The Hiddink Thread

[Special Juan 27,104]

I don't like to hide behind this 'unbeaten' tag, yes it's slightly better, but not a lot IMO. The line up again today was awful, the first 18 minutes was the worst I have seen from us in years and if we finish mid-table I will be delighted, still stacks of problems.

[MefiX19 1,092]

34 minutes ago, Fernando said:

Pretty much my thought. Undefeated, hard to beat, fight till the end....this points good for our cup competition. 

The scenes if we get to the CL final and win it.

We will probably somehow draw here too and cut the trophy in a half.

[xPetrCechx 13,548]

Well first we had a problem with losing to many games now we have a problem with drawing to many games so if logic stands next we will have a problem with winning to many games...

[Laylabelle 9,301]

35 minutes ago, Special Juan said:

I don't like to hide behind this 'unbeaten' tag, yes it's slightly better, but not a lot IMO. The line up again today was awful, the first 18 minutes was the worst I have seen from us in years and if we finish mid-table I will be delighted, still stacks of problems.

That's the problem not losing but not doing amazing n winning. We don't seem capable of starting a game from the start.Still to many games left rather just take 13th and finish now lol.

From BBC:

• Despite still being unbeaten under Guus Hiddink this season, Chelsea are winless in four consecutive Premier League home games for the first time since November 2012.
• Indeed, it is the first time they have ever drawn four consecutive home games in the Premier League.

 

[Adnane 1,101]

3 hours ago, MrExcalibur100 said:

 Matic is a much better player and I don't give a shit what anybody thinks about that.

This is the kind of approach that makes you unlikeable here. 

Not that you care, don't doubt that, just saying.

[petre.ispirescu 4,928]

2 hours ago, Laylabelle said:

That's the problem not losing but not doing amazing n winning. We don't seem capable of starting a game from the start.Still to many games left rather just take 13th and finish now lol.

From BBC:

• Despite still being unbeaten under Guus Hiddink this season, Chelsea are winless in four consecutive Premier League home games for the first time since November 2012.
• Indeed, it is the first time they have ever drawn four consecutive home games in the Premier League.

 

We've only won 4 out of 13 matches at home this season - 3 under Mourinho, no win under Hiddink and the funny thing is that our best win at home & the most entertaining one was under Steve Holland. Maybe we should have kept him in charge. Season was already a train wreck, there was nothing left to lose anymore. 

[Henrique 9,133]

3 hours ago, Special Juan said:

I don't like to hide behind this 'unbeaten' tag, yes it's slightly better, but not a lot IMO. The line up again today was awful, the first 18 minutes was the worst I have seen from us in years and if we finish mid-table I will be delighted, still stacks of problems.

Considering the team had 9 defeats out of 16 games before he was appointed, I think its more than "slightly" better. Still far from good enough, but definitely way better than before. I think its really strange when people say nothing changes after he was appointed, of course the team is still mediocre, but before it was worst than mediocre.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

9 hours ago, Henrique said:

Considering the team had 9 defeats out of 16 games before he was appointed, I think its more than "slightly" better. Still far from good enough, but definitely way better than before. I think its really strange when people say nothing changes after he was appointed, of course the team is still mediocre, but before it was worst than mediocre.

 

In the PL under Hiddink we've picked up 16 points from 9 games.

 

We had 15 points in 16 games under José.

 

If you can't see the improvement based on that alone, frankly, you're blind.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Dear Guus,

Get Hazard back in the team, get Oscar back in the middle and bring Cesc back deep where he is clearly best.

Regards,

[BlueLyon 9,359]

So much for his score the second goal to kill the game off.

I mean Im happy we dont lose, but we should play to win games because we need to get up. With Hiddink approach we dont go down, but neither we go up.

Playing Mikel and out of sorts Matic, benching Hazard and playing Oscar wide is bad and Hiddink should see it by now. For cup games, park the bus for all I care if that puts us through, but for league games, we better start playing more offensive.

