Closed Chelsea 1-1 Schalke

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

Was waiting for this all year! The blame game at its best!

"its Mourinho's fault"

"Its Drogba!"

"Cahill was terrible"

"Cesc can't track men"

Said it before the match, when people haven't played a lot of football they lack the understanding and also the razor sharp quality to finish(such was the case for Drogba). Its not the end of the World, Schalke played well and did just enough to grab a point.

Never really liked changing 4 people out of a winning formation, 1-2 is usually enough for a new team. Luis came in and did well, he did a lot of things that had he not would've put us in trouble.

Drogba wasn't awful, just not clinical. There were chances he should've taken... His touch looked just slightly off, a couple inches here and there and its a different story.

Willian was busying himself all over the pitch enjoyed watching him for most of the match.

Ramires didn't do much.

All in all it was the chances we had that we didn't take that has burned us. Drogba, Hazard, Remy, Fab all had glorious chances and missed pretty badly.

This is exactly what we saw last year and its reared its ugly head again...

I'm not even gonna comment on all the people who were saying prematch we're gonna batter them and that their poor form in the season will only be further exposed here. There are never any easy games in the Champions League and today is just another example of that, every team in the competition have their own ambitions and passion to win. When you're an overwhelming underdog you may be more turned on than the team that everyone is picking to win the tournament. We switched off a bit (and made too many changes) and we were shown once again why this is a tough competition.

How ironic it was to see so many straightforward passes go wayward from Eden Hazard today. Many would kill Ramires for that very same thing.

[Barbara 15,149]

I'm going to be honest, everytime I see Fabregas make a mistake it enrages me more cause I don't want to be a loser like arsenal fans.

at least you admit it.

I feel like people still hold a small grudge on him (their right, I'm not judging), others don't completely trust him yet (also their right) and others magnify his defensive shortcomings (this I mainly have a problem with). He's a pivot player, but not the holding midfielder. We shouldn't expect him to defend like Mikel, Ramires and Matic. He's going to be close to a box to box, but much more like the so much dreamed deep lying playmaker that I've seen people craving for since I've created my account here.

Demand him to play as defensively as Matic, to be an ace tackling, pressing, defending isn't coherent imo. We can't blame everything on him every time anything goes wrong. He was dispossessed, the team didn't react. Not his fault. Anyone can be dispossessed at any moment in the match. It's how the other players react, except the dispossessed player makes a judgment mistake or a bad decision (like I believe Matic did against Swansea). Now, if Eden tries to dribble and someone dispossesses him and the other team counters and scores, will people blame Hazard? So why do they blame Cesc? Because he's a pivot player and should never be dispossessed?

[DYC. 7,542]

Trust me, you really don't want to know!

That's the worst thing you could've said. Now I'm really curious. He was always so happy and in a good mood haha. Can't imagine him doing something bad.

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

Sell Oscar,buy Draxler

I agree, Oscar was so bad, actually it is because of his mistake Schalke could score the goal. I'm enough of him.

[Fulham Broadway 16,411]

We could afford the draw tonight, Drogba needed the minutes, long old season ahead.

[Footballover 222]

I've been saying this since last season, our defense is our weak point.

Now that David Luiz is gone, I hope people will understand that making less error than Luiz doesn't mean you are a world class defender.

I don't even know how to start commenting on these two phrases...

How could you possibly say that our defense was our weak point last season when Torres and Eto'o were our main strikers?!

And how in the world can one understand this second phrase you wrote, how you managed to connect Luiz to this? And if you are saying what I think you are saying - that Cahill isn't a world class defender, well, I don't have anything much to say to you, I really don't.

Get a grip.

[Whiskey 173]

I love Drogba and he's my favourite player of all times.

But seeing him start games like this is just wrong. I dont want the last image of him (wining the CL) to be ruined like this.

Plus, I cant even believe Jose started him. We bought two strikers, USE THEM and let them do what they're supposed to do. When we're up, sub Drogba on.

[Daniel1980 1,425]

Was waiting for this all year! The blame game at its best!

"its Mourinho's fault"

"Its Drogba!"

"Cahill was terrible"

"Cesc can't track men"

Said it before the match, when people haven't played a lot of football they lack the understanding and also the razor sharp quality to finish(such was the case for Drogba). Its not the end of the World, Schalke played well and did just enough to grab a point.

