closed Chelsea 2-1 West Ham

[The Skipper 20,609]

I'm absolutely buzzing me, don't know about you guys. That hunger to win again is back. 

[sully 7]

all those moaners on here are absolute pr**ks, what we saw tonight was a huge improvement on last season, and those last two substitutions were tactically brilliant, it made us attack more and produced a result, last season after the eqauliser we would have crumbled, so if you don't like it f**k off to Man Utd, as the person who has gone there seems to like criticising us as as well, even though we backed him all the way.....

[Tomo 21,751]

Just now, nono said:

Dominating possession doesn't mean much. How many clear cut chances were we creating ? We were clearly out of ideas. Costa just rescued two points on his own. 

That will come, we weren't going to go from what we saw last season to champagne football over night, plus Adrian made three top saves, if it weren't for him game would have been over by time Collins scored.

[Essien19 1,415]

server seems to have problems, i wonder why. lolz.

[nono 791]

1 hour ago, Tomo said:

That will come, we weren't going to go from what we saw last season to champagne football over night, plus Adrian made three top saves, if it weren't for him game would have been over by time Collins scored.

I can't be too happy when Willian, Oscar and Matic still play for us. They're still as woeful as ever. More negatives than positives for me from the game. Kante was good though.

[Antonio8 736]

great oscar today and huge diego costa..

hazard lacks of continuity as always but he is decisive..

[The Skipper 20,609]

11 minutes ago, nono said:

I can't be too happy when Willian, Oscar and Matic still play for us. They're still as woeful as ever. More negatives than positives for me from the game. Kante was good though.

Come on dude. Do you not understand our team is very limited with the back line that we have? We can't go out guns blazing with Ivanovic, Cahill and JT at the back. It holds us back. When we get in defenders and Zouma comes back we'll be more adventurous. Don't forget, West Ham are also actually a very decent team with a good manager. You're being unrealistic if you expected us to carve them open time and time again. We are still a work in process. 

It was a good performance in midfield where we dominated. We weren't crisp going forward but the pattern of play is there - intense wing play, lots of movement... When it clicks it'll be exciting. Just be patient and at least give Conte a chance to mold his team. 

[blueblood22 50]

Finally we played like we should, the boss of the match, maybe you will not agree with me but i think the weaker player was costa, yes he scored a goal but made so much mistakes, was selfish,bad technique,Could not handle the ball in some cases and worst still acting like crazy man on the pitch. hazard was great, The most surprising for me was oscar and matic, this is what box to box player is all about, ya they both need to improve accuracy of ball delivery, but still they played really good, oscar made some tackle and running i have never saw from him, kante was great as well, was weak in the first 5 min but after that was great, azpi great work on the side, even iva was not that bad, but still i was thinking while the match if we had over there a really good RB it was amazing, maybe conte needed to made subs 15 min earlier but still he did a great job no doubt about it, chelsea are fun to watch, i still don't like pedro, and unfortunately in the few min moses played he showed that he can pass players only in pre season, i hope he will be better because i like this player.. hope to see chalobah on the bench next game because this guy deserve a chance, had a great pre season, if you ask me sell pedro and let cuadrado show if he worth something. waited so much for this match and it was worth it!

  

[Magic Lamps 11,692]

First things first WHam was crap tonight. That being said they were so poor because we did brilliantly to contain them with our pressing and tightening the midfield. Kante and esp Matic were absolutely relentless in their tackling and closing down. Also Cahill won about every header against that Carroll Donkey. 

On the downside we could not put the game to bed because we failed to create many clear chances and scuffed the ones we had resulting in the equaliser as always. But instead of giving up we pressed on and our individual brilliance and the belief therein got us over the line.

The hunger and fighting spirit we are already showing has me buzzing for the season. I observed some interesting aspects about the individual players performances which I will cover  more deeply in their threads: jt and iva did not perform as badly as we feared but they both lost even more pace as expected which was obvious today. So kudos to Cahill and azpi who made some really important challenges on the run. Even though both were indirectly at fault for the equaliser you can't really blame them since they practically both were fouled at the free kick and goal respectively.

 

[Pizy 18,926]

Was curious what fans of other clubs are saying about us and just had a look over on RAWK. Almost every one of those inbred Scouse mutants are saying how "average, boring and poor" we looked. Proof they don't know a thing about football.

Guess they like conceding 3 to Arsenal's B team and nearly throwing away a 4-1 lead. Idiots. 

