Closed Chelsea 2-0 Leicester City

[Daniel1980 1,425]

Horrible was a bit of a stretch, fair enough. But what did he really do throughout that whole game? He didn't retain possession as well as we know he can (mostly in the first half) and he didn't link up well with Hazard, Costa or Schurrle.

Before you go and assume I'm a naysayer, I'm not, these were just things I picked up throughout the match. The whole team (bar Ivanovic, Hazard, Willian, Courtois and at times Oscar) was poor and Fabregas wasn't an exception

He was the player who retained possession better than any other this game, never misplacing a pass aside from a few risky long balls.

"What did he really do throughout that whole game?" What do you want him to do? He's a midfielder who is playing very deep, you know. He isn't supposed to do anything flashy. He kept hold of the ball, rarely lost it, played some good passes, delivered good set pieces, tracked back and made a few tackles and interceptions, and even got another assist for Hazard's goal. Everything went through him today. He had 96 touches of the ball--more touches than any other player on the pitch--and controlled the center of our midfield while Matic looked disturbingly shaky.

What else do you want him to do?

He wasn't among the best players on the pitch, but he was among the few who were solid.

[Myself 793]

He was the player who retained possession better than any other this game, never misplacing a pass aside from a few risky long balls.

"What did he really do throughout that whole game?" What do you want him to do? He's a midfielder who is playing very deep, you know. He isn't supposed to do anything flashy. He kept hold of the ball, rarely lost it, played some good passes, delivered good set pieces, tracked back and made a few tackles and interceptions, and even got another assist for Hazard's goal. Everything went through him today. He had 96 touches of the ball--more touches than any other player on the pitch--and controlled the center of our midfield while Matic looked disturbingly shaky.

What else do you want him to do?

He wasn't among the best players on the pitch, but he was among the few who were solid.

What do I want my deep lying playmakers to do? Dictate the tempo of the game, play smart passes and 1-2's and make runs forward. I can recall about 4 times where he was just walking and he either got dispossessed or nearly got dispossessed. His main duty is to dictate the tempo and produce those deadly through balls, and he didn't do either of those.

I'm not going to judge too harshly though, it is only his second game.

[DYC. 7,542]

Our back 4 was there for the taking on several occasions today with no protection, that won't happen for much longer.

More of a tactical issue than a personnel issue imo. You have the front 6 that's trying to press and be proactive and there's the back four sitting deep and containing. Especially Cahill, man that guy needs to grow some balls and take more risks.

That really needs to be fixed. You either soak up the pressure or you press (which means pushing the defensive line higher up). And it should be the latter imo, especially against inferior sides. Defenders should be able to defend with more space in their backs and defend proactively at this level.

Don't know if you saw the Real-Atletico game, Ramos and Varane would often cross the halfway line. I'm not saying the same must happen at Chelsea but better than they're doing now.

[robsblubot 3,224]

He was the player who retained possession better than any other this game, never misplacing a pass aside from a few risky long balls.

"What did he really do throughout that whole game?" What do you want him to do? He's a midfielder who is playing very deep, you know. He isn't supposed to do anything flashy. He kept hold of the ball, rarely lost it, played some good passes, delivered good set pieces, tracked back and made a few tackles and interceptions, and even got another assist for Hazard's goal. Everything went through him today. He had 96 touches of the ball--more touches than any other player on the pitch--and controlled the center of our midfield while Matic looked disturbingly shaky.

What else do you want him to do?

He wasn't among the best players on the pitch, but he was among the few who were solid.

Have to disagree with that because I'm sure Jose dint pay 32m for Gareth fucking Barry.

Gareth who is a good player and rarely misplaces a pass. I just have to think fabregas ought to be/do better than that.

[Daniel1980 1,425]

What do I want my deep lying playmakers to do? Dictate the tempo of the game, play smart passes and 1-2's and make runs forward. I can recall about 4 times where he was just walking and he either got dispossessed or nearly got dispossessed. His main duty is to dictate the tempo and produce those deadly through balls, and he didn't do either of those.

