closed Chelsea 1-0 Southampton

[communicate 2,703]

Boring performance, Alonso scored wonderful free kick but he is not a threat at all. For some reason he rarely crossed, his combination with Willian in the 1st was great though, but that's it.  We really need to upgrade our wb options 

[kellzfresh 7,229]

What is everyone complaining about, we had so many chances to score, we attacked created clear cut chances and should have scored 4 today. It's not Conte's fault that we can't score from so many chances created. 

[Jase 43,479]

Good win. Decent performance. Really though, for all the good stuff we play going forward, we're really, really shit when it comes to finishing. This is our 3rd 1-0 home win in the last 5 league games.

[MrExcalibur100 7,124]

3 minutes ago, kellzfresh said:

What is everyone complaining about, we had so many chances to score, we attacked created clear cut chances and should have scored 4 today. It's not Conte's fault that we can't score from so many chances created. 

We didn't play  well and the match was boring. The team selection clearly inhibited some of our players and playing without a striker at home when you have 2 on the bench is strange. Southampton got hammered 4-1 at home in their last game. Forgive me for expecting more against a team that has only 1 win in their last 9 games. 

[Laylabelle 9,535]

Or finishing or lack of is why see a top 4 finish rather then 2nd. It'll start to cost us. Saying that least got a clean sheet just shame we keep making hard work of games that in theory should be more straightforward 

[manpe 10,861]

Also Morata was good when he came on I thought, changed the game. Our forward play with him and Fabregas increased tenfold. We can pull off that false 9 system once in a while, but I don't think we have the personnel to make it consistently successful.

[Pizy 18,918]

Hazard looked burnt out and not really at it today. 

That was a game where we should've really been out of sight. Got into so many dangerous positions but we're very wasteful. Also must be said that we looked completely different when Cesc came on. We look far more dangerous going forward with him in the team.

[MrExcalibur100 7,124]

1 minute ago, manpe said:

Also Morata was good when he came on I thought, changed the game. Our forward play with him and Fabregas increased tenfold. We can pull off that false 9 system once in a while, but I don't think we have the personnel to make it consistently successful.

I'm not convinced Conte really knows how to manage player rotations. We were apparently "tired" against West Ham. Very odd part of the period to be tired. If Conte had actually managed the situation properly that loss could have been avoided.

Today he basically makes no rotations, Drinkwater nowhere to be seen. Morata doesn't play despite a league cup game next and we turn in a drab performance because there's no reference point up front. Hazard has played so many games in a short period, apparently he doesn't get rotated. Don't get it. 

[Special Juan 28,141]

3 points, looking forward to seeing Spurs get their arse ripped open.

[MrExcalibur100 7,124]

2 minutes ago, Pizy said:

Hazard looked burnt out and not really at it today. 

That was a game where we should've really been out of sight. Got into so many dangerous positions but we're very wasteful. Also must be said that we looked completely different when Cesc came on. We look far more dangerous going forward with him in the team.

I just made this point regarding Conte's rotations. 

[Jase 43,479]

7 minutes ago, MrExcalibur100 said:

We didn't play  well and the match was boring. The team selection clearly inhibited some of our players and playing without a striker at home when you have 2 on the bench is strange. Southampton got hammered 4-1 at home in their last game. Forgive me for expecting more against a team that has only 1 win in their last 9 games. 

Yeah...but it's also the same team that only lost to a last minute goal at Man City.

[MrExcalibur100 7,124]

1 minute ago, Jason said:

Yeah...but it's also the same team that only lost to a last minute goal at Man City.

You can't compare those games though. City battered them and I was actually entertained by their play. I just found today's game very boring and that was particularly annoying as it could have been prevented if Morata or even the exiled Batshuayi played from the start. 

[kellzfresh 7,229]

10 minutes ago, MrExcalibur100 said:

We didn't play  well and the match was boring. The team selection clearly inhibited some of our players and playing without a striker at home when you have 2 on the bench is strange. Southampton got hammered 4-1 at home in their last game. Forgive me for expecting more against a team that has only 1 win in their last 9 games. 

Maybe not having a striker on reduces our goalscoring but it was by no means a defensive move. Conte has to find a way to rotate the team as we play champs lge now and he doesn't trust batshuayi even with Morata slowly coming back from injury.

I expected us to score more goals before the game started, but fabregas missed a chance on goal, Pedro hit the post, Willian missed in the 6 yard box, Alonso missed, another few counters were also spoiled by poor passing. We still should have scored more.  

