Closed West Brom 1-1 Chelsea

[Laylabelle 9,300]

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.

[AndersonBLUE 819]

Was mourinho actually serious when he said we shouldn't be challenging this season?

[didierforever 7,349]

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 .

GC came in after going our injured. Iva qas filling his role as a CB. Wheb GC came in the ball was towards our lesr flank. Iva had to run half the length of the field tonclose berahino down cos for some reasob GC simlly dint move (maybe really injured). Blaming iva for this is not fair.

[thekid9 418]

Team looks a bit knackered. The mighty Man City fucked up against Norwich, it happens to the best of teams.

I'm just glad our last 2 games aren't against United & Arsenal, city's are! I think the title will come down to the last couple of games. As long as we stay within 3 or so points of the top we have a very good chance

ummm...Citys last 2 games are Everton away and West Ham at home!

[Jase 43,479]

GC came in after going our injured. Iva qas filling his role as a CB. Wheb GC came in the ball was towards our lesr flank. Iva had to run half the length of the field tonclose berahino down cos for some reasob GC simlly dint move (maybe really injured). Blaming iva for this is not fair.

Err, you might want to look at the goal again. When Berahino got the ball, Cahill was already back in his position and Ivanovic at RB. The latter, like I said, just stood off him with hands behind his back and allowed Berahino time and space to put in the cross without any pressure!

[Excalibur KTBFFH 109]

I see very little comments about Ramires. IMO, he was the worst player on the pitch for Chelsea today. Absolutely shocking game. No drive, no energy, poor passing (except the one to Hazard), poor touch, easily dispossed, offered NOTHING in attack and didn't cover for Brana or Willian when they pressured us. Simply put, he was useless. Matic made him look mediocre today.

And he's been useless for months now. Do people still believe he's a regular starter in this squad? I don't.People keep banging on about a striker, but we also need a CM who can dictate the tempo against defensive opposition like today. A Gundogan type midfielder. We can't put all the creative burden on the 3 behind the striker, especially in games where there is no space. Add to the fact that our full-backs barely even over-lap these days (under orders from the manager), it leads to sterile, dull, uninventive football.

[The only place to be 11,313]

Err, you might want to look at the goal again. When Berahino got the ball, Cahill was already back in his position and Ivanovic at RB. The latter, like I said, just stood off him with hands behind his back and allowed Berahino time and space to put in the cross without any pressure!

Er, actually Ivanovic makes his way over as the ball is going to Berahino. Then the full-back makes an overlapping run so Ivanovic can't just dive in.

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.

You were spot on. Terry being out is a massive loss in games like this.

[didierforever 7,349]

Err, you might want to look at the goal again. When Berahino got the ball, Cahill was already back in his position and Ivanovic at RB. The latter, like I said, just stood off him with hands behind his back and allowed Berahino time and space to put in the cross without any pressure!

iva was running towards berahino. He was atleast 5 yards off him when he got the touch and iva made the decision to stand back. Can't say it was wrong cos GC was not moving and if betraying had gone past him, Gc would not have been able to cover for iva. There was no way iva could have tried to stop the cross withiut being exposed. A lob into the box with 2cbs seened a better option for him.

[petre.ispirescu 4,928]

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!

There's a word here in Romania saying "you're either a horse or a donkey, pick one, you can't be both" referring to those willing to do so many things at once but somehow fail to do so or to those who are irresolute and don't know what path to choose in their life. That's the case here, you can't play both possession football and counter-attacking football at the same time, that would be the perfect football team and we know there is no such thing. We have to stick to a philosophy and that is counter-attacking football. We all love Jose, we all wanted him back and that's because we didn't play our best football in the last years. Now he's back and we're looking just fine, let's support him and his philosophy. Matches like this happen every season, this is the beauty of football, I'd be so fucking bored supporting Barcelona or Bayern de Munich, playing training matches every week against Almeria, Elche and Braunshweig and waiting for the games against Madrid, Borussia and Champions League football to have proper football feelings like, you know, fear of losing, fear of conceding a goal in the dying minutes etc

Not the best day at the office for the boys, but fuck the result, let's move on and beat City once again and hope United and Sunderland will save our asses this round.

[zolayes 14,489]

I see very little comments about Ramires. IMO, he was the worst player on the pitch for Chelsea today. Absolutely shocking game. No drive, no energy, poor passing (except the one to Hazard), poor touch, easily dispossed, offered NOTHING in attack and didn't cover for Brana or Willian when they pressured us. Simply put, he was useless. Matic made him look mediocre today.