I'm not going to judge too harshly though, it is only his second game.

You're doing precisely that. Because he did dictate the tempo of the game, just wasn't as decisive as he was in previous game. No player can make 2 through balls every game, you know. That's an unrealistic expectation. He made more through balls against Burnley than Oscar and Willian put together the entire last season.

Have to disagree with that because I'm sure Jose dint pay 32m for Gareth fucking Barry.

Gareth who is a good player and rarely misplaces a pass. I just have to think fabregas ought to be/do better than that.

Are you saying he's supposed to make through balls every game? 3 assists in his first 2 games is hardly a Gareth Barry level player.

[Liquidator 5,176]

I couldn't give a turd how bad we play in the first half if we win at full time.

Football's a game of 2 halves and we always had the ability to go up a gear or two.

[robsblubot 3,224]

You're doing precisely that. Because he did dictate the tempo of the game, just wasn't as decisive as he was in previous game. No player can make 2 through balls every game, you know. That's an unrealistic expectation. He made more through balls against Burnley than Oscar and Willian put together the entire last season.

Are you saying he's supposed to make through balls every game? 3 assists in his first 2 games is hardly a Gareth Barry level player.

I'm not saying anything other than that i expect more from him.

He had a poor game. Decent but poor by his standards.

He doesn't have to win us every match that's why we have other stars,but I'm not going to praise him for this performance.

[Myself 793]

You're doing precisely that. Because he did dictate the tempo of the game, just wasn't as decisive as he was in previous game. No player can make 2 through balls every game, you know. That's an unrealistic expectation. He made more through balls against Burnley than Oscar and Willian put together the entire last season.

Are you saying he's supposed to make through balls every game? 3 assists in his first 2 games is hardly a Gareth Barry level player.

If it came off like that, then I'm sorry. As you can tell we've not had a player like him for a while now, so if I'm 100% honest, I don't know what to expect with a player like Fabregas.

[BlueLyon 9,359]

Why the fuck cant you enjoy in win? Its start of season, we are not yet fully fit and gelled together, but it will come eventualy. We won easily, even if we conceded, we would still comeback and destroy them. We play as much as we need to, comfortably and we got first two wins. Costa scored two already, cesc has 3 assists and all you do is complain complain complain...i even think Oscar is becoming very important from tactical point, he ads extra versatility in midfield.

[Daniel1980 1,425]

Robguima, on 23 Aug 2014 - 11:04 PM, said:

I'm not saying anything other than that i expect more from him.

He had a poor game. Decent but poor by his standards.

He doesn't have to win us every match that's why we have other stars,but I'm not going to praise him for this performance.

I'll have to disagree. No one is praising him for his performance, but calling it "horrible" is strange and I was responding to that. He didn't have a poor game by any stretch of imagination, unless you have unrealistic expectations. "Decent but poor by his standards"? What are those standards? Is he supposed to make 2 assists from through-balls every game to meet those standards? What the hell. It's not like he didn't make some neat passes and got an assist. Yes, it wasn't much of an assist, because Hazard had to do most of the work afterwards, but still, he was there, building our attacks, as he did the entire game. He could have gotten another assist if Iva was luckier.

It wasn't a spectacular performance by him, but it was a solid one. Only Hazard made more key passes than him in this game.

Myself, on 23 Aug 2014 - 11:14 PM, said:

If it came off like that, then I'm sorry. As you can tell we've not had a player like him for a while now, so if I'm 100% honest, I don't know what to expect with a player like Fabregas.

Yeah, I get it. Just to put things into perspective: David Silva made 16 through balls in the entire last season. That's 1 through ball every other game. Seems like not much, but it was actually second best result in the entire Europe last season, the first being Cesc's 24 through balls in a season. I know Cesc does a lot of through balls, but if he did 2 through balls every game like he did against Burnley, he would have over 60 through balls in a season. That's very unrealistic. So we should try managing our expectations. So far Cesc is more than on target.

[Viper22 2,418]

If anyone missed the game today, it's being replayed in full on SNF in half an hour on Sky Sports 1.

