Chelsea 1-0 Liverpool

[OhForAGreavsie 6,073]

18 minutes ago, MichaelDance said:

10 men, 1 goal, 3 points, 1 win, what more can we ask for

It is obviously not just the players who are preparing for the season!

[WNDS 502]

I really liked our defending from set-pieces this game; we looked a lot better at it tonight than we have done for almost two seasons. Fabregas was our best player until getting himself sent-off, although Azpi and Aina were also very good, and Chalobah did well off the bench.

And this brings me to what I really DIDN'T like: that Conte made our FBs play so conservatively, with Aina actually tucking-in to become a third centre-back when we were defending. This system simply demanded far too much of our wide players, as they were being asked to take almost complete responsibility for an entire side of the pitch; Willian was a genuine RB when we defended, a RM when we had possession and were trying to build attacks, and a wide-forward on the rare occasions when our attacks succeeded in penetrating deep into Liverpool's half (and Moses didn't have it that much better on the left). Add to this that our midfield two was completely outnumbered in the centre of the pitch, and it's hardly surprising that we struggled badly when in possession. It should definitely be something for Conte to take into consideration, I feel.

I'm also not a fan of the RLC-as-striker experiment. I'll give it more time, but I'm not finding the initial signs to be positive.

[chelsea blue 615]

Goal video

http://talkingbaws.com/2016/07/video-gary-cahill-scores-great-header-for-chelseas-opener-v-liverpool/

 

[kellzfresh 7,229]

 

3 minutes ago, WNDS said:

I really liked our defending from set-pieces this game; we looked a lot better at it tonight than we have done for almost two seasons. Fabregas was our best player until getting himself sent-off, although Azpi and Aina were also very good.

And this brings me to what I really DIDN'T like: This system simply demanded far too much of our wide players, as they were being asked to take almost complete responsibility for an entire side of the pitch; Willian was a genuine RB when we defended, a RM when we had possession and were trying to build attacks,  Add to this that our midfield two was completely outnumbered in the centre of the pitch, and it's hardly surprising that we struggled badly when in possession. It should definitely be something for Conte to take into consideration, I feel.

I'm also not a fan of the RLC-as-striker experiment. I'll give it more time, but I'm not finding the initial signs to be positive.

Give the midfield some more time to see if we'll be dominated as much in other matches especially with fabregas out of the midfield two. I liked Willian as the defensive winger so that Hazard can be higher up. 

But this formation is not used efficiently without good passers in midfield and defence, we missed so many counter-attacking opportunities. 

[nono 791]

54 minutes ago, CHOULO19 said:

It was undoubtedly a red card challenge, but you'd hope that the ref would have the understanding that this a preseason friendly and neither us nor Liverpool would want any player from any team sent off because that ruins all the tactics being tested and analyzed by the managers. 

How would you have felt if Hazard was on the receiving end of that kind of tackle in a preseason game ?

[CHOULO19 24,332]

11 minutes ago, nono said:

How would you have felt if Hazard was on the receiving end of that kind of tackle in a preseason game ?

Obviously upset, but equally obviously a meaningless red card in a meaningless friendly would certainly not have made me feel any better.

[WNDS 502]

25 minutes ago, kellzfresh said:

 

Give the midfield some more time to see if we'll be dominated as much in other matches especially with fabregas out of the midfield two. I liked Willian as the defensive winger so that Hazard can be higher up. 

But this formation is not used efficiently without good passers in midfield and defence, we missed so many counter-attacking opportunities. 

Having a 'defensive' winger (be it Willian, Cuadrado, Moses etc) who has to see to an entire flank themselves will be a disaster for our game when in possession and trying to attack. With two strikers, no 'number ten', a midfield two who MUST hold their central positions, and almost no attacking by the FBs, this winger will simply become ridiculously isolated when we have the ball. A 4-4-2/4-2-4 requires that both wingers get on the ball as much as possible to stretch the play and the opposition; we'll be far too easy to defend against if we end-up attacking down one flank much more often than the other, and this problem will be compounded by having no 'number ten'. If we're going to play this formation, then the wingers have to play as part of the midfield and attacking lines almost exclusively; they should NOT be dropping into the defensive line as well, and the FBs should NOT be tucking-in to become CBs; this completely neutralises the 4-4-2/4-2-4 formation and turns it into a really defensive setup.

[petre.ispirescu 4,928]

Boring affair, but it's nice for Conte to get one over Klopp early in the season. Last season's awful defending seems to be evaporating quickly, I feel it's going to be very hard for any team to beat us once we take the lead first.

[Special Juan 28,141]

Good to hear of the positive result, no way was I staying up to watch at that time of the morning.

