closed Chelsea 1-2 Man Utd

[Jase 43,479]

8 minutes ago, Tomo said:

As I said, they're superior to every team we will face domestically this season bar City and Liverpool, so if it's not a big game then nothing bar games Vs those two are.

You and I have different definition here. Agree to disagree then. 

[Laylabelle 9,292]

Hopefully we won't get them in the FA Cup then at least don't play them again for a while. Such a poor first half though! Bit of a flat atmosphere as well but hey ho. Move on 

[MoroccanBlue 5,192]

3 minutes ago, Jason said:

A drop in performance level is to be expected given the young-ness of this squad and especially after seeing the XIs that were put out but the performance left a little to be desired (to put it kindly). Expected better than to fall into the same United trap again. Oh well...one less game to worry about in December.

I wouldn't of been arsed if it were anyone but United to be honest. They spanked us 4-0, I expected a reaction.

I think it's the fact we've lost to United at home again for the 2nd time, and not only that, this is the 5th consecutive performance against United where performances from everyone just drop. 

There is a genuine mental block against them, and its utterly embarrassing given this is a very, very poor United side. 

[Superblue 6,331]

2 minutes ago, Jason said:

A drop in performance level is to be expected given the young-ness of this squad and especially after seeing the XIs that were put out but the performance left a little to be desired (to put it kindly). Expected better than to fall into the same United trap again. Oh well...one less game to worry about in December.

I wouldn't say we've fallen into the same United trap again. They barely looked threatening on the counter attack and created very little, summarised by them scoring two set piece goals - a really stupid penalty given away and a 35 yard free kick. I can't remember any clear cut chances they created bar this.

We've simply struggled to create chances of our own tonight. It was a very poor attacking effort. But it's hard work breaking down mid table and lower teams who sit everyone behind the ball, let alone a team like United coming and doing it.

As Chelsea fans we should know better than anyone just how effective this can be to nullify in form, free scoring teams. Bear in mind too, United did the exact same thing to Liverpool a little over a week ago and made them look very poor in the final third.

As long as there is no hangover from this game and we get wins against Watford and Ajax, this game will be quickly forgotten and like some have pointed out with the injuries we've had to contend with so far this season, perhaps a few less games won't do the squad any harm.

[Tomo 21,681]

2 minutes ago, MoroccanBlue said:

I wouldn't of been arsed if it were anyone but United to be honest. They spanked us 4-0, I expected a reaction.

I think it's the fact we've lost to United at home again for the 2nd time, and not only that, this is the 5th consecutive performance against United where performances from everyone just drop. 

There is a genuine mental block against them, and its utterly embarrassing given this is a very, very poor United side. 

It's because United are well set up for facing big teams, for all of Ole's faults he actually has a really good big game record and only City out of the top 6 have the measure of him.

They remind me of Villa under O Neil and we struggled a lot with them aswell.

[Milan 17,835]

I was actually more concerned and frustrated by the final 10 minutes against Burnley than losing this Carabao Cup tie.

[communicate 2,703]

I did not watch the game so can't comment much, but not big fan of

Puli - Michy - Cho lineup

Super direct, I prefer Giroud there but he has no future with us. 

[communicate 2,703]

Just now, Tomo said:

It's because United are well set up for facing big teams, for all of Ole's faults he actually has a really good big game record and only City out of the top 6 have the measure of him.

They remind me of Villa under O Neil and we struggled a lot with them aswell.

Even pool struggle against United. United this season has no problem defending, I mean they spend 130 m on 2 defender. Their problem is creating chances on the other end

[Jase 43,479]

2 minutes ago, Superblue_1986 said:

I wouldn't say we've fallen into the same United trap again. They barely looked threatening on the counter attack and created very little, summarised by them scoring two set piece goals - a really stupid penalty given away and a 35 yard free kick. I can't remember any clear cut chances they created bar this.

True but it's our stupidity to even let them have the set piece situation in the first place. I'll ignore the second goal because that was just "silly" but the first? What on earth was Alonso even doing? We know United are just going to counter attack, they aren't great in creating chances and yet, we gifted them opportunities to score. Plus, we kept giving away stupid fouls in the last 10-15 minutes when they were clearly trying to waste time and instead of passing the ball around, we lumped it forward aimlessly and took pot shots from ridiculous distance. We might have some young players out there but I expected a bit more know-how from them. 

[Jase 43,479]

Our record in all competitions this season:

HOME

P8 W3 D2 L3

AWAY

P8 W6 L2 (or W6 D1 L1 depending on how you want view the Super Cup result)

[Jase 43,479]

 

[cosmicway 1,247]

The Carabao bottle is a regular feature at the bridge.
I hope we don't see more of today's latter day Mourinho-like performance any time soon.

