Closed Man City 2-0 Chelsea

[Muzchap 8,966]

Willian is extremely overrated on here and the sooner people realise that the better. Very poor player, his work rate saves him, NOT Chelsea quality.

Could I say Berke by name... Berke by nature

Old English slang but seriously though you are entitled to your opinion, even if I don't share it

[LAB 1,030]

Bad performance from most players (maybe tired a bit). Also Terry's missing didn't leave any other choice but to use Luiz as a CB and like a domino effect Mikel played DMF and Ramires RMF and the rest is history... Talking about terrifying conbination!!!!

I just hope the substitutions were our first choices instead of this circus.

[The Skipper 20,609]

There is no quality youth in our academy. Hopefully the PL B plan will go through and the gap between U21 and first team will be a less bumpy road. Until then we have to buy our talents. Before someone brings up Chalobah etc.. there is a reason Mourinho along with other managers simply look over them, they are not good enough to replace players we already have for the first eleven/depth. If they can't produce consistently in a league lower,Championship then how are they even going to cope back here where the competition for places is high and no mistakes are tolerated?

Chelsea is doing the only right way there is at the moment. As long as the current youth systems/reserve squads stay, the youth academy will not produce quality players as were Terry. Potential is there but no real stepping stone or environment of regular competitive matches against real quality opposition week in week out. If you look at the Spanish league system, they have B teams playing a league lower against teams who want to win in order to stay up/gain promotion. That's something FA should strive for with the Premier League B teams in order to give our youth the right tools to improve. Loans are great to regain form etc but they will also mess up the development of the players - they will learn to play the wrong systems, wrong mentality, basically no Chelsea's footprint in their game. Plus sending youth abroad / rot in reserves will send a wrong message to them as if they were unwanted by the club. Playing in Chelsea B will give them incentive to strive to play for Chelsea A team.

Completely disagree. There is quality youth in our team, we have a lot of talented youngsters here. The main reason they haven't made it over the reason years is because there was a lack of managerial stability at the club.

No manager who constantly has to win to keep his job safe is going to risk his job by playing youngsters from the academy.

Also, the fact that someone does well or not in the Championship does not indicate whether they'll be good enough either. Ross Barkley is a prime example - struggled in general at Championship level but has bedded in very nicely at Everton this season after he was given a chance by RM.

The PL B league proposal is a lot of bogus as well as it isn't anything like the systems implemented abroad. There won't be a Chelsea B playing in the Championship - it'll be more or less the same - they'll be facing Arsenal/United/Liverpool B's, which is again pretty much the same thing. It's a pretty pointless rebrand IMO.

Again I reiterate, the main reason why there hasn't been any youngsters coming through is purely due to lack of managerial stability. There is no way a manager who was never going to be given time is going to stick his neck on the line for youngsters to come through.

[The Skipper 20,609]

I would rather we waste our time with Ake then Mikel.

But that's the thing, is experience. Something our players don't get!

How are they going to get experience, when our squad player goes to someone like Mikel?

For that just give it to a young player.

Mikel is nowhere near as bad as some are claiming him to be here.

As said above, he's fine as solid squad player. Certainly better than Ake right now(whom too many overrate on here IMO).

[Fernando 6,585]

Mikel is nowhere near as bad as some are claiming him to be here.

As said above, he's fine as solid squad player. Certainly better than Ake right now(whom too many overrate on here IMO).

When mikel was young he made a lot of rookies mistakes but we let him cause he was young and needed experience.

But now we won't do the same for ake?

[The Skipper 20,609]

When mikel was young he made a lot of rookies mistakes but we let him cause he was young and needed experience.

But now we won't do the same for ake?

A younger Mikel was far more talented than Ake.

Ake isn't even the best young DM we have. I rate Chalobah and RLC over him. Even Lewis Baker and McEachran.

[AswinR 96]

Okay then my question is, are the players really that bad that they can't even produce a better performance then Mikel?

best question ever!!!

Question of opinion but I don't regard Mikel a bad player. He is a safe player who has become more of an utility option for us if we need to park the bus or approach with more defensive mentality. Can you name me a youth player that could step into his shoes despite no experience and most likely being inferior in his game? I get that Mikel has become more of an inside joke for some of you on this board but let's not let emotions cloud our judgement here.

Safe ! experienced! what in yesterdays match indicated he could as a player do to change the game....he definitely did not win us the midfield...while matic played a lot of games mikel did not..... how many decent passes forward? how about interceptions...how many did he make? :confused:

mikel is a good player....but good players play in clubs like everton , newcastle etc.... worldclass players play in chelsea..period!!

we used to have ballack essien makalele here!!

rather than ake i think chalobah is a better and more promising option...... even omelu is better

another player we quite often criticise is luiz but what kind of game did he have? for all his talent hes not meant to be in defense.... remember the same player against mancity a week back.... either he realizes he needs to switch to midfield or let barca or bayern have him!!

ramires was another player who had a brilliant match!!less said the better....

and imo Cech aint much of a captain....i really like him but cant see him inspire the team!!

feeling pissed...could have atleast rotated the team for this one!