KTBFFH

[kellzfresh 7,229]

17 minutes ago, WNDS said:

,Having ,a ,'d.efensive' ..winger (be, it Willian, Cuadrado, Moses etc) who has to see to an entire flank themselves ,will be a disaster for our game when in possession and trying to attack. With two strikers, no 'number ten', a midfield two who MUST hold their central positions, and almost no attacking by the FBs, this winger will simply become ridiculously isolated when we have the ball. A 4-4-2/4-2-4 requires that both wingers get on the ball as much as possible to stretch the play and the opposition; we'll be far too easy to defend against if we end-up attacking down one flank much more often than the other, and this problem will be compounded by having no 'number ten'. If we're going to play this formation, then the wingers have to play as part of the midfield and attacking lines almost exclusively; they should NOT be dropping into the defensive line as well, and the FBs should NOT be tucking-in to become CBs; this completely neutralises the 4-4-2/4-2-4 formation and turns it into a really defensive setup.

I think the defensive winger mainly drops deep when we are defending but stays higher when we are attacking. In this scenario, one of the two strikers can easily go wide to provide width on that flank where the defensive right winger is positioned to provide width in preparation for the counter. While the left winger tucks into the midfield, we would be difficult to breakdown and could easily spread passes to the striker who is positioned a little wider. Somewhat of 5-3-2 or 5-4-1 when Defending/Counter-attacking and 4-2-4 or 4-4-2 when in possession.

The only problem becomes when our midfielder is giving away passes like matic today or we have no single defender who is comfortable on the ball to pass out to the wingers when they spread wide.

We will be hard to beat against the big teams which is what we needed after an awful defensive performance last season but once a mobile striker like costa plays instead of RLC(who was not manking runs like costa does, which impedes counterattacking) we'll have runners up front to pass the ball to and counter at speed.

The formation is a very fluid one, which changes based on defending or attacking and once everyone masters it, you'll like it. Besides Liverpool have played much more preseason matches than us and are fitter.

[kellzfresh 7,229]

I found this summary of the match for those who couldn't watch the game. 

Good performance overall albeit poor transition:
Defensive organisation
This is probably the best I have seen Chelsea play defensively in a long time. In defence, we lined up in a 5-4-1 formation with one of the wingers joining the last defence line depending on the flow of attack. One of the center forward (Traore) dropping deep to join Fabregas and Matic. in midfield As already stated in the comment thread, this is very similar to Conte’s defensive setup at the Euros.
Terry and Cahill look comfortable in this setup and very solid overall apart from a shocking Terry give away and pathetic attempt at slide tackle which led to Mane get away.
Begovic was not really tested all match, I can only recall a fantastic save from Coutinho free kick. If we could limit the number of shots at our goal like this all season, I believe we can have a fantastic season.
In midfield, Fabragas covered a lot of ground and won some tackles and always creative in possession with some notable quick switch of play to the wingers and Matic looks solid defensively but wasteful in possession. He needs to learn to keep it simple and moving fast.
Ola Aina looks very solid all match even better than the very reliable Apzi, I can only remember one notable give away from him in 90 minutes. This could be our own Alaba clone. I think he will have a very significant role to play this season.

In Attack,
We lined up in Conte’s preferred 4-2-4 when in possession. I personally love this setup because we will always have enough bodies in the attacking third. Today in practice, our transition play was very poor, 

Matic was particularly wasteful in possession but solid defensively. Moses added the desired width but with the familiar poor end product. Willian very good taking on players but often deliver poor passes. RLC (Conte’s anointed striker) links well with Traore and the midfield, but lacks the killer instinct required for the role.
Though Traore showed flashes of brilliance but he was limited by dropping deep to join the second line of defence.
Mitshy came on shortly before Fabragas red, so he had limited opportunity on the ball.

I believe our transition and attack play will improve with the likes of Hazard, Pedro and Kante coming into the team. Most especially, Kante’s quick passes and ability to drive forward from midfield will be immense for our transition.

Conclusion
I am excited with our defensive setup, each player seems to know what is required of him defensively, and the emphasized quick transition play will improve with time and personnel.
Also I think Kante-Fabregas should be the way to go in most matches against low to mid table teams. However, Chalobah/Matic may be required to pair Kante in top matches.
I am a Mikel fan, and also a Nigerian, but I think the time is right to let Mikel go and promote Chalobah. He looks ready to take Mikel’s role.

Exciting season ahead for Chelsea. UP CHELSEA.

[TheIceMan 596]

Cesc Fabregas is my MOTM!!!

[KevinAshburner 1,270]

liverpool you fucking scummy cunty swines.

football is just a sport at the end of the day but their Liverpool fan hatred of us Chelsea is not acceptable.

from the liverpool fans channel - redmen tv

 

watch from 00:50 seconds to the end.

the liverpool fans singing chelsea have no history. and the fucking swine presenter sang along the cunt who started the chelsea rentboy shit when he ranted on his redmen tv.

