21 Mar 2012 23:32:22
Congratulations to city, they were clearly the better team on the night. I think our first mistake was playing mereiles in behind torres instead of mata, he seems wasted on the left. Our next mistake was bringing on drogba, torres was playing well, holding the ball up well and his first touch was world class all game long, he had no support on either side, i felt sturridge should have been brought on in place of mereiles but instead we brought on essien who wasn't really needed or wouldn't have been if sturridge had come on allowing ramires to drop back into midfield. overall it wasn't a great performance but there were some positives to take from the game, one being torres, for a while i was worried he had lost his touch, but now he is definitely getting back to his best. also another great performance from david luiz and gary cahill, it was unlucky ivanovic had to come otherwise we might not have conceded a goal, fingers crossed he is back in time for the game against the spuds, aswell as JT.
trueblue012
Chelsea Banter Archive March 21 2012
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21 Mar 2012 23:25:20
That is why city are 2nd and we are 5th, no big deal, we didn't deserve to win so bring on the spuds. Would love to see torres start with drogba with mata in behind.
Why so down ??
21 Mar 2012 23:13:47
I feel our best chance to qualify for the champions league is by winning the damn thing.
Who feels the same. We still got big games left in the league and still are 5 points adrift.??
Spurs is a must win game saturday. Deffinetely need to win now. A positive outlook will get us through because of we drop deep then don't be surprised if spurs throw waves and waves of attack
Shak
21 Mar 2012 23:02:50
Mikel just doesn't see an attack forming in front of him, the boy can't read a game of football; very poor tonight!
Bosingwa was a forced change but he is SO poor! Just stands off wide players and allows them to play balls around him...has to go!!
Meireles didnt link anything up, he was too far away from Torres all the time! Torres did well initially, holding the ball up, but just didn't get any support...Meireles, in the position he was playing in, should have been that support; he offered (continued to offer) nothing!
Essien came on and the handball was not his fault, his overall performance though was very poor, didn't look like he knew what his role was within the team!
This was one of those games that passed Lampard by, never got going!
Drogba coming on for Torres made some sense, I thought we were going to need an extra body for defending set pieces towards the end! Unfortunately we got the "can't be arsed Drogba"!
At 1 - 0 up we were looking at an excellent result from a poor performance!
At 1 - 1 we were looking at an OK result from a poor performance!
Loosing 2 - 1 we got a poor result from a poor performance!
13
I think mikel has a role in the team where he's probably not supposed to bomb on and risk possession with through balls but in his last 2 games i reckon hes done a good job and has been more forward passing than previously in the season. hes pretty young and id keep him as a squad player. josh
21 Mar 2012 22:21:06
Worst thing about tonight was feeling like i was just waiting for City to score. Didn't enjoy that game one bit. The commentary, the build up, the Tevez thing, where i watched it (pub in Manchester). It felt like we were the Extras in a Manchester City/United Title Fight. We need Champs League qualification and new players desperately so that next season i don't have to listen to United fans cheering us on to help them out in the title race.
OsgoodIsKing
21 Mar 2012 22:13:58
I don't understand why some of you are content with todays result. It's not a performance worthy of a 'well done'. Just like it was for man city it was critical that we win and because we haven't our champions league dreams are soooo slim now. further behind spurs and arsenal now. Performance was s**t so nothing to defend. Barring luiz and torres the rest seemed to be sleeping.
Ramirez mikes Essien meireles were shocking, instead of sitting back drogba should of come on played with nado, bulls**t performance
Not contented at all, but just can't be bothered with the whining any more. Anyone who watched that game could see we were p*~$ poor tonight. Managed to grab a lead then just sat back and let them have a go, even after Nasri had scored. Too many players were sloppy on the ball and just not strong enough to compete against that midfield. That said 4 weeks ago, this would have been even worse, the team are defending better, and look slightly better going forward. At the end of the day, City are miles ahead, that's why there are 20 points between us in the league, tonight was always going to be difficult. Bosingwa was just appalling from the minute he stepped onto the pitch, everything went down their left flank, and on the rare occasion he did manage to actually win a ball he gave it strait back. The sooner he is out of the club the better.
