closed Roma 3-0 Chelsea

[Special Juan 28,143]

10 hours ago, cosmicway said:

I see Roma going places this year.
But is Roma the ultimate heights of this champions league ?
What about Barca-PSG-Juve, also Bayern-Real (even though they seem to be faltering a little those two) ?
We seem to be some light years away, a Wenger-like presence.
 

We are way down the CL pecking order, we cannot compete with the names you mentioned. It's not just the starting 11 of those you mentioned but just take a look at the benches. If you also one to compare with closer to home look at City, and absolute plethora of dynamic, skillful and total game changers. This all the fruits of a successful and no nonsense summer window, by identifying, paying the asked amounts and nailing the signature.

Us on the other hand, we will chase a so called top class target, fall short and end up with and Alonso or Drinkwater, I'm sorry but neither could hold a light to even the so called very good players in Europe. We have a nucleus of 3-4 very good players, after that, we have stacks of middle of the road players.

[-Kaplan- 410]

Apart from the 2013-2014 season, in which we were playing totally defensive football with Ramires out on the wing, we haven't made it to the semis of the UCL since we won it almost 6 years ago. 

We weren't even in it for 2 years.

I guess that's the board's lack of ambition. Or reality check.  

[FabHazard 655]

How can defenders at this level do something like this shit?  I hope this video is on repeat in cobham till they get embarrassed

 

[Leif 6,006]

Before his arrival, it was said Alonso is simply squad player material, not starting-for-champions material. 
Before his arrival, it was said Rudiger is simply squad player material, not starting-for-champions material.
Before his arrival, it was said Cahill is simply squad player material, not starting-for-champions material. 

Well, we weren't wrong, and we shouldn't be surprised that a back line with all of them in it fails against a team who've struggled to score 2 goals in any game this season. 

Imagine Bayern or Juventus with the likes of those starting for themFor whatever reason, maybe because the Premier League is 'tough', these absolutely painfully average players are seen as 'good' players by our fans simply because we're in England and we're Chelsea. Apparently Chelsea can get away with limited defenders, as if at one point we didn't have Terry, Carvalho, Alex, Ashley Cole, Ivanovic et all. Shambles. Absolutely the worst bunch of defenders we've had since the early 1990's. 

[bigbluewillie 1,930]

17 hours ago, Mana said:

Screw it up, and that is a sackable offense for Conte.

And why should that be, the board fuck everything up and don't back him, then they sack him because he can't play with the shit we have.

You always have to look at the very top for the errors in the squad....if they're looking to sack anyone they should look at themselves.

[bigbluewillie 1,930]

22 minutes ago, Mana said:

Look, I like Conte and I don't want him to go...

But if we lose to Atletico and Qarabag, we could end up finishing bottom of the table. That is a sackable offense for a top club like Chelsea. With the squad we have (even though it's shite), should beat Qarabag. No questions asked.

Finishing bottom aint that bad if we can't finish 2nd.....

At least we won't have go into that fucking Europa cup.

[petre.ispirescu 4,928]

Last season a gutless performance away from home and a 3-0 loss changed our season completely. Can we do it one more time? Fuck knows, but for sure I bloody hope so. 

I love Antonio Conte and I pray he wins the next game against Mourinho for all the negativity around to be gone for a while at least. But he must change some things.

Starting with the formation and personnel.

He's the manager and he's with the players every day of the week, so no matter what formation and players he chooses, I will support him.

But... My two pennies on our current situation - I think the current tactics do not fit Chelsea at the moment and certain players must be dropped and others must play. Starting with Andreas Christensen.

What I saw last night and in the past months is a totally unbalanced team playing more of a 5-2-3, rather than a three at the back formation with flying wing-backs.

We defend too deep with too much defenders (five), we always lose the midfield area and the three up front look lost. They are always left for dead and there is no transition between the defence and attack. 

For me, at this moment, it is like there is three different Chelsea teams on the pitch at the same time - the defenders playing their own game, the midfielders doing close to nothing and the three attackers trying to do something with no support from the others.

The three at the back formation worked wonders last season, but we have to admit in was only a stop-gap solution. We desperately need to revert back to a four man defence and find some balance, because frankly and I will say it again, I bloody love Conte, but this Chelsea team under the current 3-4-3/3-5-2 formation looks so unbalanced it is unbelievable. Plus it's probably the worst tactics to play against top dogs, so easy to exploit.

