closed Sunderland 0-1 Chelsea

[Pizy 18,918]

N'Golo Kante. Fuck me, what a player! He was immense. 

I think if Hazard played here instead of Pedro (who I thought was subpar today) we'd have scored 2-3 goals. We really missed his decisive cutting edge in the final third. We saw that without him almost all of the opposing defenders just mob Diego and contain him. Hazard gives them a whole other headache and they can't just commit everyone to Costa. Hopefully he's back for Saturday.

[Jase 43,479]

7 minutes ago, Pizy said:

N'Golo Kante. Fuck me, what a player! He was immense. 

I think if Hazard played here instead of Pedro (who I thought was subpar today) we'd have scored 2-3 goals. We really missed his decisive cutting edge in the final third. We saw that without him almost all of the opposing defenders just mob Diego and contain him. Hazard gives them a whole other headache and they can't just commit everyone to Costa. Hopefully he's back for Saturday.

Pedro? If Hazard was fit, Willian wouldn't have played and if Hazard had played, we would have likely scored 2 or 3 goals. Willian's passing and finishing in the final was so painful to watch.

[Gilvorak 3,734]

So do we persist with Fabregas lads or continue with the Matic/Kante partnership?

[Pizy 18,918]

8 minutes ago, Jason said:

Pedro? If Hazard was fit, Willian wouldn't have played and if Hazard had played, we would have likely scored 2 or 3 goals. Willian's passing and finishing in the final was so painful to watch.

Yeah, other than his finishing I thought he was superb. Brilliant runs, great movement, dangerous in full flight. Really the typical Willian performance. The poor finishing is expected at this point.

Really a toss up for me which one starts. 

[Jase 43,479]

1 minute ago, Pizy said:

Yeah, other than his finishing I thought he was superb. Brilliant runs, great movement, dangerous in full flight. Really the typical Willian performance. The poor finishing is expected at this point.

Really a toss up for me which one starts. 

Wait, you describing Willian's performances there? He looked dangerous when he's running with the ball - which has always been the case - but other than that, I thought he was poor. His decision making was poor. His finishing was poor. His movement was average at best.

[Pizy 18,918]

1 minute ago, Jason said:

Wait, you describing Willian's performances there? He looked dangerous when he's running with the ball - which has always been the case - but other than that, I thought he was poor. His decision making was poor. His finishing was poor. His movement was average at best.

How the hell can our opinions be so different? Agree to disagree then.

Whichever one of them starts on Saturday I don't think we are any worse off.

[Jase 43,479]

8 minutes ago, Gilvorak said:

So do we persist with Fabregas lads or continue with the Matic/Kante partnership?

It should depend on the opposition, IMO. If we're playing teams like West Brom, Sunderland, Hull etc, who we know are just going to sit back and defend most of the time, then I'll go Fabregas and Matic/Kante. Otherwise, Kante and Matic and only bring Fabregas on if we need him.

[WNDS 502]

9 minutes ago, Pizy said:

How the hell can our opinions be so different? Agree to disagree then.

Whichever one of them starts on Saturday I don't think we are any worse off.

Positive confirmation bias. It happens all the time with footballers like Willian who tend to be so polarising: those who don't rate them are always on the lookout for errors and poor decision-making, whilst those who appreciate them more tend to place too much focus on the good things they do. In each case, significantly greater emphasis is placed upon the events that support the preconceptions that are held by the specific observer in question.

[samzilla 517]

curious...what's the longest winning streak by a team that DIDN'T win the league?

[Gilvorak 3,734]

16 minutes ago, samzilla said:

curious...what's the longest winning streak by a team that DIDN'T win the league?

Liverpool in 13/14 won 11 straight games before the infamous bottlejob against us.

EDIT: They had dropped 15 points at this stage of the season though while we've only dropped 8 points.

[Last Sicarius 610]

 

Moment of the match. 

[samzilla 517]

i actually thought it hit the post in real time at first

[samzilla 517]

16 minutes ago, Gilvorak said:

Liverpool in 13/14 won 11 straight games before the infamous bottlejob against us.