Despite all that, I still think we will get 4th. Spurs only managed a draw tonight, and hopefully we can take the points on Saturday.
At the end of the day it could be worse. Imagine being a Liverpool fan tonight.
Forgot to sign the above post.
Blue25
21 Mar 2012 21:58:01
Bad mistake cost us the game.. Torres was the only bright spot attacking wise should have never been taken off .We played a defensive game today and it nearly worked if not for that hand ball .If we could have shown a bit more spirit when it was 1-1 we would not have lost.If we started with Drogba and Torres could have won .Even playing with a defensive side Torres was the best striker on the pitch, so good signs ahead.
roan
21 Mar 2012 21:55:03
At least spuds only got a draw tonight. Thought Mikel had decent game, and David Luiz was class. City were the better side all over the pitch, if we had won that it would have been robbery. Looking forward to getting to the Bridge on Saturday, should be another belting atmosphere.
Blue25
21 Mar 2012 21:54:36
gutted about tonight, think we deserved more than that
I think on the positive now spurs are there for the taking... as much as I would love us to get ahead of arsenal I will take 4th for now, and re build for next season. roll on sat
21 Mar 2012 21:51:13
Anti-football performance from chelsea.
Really dissapointed with Di Matteo's tactics.
I can't believe that in a game of of this importance we come out to defend. For a team struggling to make the top 4, a point isn't enough and we should have attacked.
Hardly attacked and was on the back foot from the first whistle. To me it felt like we was content with a point until we somehow scored. Personally 1-0 is a risky lead to defend and the bigger sides usually try to capitalise and kill the game off.
Very dissapointed in our first big game under different management, not the sort of tactics i like to watch. 5 points behind spurs and 6 behind Arsenal suggests BIG problems.
Shak
First big game?? Napoli not that important then? Fool
FT9
You seem like a deluded fan. I can't believe your chuffed with the result praising the players. Did you actually watch the game or did you just flick the score on tele-text. As a die hard fan that result really dissapointed me.
Napoli are a decent side. Nothing spectacular. We just made a meal of it in italy and rectified it at home. You can't class them in the same league as the european power houses and lets face it...man city are pretty much there or there abouts.
Shak
Stop and think about what you are writing! Who did Napoli beat in the Champions league group stages?.....Man City! Die hard fan? True fans get behind there team and support them till the end.
FT9
21 Mar 2012 21:50:30
Thats how i've seen tonites game:
First of all RDM has done himself an AVB and shot himself in the foot susequently. Stupid lineup, ugly performance, all of the substitutions made for the worse of the game. OK, Bosingwa was forced on, but the latter two were just stupid and cost us game.
I have written after the Leister game, that Essien is clumsy and tonight he was just ugly on top of being clumsy again and also got an equalizer to City.
Drogba? Why the hell substitute Torres. For what sake? This was so AVB. A substitution for substitutions sake. Can not believe it. Torres couldn't either.
Essien should have never be brought on, because Ramires was waisted on the right, where he did nothing good and we have missed his ball winning talent in the middle of the park.
Why play Meireles at the base of midfield? He can't tackle, he cant put a proper pass from the deep of the pitch. He only looked good behind the striker in the Leicester game, but that was a Championship opposition.
RDM started closing down the game on the 70th minute and paid for that. he should have taken Meireles off, which was right. Put Sturridge on, because he would have done good on the right as Bosingwa was just horrible and would have rather had him playing closer to his side, than having him bomb forward. Then have Ramires turn to midfield.
Did not do that, got Essien on and you've seen his performance. I don't want to give him stick for the penalty, because this can happen to anyone, but well playing your hand above your head in the penalty area haven't done anyone good, unless you are Pique and have Ovrebo refereeing, of course. His overall performance was just pure crap.
Drogba on for Torres? What is this suppose to mean? You are gonna have Drogba rolling on the field in agony for the next 20 minutes to save time? You don't do this when they have three strikers and an attacking midfielder attacking you.
