closed BATE Borisov 0-1 Chelsea

[El P. 1,354]

Last night's game was really weird. I don't know if it was because of the pitch, or really cold weather, but every one of our player seemed like he wasn't at his best, even Hazard.

EDIT: 

Sarri agrees:

"It had all the conditions to play very badly, with the cold, the opponents, the pitch, everything. I think we could have done better."

[El P. 1,354]

3 hours ago, OhForAGreavsie said:

You can argue whether individual observations are correct or not, but it's not at all ridiculous for people to have criticisms to make. If I offered you a bet that Maurizio himself is critical of some aspects and is thinking about how to correct them, you wouldn't take it. Indeed you'd be a fool to take that bet, since we all know from his public statements that the manager does see problems in both performances and personnel.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I'd guess that you have criticised the club in the past for failing to strengthen after title winning seasons. We all have, so I doubt you're an exception. Just because you win doesn't mean there is nothing which needs fixing.

Whenever there are critical comments following a win it's fairly certain some will suggest that people should stop 'moaning' and just celebrate the result. On the other hand, when there are criticisms after a defeat, there will be suggestions that people just need to get behind the team and show some support instead of 'moaning'. What's the answer to this conundrum, that we all become mindless support bots who see no evil and speak no evil, or that we save the criticisms for when Chelsea draw?

I agree with you.

I won't be calm until top 4 is "secured". Arsenal is in top form, they are beating all the little ones with ease... And Spurs have Kane, great manager and players that play with each other for a long time, they could always scrape a win. They are both only 3-4 points behind us, if Morata and Giroud go AWOL we can easily be in trouble. And we all know what would missing on UCL again mean...

[OhForAGreavsie 5,892]

2 hours ago, Special Juan said:

How we won this I will never know, but I will take it with ease.

RLC and Barkley last night were absolute shite, and the rest weren't much better. This is the problem with RLC, it's his consistency, after that good performance and 3 goals and he puts on a display like last night.

 

Morning SJ,

Have to disagree with you on RLC and consistency. He is pretty consistent I'm afraid. His inconsistency comes when he plays up to the level we'd like him to. It's those performances which are the exceptions. The ones where Ruben isn't getting it done the way he and we would like him to come along all too consistently. In short Ruben is consistently underperforming not just our hopes, but his own hopes too.

[OhForAGreavsie 5,892]

14 hours ago, Vybzkartel said:

PAOK actually are the best team out of the 3 farmer teams we have played. So Sarri will likely put out a strong team next time out. 

Not only that, I suspect Maurizio has been asked to ensure progress in this competition without fail so, regardless of the strength of the opposition, he will go strong until the group is won.

[Magic Lamps 11,654]

3 minutes ago, OhForAGreavsie said:

Not only that, I suspect Maurizio has been asked to ensure progress in this competition without fail so, regardless of the strength of the opposition, he will go strong until the group is won.

Wut? The group is as good as won. We only have to beat fucking Vidi to be 100% sure of 1st place. Should not risk Hazard, azpi, kante or jorginho at all in the el now

[OhForAGreavsie 5,892]

Just now, Magic Lamps said:

Wut? The group is as good as won. We only have to beat fucking Vidi to be 100% sure of 1st place. Should not risk Hazard, azpi, kante or jorginho at all in the el now

I agree but, as fans, you and I have the luxury of thinking like this. As the man with the responsibility of delivering on his employer's instructions I believe Maurizio will ensure the right result against PAOK before granting himself the freedom to make selections for purely developmental reasons. My bet is he will pick experience again to start and will continue with experience until top spot is guaranteed. 

[Cosmin 2,484]

I'm all pro free speech and people's rights of expressing their opinions, but aren't some of our fans pretentious as shit... How much do you people remember of August 2018? I think not that much. Well, that's when this team last lost a football match. 5th of August. We all marched through most of August, September, October and now November with our chest pumped and our balls hard. And yet some of us think that they know better than the man in charge during this time. Lol. 

[Vesper 28,831]

34 minutes ago, Cosmin said:

 We all marched through most of August, September, October and now November with our chest pumped and our balls hard. 

I want hard balls!

Guess I will have to settle for these

[OhForAGreavsie 5,892]

1 hour ago, Cosmin said:

I'm all pro free speech and people's rights of expressing their opinions, but aren't some of our fans pretentious as shit... How much do you people remember of August 2018? I think not that much. Well, that's when this team last lost a football match. 5th of August. We all marched through most of August, September, October and now November with our chest pumped and our balls hard. And yet some of us think that they know better than the man in charge during this time. Lol. 

The man in charge is well aware of the fact that we need to improve both in terms of team performance and individual squad members' qualities. We know this because he has said so. Maybe your problem is with Maurizio, not with those of us who agree with him.