Southampton 2-1 Chelsea

[Superblue 6,372]

24 minutes ago, Fulham Broadway said:

One of the most distressing images last night when Saints were wasting time at 2-1 was the shot of our players about 8 of them just staring, looking at the ground all isolated. Most teams are geeing each other up in that situation - getting in a huddle, a team together -seems we're just a group of individuals

The most frustrating aspect to this is that there are examples and instances where the team fights and competes as a unit and leaves everything on the pitch.

Despite the disappointing aspect of conceding at the end of the game, the Spurs performance was very strong, coming off the back of beating them 4 times last season. The Leicester performance was a real "dig in" situation to get out of a hole. We competed toe to toe with Liverpool across four games last season.

Why are those instances different though from a Tuesday night in Southampton. Is our squad really that arrogant or ignorant to believe that they don't need to give 100% in this game? Is Tuchel really that arrogant and ignorant to believe it? It's cliché but 9/10 times you match the aggression and desire of your opponents, then quality will usually show through. We've been out battled by Leeds and Southampton, there's no excuses for that, it's quite simply pathetic.

That mentality to be able to go again and again no matter the opposition being put in front of you sets the very top from the rest. Our inability to do that is what has cost us challenging for the title for years. 

[Fulham Broadway 17,339]

3 minutes ago, Superblue_1986 said:

The most frustrating aspect to this is that there are examples and instances where the team fights and competes as a unit and leaves everything on the pitch.

Despite the disappointing aspect of conceding at the end of the game, the Spurs performance was very strong, coming off the back of beating them 4 times last season. The Leicester performance was a real "dig in" situation to get out of a hole. We competed toe to toe with Liverpool across four games last season.

Why are those instances different though from a Tuesday night in Southampton. Is our squad really that arrogant or ignorant to believe that they don't need to give 100% in this game? Is Tuchel really that arrogant and ignorant to believe it? It's cliché but 9/10 times you match the aggression and desire of your opponents, then quality will usually show through. We've been out battled by Leeds and Southampton, there's no excuses for that, it's quite simply pathetic.

That mentality to be able to go again and again no matter the opposition being put in front of you sets the very top from the rest. Our inability to do that is what has cost us challenging for the title for years. 

Unfortunately the glaring difference between Man City, Liverpool, currently Arsenal and dare even Sp*rs now is that there's no way those teams in that second half position of 2-1 down wouldnt have replied in the next 45 minutes. We do need leaders on the pitch, and a bit of anger/passion would not go amiss in those situations.

[cosmicway 1,333]

The downward slide begins from the failure to sign Haaland and spending the 100 mil on Lukaku.
The Abramovitch affair passed without serious consequences but we lost Rudiger as well.
It's conference next year.

[Superblue 6,372]

9 minutes ago, Fulham Broadway said:

Unfortunately the glaring difference between Man City, Liverpool, currently Arsenal and dare even Sp*rs now is that there's no way those teams in that second half position of 2-1 down wouldnt have replied in the next 45 minutes. We do need leaders on the pitch, and a bit of anger/passion would not go amiss in those situations.

Agreed, it goes beyond being 2-1 down at half time and remaining 2-1 down at full time.

It's the pitiful effort put in to change that score line. It doesn't even need to be some gung ho, guns blazing cavalier football from the 46th minute either, simply dominating the ball, pinning them deep inside of their half and building the pressure for the first 20 minutes would create a nervous and tense atmosphere inside the stadium and would build a base from which to create chances and opportunities but there was literally nothing.

It was beyond lacklustre last night. The Leeds result was poor but I'd argue last night was significantly worse because whilst Southampton out battled us, they didn't need to do much to do so. At least Leeds played with an extremely high intensity against us. It felt like Southampton barely got out of second or third gear to beat us. 

[Magic Lamps 11,692]

54 minutes ago, cosmicway said:

The downward slide begins from the failure to sign Haaland and spending the 100 mil on Lukaku.
The Abramovitch affair passed without serious consequences but we lost Rudiger as well.
It's conference next year.