 

Chelsea 1-0 Liverpool | Fabregas sent off in brutal 'friendly' | Uncensored Match Reaction

 

[Fulham Broadway 17,313]

1 hour ago, KevinAshburner said:

liverpool you fucking scummy cunty swines.

football is just a sport at the end of the day but their Liverpool fan hatred of us Chelsea is not acceptable.

from the liverpool fans channel - redmen tv

 

watch from 00:50 seconds to the end.

the liverpool fans singing chelsea have no history. and the fucking swine presenter sang along the cunt who started the chelsea rentboy shit when he ranted on his redmen tv.

 

Chelsea 1-0 Liverpool | Fabregas sent off in brutal 'friendly' | Uncensored Match Reaction

 

Handsome bunch aren't they ?

They didn't mention their history of murdering 39 Juventus fans

[quickpassnmove 924]

5 hours ago, kellzfresh said:

 

Give the midfield some more time to see if we'll be dominated as much in other matches especially with fabregas out of the midfield two. I liked Willian as the defensive winger so that Hazard can be higher up. 

But this formation is not used efficiently without good passers in midfield and defence, we missed so many counter-attacking opportunities. 

I don't think Kante alone is enough to fix the problems in the middle.  Yes, we need a better back four for the future, but sorry, Chelsea's options in CM don't appear good enough to cope with the speed and quality in the Prem right now.  Any of you who think Kante is enough are placing a huge burden on one new player. Chalobah is one potential guy we can rely on, but it seems Matic is shot and we know Mikel... we know Mikel (zzzzzzzz).

On the other hand, it seems the Conte imagines Matic being rejuvenated under his management and with more time (and the starting forwards on the pitch), Matic will do well. OK, we cannot predict what will happen, but if we go into this season with just Kante as the addition in CM, I think we're regrettably looking for more help very soon and not residing in the top four.

But, yes: whoever said that it's Kante and Fab in CM as starters is probably correct. 

[LAM09 7,054]

Another clean sheet. [emoji3]

[kellzfresh 7,229]

44 minutes ago, quickpassnmove said:

I don't think Kante alone is enough to fix the problems in the middle.  Yes, we need a better back four for the future, but sorry, Chelsea's options in CM don't appear good enough to cope with the speed and quality in the Prem right now.  Any of you who think Kante is enough are placing a huge burden on one new player. Chalobah is one potential guy we can rely on, but it seems Matic is shot and we know Mikel... we know Mikel (zzzzzzzz).

On the other hand, it seems the Conte imagines Matic being rejuvenated under his management and with more time (and the starting forwards on the pitch), Matic will do well. OK, we cannot predict what will happen, but if we go into this season with just Kante as the addition in CM, I think we're regrettably looking for more help very soon and not residing in the top four.

But, yes: whoever said that it's Kante and Fab in CM as starters is probably correct. 

In an ideal world, I'll want us to have kante and Verratti in the middle but it's not possible. We couldn't even get nainggolan who would have been very good too beside kante, but we have to make do with what we have for now. Unless we are willing to sell mikel and go for a more mobile matuidi who would be okay if he puts those performances which he delivered against us in the Champions League for 3 straight seasons now. 

But a ball playing centreback will ease the stress on the transition play by the midfield by passing from the defense directly to runners. 

[Iggy Doonican 4,186]

3 hours ago, KevinAshburner said:

liverpool you fucking scummy cunty swines.

football is just a sport at the end of the day but their Liverpool fan hatred of us Chelsea is not acceptable.

from the liverpool fans channel - redmen tv

 

watch from 00:50 seconds to the end.

the liverpool fans singing chelsea have no history. and the fucking swine presenter sang along the cunt who started the chelsea rentboy shit when he ranted on his redmen tv.

 

Chelsea 1-0 Liverpool | Fabregas sent off in brutal 'friendly' | Uncensored Match Reaction

 

1.10 seems that one of the Village People is a Liverpool fan

[blueblood22 50]

RLC and traore really disappointed me in this game, RLC doesn't seem to fit in the striker role, look mostly tired and was caught offside too much times, traore made too much mistakes for a young player that need to fight for his place and prove himself, moses looked good but need to learn to pass the ball. but basically you can see the work of Conte, we are fighting again, matic seems much better, still need to work on his passing but he is fighting and tackling again, fabregas made more slides in this game then in all last season, aina was pretty impressive and i have high hopes for this guy to replace iva. you could see while the game that for some moments conte switch between aina and willian, it made me think maybe he still thinking about 5-3-2, anyway our defense seems to get back to her self.

[Fulham Broadway 17,313]

Love the subsequent media coverage....

BBC all about Klopp, the Liverpool injury, where Liverrpool go from here, oh and the red card.....red bias ? Surely not.