Closed Chelsea 1-1 Man City

[MrExcalibur100 7,124]

I don't think I've seen our players lose the ball sooo sloppily, SO many times near the goal as well. It got to the point the point where I expected our players to lose the ball.

Very, very poor.

That's "counter-attacking" football for you. Surrender the possession to the opposition intentionally and then try and win it back and break quickly as possible.

[xPetrCechx 13,571]

Good result.

the players were tired after 120 minutes against liverpool... bench full of yough.

+

Zouma and Willian

_

Oscar

[We Hate Scouse 10,326]

Not the most positive performance in the world, but we done what we needed to. Not losing this game is huge. Citeh were hugely exploiting our fullbacks, for us to go out and attack and try and win the game would've been incredibly stupid. Slate Mourinho all you like, but he done the right thing with parking the bus.

Matic wasn't very good at all, he was very sloppy and clumsy. Still better than Mikel mind you.

I've heard it a few times now that Ivanovic is the best defender in the Premier League and even Europe, but for me he doesn't even come close. At present he is the weak point in our side.

Oscar yet again with another uninvolved performance, he just seems to do nothing. He did start to pick it up in the last 10 minutes though.

Very impressed with Zouma yet again, he can be one of the best in the world if he carries on. He still looks a bit uncomfortable on the ball at times, but that's expected.

Man of the match for me has to be Willian, it's the best game I can recall seeing him play. He was absolutely everywhere, really disappointed he had to go off injured.

[Vytis33 1,272]

Great ball in from Brana on the goal but otherwise very poor. Gave the ball away multiple times. Dave not his best either. Poor effort from big Thibaut on the goal.

Terrific games from Ramires and Zoooouma.

[MrExcalibur100 7,124]

When your manager employs tactics that actually make you look far worse than you were in the previous half, he hasn't done a good job. When he continues to do this vs any decent team that matches us quality wise, you start to get concerned he doesn't have any alternative ideas.

[HRiver 1,512]

Well that was one pathetic offensive display, I don't think I've ever seen this team look so clueless at home, not this season at least. Must be so frustrating for the likes of Hazard when he barely touched the ball six times.

But I'll take a point.

[Styles 9,790]

Zouma was MOTM but I voted for Willian to show some appreciation for his game today.

Oscar should be nowhere near a game against an opponent as good as Man City.

[zolayes 14,489]

disappointed.

DELlIGHTED

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

When Fabregas and Costa back also with Cuadrado coming in, we will should be better. So, I just want to think that this performance never exist

[MrExcalibur100 7,124]

Well that was one pathetic offensive display, I don't think I've ever seen this team look so clueless at home, not this season at least. Must be so frustrating for the likes of Hazard when he barely touched the ball six times.

But I'll take a point.

One of the reasons why he might be apprehensive to sign a contract. He also wants to shine to instead of playing as a second fullback. One of the reasons why a high end player like Reus will be apprehensive to come here.

[Zakadinho 84]

We could have won easly and why is salah not in the bench if willian is tired why not play him we bought him 15 mil.

[quickpassnmove 924]

Don't know if I've seen Azpi play a poorer match than that. He made Navas look like Robben today. He was getting past Azpi whenever he wanted.

While Ramires played well, we desperately missed the creativity and tempo that Cesc provides. We were hardly able to get the ball to Hazard at all because of this. There was no real link between our CM and AM.

Zouma is a beast, Ivanovic was decent, Matić was a monster for the most part, Willian did what he could but similarly to Hazard didn't have much help.

Oscar was totally anonymous and he plays like this far too often.

Happy with a point in the end.

Navas is too quick for him

[DYC. 7,542]

Zouma was MOTM but I voted for Willian to show some appreciation for his game today.

Oscar should be nowhere near a game against an opponent as good as Man City.

Why does the guy black out in the final third though? Willian is such an enigma for me.

[Beepu 1,714]

Looking at the bench of Drogba & the kids adding to the fact that we were missing 2 of our most important players in Fabregas and Costa, and that the team played 120 minutes of tough cup football just a few days ago. 1-1 is more than acceptable, no complaints from me other than maybe should've hang on to the lead.

Players looked tired and toothless and City were pretty crap themselves without Toure. 8 point lead would be best of course but looking at the circumstances, 5 points is good as well.

How thin is this squad though?

[xPetrCechx 13,571]

[xPetrCechx 13,571]

I think azpi was poor vs Navas today.

[Pizy 18,918]

- League's top scorer OUT

- League's top assist maker OUT

- 20 year old CB making only 2nd ever start against best striker in the league

- Ramires still fresh off of injury spell

- Played 120 minutes just days earlier

- Played against a side desperate for a win and contained them

And people here are bitching.

[HRiver 1,512]

One of the reasons why he might be apprehensive to sign a contract. He also wants to shine to instead of playing as a second fullback. One of the reasons why a high end player like Reus will be apprehensive to come here.

Well you can't really blame him can you. I hear people and even him himself say how he dreams to one day get his hands on the Ballon d'or but how likely is it that he will ever achieve that here. Which makes me sad because he has so much potential.

[Madmax 9,219]

What a stupid comment. When people look back at this season they'll see who won the title. No-one will know or care how we played to get it.

Seriously. There are times for moaning about performance and style but today's not one of those times. No Cesc, no Costa, a clearly knackered squad coming off the midweek emotional high.

[sarcasm] I'm sure everyone here would be very considerate and understanding if he had indeed played 'well' only to come away with a loss and a gap of 2 points and a highly motivated and rejuvenated opponent [/sarcasm]

What good did the 6 points against City last season do us ultimately?

[cosmicway 1,333]

I disagree with the parking the bus view.
Might have been the case if they 1-0 stayed at half time.
City always play possession football and from the last 4 matches their poorest performence was the 1-1 draw earlier this season (last year's cup tie when they beat us, does n't count really as we were concentrating in the league and Europe back then).
The reason we did not produce counter attacks in the second half was that Hazard was blocked, also the absence of Cesc-Diego. But I just think Didier had them worried a little, before the last hectic four minutes when the ball was glued on them.