Closed Chelsea 1-1 Schalke

[calculatingInfinity 1,443]

There's only one reasonable response to this. Fire Mourinho.

On a serious note, as some of you already pointed out: Luis looked great.... and so did Hazard for the most part. But there's not that much else good to say.

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

Talk about blowing some chances to kill the game off. Cesc had an absolute gimme to go up 2-0. You could tell Jose was getting more and more uncomfortable with the score stuck at 1-0.

Filipe Luis looked excellent in his first start, was very impressed. Remy needs to be our choice uptop when Diego is sitting. He's looked a decent threat in both opportunities so far. Matic doesn't look like he's found his stride yet this season. At the end of last year thought he was arguably playing as well as anyone on our side. A real force in the middle.

And Ramires...for the love of God put a challenge in on that breakaway!

I would only say that after the last two games. Every other game he's been awesome.

[jasonlol 154]

September 17th and were already struggling to stay in the champions league. I don't think we will finish top 2 in group anymore. Gonna need a miracle to get to next round.

[OneMoSalah 8,629]

September 17th and were already struggling to stay in the champions league. I don't think we will finish top 2 in group anymore. Gonna need a miracle to get to next round.

Joke or serious?

[Chelsea? 892]

how was the midfield? we're we exposed?

[jasonlol 154]

Joke or serious?

Joke ; but utterly disappointed.

[boshman 1,073]

Such a frustrating game!!

I think it was just one of them games tbh. We couldn't put them away. Fabregas should have buries his 2nd chance. Didier should have scored. Remy with one cleared off the line. Hazard was unlucky with a couple if chances.

Defensively we look very suspect which is worrying and very unmourinho. They seemed frightened to death of Draxler. And to just back off and off to a player of Huntelaar's quality is suicidal really.

But having said that I would rather the missed opportunities, defensive lapses and dropped points in this game than City on Sunday. Put it down to one of them games and move on.

[mufilika 101]

September 17th and were already struggling to stay in the champions league. I don't think we will finish top 2 in group anymore. Gonna need a miracle to get to next round.

Almost had me there

[Daniel1980 1,425]

in my defense, I think people are being harsh on him for a while. Every time he's praised many make sure to add a PS at the end of their analyses saying how he's a liability (and yes, I've read this word being thrown at him a few times).

I'm not basing my feelings on the reaction today, but ever since he's here. When he makes a magnificent pass like the one for Schurrle's goal, people don't say much negative, but other than that it seems like even when they're praising him a footnote is added about how 'he can't press, can't tackle, is causing us a defensive problem'.

The defensive problem comes from a change of style and relying much more on Matic... but then Matic isn't on his best yet and it's still early days and the things don't go as we want them to go. But we can't expect Cesc to improve much better defensively. That's not the player he is, that's not what Mourinho wanted from him when he brought him here. He can improve and Skip convinced me he will improve some, but he's not a holding midfield, he's an ex-Arsenal player and he's had some bad months on Barcelona. People trust him distrusting him.

I don't think people are scapegoating him(aside from a few people who had an intense dislike for him from the beginning). I think the issue is some people have too high expectations of him when it comes to defending. Some people are confusing something. You can stick him deep in the midfield but you can't expect him to perform as well as defensive midfielders. It isn't Cesc's role. He isn't a defensive midfielder. He isn't very good at defending. Expecting playmakers like Pirlo and Fabregas to be defensive geniuses is the same as expecting Mikel to make a perfect through-ball in every game: it can happen once in a while, but it's not his main job. If you choose to play with a deep-lying playmaker, you should just accept his weaknesses and enjoy his creative contribution. Fabregas deserves to be criticized if he doesn't contribute creatively--which is clearly not the case--or distributes the ball poorly, but blaming him for his weak defensive contribution is like blaming Matic for not getting an assist in every game. Why do we not blame Matic for not creating enough chances every game? Every player has their own main role and it shouldn't be confused. Or do we seriously expect Fabregas do the job of a creative midfielder and a defensive midfielder equally well?

For a playmaker, Fabregas contributed enough defensively today, IMO. He certainly wasn't a passenger. He made 3 tackles and was far from lazy, always trying to win the ball--with limited success, admittedly. Oscar, Hazard and Willian made 0 tackles today; Oscar and Willian made 0 interceptions. Why aren't they getting the same criticism for their poor defensive contribution? Because they run faster and appear more hard-working? The thing with Fabregas is, there's the perception that he's very poor defensively and people single him out because of that. While he really isn't a genius defensively, for a playmaker he's decent. He wasn't any poorer defensively than Willian or Hazard today.

Maybe I just have low expectations than some. Years watching Pirlo not give shit about defensive work does wonders to one's expectations.

