Chelsea v City Live Thread

by blueboy Sat Jan 31, 2015 1:41 pm

First topic message reminder :

So...massive game today. Just listening to TS and it's great to hear us being wrote off. What made me laugh were the comments made by Ray Parlour - "Chelsea know how to close out a title"....I nearly spat my water out! In the previous 3 seasons, haven't we come from 10 points off in 7th and 7 points off in 3rd to win the PL twice?? Rolling Eyes

Anyway...guess it's better to go into this game as the underdogs...as long as we don't play them!!

Quick start absolutely necessary. Aguero needs to be firing like he was before his injury. Kompany needs to recapture his form from 3 seasons ago, so does Zaba.

Navas - as we all know he'll play, needs to stop doing everything he's been doing since he signed and start getting decent balls into players feet/head - preferably our players!

Not sure who he's going to pick, whether he sticks with the Ferdy twins or he brings Lampard in to try and unsettle the crowd and opposition players...which might not be a bad thing psychologically.
Even though I would prefer him to start, I think he'll stick with his predictable line-up instead of going all out to win this game - shit or bust....no points, 1 point or 3!

..................................................Hart.........................................................

....Zaba..............................Vinny.................DeM..............................Clichy....

.................................Fernando..................Fernandinho.................................

Navas............................................Silva......................................Milner.........

...................................................Aguero......................................................

by **Topdawg** Sat Jan 31, 2015 6:37 pm

Navas back to shit crosses.

by **Topdawg** Sat Jan 31, 2015 6:41 pm

Zouma playing well

by **Topdawg** Sat Jan 31, 2015 6:46 pm

Good pressure - we need to score soon.

by **leopold** Sat Jan 31, 2015 6:53 pm

Lamps looks like he's going to come on soon, as long as they can sort out some boots for him or something. You'd think boots would be the first thing to have sorted out, wouldn't you?

by **Topdawg** Sat Jan 31, 2015 6:53 pm

Neville is right, Chelsea look a bit tired.

by **leopold** Sat Jan 31, 2015 6:54 pm

I was hoping they would, after the two hours they played in midweek.

by **Topdawg** Sat Jan 31, 2015 6:56 pm

Why on earth is Fernandinho shooting from so far out?

by **leopold** Sat Jan 31, 2015 6:56 pm

Tsh... Milner, come on, no need for that. Lucky to get away with that.

by **leopold** Sat Jan 31, 2015 6:57 pm

In other news, Robbie Savage reckons Liverpool could finish in the top four now Sturridge is back.

Laughing

by **leopold** Sat Jan 31, 2015 6:58 pm

Clattenburg having a word with Maureen. Be interesting to find out what that was all about. Probably moaning about how Milner is still on the pitch...

by **leopold** Sat Jan 31, 2015 7:03 pm

Lamps coming on. Can hear some boos, maybe a joke, maybe not. Fernando going off. No great loss.

Come on Super Frank, stick in the winner and make Maureen regret letting you go!

by **Topdawg** Sat Jan 31, 2015 7:04 pm

Matic has done how many fouls and still no yellow.

by **Topdawg** Sat Jan 31, 2015 7:05 pm

Same as the first half. Plenty of possession, some chances and then maybe Chelsea score?

by **leopold** Sat Jan 31, 2015 7:06 pm

Topdawg wrote:Matic has done how many fouls and still no yellow.

