closed Roma 3-0 Chelsea

[Reddish-Blue 2,489]

 

1 minute ago, Jason said:

That turned out to be a spineless performance in the end. Thought we were OKAY in the first half - created some chances which we should have scored but undone by a great goal and stupid blunder. Can live with that to an extent but the second half performance was just trash. Where was the desire? Where was the urgency? Where was the interest in trying to get back into the game? It looked as if we had given up after HT. Another result/performance like this on Sunday and you start to worry for Conte etc.

Incoming 1-0 to United at the Bridge....can't wait to read the papers on Monday!

[FabHazard 655]

All our summer signings are looking worse every weekend...Morata and Bakayoko are clear downgrades to Costa and Matic.....

We clearly miss Kante in the midfield and Moses at RWB...Only Kante can do the job for this formation.

Amateur level defending by CBs are punishing our team

[Jase 43,479]

Just now, Reddish-Blue said:

Incoming 1-0 to United at the Bridge....can't wait to read the papers on Monday!

Mourinho will be laughing when he watch this game. Roma didn't even need to be at their best. We made the mistakes and they punished us emphatically. He'll just have to wait for us to self implode and win on Sunday.

[Special Juan 28,096]

We are playing and starting with Cahill and Alonso, the legs of Fabregas are gone, Luiz still has massive brain farts, Bakayoko is living off his Ligue1 fantasy and we spent shit in the summer....

No surprise. We are playing a lot of players who are West Brom level, look at the board not Conte, these fuckers are liable.

[Laylabelle 9,534]

Just now, Special Juan said:

We are playing and starting with Cahill and Alonso, the legs of Fabregas are gone, Luiz still has massive brain farts, Bakayoko is living off his Ligue1 fantasy and we spent shit in the summer....

No surprise. We are playing a lot of players who are West Brom level, look at the board not Conte, these fuckers are liable.

Everyone has gone shite at the same time. We didn't upgrade anyone either just brought back up or from looks worse.  

[Starman60 1,343]

1 minute ago, Special Juan said:

We are playing a lot of players who are West Brom level

Unfair to West Brom I think. Their players will at least let you know you were in a game and put up a fight.Our lot are all total Divas !!!!!!

[The Skipper 20,609]

Btw, think it’s actually fair to say that we’ve downgraded in almost every apartment bar CB and GK this season. 

[Special Juan 28,096]

Just now, Laylabelle said:

Everyone has gone shite at the same time. We didn't upgrade anyone either just brought back up or from looks worse.  

You do not risk they go shite you simply upgrade with much better players. 

[Reddish-Blue 2,489]

2 minutes ago, Jason said:

Mourinho will be laughing when he watch this game. Roma didn't even need to be at their best. We made the mistakes and they punished us emphatically. He'll just have to wait for us to self implode and win on Sunday.

The scary thing is...Mourinho won't even need to set up defensively for the match against us. 

If I was Martial/Rashford/Miki, I'd be licking my lips for Sunday...Alonso/Zappa/Azpi are in for a long day at the office

[robsblubot 3,595]

Like I wrote elsewhere, some players were really poor today, but it was a terrible starting XI to play Roma in Italy. Really bizarre to see Fabregas in a 2-men mid... got overrun as expected.

Why doesn't Christensen play -- he's, along with Azpi, the best defender in the squad. If Drinkwater and Kante aren't fit play Luiz in midfield! No not optimal, but that's the circumstance. 

Can we have a "no one" option in the poll? Despite his efforts, I just can't vote for Hazard because the finishing just wasn't there (by a long shot).

I guess Azpi and Cahill had OK games compared to the rest.

[Iggy Doonican 4,186]

Just fucking woeful and the jury has come back and it's verdict is Morata is fucking hopeless and has the presence and strength of a fart in a hurricane. 

[Laylabelle 9,534]

Just now, Special Juan said:

You do not risk they go shite you simply upgrade with much better players. 

Expect surprise surprise we didn't..even though signs were there last season and more games this time. That's what's so frustrating it's so predictable

[Special Juan 28,096]

1 minute ago, Iggy Doonican said:

Just fucking woeful and the jury has come back and it's verdict is Morata is fucking hopeless and has the presence and strength of a fart in a hurricane. 

Waisted all his energy making comments about London and then back tracking.

[Starman60 1,343]

Just now, Special Juan said:

Waisted all his energy making comments about London and then back tracking.

Will be sold on at a fucking huge loss unless he grows a pair and mans up. He doesn't scare defenders like Costa did, and hasn't the physical presence to be a lone striker. I fear he will struggle in the league and he looks worn out already !!!!

[WNDS 502]

Why am I seeing specific players being criticised after a performance like that: EVERYONE was terrible except for Hazard. EVERYONE.

Regardless of the grievances that Conte may have with our board regarding transfer dealings, he HAS to display a bit more imagination and flexibility when it comes to setting the team up without important personnel. Much easier said (by the likes of me) than done, of course, but these HAVE to be the situations in which the better managers show what they're really made of.

It's been pretty evident that a back three (either 3-4-3 or 3-5-2) doesn't work for us without Kante, so why persist with such a system? Playing 4-3-3 with Luiz-Bakayoko/Fabregas-Drinkwater was surely worth a try in this game, for example. It surely couldn't be worse than a midfield two of Bakayoko and Fabregas, two players who posses certain valuable characteristics but are clearly spectacularly incompatible at present. Alonso is hideously out-of-form at the moment as well: this happens to every player at some point, but you can't therefore shrug your shoulders and let it slide for over a month; not when our other starting WB is out injured over the same period of time.

Conte should have been able to find an alternative that works with the personnel available to him, and on this occasion he has failed. Hopefully he learns from this.

(And hopefully Kante's impending return allows us to rediscover some semblance of stability and consistency, playing three at the back or otherwise)