Closed Sunderland 0-0 Chelsea

[LAB 1,030]

It happens. Points wise it's not the end of the world. I am happy we didn't lose the game.

We lost all our width today which is kind of a mindfuck along with the performances of some players, Hazard especially. I think i would have subbed him off instead.

[robsblubot 3,595]

Agree that Sunderland deserved the 3 points as they had all opportunities really. We had nothing going forward.

I really like Connor Wickham - he's got pace, power, and skill, which makes him one to keep an eye on.

For a change, I agree with the commentators in that our fullbacks were too defensive today. Which led our wingers all alone against defenders with cover. So, we had no wing play to speak of and Sunderland contained us in the center. Well, that's the fullbacks we've got - great defensively not so much going forward.

I understand the point some here are making about more rotation, but you can only rotate when the subs are (almost) as good as the starter. Every substitution we made today brought in a weaker playing to the pitch. Perhaps with the exception of Andre - actually like his style better than willian who is too much of a one trick pony for me.

Good undeserved point.

[mannyfreshh 164]

Fire mourinho .. We are headed straight to relegation

[cosmicway 1,333]

We have Terry-Costa-Ivanovitch and Drogba who are specialists in the air and we failed to give it a try.
With the ball down we managed only one good effort, Matic towards the end of the first half.

[Blue Traveler 256]

Gus Poyet you fucking rat face bastard!

He puffs up like he won the CL with his filthy tactics!

[Liquidator 5,176]

I taught In TW

Which school? I went to TW Boys Grammar

[Vybz Kartel 1,613]

I blame Jose for this draw, should hv played Filipe Luis or brought him and Drogba to cross the ball when it was apparent Sunderland wanted to park the bus

[JDY 1,290]

Really poor performance. Glad we got the 0-0 the way it was going to.

Willian was the only player trying to make something happen in the final third. Thought him, Matic, and Thibaut did well, other than that, average/poor.

Cahill also looked shit scared when Altidore came on. Rushed everything, slipping all over the place.

[FabHazard 655]

Today i think hazard did not dribble any player....these are the sort of matches where he can do something out of nothing...but when he struggles we struggle

[chelseafc9010 224]

Seriously what the hell was that?

There was clear things problem with the game plan from minute 1:

1) No runners in behind, only Costa made runs, meaning he was isolated and even if he won the ball he couldn't pass out the ball or have enough space to cause danger. Yes Diego was awful today, but he was completely isolated.

2) No width at all. It's so obvious, last season every time we lost points on a game like this it was because of lack of width. Eden, Diego, Willian, Oscar, Matic, Fabregas looked like they were playing a mini piggy in the middle game in the middle of the park instead of trying to make space and move around the pitch, awful. Also when our fullbacks attacked, they have no quality to deliver. But we have known this for so long now, Jose has too, Azpi is on the wrong side and Ivanovic is poor on the ball, they just can't attack. (Before people go on about Ivanovic scoring, there's a difference between being good in the box and on the wing)

3) No intensity at all, the players looked tired, they didn't make runs or run with the ball, all short passes, no intensity whatsoever.

4) Dreadful performances by players like Hazard, DIego, Oscar. Less so Oscar, but the other two were awful. I can forgive Diego though because he was isolated, while Eden was just dreadful, no intensity, no risk taking, he just made simple passes and made it look like he didn't want to win today.

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

Like against westspam lest year... Bunker.

Oscar Hazard And Cesc were horrible.

They needed to use their legs and didn't. Definitely fatigue is a factor

[Sir Mikel OBE 4,920]

Gus Poyet you fucking rat face bastard!

He puffs up like he won the CL with his filthy tactics!

Are you aware of who Gus Poyet is?

Great player and great manager who got it right today.

[Milan 17,957]

Oh dear god, SkySports are making Sunderland champions or what? So many congratulations, compliments, having good time with Poyet. Says a lot about us.

[Jase 43,479]

Can't expect the team to play exceptionally well and win every time I guess but that was quite an average performance. I don't disagree with Mourinho about the need to have stability in the team but I do wonder if he should have made some changes to the starting XI. It was the same XI for the third time in a week and some of the players have practically played every game for us this season (e.g. Matic, Fabregas, Terry etc). Could and should have freshened things up.

As it was though, Mourinho should have brought on the substitutions earlier rather than like after the 75th minute although I must say we completely lost our shape after Drogba and Remy came on. We switched to a back 3/5 and there was no cohesion in our play, nothing changed and we looked more likely to concede than score. Luckily, their shooting was wayward.

Also, gotta question the lack of width play today. Everything was being played in front of Sunderland. Too narrow and little penetration. Made it easy for them to defend and frustrating to watch, even more so when the players started taking shots from distance. Extremely annoying!

All in all though, a draw is not the worst result. Take it and go home. Still have a decent gap at the top. Hope we improve in the upcoming games and prove this was just a one-off. And it's Southampton ALL THE WAY tomorrow!

[Wizacar 93]

Why keep ramires on the bench when we need aggresion and also don't underdstand why felipe wasnt brought on. Our fullbacks were shit and midfield lacked aggression def gonna have to ring the changes for spurs.

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

Costa couldn't out-run Wes Brown... that is obviously fatigue. Hazard couldn't beat Vergini, again fatigue.

3rd game in 7 days

[zolayes 14,489]

Which school? I went to TW Boys Grammar

Do you mean Skinners ?// actually I lived at Tw but taught at Tonbridge

[Jase 43,479]

Really poor performance. Glad we got the 0-0 the way it was going to.

Willian was the only player trying to make something happen in the final third. Thought him, Matic, and Thibaut did well, other than that, average/poor.

Cahill also looked shit scared when Altidore came on. Rushed everything, slipping all over the place.

Honestly, we have a tendency to make shit players look world class. Altidore aside, Ivanovic also made Wickham (WICKHAM!!!) look like Ribery for goodness sake!

[MichaelDance 552]

Can't expect the team to play exceptionally well and win every time I guess as that was quite an average performance. I don't disagree with Mourinho about the need to have stability in the team but I do wonder if he should have made some changes to the starting XI. It was the same XI for the third time in a week and some of the players have practically played every game for us (e.g. Matic, Fabregas, Terry etc). Could and should have freshen things up.

As it was though, Mourinho should have brought on the substitutions earlier rather than like after the 75th minute although I must say we completely lost our shape after Drogba and Remy came on. We switched to a back 3/5 and there was not cohesion in our play, nothing changed and we looked more likely to concede than score. Luckily, their shooting was wayward.

Also, gotta question the lack of width play today. Everything was being played in front of Sunderland. Too narrow and little penetration. Made it easy for them to defend and frustrating to watch, even more so when the players started taking shots from distance. Extremely annoying!

All in all though, a draw is not the worst result. Take it and go home. Still have a decent gap at the top. Hope we improve in the upcoming games and prove this was just a one-off. And it's Southampton ALL THE WAY tomorrow!

Agreed fully mate, hopefully they draw a 0 - 0 or a 1 - 1.

[Liquidator 5,176]

Ah well. I'm off to call one of the adult channels on Sky and ask the busty sluts whether they think Mo Salah plays better on the left or the right