much on individual talent. Usually, one of the 3 behind Torres tries to do too much on his own. Not enough passing movements other than going out wide to Ivanovic

Cannot agree more. We need more combination play. I feel that is how we attack, either waiting for one of our am to do some magic or pass to Iva who is free every time.

[didierforever 7,349]

hopeless performance.awful finishing, hopeless defending. i mean u know how bad u are when u have a "A GREAT ESCAPE" feeling after a home match against palace. nonetheless, 3 points, 2 nd position and i have no doubt that we ll be top of the table come christmas (after this performance, how could it be possible!!!)

cech - think he was poor today. was very nervous and should have come from his line twice or thrice to get a ball but just stood on the line. 6/10

iva - poor first half. gave the ball away so easily and sometimes in very dangerous positions but more than made it up with his 2 blocks late in the match (one O KEEFE shot and another a thru ball) 6/10

DL - u know u were poor when u get nut-megged twice by jerome. has to take his share of blame for the goal for yet again abondaning his position and trying to win the ball and in the end was hopelessly out of position. DL vs GC debate would again get red-hot but the main problem is the consistency with which the opposition is being let run at our defence with no cover from the mid. 6/10

JT - kept us in the game. saved luiz's asses both the times he got nut-megged by jerome, a brilliant on the line save and in general was brilliant. 8/10

azpi - dint he know delaney was on the pitch? twice he let delaney win a header at the far post. a similar thing happened in the start of the match though with a different player. except for that, he was good in defence and joined well in attack too. 7/10

essien - laughable first half but to give credit where its due, he imposed himself the 2nd. he is worse than mikel and the only reason he is here is cos of his affiliantion with jose. should be sold in the winter. 6/10

rambo - very poor performance from his standard. passing was wayward, challenges were poor (like the one which led to the goal). his match was summed up by the chance that he fucked up. 6/10

willian - awesome workrate, brilliant dynamism, was great on the ball but simply got lost in the 2nd half. finishing was poor and again some of his decision making almost cost us. 8/10

hazard - lost the ball about 10-15 times in the match. never tracked back, got into brilliant positions just to slow the game down and then make some awful decisions/passes. playing him and mata on the wings is a mistake for me as they play best when they combine. right now, the only way we are making chances is by hazard running and beating his man or willian running and beating his man. there is no actual play going on.7/10

mata - a couple of brilliant touches, a couple of brilliant passes, but except for that could not impose. his substitution and no shaking of hands with jose was the only eye-brow raising part of the performance. no doubt that he leaves in summer, if not in winter. 7/10

torres - got a goal but tried toooo hard. came too deep to recieve the ball and more often than not lost it. but was great when running at the defenders. some of his runs off the ball were questionable (for eg - when hazard stole the ball on the by line, torres should have made a run to the near post for a tap-in). 7/10

subs -

oscar - so completely off the pace. lost the ball most of the times he touched it. absolutely uninfluential. also he does not strike me as the super-sub type. 6/10

schurrle - covered azpi well, should have scored and simply cant think of one fair reason why mata should play on the wing while he sits on the bench. 7/10

ba - held the ball well, should have scored too. dint have much else to do.

jose - pathetic decision making today. starting essien? kdb not on the bench! schurrle!!! cole!!! iva!!! hopeless team selection. 3/10

[Kieran. 6,317]

Ba seems to be a go-to sub now. He does make an impact usually, nearly scored except for a good save.

[robsblubot 3,595]

Luiz was actually playing well today pple have an agenda against him but he saved us a lot today Ivanovic is the problem his leaving his flank way too exposed and making the defense vulnerable

yup, but it's not just with Luiz... it's a misunderstanding about defending. Ppl simplify the game and think defenders are responsible for things they really have no control over. A team like CP produced way too many difficult situations for our defense to deal with - really troubling.

[didierforever 7,349]

double post.

[bluesman2610 1,417]

this makes stoke result that much more upsetting.. we could be top of the table right now.. but will take the 3 pts and 2 pts back of the leaders right now

[Alan Partridge 1,124]

We witnessed United play absolute shit for most of a season and end up champions

[Mouri_Matic 560]

hopeless performance.awful finishing, hopeless defending. i mean u know how bad u are when u have a "A GREAT ESCAPE" feeling after a home match against palace. nonetheless, 3 points, 2 nd position and i have no doubt that we ll be top of the table come christmas (after this performance, how could it be possible!!!)

cech - think he was poor today. was very nervous and should have come from his line twice or thrice to get a ball but just stood on the line. 6/10

iva - poor first half. gave the ball away so easily and sometimes in very dangerous positions but more than made it up with his 2 blocks late in the match (one O KEEFE shot and another a thru ball) 6/10

DL - u know u were poor when u get nut-megged twice by jerome. has to take his share of blame for the goal for yet again abondaning his position and trying to win the ball and in the end was hopelessly out of position. DL vs GC debate would again get red-hot but the main problem is the consistency with which the opposition is being let run at our defence with no cover from the mid. 6/10

