Can you give a minus 3 rating? He wasn't great, but he was at least a 4 or 5.

Pretty much spot on in my eyes barring:

Zouma- No way should he have same rating as Matic. He was very impressive after sending off too. 7/10 from me

Hazard - Did not do much of note until late into the game, still underperforming in my eyes. 6/10.

Fair point on Zouma, I'm maybe a bit harsh with a 5.

I still think Hazard was our second best player on the pitch. Agreed that he's not reached his own high standard just yet this season, but even in third gear he does so much for us.

Just watched on dvr

Promising start like the Swansea match

Then the red. Looked like the right call.

Pedro - class, Diego sharper, the whole team looked better

still like to see Baba come in & Ivan rested

But got the 3 points.

Let's go UP the table now on a streak

It must be great fun being able to see alternative futures ...

 

Thank you, thank you, thank you for saying "alternative" rather than the incorrect, Amercian "alternate".

 

These things make me happy.

Hazard seems to get better in the last 20 minutes of the game.

Well that was a hell of a game.

Diego Costa sprinted the length of the pitch to score his goal.

https://twitter.com/BPLZone/status/635489617807036416

Well done boys, dug in to get the 3 points and finally get our season up and running. Great to see Pedro thrown straight in and impressing, Costa close to his menacing best and Zouma tidying up convincingly.

Diego Costa sprinted the length of the pitch to score his goal.

https://twitter.com/BPLZone/status/635489617807036416

 

 

Yep I saw it.

 

What a run from Costa, ran the length of the pitch to get on to that.

First and maybe last time you will hear me say this, but I agree with Rednkapp, on thsi one point,  when JT went off I remember thinking why is Tibo hanging back not coming to collect that, http://www.skysports.com/football/news/18932/9962849/thibaut-courtois-at-fault-as-john-terry-sent-off-says-jamie-redknapp

So relieved to win that, pretty tough to watch at times. The team badly needed the 3 points today, hopefully this victory will restore some calm to proceedings. A few observations from me:

 

1) Pedro - I like how he's always looking to run in behind and stretch the oppostion's defence. None of our other AM's are willing to do this, they all want the ball to feet. Hopefully Pedro can provide a similar, pacey threat on the outside cutting in as Schurrle did. Great start Pedro, keep it going.

 

2) Costa - Back to the beast we know he can be. Thought his hold up play was excellent, led the line brilliantly. His hamstrings looked in pretty good shape as he sprinted from one box to another for his goal. 

 

3) Hazard was excellent in wasting time at the end and menace throughout. Thought Zouma and Cahill were excellent too, the former in particular. Had to love Dave's passion when he celebrated his goal. Got him in my FF team too :)

 

4) Courtois - What a save for the pen, in general he was great too. Faultless.

 

5) Falcao looked bright but then his finishing was poor. I hate it how Remy is no.3 in the pecking order when he's clearly a better player. 

 

6) JT - Sad to see the red, thought there wasn't much in it but there was enough contact. No point appealing it I don't think. Hopefully he will come back stronger for this in 3 games' time. 

 

7) Fabregas - I know it's been pointed out before but he was utterly woeful defensively today. It's actually quite embarrassing at times, especially when you have the likes of Chris Brunt going past you as if you're not even there. I can't see us getting anywhere in Europe with Fabregas in the pivot next to Matic, better quality teams will be able to exploit his defensive incompetence.

 

8) Ivanovic - Sorry to say it but another weak performance. He needs to pick it up quickly, or we shift Dave to RB. 

Edited August 23, 201510 yr by Celery1989

So relieved to win that, pretty tough to win at times. The team badly needed the 3 points today, hopefully this victory will restore some calm to proceedings. A few observations from me:

1) Pedro - I like how he's always looking to run in behind and stretch the oppostion's defence. None of our other AM's are willing to do this, they all want the ball to feet. Hopefully Pedro can provide a similar, pacey threat on the outside cutting in as Schurrle did. Great start Pedro, keep it going.

2) Costa - Back to the beast we know he can be. Thought his hold up play was excellent, led the line brilliantly. His hamstrings looked in pretty good shape as he sprinted from one box to another for his goal.

3) Hazard was excellent in wasting time at the end and menace throughout. Thought Zouma and Cahill were excellent too, the former in particular. Had to love Dave's passion when he celebrated his goal. Got him in my FF team too :)

4) Courtois - What a save for the pen, in general he was great too. Faultless.

5) Falcao looked bright but then his finishing was poor. I hate it how Remy is no.3 in the pecking order when he's clearly a better player.

6) JT - Sad to see the red, thought there wasn't much in it but there was enough contact. No point appealing it I don't think. Hopefully he will come back stronger for this in 3 games' time.

7) Fabregas - I know it's been pointed out before but he was utterly woeful defensively today. It's actually quite embarrassing at times, especially when you have the likes of Chris Brunt going past you as if you're not even there. I can't see us getting anywhere in Europe with Fabregas in the pivot next to Matic, better quality team will be able to exploit his defensive incompetence.

8) Ivanovic - Sorry to say it but another weak performance. He needs to pick it up quickly, or we shift Dave to RB.

I can't agree that Courtois was faultless as Redknapp pointed out he should have come out quicker for the ball when JT was sent off

Good observations imo.

Zouma will get 4 games in a row now in the league?  Nice one.

