closed Spurs 2-0 Chelsea

[cosmicway 1,333]

We lost the midfield the first 25 minutes and they managed to create one good chance in that time - on shot inches wide.
Then they scored twice totally against the run of play and after the second there was no more football really from either.

[MrExcalibur100 7,124]

7 minutes ago, Jason said:

Conte has to go 3-5-2 in the big games IMO. Getting passed around and outnumbered in midfield and relying only on counters aren't going to help us at all.

Either 3-5-2 or just bloody play Fabregas with Kante. Let me be brutally honest here. Cahill, Alonso, Moses, Matic are 4 first team players that shouldn't be starting for us next season if we want to make any noise in the Champions League. Because they either lack quality, consistency, technique or all 3. 

Costa's lack of technique (ball control) and decision making is a problem as well. I wish Conte will have a word with him and tell him to keep it simple when he's so far away from goal.

Conte also needs to tell Luiz to cut out his silly vertical passes to the opposition keeper. He's not Fabregas and it rarely works if it's not being hit to one of our wing-backs. 

[Antonio8 736]

kante moses azpi never focused on match--

it's a pity,they score in key moments..

but hey, that's football

 

[Barbara 15,149]

Things didn't click today, we didn't play well and it made it look like they played much better than they actually did. They played much better in the first half at the Bridge. Our aerial weakness have been exposed in the last two games.

Now we move on, without the weight of the winning streak over us, losing three points here, but only one compared to second place and I'm confident Conte will work on the things that appeared in the last two games.

It must be said though that some players have been overachieving, and even playing only once a week, they are human beings and could be getting tired. Good thing January is a month we can rest a bit, especially as we are already out of LC and our FA Cup match is a nonfactor that I'm sure will figure more than half of the reserve team, if not nearly everyone.

We must look forward. Some kind of people really bother me when in face of the first bad result they see problems everywhere, complain about everything. There are areas to improve, that's for sure, but that's still the same team that went on the hot streak.

[Pizy 18,538]

Not that he'll panic or anything, but I wonder if Conte will accelerate any moves in the transfer window after seeing some of our weaknesses exposed again. 

I think a dynamic midfielder and Van Dijk especially would take us up a whole level. Van Dijk partnering Luiz would see us have a dominant back line and another threat on set pieces. 

We have the money from the Oscar sale to easily pay what it'll take to sign him.

[Barbara 15,149]

46 minutes ago, Tomo said:

We still have a bit of a soft centre in big games which we need to improve on in next two windows. Alonso has been the ultimate stop gap but going forward we need more quality in that area.

what if... and maybe that makes no sense, so help me,. What if in the future, not now, we move Zouma to defense, Azpili to midfield to play where Moses is playing (he's the one that has been showing the most signs of tiredness and I think he's been overachieving the most). We will have a taller defense, Azpili is much better than Moses defending, but it also means we depend more on our attacking trio. Of course,that would also be a stop gap.

AS I said in Conte thread a few days ago we need replacement for Oscar, backup for our wingbacks and moving Azpili to that position, we also need to replace Cahill in defense. While he hasn't failed recently, we all know he is subpar and we should have better defenders than him.

It doesn't solve the Alonso problem, that I agree, needs improvement (then again I also think Moses needs too), but at least gives you more options and a taller defense. If we take Azpili away from the defense he must play in midfield, there's no way we can remove him completely from the lineup. He's too valuable and useful for that and has given sweat and blood for us in his years here, not to mention his consistency - which is incredible.

[Henrique 9,133]

1 hour ago, Styles said:

I didn't say Spurs have a better squad. I said they have players better suited to playing the 3-4-3 (largely because of the CM and wingback options). Those are very different statements so let's get that right please.

So why they are sitting 7 points behind us in the table? 

[Fulham Broadway 17,046]

Tonight never happened -watching Shawshank Redemption now

[Henrique 9,133]

6 minutes ago, Barbara said:

what if... and maybe that makes no sense, so help me,. What if in the future, not now, we move Zouma to defense, Azpili to midfield to play where Moses is playing (he's the one that has been showing the most signs of tiredness and I think he's been overachieving the most). We will have a taller defense, Azpili is much better than Moses defending, but it also means we depend more on our attacking trio. Of course,that would also be a stop gap.

 

Azpi is better than Moses in every aspect of the game. Days ago, despite playing as a CB, Azpi crossed the ball right in Costa's head, who scored the winner. I dont remember when Moses got a cross right this season.

[Fernando 6,512]

2 minutes ago, Henrique said:

Azpi is better than Moses in every aspect of the game. Days ago, despite playing as a CB, Azpi crossed the ball right in Costa's head, who scored the winner. I dont remember when Moses got a cross right this season.

Good thing with Moses is that if we upgrade we can sell him for a good price now. 

Or he can be a good back up. 

[Barbara 15,149]

5 minutes ago, Henrique said:

Azpi is better than Moses in every aspect of the game. Days ago, despite playing as a CB, Azpi crossed the ball right in Costa's head, who scored the winner. I dont remember when Moses got a cross right this season.

he definitely has the edge on pace, but with Pedro and Hazard in the side - and actually playing each on a different side of the pitch, Moses's pace is definitely overrated. I would rather have Azpili there. The big question is, where does Zouma stand now? We have no idea how he came back from injury after such a long time.

[Henrique 9,133]

Just now, Barbara said:

he definitely has the edge on pace, but with Pedro and Hazard in the side - and actually playing each on a different side of the pitch, Moses's pace is definitely overrated. I would rather have Azpili there. The big question is, where does Zouma stand now? We have no idea how he came back from injury after such a long time.

Zouma is sitting on the bench ahead of Terry, so in training he must be doing good.

[LegenTerry 272]

It will be shame if Zooma doesn't get a chance in FA cup now. Same for Batman.

[LAM09 6,865]

We deservedly lost. Don't think anyone played well. Still got a 5 point lead, so we need to regroup and be ready for Leicester.

[Barbara 15,149]

1 minute ago, Henrique said:

Zouma is sitting on the bench ahead of Terry, so in training he must be doing good.

as far as I know Terry is still injured. But I meant his conditions to actually be inserted in the team. For better or for worse, the defense isn't that bad... I don't know if Conte would dare to change now

[y10edn 185]

https://instagram.com/p/BO2_7gOB6L8/

didnt click today

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

Not upset especially after 13 consecutive wins. 

We need to freshen up the squad though, nothing major but small tweaks

[Johnnyeye 7,462]

God i hate Spurs so much, they are always fired up for this one, we really werent up for this one, this scenario was bound to happen sooner or later, we cant win every game and this is the wake up call we needed, that there is still a lot of work to be done, its up to Conte and the players to overturn this quickly, just a real pity we couldnt win today and go 8 points clear of Liverpool and more points ahead of the chasing pack. Fark, of all teams we had to play against at the start of the new year it just had to be them, fark this, im not gonna lie, i really wanted us to break that damn winning record and rub it in the face of Arsenal fans, oh well at least we tied it 😕, all our rival fans must be jumping up and down right now, specially Arsenal fans ( fark them ), it reminds me of 14/15 season when we lost there 5-3 at the beggining of January in 2015, and we went on to win the title, i really hope thats the case this time again, well see. Cheer up mates and goodluck for the next game, we are all together in this, better days will come, lets hope its just a minor blip along the road. Cheers and KTBFFH