closed Chelsea 1-1 Aston Villa

[Blue Armour 4,366]

  On 28/12/2020 at 20:08, Jason said:

Yeah...and look what happened when he came on and went upfront. We passed the ball backwards, sideways - SLOWLY - before looking to spam crosses into the box, all after allowing Villa to get back into their defensive shape. Like what was even the point of putting Werner upfront if we were just gonna continue spamming crosses into the box? Why didn't Lampard just leave Giroud on or bring Abraham on? Heck, could have even gone 2 up top with Werner and Giroud and get the former to work around the latter for any drop down etc. We played such braindead football towards the end. 

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Yeah, that's what I was also wondering. Retain Giroud, swap Jorginho for Werner.  Especially since we were chasing a win.

I've seen so many Chelsea games in recent years where managers (including Lampard) have thrown on extra forwards in winnable games. Lampard seems to have become more conservative this season. Maybe worried about the team getting hit on the counter, and to be fair, that happened against Wolves, and with Christensen/Rudiger at the back, who knows what would have happened.

And, looking at post match interview, looks like Lampard isn't bothered about this result at all. Does this look like someone concerned about his role at the club?

Maybe its just because we are not yet at the midway point of the season and others are dropping points, but it does give some perspective on what the club's end-season objectives are. I think a comfortable top 4 finish is the minimum. It maybe early, but we are too off-track at the minute.  

Anyway, last Chelsea game of 2020. End to a terrible month of football.

[Strike 7,316]

  On 28/12/2020 at 19:42, Vesper said:

absolutely shambolic that Jorginho did not go back and cover for the injured AC on that goal

and outrageous no foul called on Grealish for leaving his leg out and cracking  AC

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Thought it was a foul by Andreas on Grealish. Came for the ball and completely missed it 

[Special Juan 27,608]

That ref was awful today, I'm starting to think these officials get dragged off the streets.

[Jype 6,398]

  On 28/12/2020 at 20:34, Strike said:

Thought it was a foul by Andreas on Grealish. Came for the ball and completely missed it 

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Yep, that's how I saw it as well. If there was a foul to begin with, it was one committed by Christensen and not on him.

[Blue Armour 4,366]

  On 28/12/2020 at 19:45, Magic Lamps said:

 

What puzzles me most is how good we have looked during our unbeaten run. not every game but there were some where we were swaggering around like prime barcelona and dissected teams at will with our passing. maybe the payers need a bit mor efreedom or maybe teams have found us out and thus we have returned to the cross to giroud route...but i refuse to believe it is all been just ziyech's injury.

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We should be able to manage without Ziyech, but his passing range is a lot better than the others. That alone can make up for a lot deficiencies in the team's play, and can be instrumental (ala Fabregas in Mourinho's 2014 Chelsea).

The press from our attack and midfield has also been shite this month (other than Leeds), which has led to our defense being more exposed. Fatigue is convenient reason for this, but it seems more complicated than that.

[Jase 43,479]

SOMEBODY, KILL ME NOW!!!

[Special Juan 27,608]

And if we are talking of being frustrated and about certain players it fucking baffles me how Andreas Christensen plays football at this level, he is absolute dog shit. 

Both him and Tammy are very good Championship players.

[Jase 43,479]

  On 28/12/2020 at 20:34, Strike said:

Thought it was a foul by Andreas on Grealish. Came for the ball and completely missed it 

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It's fucking beyond me how Christensen keeps getting chances to play despite his constant defensive cock-ups. Take the challenge for the Villa's equalizer as an example. He tried to make challenge but wasn't fully committed to it, referee gave nothing and Villa went on to score.  

[Jase 43,479]

Lampard just said James has a hamstring problem...

That's like the 54095045605048567856870th muscle injury we've had under Lampard!

[Special Juan 27,608]

  On 28/12/2020 at 20:41, Jason said:

Lampard just said James has a hamstring problem...

That's like the 54095045605048567856870th muscle injury we've had under Lampard!

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Not helped by chucking him under the bus against Arsenal.....

 

[Atomiswave 6,072]

  On 28/12/2020 at 20:35, Special Juan said:

That ref was awful today, I'm starting to think these officials get dragged off the streets.

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No streets here, just a bunch of bent bastards acting on orders from higher ups. You cant name 1 ref that is even semi decent in epl, yet they are allowed to ref, allowed to make out of this world decisions game after game with zero accountability. Football died long ago, even before VAR ( legal match fixing ) arrived.

[Atomiswave 6,072]

  On 28/12/2020 at 20:41, Jason said:

Lampard just said James has a hamstring problem...

That's like the 54095045605048567856870th muscle injury we've had under Lampard!

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To say its a pattern is an understatement

[robsblubot 3,595]

Those final 20 minutes or so were perfect for Giroud... :/

The officiating was atrocious today; he also let Villa run down the clock at their own leisure...

One silver lining to me was Kai's performance today. While not world beating level, it was vastly improved from his recent appearances.

[Jase 43,479]

  On 28/12/2020 at 20:46, robsblubot said:

One silver lining to me was Kai's performance today. While not world beating level, it was vastly improved from his recent appearances.

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The bar wasn't very high, was it?

[Special Juan 27,608]

  On 28/12/2020 at 20:46, robsblubot said:

Those final 20 minutes or so were perfect for Giroud... :/

The officiating was atrocious today; he also let Villa run down the clock at their own leisure...

One silver lining to me was Kai's performance today. While not world beating level, it was vastly improved from his recent appearances.

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He looked better, he managed to control three passed from five yards and passed it well to other team mates.

70 odd million can't ask for much more.

[Special Juan 27,608]

200 odd millions spent in the summer, over a 100M of that left on the bench in Havertz and Werner.

Washed up shite like Jorginho, Christensen and Rudiger started, and we are still relying on Giroud to dig us out of holes after 300000000 crosses into the box.

Good times

[Strike 7,316]

  On 28/12/2020 at 20:40, Jason said:

It's fucking beyond me how Christensen keeps getting chances to play despite his constant defensive cock-ups. Take the challenge for the Villa's equalizer as an example. He tried to make challenge but wasn't fully committed to it, referee gave nothing and Villa went on to score.  

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yep. And Christensen and Azpilicueta together on the right side was shaky as hell

[Atomiswave 6,072]

  On 28/12/2020 at 21:03, Strike said:

yep. And Christensen and Azpilicueta together on the right side was shaky as hell

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Chris has been shaky most times ever since that mistake vs barca at the Bridge