48 replies to this topic

[Nibs]

Very entertaing game with some good but plenty of bad. Here's how I saw i anyway.......


Cech. Couple of good saves and couldn't do a lot on the goals but one or two very iffy clearances. 6

Ivan. Very solid and made some great tackles. Gave away a pen which looked harsh. 7

Cahill. looked nervy and could have had a disasterous debut had the tangle with Wellbeck got punished.
Great strike near the end could have been a debut to remember! 6

Luiz. Just love the bloke and he is a talented footballer - almsot too good to play at CB. Drove us on at times but did lose Hernadez for the third goal. 8

Bosingwa. Did okay. Not great not terrible. 6


Miereles. Gave the ball away time and again and looked off the pace. He did improve though as game went on. 5

Essien. Good to see him backa and he was solid but should have come off with 25 to go as clearly spent. 6

Malouda. Did one or two things well other than that pretty much a waste of space. Shouldnt have got 50 minutes never mind 90. 4

Mata. Thank f**k for Mata. Caused Utdloads of problems. If only there were 2 or 3 of him. 8.5

Sturridge. When he tries he is superb. When he strolls about he frustrates. Had Evra in his pocket and then let him off and f**ked it up. Has to do better. 5

Torres. Some great touches and nice play but still fell short just when we needed him. 6.5


Romeu. Can see why AVB brought him on but it back-fired and he put in a Mikel like performance. 5

AVB
I bet like me he looked at the scoreboard at 3-0 in utter dis-belief. Then didn't quite know how to play it from there. Made one sub which was the wrong one. Youngsters on the bench clearly just for show. How bad does a player have to be without coming off (Malouda)? Surely lukaku or Piazon would have been worth a shout, otherwise why have them on the bench? 4

[MJB]

Near enough spot on for me.

Cech should have held rooneys shot which led to the third goal. And I feel that Essien was worthy of at least a 7. Was sceptical about his come back but for me he was spot on

[Backbiter]

Pretty much how I saw it, Nibs. A bit generous for both Torres and Malouda, though.

[gojo_ed]

Think Bosignwa did pretty well considering he was on his weaker side. Luiz played well but was culpable for the Hernandez header, otherwise I generally agree with you

[Spiller86]

Cech - 7 - Excellent saved us on a number of occassions, couldn't really do much about any of the goals given he has never been a really great penalty stopper

Ivan - 7 - Solid. Made some crucial interceptions and clearances, perhaps guilty of an error or two late on

Cahill - 7 - Passable JT impersonation complete with diving headers, courageous blocks and sold clearances. Is the long term partner for Terry in my book

Luiz - 7 - Did well, nice header for the goal, perhaps he lost Hernandez but I couldn't be sure

Bosingwa - 7 - He was the wrong selection in lieu of our project, but he did well while he was there. May actually make a better left than right back because he can't f**king cross into the MHU everytime he gets the ball

Essien - 7 - Showed flashes of himself, but tired towards the end. Along with Meireles guilty of not controlling possession and slowing the tempo when we went ahead.

Meireles - 5.5 - Missed a point blank header that should have won us the game, shot over, poor delivery from freekicks. Frank can't return soon enough.

Malouda - 6 - Play was generally good but got worse as the game went on. He lost concentration when we went 3-0 up and also tired significantly. HOWEVER, for all those who have used this excuse over and over again for Torres, if Fernando had have played a very simple ball to him in about the 20th minute he would have been in on goal. But Torres was selfish and shot at the corner flag instead.

Mata - 9 - Simply brilliant. Smashing finish for the goal and put the ball literally exactly where Luiz asked for it, when he scored to put as 3-0 up. Was controlled and tried to slow the game after we went in front.

Sturridge - 5 - Our worst player on the pitch. Made Malouda look generous nearly everytime he got the ball, had one good moment, and then screwed it up by not tracking back and not concentrating and allowing Evra to take the foul and get United back into it. Rightly withdrawn, and has work to do on working for the team.

