Closed Arsenal 0-0 Chelsea

[CHOULO19 24,332]

I believe we would have won if tried to take the intitiative. We did well containing and breaking, we could have done a lot more by being proactive.

I think we just lacked a bit of luck and a decent final ball. I think we got in enough dangerous positions to score at least a couple.

[Weckerz 3,781]

i dont wanna argue too but i disagree with the last part. we have a striker who we know will not score. willian short circuits in the last 3rd. the 3 midfielders (rambo, lamps, mikel) were set up to disrupt arsenal's game rather than play our own. the only difference here had to be hazard.maybe i am being very unfair to him, but damn it he is eden-fucking-hazard. i expected him to have a season similar to the one CR had when he was 22, 42 goals, and so far...

Willian could've set him through on goal 1on1 twice, would your assesment have been different then if he'd scored?

I suspect you love him and want him to be great but I think you're gonna have to tone down your expectations a bit, and take our system and his instructions in mind. Great players play great because they get supported by great players (with the exception of some football freaks). Individual performances are hard to pull off in a system that is built around defending. There's a reason Mata has been rather poor when he gets a chance. I don't blame it on form. There's a reason Hazard plays better when he can combine with Mata as well, but this hampers our defense (or what Mourinho expects from our defense).

He's no Ronaldo, I doubt he'll ever be as good or even close, but he's still a player most teams would want in a heartbeat. Just enjoy what we have, he's only 22 yo and with some proper singings I'm sure he will raise his level further.

[der Kaiser 77]

Finally some good defensive play. Too bad that we can't join good defensive and good attacking play in one game.

Great work in midfield by our trio (Mikel, Lampard, Ramires). Willian invisible in 1st half, great game by Mikel (too bad that he is so imprecise in long passes).

We shouldn't be unhappy with draw, we are still in game for trophy.

But, if we don't win in next match, against Swansea, then this draw is vainly.

[edetarod 2,155]

i love when we look very solid

with a little luck we could have won 0-1 and it would have been a classic Chelsea-Mou performance

[Toli 977]

are u not the guy who wanted jose to be "sacked" after the line-ups came thru???

I said when Ramires is playing RW what he didnt. read properly and than comment

should have put on Schürrle for Torres and not for Hazard. would have been probably more effective. even though Hazard wasnt really good today, he is still capable to create anything. MAta for Willian should have been our second sub but Mourinho wanted to keep hold on to the draw.

[The only place to be 11,313]

I am not complaining about the result, this is a very good point. But rather disappointed with the approach we took, at least we should be a bit more open and rides our luck, not back to the wall because as we saw, they were even too afraid to attack when we sat back.

So we should rely on luck. So you want more attacking players and maybe a few luck rabbits feet then yes?

All this tactical bullshit is just a waste of time...let's just 'ride our luck'. You're not disappointed with the result, but you don't like the way we achieved it. That's a little ungrateful isn't it, especially at this time of year.

I believe we would have won if tried to take the intitiative. We did well containing and breaking, we could have done a lot more by being proactive.

When our shape did break down, Arsenal created chances. This was an absolutely fantastic display of discipline in horrendous conditions against a team that plenty of people thought would turn us over.

And the fact is that we created more chances. Yet a small group of fickle fans are moaning about the lack of ambition. It's fucking laughable what some people come out with.

[Weckerz 3,781]

Giroud is miles ahead of Torres, Ba and Etoo. And he was their most dangerous player today too (nearly scored).

Giroud is a joke. Some Arsenal fans wanted Bendtner to start.. I'd rather have Torres tbh

[LegenTerry 270]

Branislav Ivanovic is a fucking beast, what a legend. Take that Ozil, you little cunt.

Yes but his cross leads me to craziness

[zolayes 14,489]

Willian could've set him through on goal 1on1 twice, would your assesment have been different then if he'd scored?

I suspect you love him and want him to be great but I think you're gonna have to tone down your expectations a bit, and take our system and his instructions in mind. Great players play great because they get supported by great players (with the exception of some football freaks). Individual performances are hard to pull off in a system that is built around defending. There's a reason Mata has been rather poor when he gets a chance. I don't blame it on form. There's a reason Hazard plays better when he can combine with Mata as well, but this hampers our defense (or what Mourinho expects from our defense).

