Closed Southampton 0-3 Chelsea

[zolayes 14,489]

Voted Oscar but was delighted with Torres

[Korea 734]

Voted Oscar but was delighted with Torres

Torres got MOTM for NBC Sports as well...

[Pizy 17,860]

Lamps and Iva out for a month.

[Sidzeret 2,257]

Bold decision s from Mourinho today. He could have left the team the way it was and,maybe, we could have managed a 1-0 win but those subs were perfect from Jose.

Awesome new year's day.

[Barbara 15,149]

I was secondhand embarrassed by that Oscar dive and I guess after Mourinho was so emphatic about Suárez last week he should address it on the press room today. Really, really disappointed on Oscar, but did the boy made it up brilliantly or what?

I think the talks about Mata are too extremish. Neither is he useless, neither is he a victim of the biggest injustice in the world of football. We play better football now than in the past imo (the thing is we continue to oscillate too much, having blips and difficulty to score, but the system itself is better). We're better positioned in UCL and EPL, so it's obvious whatever we have under Mourinho works better than what we had since Carlo's left. And then there's Mata in the middle of it all. He doesn't fit this system as well as he did some others. But he can still play and be very useful for us. The thing is playing away, with terrible weather, against a team that wasn't going to defend, but would look for the goal in their turf was NEVER a match for Mata, regardless if he played in the middle or in the wing. I agree with people playing him in the wing is a waste when he's much better in the middle, but today the conditions were against him, as well as they were against Schürrle. I understand Mourinho wanted to give those guys some confidence and play time, but a pace-based player like Schürrle in a heavy pitch is a waste as much as Mata was for reason I said above.

He should have started with Willian and Oscar because the situation fit them better (completely ignoring the fact that they along with Hazard form out best AM right now, hands down). So I can't praise Mourinho much when I think there was an assessment mistake on his part. I mean, he was great, but I wouldn't have started the guys he chose.

Cole continues to be a libiality, especially defensively. Yeah, he still can deliver great clearances in the box, but that's about it. He's overran often, he's clueless in some of his passes and tackles and he man-watches too much lately. He was decent, but re-watch the match and count how many times those things I've listed happened. You'd be surprised. Good thing there was someone covering him in each of those. That's why I'm saying this now because if in another match he does compromise it won't look like it came from nowhere. He seems to lack motivation imo, but it could be an age thing.

I think we had a good first half, Torres played very well imo even if his finishing wasn't that good. He wasn't awful finishing, just unlucky or not clinical, take your pick. Hazard continues playing at high level, as well as Cahill. Ramires had a great match attacking and was good defending. Mikel didn't compromise and Terry had a couple of small mistakes (I think our skipper needs a rest, he's been blood brilliant so far, but the man isn't made of steel). Azpili also had a nonsense mistake, but played well. Mata had that 1x1 play with Hazard in the first, where Eden got the ball longer than he should and Davis anticipated him, but that's all I've got from him and a tackle. I'm sure he did more, but that's all that comes to mind. Schürrle had that one shot and that was about it.

Oscar and Willian were brilliant. The estability and the control we've gathered in the match after they came in is incredible. I was once again doing a post-match report for Chelsea Brasil and ever since they were brought Southampton had one chance, with Gastón at 94 mark. Incredible pressing, amazing control of ball (before they were brought we haven't had a streak of dominating possession except in the first 15 minutes of the match) and we just played our game. Ofc the goals could have come in the first (on individual plays by Ramires and Torres, as our AM wasn't particularly that creative or even threatening in the first), but they came when collectively we started dominating and relying less on individual brilliance. That's the difference between us with Jose and others before him. We rely less on individuals such as Mata, Hazard last season or Mata, Drogba in the previous, and more in the system.

Great win, I think we're making progress again and I guess Luiz spoiled Mourinho's private talks to the team in the interview after Liverpool. The journo asked Eden what were Chelsea's ambitions in the league and while he was looking for the words, Luiz simply said: fight for the title. That we will.

[couris 232]

Torres got MOTM for NBC Sports as well...

Yup. Torres MOTM easy.

[Melanicus 5,208]

Okay, let's bring back Benayoun and Marin instead.