At least our brand new signing can help us by bringing in his experience from the Conference league then

1 hour ago, Superblue_1986 said:

The most frustrating aspect to this is that there are examples and instances where the team fights and competes as a unit and leaves everything on the pitch.

Despite the disappointing aspect of conceding at the end of the game, the Spurs performance was very strong, coming off the back of beating them 4 times last season. The Leicester performance was a real "dig in" situation to get out of a hole. We competed toe to toe with Liverpool across four games last season.

Why are those instances different though from a Tuesday night in Southampton. Is our squad really that arrogant or ignorant to believe that they don't need to give 100% in this game? Is Tuchel really that arrogant and ignorant to believe it? It's cliché but 9/10 times you match the aggression and desire of your opponents, then quality will usually show through. We've been out battled by Leeds and Southampton, there's no excuses for that, it's quite simply pathetic.

That mentality to be able to go again and again no matter the opposition being put in front of you sets the very top from the rest. Our inability to do that is what has cost us challenging for the title for years. 

Ikr. We were not really good vs that poor Leicester side, in fact they were extremely wasteful and should have punished us but at least we fought and hung in there. Similar vs Everton. We did not play really well but we were combative enough to see the game out. Vs leeds and west ham, both away, we showed energy for like 20mins and then completely fell of a cliff.

I think the absence of Kante and the only player who can remotedly replace him, Kovacic makes a huge difference. Along with RJ and Thiago our most important player for holding the team together. Other teams get inspired by those high intensity play of our midfielders. But looking at RLC and Jorginho's static defending, they might fall back into their trot.

Obviously the absence of natural leaders is something that will get exposed whenever games swing against you as well.

Arrogance, laziness, lack of leadership are common places to look at. But there is one more possible explanation. Last time i saw a team being erratic and times and then come back fighting only to ge back to a slump again was the Germany team under Löw in the later stages. Obviously the coach failed to give new impulses so he had to be changed but there was more to it. A lot of pulbic and internal debates had produced a toxic climate within the group and the players spent their free time isolated from each other playing during the catastrophic 2018 wc. Not sure this is the case today, but some of the players who left us were really popular by the looks of it and the club, including the coaching staff likely did their part in driving them out, so now their shadow still looms. Kai is probably affected by not having his fellow countrymen around him anymore, Mount was by the look sof it also close to them and Callum. Rüdiger also said Kovacic is his best friend at Chelsea... I think it is fair to say the huge reshuffle has ruffled some feathers. In the long term it is usually worth it albeit in some cases the price in the short term might be too steep.

[bigbluewillie 1,930]

I love TT but he's lost the plot..

Bring on Graham Potter, not only is he the best English manager around, he's very tactically aware has many attributes.

 

 

[cosmicway 1,333]

We were chasing the scoreline for almost all the duration but won only three corners, to Southampton's five.
That too says something.
The defense made the childish mistakes allowing the opposition players acres of space but also there was no midfield, no buildup to go forward.
As if Southampton are the giants of Europe.

[bigbluewillie 1,930]

Opposition managers know now how to beat Chelsea.

Close down and harry, and we're fucked.

[cosmicway 1,333]

3 minutes ago, bigbluewillie said:

Opposition managers know now how to beat Chelsea.

Close down and harry, and we're fucked.

Leeds and Soton did that.
Spurs no, but they were saved by Taylor.

[robsblubot 3,595]

I feel very strongly that sacking Tuchel would be a massive mistake. Everybody plays the same way these days: it's all pressure high up.

for that reason, the ball playing ability of your defenders is constantly tested. That's why the 3 CBs currently playing aren't good enough. Thiago Is the best player on the ball, but he lack physically due to his age. Fofana may help with that, but once again, there was no coming back from the losses we had without work/signings.

Missing Reece and Kante is also a big problem for the same reason as they are excellent transitioning the ball from D to attack.

[cosmicway 1,333]

You just can't leave attackers roam outside the box like what we saw yesterday.
If defenses behaved that way in the premier, Ziyech alone woud score hat tricks every week with his dirty legs.

 

Edited August 31, 2022 by cosmicway