So much for the conspiracy, eh Wink

by **leopold** Sat Jan 31, 2015 7:07 pm

Drogba coming on for Willian. Looks like Chelsea are going to go for glory as well.

by **leopold** Sat Jan 31, 2015 7:11 pm

Dzeko for Aguero. So no formation change, doesn't look like we're trying to get a winner on that basis.

by **leopold** Sat Jan 31, 2015 7:13 pm

Cahill coming on for Remy - Chelsea going defensive? I do hope not, that'll bugger us up entirely.

by **leopold** Sat Jan 31, 2015 7:16 pm

Fucking move for the cross, Dzeko, you lazy bastard! You had the chance to be a hero and you fucking loll about on the edge of the box! Fuck off anywhere, you twat!

by **leopold** Sat Jan 31, 2015 7:16 pm

Jovetic for Silva. Silva not happy. Understandably. We're not winning this now.

by **leopold** Sat Jan 31, 2015 7:18 pm

Or maybe we are... Only team in it right now. Come on!!

by **Topdawg** Sat Jan 31, 2015 7:19 pm

Fuck off Navas and Pellegrini. 2 minutes of injury time left and his corner can't beat the first man. Scandalous.

by **Topdawg** Sat Jan 31, 2015 7:21 pm

Neville was right, why play a short corner when there is no time left? We aren't good enough mentally.

by **leopold** Sat Jan 31, 2015 7:22 pm

That's it, game over, honours even. Shame, we really ought to have nicked that at the death. I'll bet if Serge and David were still on the park, we may well have done.

Corners letting us down again. But that's 2 more points we've taken off Chelsea than we did last season.

by **leopold** Sat Jan 31, 2015 7:23 pm

Topdawg wrote:Neville was right, why play a short corner when there is no time left? We aren't good enough mentally.

I know. The ideal is to ping one into the six yard box and play pinball, but we've got nobody who can actually do that.

by blueboy Sat Jan 31, 2015 7:24 pm

Navas is nothing short of fucking useless.

30 seconds to go....all the defenders in the box and he plays a short ball to Milner. WTF???

by blueboy Sat Jan 31, 2015 7:26 pm

Just don't get MP whatsover.

You take off 2 players who can win a game in an instant....for the useless Dzeko and Jovetic.......sort of tells you everything about MP when we were in the ascendency.

by **Wensdi** Sat Jan 31, 2015 7:27 pm

Two pts of Mona's lot - I'm fine with that. Once YaYa, Bony and Nasri are back and we get back to full strength - we still have a chance.

by Guest Sat Jan 31, 2015 7:27 pm

Ok words slightly eaten and 5 points from the predictions! Back to the ale!

by meltonblue Sat Jan 31, 2015 7:39 pm

Happy with that, played well. Thought Sagna and Fernandinho were excellent.

by blueboy Sat Jan 31, 2015 7:39 pm

Yeah, but the difference is....we had 70% of the game and the wanker took off out two best players for 2 useless fuckers...which make things ten times worse when you have the absolute useless wanker in Navas on the pitch!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'll have taken a point before the game...but as the game progressed, they were there for the taking and the manager did fuck all to take the extra 2 points! Weak management.

by blueboy Sat Jan 31, 2015 7:42 pm

meltonblue wrote:Happy with that, played well. Thought Sagna and Fernandinho were excellent.

Really? Happy before the game with that or happy when we totally dominated and apart from their goal they never tested us....happy?

I think we'd all have taken a point...but a manager with any bollocks would have gone for the jugular...it was very cautious from MP, clearly looking after his job after such atrocious management over the past few weeks. Evil or Very Mad

by meltonblue Sat Jan 31, 2015 7:46 pm

"Really? Happy before the game with that or happy when we totally dominated and apart from their goal they never tested us....happy?"

Bit of both! It's difficult, particularly at Stamford bridge, as Chelsea counter attack so well. I thought performance wise and tactically, we got it right. Navas, I found utterly frustrating though.

We need Nasri back.

by **Wensdi** Sat Jan 31, 2015 7:53 pm

Ya Ya too

by meltonblue Sat Jan 31, 2015 7:59 pm

Yes wensdi. They both give us the variety in attack that Navas don't.

by blueboy Sat Jan 31, 2015 8:32 pm

Hate to say it....but TLMLF or not, Nasri or not....we had Chelsea on the ropes today.They were absolutely knackered after 50 mins....and we just didn't look like we were a team, told by the Manager, "go get 3 points". They didn't look like they had the legs to counter us if they tried in the second half - without another defensive calamity.

