Closed Fulham 1-3 Chelsea

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Ooh. Just realized that now you mentioned it. Indeed, only Southampton kept a clean sheet at Craven Cottage in the league this season though Sheffield United also managed to do the same in the FA Cup. Nonetheless, very poor goal to concede from our POV though. 2nd game in 4 days we gave away a cheap goal from a corner. Hope we don't revert to the mess we had back in early December.

Funny thing, against Gala, the goal aside, I thought we did exceptionally well at set-pieces and corners. We cleared everything against a more physical team. I even said so in the twitter feed a few minutes before the goal.

I think it was just a bit of lack of concentration from JT in Istanbul and Azpi(?) who failed to clear it today.

[Jase 43,479]

Funny thing, against Gala, the goal aside, I thought we did exceptionally well at set-pieces and corners. We cleared everything against a more physical team. I even said so in the twitter feed a few minutes before the goal.

I think it was just a bit of lack of concentration from JT in Istanbul and Azpi(?) who failed to clear it today.

Agree. We have done well since that defensive debacle in December and I suppose things like that can happen once in awhile but it was still 2 soft goals to concede. Thankfully, today's one didn't cost us, unlike the one in Istanbul..

[Reddish-Blue 2,223]

Delighted for Schurrlé.

We win and Arsenal lose to Stoke, simply a great day..

[Jase 43,479]

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1e2pqn_reaction-mourinho-schurrle-hazard-on-fulham_sport

[thekid9 418]

Hazard JUST gets my vote ahead of Shirley, 3 Good finishes , but Eden really carried the whole team on his back to get them going , and was outstanding!

Good shift from most in the Second half, Think Oscar needs an extended rest...looks way off it!

[Mohammed Seif 1,451]

This was a great game. It shows the kind of team spirit this squad has. I think the first half was not a bad half at all. We pressed in midfield well, controlled the pace of the game, and our our goal was hardly threatened. We could have also scored atleast one goal. We weren't great in the final third but never the less a good performance given that a lot of players are so fatigued and a lot of concerns were there for those players and today's performance. So considering all that we were doing a good job as a team.

Second half we played exactly the same in my opinion except for Schurrle we committed to more runs in depth and to me that was key. The moment Schurrle exploited their defense with some good runs we started looking more dangerous. And the after that first goal the game as a whole became a much easier one. Fulham was desperately looking for points and had to open up. Their game play was poor in the first half and continued throughout the second. Scurrle continued his runs through their defenses and created space for himself.Torres should have making that run to the near post in the second goal and Schurrle to the far or center, but he came all the way from the right to and cut in. Good pass from Hazard and Schurrle capitalized.

Yes some players could have done better but I still take nothing from them. They all put in their best as team, despite what they are going through and prevailed as team. Great game in my opinion. Great character from the players too.

[iceboy 992]

MOTD link please?

[Vybz Kartel 1,613]

That 2nd half performance from Eden just proves everyone's fear. We are truly close to a 1 man team , not sayin I dont mind when his on form, hopefully other players can become more deceisive for us like Eden. If Eden had not turned the after burners in the 2nd half I can bet u a million we would hv struggled to win today's game which is why he was my man of the match despite Andre gettin the matchball

[BlueLyon 9,359]

FUN FACT: Chelsea have conceded 4 goals in the last 6 Premier League visits to Craven Cottage and all of the 4 goals came from set pieces.

Not so fun

[CMS 382]

Another uninspired, insipid first-half rescued by a great second-half performance. It's nice to have a manager who can inspire the troops at half-time, but maybe he wants to try that speech 45 minutes earlier?

Delighted for Schurrle who finished beautifully but Cahill deserves credit once again for being a rock alongside JT. Hazard was magic in the second half as well and Torres made some nice runs to create space, but beyond that it's hard to pick out many other players who really pushed themselves about a 6/10. Azpi and Ivanovic were their usual secure selves and Cech made some solid saves, but looked a little indecisive for the goal (and not for the first time).

Three points in the bag, Arsenal lose and Liverpool away to Southampton means a great result all things considered.

Actually there was no speech at all. "Silent treatment" Hard to imagine going into a game with a silent treatment. It only works at half time. I've used it to inspire my various teams quite a few times and it works like magic.

[CMS 382]

The runs Schurrle made were the runs that has been missing from our strikers. If only Torres is not so lazy and can actually make runs off the ball as opposed to running into our own players and impeding their progress, he would be a fearsome striker.

The missing element are: "Runs off the ball"

Torres please watch the second half game video. First half, as a sole striker, I was yelling at my TV screen. If you are a sole striker and the game switches in our defensive half, you switch with the ball. If they manage to clear the ball, it will only go on that side of the field. Any fool knows that. Torres Smh. if he fails under Jose, he needs to just pack things up. He's had how many chances under how many coaches to redeem himself, even had Benitez twice and still no progress. Its all Torres and no one else. He needs to wake up and start playing, or otherwise find himself in some other league playing obscure teams.

[CMS 382]

We would have been 10 points clear now if we hadn't pissed off two point to WBA in Nov 2013, WBA again this year and West ham 0-0. Only if we had been able ot score goals.

[LAM09 6,548]

We would have been 10 points clear now if we hadn't pissed off two point to WBA in Nov 2013, WBA again this year and West ham 0-0. Only if we had been able ot score goals.

With us losing 2-1 in the dying minutes of the first game against WBA; I am sure most people were happy with the point.

[BlueLyon 9,359]

We would have been 10 points clear now if we hadn't pissed off two point to WBA in Nov 2013, WBA again this year and West ham 0-0. Only if we had been able ot score goals.

If if if...if we won those games, we would lose some other ones...this Chelsea team isnt complete yet; but will be in a year or two. Just watch

[CMS 382]

If if if...if we won those games, we would lose some other ones...this Chelsea team isnt complete yet; but will be in a year or two. Just watch

You're probably right, but the games I mentioned were winnable games against under performing teams and their ties against us subsequently changed their fortunes.

[Jase 43,479]

[TrippingStep 336]

Schurrle would not be as good if he played upfront simply because our CF is involved in our build up play a lot.

He's a player that runs from deep and makes splendid runs off the ball - putting him up front takes that away IMO.

He's a bit like Gervinho at Lille. Great making runs into space, acting like an inside forward but can be frustrating when there is need to hold more the ball, waiting for support from the rest of the team.

[Barbara 15,149]

x