[zolayes 14,489]

think some cant stop hating from when he was a gooner

[Barbara 15,149]

I don't think people are scapegoating him(aside from a few people who had an intense dislike for him from the beginning). I think the issue is some people have too high expectations of him when it comes to defending. Some people are confusing something. You can stick him deep in the midfield but you can't expect him to perform as well as defensive midfielders. It isn't Cesc's role. He isn't a defensive midfielder. He isn't very good at defending. Expecting playmakers like Pirlo and Fabregas to be defensive geniuses is the same as expecting Mikel to make a perfect through-ball in every game: it can happen once in a while, but it's not his main job. If you choose to play with a deep-lying playmaker, you should just accept his weaknesses and enjoy his creative contribution. Fabregas deserves to be criticized if he doesn't contribute creatively--which is clearly not the case--or distributes the ball poorly, but blaming him for his weak defensive contribution is like blaming Matic for not getting an assist in every game. Why do we not blame Matic for not creating enough chances every game? Every player has their own main role and it shouldn't be confused. Or do we seriously expect Fabregas do the job of a creative midfielder and a defensive midfielder equally well?

For a playmaker, Fabregas contributed enough defensively today, IMO. He certainly wasn't a passenger. He made 3 tackles and was far from lazy, always trying to win the ball--with limited success admittedly. Oscar, Hazard and Willian made 0 tackles today; Oscar and Willian made 0 interceptions. Why aren't they getting the same criticism for their poor defensive contribution? Because they run faster and appear more hard-working? The thing with Fabregas is, there's the perception that he's very poor defensively and people single him out because of that. While he really isn't a genius defensively, for a playmaker he's decent. He wasn't any poorer defensively than Willian or Hazard today.

Maybe I just have low expectations than some. Years watching Pirlo not give shit about defensive work does wonders to one's expectations.

said something very similar to this in one of the players thread just a few minutes ago. He's the DLP people were begging for us to sign. Now we have one, but a DLP despite playing in the pivot isn't mainly a defensively player. Whether we have a DLP or a B2B, this guy won't be a defending machine and even then he's our second or third player in defensive stats every match (among midfielders and fullbacks). What else can we expect and demand? Expect polishing as he gets used to the teammates, as he gets at his best physical conditions, as he grows more confident. Demand? Not much imo...

[Dion 2,476]

I don't think people are scapegoating him(aside from a few people who had an intense dislike for him from the beginning). I think the issue is some people have too high expectations of him when it comes to defending. Some people are confusing something. You can stick him deep in the midfield but you can't expect him to perform as well as defensive midfielders. It isn't Cesc's role. He isn't a defensive midfielder. He isn't very good at defending. Expecting playmakers like Pirlo and Fabregas to be defensive geniuses is the same as expecting Mikel to make a perfect through-ball in every game: it can happen once in a while, but it's not his main job. If you choose to play with a deep-lying playmaker, you should just accept his weaknesses and enjoy his creative contribution. Fabregas deserves to be criticized if he doesn't contribute creatively--which is clearly not the case--or distributes the ball poorly, but blaming him for his weak defensive contribution is like blaming Matic for not getting an assist in every game. Why do we not blame Matic for not creating enough chances every game? Every player has their own main role and it shouldn't be confused. Or do we seriously expect Fabregas do the job of a creative midfielder and a defensive midfielder equally well?

For a playmaker, Fabregas contributed enough defensively today, IMO. He certainly wasn't a passenger. He made 3 tackles and was far from lazy, always trying to win the ball--with limited success admittedly. Oscar, Hazard and Willian made 0 tackles today; Oscar and Willian made 0 interceptions. Why aren't they getting the same criticism for their poor defensive contribution? Because they run more and appear more hard-working? The thing with Fabregas is, there's the perception that he's very poor defensively and people single him out because of that. While he really isn't a genius defensively, for a playmaker he's decent. He wasn't any poorer defensively than Willian or Hazard today.

Maybe I just have low expectations than some. Years watching Pirlo not give shit about defensive work does wonders to one's expectations.

The perception just got worse because Neville singled him out in his analysis. That's the confirmation the people who think he can't defend for his life and those who can't think for themselves and accept everything the media bloats needed. Expect a lot more of that from now on. He is supposed to be the least defensive minded from our midfielders but his defensive performance was on par with the other midfielders today - at least on par with Ramires, that's for sure, whilst at the same time being the best offensive contributor.