[Jase 43,479]

2 hours ago, BlueLyon said:

Playing Mikel and out of sorts Matic, benching Hazard and playing Oscar wide is bad and Hiddink should see it by now. For cup games, park the bus for all I care if that puts us through, but for league games, we better start playing more offensive.

Posted this in the post-Man United match thread.

Hiddink deserves criticism for the starting XI he put out today, especially with Oscar starting on the left side and leaving Hazard on the bench. Should have been the other way round. Having said that, I can also understand in some ways why he did what he did. Hazard has played tons of matches in recent years and judging by the number of injuries he's picked up this season alone, the fatigue and exhaustion have clearly caught up with him. So, I can understand why Hiddink is taking precaution and slowly building him up to full fitness again rather than rushing him back and risking him getting injured again or worse, becoming an injury prone player.

...

Regarding the point made about not wanting to see Matic and Mikel play in the pivot, I can understand why Hiddink has been going with that duo. Granted, it doesn't look great in any way but to put things into some perspective, we have been extremely vulnerable defensively in the previous matches whenever the opposition attacked. You only have to look back at the Scunthorpe, West Brom, Everton and even MK Dons games to see that we've been giving away too much space between the lines and chances and players have been given free runs at our defence. In this game against United, we barely gave anything away from the central area, forcing them to go wide instead with the team dealing with most of their threat very well. This squad definitely needs some major surgery in the summer but right now with the options that we have, I think Hiddink is clearly trying to utilize the players in the best manner possible to ensure that we are balanced as a team and not being too gung-ho or too vulnerable defensively. He can only work with what he was given and I don't think it's fair to criticize him for every little thing.

Think we need to have some sort of perspective of the situation. By just jumping the gun and criticize Hiddink's choice of starting XI, people forget that our team isn't exactly the most balanced one around and he's clearly trying to address the issue by playing 2 DMs in the pivot. It might not be the best of approaches but at least he's ensuring the XI isn't too vulnerable defensively or too gung-ho offensively. Another bigger issue which doesn't seem to get mentioned a lot is our tendency to start games slowly. We aren't drawing games or playing poorly because of the XI. This has been an issue in the squad for years now and our next manager needs to address it.

[chelseafan26 293]

1 minute ago, Jason said:

Posted this in the post-Man United match thread.

 

 

Think we need to have some sort of perspective of the situation. By just jumping the gun and criticize Hiddink's choice of starting XI, people forget that our team isn't exactly the most balanced one around and he's clearly trying to address the issue by playing 2 DMs in the pivot. It might not be the best of approaches but at least he's ensuring the XI isn't too vulnerable defensively or too gung-ho offensively. Another bigger issue which doesn't seem to get mentioned a lot is our tendency to start games slowly. We aren't drawing games or playing poorly because of the XI. This has been an issue in the squad for years now and our next manager needs to address it.

Playing 2 DMs is understandable if we have something to play for. If the match against united was a FA cup tie or a CL tie, his decision to play mikel-matic would be understandable. But right now, we have nothing to play for in the league. Top 4 as well as Top 6 is gone. Then what are we waiting for? To actually reach the magical 40 point mark which would ensure our survival in PL for the next season?

Why not play baba and RLC with the future in mind. Let the players go out there and try to just play some football for once.

[Jase 43,479]

3 minutes ago, chelseafan26 said:

Playing 2 DMs is understandable if we have something to play for. If the match against united was a FA cup tie or a CL tie, his decision to play mikel-matic would be understandable. But right now, we have nothing to play for in the league. Top 4 as well as Top 6 is gone. Then what are we waiting for? To actually reach the magical 40 point mark which would ensure our survival in PL for the next season?

Why not play baba and RLC with the future in mind. Let the players go out there and try to just play some football for once.

You could argue that we're taking these league games now as some sort of tactical exercise to try out certain things in preparation for the cup games. At least then, we wouldn't be "ambushed" by uncertainties when those key cup ties come around. And for the record, the Top 4 may be gone but not the Top 6. We're only 9 points behind West Ham in sixth and that's hardly an insurmountable gap.