[petre.ispirescu 4,928]

Loved the intensity and the pressing game. Players looked like rabbid dogs, always first at the ball, always high up the pitch looking to cut the passing channels and recover the ball as quick as possible. There is this hunger that I haven't seen in Chelsea for a long time, long it may continue. Clearly there is no way they can keep the same explosive rhythm throughout the whole season, but having no European competition is a blessing in disguise for Conte in his 1st season. Up the Blues oh and West Ham was rubbish, a draw would have been a totally undeserved result. 

[Essien19 1,415]

17 minutes ago, nono said:

Dominating possession doesn't mean much. How many clear cut chances were we creating ? We were clearly out of ideas. Costa just rescued two points on his own. 

Long ball to Batshuayi, he passes it to Costa, goal. We've all seen this move before, so that's one idea. Ivanovic had a good shot on goal in the first half, Hazard's play was dangerous, Costa constantly taking the shot, Willian had his moment... the way Willian and Hazard played on the wings looked scripted to me.

At the end of the day you need some individual quality to put chances like this to bed. Taking a shot the way Costa did before the 2:1 is one of the things which differs us (fans and hobby footballers) from them. You have to expect it from someone like him.

[Iggy Doonican 4,186]

Would have been an absolute travesty if those Essex neanderthals got anything out of that game. No difference between Allardyce and Bilic just long ball to Carrol a man who's not even a one trick pony and is so leaden footed he might as well wear Caterpillar boots rather then Nike's or Adidas. Just one thing is it to much to ask to have football played with a plain white fucking ball ?. 

[Azpinator 2,325]

Honestly, it almost seemed like West Ham played like the Chelsea from last season. From the cluelessness to the goal and overall attitude.

So pleased with the improvements! We are starting to play like a real team again. Although I wish Conte had made the 2nd and 3rd subs a little earlier. This could be the start of a very special era, fingers crossed!

[Jase 43,479]

It might have been only the first game but that was a huge win, for Conte and for us especially after how we ended last season (and not to mention, that dreadful home record). Thought the most impressive thing in the win was our intensity and pressing. Apart from the first 10 and last 15 minutes, we were absolutely dominant. We pressed as a unit, weren't afraid to put the challenges in and won plenty of the tackles, including the 2nd balls and 50-50 challenges. West Ham barely got out of their own half! The only downside was we didn't convert our dominance into goals, which is still a problem for us. We played with a lot of intensity but didn't really create enough clear cut chances and it's concerning that Hazard looked more likely to create something than anyone else. But since it's a new season and with a new manager, can only hope we'll get better with that.

[DDA 9,941]

Bloody hell i haven't celebrated a winning goal like that in soo long! Loving Conte! I really hope we start with two strikers next game !

[OhForAGreavsie 6,076]

^^ Good analysis @Jason I think.

 I thought everyone played well and that the only flaws in any performances were caused by the players individual limitations. In the end any footballer can only play as well as they can play. Can't ask any more of anyone than that. We can ask for more quality to be added to the squad however and I think it's fair to say we all spent the summer doing just that!

A lot of what is being asked for is that we should fix the back four. While there can be no doubt that work is needed in that area I'm convinced we'll solve more of our problems if we  solve the midfield. Keep the ball better, move the ball better  means we ease the pressure and retain our shape better. That automatically improves our defending.

if the only squad improvements we can achieve for happened to be defenders then so be it but we mustn't neglect other areas of need.

Well done to the lads. Well done to the boss.

[DDA 9,941]

Bloody hell i haven't celebrated a winning goal like that in soo long! Loving Conte! I really hope we start with two strikers next game !

[akgw13 867]

As everyone gets more comfortable in their roles the tactics will get sharper and more chances will be created(like Italy in the euros) I really loved how we played today. We were a little sloppy but being able to come back and get a win showed great resiliency and mental toughness. Those are things we lacked last year and seem to be back in spades. I love conte and that celebration! Great to have a little energy back at the bridge!

[The Skipper 20,609]

56 minutes ago, OhForAGreavsie said:

^^ Good analysis @Jason I think.

 I thought everyone played well and that the only flaws in any performances were caused by the players individual limitations. In the end any footballer can only play as well as they can play. Can't ask any more of anyone than that. We can ask for more quality to be added to the squad however and I think it's fair to say we all spent the summer doing just that!

A lot of what is being asked for is that we should fix the back four. While there can be no doubt that work is needed in that area I'm convinced we'll solve more of our problems if we  solve the midfield. Keep the ball better, move the ball better  means we ease the pressure and retain our shape better. That automatically improves our defending.

if the only squad improvements we can achieve for happened to be defenders then so be it but we mustn't neglect other areas of need.

Well done to the lads. Well done to the boss.

Well, we can improve our ball circulation if we play Fabregas, but we can't really play Fabregas without too much risk with the defenders we have. So, it's a bit of both actually.