Closed Tottenham 5-3 Chelsea

[Sheva. 5,373]

The reality is: Hazard-Oscar-Willian is just not that good. We only get away with it because Hazard is world class and does things by himself, and then there's also Fabregas pulling the strings from behind. It's a real shame our backups are just as average.

(I could lay into the defenders like everyone else, but they can be better protected by Mou. While the attack just can't/won't improve)

[cosmicway 1,333]

City do not impressed me.

Lost their 2-0 lead again, in the other one Burnley were not taking their corner kicks as if they were securing the CL final with the 2-2 draw.
Today's result imho came about as a result of unnecessary overexposure and after the 1-2 we were chasing them.

It was a Brasil - Germany situation in miniature.

Germany against a savvy Brazil were going to have a hard time to get by, but Brazil thought they were playing against some amateurs.
Something similar happened today. We did not try to slow things down a little when we were 1-0 up and Tottenham were obviously not useless as an opponent.

[boshman 1,073]

Defensively we were fucking abysmal!! Cahill in particular was complete horseshit. He is clearly struggling badly and needs a spell on the sidelines. Zouma needs and deserves his chance.

Fabregas (bar the ball for the Hazard goal) was also shite today IMO. His set pieces were fucking atrocious. It doesn't happen often so I'll put it down to a bad day at the office for him.

Willian and Iva other notable shite performances.

Offensively I thought we did very very well. Hazard, as everybody has already said, was different gravy. Head and shoulders above the rest. We need to get this guy on an 8 year contract for me.

Away form is becoming a bit of a concern. 1 win in 5. Needs to be addressed fast!

Shit night, put it behind us with an 8-0 demolition of Watford and all is forgiven

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

OK where do I start. What an awful start to the New Years. We lost 5-3 and I went out in the fantasy cup and who did I leave as my first sub? Kane... I subbed him out for Sigurddson 5 minutes before the 11.30 deadline. It just was not meant to be my day.

Anyway on the performances, bar Hazard and Fabregas in some ways, we were absolutely awful. I don't know what else to say really. I was really annoyed with Costa today. Apart from the goal was bloody awful. Away from home I think it is clear that we are going to have to see Fabregas pushed further forward quite often. At home, Matic and Fabregas is fine but away from home it just is starting to get caught out more and more.

Regarding Luis, it was not one of his better days against Southampton however does that warranty him being left out the squad completely? No. Yes we have a big squad but it begs the question as to why the hell did we have both Remy and Drogba as subs if we did not bring them on and that is why leaving Luis out the squad seems more bizarre as you think about it. If Luis was a sub I am 100% sure Mourinho brings him on for Azpi at H/T. Assuming Luis is fit, it was a poor error of judgement by Mourinho as he would of added more of an attacking impetus and is naturally left footed. Look at Man City for instance. They rotate between Clichy and Kolarov however if Clichy is starting you rarely see Kolarov left out the squad. Why? Plan B. Kolarov provides the attacking impetus needed if they are struggling to break down teams and it works more times than not for them and Mourinho can't assume we are going to wipe every team off the floor and I think it is important that when Azpi starts we should be having Luis on the bench all the time because he may have just helped this evening.

Anyway this is another lesson learned. I am sure we will recover and there is definitely a few lessons learned today for Mourinho. I am still confident by the end of the season we will be lifting the PL title. Football is not played on paper but I look at the amount of difficult fixtures City have compared to us and think they will drop points in a few of those games. Also Yaya Toure goes to the ACON and he will most likely miss the game against us later this month.

Agree with most of what is being said here. We're getting beat for speed through the middle of the pitch with Fab and Matic today, I would have rather seen Ramires play a box to box next to Cesc and Matic like he did in the second half. In away games we need to be more solid in the middle and we just weren't today...Matic looked tired too, had to do his job and Cesc's.

Luis not making the bench was a non-issue for me. It was just his turn, its not like his inclusion would've greatly effected what we were doing going forward. To me, even though they weren't called upon, Remy and Drogba offer us different options off the bench; I'm sure you know where I'm coming from so I won't go into detail... We were fine attacking today the reasons we didn't get the result all stem from defense and on all accounts that was our strongest defensive lineup(Cahill coming into question now)

We will bounce back, a loss like this will give others an opportunity I'm sure.

[CurlyHairLikeLuiz 1,625]

Personally, my lineup for the immediate future: (after Watford)

Cech

Azpi Zouma JT Luis

Matic Cesc

Salah Oscar Hazard

Costa

Bench: Courtois, Remy (who should replace #10 or winger) Drogba, Willian, Ivanovic, Mikel, Cahill.

