closed Watford 1-2 Chelsea

[LDN Blue 7,903]

21 minutes ago, Kezza said:

Costa has to pull his fuckin head in!!! 2 yellows in 2 weeks for dissent

These refs have shown consistency with this sort of thing so yeah being him he's more prone to it. Retrospective and actual bans are going to be another headache.. Lucky Michy is scoring lol

[the wes 7,212]

If we can sign a good full back and cb I can't see why we can't win the league this season 

[the wes 7,212]

3 hours ago, Kezza said:

Costa has to pull his fuckin head in!!! 2 yellows in 2 weeks for dissent

That's one of the reasons I think we need to sign another striker cause the way Costa going he's going to get banned a lot this season 

[OhForAGreavsie 5,773]

44 minutes ago, the wes said:

If we can sign a good full back and cb I can't see why we can't win the league this season 

I don't think there is a single one of us does not believe that we need to improve our group of defenders. I also think all of us would agree that a full-back as well as a  centre back is what is needed. I do think though that this squad needs more help than just upgraded defenders.

[the wes 7,212]

7 hours ago, Gilvorak said:

The dream

 

I would have hazard has a second striker and Have James Rodriguez has attacking midfielder ? 

[Unionjack 7,531]

I think a main point that showed today is our lack of creativity, So many people been on about getting rid of Cescy and how good Oscvar is with Matic! Well that ideas a load of bollox eh!

When Cescy put that ball thru for Costa evey one of us there knew he was gonna score. Big flashback of the North London game when the same thing happened. We all know he aint the best defender or the fastest on the planet. But get him some time and space plus the targets to get the ball to then hes the assist king! Who has by the way the most assists since 2014.

And how many of us wanted Moses on RAM? I'd put Square or him in over Willian right now. They both offer more in attack. Willians just not been right yet this season for some reason.

Been a long day and not been home that long but just in time to hopefully see Connor win.

[Jase 43,479]

Nice little banter between Batshuayi and Hazard.

[Fulham Broadway 16,381]

Brilliant game, fans went mental at the end

Already four points better off at this point than we were last season

Just need to work out a plan to keep Costa on the pitch.......

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

On 8/20/2016 at 0:14 PM, DYC. said:

Don't like that midfield three at all. What I'd give to see Willian-Fabregas-Kante.

Man, Chelsea have some frustrating players in the ranks. It's not good.

That would get overrun on a regular basis. Willian is a shuttler but nowhere near a ball winner and Cesc, well... that was a majestic ball but he's not up for a midfield battle.

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

On 8/20/2016 at 0:16 PM, CHOULO19 said:

I would like to add that, yes, Conte is making influential changes and subs in games (agree with Barbara that he's mostly correcting his own mistakes) but another factor that is helping us late in games so far is that we're in a better physical condition than most teams. We can't rely on that forever as teams will gradually catch up. 

I don't really agree. I think what Conte is doing is building a solid foundation first the other stuff will come later. He said it in his post game too, the 70min mark is when teams get tired and make mistakes. We injected pace, inventiveness and some power into the game when a hard working opposition were at their most vulnerable point. That to me is smart game planning not a mistake.

You guys have a real habit of discrediting the opposition. Watford have a hard working team that play with 10 men behind the ball, they are well disciplined and were playing in their first home game of the season. Of course they're gonna come out and put in a shift. Had we started with Cesc and Moses say, we wouldn't have had the ability to make the changes once they Watford fatigued. 

I get the argument that had they started we might've been more industrious and perhaps scored earlier but its hard to say... Watford did well taking away the gaps to exploit and perhaps Cesc would've played a part in unlocking it but I prefer we build a solid base first with the philosophy of the new manager in mind.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

15 minutes ago, Chelsea Legend 11 said:

I don't really agree. I think what Conte is doing is building a solid foundation first the other stuff will come later. He said it in his post game too, the 70min mark is when teams get tired and make mistakes. We injected pace, inventiveness and some power into the game when a hard working opposition were at their most vulnerable point. That to me is smart game planning not a mistake.

You guys have a real habit of discrediting the opposition. Watford have a hard working team that play with 10 men behind the ball, they are well disciplined and were playing in their first home game of the season. Of course they're gonna come out and put in a shift. Had we started with Cesc and Moses say, we wouldn't have had the ability to make the changes once they Watford fatigued. 

I get the argument that had they started we might've been more industrious and perhaps scored earlier but its hard to say... Watford did well taking away the gaps to exploit and perhaps Cesc would've played a part in unlocking it but I prefer we build a solid base first with the philosophy of the new manager in mind.

How is subbing Moses and Cesc on for Matic and Pedro 'injecting pace'?

Anyway, pace certainly wasn't what turned the match around. By far the biggest factor was getting an extra striker on and changing the formation. We could have played another 90 minutes with 4-1-4-1 and would not have scored except from a big mistake like the penalty vs West Ham or a moment of personal brilliance, most likely from Hazard.

I actually thought Watford were average at best. They played high , certainly much higher than we were playing off the ball, but their pressing wasn't very effective. I think we'll probably face a tougher test in almost every game we play this season.

No disrespect to Conte, but he's still some way from building that strong foundation. Aside from the obvious lack of numbers in defense, we don't seem to have the players who suit any of the formations. In 4-1-4-1 we look relatively solid in defense (though still conceding) but can't create anything on offense; we switch to 4-4-2 and we create chances but our weak back four seems to get exposed in every opposition attack.

We're REALLY late in the market to start dealing with those issues. 

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

Each player offered something different. Moses provided pace, cesc provided invention, michy power.

So what are you saying? We can only be effective in 4-1-4-1 if cesc and Moses are playing? We were higher up the pitch with more bodies forward and yes having michy on made a huge difference, the shape change mainly but I don't think we can effectively play that way for an entire game in the prem. We just don't have the proper midfielders to pull it off for 90 mins week after week. I guess I agree with you in that regard...

And yes conte is far from building a strong foundation but this is still the beginning of his reign and the foundation starts when players know what is expected first. The next step is perhaps finding a cohesiveness and this is still in its infancy, remember this is new to pretty much every player we have and conte know this. It is this precise reason why I don't like the gung Ho approach of attack mindedness first. Defense is the foundation upon which titles are won and right now we need to defend as a unit until we get the proper players who can hold down their position.

Conte has done a fantastic job of changing the flow of the game at the right moment and its won us two games. That's not a mistake it's good management.

[iceboy 992]

Cesc and Michy changed the game