I can't agree that Courtois was faultless as Redknapp pointed out he should have come out quicker for the ball when JT was sent off

 

Hmm fair point. But surely it could be argued that had JT been in the right position then Courtois wouldn't have been needed to deal with the situation?

I can't agree that Courtois was faultless as Redknapp pointed out he should have come out quicker for the ball when JT was sent off

Rather Terry off than Courtois!

I can't agree that Courtois was faultless as Redknapp pointed out he should have come out quicker for the ball when JT was sent off

Agree I think there were one or two times when he could have come out a clear his lines maybe his own red card has changed the thinking on this whether his own or upon orders from management.

As for the penalty save, it was a poor penalty tbh

Zouma will get 4 games in a row now in the league? Nice one.

And the funny things was he was better after terry went off really stood up to be counted

You're spot on but wouldn't it be great if he came on and had a belter? Maybe score one and lay on another? I think we could all do with a pick me up right now.

Please start more sentences with "wouldn't it be great if..." and make super specific wishes for things we want. Here are some to get you started:

 

- Wouldn't it be great if we won the quadruple with a 6-0 victory over Real Madrid in the Champions League final leaving Benitez in tears and Bale joining us next season?

- Wouldn't it be great if this prompted Lionel Messi to join us on a free?

- Wouldn't it be great if Hazard scored 60 goals this season, 28 of them set up by Willian in the same game at the Emirates?

- Wouldn't it be great if everyone started calling Roberto Martinez "Boberto Martinez" and pretended that it was a totally normal thing to do despite his increasingly whiny protests?

- Wouldn't it be great if Mikel scored a hattrick?

- Wouldn't it be great if Smacky The Frog and Kate Upton had sex several times and she thought his performances in bed were adequate?

 

Okay, maybe the last two are a bit too unrealistic, but you get the gist.

Hmm fair point. But surely it could be argued that had JT been in the right position then Courtois wouldn't have been needed to deal with the situation?

Oh yeah Terry was at fault to

Agree I think there were one or two times when he could have come out a clear his lines maybe his own red card has changed the thinking on this whether his own or upon orders from management.

 

I think the red card definitely played a part in his tentativeness. Also, on my feed, the analysts mentioned he was too far back in goal at the start of the move and I think that might be residue from the Charlie Adam wondergoal from last season. I thought some of the stick he got for that was unfair at the time and nothing has changed my mind about it since. I'd much rather risk a strike like that going in once every 5 years due to overaggressive positioning from the GK, instead of having a timid GK stationed to his line, giving strikes ample room to get on to throughballs behind our defense, which can happen in pretty much every single game. But top-class GKs don't like to look silly and it's an understandable reaction, if it did have any part to play.

 

Anyway, despite that slight misjudgement, I thought he was excellent today. Him catching those high crosses is such a pressure reliever.

So relieved to win that, pretty tough to watch at times. The team badly needed the 3 points today, hopefully this victory will restore some calm to proceedings. A few observations from me:

 

1) Pedro - I like how he's always looking to run in behind and stretch the oppostion's defence. None of our other AM's are willing to do this, they all want the ball to feet. Hopefully Pedro can provide a similar, pacey threat on the outside cutting in as Schurrle did. Great start Pedro, keep it going.

 

2) Costa - Back to the beast we know he can be. Thought his hold up play was excellent, led the line brilliantly. His hamstrings looked in pretty good shape as he sprinted from one box to another for his goal. 

 

3) Hazard was excellent in wasting time at the end and menace throughout. Thought Zouma and Cahill were excellent too, the former in particular. Had to love Dave's passion when he celebrated his goal. Got him in my FF team too :)

 

4) Courtois - What a save for the pen, in general he was great too. Faultless.

 

5) Falcao looked bright but then his finishing was poor. I hate it how Remy is no.3 in the pecking order when he's clearly a better player. 

 

6) JT - Sad to see the red, thought there wasn't much in it but there was enough contact. No point appealing it I don't think. Hopefully he will come back stronger for this in 3 games' time. 

 

7) Fabregas - I know it's been pointed out before but he was utterly woeful defensively today. It's actually quite embarrassing at times, especially when you have the likes of Chris Brunt going past you as if you're not even there. I can't see us getting anywhere in Europe with Fabregas in the pivot next to Matic, better quality teams will be able to exploit his defensive incompetence.

 

8) Ivanovic - Sorry to say it but another weak performance. He needs to pick it up quickly, or we shift Dave to RB.

JT's ban will only be one game, not three. same as Courtois v Swansea.

Watched the first 15 minutes and already Im loving Pedro. He has a real purpose in his runs and one step ahead when he gets on the ball. Add another to the list who cant wait to see Hazard-Oscar-Pedro.

Much better performance all round and while the previous weaknesses haven't dissapeared we look like we're getting in shape to contend. Pedro obviously had a revitalising effect on the team, especially in the first half and Hazard, especially near the end when WB were looking to equalise, showed some of last year's form. Just goes to show you how attack can be an effective defence, with WB afraid to leave gaps in case we countered. I'm feeling better about the season already!

Wouldn't go nuts on pedro just yet...i remember deco's first match lol. A great debut regardless though.

John terry and ivanovic aren't match fit yet. Terry is being exposed when having to turn and run, and Ivan is letting everything past him on his side of the field.

Fabregas is killing me right now, offering nothing in attack and nothing in defence. A pure passenger in the first 3 matches.

Adding Varane and/or Stones would give us peace of mind at the back, going forward with terry starting every time would cause me much anxiety lol.