EDIT: They had dropped 15 points at this stage of the season though while we've only dropped 8 points.

thanks!  i remembered it as them going something like 16 unbeaten but didn't realize their winning streak was so long

[fmsch24 312]

17 minutes ago, Last Sicarius said:

 

Moment of the match. 

 

17 minutes ago, Last Sicarius said:

 

Moment of the match. 

The way van Aanholt ran, he was about to celebrate the goal lol

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

3 hours ago, Gilvorak said:

So do we persist with Fabregas lads or continue with the Matic/Kante partnership?

Horses for courses. 

Fab was the perfect call for a game in which Hazard missed.

[Chelsea Buzz 487]

Sorry I am late the party. Doing my civic duty here in the states and serving on a jury so was in court all day (do you have jury duty in the UK?).

Watched the match on replay. Never did catch the reason for no Hazard tonight. Minor injury?

We had many fair chances, but oddly in the second half we seemed to work well to get someone open in the box and they would either scuff it or hit right to the keeper. Finishing was just not there. As others have said. Costa is hustling all over the pitch.

Very happy for Cesc. We all know his best years have past. We were lucky 2014-15 was perhaps his last year of greatness. However, you cannot question his fight. Even last year, when the season was lost, he fought hard. I remember his goal at the Bridge in January to bring us within one to Everton (2-3) late and him racing around trying to get the fans pumped up. Terry scored the last ditch goal to draw 3-3. I would like to see us get him in the XI from time to time, as the best opportunities present themselves. His vision and touch can be awesome at times still today.

Kante was everywhere picking up loose balls. He is a difference maker in these type games where lesser clubs lull you to sleep with 111 behind the ball and then the get a surprise counter and fluke goal. Kante presses and challenges every pass and shuts this down.

Courtois. Wow! Was not sure he was going to get to that one. He may be getting focused.

Here we are just 10 days before Christmas and sitting 6 points clear of second and top of the league. I believe it was a year ago Friday or Saturday we let the manager go last year. Just wow! Antonio Conte - legend

Come on you Chelsea!!

[xPetrCechx 13,571]

[Johnnyeye 7,510]

4 hours ago, Last Sicarius said:

 

Moment of the match. 

thank God Courtois got to that or otherwise it would have been a great goal and another ex player comes back to haunt us scenario to makes us drop points, heart in the mouth moment right there  props to Van Aanholt for that piece of skill tough, taking Chalobah out of the way and making room for a good shot which required Courtois full stretch save, world class goalkeeping.

[Johnnyeye 7,510]

4 hours ago, fmsch24 said:

 

The way van Aanholt ran, he was about to celebrate the goal lol

yeah,noticed that too  

[kmk108 1,186]

3 hours ago, Chelsea Buzz said:

Sorry I am late the party. Doing my civic duty here in the states and serving on a jury so was in court all day (do you have jury duty in the UK?).

Watched the match on replay. Never did catch the reason for no Hazard tonight. Minor injury?

We had many fair chances, but oddly in the second half we seemed to work well to get someone open in the box and they would either scuff it or hit right to the keeper. Finishing was just not there. As others have said. Costa is hustling all over the pitch.

Very happy for Cesc. We all know his best years have past. We were lucky 2014-15 was perhaps his last year of greatness. However, you cannot question his fight. Even last year, when the season was lost, he fought hard. I remember his goal at the Bridge in January to bring us within one to Everton (2-3) late and him racing around trying to get the fans pumped up. Terry scored the last ditch goal to draw 3-3. I would like to see us get him in the XI from time to time, as the best opportunities present themselves. His vision and touch can be awesome at times still today.

Kante was everywhere picking up loose balls. He is a difference maker in these type games where lesser clubs lull you to sleep with 111 behind the ball and then the get a surprise counter and fluke goal. Kante presses and challenges every pass and shuts this down.

Courtois. Wow! Was not sure he was going to get to that one. He may be getting focused.

Here we are just 10 days before Christmas and sitting 6 points clear of second and top of the league. I believe it was a year ago Friday or Saturday we let the manager go last year. Just wow! Antonio Conte - legend

Come on you Chelsea!!

I think it was from the tackle he limped out of against West Brom.

condolences for jury duty. I have yet to get that notice.