[MrExcalibur100 7,124]

6 minutes ago, kellzfresh said:

Maybe not having a striker on reduces our goalscoring but it was by no means a defensive move. Conte has to find a way to rotate the team as we play champs lge now and he doesn't trust batshuayi even with Morata slowly coming back from injury.

I expected us to score more goals before the game started, but fabregas missed a chance on goal, Pedro hit the post, Willian missed in the 6 yard box, Alonso missed, another few counters were also spoiled by poor passing. We still should have scored more.  

I don't think it was a defensive move but playing without  a striker is not something we should be doing. Firstly it's disrespectful to Batshuayi who has been nothing short of a class act since he arrived here and has a better goal:min played ratio than just about any striker in the PL. Secondly, we play without a reference point which seriously undermines our attacking potential. I don't need to go into too much detail as to why that is as I think it's obvious.

Compare our football in this game to our last two home games against Newcastle and Atletico Madrid. I was really looking forward to seeing what Morata could do today but this chopping and changing has taking him out of his goalscoring form. The same is also true with Hazard and his goalscoring form. Morata was scoring goals/assisting during our WBA away period. It's kind of disturbing our 2 best players are on a goal drought thanks to our manager trying to be too clever. If Conte is going to make rotations he should have made better use of the following players. : Pedro, Batshuayi, Drinkwater. 

[Pizy 18,918]

I think it's pretty obvious that we are best suited to 3-5-2 with our current options. With only Baka and Kante in midfield we don't have much of a decisive eye for a pass from deeper and without Morata's excellent movement, runs, and aerial threat we look blunt against decent defenses.

The 3-4-3 with false 9 can work against minnows like Huddersfield where there's a massive gulf in class between the sides, but Southampton and clubs like them who have solid players and are well drilled it just isn't effective enough. Fabregas is a must start player for us to be at our best.

[Belgiannutt 3,201]

Really hope we stop playing Hazard as the sole striker. 

Even when he's playin with Morata he already has a massive sized bullseye on his back. When we play without one it just puts far too big a focus on him.

It's weird but it feels like in this setup we're using Hazard as a decoy to attract defenders and midfielders rather then actually  getting him on the ball in dangerous areas.

 

[MrExcalibur100 7,124]

                   Hazard - Morata - Pedro

       Alonso - Drinkwater - Kante - Moses 

Much better than the rubbish we started today. I don't think we've even tried this before.

Can swap Morata for Batshuayi or even Kante for Fabregas. Would have produced a much better game and better results than we saw today. 

It seems the more options available for Conte and the more rotations he has to do and at least in my opinion he isn't living up to expectations. Some good players being underutilized.

[kmk108 1,186]

3 hours ago, MrExcalibur100 said:

I don't think it was a defensive move but playing without  a striker is not something we should be doing. Firstly it's disrespectful to Batshuayi who has been nothing short of a class act since he arrived here and has a better goal:min played ratio than just about any striker in the PL. Secondly, we play without a reference point which seriously undermines our attacking potential. I don't need to go into too much detail as to why that is as I think it's obvious.

Compare our football in this game to our last two home games against Newcastle and Atletico Madrid. I was really looking forward to seeing what Morata could do today but this chopping and changing has taking him out of his goalscoring form. The same is also true with Hazard and his goalscoring form. Morata was scoring goals/assisting during our WBA away period. It's kind of disturbing our 2 best players are on a goal drought thanks to our manager trying to be too clever. If Conte is going to make rotations he should have made better use of the following players. : Pedro, Batshuayi, Drinkwater. 

He's a great impact sub, but he's been pretty poor when he starts.

[robsblubot 3,595]

We are just not very good at the moment. Too many players playing below the required level. Which I always think is one of the downsides of having a small squad: not many options for tweaks.

playing hazard as false nine makes no sense to me. Pedro would potentially work better as he has little else to his game than finishing and pace.

agree with many who said our midfield lacks creativity and that shows.

i actually think we are missing David because his attacking flair helped balance the team which is a tad defensive considering the level of most opposition in the pl.

@communicate I think exactly the opposite: aside from good overall technique which produces linkup play, the main thing Alonso brings is a threat (goals).

[Strike 7,490]

The team is comfortably top 4 with the leaders out of sight. I sense a lack of urgency or purposefulness from the players in few games this season. 

Hopefully a January signing or two injects freshness into the team like Anelka in 2008.