Chelsea 0-1 Man United

[chillerz 19]

Please tell me what service Torres had tonight or any other game for that matter..... All his chances he has to create from nothing off his owm boot.

at least he needs to take the few chances he gets...Drogba crossed the ball at the end of first half..a 50 million striker ought to finish those chances

[Styles 9,790]

Aha..

I was asking myself how does a player that played 500 games for Chelsea need to be instructed how to pass to his team mate..I mean simple passes..

Lampard doesn't measure his performance on passing or linking up play. He simply measures his performance on how many goals he scores. He can make the sideways pass but will struggle to create angles or forward momentum with his passes. For instance there was a chance to break with Malouda running down the left and Lampard played the ball at 0mph BEHIND Malouda and it completely killed the chance to attack. Awful play which just sums up his game since coming back from injury.

[neel 257]

bring Ramires-Mikel-Benayoun , lets see what happens

[eldo 868]

Lampard doesn't measure his performance on passing or linking up play. He simply measures his performance on how many goals he scores. He can make the sideways pass but will struggle to create angles or forward momentum with his passes. For instance there was a chance to break with Malouda running down the left and Lampard played the ball at 0mph BEHIND Malouda and it completely killed the chance to attack. Awful play which just sums up his game since coming back from injury.

I'm not asking for some awsome creativity.. but just simple controle from central two midfielders should do enough.. we gave possesion away so easily when our mids tried to do some Hollywood passes.

[Krypt 241]

Didn't realise the second leg was next Tuesday. We score the first goal .. game on they score first game over. Come on Chelsea beat then and stop the media and uefa getting the result they want !

[BLionheart 516]

I don't get why the players are getting slammed for their performances today , the main problem was obvious :

ferguson >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>ancelotti

we have only alex out injured , and still people are saying that this is the reason why we lost .. players get injured , deal with it , go watch man utd vs westham .

IMO all of our players with the exception of bosingwa did their best and ran their asses of :

1- Lamps is a is a great ACM when he plays in a 3 players midfield , with england he has proved not to be very effective in a 2 man midfield .

2- Essien has ran his ass off today , but he wasn't,isn't and will never be a creative player , tbh i didn't expect anymore from him .

3- Torres looked lively at moments and if it wasn't for that brilliant save from vandersar or his post , then he would have been a hero .

4- Drogba was our best player today , the man had all the right to be mad when he was substituted

5- terry , iva , cech and ramires were all superb .

6- please let anelka , malouda , ferrera , bosigwa , hilario all leave in the summer

7- if we don't sign 2 creative players (wingers/AM) , next season won't be so different.

tactically carlo was so naive , during his time with us , he never impressed me with his tactics , always very predictable but saved a lot of times by the quality of players we have , and his subs are usually awful .

what is killing me is that everyone knew bosingwa can be exploit , except carlo .

And TX is right , there is no justice in this world .

although i can only hope for an early goal at the old trafold

[Steve 10,227]

at least he needs to take the few chances he gets...Drogba crossed the ball at the end of first half..a 50 million striker ought to finish those chances

Oh please you sound like a newspaper......

[eldo 868]

My god. This fella first says how is old goat better than Carlo and then says how we need to change our team..

Btw..Essien never ment to be a creative player tonight. And then you speak about tactics..My god..

[Kostas 1,468]

Not too fussed about the pen decision as I've accepted that we don't get those in the CL but I just noticed that this season there are extra officials behind the penalty box.

[GodZola 630]

That was a clear foul..

Essien is simply lost in that holding role.. he lost possesion countless of times tonight.. Ramires is described as volante..what is like holding player that is the pillar of the team..

Barca played with Keita and Mascherano tonight...

No it wasn't a foul, he lost possession because he is to slow please take you're Mikel glasses off. I do though agree that Essien was poor & have already said he should of been taken off. As for Barcelona they are a totally different animal, they have creative players such as Xavi & Iniesta with decent full backs like Alves who provide width & cause problems in attack & that's not to mention they have the best player in the world in Messi, full of creativity - we don't have those players that can do that infront of a DM, Keita & Mascherano are quick so that rules Mikel out of their side:straight away.

