Closed West Brom 2-3 Chelsea

[Thor 2,712]

Our CMs need to wake up, Matic and Fabregas were awful today. Absolutely awful. They're looking like Championship players at the moment. These guys were the best CM pairing in the league last season.

Don't blame Matic for Cesc's shitty play.

I don't blame Matic for not playing as well as he can recently since he has had to do the work of two men defensively. Cesc with his play recently would be lucky to make the starting 11 of WBA.

[chrismada9 1,948]

We're currently the only team in the top half of the table on negative goal difference!

[BlueLyon 9,359]

We're currently the only team in the top half of the table on negative goal difference!

Mou effect.

Seriously we have been absolute shit at defending indeed. I didnt expect that from a team that played defensive football for two years under Mou. I would expect us to improve by now, but its the opposite.

[The Skipper 20,609]

Don't blame Matic for Cesc's shitty play.

I don't blame Matic for not playing as well as he can recently since he has had to do the work of two men defensively. Cesc with his play recently would be lucky to make the starting 11 of WBA.

I'm not blaming Matic for Cesc. I'm blaming Matic for Matic. They're both struggling.

[Azpinator 2,325]

A Spanish hat-trick on the score sheet!

[kellzfresh 7,229]

Mou effect.

Seriously we have been absolute shit at defending indeed. I didnt expect that from a team that played defensive football for two years under Mou. I would expect us to improve by now, but its the opposite.

We played too defensive and our defenders have forgotten how to defend when we don't park the bus

[Nero 1,874]

"Don't care if it's a foul or not. You play for Chelsea, it's a foul!"

[Special Juan 28,141]

Cesc was horrific again but I do not want to be negative on a day where we dug in and ground out a fucking massive win.

Proper proud.

[Sheva. 5,373]

I've been saying on this forum for 2 seasons now how bad Hazard-Oscar-Willian trio was.

You can easily see the difference when you add players like Schurrle and Pedro.

Our attack saved us from yet another shambolic defensive performance. Surely the last season of Ivanovic and Terry.

[MrExcalibur100 7,124]

Positives:

1. WE FINALLY WON AT WEST BROM!

2. Superb debut from Pedro. Displayed all the qualities that we have been crying out for - direct, pace, shooting, workrate, strength all in one player.

3. Costa is looking back to his best again, got better as the game wore on and glad he scored his first goal of the season. Could easily have had a hat-trick though with better finishing/luck.

4. Courtois, Hazard and Azpi all great too (what the hell was Azpi doing up there for the goal?! )

Negatives:

1. Defensively, we were a shambles again...for the third game running! What have we been doing in training? We have conceded 7 goals this season. Only Sunderland have let in more (8)!

2. Where to begin with Ivanovic? Yet another appalling performance where he made the same mistakes again - no awareness of players around him, letting crosses into box, getting beat 1-on-1 way too easily. Would have expected some improvement if Mourinho was going to keep on playing him!

3. Speaking of Ivanovic, his compatriot Matic has gone AWOL too. He's becoming a liability defensively (even worse with Fabregas beside him) and almost Mikel-esque going forward - takes ages to make a simple pass.

4. Why do we keep on making life difficult for ouselves? Got the second red in 3 games this term, third in the last 5. We're not going to win many games if we keep on pressing the self destruct button

I agree with your other points, BUT.... Matic and defensive liability shouldn't be in the same sentence. Really, if not for Matic in our midfield, it could have been far worse for us today. Matic was also brilliant at Man City. Could have been far worse without him there as well. Fabregas is the main culprit in our midfield, it's blindingly obvious. But it only takes a little for some fans to have a go at Matic, while these same people fall over themselves to defend Fabregas. Not directed at you per se, but what's with the partiality for Fabregas in general, when an even better midfielder in Matic gets criticized for far less?

It needs to be said a thousand times that Fabregas has become a total liability in that midfield and he's exposing our back four every time with amazing alacrity. Every game. Every game. Every match. He needs just as much as Ivanovic does. He and Ivanovic have been our worst players this season by far. Our right side is an utter shambles with both of these players there. Virtually all goes conceded this season comes from that side.

[Jase 43,479]

I agree with your other points, BUT.... Matic and defensive liability shouldn't be in the same sentence. Really, if not for Matic in our midfield, it could have been far worse for us today. Matic was also brilliant at Man City. Could have been far worse without him there as well. Fabregas is the main culprit in our midfield, it's blindingly obvious. But it only takes a little for some fans to have a go at Matic, while these same people fall over themselves to defend Fabregas. Not directed at you per se, but what's with the partiality for Fabregas in general, when an even better midfielder in Matic gets criticized for far less?

It needs to be said a thousand times that Fabregas has become a total liability in that midfield and he's exposing our back four every time with amazing alacrity. Every game. Every game. Every match. He needs just as much as Ivanovic does. He and Ivanovic have been our worst players this season by far.

