Closed Werder Bremen 3-0 Chelsea

[zolayes 14,489]

Meh; pitiful, esp. 1st half. Pre season scorelines don't matter but a squad of first teamers training together for 10+ days should be able to string a few passes together without looking like fucking greenhorns. Season opener in two weeks - hopefully this was a one off and acts as a push in the right direction.

you are correct in criticising the passing ... passes to the opponents under no pressure at all .. pre season or not that is pathetic

[Ryan Fong 2,776]

Mignolet would have got that penalty and second goal.

Just sayin'

Nah. David James would've save all three.

Just sayin'

[Atwa 78]

Win or lose, you can't look too much at these games.

I am still very worried about or offense, if Costa gets injured or into a slump we are worse off than last season.

Still don't think we should allow 3 goals against Werder Bremen. Oh well, lets start juding when the actual season comes.

[Shakez 755]

The majority have

Doesn't it worry you with our PL start 2 weeks away? Based on that we can count out Willian, Oscar and Schürrle to be anywhere near fit, not to mention Ramires. If we toss those players out of the starting line-up we are forced to start Cesc as a nr.10 with Salah on the wings and probably Mikel in the pivot.

[nono 791]

I still believe to be honest that the creature we see in front of us is not Torres but rather a donkey in the shape of Torres. The real Torres is somewhere else.

[kellzfresh 7,229]

Absolutely diabolical performance. Like we did at times last season.

We looked like a collection of top class individuals rather than a team in attack and have no clue what to do. And now we even look highly suspect at the back.

Preseason or not, we just got spanked 3-0 by a side who have 1 player I've even ever heard of. Pretty embarrassing.

Like someone mentioned in the other thread, you watch United who have played under Van Gaal for a few weeks and already have a set system and style of play. Arsenal, Liverpool, and City look brilliant in attack and play one touch football, form triangles, and have great chemistry. We just stand around the box and hope something happens. Like we don't even train in the final third.

Exactly. Manutd have crap players in pre-season compared to ours today but I saw team chemistry and linkup play.

We clearly have a defensive coordination and counter attack plan perfect, but when the opponent sits back and make us have to break them down, only practiced offensive team moves (one-twos, quick 5passes, pass and movement with both fullbacks moving forward) can break down the team. Or else we are dependent on individual performance from hazard to break through 3 players with pure dribbling and open up space.

It's just wrong to watch 90mins and not go "ahh I've seen that play from us before"

It's two weeks before the season starts but this is still pre-season so I'll take it like it was a formation training.

[Ollie 4,400]

I shouldn't get hyped or angry because it's a friendly and it's for fitness but i am very disappointed with that i must say. It's just like last season, we played nice football from Cech to the final 3rd and then no cutting edge, no movement and no finisher. If we don't get another striker, we'll have another disappointing campaign because if we lose Costa, as much as i love Drogba, we won't be scoring goals like Man City, Man Utd, Arsenal and Liverpool will.

The goals were unfortunate but that can happen if you don't score at the other end.

[lionsden 4,689]

So i guess pre season training also kind of means nothing.

Pre season games are real match simulations and its never a good feeling to see no direction and progression in style of play.

You can change the engine parts ( players ) from your old car, but if you are not at the same time changing the aero dynamics of that car ( playing style) then its never going to win you the race ( title)

Spot on.While result mean little, performance means a lot. Pre season is the time to test out new and fresh ideas, most teams use it to practise and sharpen their offensive and defensive drills ahead of the new season and even when the results are not favourable, it's comforting to see glimpses of new ideas and progress in terms of style of play from the previous season during pre season. it gives the fans something to look forward to. for e.g even If man utd had lost 3-0 to Madrid last night I'm sure their fans would have taken great positives from their scintillating performance overall with the way they controlled the game and created multiple clear cut chances.

[Pizy 18,909]

Prediction: This season will play out much like last season in terms of the football we play. When we look good we'll look very good and probably win most of the big matches. But when we're poor we'll look atrocious like we did today and resort to the same mindless tactics where we throw in a hundred aimless crosses and struggle to string together 2-3 accurate passes.

Hopefully when we do play poorly we're able to rectify the situation DURING the match. Unlike last season and today where if we play poorly it lasts for the entire bloody game.