Never really liked changing 4 people out of a winning formation, 1-2 is usually enough for a new team. Luis came in and did well, he did a lot of things that had he not would've put us in trouble.

Drogba wasn't awful, just not clinical. There were chances he should've taken... His touch looked just slightly off, a couple inches here and there and its a different story.

Willian was busying himself all over the pitch enjoyed watching him for most of the match.

Ramires didn't do much.

All in all it was the chances we had that we didn't take that has burned us. Drogba, Hazard, Remy, Fab all had glorious chances and missed pretty badly.

This is exactly what we saw last year and its reared its ugly head again...

I'm not even gonna comment on all the people who were saying prematch we're gonna batter them and that their poor form in the season will only be further exposed here. There are never any easy games in the Champions League and today is just another example of that, every team in the competition have their own ambitions and passion to win. When you're an overwhelming underdog you may be more turned on than the team that everyone is picking to win the tournament. We switched off a bit (and made too many changes) and we were shown once again why this is a tough competition.

How ironic it was to see so many straightforward passes go wayward from Eden Hazard today. Many would kill Ramires for that very same thing.

Yes, thought it was strange. A few great passes aside, Eden's general passing wasn't good today.

[Madmax 9,219]

Trust me, you really don't want to know!

OK now I'm curious. PM me, maybe?

[The Mak 4,459]

Drogba should never start.

I know it's customary to allow the new boys like Remy and Luis to work their way into the team, but there was no real valid footballing reason to start Didier ahead of Remy. Not that Drogba was bad, but he could not affect the game the way this Chelsea team needs now; he slowed the attack down and could not attack the spaces.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Tha's the worst thing you could've said. Now I'm really curious. He was always so happy and in a good mood haha, can't imagine him doing something bad.

Let me put it this way. It was the most "WTF!" moment I've ever seen on TC. Does that help?

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

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 may be the only one. Cesc didn't make one interception today, not one if you go by the stats.. He had three tackles and one was for his goal where it looked every bit like a foul. He works hard in press but like I said in another thread he rarely puts in a tackle when he arrives to the ball. Its one thing to press and quite another to press and win the ball. As far as defensive positioning he was all over the place but I would expect that since I think he's got a free role to roam.

I think you saw aspects of his game that you wanted to see, he wasn't horrible but his defensive contribution wasn't near a glowing as you would have us believe.

[cosmicway 1,260]

Stupid giveaway.

[DYC. 7,542]

Let me put it this way. It was the most "WTF!" moment I've ever seen on TC. Does that help?

You f*cking Lebanese c*nt! (John Terry voice)

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

Fabregas scored one, but missed an incredible chance in the 1st. Drogba missed a Torres opportunity in the 2nd. Team was way too lenient the whole match, playing like the win was a natural result.

I've been saying this since last season, our defense is our weak point. Playing a more attacking football, we are conceding more goals: 7 in 5 matches. Now that David Luiz is gone, I hope people will understand that making less error than Luiz doesn't mean you are a world class defender. Another goal conceded where Cahill was doing "ball watching". Another game where Matic was leaving too much space in the mid. Its unbelievable that months ago people were saying he was as good as Yaya Toure.

Good match from Hazard. Willian was good. I understand Mourinho for starting Drogba, but I hope he won't make that mistake again.

They played the game at a typical CL pace, slow and careful. It ended up being the undoing because when we couldn't get the decisive goal we had no rhythm to pick it up when needed.

This was all too reminiscent of last year all and all.

[bababoom 4,478]

You could tell the Hazard and Drogba partnership needs plenty of work

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

Yes, maybe some of us were underestimating Schalke before the match, but Jose think it will be enough for the players he played today to win this match, with an eye to City match, so we are not entirely wrong here

Well, sometimes it worked, sometimes no. We are unlucky today, and move on, work hard for our next game. Happy that the other result was draw too.

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

Yes, thought it was strange. A few great passes aside, Eden's general passing wasn't good today.

He wasn't bad but definitely not brilliant. And its in these games where he needs to make his biggest mark... I like him a lot more at full speed than I do when he's lethargic and slow in the build up.