Torres - 6 - Great cross for the Mata goal. Lost himself in the headlights again, when given the chance to put it out sight. Raising his hands at Malouda when he gave the ball away needlessly while United sprinted downfield on the counter and won their second penalty is a perfect image of his time here.

Romeu - 6 - Battled valiantly, but didn't really fill out his brief. Mitigated by the fact that Essien's tiredness meant he had to play further up the park while Essien sat in.

AVB - 5 - Nothing of any real note tactically, and he didn't have a lot of cattle to work with off the bench to change the game. Failed to tighten the reins on the team and slow the tempo when 3-0 up, and that was the biggest contributor to our downfall.

Edited by Spiller86, 06 February 2012 - 06:19 AM.

[coombsie]

Nibs, on 05 February 2012 - 09:22 PM, said:

Very entertaing game with some good but plenty of bad. Here's how I saw i anyway.......


Cech. Couple of good saves and couldn't do a lot on the goals but one or two very iffy clearances. 6

Ivan. Very solid and made some great tackles. Gave away a pen which looked harsh. 7

Cahill. looked nervy and could have had a disasterous debut had the tangle with Wellbeck got punished.
Great strike near the end could have been a debut to remember! 6

Luiz. Just love the bloke and he is a talented footballer - almsot too good to play at CB. Drove us on at times but did lose Hernadez for the third goal. 8

Bosingwa. Did okay. Not great not terrible. 6


Miereles. Gave the ball away time and again and looked off the pace. He did improve though as game went on. 5

Essien. Good to see him backa and he was solid but should have come off with 25 to go as clearly spent. 6

Malouda. Did one or two things well other than that pretty much a waste of space. Shouldnt have got 50 minutes never mind 90. 4

Mata. Thank f**k for Mata. Caused Utdloads of problems. If only there were 2 or 3 of him. 8.5

Sturridge. When he tries he is superb. When he strolls about he frustrates. Had Evra in his pocket and then let him off and f**ked it up. Has to do better. 5

Torres. Some great touches and nice play but still fell short just when we needed him. 6.5


Romeu. Can see why AVB brought him on but it back-fired and he put in a Mikel like performance. 5

AVB
I bet like me he looked at the scoreboard at 3-0 in utter dis-belief. Then didn't quite know how to play it from there. Made one sub which was the wrong one. Youngsters on the bench clearly just for show. How bad does a player have to be without coming off (Malouda)? Surely lukaku or Piazon would have been worth a shout, otherwise why have them on the bench? 4

Malouda 4 ??? Massively generous here Bro' !!

[mrjhay]

Garth Crooks team of the week


MIDFIELD - JUAN MATA, CHELSEA

This lad has found it tough to make the transition from the Spanish League to the English Premier League. The one thing he has never lacked, however, is the ability to work hard.
Against Manchester United, he had that and more. Not only has he made my Team of the Week for his sheer endeavour, but also for the goal of the week. He will never score a better goal as long has he lives.
Did you know? Mata has created 71 chances this season the most in the Premier League.

Sorry, but the first sentence and the 'fact' really don't make any sense together. Has he been watching the same player?

[footballoholic]

If this is him finding it tough, then I can't wait to see when he's fully adjusted.

[dkw]

So a player who has created more chances than any other player in the league is struggling to make the transition? Jesus, cant wait until he settles. Crooks is such a moron.

[Castiel]

Meireles was fantastic and most oppositions fans have been saying as much so I don't see why its so hard for us to appreciate him.  His work from midfield was great yesterday.  He got absolutely everywhere.

[dkw]

Castiel, on 06 February 2012 - 09:04 AM, said:

Meireles was fantastic and most oppositions fans have been saying as much so I don't see why its so hard for us to appreciate him.  His work from midfield was great yesterday.  He got absolutely everywhere.

Yeah but he`s not Modric so by extension he`s sh*t.

He was excellent for us in the first few months of this season, but his form dropped the same as pretty much every other Chelsea players has. I think he`s an excellent player for our squad, but it seems he`s the current scapegoat for all things wrong.

[Spiller86]

I'll admit that Meireles was better yesterday than he has been in recent weeks. But that header he missed was as close to gilt edged as you get. He should have won us the game. Plus he was very much guilty of not controlling the tempo when we were in front, which was the reason we lost the lead in my view.