The bright side is (if there is any) that we can't get any worse than this. There is nothing to lose now, hope Conte thinks like this and will turn things around once more. Must not do what Mourinho did and wait for the sack - should act now and think with his footballing brain and not his heart. 

[manpe 10,861]

45 minutes ago, petre.ispirescu said:

What I saw last night and in the past months is a totally unbalanced team playing more of a 5-2-3, rather than a three at the back formation with flying wing-backs.

Exactly. When Willian replaced Cahill yesterday I thought we were finally risking it and throwing more bodies forward and reverting to 4 at the back. Soon it became clear that Pedro was shoehorned into the WB position, which doesn't take advantage of his strengths at all, and poor Willian merely replaced Pedro's position. That made us even more toothless! I'm still asking myself what was the point in doing that? Why didn't any of the CBs push forward as target man? Why do we still play 5 defenders when losing hopelessly? I would love for journos to ask those questions, but they are more interested in sensationalist drivel than actual football discussion.

[blues.bridge 343]

[cosmicway 1,333]

16 minutes ago, blues.bridge said:

 

 

Bakyoko and Luiz chase the right man.
The third man is lost at sea.
Against Watford it was Bakayoko who lost his way and they lost the open goal chance.

Look at a similar situation PAO - Olympiakos Piraeus last Sunday:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiLRGLJZepE

 

 

[Jase 43,479]

If we finish second in the group, we'll most likely face one of PSG, Barcelona or Besiktas in the last 16.

Finish top and it's likely one from these lots - Basel, Bayern Munich, Juventus, Spartak Moscow/Sevilla, Porto/RB Leipzig or Real Madrid.

[Laylabelle 9,536]

Finish 2nd and definitely be PSG. Seems to be the new thing with us..and the same result..

[Ledg 643]

4 minutes ago, Jason said:

If we finish second in the group, we'll most likely face one of PSG, Barcelona or Besiktas in the last 16.

Finish top and it's likely one from these lots - Basel, Bayern Munich, Juventus, Spartak Moscow/Sevilla, Porto/RB Leipzig or Real Madrid.

Fixed it for you.

[WNDS 502]

22 hours ago, communicate said:

Did you watch our home game when we played luiz in midfield ? we struggled with luiz in midfield. We also struggled playing back 3 last season with kante in midfield as long as fab is starting.I don't get how switching to back 4 will help

 

Drinkwater wasn't playing then. He may not be a world-class player, but he's quite balanced in his attributes; I feel that he would work in a midfield three very nicely, as he's already displayed the ability to function in a midfield two (granted, alongside Kante).

The imperative last night should have been to play it tight and hit Roma on the break: I believe that a midfield of Luiz-Bakayoko-Drinkwater would have allowed us to do this, with Luiz supplying the energy needed to cover space, Bakayoko driving forwards, and Drinkwater handling the link-up play whilst also making useful defensive contributions of his own. Yeah, it might not have worked-out quite like I've just described, but I'm confident that it would have been a least somewhat more successful than the awful Bakayoko-Fabregas pairing that Conte has kept deploying.

[communicate 2,703]

3 minutes ago, WNDS said:

 

Drinkwater wasn't playing then. He may not be a world-class player, but he's quite balanced in his attributes; I feel that he would work in a midfield three very nicely, as he's already displayed the ability to function in a midfield two (granted, alongside Kante).

The imperative last night should have been to play it tight and hit Roma on the break: I believe that a midfield of Luiz-Bakayoko-Drinkwater would have allowed us to do this, with Luiz supplying the energy needed to cover space, Bakayoko driving forwards, and Drinkwater handling the link-up play whilst also making useful defensive contributions of his own. Yeah, it might not have worked-out quite like I've just described, but I'm confident that it would have been a least somewhat more successful than the awful Bakayoko-Fabregas pairing that Conte has kept deploying.

Drinkwater is not fit. There is no way Conte will risk playing drinkwater from 1st minute and then risk another long injury layoff.

[WNDS 502]

12 hours ago, communicate said:

Drinkwater is not fit. There is no way Conte will risk playing drinkwater from 1st minute and then risk another long injury layoff.

 

He started agaist Everton, didn't he? He played 60 minutes or so. He played for around 20 minutes against Roma anyway! If he wasn't fit he wouldn't have featured at all.

And besides, Conte already risked Bakayoko agaist Tottenham when he was in the same situation as Drinkwater is now. It worked out.