He's no Ronaldo, I doubt he'll ever be as good or even close, but he's still a player most teams would want in a heartbeat. Just enjoy what we have, he's only 22 yo and with some proper singings I'm sure he will raise his level further.

its not really fair to expect Hazard to be Ronaldo ,,,,CR is a very special talent ,,the problem is our STRIKERS are FUCKING CRAP

[petre.ispirescu 4,928]

tonight's 4-3-3 is the way to go. if playing (solid) like this week in, week out means benching mata, oscar and other fans favourites so be it, i don't care as long as we're winning or taking a point (w/o conceding!!!) away at one of the best teams in epl this season. ffs sunderland and stoke have scored for fun against us and now, when we're rock solid at the back, people are still moaning... two games at the bridge now, hopefully two wins and let the title battle begin!

[didierforever 7,349]

I said when Ramires is playing RW what he didnt. read properly and than comment

should have put on Schürrle for Torres and not for Hazard. would have been probably more effective. even though Hazard wasnt really good today, he is still capable to create anything. MAta for Willian should have been our second sub but Mourinho wanted to keep hold on to the draw.

yes dude, this makes u look far better, just cos mou might want rambo to play as RW, he should be sacked.

arsenal were on top. it was not the like the first half that we were creating chances cos i dont think we did create any in the 2nd half (probably that 4 on 3 which willian fucked up). putting on mata at that time would have been useless. schurrle for torres was maybe, it wa sjose's call and a 50-50 one.

[Mouri_Matic 560]

So we should rely on luck. So you want more attacking players and maybe a few luck rabbits feet then yes?

All this tactical bullshit is just a waste of time...let's just 'ride our luck'. You're not disappointed with the result, but you don't like the way we achieved it. That's a little ungrateful isn't it, especially at this time of year.

No by ride our luck I mean we being more daring and take the game to them, because we are capable of that. We got the players for that. Yeah because we didn't play with the right mentality for a big club, do you ever see Bayern/Barca/Madrid do this no matter who their opponents are? If we want to compete with them we need that mentality. And no I am very happy with the point like I said, it is just that approach is not nice to see. Now if we fail to beat Swansea and draw/lose next week against Liverpool, we could find ourselves like 7-8 points behind City/Pool/Arsenal and this result might then be seems not that good of a result anymore.

[bushman 2,043]

I am a bit puzzled here tonight. To win, to play more offensively against Arsenal made no sense. just a small reminder here, the weather conditions weren´t ideal to do it anyway. Nothing was lost tonight. The team is still at the top, two home games coming up, if won, who knows Chelsea could be leading the pack in early January.

[Styles 9,790]

I think we just lacked a bit of luck and a decent final ball. I think we got in enough dangerous positions to score at least a couple.

Agreed. Willian, who is a diligent worker and a very good player, doesn't seem to have the final ball in his locker. I counted at least 3 occasions when a pass was on and he either didn't see it or played a poor ball. I like him though and he put in another quality shift.

[The only place to be 11,313]

No by ride our luck I mean we being more daring and take the game to them, because we are capable of that. We got the players for that. Yeah because we didn't play with the right mentality for a big club, do you ever see Bayern/Barca/Madrid do this no matter who their opponents are? If we want to compete with them we need that mentality. And no I am very happy with the point like I said, it is just that approach is not nice to see. Now if we fail to beat Swansea and draw/lose next week against Liverpool, we could find ourselves like 7-8 points behind City/Pool/Arsenal and this result might then be seems not that good of a result anymore.

If we had gone for it and lost (which was entirely possible because Arsenal are a good team) then people like you would have been the first ones moaning.

The fact is that we negated Arsenal's threat and created more chances than them. That's how you win leagues.

[Cosmin 2,484]

I guess Jose's counting on us beating United, Spuds and le Arse at the Bridge just like we did with City. If that happens, the 'playing for the draw' strategy was an inspired one and the sacrifice of watching boring games was worth it.

Anyway, after tonight I'm pretty sure that City are favourites to win the title this season.

[Mouri_Matic 560]

If we had gone for it and lost (which was entirely possible because Arsenal are a good team) then people like you would have been the first ones moaning.

The fact is that we negated Arsenal's threat and created more chances than them. That's how you win leagues.

No I would actually be happy if we lost because we tried to play good football, I would never complain. Yes but this strategy rely on others as well, not taking the initiative. Do you really see us shifting from this for our game against Swansea and Liverpool? Or is this the approach that is gonna be retained as soon as we scored a goal or two from now on?

[The only place to be 11,313]

No I would actually be happy if we lost because we tried to play good football,

We played some good football today.