[Castiel]

Spiller86, on 06 February 2012 - 10:32 AM, said:

I'll admit that Meireles was better yesterday than he has been in recent weeks. But that header he missed was as close to gilt edged as you get. He should have won us the game. Plus he was very much guilty of not controlling the tempo when we were in front, which was the reason we lost the lead in my view.

It was a poor miss, but the same can be said about Torres not shooting.  Not as clear cut but there you go.  Either of those would have won it.  I thought he did his job as a midfielder excellently.  We couldn't get the game under control and sustain some pressure in the first half after the goal because Webb was giving them EVERYTHING.  How do you control a game when every attempt to win the ball results in a free kick to the opposition?  Blaming the referee is in poor taste I know, but I feel pretty screwed over after that.  Rooney and co shouting in his face constantly, the suspicious delays between the events and the decisions, then the penalties. There isn't much more we could have done except defend that corner correctly.

[PloKoon13]

To be fair Malouda created more chances than anyone else in the league last season by quite a large margin and nobody was queuing up to kiss his arse.

[Nibs]

PloKoon13, on 06 February 2012 - 10:44 AM, said:

To be fair Malouda created more chances than anyone else in the league last season by quite a large margin and nobody was queuing up to kiss his arse.

That sounds like one of those "massaged stats"!!

Find it very hard to believe but if it is accurate then blimey he has gone downhill fast in such short time. He shouldn't be starting - end of story.

[54veteran]

Despite the hype about excitement and entertainment value, it was a poor performance from both teams, summed up by Luiz not having a clue where he was supposed to be for the equaliser. Schoolboy football. Boring, second rate, and not up to CL standards. If you can't defend, you're nowhere.

[barak81]

54veteran, on 06 February 2012 - 11:27 AM, said:

Despite the hype about excitement and entertainment value, it was a poor performance from both teams, summed up by Luiz not having a clue where he was supposed to be for the equaliser. Schoolboy football. Boring, second rate, and not up to CL standards. If you can't defend, you're nowhere.

Have to say, i dont agree with the luiz bit but the last sentance is spot on!

[ethicalstrategy]

A very hard match to judge.  My overriding sense was that we saw two teams who really aren't very good by their own high standards.  There are 5 or 6 players who won't be in a Chelsea shirt next season and who wouldn't have got in to the team over the last 6 or 7 years.

Defensively I think we aren't too badly off.  It's when you start moving in to the midfield and up front that the problems are starkest.

Meireles is no more than average.  

Malouda looks like a player who wants and needs to get away.  There have been spells when he has been terrific for us, but they are always when the team is doing well.  At the first sniff of adversity he just disappears.  Yesterday he was truly aweful.

Essien may or may not ever be the player he was once.  The rest of this season will tell us that I think.

Up front, Sturridge is a great prospect but I'm seriously worried that he will be undone by his ego.  I understand why he wants to play through the middle and no doubt he would be more effective than Torres, but he has just broken in to the team this year and should be happy to get his head down, work hard and wait for his opportunity.  Instead, it looks like he is going to kick up about it.  Poor.

Torres - well when you get to the point where you are too frightened to shoot then I think the shark has been well and truly jumped.  The game was there to be won and he bottled it - not by missing or the keeper saving, but by refusing to even shoot.  Pathetic

Mata was the one shining light.  If he had some decent players around him he would be even better.

Did you see the bench yesterday?  A couple of oldies and some youngsters. No-one the manager really wanted to play.  That's a big problem.

[barak81]

There seems to be a strong feeling that Sturridge is quite aragont ect and all that.

Can i ask where the proof of this is?


What I see is a confident young man, who is working hard and still learning, he is a striker by trade and as such is first instinct is to score, (an instinct we all wish torres still had) his game will develop and imporve but I just cant see how he is arogant to the point of it costing him

[ethicalstrategy]

I think it is documented that he has been unhappy at not getting a run up front.  It was pretty clear he was displeased at being taken off yesterday.