Okay, maybe branding Matic a defensive liability isn't the best since there's Ivanovic but he is definitely not at his defensive best at the moment. Sometimes, he just does brainfart things like giving away that stupid penalty for instance.

[xPetrCechx 13,571]

I hate cuntenburg...

[Vytis33 1,272]

what problem do people have with fabregas? IMO he was really decent today.

Huh?? This time last year he was wearing a magic hat. Currently:

[Johnnyeye 7,510]

First of all, very glad for the much needed 3 points :blue scalf: , secondly great debut for Pedro, fantastic signing, there is much more to come from him, good to see Azpi and Costa scoring, real spanish delight today Cesc has been poor lately, need to sort it out, oh and Falcao can f*ck off, just useless, why did we sign him? looks lost and clueless, shame really, clearly not the beast he was before, Torres mark 2? and finally third, seriously now, we need to f*cking sort out our defense, this is a freak show, 7 goals conceded in 3 matches and 2 red cards in 3 matches ??? oh come on man. Jose just keeps on playing Ivanovic, jesus what more proof do you need that he needs to go to the bench, wake up Jose and smell the coffee, Terry won´t last long either, no pace and easily beaten. We definetly need a Stones type defender and a CM, because we can´t be constantly playing like this, we won´t get away so easily in other games. That sh*t referee Clattenburg can f*ck off along with the FA, there is clearly an agenda against Chelsea, no penalties given and the opposition gets them and softs ones at that too, bunch of twats really, f*ck them all and it hurts my ears listening to some pundits spout out sh*t out of their mouths, experts? you´re having a laugh, more like anti Chelsea. Cheers to all and on to the next game lads.

Mr Mourinho please use this defensive line up in the near future because Terry and Ivanovic clearly can´t handle it all season long and we need pace in our defense and please no more Ivan at RB, enough is enough ffs and rotate the team more, there are players who are clearly not up for it at the moment:

Courtois

Azpi - Zouma/Terry - Cahill/Stones? - Baba Rahman

[supporter 3,088]

Fantastic offensive performance in the first half; Good fight in the second half. A disaster in defense, except Kurt Zouma, which must be indisputable the rest of the season. Zouma is pure gold.

Pedro has had a spectacular performance. Almost seemed that he had been with us for 10 years. verticality plays a one-touch, fast convinations, something different in attack ... A great signing. I wish he continue with this performance.

Willian has also been brilliant. As N.10 he has a better performance.

And Eden will be the best player of the season if he continues this evolution.

But the defense is a problem. To me John Terry should not have been expelled, has been unfair. But we have to change many things. Even Matic has been horrible. And Ivanovic can not continue being our right-back. Zouma - Stones is our future.

Today Diego Costa was perfect. The other day I was angry with him because Diego was getting into absurd fights, but today Diego has been aggressive / violent in the right way. Very competitive and creating scoring chances at all times. When Diego is focused in football he is the best striker in the world.

Fabregas has not been brilliant, but he has had a better performance than the other days. Fabregas is our compass and we need him to do great things.

For me today is a day to be happy. First win of the season with a good performance and very competitive, very close to our true level.

Regards.

[KevinAshburner 1,270]

#BarclaysPremierLeague 2015/2016 - CFC MATCH : 3 of 38 MATCHES - #WBA (2-vs-3) #ChelseaFC [MATCH DETAIL ANIMATION]

https://vimeo.com/137061134

VIDEO LENGTH - 7:35

[LAB 1,030]

Those shorts though...

I like them too. Honestly, more than the home kit. Away kit is also beautiful.

[bluephoenix 1,131]

Phew, finally a win!

Pedro starts and on the score sheet, now thats quiet something. A little too early but finally looks like we got a good player, good business from Jose and the club (finally I can give credit to our management for a good buy)

Still dont know why Baba didn't start though, maybe we might have kept a clean sheet

[Muzchap 8,966]

Pedro - great debut

Iva - just no words to describe this

Cesc - he should have played in the Number 10 role

He is not cut out to play in the pivot - it doesn't work. We need to sign somebody who can sit alongside Matic

Cesc would be much better in the No 10 role as Willian was pretty horrific there today

If we can sort the number 10 role - then that will link all of the front players up and make us a much more attacking threat.

If we are attacking - our shit defence isn't leaking goals

[CurlyHairLikeLuiz 1,625]

Pedro - great debut

Iva - just no words to describe this

Cesc - he should have played in the Number 10 role

He is not cut out to play in the pivot - it doesn't work. We need to sign somebody who can sit alongside Matic

Cesc would be much better in the No 10 role as Willian was pretty horrific there today

If we can sort the number 10 role - then that will link all of the front players up and make us a much more attacking threat.

If we are attacking - our shit defence isn't leaking goals

Cesc can't play number 10, he must play deep somehow, maybe in a pirlo role or in a 3 man midifeld.