[Special Juan 28,141]

Doesn't it worry you with our PL start 2 weeks away? Based on that we can count out Willian, Oscar and Schürrle to be anywhere near fit, not to mention Ramires. If we toss those players out of the starting line-up we are forced to start Cesc as a nr.10 with Salah on the wings and probably Mikel in the pivot.

No, not at all. I'm patient and not ready to press the panic button just yet.

[dee25 1,044]

With schürrle and willian back tomorrow we shouldn't have to see torres on the wings anymore.

Replacing a young striker who has proven he can score in this league with someone almost 40 is also not a sign of good business. Today showed we need to have a viable option to come off the bench in the striker position.

Matic is amazing.

If the club actually goes into the season with Drogba and Torres as cover for Costa, they'd be making such a HUGE mistake.

The way the board is persisting with Torres - they need to be careful because every time he's on the pitch he drags down the performances of the other players just by his sheer desperation to prove himself. It's not fair on the manager, it's not fair on the players and it's not even fair on Torres because he's being relied on to perform at a level that he's incapable of. Why continue with something that isn't working and that hasn't worked for the past three years? It's counter productive...

[bigfan 67]

a positive i find after this game: there is still lot of work to be done !

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

Wow for the meltdown. Easy, people, Belgium players and Mikel are just back for a couple of days, no way they are performing like crazy. Shame on you who judge any of them in this match. They are obviously only 50-65% on fitness level. Agree that the rest generally not playing their best performance, but judging them for this match? No way.

[Daniel1980 1,425]

As for the poor link-up between players, what exactly did you expect? Everyone is joining the training camp at a different point and it's hard to make everything click. Hell, our new signings had a total of a week of training with the team and then we had matches every three days. Drogba and Eden joined just three days ago. Having matches so often means players don't get to train a lot(they are usually given a day off after every match), so it's not surprising that they all look like they're seeing each other for the first time. The understanding and link-up play will come with time.

There's no reason to panic. If anything, I'm glad that this defeat came now rather than later in preseason. Hopefully it will give Jose some food for thought.

[lionsden 4,689]

a positive i find after this game: there is still lot of work to be done !

I hope Jose sees his that way as he's already blaming the referee (s). To him we lost because of some defensive lapses and refereeing decisions and not because we played like dog poo.

[carefreeluke 27]

Matic looks like he could of started the season three weeks ago. Couple of levels above the rest of our players at the moment, not just fitness wise but performance wise as well.

[Tomo 21,751]

Spot on.While result mean little, performance means a lot.

Does it? Marko Marin alone is strong evidence on the contary.

[Shakez 755]

Wow for the meltdown. Easy, people, all Belgium and Brazillian players are just back for a couple of days, no way they are performing like crazy. Shame on you who judge any of them in this match. They are obviously only 50-65% on fitness level. Agree that the rest generally not playing their best performance, but judging Hazard or Oscar for this match? No way.

The Brazillians aren't even back...

[kellzfresh 7,229]

Spot on.While result mean little, performance means a lot. Pre season is the time to test out new and fresh ideas, most teams use it to practise and sharpen their offensive and defensive drills ahead of the new season and even when the results are not favourable, it's comforting to see glimpses of new ideas and progress in terms of style of play from the previous season during pre season. it gives the fans something to look forward to. for e.g even If man utd had lost 3-0 to Madrid last night I'm sure their fans would have taken great positives from their scintillating performance overall with the way they controlled the game and created multiple clear cut chances.

Spot on. Exactly what I wanted to say

[LAB 1,030]

Painful to watch, but i am actually very happy we chose this kind of opposition. The point here is to give minutes to every player and have a good intense training and that has just happened today. Scoreline means nothing.

Onto some conclusions:

Our defence looks a bit shaky atm, but i am not worried since a) there's still time to stabilize (new LB and all) and b)theoretically, we will not need it to be that sharp and that hard working like last season's second period because we will be more balanced as a team (better up front and better midfield).

Ake has impressed me the most this pre-season. I think he should be our real second choice LB and Azpi should stay RB if Luis gets injured or something. No more Ivanovic please. He can rotate with Cahill/JT.

Costa is brilliant. He may be proved to be the most important one of our signings this season imo. Bigger than Fab.

I want Fab at no8 position. Not that i don't like him as no 10, but i want that control from deep that he can offer. Hopefully Oscar is coming back all guns blazing.

Matic will be 200% better this season.