Although personally if I was in Mou's shoes I would recall Betrand and sell off/loan out Ivanovic. We simply can't get away with him anymore.

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

I meant right now. Ramires looks physically weak going to the ground often which is not normal.

What Ramires have you been watching the past 4-5 years?? The man has next to no balance whatsoever.

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

The reality is: Hazard-Oscar-Willian is just not that good. We only get away with it because Hazard is world class and does things by himself, and then there's also Fabregas pulling the strings from behind. It's a real shame our backups are just as average.

(I could lay into the defenders like everyone else, but they can be better protected by Mou. While the attack just can't/won't improve)

You're crazy. When compared to the world where does that trio rank?

[BlueLyon 9,359]

By any meaning this isnt end of title race, but its worrying that we lost 8 points in one month, that we conceded 5! vs fucking Tottenham (or anyone by that matter). I am dissapointed with lack of determination from certain players.

And Im realy curious what will Mou do in january...is he going to bring anyone or not...defense looks weak as fuck atm.

[The Skipper 20,609]

Gotta give credit to Kane and Chadli who had the game of their life today.

Only because Ivanovic and Cahill had one of the worst games in their careers.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

I agree with most of what you were saying but Costa?? I thought he was poor. Looked quite decent first half but apart from that was dominated in every other angle of play and was frustrating. What summed it up for me was his selfish attempt at the end when he should have done the smart thing and look up and play it across the goal.

I said everyone else was hopeless.

Hazard was magnificent.

Costa's performance is a bit like the smallest out of a whole bunch of shitstains, if that helps clarify the situation.

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

Only because Ivanovic and Cahill had one of the worst games in their careers.

Chicken or the egg?

Thought they were poor but twice now Kane has made Cahill look like a school boy...

[Zone 290]

No matter how shit we were that was a brilliant center forward performance by young Harry Kane. That's all for now.

[Thendo 1,088]

Only because Ivanovic and Cahill had one of the worst games in their careers.

A combination of both for sure.

[Sheva. 5,373]

You're crazy. When compared to the world where does that trio rank?

I certainly won't compare them to the legit top teams in Europe. Can Willian or Oscar get a game for Real, Bayern, Barca?? even City lol.

I understand what they do defensively, but players in their exact same positions at other big clubs are really on another level.

[zolayes 14,489]

in theory thats our tough run over and still on top if only by alphabetical order ... before this run I saw predictions giving

City a one point lead so KTF

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

I certainly won't compare them to the legit top teams in Europe. Can Willian or Oscar get a game for Real, Bayern, Barca?? even City lol.

I understand what they do defensively, but players in their exact same positions at other big clubs are really on another level.

So after them where are they ranked?

[DH1988 1,348]

Why people are calling for zouma Baffles me, did we clone him? I assume he has to replace our back four seeing as they were all equally as bad.

Fuming with the result, wrong subs for me but to concede five is terrible and the midfield need to take responsibility for that as much as the defence.

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

Why people are calling for zouma Baffles me, did we clone him? I assume he has to replace our back four seeing as they were all equally as bad.

Fuming with the result, wrong subs for me but to concede five is terrible and the midfield need to take responsibility for that as much as the defence.

People are calling for Zouma because Cahill has been utter shit for about a month now...

[DH1988 1,348]

People are calling for Zouma because Cahill has been utter shit for about a month now...

Exaggerate much.

Below par games when he got knocked on the noggin, solid game against Southampton and the entire team was awful tonight and wasn't pressing.. Something we depend on.

Let alone we missed four one on ones.

One of those days.

[Irakozium257 350]

Personally, my lineup for the immediate future: (after Watford)

Cech

Azpi Zouma JT Luis

Matic Cesc

Salah Oscar Hazard

Costa

Bench: Courtois, Remy (who should replace #10 or winger) Drogba, Willian, Ivanovic, Mikel, Cahill.

Although personally if I was in Mou's shoes I would recall Betrand and sell off/loan out Ivanovic. We simply can't get away with him anymore.

Ivanovic is simply just a lousy RB, but my God he's a stonewall at CB. It's like using Hazard in the pivot, he may do okay but he will never have the defensive midfielder intelligence of Matic/Makelele. Trust me, I remember vividly how relatively much Ivanovic was used at CB when Benitez was in charge and he was always a leader-like figure in the defense when Terry wasn't playing, at RB he looks like that clumsy player in your team that innocently gets you frustrated all the time when you're playing a game for fun with friends. Him being unconditionally loved by Mourinho makes him lose focus of the burden you can get on the wings against intelligent and pacy players. He should be the number 1 CB partner of Terry, and a cover for Azpi when he's injured/being rested..