Closed Chelsea 6-0 NK Maribor

[beyondinvisible 47]

I watched the match till Drogba's penalty and then thought 'I'd better sleep because it's late. Anyway, we'll probably just consolidate our position now'. Man, was I wrong .

Great performance all round. And the perfect momentum to carry into the next match.

[OhForAGreavsie 5,892]

Wow I'm out of touch. Again I thought Matic was clear man of the match but again he's way behind in the voting. Oh well, suppose I'll have to watch more closely in future.

[Special Juan 27,429]

Matic was excellent, just at the same time as Hazard was unplayable.

[ILoveLamp 270]

why not?

watch the "chelsea : KINGS of Europe" video and how cech describes the messi penalty. not moving, not giving away which way he is going to dive and forcing the striker to choose the more difficult option of smashing it in the far corner rather than just passing it the other way, the GK deserves the credit for that.

Well I agree to a point, I don't think they deserve NO credit. But not that much. And you can't suggest he 'saved' it.

[Milan 17,854]

[Cholo 428]

Cl-final: Bayern vs Chelsea and Guardiola vs Mourinho.

[Shakez 755]

I see his growth too and I think it comes with having one season under his belt and getting used to the league, the style and the team.

his end product though still lacks. He's much more useful now than he was last season and he's been better, and I can see him improving even more in the aspects he already did (objectivity, understanding with our other players, link-up). I separate that growth from the end product growth he seriously needs.

In the last 3 games he started for us he actually did have an impact on the scoreline (Villa, Palace, Maribor). He assisted and scored a goal against Villa and was responsible for some very important early setpieces against Palace and Maribor respectively: got fouled on wich resulted in the Oscar free-kick goal + his action against Maribor that resulted in the Drogba penalty goal. The last two actions are not registered in the match statistics but it shows that he is more involved in the final third. He also average's alot more shots in the last couple of games that with a little bit of a luck could've resulted with his name on the scoresheet (his effort late in the game last night as the prime example). Still, a missed shot is a missed shot at the end of the day. If he keeps a consistency in these type of performances, the goals/assists will flow naturally as a result. The coming months will be vital to see if he really has developed.

Like Mourinho said, a little bit of this and a little bit of that and he is a fantastic player. He has less things to focus on too improve his play unlike let's say Schürrle who needs another season to improve bigger gaps in his "overall" play.

[Fernando 6,465]

Did people noticed that the stadium was not full?

I saw a lot of empty seats....

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Is it Drogba's son?

Yup. Isaac Drogba. He plays for our U14s team.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Did people noticed that the stadium was not full?

I saw a lot of empty seats....

The capacity of the Mathew Harding stand is reduced for CL matches. Also, I imagine that Maribor did not sell all of their allocated seats.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--cfBxkyloM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PO17v5S_8Hc

[CHOULO19 24,332]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18qgw1FyEq4

[Barbara 15,149]

Agreed.

Also, against weaker sides, he will let our very slow CBs move up a bit. Against guys who can punish us, he will keep our defense line very deep. That changes everything attacking wise.

I quoted a very specific statement from your post and that's the one I disagree with.

I got from your post, at least that specific sentence, that you think all it takes for us to win is will. So I ask you now, do you believe that our team is so superior to others that having the will essentially guarantees the win? Because I thought we were lucky against City - an opponent with just as much quality as we have (hence the low block as mentioned above). We have a couple of deficiencies that could be exploited by the opponent.

We played against an extremely weak side today. Reckon Hazard wages would come close to covering their entire starting XI.

I personally don't care for these type of games. Gotta win them and if by scoring a bunch of goals, good, but nothing more than your obligation considering the difference between the squads. Make no mistake we've got a VERY expensive squad!

There is only one reason that may lead Real and Bayern to beat us and that is quality; quality our adversary today does not come close to having. English outfits would be far more physical and defend better, and deeper. Then we go into characteristics too.

Speaking of determination and will, that's part of the package when Jose signs players. He always values the determination and work rate aspects of the game and demands that from his players. That's why Mata went and Oscar stayed. Jose is right and our squad will ALWAYS show determination which is part of overall quality. However, like you said, for a million reasons, things may not work out. Perhaps the opponent can stop Hazard like City did. Or they will keep the football for most of the game like Barca, PSG, and Bayern do (or try).

It will take more than the opponent today for us to find out how good we really are. It will take time and to come out of this very weak CL group we got - not complaining btw just stating facts and option.

OK let's just play Championship teams then! Great idea right!? We are going to win many times by 4-6 goals... Again, because we have excellent and very expensive players...

However, for us to win the CL we actually have to beat the likes of Bayern, etc. If beating these nobodies by 6 is enough for you, then great. It is certainly not that important to me. Grinding a result next Sunday is - a match that will be just a bit more difficult than today's.

Actually what I meant by that single line was: it doesn't matter that the opposition was weak. We played a good match and we didn't settle when we were winning 3-0 on HT. We kept going and that's an attitude of a team that is hungry to win.

I don't like the idea we should disregard a good display of football just because the opponent is weak. Most of the opponents we face during a season are way weaker than us. We have a few good sides and even fewer as good or better sides than us. I just meant that the quality of the opposition shouldn't disregard how good we played. I didn't mean anything other than that.

And I basically disagree with everything in your post, so let's settle for that: disagreement.

[robsblubot 3,508]

Actually what I meant by that single line was: it doesn't matter that the opposition was weak. We played a good match and we didn't settle when we were winning 3-0 on HT. We kept going and that's an attitude of a team that is hungry to win.

I don't like the idea we should disregard a good display of football just because the opponent is weak. Most of the opponents we face during a season are way weaker than us. We have a few good sides and even fewer as good or better sides than us. I just meant that the quality of the opposition shouldn't disregard how good we played. I didn't mean anything other than that.

Fair enough. I still don't completely agree with it, but I can certainly see where you are coming from.

I still see vastly different team posture when playing a weaker side - there are weak and very weak (can hurt us vs cannot hurt us) - and the very weak allow our (slow) defense to move up and participate in attack. I reckon we won't be seeing Terry moving into the opponents half (with just as much freedom) again this season.

What you want to do can be very different from what you are allowed to do.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Sorry, if you didn't vote Hazard MOTM you're wrong.

The whole team was fantastic but he was on another level.