I missed the game so I can see for myself if the Cesc-Matic pivot was really that poor today or if people are just talking bollocks (from past experience I know which one is more likely).

Also I get to watch Tibo prove why he's the 2nd best GK in the world. Lovely.

[Myself 793]

If anyone missed the game today, it's being replayed in full on SNF in half an hour on Sky Sports 1.

I missed the game so I can see for myself if the Cesc-Matic pivot was really that poor today or if people are just talking bollocks (from past experience I know which one is more likely).

Also I get to watch Tibo prove why he's the 2nd best GK in the world. Lovely.

Some dumbass I know said Ospina was better than Courtois. :|

[Viper22 2,418]

Some dumbass I know said Ospina was better than Courtois. :|

[The Mak 4,459]

I thought Oscar in particular was dog shit in the first half. Simple passes intercepted and easily dispossessed at times. Alright in the second half but I thought both Ramires and Willian offered more when they came on. Really nice to see that strength in depth.

Matic had a poor game for his standards as well. Andre couldn't seem to get going.

Fabregas was solid enough. He's never going to have as good a game as last week every single week remember.

Costa did his job.

Hazard played better. Hopefully he can kick on. I don't think he'll get as much of the ball as he did last season now with Fabregas and Costa, not to say he won't be as effective. The weight off his shoulders is only positive.

Ivan and Courtois were absolutely fantastic.

Great job overall. It felt very much like one of those games last season where we dropped silly points. Take nothing away from Leicester though, they played very well, very confident.

[Myself 793]

Not going to lie, I lost my shit.

[Billy. 2,739]

1st half slow and clueless

2nd half faster tempo, hazard and costa linked much better.

also nice to have a striker that scores

[robsblubot 3,224]

I'll have to disagree. No one is praising him for his performance, but calling it "horrible" is strange and I was responding to that. He didn't have a poor game by any stretch of imagination, unless you have unrealistic expectations. "Decent but poor by his standards"? What are those standards? Is he supposed to make 2 assists from through-balls every game to meet those standards? What the hell. It's not like he didn't make some neat passes and got an assist. Yes, it wasn't much of an assist, because Hazard had to do most of the work afterwards, but still, he was there, building our attacks, as he did the entire game. He could have gotten another assist if Iva was luckier.

It wasn't a spectacular performance by him, but it was a solid one. Only Hazard made more key passes than him in this game.

Yeah, I get it. Just to put things into perspective: David Silva made 16 through balls in the entire last season. That's 1 through ball every other game. Seems like not much, but it was actually second best result in the entire Europe last season, the first being Cesc's 24 through balls in a season. I know Cesc does a lot of through balls, but if he did 2 through balls every game like he did against Burnley, he would have over 60 through balls in a season. That's very unrealistic. So we should try managing our expectations. So far Cesc is more than on target.

Yeah disagree to disagree as I still think he was pedestrian.

For me Oscar was better than him in every aspect, especially in the key moments in the second half which actually won us the match. And yet, the 22 Oscar is constantly criticized by not providing enough key passes, goals, and assists. Should I then be satisfied with sideway passes from our 27yo maestro? I will praise him when he truly has a great game like the last one.

We did NOT play well today. A better team could've punished us for it (they were so poor though) and these type of performances is the reason we did not win the league last season.

It's nice to praise the newly promoted outfit, but they look like going right back to where they came from - no quality in the final third whatsoever.

[kellzfresh 7,226]

More of a tactical issue than a personel issue imo. You have the front 6 that's trying to press and be proactive and there's the back four sitting deep and containing. Especially Cahill, man that guy needs to grow some balls and take more risks.

That really needs to be fixed. You either soak up the pressure or you press (which means pushing the defensive line higher up). And it should be the latter imo, especially against inferior sides. Defenders should be able to defend with more space in their backs and defend proactively at this level.

Don't know if you saw the Real-Atletico game, Ramos and Varane would often cross the halfway line. I'm not saying the same must happen at Chelsea but better than they're doing now.

That won't happen here, because we have slow centerbacks,if we keep a high line we will be skinned alive by pace