Never mind the first half

JUAN JUAN JUAN JUAN

Mata showed why we miss him, but only got into it when Oscar went off (as did the rest of the team in fairness) but for energy, commitment, and the effort that went in to assist Ba for his goal, it's Rambo for me.

 

Also just to re-iterate Mata has done himself no harm today with his effort in getting the ball back, something which is really high up Jose's must have list. Well done Juan.

Not sure what happened in the second half but everyone stepped up, apart from Apzi who just carried on bossing it as always.

 

Ivan was solid, even got some crosses on target! Ramires really made that 442 work, I was worried at first because they pinned us back before we really got used to the formation. Without Ba making those runs in behind we wouldn't have had the space to push up and press aggressively and he was rewarded with a goal for his hard work.

 

Could go on but I'll get to the point, Mata was MOTM. Every chance we had was a direct result from either Mata himself or a Mata pass to set up a move.  

Edited December 1, 201312 yr by Remodez

Ended up going for Ivanovic although I was very tempted to vote for Ramires. Massive improvement on midweek from both of them, delighted to see it. Together they are a frighteningly solid right hand side.

Lots of options today, but someone who wasn't mentioned a lot was Torres, he's my MOTM.

Won loads of balls in the air, held it up well, ran at defenders, good passing, ran into spaces. Excellent strikers play.

He really is a different player this season.

Gone for a strange one this week, Demba Ba.

 

Completely changed the game when he came on, caused the defence problems, pressed well and scored an excellent goal.

 

When a team presses as well as Southampton do, having someone you can launch the ball to at head height proved effective. 

 

He also linked well with Torres, who was also very good.

 

Special mentions to everyone, apart from Essien.

 

Horrendous start and booked for diving, welcome back Mikey.

Ramires for me, back to usual after the Basel nightmare, great performances from Ivan and Mata who looks to have listened to Jose and got his defensive duties sussed.

 

No bad performances out there and I include Essien who I'll excuse the  lapse as it was the first 13 seconds of proper Football hes had for quite a while.

Great second half performance, perfect use of the squad and I'd give the Manager full credit for that result today after an early setback.

Edited December 1, 201312 yr by Chippy

Rami definitely

Ramirez in an all round good team performance.

That Ray Mears he runs, runs & runs some more. I just love that guy. He is the Engine of CFC.

Mata, right from the off he was a constant threat. Superb set pieces and some brilliant passes throughout, he simply must start more often from now on.

Ramires was incredible. Great tackling. Tons of energy. A real lynchpin in our midfield

Mata for me.Ba,Azpi,Ivan and especially Ramires were also fantastic.

Mata for me shocking first half but they all improved  in the second half  well done

Edited December 1, 201312 yr by aliboy66

Ramires, instrumental in driving us forward throughout. Torres ran him a close second with a display that constantly worried their defence. Azpi is making the LB slot his own and its so good to see Mata back in the starting 11.

Rambo, purely because he is a footballing maniac. I honestly don't know what we'd do without him. Great bit of vision to set up Ba's goal too. 

 

Honourable mentions to Ivan and Terry. 

Edited December 1, 201312 yr by Blueblur

Hope we get to see Torres and Ba play together more often. Both of them excellent.

The last goal was a proper, proper centre forward goal.

It's great to have so many valid choices for MOTM, it almost feels wrong to single one player out.

All 11 of the players that finished the match had good games with a few players standing out. I thought Torres was particularly good today and at times it's hard to believe this is the same player as the timid pussycat of the last 2-3 years. It's also nice to realise that, when mentioned by the media or by commentators, his name isn't automatically followed by "the £50 million flop" any more.

Ivanovic.

 

Thank you very much.

Lot of decent displays today, particularly in the second half. Both early subs made decent contributions and the defence all did well. Mata and Torres both had some good spells and Hazard looked lively. Thought Ramires was poor early on and his passing was again poor and he was lucky not to be booked after mis-timing many challenges. But he got better and better as the game went on and proved again what a key player he is when he's on song.

 

But went for JT. Strong throughout and a great and vital headed goal.

Ramires for his boundless energy and no little skill.Very disapointed with Essien,he looked fine in few appereances this season.Put it down to a brain freeze,cant play this bad again.

Ba for me...he changed the game, terrorised the Southampton defenders and became a real outlet...gave us that physical presence a certain someone from our past did...have no qualms if ramires gets the vote...would love to see him in a race with mo farah...just keeps on running

Ramires, What a performance !!!

Between Ramires and Mata for me but I will go with Mata because it was his first start in weeks and come straight into the team and looked like he had never been missing.

 

Two assist and nearly all game long the quality of his delivery was superb.

 

Honourable mentions to Ivan who just bullied the Saints into submission. 

 

JT for being a legend,

 

Torres for finally consistently showing his worth in a Chelsea shirt.

 

And Dave, for a guy playing out of position he really is performing well.