Closed Chelsea 2-2 Watford

[Socur Toxanarosa 145]

So who is good enough? Ronaldo?...

A lot of our players are good enough, they're underperforming because of other factors.

[Magic Lamps 11,692]

Hazard re injured his hip today and will miss the game against Unitec

oh no. not again.was surely that reckless tackle for the penalty. also means Oscar will play vs United.

[Rhino's Skin 972]

Unless Remy scores a hattrick against Manure :blue scalf:

I reckon Costa will still be straight in regardless....

[Starman60 1,343]

I reckon Costa will still be straight in regardless....

Dont think it'll happen anyway (the hattrick that is) But one can but dream I do think we will win though :blue scalf:

[Rhino's Skin 972]

Hiddink will pick youth they said. I don't get rid of the impression that Hiddink will go the short term route and play as many established players as possible. Why the heck will no manager finally resolve the Azpilicueta/Ivanovic makehsift defence?

Also replacing Zouma with Cahill was a horrible decision.

Sloppy, wayward and unlucky performance. We clearly lacked intelligence in attack. Esp Oscar's and Willian's decision making and off-the ball movement was horrific. The number of times they just passed the ball over the touchline was incredible.

Also Courtois, whilst unlucky with the goals had some really nervous momenents dropping the ball or parrying it just a few yards away. miserable performance.

At least Costa started scoring again even though he undid himself when getting that suspension. Remy however will be eager to impress the new manager so could be blessing in disguise

he best news however is that Hazard is back and raring to go

Hiddink has already indicated the youth will need a good looking at before he considers them.

A couple or more that didnt start today will more than likely start v Utd such as Hazard, Zouma and almost definately Remy unless a shock return for Falcao

[Rhino's Skin 972]

Dont think it'll happen anyway (the hattrick that is) But one can but dream I do think we will win though :blue scalf:

agreed...reckon Palace game will be tougher as in their speed and physicality

[Starman60 1,343]

oh no. not again.was surely that reckless tackle for the penalty. also means Oscar will play vs United.

Change formation and give RLC a berth in the midfield alongside Matic and Mikel (What am I saying when I actually want to see Mikel start!!). Pedro and Willian wide with Remy up front

[Rhino's Skin 972]

straw clutching...but the fella that gave away the pen should have at least been carded....but wasnt he the same one that got a yellow a few minutes later?

[Wizacar 93]

Disgrace. Absolute fucking disgrace. Psg will have us for lunch. We need new signingns no point playing kids with so much pressure. We are in a relegation. May be it.will be more obvious when we are in the same position come april

[Special Juan 28,141]

Like water of a ducks back now these results....Start decent, score, concede, sit back, concede again and then play decent again and push for a draw.

United next, a team that is in complete disarray and yet we should be at them from the off, but you watch how we play the soak up game again.

[The Mak 4,459]

I'll say it again, Mourinho investing in Oscar was one of his biggest fuck ups at Chelsea. He sold Mata and KDB in the same fucking window because Oscar 'was his guy' - he immediately repaid him by saving himself for the World Cup. Says it all. He needs to go to Juve in the summer.

[kellzfresh 7,229]

We weren't being overrun any more simply because Mikel didn't get caught behind the ball.

Fabregas ran out of steam after 20 minutes and couldn't regain position whenever he was caught behind the ball.

He is a complete liability tactically. I hate the fact that such a weak, limited player is seen as a big player for us.

How we moved from physically gifted midfielders like ballack, lampard and essien to slow pivot still baffles me. We're so slow....

[y10edn 185]

Was at the game has all Home games this season and observe thus:

Guus H lineup: He is getting to know the team that is in a mess mentally at the busiest time of the season and would get some decisions wrong like any other manager but with some luck we won't get punished before he knows his best 10 outfield. At the moment he has only worked with Terry, Iva and Mikel from his last stint, he would rely on them to rally the troops get ready to see these trio unless they one of them really mess up the opportunity.

Although I would have preferred Oscar subbed rather than Pedro, seeing Cesc subbed was deserved and refreshingly we probably would have conceded more with Fabregas on the pitch in the 2nd half.

The 2 goals we conceded were avoidable but I can't fault Matic for purpose and commitment today, lets move on.

The Penalty: we lack an effective taker since Lampard and Drogba, Hazard and Oscar wait for the keeper to move and ones the keeper doesn't commit they become jolted: Hazard and Oscar are poor penalty takers.

This was a much better performance and the Sub affected the game positively for us, Hazard for Pedro and Mikel for Cesc offered more, won a penalty, balanced the play and put us in the front footing.

Another observation is that Watford came respecting us hence the 1st 15 minutes of good possession we had in the 1st half, we had lost that respect from Away teams before now.

Costa finally got back to scoring but got booked unnecessarily and would miss the Man U match, I wonder how Watford would have coped if Remy had come in to pair Costa when we were chasing the game.

Ivanovic: we are riding our luck with him, he lacks pace defending and got caught out a couple of times; Attacking he offers little crossing and made the wrong decision in the box twice when Willian laid it on.

3 would have been better but we wouldn't have achieved 1 point in this match last month.

[kingofchelseadom 41]

same boring consistency. 2 goals conceded again. missed penalty etc etc. 1 point.

