Closed Stoke 1-1 Chelsea

[Bosnian Blue 2,471]

Define 'very good'. I didn't watch the first half but have seen a lot of people say the same thing as you there. Any past performances you can use as reference?

For me our two best performances this season were 1st half against Arsenal and 1st half last night against Stoke.

Very good in terms of overall attacking play, with a few clear cut chances chances created from open play, plenty of good passing and runs in behind their back line.. Improvement was definitely there to see, but it stopped in the second half and especially ET when we became shit again. Even defensively we were decent in the 1st half.

[Laylabelle 9,359]

Three, in truth: a; there's no guarantee we'll qualify in the UCL, and b; we're going out in the first knockout round if we do.

true but least if do go out have a chance in Europa..till get knocked out of that as well

[DYC. 7,542]

Define 'very good'. I didn't watch the first half but have seen a lot of people say the same thing as you there. Any past performances you can use as reference?

Pressing was good, aerial duels were mostly won I think, high energy level all over the pitch. Everyone looked in control of the ball (even Ramires), passing was positive and good, the players were moving intelligently causing Stoke all kinds of problems. Costa was particularly good, he wasn't fighting with the ball. In fact, he looked as in control as he ever will. Mikel was surprisingly good as well. Hazard and Willian were leading the troops.

The final pass was lacking though and you can't ignore that. But then again, creating clear-cut chances was always an issue. Ramires wasted a brilliant opportunity after a Baba through pass (Baba was offside when he received the ball but don't tell the conspiracy theorists). I have a hard time remembering another golden opportunity. The rest were more half chances.

Stoke was poor but you could argue Chelsea made them look weak. They created a great chance after some beautiful play right before half-time but I think they only slightly threatened at times before that.

[cosmicway 1,323]

Define 'very good'. I didn't watch the first half but have seen a lot of people say the same thing as you there. Any past performances you can use as reference?

In the first half it looked like the Chelsea of old.

Fast running, four or five good chances, we should have gone ahead really.

Not so in the second half, even before their goal - we were down physically.

In the ET some good chances again -against 10 men now- but again no penetration.

[zolayes 14,489]

In the first half it looked like the Chelsea of old.

Fast running, four or five good chances, we should have gone ahead really.

Not so in the second half, even before their goal - we were down physically.

In the ET some good chances again -against 10 men now- but again no penetration.

that was pretty much how I saw it as well

[ulvhedin 507]

Define 'very good'. I didn't watch the first half but have seen a lot of people say the same thing as you there. Any past performances you can use as reference?

And Hazard made few very good dribblings

[Jase 43,479]

In the first half it looked like the Chelsea of old.

Fast running, four or five good chances, we should have gone ahead really.

Not so in the second half, even before their goal - we were down physically.

In the ET some good chances again -against 10 men now- but again no penetration.

The second half was definitely not so good. We didn't really create too much. Lacked penetration, which has been the story for some time. Our best chance of scoring these days is from a set piece. The last time we actually scored some good goals in game was against West Brom and that was in August!

[Special Juan 27,429]

Got to take the positives and move forward now. We need up that level against Liverpool again come Saturday.

[bluephoenix 1,126]

i think the pool game will be the game where we turn the tide.

That is one way we are fooling ourselves. Every match we say that this one will change things unfortunately it doesn't look like anything is changing except the level of unluckiness.

[Last Sicarius 610]

If i need to be honest, they could score more goals as us. Walters could score hat-trick if he had more accurate.

[Kendrick 339]

8 losts. Twice as many as whole of last season. It's October. Well played Weng, sorry, Jose.

[Oscar 441]

at least we were better at pks than United...

But than again, united have more english players.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

All the more disappointed now Arsenal and United are out. We'd be playing Sheffield Wednesday at home had fate been a little less cruel.

[cosmicway 1,323]

The best football manager of all time:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jen%C5%91_Csakn%C3%A1dy

[xPetrCechx 13,563]

Delete.

[ILoveLamp 270]

1 Spare Adult ticket for this game.

PM me.

Thanks.

how much are you selling for and does the time machine come with it or do we have to pay extra?

[xPetrCechx 13,563]

how much are you selling for and does the time machine come with it or do we have to pay extra?

lol.... oops... Spare for the PL game.... next week.

[cosmicway 1,323]

We are slow.

10 months now, the same thing.

At first I thought it was a Mourinho tactic. Let time fly rather than go fast. Also we were in front early most matches.

But it's not. It's a problem.

Typically the midfield situation is sticky wicket and we see many back passes, when we expect forward movement.

When at last we make a forward move, the final recipient, be it Hazard, Diego or someone else has to fight the battle of Stalingrad and win it before getting into a shooting position. 95% loses the ball - end of story. That was not so with Eto-Torres as also before, in Didier Drogba days.
At the same time we seem to have a problem in defense too, with 10-12 goals conceded from set pieces plus that the no 1 goalkeeper Tibaut is injured. But the big deal is midfield-attack where things are not as they should.

This is therefore what we need.
Speed and sustained speed.
Forget about all remarks concerning individuals, except in relation to running.
We have become a team of pedestrians and it's the source of all the current troubles.