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Chelsea 1-1 Schalke


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Man of the Match  

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  1. 1. Who is your Man of the Match?



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I also have a problem with Ivanovic's stick here.

It should get inside people's skull that we've changed styles, we are a more attacking team, like most of you begged us to be. Ivanovic is one of our best players going forward. He can't be at two places at the same time, so OF COURSE, he's going to be caught out of position if he was supporting the attack. Our defense and midfield should supply him coverage for that. That's what teams around the whole world do, but we've been failing.

Matic shouldn't be all over the place so much. He should hold position more often. With Cesc, the three AMs, the striker and the FBs taking turns in the attack, he should be deeper nearly at all times when we're attacking. Ivanovic has a lot of business going forward - especially given his special moment attacking - is Matic who has none. He should be more conservative in his positioning and I think he's been tackling all over the place too. I've been criticizing him since the season started and I'm waiting and will continue to for him to improve, but I still believe he's the main reason why we look so fragile defensively.

We could ask Ivanovic to hold position more often in the second third as well as Luís. We could also bring Luiz back to the team and play in the pivot, we could also sell Cesc... we could be 2013/14 all over again. Yes, Ivanovic is being caught out of position. It's part of the new style - it doesn't give us an excuse to look so bad. Yes, goals came from his side, but most of them were with plays that started in the middle... our main problem continue to be there. Even pub teams offer coverage to their FBs when they support the attack. It's one of the most basic things on football. Still on Chelsea the FB is actually blamed for the goals when no one covers his advances properly... I don't know, maybe I'm reading the game completely wrong, but I don't see anything wrong with him there. And even then he's been running all the time, covering the midfield a few times, being solid defending set pieces... I don't know if the problem is how I view football or people's view, but I can't agree with the criticism he's been receiving.

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Fixed.

Thanks. I was going to bring it up in the earlier games and have been surprised that more hasn't been made of this. Even if you go back to the Swansea game Ivanovic is at times playing right with the striker ! I hope Mourinho does something about it. I would honestly start Luis and Azpilicueta but we might miss the leadership Ivanovic brings. Worrying times though that out of our back four only Azpi is the one who currently does not seem like a liability.

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I guess I was the only one to see Cesc pressing well most of the time and putting a shift defensively. I saw him tackling on many occasions, intercepting balls, pressing in sync with others... He's made mistakes - the biggest one being the goal he's missed, but defensively, I didn't see him making mistakes today... he was well positioned most time, he wasn't running behind opponents like a headless chicken, so the things Neville pointed against Swansea didn't happen today or happened rarely... still he's getting stick for his defensive presentation. Also, most of chances created passed through him at one point or the other...

I'm sorry, I think I'm too pissed to think properly, so I'm coming off too blunt now. Somehow I feel like I've watched a different match to everyone. I feel like Cesc and Iva are getting far more criticism than they deserve whereas the guys who really could improve are barely mentioned. I'll re-watch the match later this week... maybe I'll come to the same conclusions seemingly everyone did...

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I guess I was the only one to see Cesc pressing well most of the time and putting a shift defensively. I saw him tackling on many occasions, intercepting balls, pressing in sync with others... He's made mistakes - the biggest one being the goal he's missed, but defensively, I didn't see him making mistakes today... he was well positioned most time, he wasn't running behind opponents like a headless chicken, so the things Neville pointed against Swansea didn't happen today or happened rarely... still he's getting stick for his defensive presentation. Also, most of chances created passed through him at one point or the other...

I'm sorry, I think I'm too pissed to think properly, so I'm coming off too blunt now. Somehow I feel like I've watched a different match to everyone. I feel like Cesc and Iva are getting far more criticism than they deserve whereas the guys who really could improve are barely mentioned. I'll re-watch the match later this week... maybe I'll come to the same conclusions seemingly everyone did...

You weren't the one only one. Not sure what match others were watching. Just checked - only Matic and Luis made more tackles than him. I saw him intercepting and making clearances too. I don't blame him for the goal we conceded - he was fouled and it happened in their half and our defenders had the time and opportunity to stop the counter attack but didn't.
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Cesc was great today and Didier came back. Legend! But we were unlucky. Read all about it in my blog! Link in my bio :)

What ever happened to that 'my Africans' dude? Croatian guy, his name was Tommy I think. He was the best thing about this forum.

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I guess I was the only one to see Cesc pressing well most of the time and putting a shift defensively. I saw him tackling on many occasions, intercepting balls, pressing in sync with others... He's made mistakes - the biggest one being the goal he's missed, but defensively, I didn't see him making mistakes today... he was well positioned most time, he wasn't running behind opponents like a headless chicken, so the things Neville pointed against Swansea didn't happen today or happened rarely... still he's getting stick for his defensive presentation. Also, most of chances created passed through him at one point or the other...

I'm sorry, I think I'm too pissed to think properly, so I'm coming off too blunt now. Somehow I feel like I've watched a different match to everyone. I feel like Cesc and Iva are getting far more criticism than they deserve whereas the guys who really could improve are barely mentioned. I'll re-watch the match later this week... maybe I'll come to the same conclusions seemingly everyone did...

Cesc is probably going to be slated because of his missed chance and how he lost the ball for their goal. Ramires really, really, really should have fouled Draxler though in that counter attack. He wasn't even on a yellow card. This is where having a brain would help him.

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The only thing that I was concerned about was the fact that Mourinho really underestimated them, starting Drogba was nice but it was the wrong choice, both for the team and for the fans who came to the bridge today (really poor support tonight btw, they outsang us hard just like last year)... Nevertheless, Remy or Costa should have started and Drogba could of come on after we were comfortably winning. Bad dicision by Jose.

But who gives a damn, our real concern is City and the league, not this group of death.

Roll on Sunday!

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What ever happened to that 'my Africans' dude? Croatian guy, his name was Tommy I think. He was the best thing about this forum.

Haha, SOUTH ENGLAND PORTSMOUTH FC!

Was banned, I think. I dunno why, I missed the drama through inactivity. His 'Share your PES/FIFA team' thread is what remains in his wake.

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You weren't the one only one. Not sure what match others were watching. Just checked - only Matic and Luis made more tackles than him. I saw him intercepting and making clearances too. I don't blame him for the goal we conceded - he was fouled and it happened in their half and our defenders had the time and opportunity to stop the counter attack but didn't.

Cesc is probably going to be slated because of his missed chance and how he lost the ball for their goal. Ramires really, really, really should have fouled Draxler though in that counter attack. He wasn't even on a yellow card. This is where having a brain would help him.

thank you! as I'm really mad now (not at people here, but about the match), I feel I'm kind of blind and maybe even biased - I'm not being sarcastic. I feel like any other player could have lost the ball there. It was the final third. We should have done a better work after he was dispossessed. If every time a player is dispossessed and we watch, we'll concede goals most of them.

I agree about Ramires too. He was so easily dismissed by Draxler... it was almost as if he wasn't even there...

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