I just thought MP set the team up at HT to say "let's keep it tight and give nothing away" and that's fine for a team in the bottom half of the PL, but for the current PL champions and one's who are 5 points behind the leaders, with United and Liverpool winning and Soton still to come tomorrow....I thought it was nothing short of MP looking after his own back - which was apparent when he took off our two potential game changers.

1 point might be acceptable - but after dominating for so long, we lacked ambition and a pair of bollocks today.
Chelsea were bang average - and if Bradford can exploit them - you'd expect a team worth £300m too. But no, a point keeps the pressure off MP for the time being.

by blueboy Sat Jan 31, 2015 8:35 pm

Sort of thankful for the point - but after watching the game we should and could've had 3.

by meltonblue Sat Jan 31, 2015 8:42 pm

I don't get him looking after his own back blueboy. He put two strikers on as Aguero wasn't really getting in the game in the second half and put an attacking midfielder on for a defensive one.

I thought he tactically got it spot on today given the options he had available. It was a great decision to start Sagna too.

by **Topdawg** Sat Jan 31, 2015 8:54 pm

I bet half our chances came from their mistakes, not our good play. We should have won but if we can't cross the ball for toffee and we can't defend we aren't going to win anything this season. Navas only looked good because of their left back and overlaps. When asked to take on the last man, he couldn't or didn't. When asked to run onto a ball, he could do that. But not good enough.

Happy with a point though.

by meltonblue Sat Jan 31, 2015 8:55 pm

Meant to say, apart from I would have put Jovetic on for Silva sooner.

by blueboy Sat Jan 31, 2015 9:30 pm

Completely disagree Melton.

Dzeko and Jovetic did what when they come on?

Navas can't cross a ball so what's the point of Dzeko?

Jovetic is pants.

Lampard, yes, I said it at half time....but when you've got a team knackered - especially at the back, the type of players who can create space for a goal are Silva and Aguero....NOT Dzeko and sick note.

As for Sagna....he was fucking woeful in the first half. It was his fault he was 15 yrds away from Hazard for their first goal, when he was marking nobody from the cross. He had nothing to do in the second half as they were on their last legs...shit, Boyata would have had an easy time at RB in that second half....so a good game?

by meltonblue Sat Jan 31, 2015 9:46 pm

Shows how differently people can see one game!

I thought Sagna kept Hazard quiet for the vast majority of the match and was getting a lot of joy down the right hand side - as poor as Navas's crosses were, it was the right side that we kept on attacking down as they had the beating of Azpilacueta. Got a feeling he was picked due to his heading ability and we looked a lot more secure defending set pieces compared to the other day.

In terms of Dzeko and Jovetic, I thought he brought them on too late but they didn't offer any less than Silva or Aguero were doing. Chelsea were too deep in the second half for Aguero to get any space and Silva was marked out of the game by Matic - it needed to change quicker than it did and employ a different shape to mix it up a bit.

by **Topdawg** Sat Jan 31, 2015 9:57 pm

Sagna made a few bad passes including the one that led to them taking the ball upfield and scoring. He was bang average for me. We had success down that side because the LB was knackered not because we were good. Navas still didn't take his man on. The freedom he got was when he did a 1-2 and legged it down the wing. Silva was our best guy for me. Matic didn't, for me, mark him out of the game.

by meltonblue Sat Jan 31, 2015 10:00 pm

Fair enough, I thought silva was below par today even with being marked by Matic. Our best three for me were Clichy, Milner and Fernandinho.

by **Topdawg** Sat Jan 31, 2015 10:32 pm

I agree Silva wasn't as good as normal, but Chelsea wouldn't allow that.

by meltonblue Sat Jan 31, 2015 10:39 pm

Matic is a good player. God knows how he didn't get a booking though!

by Paulpowersleftfoot Sat Jan 31, 2015 11:16 pm

Comfortably Sagnas best game for us.Zabaleta hasn't been playing well lately and I thought Sagna stepped up very well,considering it was hazard who he was marking.

by **Wensdi** Sun Feb 01, 2015 2:13 am

At first I was annoyed that MP didn't play Zabba but seemingly a master stroke. Thought Sagna did very very well. Aguero didn't get a sniff in the second half though. Milner had a good game - but he doesn't possess the finesse that Nasri and Silva had - although Silva wasn't at his most accurate today - but his goal was brilliant - after Aguero's shot.

by blueboy Sun Feb 01, 2015 10:43 am

Again, it's about opinions.