Mata is too good to be benched. He was our best player two times in a row, two seasons in a row. Under Mourinho he is a shadow of what he used to be. Why waste him on the bench? Even when he is brought to the game, he does okay, but not more than this.

You are the clear product of today's society. You can only see black and white, good and bad, like there are no things in between.

Mata is too good to be benched and Benayoun and Marin are not quality enough. We have actually a lot of good squad players in attacking midfield. Schurrle, KDB, Traore to name a few. Not to mention Moses and Atsu who are loaned out.

There should be balance in the squad, between great players (Mata is one) and good players, who are competition for great players.

Well, to counter your argument a lot of good teams have quality on their bench..

City: Dzeko, Navas

United: Chica. Kagawa

Arsenal: Santi/Ox

Outside of England, plenty of teams have stacked benches...

Bayern: Gotze, Martinez, Thiago

Madrid: Isco, Fabio Coentrao, Casillas

Barca: Sanchez, Tello, etc....

Quality - yes. World class - no.

Out of those players, only Casillas, Gotze and Isco are on the same level as Mata. And actually Isco doesn't play so little.

[different level 1,056]

The double sub worked like a charm. Oscar and Willian definitely changed the game, although the former deserves some ear pulling for that dive. As much as Mata was disappointed to be subbed the outcome shows it was a good decision. But anyway any suggestion that he needs to be sold is a typical forum overreaction and it's quite simply a ridiculous one.

[Korea 734]

Mata is too good to be benched. He was our best player two times in a row, two seasons in a row. Under Mourinho he is a shadow of what he used to be. Why waste him on the bench? Even when he is brought to the game, he does okay, but not more than this.

You are the clear product of today's society. You can only see black and white, good and bad, like there are no things in between.

Mata is too good to be benched and Benayoun and Marin are not quality enough. We have actually a lot of good squad players in attacking midfield. Schurrle, KDB, Traore to name a few. Not to mention Moses and Atsu who are loaned out.

There should be balance in the squad, between great players (Mata is one) and good players, who are competition for great players.

Quality - yes. World class - no.

Out of those players, only Casillas, Gotze and Isco are on the same level as Mata. And actually Isco doesn't play so little.

Mata not world class.

Hes as world class as DLUiz is world class.

[The Skipper 20,593]

Yup. Torres MOTM easy.

Over Hazard and Oscar? Haha wow, Torres fanboys really are blind.

[couris 232]

Over Hazard and Oscar? Haha wow, Torres fanboys really are blind.

Watch the first half.

[The Skipper 20,593]

Watch the first half.

Watch the second half, you know the one where we actually scored goals in.

[1chelsea 864]

Clean Sheet Clean Sheet Clean Sheet Clean Sheet Clean Sheet Clean Sheet boozier

[Liquidator 5,176]

Mustard away support as usual, great second half performance, drenched but very pleased. Well done Chels.

[Barbara 15,149]

Regardless of who people voted for MOTM (I chose Oscar because it's hard to ignore a guy that took part directly in all our goals), it's a sight for the sore eyes to see only AMs and a striker being voted. I'm very thankful for our defenders, but it's progress to see the votes split only between AMs and ST, especially in a match the other team tried to score and we finished with a clean sheet. Hazard and Willian had GREAT matches imo, and I think Ramires and Torres were the ones that created or had our best chances in the first. I'm happy with this prospect. I hope it stays here, clean sheets, good defending, but still eclipsed by our attacking players

[Bacika 188]

Any gifs of the goals? Thanks

[The Skipper 20,593]

So we should only look at the half's that we score in, and ignore everything that lead to it? Makes sense.

There's more to football than just scoring goals, just like how there's more to Chelsea than the goals we score.

How have you concluded that I meant that? Sorry but you've completely taking it out of context.

So you're saying our first half performance was better than our second one?

So you agree that Torres had a better performance than Oscar and Hazard?

Because that was the premise of the discussion and you've completely taken it to mean something else.

[The Skipper 20,593]

This is what you said,

You're clearly implying that jut because we scored, the second half should be given priority.

Sigh. I didn't even mention all of those things...all I meant was that both the half's should be given priority when you make judgements. You can't take it as you see fit. That's how you separate an opinion from a fact.

But that wasn't what I meant at all, if you looked at the discussion you would've understood what the premise was.