Chelsea Thread

gerd said:
Roma should be a piece of cake, since they are not exacty in the biggest form...
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that's an understatement... roma just had his worse start of the season in the last 20 years, so far.... and it really doesn't look like they're gonna be back to their standards any time soon.

according to what i saw till now, tonite it's not gonna be chelsea vs roma... it's gonna be chelsea vs de rossi and aquilani.. on their own... i kinda feel for them:CRY:
 
T Butcher fan said:
Well we didn't too great against Spurs either, so no high 5's just yet.
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yeah sure, but i would be very surprised if chelsea wouldn't win tonite, as roma has been constantly performing at its worse level in the last 6 weeks.... they miss basically half of the starting 11 (some of them will be able to play again tonite, but of course they will be in a pretty poor form).... but the most worring thing is that the rest of the team (those few players who are fit) are playing really really bad. the only ones who still hang on are de rossi and aquilani... but they're just 2.

as for mourinho, it was a decent start for him...
when he came here the hype was huge.... people in italy had high (too high) expectiations about the special one.
then, people realised he's not really the legend people in england think he is..... not by the team's performances (as it would be unfair to judge him so early in the season), but mostly by his interviews (some of his post match tactical comments were ludicrously wrong... and people in italy pays a lot of attention to theese details).

as a matter of fact there are many coaches in serie a who can read a football match better than him...... but coaching is not just about tactics, and there are some areas where he's definitely a top class coach (like men management and dressing room handling).

inter is not really playing well. under any aspect (defense, attack, passing game, off the ball movements) mancini's inter was much better.... but afterall mancini had 4 years to create his inter, so i guess it's still way too early for comparisons.

as a "character", there's just no room for argue. he's fantastic.... he's basically an actor and his press conference are by far the best in serie a..every week :))

good luck for tonite's match guys ;)
 
Thanks - we're actually on tomorrow night. :))

Yes, tactically he wasn't the best. Not only dealing with other teams, but we gradually got more predictable and direct in our play and became incapable of opening teams up. We had no movement at all and he was either happy with that or couldn't think how to change it.

Plus I think he invited pressure on himself and the club far too much - and it sounds like he's doing it again! The trouble is, he let's the pressure get to him. He needs to find his Chi I think.

Italy was always going to be a massive test - but he is a superb coach. Our defensive unit is so well drilled that you sometimes forget he is no longer there. I miss him in a lot of ways, but in just as many, I don't. :))
 
Not a great performance, but the 3pts are all that matter at this stage. Roma were desperate not to get battered, and with their 4-6-0 formation they managed it. We're now sitting very nicely in the group.
 
T Butcher fan said:
I don't think they do! If they did, they wouldn't be in Europe!

Let me make the formation a bit clearer then. 4-4-2-0 ;)
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infact they don't. in the last 3 seasons roma displayed a, extremely offensive 4-2-3-1, with 2 quality fullbacks constinuously pushing deep in the opponent's territory (and i'm not talking about riise, of course), 2 offensive central midfielders and 3 offensive midfielders\wingers moving around totti (who is the fulcrum of the team ).

they have shown the most attractive footie in europe in the last 3 years....(many people think arsenal did it..... but if u ask those people, u'll realise they haven't watched more than 4 or 5 roma matches in the last 3 years... so their opinion doesn't really count :D).

now they're in shambles. they have 7 starters injured (some of them were forced to play, coz they just didn't have any options left)... totti has been out for months (he played his first match last week, if i remember well..... i mean, Riise played almost all roma matches so far this season.... this can give quite a good idea of how tragic their injuries situation is:D

moreover there are also some bigger issues than injuries lately: maybe some troubles in the dressing room... probably a serious lack of motivation.... new signings having troubles in adapting themselves (like julio baptista and menez).

they had their worst season beginning in the last 20 years so far.... they just lost 0-4 from inter last week...... in roma!.

right now they just can't play that amazing football they usually play... and considering how tragic is their situation.... and that they had to face chelsea at stanford bridge... well, u can easily understand why they showed such a frightened attitude on the pitch...
they aren't able anymore to play their football now, so they decided just to avoid to loose another match by 4-0 (wich, if they would have tried to play their football last night, would have been possible).

they just couldn't go back to roma wth another disgraceful loss.
a 0-1, against chelsea, at stanford bridge, considering all the injuries and all their issues... it's still a dignified result. :))

it was quite a poor match to watch but definitely it wasn't chelsea's fault ;)
 
I always looked at Roma as playing a "weird" 433. Totti being the front man, but the "real strikers" being the midfielders and wingers coming from behind.
 
Twice in 5 days we have stunk the place out. Shocking performances, I can't believe we can be so sloppy. Needless to say Malouda and Kalou were particularly bad. And next we have Hull!

Fucking rubbish, January can't come quick enough.
 
