Parking the bus

[The Chels 2,502]

I thought Wickham on Ivanovic's flank was very clever, he shut down one of our best attacking threats. But I still maintain that with a fully fit team, we would've certainly won the game. All of our creative players bar Willian to some extent failed to make the difference.

It was very clever tbh - stop him attacking, reduce our width (as Azpi cannot do much at LB) and force Ivanovic to defend 1v1 which he isn't very good at. Not rotating makes it easier for the opposition to figure out exactly how you will play and stifle you, especially when you refuse to change things at half time.

[LDN Blue 7,903]

There's a difference between defending well and literally parking a bus, Sunderland did the former. The blocks, interceptions and holding a solid defensive line was tactical and organised. If the big stat of the weekend was that we've scored in every game before Saturday - What exactly were Sunderland meant to do?

Though, I don't buy into this Lee Cattermole to England nonsense. He's mediocre.

[The Chels 2,502]

There's a difference between defending well and literally parking a bus, Sunderland did the former. The blocks, interceptions and holding a solid defensive line was tactical and organised. If the big stat of the weekend was that we've scored in every game before Saturday - What exactly were Sunderland meant to do?

Though, I don't buy into this Lee Cattermole to England nonsense. He's mediocre.

Yep they defended well and still created better opportunities than we did in the game. In comparison when we park the bus we hardly create any chances at all so I think they did an excellent job. And I agree about Cattermole - whenever an average English player has a good game against a bigger side, the media (Sky especially) ask why they're not playing for England. Remember Sky's hype about Delph last year when he scored against us in the away fixture?

[zolayes 14,489]

There's a difference between defending well and literally parking a bus, Sunderland did the former. The blocks, interceptions and holding a solid defensive line was tactical and organised. If the big stat of the weekend was that we've scored in every game before Saturday - What exactly were Sunderland meant to do?

Though, I don't buy into this Lee Cattermole to England nonsense. He's mediocre.

Cattermole ,, Scott Parker ,, Sidwell ,,, ... not an ounce of creativity in the three

[LDN Blue 7,903]

And I agree about Cattermole - whenever an average English player has a good game against a bigger side, the media (Sky especially) ask why they're not playing for England. Remember Sky's hype about Delph last year when he scored against us in the away fixture?

Yeah exactly lmao. There's always a 'flavour of the month/season/year' or whatever and it's the same calibre of players.. Cattermole, Shawcross, Delph, OSMAN FFS

[LDN Blue 7,903]

Cattermole ,, Scott Parker ,, Sidwell ,,, ... not an ounce of creativity in the three

When Scott Parker was England captain facepalm.

[zolayes 14,489]

Only kidding lads, but I was surprised at how few chances you had. I think Mourhinio (sp) wants to go through the season unbeaten so was happy with the draw.

Good luck for the rest of the season, hope you win it.

good to know you are still alive ... oh Im quite pleased to be alive ( and Coughing ) as well

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Though, I don't buy into this Lee Cattermole to England nonsense. He's mediocre.

The Arabic commentator was calling him "Lee Qatar-Mall"....

I realize that that adds nothing to the discussion, just thought I'd throw it in there...

Also, :doh:

[Styles 9,790]

This was the first real bus test we've had this season in my opinion.

[The Chels 2,502]

This was the first real bus test we've had this season in my opinion.

We've done well against teams who park the bus at Stamford Bridge but we did so last year too (mostly anyway).

Our biggest test is the matches away to the smaller sides IMO as that's where we lost the league last season. We've had 3 so far - Burnley where we did well after conceding against an admittedly very poor side, Crystal Palace where we were lucky not to concede in the opening 5 minutes and eventually won largely thanks to a moment of individiual brilliance from Oscar (first goal is so, so important) and yesterday's game where we failed.

We've got plenty of these types of games to come, including Newcastle away next week which I'm dreading.

[Styles 9,790]

We've done well against teams who park the bus at Stamford Bridge but we did so last year too (mostly anyway).

Our biggest test is the matches away to the smaller sides IMO as that's where we lost the league last season. We've had 3 so far - Burnley where we did well after conceding against an admittedly very poor side, Crystal Palace where we were lucky not to concede in the opening 5 minutes and eventually won largely thanks to a moment of individiual brilliance from Oscar (first goal is so, so important) and yesterday's game where we failed.

