Chelsea vs Fulham (PL) Thurs 26th Dec 24 15:00 GMT

Nothing to do with Sanchez. He wasn't at fault for either of the goals..
I was angry... It was a colossal f**k up from too many players. 

Sanchez did kick the ball long and quite inaccurate which led to the turnover and hence the goal. He isnt good enough he makes the saves but his distribution is questionable and scares me everytime he gets the ball

 
Sucks but it is what it is. Part of the process, need to get to 70pts mark and secure CL spots first.

Fulham did not deserve that win but we deserved to lose when all our attackers decided to be on cruise control

 
Sucks but it is what it is. Part of the process, need to get to 70pts mark and secure CL spots first.

Fulham did not deserve that win but we deserved to lose when all our attackers decided to be on cruise control
Actually Fulham were deserving winners, particularly for their second half performance.

 
Sucks but it is what it is. Part of the process, need to get to 70pts mark and secure CL spots first.

Fulham did not deserve that win but we deserved to lose when all our attackers decided to be on cruise control
I think they fully deserved the win. They created better chances overall, after the 50th minute they looked like the only team interested in scoring and, when it went to 1 1, they didn't sit back and hang on.  A well deserved three points.

We lack a killer instinct.  Go 1 up then a period of looking good but not particularly dangerous. Then we take a backward step and invite teams to get back into the game.  There is definitely some fault for Maresca there but I also think there is a general lack of need to win/competitive edge in our squad.  

 
Gutted by that result - poor game management at the end in the closing stages of the game, let them get back in it, then went from bad to worse with the sting in the tail at the end of stoppage time. (And ruined my acca today too!)

Hope we learn from it fast and make changes when needed next time in such a situation. 

Fingers crossed it will be almost another half century or more till Fulham get the chance to grab an away win against us - they don’t get much to celebrate them lot!

Meanwhile time to swiftly focus on getting back to winning ways away to Ipswich in a few days!

 
Quite unprofessional to me. Players didn’t work hard enough or want it enough. A reminder also that in the absence of our attack creating and taking chances, we simply can’t rely on our defense - 4 clean sheets in 18 games. 

As poor as we were, to be winning 1-0 at home in the 82nd min and lose is not good enough. 

Hopefully they learn from this, and quickly at that. 

 
Maresca has been a breath of fresh air so far, but this was a game we should have won with a better in game management. Hopefully just a blip in our learning process. Hats off to Fulham, the better side today and deserved winners.

 
I think they fully deserved the win. They created better chances overall, after the 50th minute they looked like the only team interested in scoring and, when it went to 1 1, they didn't sit back and hang on.  A well deserved three points.

We lack a killer instinct.  Go 1 up then a period of looking good but not particularly dangerous. Then we take a backward step and invite teams to get back into the game.  There is definitely some fault for Maresca there but I also think there is a general lack of need to win/competitive edge in our squad.  
Spot on!

We lack that killer edge to turn a 1-0 into 2-0.

You can't control a game at 1-0 IMO as your a mistake or a moment of quality away from being level again, the top teams go a couple of goals in front then they control the game.

We don't even keep enough clean sheets to see out a 1 goal lead, even when we are 2 goals ahead in the 90th minute we still concede (I.E. Leicester, Brentford, Spurs)

Teams in the title hunt don't concede as many last minute goals as we do - we need to try and get top 4 this season while so many rivals are off it this year.

That's our aim this season.

 
Guaranteed that if this was Fergie or Klopp, Guiu comes on late to make a name for himself and scores the winner.
We hardly ever have new players or youngsters score or have MOTM performances on their debut.

We are more likely to have Chris Sutton or Torres kinds of debuts.

It's weird.

 
One goal is never going to suffice for a win when the defence are guilty of collective ball watching and fail to pick up opponents

The first goal today they were like a tennis crowd. Look left ... look right ... LOL

image.png

 
I was angry... It was a colossal f**k up from too many players. 

Sanchez did kick the ball long and quite inaccurate which led to the turnover and hence the goal. He isnt good enough he makes the saves but his distribution is questionable and scares me everytime he gets the ball
He's miss hit one pass all game and got away with it when he made a short pass that was nearly picked.

He was clearly instructed to put the ball in the space on and around Castagne, on the basis tharpt Robinson likes to push up leaving an overload at the back post.

Sancho wasn't winning any headers and in fairness to Castagne he did win most of the duels.

I don't think anything can be put on Sanchez today, in fact he bailed us out earlier. The tactics were questionable and should have been changed when it wasn't working. But that has to be on the management team.

 
Sancho knackered, Neto knackered, Gusto knackered.

Use Acheampong, use George, use Guiu, use Felix. Fresh legs if nothing else. We were burnt out and he just let it carry on.

We have 5 subs not 1. How Fulham can make many changes to freshen up and win the game but we cannot. Why?
There are quite a few teams out there that can give the top teams a bloody nose so to speak. At this stage of a campaign the front runners are usually away from the rest, but to be honest I’m quite enjoying the unpredictability of results. That said I think a defeat was on the cards sooner or later. I was worried about this game and the Brentford one.and no doubt there’ll be other games where we encounter a resolute opposition.  I wouldn’t be surprised if we struggle against Ipswich either.I hope this ‘blip’ is a mini one though as a top four finish is up for grabs and we have a large enough squad to achieve it.

 
Anyone trying to defend Maresca is wrong, he has f**ked it in the last 2 games, not using your full quota of subs especially at this time the year is unacceptable , putting 2 goalkeepers on the bench is laughable and to leave out Noni completely is catastrophic, Felix must wonder why he isn’t getting game time and Nkunku is being forced out the door because of his love for Jackson. 

 
So, until today, Sir Geoff Hurst was the last Chelsea manager to lose at home to Fulham. He was barley a month in to the job when he lost 0-2 at home to Fulham in October of 1979.

 
One goal is never going to suffice for a win when the defence are guilty of collective ball watching and fail to pick up opponents

The first goal today they were like a tennis crowd. Look left ... look right ... LOL

View attachment 30073
Reminds me of those pictures posted months back from, I think a conference league game, where all the defence moved to our left side and left rhe right half of the box completely open.

A solid defence wins you the top trophies in almost every case. This group of defenders are not good enough.

 
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Not sure if this is true but I heard that Fulham had not scored at the Bridge since 2011, when Clint Dempsey scored. Good grief.

 
Yeah, not happy about this result. You have 5 subs to use and not utilizing Feliz at all is weird. People criticise Felix and say he he has been poor, when he has not even been given much of a shot apart from scarce minutes in the PL. It was obvious the team was looking tired and he completely left on the bench. Very strange but not surprising result if you run your team to the ground. They were piling on the pressure too so changes were needed 100%.

Fulham are a really good team though, must say. If they keep most of their squad together and upgrade in the January window/Summer, they can push for a European place next season. They have right system and good manager.

IMO, Antonee Robinson is the best LB in the league. He was fantastic today and is consistently good each game. Very good offensively and defensively. The amount of deliveries he did today which was not executed was countless. He has been linked with Liverpool and I see why because he suits their style to a tee and Robertson is getting on.

I remember last season, calling for us to buy him, but his marauding style of play is not what Maresca wants but what a performance. Also was solid against Arsenal and Liverpool, being up against two of the best players in league in Saka and Salah, respectively. In fact he got 2 assists in that Liverpool game and should of had at least 1 assist yesterday.

 
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