Watching the highlights again, Sagna was terrible in the first half. In the first 10 minutes, he kept slipping, his short passing and control was awful. On 3 occasions within 5 minutes, he chipped a high ball to Navas...who was understandably beaten every single time quite easily in the air by a defender - and the they once again had the ball with Hazard.

Don't forget, if he was brought in for his heading ability, why was he 10-15 yrds away from Hazard (5'7) when the big cross came over for the goal? If he was anywhere near trying to mark him, Sagna could have just beaten Hazard in the air and he wouldn't have had the time to back track, look where Remy was and hit a wonderful volleyed cross. Granted, Kompany should have done much better and is still very hesitant at the moment.

In the second half, Hazard didn't have the legs to have a go at Sagna, as I said yesterday, we could have put Boyata at RB and it would have been the same - Chelsea just sat back and Sagna didn't have to do a great deal.

Thought DeM had a good game, so did Clichy.

Agree, Silva wasn't at his dazzling best - but as mentioned, he was constantly marked by Matic and sometimes another - however, wasn't it he who lost his marker to get into the box and score?

Aguero didn't have the intricate, intelligent passes he thrives on, but didn't he pull away for the cross and shoot for the Silva goal?

Chelsea were their for the taking - but the problem was, we didn't have a subs bench that has a Silva, or a Nasri on there who can do that.

I said yesterday - I would have been happy with a point before the game, but as the game developed, Chelsea never looked like they could hurt us on the break as they were running on empty...so 3 points would have been deserved if we nicked a winner.

When the two return from the poxy-con cup....MP is going to have some big decisions to make, as Nasri will be fit as well. Can't see us buying Bony and not playing him, can't see TLMLF not playing, neither Nasri, Silva and Aguero....and we all Navas is MP's love child, so he won't be dropped.

Maybe he'll play a 4-1-5 formation?? Wink

by **Topdawg** Sun Feb 01, 2015 10:51 am

It may have been Sagna's best game but what dross are we comparing it to?

Good points Bluey.

by **Wensdi** Sun Feb 01, 2015 9:53 pm

I absolutely agree Bluey - its all about our opinions.

Considering we all think Chelsea has a superior team to ours, and only had Costa missing - while we had YaYa and Nasri out (and Aguero not quite at his sharpest yet), there were lots of positives in this game.

For me the back 4 have issues and I thought Demi in particular was missing yesterday, struggling to get back to his own goal - which he was guilty of against Arsenal too.

I saw several players slip yesterday - sometimes the highlights don't give the big picture - the great block or the 3 or 4 thru balls to Navas etc. I watched the whole match again today - and saw Aguero pass to nobody a couple of times. Silva did the same thing - but that's okay because of the positives they produced.

by skyblueoz Mon Feb 02, 2015 4:20 am

I think that expectation levels are now ten times higher than ever before. I am always disappointed when we lose or do not play well. By the standards we have now set in can understand that we can all be over critical in our assessments. it appears a common trait that pellegrini gets a verbal bashing on here when we lose or draw & he doesn't bring the subs on quick enough or he does not alter the shape, or react to the game.

I fully understand why he brought on Jovetic & Dzeko maybe he was hoping one could just get that elusive goal we were looking fo. Like last season when one couldn't manage it another one always seemed to step up. We slag him off for not using subs correctly & when he does we slag him off.

Just my observations.!!!!!!!!

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