We've got plenty of these types of games to come, including Newcastle away next week which I'm dreading.

All due respect to Burnley but they don't have the quality of player to be able to defend as well as Sunderland did yesterday. I think there are few more teams in the league capable of defending like that (Newcastle, West Ham, Stoke) so it'll be interesting to see how those games pan out. Newcastle at the weekend is going to be pretty similar to the Sunderland game.

[dee25 1,044]

All due respect to Burnley but they don't have the quality of player to be able to defend as well as Sunderland did yesterday. I think there are few more teams in the league capable of defending like that (Newcastle, West Ham, Stoke) so it'll be interesting to see how those games pan out. Newcastle at the weekend is going to be pretty similar to the Sunderland game.

Yes you're right that those teams are capable of defending as well as Sunderland did yesterday, but I think @The Chels makes a good point that in home games against these teams, we tend to do alright. Last season we breezed past Newcastle and Stoke at the Bridge and against West Ham, we actually created a good number of chances but our finishing was just hilariously poor. Our problem is when we play these teams away from home. That's where we struggled massively last season. Villa away, Crystal Palace away, Stoke away, Newcastle away - those were all fixtures we lost and we would have lost away to Sunderland last season were it not for an inspired performance by Hazard.

Whether it's the tactics, the lack of recovery pace in central defence, maybe the mentality - I don't know what it is but there's something about the way the team is setup that isn't conducive to breaking down those sort of teams away from home.

[Styles 9,790]

Yes you're right that those teams are capable of defending as well as Sunderland did yesterday, but I think @The Chels makes a good point that in home games against these teams, we tend to do alright. Last season we breezed past Newcastle and Stoke at the Bridge and against West Ham, we actually created a good number of chances but our finishing was just hilariously poor. Our problem is when we play these teams away from home. That's where we struggled massively last season. Villa away, Crystal Palace away, Stoke away, Newcastle away - those were all fixtures we lost and we would have lost away to Sunderland last season were it not for an inspired performance by Hazard.

Whether it's the tactics, the lack of recovery pace in central defence, maybe the mentality - I don't know what it is but there's something about the way the team is setup that isn't conducive to breaking down those sort of teams away from home.

It could be all those things and a few more (lack of width particularly). We start quite slow too - the opening 30 minutes at Anfield was awful.

[Footballover 222]

I think it's early to judge our away form against the smaller sides just yet, because as Styles has said - it was our real first test this season against a kind of team that cost us our last one. Actually, it was our real first blooper in the league this season and only the second in all competitions if you count the Maribor game. It can still be a one time thing.

I really think that the fact that we had an away CL fixture in midweek was crucial, add to that the great form of Sunderland yesterday and I think that not many teams would have gotten away with more than we have. It's a fair result and a win against the Spuds will certainly put things back in order. We will have a similar test next weekend and we will see what we are made of.

[blu35_army 551]

After getting hammered 8 nil at Southampton we've had to start our season again, at the moment it's just important that we don't get beat. Chelsea will win the title and looking back this will be an decent point for you lot as we'll probably take points off other top sides at the SOL. Lets just hope we don't need to win the last game of the season to stay up

BTW - over 45,000 there today and I was impressed by how many you brought.

your black cats have a great game mate. my wishes you can take points from city too,,maybe 3 points...[emoji9]

[didierforever 7,349]

Same game we were with 10 men and 2 goals down in a Champions league semi final. Hardly comparable.

What about the first leg? The cl final? Anfield last season? OT last season? Vincente calderon?

[didierforever 7,349]

Has a semi final 3 days later? Most of the squad was subs. You had your full team at home in the league during the first third of the season. Id be disgusted is Chelsea played like that at home.

Is this supposed to be a joke? What did we do against barca in the semi at the bridge!!!???

Also, the difference in class of teams we have "parked the bus" against (barca, bayern, liverpool, united, city) is far far less than the difference in class of chelsea and sunderland currently.

[JackredandWhite 171]

Is this supposed to be a joke? What did we do against barca in the semi at the bridge!!!???

Also, the difference in class of teams we have "parked the bus" against (barca, bayern, liverpool, united, city) is far far less than the difference in class of chelsea and sunderland currently.

Which is the reason why Jose is probably the best manager in the world, other great managers struggle to do this.