JT - kept us in the game. saved luiz's asses both the times he got nut-megged by jerome, a brilliant on the line save and in general was brilliant. 8/10

azpi - dint he know delaney was on the pitch? twice he let delaney win a header at the far post. a similar thing happened in the start of the match though with a different player. except for that, he was good in defence and joined well in attack too. 7/10

essien - laughable first half but to give credit where its due, he imposed himself the 2nd. he is worse than mikel and the only reason he is here is cos of his affiliantion with jose. should be sold in the winter. 6/10

rambo - very poor performance from his standard. passing was wayward, challenges were poor (like the one which led to the goal). his match was summed up by the chance that he fucked up. 6/10

willian - awesome workrate, brilliant dynamism, was great on the ball but simply got lost in the 2nd half. finishing was poor and again some of his decision making almost cost us. 8/10

hazard - lost the ball about 10-15 times in the match. never tracked back, got into brilliant positions just to slow the game down and then make some awful decisions/passes. playing him and mata on the wings is a mistake for me as they play best when they combine. right now, the only way we are making chances is by hazard running and beating his man or willian running and beating his man. there is no actual play going on.7/10

mata - a couple of brilliant touches, a couple of brilliant passes, but except for that could not impose. his substitution and no shaking of hands with jose was the only eye-brow raising part of the performance. no doubt that he leaves in summer, if not in winter. 7/10

torres - got a goal but tried toooo hard. came too deep to recieve the ball and more often than not lost it. but was great when running at the defenders. some of his runs off the ball were questionable (for eg - when hazard stole the ball on the by line, torres should have made a run to the near post for a tap-in). 7/10

subs -

oscar - so completely off the pace. lost the ball most of the times he touched it. absolutely uninfluential. also he does not strike me as the super-sub type. 6/10

schurrle - covered azpi well, should have scored and simply cant think of one fair reason why mata should play on the wing while he sits on the bench. 7/10

ba - held the ball well, should have scored too. dint have much else to do.

jose - pathetic decision making today. starting essien? kdb not on the bench! schurrle!!! cole!!! iva!!! hopeless team selection. 3/10

Torres 7 LOLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL

[DoubleO 192]

Torres 7 LOLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL

yep. Lol.

torres as good as Hazard?

[Alan Partridge 1,124]

Some peoples post match ratings are hilarious, did we watch the same game?

[Sheva. 5,373]

We could have scored 5, it's not Jose missing easy chances.

He maybe rotates a bit too much but a lot of it is down to individual error.

How many crosses does Ivan fail to complete?

How many chances do our strikers miss?

How many long balls does Luiz hopelessly hit?

Arsenal having their best season for years, and we are 2 points behind? You could look at that and think Jose is a genius.

Let's not forget how shit we were in the league under Rafa

Who's playing Ivan at RB? who can easily tell Luiz to stop the BS long balls?

We waste easy chances, that's not his fault. But the constantly giving the ball to Ivanovic to be our outlet is beyond ridiculous now.

And he has done nothing to change this since the beginning of the season.

[Weckerz 3,781]

hazard - lost the ball about 10-15 times in the match. never tracked back, got into brilliant positions just to slow the game down and then make some awful decisions/passes. playing him and mata on the wings is a mistake for me as they play best when they combine. right now, the only way we are making chances is by hazard running and beating his man or willian running and beating his man. there is no actual play going on.7/10

Lost it 5 times. agree with the rest though, his decisionmaking was a bit off. Still our best player behind Willian

[pgleo 90]

There were some moments in the game where Crystal Palace players could drive a truck through the midfield without touching any Chelsea players today. ​ Seriously, it was so easy for them to move the ball forward and what's with poor set piece defending lately.

On positives, we are grinding results and that's what matters at the end. Also Willian is one very good consistent player. Better performance next match please Chelsea !! :blue scalf:

[robsblubot 3,595]

DL - u know u were poor when u get nut-megged twice by jerome. has to take his share of blame for the goal for yet again abondaning his position and trying to win the ball and in the end was hopelessly out of position. DL vs GC debate would again get red-hot but the main problem is the consistency with which the opposition is being let run at our defence with no cover from the mid. 6/10

JT - kept us in the game. saved luiz's asses both the times he got nut-megged by jerome, a brilliant on the line save and in general was brilliant. 8/10

Agree that he wasn't special, but hardly thought he would be after a month away. However, that's his job: he chases up the field - and gets occasionally nut-megged, but then Terry is supposed be in the second line and cover him like he did. This is far better defending than having both players on the same line for example, in which case if you beat one, you've beaten them both.

Perhaps this style of defending is indeed unusual in England, but I've honestly seen this setup many times before...

[Nero 1,874]

shit match....but a win is a win.

[The Mak 4,459]

Like I said

Cech out Courtois in

Luiz out Mangala in

Lampard out Witsel in

Eto'o, Torres and Ba out Suarez/Costa/Falcao and Lukaku in

Well it works for Man City and got us where we are today so...

I'm sorry, but could you please stop with your absolute bullshit posts. In the match thread you said "Pellegrini > Mourinho right now" and now you come up with this shit.

I'm pretty sure Mourinho would be top of the league with players like Toure, Fernadinho, Aguero, Negredo & Dzeko instead of Mikel, Lampard, Essien, Torres, Ba & Eto'o.

If it really was "Pellegrini > Mourinho" they'd at least be above us in the table with their amazing squad, but they're fucking not.

[Peppen 934]

Torres was so bad, apart from the goal. Hazard was ok, not spectacular but alright. Willian clearly MOTM.

[Alan Partridge 1,124]

Who's playing Ivan at RB? who can easily tell Luiz to stop the BS long balls?

We waste easy chances, that's not his fault. But the constantly giving the ball to Ivanovic to be our outlet is beyond ridiculous now.

And he has done nothing to change this since the beginning of the season.

That I still don't understand. He even called out Ivan on his crossing during a post match interview.

Cole must be fucking shite if a RB is keeping him out.

[bushman 2,043]

90% of your posts are about signing x or y player, fucking hell

Well, if in doubt just visit Roman, get on your knees & beg for more money to sign players = the Chelsea´s way.