You want him on, ok, but take away Mata, then. He was bullied by Yaya all night long and was hardly seen.
This was bad. Of course, it wasn't supposed to be pretty or easy. But we could have gotten points tonight and the manager screwed it up.
Hopefully we will bounce back against Spurs. Come on Robbie, no more AVB type of decisions, please.
JG
Meireles for drogba. Put mata in centre where he's best played mata behind drops and torres
21 Mar 2012 21:46:39
unlucky tonight.looking at the fixtures and we have the worst although i think that we will get ahead of spurs. Cant stress how important saturday is. draw is not good enough.
Jordan
Unless we change from todays mentality then a draw maybe around the corner unfortunately......
21 Mar 2012 21:46:08
Unlucky boys, let's not get to down beat, from the team RDM started with we was always going to find it hard to win. We desperately need a left winger so mata can play in the hole. In my opinion we should have started with both Nando and Didi.
FT9
21 Mar 2012 21:46:03
Unfortunate result but wasn't really expecting much anyway. Torres did ok but couldn't exploit Richards for pace which is what he is so good at. Lampard and Essien were poor, Bosingwa was also sloppy at times. Mikel had a suprisingly good game but Meireles drifted in and out the game too much. Good luck to City, hope they beat the Glory Hunters for the title and hopefully now we can pick off Spurs for the 4th spot.
Scotty.
As a neutral,yes Torres puts the effort in but hes not a matchwinner,that vast transfer fee was for a goalscorer,he aint done that consistently for years,top goalscorer for you or you will struggle to keep pace with the top clubs.
21 Mar 2012 21:44:20
Well done lads, great effort. Thought we played really well, just got a bit unlucky on the night. Can still take a lot from that I think. Makes Saturday's far massive now
NP
21 Mar 2012 21:41:45
Ok we lost
Ok we didn't play great
Ok we probably won't go fourth
But city are second in the league and we gave them a good game. Bring on the spuds
21 Mar 2012 19:46:02
C'mon YOU BLUES!!!! we can do this! go nando!
mikec
21 Mar 2012 18:22:10
Cech, ivanovic, luiz, cahill,cole, ramires, lampard, essien, mata, drogba, torres
(if sturridge plays then he should play instead of drogba who should be used against spurs)
Torres must play if we are to add to his confidence from the leicester game. I think he will come good and it is the best time to use him or we could go back two steps again with torres's confidence.
Tell me what you guys think. Come on chelsea.
Shak
Yes Torres must play for his outstanding goalscoring prowess,
No, for his unbelievable work rate even when things aren't going right...
21 Mar 2012 18:09:45
2012/2013
gk- cech, hilario-(would prefer courtois but i think hes goin on loan again)
rb- ivanovic hutchinson - keep bosingwa just in case
cb- terry, luiz, cahill,ivanovic- not much to say
lb- cole, bertrand
rcm- ramires, essien, romeu
lcm- modric, moura, lampard, mceachran
cam- mata,piazon, moura
rw- sturridge, kalou- ( i think sturridge will come good if he passes and kalou is a good worker and squad player)
lw- hazard/hulk/di maria, mata - any of these would do
st- torres, drogba , sturridge-(if torres does not come good replace with cavani/ higuain)
i know lots of these players are in two positions but that is just if they can play both and fill in for cover.
opinions are welcome
trout
21 Mar 2012 16:18:24
I think that if someone sits down with Sturridge and tells him to pass the ball then he should be in the team tonight. He beats his man more times then not and hthe fastest 1st team player at Chelsea(don't know for sure) but if he goes and shoots from everywhere as usual take him off even if it is 10 mins in. Trout
I dont think studge should start against city but i would play him against spurs as he is quick and can get past a player. if he passed he would be brilliant. dont know why everyone is writing him off
Jordan
Fastest player at Chelsea has got to be Ramires the guys electric. {Ed002's Note - It'll be Bosingwa now that now Anelka has left.}
Same bosinwa doesnt use it/