[The Skipper 20,593]

I don't think people are scapegoating him(aside from a few people who had an intense dislike for him from the beginning). I think the issue is some people have too high expectations of him when it comes to defending. Some people are confusing something. You can stick him deep in the midfield but you can't expect him to perform as well as defensive midfielders. It isn't Cesc's role. He isn't a defensive midfielder. He isn't very good at defending. Expecting playmakers like Pirlo and Fabregas to be defensive geniuses is the same as expecting Mikel to make a perfect through-ball in every game: it can happen once in a while, but it's not his main job. If you choose to play with a deep-lying playmaker, you should just accept his weaknesses and enjoy his creative contribution. Fabregas deserves to be criticized if he doesn't contribute creatively--which is clearly not the case--or distributes the ball poorly, but blaming him for his weak defensive contribution is like blaming Matic for not getting an assist in every game. Why do we not blame Matic for not creating enough chances every game? Every player has their own main role and it shouldn't be confused. Or do we seriously expect Fabregas do the job of a creative midfielder and a defensive midfielder equally well?

For a playmaker, Fabregas contributed enough defensively today, IMO. He certainly wasn't a passenger. He made 3 tackles and was far from lazy, always trying to win the ball--with limited success admittedly. Oscar, Hazard and Willian made 0 tackles today; Oscar and Willian made 0 interceptions. Why aren't they getting the same criticism for their poor defensive contribution? Because they run faster and appear more hard-working? The thing with Fabregas is, there's the perception that he's very poor defensively and people single him out because of that. While he really isn't a genius defensively, for a playmaker he's decent. He wasn't any poorer defensively than Willian or Hazard today.

Maybe I just have low expectations than some. Years watching Pirlo not give shit about defensive work does wonders to one's expectations.

Thank you. If people are going to slate Fabregas for not being Makelele reincarnate they should really learn to understand what Cesc's role is in the team more. Cesc was decent defensively today. If people expect more from him they really need to revise their understanding of what he's meant to do in the team. Sure, he can still improve but things are looking positive IMO. He is mainly in there to create, and he did that abundantly today whilst being decent defensively as well. He was one of our best performers today if you look at the grand scheme of things, hence why I find it strange why anyone would say Fabregas had a poor game when he did his duties well.

[Barbara 15,149]

@Daniel1980, @Dion, @The Skipper let's get a group hug and start a secret discussion group. I feel I'm understood among you guys about what we should expect from our 'number 7'.

[Jase 43,479]

Kinda 'weird' that people are using the offensive role notion to defend Fabregas for his defensive performance when only 2-3 seasons ago, people were slating Lampard for not doing anything defensively in the pivot, despite him being tasked to do things offensively. Not saying Fabregas has been hopelessly bad in that midfield but his defensive work still leaves a lot to be desired.

[Dion 2,476]

Kinda 'weird' that people are using the offensive role notion to defend Fabregas for his defensive performance when only 2-3 seasons ago, people were slating Lampard for not doing anything defensively in the pivot, despite him being tasked to do things offensively. Not saying Fabregas has been hopelessly bad in that midfield but his defensive work still leaves a lot to be desired.

IMO, so far he has been doing both his offensive and defensive duties better than Lampard in the last years. You can see he gets a lot of tackles to his name every game, he has been amongst the people who ran the most in the matches and yet he is assisting and creating chances like crazy. Of course there's always room for improvement - his pressing is very raw for instance, but I don't see how his performances have earned him the stick he has been getting lately. It's just not proportional.

[The Skipper 20,593]

Kinda 'weird' that people are using the offensive role notion to defend Fabregas for his defensive performance when only 2-3 seasons ago, people were slating Lampard for not doing anything defensively in the pivot, despite him being tasked to do things offensively. Not saying Fabregas has been hopelessly bad in that midfield but his defensive work still leaves a lot to be desired.

Pretty incomparable because Lampard is nowhere near Fabregas when it comes to creativity, sorry. Fabregas is much better in that deeper role than Lampard is. Same way Fabregas is nowhere near Lamps when it comes to goal scoring. Besides, we didn't even play with a pivot today. It was a 4-3-3, and we weren't even that bad defensively but we allowed Schalke to grow in confidence by not killing the game. If Fabregas scores before HT, if Drogba scores his chances, if Hazard scores his... It's a completely different game mentally.

[MrExcalibur100 7,124]

The same thing is also being said about Toure just now. For all his amazing performances in the league, he's hardly dominated a midfield vs a European powerhouse in his life.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2760017/Yaya-Toure-needs-realise-defence-important-attack-Manchester-City.html

The bottom line is Cesc can improve on his play when Chelsea don't have the ball. That much is clear. We've only played 5 games so far, and it's going to take some time for us as a team to adjust to having an extra attack-minded player in midfield, that's obvious. But the over-the-top stuff in response to very light criticism doesn't make room for healthy discussion. It's not something ludicrous to say like "Drogba had an amazingly good performance" today