I presume yo uwatched the match at Stamford Bridge Terry...
I think (judged by what i saw on MOTD); Chelsea were unlucky with th eLiverpool goalwhich was a deflected ball...
They weren't bad in the first, but Liverpool was quite impressive in the second half.

Could have been an entirely other match without that deflection...but that's football and one can't say that Liverpool did not deserve it...
 
I didn't go Gerd (my wife is due to give birth so whe wouldn't let me out of the house!) Anyway, every game I've missed this season we have dropped points so really it was all my fault!

Yes it was a jammy goal, but I can't say that Liverpool didn't deserve the win. We could have been beaten by any number of teams yesterday to be honest. Dreadful performance.
 
You know I was saying the same thing when Pool beat United at Anfield - that United didn't show up and couldn't have looked worse. I think its actually a factor of how well Liverpool play 'spoiler' football. They are the new masters of 'taking the sting out of a game'. It's definitely a talent, should be interesting to see what they do against mid-table teams, which they've struggled to get right so far (jammy come backs aside, of course)
 
beachryan said:
You know I was saying the same thing when Pool beat United at Anfield - that United didn't show up and couldn't have looked worse. I think its actually a factor of how well Liverpool play 'spoiler' football. They are the new masters of 'taking the sting out of a game'. It's definitely a talent, should be interesting to see what they do against mid-table teams, which they've struggled to get right so far (jammy come backs aside, of course)
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It never ceases to amaze me when Man Utd, Arsenal or Chelsea score late and grind out results they're showing 'Chapions' mentality, yet Liverpool do it and we're considered by some to be 'Jammy'

Chelsea missed Essien and Drogba yesterday I thought. Essien is an absolutely fantastic player. A 0-0 draw would probably have been a realistic result but Chelsea never really threatened enough to warrant scoring.

Still I have to congratulate Chelsea on they're fantastic unbeaten streak at stamford bridge for over 4 years.

Chelsea are the team to beat this year still. If anyone finishes above them in the league, they'll be named champions.
 
beachryan said:
You know I was saying the same thing when Pool beat United at Anfield - that United didn't show up and couldn't have looked worse. I think its actually a factor of how well Liverpool play 'spoiler' football. They are the new masters of 'taking the sting out of a game'. It's definitely a talent, should be interesting to see what they do against mid-table teams, which they've struggled to get right so far (jammy come backs aside, of course)
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'spoiler' football? you shouldnt say that because you embarrassed yourself.. in football, they call it "tactic".. :Y1
 
I don't think Liverpool played spoiler football, it was defensive certainly, but it was orderly and controlled. Besides, Bosingwa and Cole both had plenty of opportunities to get decent crosses in - they just chose not too! :RANT:

We were very sloppy and predictable - even though we probably had a lot more possession, Liverpool always looked the more dangerous.

At the end of the day, a front three of Anelka, Malouda and Kalou is just not good enough at the highest level.
 
Should be back in the next couple of weeks but he has played no real football since May - he won't be up to speed for a long, long time.
 
Other than the deflection I think Liverpool created the best chances in a game lacking clear chances.

I can only remember Cole's sliced half volley.

Alonso hit the post with a brilliant freekick, Gerrard forced Cech into a fantastic save, Reira hit the side netting when a cross would have resulted in a goal, Babel came very close to scoring from outside the box.
 
I'm with the Prof: There were less than 10 attempts on goal combined from the two teams. Xabi's free kick was class (/terrible from Cech) but other than that it was all long shots.

That said, Gerrard's body shape was absolutely incredible on his volley. I have no idea how he turned himself in mid air to be able to hit it that sweetly.

I guess my point about Pool playing 'spoiler' football is that they were dominant without creating much, and completely nullified any pace in the game. I'm not saying it's a bad thing, it worked wonders. When Ashley Cole having a full running volley is your only worry, you're defensively having a great day.

It was more like watching an Italian masterclass than a Spanish or English one.
 
beachryan said:
I guess my point about Pool playing 'spoiler' football is that they were dominant without creating much, and completely nullified any pace in the game. I'm not saying it's a bad thing, it worked wonders. When Ashley Cole having a full running volley is your only worry, you're defensively having a great day.

It was more like watching an Italian masterclass than a Spanish or English one.
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That's what Rafa does though. He's the only manager in England that can actually adapt to the opposition. We won simply because we didn't let Chelsea play. We completely blocked the space between their midfield and attack (where they do most damage), and our pressing didn't allow Deco and Lampard to influence the game. Riera and Kuyt worked their socks off to push the full backs, and Rafa was quiet happy to give Bosingwa a bit of space on the right to cross, so that we could be more compact in the center. It didn't matter, cos Bosingwa ain't such a great crosser, and they didn't have any real target in the box.

It wasn't defensive. It's just tactical planning, which is used all over Europe (especially in Italy), but is alien to the English game.
 
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