[Mufassir08 2,400]

A younger Mikel was far more talented than Ake.

Ake isn't even the best young DM we have. I rate Chalobah and RLC over him. Even Lewis Baker and McEachran.

Do you think Ake can make the transition to LB like Alaba?

[The Skipper 20,609]

Do you think Ake can make the transition to LB like Alaba?

Nah, no chance. Alaba was a b2b midfielder with attacking intentions whilst Ake is a DM/CB.

[bluephoenix 1,131]

Defense without Terry is a scary thing to imagine ! We need do something about that as well along with the strikers issue

[communicate 2,703]

I am surprised we are just talking about defence, remember they also created a good number of chances when we beat them.

The difference this game is that we were so bad Offensively

[The only place to be 11,313]

The match was lost as soon as we lined up without John Terry and with Mikel.

Mikel's effort (or lack thereof) in the build-up to their second goal summed him up. Ball passes 2 feet in front of him and he doesn't move, he then dawdles back and actually stops running as Nasri continues his run into the box. He's a passenger, always has been and you need 11 men against City.

[laura90 556]

The match was lost as soon as we lined up without John Terry and with Mikel.

Mikel's effort (or lack thereof) in the build-up to their second goal summed him up. Ball passes 2 feet in front of him and he doesn't move, he then dawdles back and actually stops running as Nasri continues his run into the box. He's a passenger, always has been and you need 11 men against City.

Hypocrisy at it's best.

We lost as soon as Terry wasn't on the team sheet.

I bet you were among those who laughed at Pellegrini when he moaned about injuries and blamed them for result.

If we missed Terry that much, what can one say about City who missed Nasri, Aguero, Fernardinho, Lescot, Garcia and Milner due to injury or recovering from them if I'm not mistaken?

He had to play Demichelis as DM which didn't work out any better than Mikel for us.

Many City fans on the stream I watched said game was lost without Fernardinho. Were they right? We just got lucky?

And spare me from 'there were all fit when we beat them earlier' - this was different game and we both know who had the major role in our victory.

Onto the game, we lost it when Pellegrini figured out our game plan and decided he won't fall into the same trap twice, and had fit players to implement his plan.

Little to do with Terry's injury.

Lot to do with our inability to react to the changed conditions of the game.

[The only place to be 11,313]

Hypocrisy at it's best.

We lost as soon as Terry wasn't on the team sheet.

I bet you were among those who laughed at Pellegrini when he moaned about injuries and blamed them for result.

Actually I used that as evidence to support the notion that City's squad depth isn't that great. Weeks ago I said that they were vulnerable if they suffered an injury to Toure or Fernandinho.

If we missed Terry that much, what can one say about City who missed Nasri, Aguero, Fernardinho, Lescot, Garcia and Milner due to injury or recovering from them if I'm not mistaken?

Aguero and Fernandinho are key players for them, part of their tremendous spine (Kompany, Fernandinho, Toure, Silva, Aguero....used to include Hart in that too) much like JT is for us.

He had to play Demichelis as DM which didn't work out any better than Mikel for us.

I agree.

Onto the game, we lost it when Pellegrini figured out our game plan and decided he won't fall into the same trap twice, and had fit players to implement his plan.

Little to do with Terry's injury.

Lot to do with our inability to react to the changed conditions of the game.

Here's where I disagree. Terry is probably our most important player and has been tremendous all season. We missed him against West Brom and we missed him against City. There's a reason why Luiz simply hasn't been chosen over the last few months with any regularity.

It was a subdued performance all round, but we missed the solidity at the back and the leadership on the pitch that JT brings.

[Muzchap 8,966]

Actually I used that as evidence to support the notion that City's squad depth isn't that great. Weeks ago I said that they were vulnerable if they suffered an injury to Toure or Fernandinho.

Aguero and Fernandinho are key players for them, part of their tremendous spine (Kompany, Fernandinho, Toure, Silva, Aguero....used to include Hart in that too) much like JT is for us.

I agree.

Here's where I disagree. Terry is probably our most important player and has been tremendous all season. We missed him against West Brom and we missed him against City. There's a reason why Luiz simply hasn't been chosen over the last few months with any regularity.

It was a subdued performance all round, but we missed the solidity at the back and the leadership on the pitch that JT brings.

The last line sums it up perfectly !!!

JT is not just a great defender - he is a LEADER - that's what we need... When we don't have it - we struggle!!!