Analyzing The 3 Goals Conceded At Goodison

[CHOULO19 24,332]

The third goal is just one of those things. The reason that Eto'o is softly marked 16 yards out from the goal it because he's 16 yards out for the goal. If you want to try and head a ball back across the goal against a keeper of Courtois's ability then go for it, because unless it's a perfect header then it's not that dangerous.

Eto'o's header was perfect though. Costa is there to deal with anything short and Baines clips it about a metre away from him but the finish is absolutely world-class. Sometimes you just have to applaud excellent execution like that. Could JT have been tighter? Yeah, probably. But 99 times out of 100 that header is 6 inches closer to Courtois and he deals with it or it's 10 inches further to the right and it goes wide.

Don't think Eto'o header was "perfect". I mean it was beautifully placed, but it barely had any power behind it. The step to the right (his left) that Courtois makes just as Eto'o is about to head the ball makes all the difference in the end. Had he stayed in his starting position he would have save that fairly comfortably.

[LAB 1,030]

The third goal is just one of those things. The reason that Eto'o is softly marked 16 yards out from the goal it because he's 16 yards out for the goal. If you want to try and head a ball back across the goal against a keeper of Courtois's ability then go for it, because unless it's a perfect header then it's not that dangerous.

Eto'o's header was perfect though. Costa is there to deal with anything short and Baines clips it about a metre away from him but the finish is absolutely world-class. Sometimes you just have to applaud excellent execution like that. Could JT have been tighter? Yeah, probably. But 99 times out of 100 that header is 6 inches closer to Courtois and he deals with it or it's 10 inches further to the right and it goes wide.

Agreed. While the first two goals came from exploiting vast space we left open in front of our defence, the Eto'o header was sensational, unstoppable. He also made some nice attempts to assist Lukaku later in the game. He was overall very good sub for Everton.

[Barbara 15,149]

The third goal is just one of those things. The reason that Eto'o is softly marked 16 yards out from the goal it because he's 16 yards out for the goal. If you want to try and head a ball back across the goal against a keeper of Courtois's ability then go for it, because unless it's a perfect header then it's not that dangerous.

Eto'o's header was perfect though. Costa is there to deal with anything short and Baines clips it about a metre away from him but the finish is absolutely world-class. Sometimes you just have to applaud excellent execution like that. Could JT have been tighter? Yeah, probably. But 99 times out of 100 that header is 6 inches closer to Courtois and he deals with it or it's 10 inches further to the right and it goes wide.

This I agree with (the previous post too). The third goal is the one I think it's more about how good movement and finish Eto'o did than our defense being sloppy. What happens with every single player when a set-piece is taken? They start moving forward, the defenders because they want to anticipate the attackers and the attackers because they want to reach the ball. Eto'o's decision of staying still and maybe even taking a half step back (can't remember) is brilliant and the header execution is perfect. That's the kind of goal you'll concede because the striker made his job well. Sometimes the striker makes his job well and you can still prevent a goal, sometimes you just can't and that's one of those cases imo - regardless if it came from a set-piece or not.

I also agree about the first goal. As much as one can blame Cesc for not tracking Mirallas, Ramires is between him and Mirallas - marking or pressing no one, moving nowhere... So it's only normal once an opponent enters your teammates 'marking zone' you leave it for him to do the marking and go find someone else. The moment Mirallas got passed Cesc, he entered the zone of the pitch where Ramires was supposed to cover, but the fact that Ramires acts and moves like a headless chicken effectively marking, pressing no one, leads Cesc to try to regain ground - but he was nearly the half line of the pitch, and he isn't that fast, so of course he won't reach Mirallas in time. In the meanwhile Ramires continues to be badly positioned...

In this frame you can see he can make positioning decisions as bad as he can make passing decisions.

What on earth is he planning to do? He should have stopped running and positioned himself at the edge of the box where he just needs to know more players are coming to from behind. Every time a team attack there are players coming from behind. You may need to take a quick glance behind you to know where you should go... instead he decides not to think, to keep running and join another 3-4 players that are already closing in Lukaku. That's the same mistake Burnley made in that Schurrle's goal. No one tracked Fabregas coming from behind, none of their players around the box decided to hold position instead of crowding the box and Fabregas was left with time and space to make that brilliant pass to Schurrle's goal (he didn't even use the time, as his pass was immediate). Ramires should know and do better. His space awareness was terrible in this goal - although Cesc and Matic weren't that well positioned either, but at least they were at different moments, marking someone. Ramires marked/tracked no one since the ball was in the midfield.

Also I'm only commentating on a goal, I'm not crucifying anyone...

[Viper22 2,418]

In essence, Matic and JT had average games (so poor by their own high standards) so we didn't have Matic protecting the back 4 and JT making the Chelsea box his goddamn dojo. That's what I saw anyway, when those 2 struggle, the team REALLY struggles.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Why do I feel that no one apart from Barbara actually ready the whole article?

My fault, I guess, for making it so long

[chelseawise 115]

Choulo 19, I read your entire article and thought you analyzed the problems very well. I just hope this is blessing in disguise for us and they we learn from these mistakes. Judging by Mourhino interview he seems to be equally concerned

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Choulo 19, I read your entire article and thought you analyzed the problems very well. I just hope this is blessing in disguise for us and they we learn from these mistakes. Judging by Mourhino interview he seems to be equally concerned

Thank you, sir. I was only kidding of course about reading the article

I think, judging by his post-match interview, Jose will be working a lot on with the players it in training.

[The Chels 2,502]

Great article. It's clear that the midfield trio were poor defensively. Say what you like about him, but David Luiz at CM in the big games was an absolute beast.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Great article. It's clear that the midfield trio were poor defensively. Say what you like about him, but David Luiz at CM in the big games was an absolute beast.

David has A LOT of heart. A lot of 'Grinta'. But if the issue is positional errors in midfield, then I can't imagine he'd be the solution because that was one of his biggest weaknesses there.