[eldo 868]

No it wasn't a foul, he lost possession because he is to slow please take you're Mikel glasses off. I do though agree that Essien was poor & have already said he should of been taken off. As for Barcelona they are a totally different animal, they have creative players such as Xavi & Iniesta with decent full backs like Alves who provide width & cause problems in attack & that's not to mention they have the best player in the world in Messi, full of creativity - we don't have those players that can do that infront of a DM, Keita & Mascherano are quick so that rules Mikel out of their side:straight away.

Exactly you answered all questions..We need to get players like that for the next season.. Buy them and promote them to first team.

[BlueJewel 56]

Please tell me what service Torres had tonight or any other game for that matter..... All his chances he has to create from nothing off his owm boot.

He had enough chances to had scored a goal or two and they were both from crosses from Drogba and Bosingwa, We all want Torres to succeed but the guy signed a 5 and a half year contract with us. There is no need to rush him to succeed. Drogba is in far better form at the moment and has proved it in recent games, his corner kicks,crosses and freekicks are world class. Torres is having a hard time settling but the team always must come first before any player. Anelka has 7 goals in the competition and Drogba knows the team inside out and is really hungry for success.

Anelka and Drogba should start any day until Torres can regain his form of old. Torres looked uninterested and lost for a lot of the game, he should at least put in some effort a tackle to win the ball would not do him any harm. 12 games without scoring a goal eats up a strikers confidence.

[NattyBlue 44]

What a shit game.

[- 25 - 167]

So depressed...

But realistically we score first at the theatre of cunts and it's game on again.

Optimism is the only thing that'll get me to sleep tonight.

[GodZola 630]

Exactly you answered all questions..We need to get players like that for the next season.. Buy them and promote them to first team.

I havn't answered any questions eldo, just pointed out that we lack creativity & on a previous post that I couldn't understand Ancelotti's reasoning for bringing on Mikel (another DM) when we need to score? I could get my head round it if we were winning & he was trying to protect our lead but not when we are losing, very bizarre? For me I would of taken off Essien, put Ramires in the middle & brought on Kalou, & before the knockers get on to me I dont really rate him either but he always plays better coming off the bench & can provide a spark now & again, its just we didnt have many attacking options left, just a pity we don't have Sturridge or Benayoun there.

We do need a playmaker without question, Snieder would get my vote but a decent winger like Robben would also give us more creativity.

[Sparkie 27]

Sneijder could be quite handy as he can play on the wing too, if needed.

[Term-X 7,891]

[Tortilla9 390]

I was watching at the office on a stream that kept freezing and going back and forth on the forum. I thought "Chelsea were shit". Came home, turned down the volume and watched the DVR.

Chelsea were dominant at streches of the match - first ten minutes, last five of the first half, last 10-15 minutes of the second half. Unfortunately they weren't the other stretches.

I don't think you have to have two creative center mids but can at least one keep the ball, move forward, and be a little creative? Carrick who doesn't impress me easily outplayed both Lampard and Essien. That may be the worst I've seen Lampard play in a while. I think the game was won and lost in the middle.

Terry had a very good game IMO. He was calm and composed in the back and looked to be the most attacking at times. That's sad to think.

Onto the Torres/Drogba issue. They weren't all over each other as I thought they'd be. They were either dropping deep to get the ball or going wide to carry and try to deliver the ball. To me it was a tossup who you subbed out, both had their moments and both didn't. I thought Anelka on helped because he was actually a link between the middle and the forwards. Is Anelka the missing piece of the puzzle? One note, I actually like Drogba but the theatrics make watching him painful at times. The face clutching, the falling on the ground, the arm waving.

Onto the ref. I'm not one to say that's a penalty whenever a player goes down in the box but how that one wasn't for Ramires makes you wonder. And Torres getting a yellow for diving? I rewound that a few times, paused it, and Torres' front foot got caught up with back of Valencia and he fell. If there was any over-reacting it was by United defenders. Disappointing was United getting in Torres face in the first half and second half and not enough Chelsea players support. How do Chelsea players stand by and watch while Ferdinand dragged Torres up off the ground in the first half? Don't quite get that.

Last, Chelsea are only down one goal and they didn't play great. For the supposed domination of United, they are only up one goal. The middle can't play as bad as they did today (one would hope not) so that will improve. The defense will be ok. Carlo needs to get the lineup right and break down the United bus. The second leg is there for the taking. I'm drinking the blue koolaid.