Closed Sunderland 2-1 Chelsea

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Glad I didn't see this game, sounds like it was horrible...

Actually most of this doom and gloom is because of the manner in which we lost: a goal in the 89th minute and another in the 118th. But for the first 80 minutes, the overall team performances was rather good. Yes, we were just terrible in the final third from the start till the final whistle, but the team was recovering the ball excellently. The front four would press Sunderland's defense and force them to the side of the pitch and then Mikel would step in and cut out the hurried pass to midfield or Luiz would win the long ball to the isolated striker. We did that countless times in the first half. Till the 40th minute, Sunderland never had the ball once in our final third and I remember reading the possession at HT was something 80% to 20%! The issue in the first half is that the front four were very sloppy and dire on the ball and missed all the chances despite often outnumbering the Sunderland defense.

In the second half, we started well with Frank forcing and OG with an instinctive run and a great cross from Azpi. After the goal Sunderland crumbled and we had several chances to kill the game off which we are all missed by Eto'o. One of them I started celebrating before he took the shot because I thought there was no way he would miss that, but boy did he prove me wrong. Worse is that he even had Schurrle on his left and could have passed to him to put it in the empty net. After Azpi's injury our attacks started to decrease because we had no width at all. Starting from around the 80th minute, our players felt like the game was already won and our front four just stopped pressing the opposition and we were practically defending 8vs11. Two combined mistakes by Eissien (came on for Azpi at RB) and Cahill and we conceded two goals. Mark kept us alive in the second half of extra time with some excellent saves.

There, now you've watched the match and can join in with all the doom and gloom

[The only place to be 11,313]

Glad I didn't see this game, sounds like it was horrible...

It felt like a Benitez game, where you could see we were going to concede a goal in the last few minutes of the game. No urgency, no passion, no cutting edge.

[Reddish-Blue 2,226]

It felt like a Benitez game, where you could see we were going to concede a goal in the last few minutes of the game. No urgency, no passion, no cutting edge.

The concerning thing is the lack of passion from the players on the pitch..

I just don't get why we can't use a youngster or two in the League cup

[sodasys 40]

What a great game by Willian and Schwarzer

[zolayes 14,489]

cruel that Willian was on the losing side ,,

[Fahad Abdulla 0]

I think Willian played great last night and had the best work ethic, hazard should of started, but why didn't Juan Mata start?!? he wasn't even on the bench..... I think Mourinho is saving him for the Arsenal Game on Monday.

[Special Juan 27,104]

I think Jose is laying his cards on the table for Roman to see.....the foundations are being laid.

Get me a striker he says.

[Sidzeret 2,257]

Awful performance

I don't get why we don't use the youngsters in the League cup (e.g. Kalas, Aké...)

Wouldn't have been so disappointing if we had given them a chance.

First team, League cup, relegation threatened side, defeat -- embarrassing.

[Special Juan 27,104]

What was so annoying was the continual long, high balls up to Eto'o all the time!!

Not in a million years was he going to win them and come out on top. Keep the ball for fucks sake.

[Tomo 21,681]

Did anyone actually expect better than what we got last night?

Our worst CB combination we have had at the club for a long time, a Mikel and Lamps pivot along with 3 AM's who have never played together.

The performance came as no surprise to me so i won't be losing much sleep over this one, it has no bearing on what could happen at Arsenal or in any league match.

[zolayes 14,489]

it worried me greatly ,,so far we have been very lucky with injuries only 1 long term ...Imagine an injury to Oscar ,,,Hazard Terry ...a nightmare scenario

after seeing last night

[Kxclusive 2]

Where is a strong defender....its time to cut Terry, Cahill out in the loose to get some newbies

[zolayes 14,489]

Where is a strong defender....its time to cut Terry, Cahill out in the loose to get some newbies

without Terry our defence is much worse

[Sidzeret 2,257]

What was so annoying was the continual long, high balls up to Eto'o all the time!!

Not in a million years was he going to win them and come out on top. Keep the ball for fucks sake.

Exactly the same sort of balls that Mikel was playing last time around at Newcastle and he was aiming continually at Hazard and never once did we win possession.

[Sidzeret 2,257]

it worried me greatly ,,so far we have been very lucky with injuries only 1 long term ...Imagine an injury to Oscar ,,,Hazard Terry ...a nightmare scenario

after seeing last night

That's one scary scenario.

I'd consider us not do lucky since we had to deal with that v. Ginkel injury. He seemed to have built a strong partnership with Ramires at the pre-season games and looked like Jose was planning to give youngster some game time.

[Mouri_Matic 560]

That's one scary scenario.

I'd consider us not do lucky since we had to deal with that v. Ginkel injury. He seemed to have built a strong partnership with Ramires at the pre-season games and looked like Jose was planning to give youngster some game time.

Well the point of us signing Schurrle, Willian...etc was to cover for Hazard, Oscar, if it doesn't work then basically it is the fault of the scouting department.

[Sidzeret 2,257]

Well the point of us signing Schurrle, Willian...etc was to cover for Hazard, Oscar, if it doesn't work then basically it is the fault of the scouting department.

I seriously wish AVB was our scout. He is so fucking good at that.

He literally bought the Beatles and managed them into playing like the fucking 1D.

[Shakez 755]

Well the point of us signing Schurrle, Willian...etc was to cover for Hazard, Oscar, if it doesn't work then basically it is the fault of the scouting department.

Willian was scouted long ahead of that. We almost had him but it didn't work out with Schakthar back then,