[Jase 43,479]

On 2/7/2016 at 7:13 AM, Henrique said:

Considering the team had 9 defeats out of 16 games before he was appointed, I think its more than "slightly" better. Still far from good enough, but definitely way better than before. I think its really strange when people say nothing changes after he was appointed, of course the team is still mediocre, but before it was worst than mediocre.

 

23 hours ago, BlueLion said:

In the PL under Hiddink we've picked up 16 points from 9 games.

We had 15 points in 16 games under José.

If you can't see the improvement based on that alone, frankly, you're blind.

Not happy that we're drawing too many matches but thought this might be interesting...

Longest unbeaten run produced by each team this season. We've produced the third longest unbeaten streak, behind only the top 2 sides in Leicester and Spurs.

[manpe 10,857]

30 minutes ago, chelseafan26 said:

Playing 2 DMs is understandable if we have something to play for. If the match against united was a FA cup tie or a CL tie, his decision to play mikel-matic would be understandable. But right now, we have nothing to play for in the league. Top 4 as well as Top 6 is gone. Then what are we waiting for? To actually reach the magical 40 point mark which would ensure our survival in PL for the next season?

He probably doesn't want the players heads to drop by starting to lose again. Jose said that those players collapse when the first negative thing happens, so I think first and foremost he wants to minimize the risk of losing - something we have done plenty already this season. Thankfully we have recovered some of the fighting spirit, so maybe as soon as it's deemed safe for Hazard to begin starting games again, we will see Fabregas-Mikel/Matic pivot more often.

[chelseafan26 293]

1 hour ago, Jason said:

You could argue that we're taking these league games now as some sort of tactical exercise to try out certain things in preparation for the cup games. At least then, we wouldn't be "ambushed" by uncertainties when those key cup ties come around. And for the record, the Top 4 may be gone but not the Top 6. We're only 9 points behind West Ham in sixth and that's hardly an insurmountable gap.

Fair enough. But this is not a normal chelsea season. we have 3 wins in the last 9 matches despite being undefeated. Also, there are 7 teams between chelsea and the 6th spot. So its safe to say that TOP6 is gone.

Chelsea as a club would never get a better oppurtunity to blend in some youth than this season. Like most of the fans on here, I am sure most of the coaching staff and the board memeber must be aware that the likes of oscar, pedro, ivanovic have no future with the club if we want to be challenging for PL in the coming years. I am not asking for kenedy to pplay ahead of hazard or traore ahead of costa. Baba and RLC over mikel/matic and ivanovic is not only a move in the right direction considering the future but also would be making the current team better. 

[Jase 43,479]

5 minutes ago, chelseafan26 said:

Fair enough. But this is not a normal chelsea season. we have 3 wins in the last 9 matches despite being undefeated. Also, there are 7 teams between chelsea and the 6th spot. So its safe to say that TOP6 is gone.

No disrespect but that's a silly way to look at it. So, what if there are 7 teams between us and that 6th spot? It's only a 9-point gap after all and as if we have seen this season, nobody with the exception of Leicester and Spurs are consistent. The 5 teams directly above us - Palace, Stoke, Watford, Liverpool and Everton - have been very wobbly in recent weeks to say the least. IF we can put together some form of winning run, we can definitely get into those Europa League spots.

[chelseafan26 293]

5 minutes ago, Jason said:

No disrespect but that's a silly way to look at it. So, what if there are 7 teams between us and that 6th spot? It's only a 9-point gap after all and as if we have seen this season, nobody with the exception of Leicester and Spurs are consistent. The 5 teams directly above us - Palace, Stoke, Watford, Liverpool and Everton - have been very wobbly in recent weeks to say the least. IF we can put together some form of winning run, we can definitely get into those Europa League spots.

Honestly, I cant see us putting together any winning run. Forget a winning run, we have not won 2 games back to back. What makes you think we can go on a winning run. If the 5 teams directly above us have been wobbly, we have been downright horrendous all throughout the season. IF you were to bet on this, would you bet? As fans we will always be optimistic, but we should also be realistic.