01 Oct 2017 13:41:59
Disapointing result yesterday. Held back from posting anything kneejerk as needed time to let it sink in.

Here are my observations:

1) City looked fresher than us and were much better at moving the ball when they had it and closing when they didn't. I think Conte had deliberately set us up to play on the counter because he knew we would be too tired to play a full pressing game after a hard fought game against Ath. Madrid. With the depth of City's squad, they could rotate and still have world class players pressing. Plus they had an extra day's rest. This exposes two things: our lack of depth in squad and the advantage you get from extra rest. Both have been pointed out before but worth noting again.

2) The Morata substitution was the changing point in the game. With Willian introduced, I believe this was an attempt to inject some pressing further up the field to stop their passing game and put pressure on them playing it out from defence. This massively backfired and we were left with no-one to play target man and hold the ball up. When Hazard did receive the ball, he was instantly surrounded by 3 players and starved of a pass. On top of this, Willian was dreadful. I don't think he successfully completed a pass in that first half and wasn't much better in the second. I believe this was a gamble by Conte that backfired and he needs to share in the blame for that decision, despite the player letting him down.

3) Christensen is a real find. If he stays with us, he'll be our captain in the next 5 years.

4) Bakayoko looked lost when asked to play in a midfield 3. He didn't seem sure whether he was supposed to be attacking (like Fabregas) or defending (like Kante) . In the end he did little of both. He's only young though so it's probably just inexperience.

5) We missed David Luiz's ball playing ability. The were quite a few times that we needed him to collect the ball and run with it out of defence, commit a couple of players and then pass it through midfield to our playmakers. Instead we were ponderous, apart from Christensen.

6) WHY DID WE SELL DE BRUYNE? and Robben, Lukaku, and Mata for that matter. ;-)

7) Despite our mistakes, we have to give City credit for playing as well as they did. They look similar to the Barcelona team that spammed people in the later 2000s. Another world class defender and maybe even a galactico striker (Messi next summer? ) and only 3-4 teams would be able to rival them. Currently Chelsea isn't on of them. They have the players, the togetherness, and they are looking much more resilient and hard to beat than they did last year.

8) I have a lot of respect for Cahill, but I don't think he should be in our defence ahead of Rudiger, Christensen, Luiz, and/ or Azpi. His appearances should start to be controlled like Terry's.


1.) 03 Oct 2017
03 Oct 2017 14:17:39
Attacking wise we looked horrible without Morata up front. Batshuayi should've come on for him, but what's done is done.
City looked very good, but our defense was strong as well. They had a hard time creating any good chances, and needed a special shot from KDB to beat us. So if anything, I'm very confident about our defense.

Hopefully Conte trusts Batshuayi to replace Morata while he is injured. He knows how to score, and while his overall play perhaps isn't quite good enough, he does get goals and that's what wins you games.

We'll have better days, and Conte will learn from the mistake of putting Willian on instead of Batshuayi. Onwards and upwards.