[Special Juan 28,141]

I'll say it again, Mourinho investing in Oscar was one of his biggest fuck ups at Chelsea. He sold Mata and KDB in the same fucking window because Oscar 'was his guy' - he immediately repaid him by saving himself for the World Cup. Says it all. He needs to go to Juve in the summer.

Exactly. Sat right into JM trail of thought because he could 'get around and press'

Shackling creativity was what JM did, full backs didn't attack, attackers didn't attack and wingers had to get back.

[Stats 7,145]

If we had natural attacking FB we would have won this game. I don't see what it is with managers playing Azpi and Ivanovic at fullback. It is outdated and is not working. How many times did Jurado outpace Ivanovic. Jurado is not even fast ffs. That actually tells you how slow Ivanovic is. Pedro was not great but I would have much preferred he stayed on instead of Oscar. Especially at the pace we were attacking them, Pedro, Willian and Hazard would have been much better.

Regarding the penalty. Oscar is the designated penalty taker after Hazard so I had no problem with him taking the penalty. When it is a game that is level, you let your designated player take the penalty. Hazard was injured at the time so Oscar was next in line to take it and should of. If we have a comfortable lead now, then you can start talking about individual players getting their personal accolades. Team first, player second.

What if Costa took the penalty now and missed the penalty? Would we then be saying he was not our first choice taker and should not have taken it? Oscar before today has had a very good conversion rate from penalties tbh.

It is also amazing to see what a goal can do for a player's confidence. Costa was frustrating before that goal then after he scored he was simply brilliant. Hold up play, dribbling, creating space and being a constant handful and most importantly scoring goals. 2 quality finishes as well. A real shame though because we done enough to win that game and it seems every time we have a chance to win consecutive games, we go back to square one.

Ah well. Bring on United. A shame Costa is suspended against United after his 2 goals today

[Ossie the King 634]

Can't blame Guus. He's dealing with the same players José. Defensively we're poor and we lack something in midfield. Been the same story since last season, the club fucked up trying to address it in the summer.

Now we need players who have a bit of bottle about them and hopefully Guus can motivate them because they aren't a self-motivating bunch.

Those who want to blame Jose will continue to do so and none of the bigger issues at the club will be addressed. I pray the CPO don't do the same.

[Muzchap 8,966]

straw clutching...but the fella that gave away the pen should have at least been carded....but wasnt he the same one that got a yellow a few minutes later?

Thst was my first reaction - fucking furious, if you give away a penalty need to be booked minimum!!!!

Then the cunt went over the ball with Dave - that was a proper nasty tackle!

Still fucking furious about OSCAR the complete knob-end...

Still say we need a fucking massive clear out of dead wood and Mikel, OSCAR, Cahil, Ramires and Ivanovic form a big part of that! None of those would get in the Watford team... But we think they're good enough for us?

We reap what we sow...

[dee25 1,044]

If we had natural attacking FB we would have won this game. I don't see what it is with managers playing Azpi and Ivanovic at fullback. It is outdated and is not working. How many times did Jurado outpace Ivanovic. Jurado is not even fast ffs. That actually tells you how slow Ivanovic is. Pedro was not great but I would have much preferred he stayed on instead of Oscar. Especially at the pace we were attacking them, Pedro, Willian and Hazard would have been much better.

Regarding the penalty. Oscar is the designated penalty taker after Hazard so I had no problem with him taking the penalty. When it is a game that is level, you let your designated player take the penalty. Hazard was injured at the time so Oscar was next in line to take it and should of. If we have a comfortable lead now, then you can start talking about individual players getting their personal accolades. Team first, player second.

What if Costa took the penalty now and missed the penalty? Would we then be saying he was not our first choice taker and should not have taken it? Oscar before today has had a very good conversion rate from penalties tbh.

It is also amazing to see what a goal can do for a player's confidence. Costa was frustrating before that goal then after he scored he was simply brilliant. Hold up play, dribbling, creating spacem being a constant handful and most importantly scoring goals. 2 quality finishes as well. A real shame though because we done enough to win that game and it seems every time we have a chance to win consecutive games, we go back to square one.

Ah well. Bring on United. A shame Costa is suspended against United after his 2 goals today

The structure of this team is just so inherently flawed it makes me want to punch it in the face. We can’t play out from the back because we don’t have defenders comfortable with the ball so we end up playing it long, but neither one of Hazard, Willian, Pedro, Oscar or Costa have aerial dominance so often times we end up always losing possession. Add to the fact that we have no natural fullbacks. Watching our attacking players attempt to overturn a scoreline in this system is like watching someone try to swim against the tide.

[Muzchap 8,966]

The structure of this team is just so inherently flawed it makes me want to punch it in the face. We can’t play out from the back because we don’t have defenders comfortable with the ball so we end up playing it long, but neither one of Hazard, Willian, Pedro, Oscar or Costa have aerial dominance so often times we end up always losing possession. Add to the fact that we have no natural fullbacks. Watching our attacking players attempt to overturn a scoreline in this system is like watching someone try to swim against the tide.

Lol agreed

Ivanovic gets it and cannot cross to save his life!

Hazard showed him how to do it and nobody in the box! Just sick and tired of our inability to perform basic attacking manoeuvres

Trying flicks etc on the side lines is all well and good, but we can't score from there!!!

Then when a player gets into space in the box they panic and pass instead of shooting!

Fucks sake guys - go watch Arnautovic and Ighalo - put your fucking foot through it - you might just score!

Oh well unbeaten in 2 - embryo steps