And he's been useless for months now. Do people still believe he's a regular starter in this squad? I don't.People keep banging on about a striker, but we also need a CM who can dictate the tempo against defensive opposition like today. A Gundogan type midfielder. We can't put all the creative burden on the 3 behind the striker, especially in games where there is no space. Add to the fact that our full-backs barely even over-lap these days (under orders from the manager), it leads to sterile, dull, uninventive football.

Ramires is a shadow of the player he was last year ,, im begining to doubt if he has a future with us

[Jase 43,479]

iva was running towards berahino. He was atleast 5 yards off him when he got the touch and iva made the decision to stand back. Can't say it was wrong cos GC was not moving and if betraying had gone past him, Gc would not have been able to cover for iva. There was no way iva could have tried to stop the cross withiut being exposed. A lob into the box with 2cbs seened a better option for him.

Nobody ask Ivanovic to get very tight or even dive into challenge on Berahino like TOPTB suggested above but for goodness sake, at least get a bit closer and put pressure on the ball. And even let's just say Ivanovic tries to put in a challenge and Berahino sped past him, there's Mikel (before Cahill) behind Ivanovic to provide cover. It's not the first time and won't be the last Ivanovic will commit such dreadful error.

[Toli 977]

Mou always had problems locking up deep-sitting teams. even with madrid, who probably had a better squad and worse opponents. nothing new. still, bringing on Mikel for Oscar was astonishing and putting Azpi at LB futhermore. he seems to not learn from the mistakes and just constantly puts up Azpi at LB. playing 0-1 is always a dangerous game, especially if you are away from home. should have killed of the game.

also I feel, Oscar and Ramires really had a bad game. Willian the best for me. Etoo was also quite well, Hazard rather average. Matic did his job, cahill was great. Luiz was good until Anichebe came on. could not handle him at all. really dissapointing to lose points like this, but it happens. hopefully arsenal and city now will lose some points too

[CHOULO19 24,332]

iva was running towards berahino. He was atleast 5 yards off him when he got the touch and iva made the decision to stand back. Can't say it was wrong cos GC was not moving and if betraying had gone past him, Gc would not have been able to cover for iva. There was no way iva could have tried to stop the cross withiut being exposed. A lob into the box with 2cbs seened a better option for him.

If this was an isolated case, then you'd probably have a point. But Iva does this every single time! He never closes down crosses. It has cost us in the past and it cost us again today.

[Pizy 17,860]

I agree with you guys about Ramires. He struggles with even simple passes all the time. Always has. That in combination with his woeful finishing when he's wide open around the opposition box makes him so frustrating sometimes. He looked like our standout player at the start of the season but he's been shit recently.

[didierforever 7,349]

Nobody ask Ivanovic to get very tight or even dive into challenge on Berahino like TOPTB suggested above but for goodness sake, at least get a bit closer and put pressure on the ball. And even let's just say Ivanovic tries to put in a challenge and Berahino sped past him, there's Mikel (before Cahill) behind Ivanovic to provide cover. It's not the first time and won't be the last Ivanovic will commit such dreadful error.

First of all "dreadful error"??? Did he let ridgewell walk the ball in the net??? He let berahino cross the ball into a box full of xhelsea shirts. If the goal is anyone's fault then it luiz's for lwtting victor get ahead of him so easily. Or more so of letting such a big gap develop betweeb him and GC..

Berahino got the ball and shifted it to his right foot and that is when iva got into position. Iva in tring to pressure berahino and losinf out to him would have led to a 2 on 1 with mikel and a much worse situati on than we were in.

[oman43 45]

Should have handled the iva situation better though.

Incidents like this happen, it shows the players are up for it and genuinely care (not suggesting you said otherwise). Cech was our captain tonight, so was right to confront him, but yes with JT on the pitch it would have played out differently.

[didierforever 7,349]

If this was an isolated case, then you'd probably have a point. But Iva does this every single time! He never closes down crosses. It has cost us in the past and it cost us again today.

at the start of the season, yes. Recently hell no. U can look at the city match, the newcastle match.

[oman43 45]

Oscar- another uncreative performance.

In line with my previous post. I agree with almost all of your ratings, particularly your view on Oscar. Just thinking of the alternates for that central role (not to start, Oscar is still the one JM is building the team around, but perhaps to bring on). Without Mata he is the only true option in that position. He does need to be more consistent.