Closed West Brom 1-1 Chelsea

[Barbara 15,149]

haven't watched one sec of the match - not even followed the comments on internet, except one single comment saying they had 8-9 players inside their box.

I've been saying it for a while. We don't know how to play against teams that park the bus, but maybe that wasn't the problem, as we had a lead and let them draw.

I'm disappointed, but then again, the team isn't ready... we all know (or should know) that.

[Jase 43,479]

Clearly the cursed black away kit is at fault here...

After performing well in the last 1 1/2 months or so, a drop in performance level like this is bound to happen, frustrating as it is. Didn't play well at all but had chance to kill the game off with that counter attack chance we got in the second half. Hazard seem to take yonks to get to the ball and put in a simple low cross into the 6-yard box. The lack of decisiveness and ruthlessness were evident there.

As for West Brom's goal, I'm putting the blame on Ivanovic. Once again, he stood off the crosser and didn't even bother closing Berahino in this case and put pressure on him. Utterly pathetic! And the goal was coming as we seem to have lost it especially Ivanovic had a silly argument with Cech and Cahill picking up an injury. The team suddenly looked all over the place and even Cech suddenly look lost when West Brom put crosses or balls into the box.

It's just .

[Beepu 1,714]

If, in every one of our PL matches, the opposition were to sit back I doubt we would even make the top 4. We have become so dependent on the counter-attacking system that we are beyond clueless when trying to break down a team's defence when they 'park the bus'. Ramires lacks a footballing brain and any technical ability; our £85m trio of AMs cannot pick out a final ball to save their lives; losing the JT-Cahill partnership really destabilises our defence; and it doesn't help when we don't have a striker capable of holding up play. Sadly we are likely to see more performances and scorelines like this as our remaining fixtures are predominantly against teams in the bottom half of the table who don't play to our system. I actually reckon we have a better chance in the Champions League since we can play counter-attacking but we need to learn how to play with possession too!

And yet we are still fighting for the title, even with all these deficiencies. Just excites me to see this young team as it matures more and gain more experience playing together, and of course the necessary reinforcements in the transfer window.

[The only place to be 11,313]

Can someone give me a logical explanation why we always try to sit on a narrow victory to see the game out when it's been proven time and again to be a very dangerous and risky strategy. why did we stop pressing them high up the pitch in the 2nd half and genuinely try to control the game and push for the killer goal. why invite unnecessary pressure to yourself by sitting back deep.

Makes no sense at all to me.

Because it's a very tiring tactic and we had a game on Saturday.

Why didn't the tactic work? Because Anichebe got free from his marker.

[Cech's helmet 220]

Man, cant we stay on top at least for a week ffs

[The only place to be 11,313]

haven't watched one sec of the match - not even followed the comments on internet, except one single comment saying they had 8-9 players inside their box.

I've been saying it for a while. We don't know how to play against teams that park the bus, but maybe that wasn't the problem, as we had a lead and let them draw.

I'm disappointed, but then again, the team isn't ready... we all know (or should know) that.

They didn't park the bus. They defended well but we scored from a corner and it wasn't against the run of play. They actually left a lot of space in the second half and we should've scored, but they managed ONE SHOT ON TARGET and scored from it.

[NiclasCFC 2,582]

Come on Poyet, produce some magic tommorow! And then we have....Moyes.... yeah just do..... whatever you do with your team.... Just get that bloody point!

[calculatingInfinity 1,443]

Come on Poyet, produce some magic tommorow! And then we have....Moyes.... yeah just do..... whatever you do with your team.... Just get that bloody point!

Moyes do whatever he does with the team? That's bad advice. Will probably be 100 crosses and 0 goals for them.

[iseah100 5,612]

Yea, we shouldn't have sat back, but we did. We dropped 2 points but we'll still be in the hunt till the end. Young team, and in the CL and FA Cup we'll be better cause we're facing top teams. Chelsea is a team on the rise. Another example of how EPL is the best league in the world.

[steve_n17 31]

if man city lose tomorrow it will only make this result worse

[Weckerz 3,781]

if man city lose tomorrow it will only make this result worse

cus fuck logic

[dee25 1,044]

Shame. A chance missed. I probably would have left Eto'o on, especially with us sitting back. Torres is just returning from injury and even when fit, he's not particularly good at holding up the ball to relieve pressure whereas that's one of Eto's strength. The times when we did manage to get the ball to Hazard, the moment it was played to Torres, he turned over possession. Kinda hard not to sit deep if the attacking players are unable to hold onto the ball.

Ramires should have stayed on the pitch, even though he (once again) had a poor game. I would have moved him right, Willian in the middle and brought on Frank to sit alongside Matic. With a midfield of Frank, Matic, Willian Ramires, Hazard....... I really don't think we would have been under such intense pressure as we were in the last 20 or so mins.