[Superblue 6,331]

16 minutes ago, Jason said:

True but it's our stupidity to even let them have the set piece situation in the first place. I'll ignore the second goal because that was just "silly" but the first? What on earth was Alonso even doing? We know United are just going to counter attack, they aren't great in creating chances and yet, we gifted them opportunities to score. Plus, we kept giving away stupid fouls in the last 10-15 minutes when they were clearly trying to waste time and instead of passing the ball around, we lumped it forward aimlessly and took pot shots from ridiculous distance. We might have some young players out there but I expected a bit more know-how from them. 

Agree on all points, but I think we definitely learned our lesson from the first game of the season with regards to leaving ourselves open to that style. The penalty I thought was generous but it was such a stupid foul and I agree we gave the ball away too easily at times in areas we shouldn't have. 

As I said, I think it was an all round poor performance from us and in particular a number of players had arguably their worst game this season. So long as there is no hangover from this moving forward then I'm not overly fussed and you'd like to think that with a number of players we rested coming back into the team (because it was clear we missed them tonight), and hopefully Kante and Rudiger back fit too very soon we can kick back on again with some good results in the league and Champions League.

[NikkiCFC 7,563]

1 hour ago, Jason said:

Really? One run to the UCL semi-final out of nowhere and they're suddenly a big team?

Wrong choice of words. You probably wanted to say top team at the moment. Ajax is four times European champion. Definitely top10 clubs in the history of football. If they are not big don't know who is. 

[Laylabelle 9,292]

There was a few annoying misses... Many annoying passes. Tbh I didn't think we'd win this anyway just cause our record against Man U hasn't been great and suddenly they've started to win. Still to give a stupid pen.. Annoying. Bloke near us wasn't a Alonso fan before that moment.. The after even less! 

Oh well... Better to lose here I guess then the final

[Magic Lamps 11,446]

15 hours ago, NikkiCFC said:

Wrong choice of words. You probably wanted to say top team at the moment. Ajax is four times European champion while producing best players in the history of football. Definitely top10 clubs in the history of football. 

I agree. These posts trying to downgrade Ajax just to make the point that we suck in big games yet are bizarre. Ajax are clearly a club of great relevance in the history of modern football and one of the top European sides of last season. So based on history and current form they are clearly a big club. Obviously if we focus on 1998 to 2017 they were a bit underwhelming but that would be somewhat artificial. 

We were much cleverer in that match tho and still conceded more chances than today. Utds are a side that are only good at defending nd suck at creating chances so last thing one should do is gift them easy goals. Once you fall behind it is virtually impossible to overcome their bus

[OneMoSalah 8,611]

Very poor performance all round I felt. Ironic because every 2nd or 3rd British journalist/pundit was getting carried away with our 7 game run and performances in the games vs Ajax and Burnley.

These sort of games are what a Chelsea team will be judged on, v United, Arsenal, City, Spurs, Liverpool etc. There is still a long long way for this team to go. Its only a cup game maybe but still getting beat by an average United side in only a cup competition isnt an excuse.

Most disappointing thing for me was Hudson Odoi. He made the club jump through hoops to resign him, is on 120k a week and whatever, now personally although its only been a few games, he looks close to half the player he was last season bar the Newcastle game. Maybe harsh but if wages and performance levels were linked, he would be lucky to be on half what he is now based on Ajax, Burnley and tonight. Big big improvement needed. It may seem harsh but after the whole will he wont he, he honestly has to do a lot more. He is the one youngster who I am not going to afford the same privileges as the others due to how hard him and his agent made the club push and what the club have given him. He was up against a young kid and Marcus Rojo tonight, not Maldini and Nesta. For someone of his ability, taking 60-65 mins to do something useful doesnt cut it for me. Especially on that wages and the fuss we made to keep him. 

I am still surprised him and Billy made it past HT, both are kids yes but still United had a know how and experience to get them through stages of the game. For as bad a manager as Ole is, tactically and selection wise, he got his picks pretty much spot on. 352, split strikers looking to get in behind our fullbacks when they went forward etc. 

Our dodgy record against United with OGS in charge there goes on.

[Blue Armour 4,158]

OGS is like the new Kenny Dalglish ...

Managing shit teams with a shit style but still manage to pick up wins consistently against Chelsea.

Annoying match, and felt we should have done more in attack. Was interesting to see CHO and Pulisic to start together, but a bit underwhelming in the end.

But its to be expected. This is still a young team, and not yet the finished article. There will be inconsistencies.

Despite that, we have 7 wins in a row, and followed by 1 defeat, that is still a fantastic achievement. We fielded a weaker side and got undone only by set pieces. There will be more to come with returning players.