Anyway, take it on the chin and move on. Just such a shame for the players and coaching staff. All the hard work they put in last month only to stumble at such a crucial time.

[Hutcho 8,443]

It sucks but it happens. We really didn't perform and just couldn't hold on. I'm sure we will learn from it and move on. Teams will be dropping points all over the place.

[didierforever 7,349]

Did we lose the title already. We got a draw and a point against wba who have taken points off pool, everton, went 3-0 down to city ended the gane 3-2 and probably should have taken a point then too. People complaining that we got complacent need to take a look at the the teams they had mentioned and resting all the players. The players were up for it but credit to wba who defended well and were unlucky to go 1-0 behind. They put us undera lot of pressure in the last 20 and we simply coukd not get out of our box. With arsenal playing united, pool away to fulham, we are still right at the top. These results against relegation threatened sides are bounf to hapoen. All this crazy talk and bashing is simply isiotic.

Cech- decent game. Dint have much to do until the goal was conceded. Should have handled the iva situation better though. 7/10

Azpi- a very good performance. Did what he does best. Intercepting a lot of passes. Putting the winger under lot of pressure. 8/10

Luiz- very poor performance. Simply could not handle anichebe. Could have given a penalty for shirt pulling. Shiuld have closed the gap down with GC which ultimately led to a goal. He seriously needs to step up in defence. 5/10

Gc - solid performnce until the injury. It was his coming in from the injury whixh made iva run half the length of the field to close berahino down for the cross. Cant blame him tjough. Just unlucky. Hope the injuty is not seroous cos that would be devastating. 8/10

Iva- good match. Good goal. Was solid defensively too. Should have controlled his temper better coa after that incident we simply loat all control 7/10

Matic - Motm for me. Won infinite balls. Intercepted another infinite plays. Just a perfect performance. 9/10

Rambo- flop of the day for me. What has happened to him for the past month. Has been shambolic. Today he was worae than shambolic. He messed up atleast 3 counters cos of his poor firat touch. Simply was not up for it. 4/10

Willian - decent performance. Should have done so much better on a number of occasions. Final passes just were not good enough. Corners were a disgrace as usual. His workrate was his only saving grace. 6/10.

Oscar- another uncreative performance. For all hia workrate and playing into a system, I m sorry to say but chelsea's no.1 CAM shiuld be creating a lot more than this. Was totally off his game. That HAZARD pass which he took a big touch exemplified his perfomance. Not good enough. 6/10

Hazard- a good game. Was marked by 2 players all the time. Produxed some good runs and pases like the one to oscar or the run where rambo found him over the wba defence. He shiuld have done much better in thw counter where torrea and rambo were in the box. Dilly dallied too much on the ball then. 7/10

Etoo- good hold up play. Brilliantl link up play. Seemed the moat likely to score or create. Good performance. 7/10

Subs

Torres - should have got a goal with his first touch had hazard passed the ball. But overall dint so anythin cos we were simply too deep.

Mikel- jose probably missed a trixk here. With us anyways as deep as we were, bringing mikel on was just asking for rrouble. Can't it was his doing though. We were panicking long before he was subbed.

Salah- not much to do. Thiugh a good run behins rhe defence. He will take time to settle in.

In the end it was a fair result. Can't say wba dint deserve a point. Today's performance showed exavtly how important JT is for nunerous reasons.

[Pizy 18,368]

It sucks but it happens. We really didn't perform and just couldn't hold on. I'm sure we will learn from it and move on. Teams will be dropping points all over the place.

Can see United getting a result tomorrow but it's City and Liverpool that concern me. Never expected us to win the title this season. Liverpool concern me the most since they don't have CL to worry about. They can play at that breakneck level that they did against Arse for the rest of the season due to the amount of rest they'll have between matches.

[Excalibur KTBFFH 109]

Am I the only one worried about Terry being out? Luiz looked shaky against a Remy-less Newcastle and I know that Anichebe is no Drogba, but I fear that he might have a hard time against a big, strong striker, as he usually does. And I'm surprised people want Torres or Salah to start this game. This is a decisive time in our season and we need our strongest XI playing today. We still have 4 days rest till Man City.

These were my comments in the match preview. I guess there was a little bit of truth in them.

[zolayes 14,489]

we are against City the rest are also runs

[Laylabelle 9,359]

Can see United getting a result tomorrow but it's City and Liverpool that concern me. Never expected us to win the title this season. Liverpool concern me the most since they don't have CL to worry about. They can play at that breakneck level that they did against Arse for the rest of the season due to the amount of rest they'll have between matches.

They have 2 bloody good strikers to.Do think Man U will manage a result tommrow then go crap again...City who knows.