I just spent this morning drinking some nice freshly ground coffee from El Salvador (Bourbon) and watching the match again.

 

First half we looked up for it, we held the lead for 44 minutes. Our goal was something you don't see that often since Frankie Lampard left, a move with no stuttering and pauses, a Chelsea player beating a man down the wing, crossing the ball first time and a midfielder coming in late to head it in, simple but almost extinct this season in our game.

 

I don't want to go over their goal coming on 47:24, a full 24 seconds past the 2 minutes allotted of injury time. But that did really knock the sh*t out of us.

 

The second half we looked very bad, especially the midfield, it offered zero protection to our defence, I felt bad for JT and Zouma.

 

Players ambling back to goal and allowing opposition players to steam past them, it's not exceptable, it's not JM's fault, it's nothing to do with formation or tactics, it's down to players having things too easy, no pressure on them to perform with long muti million pound contracts, massive off pitch earnings, and another club waiting to buy them when they fail.

 

So what you get is some right lazy bar stewards running round pretending to look like their playing. The worst thing that can happen to them is getting dropped for the odd half a game here and there.

 

I think the answer may be to look at who these players are, and take them immediately out of the situation and replace them with other players at our disposal. 

I think the same way and while it is nice to think you might be able to do that the reality is taking these players out for extended periods could have a couple outcomes.  First, those players now start sniping behind the managers back and when the results are still not coming the sniping starts to gather momentum to a point where the manager has lost the dressing room, especially if the ones taken out are senior players. Second, the players coming in don't perform any better than the lot you have taken out and the bad performances and results continue.  

 

What is happening is an apparent mystery, apart from Willian and Dave no one else has even been close to their best and they can't do it on their own.   The players say they are behind the manager...well it sure doesn't look like it from the performances I have witnessed recently.  Unfortunately 'player power' is too strong for owners and managers to take on.  The players will only 'perform' if they feel like it.  Something is seriously broken down at the Bridge and only the players know what it is IMO.

Edited November 1, 201510 yr by CFCCAN

None of those things should have anything to do with lazy players not giving 100% for the fans, where is their heart in this ?

I agree with your points I'm just saying that it's not just the players not giving 100%

I think the same way and while it is nice to think you might be able to do that the reality is taking these players out for extended periods could have a couple outcomes.  First, those players now start sniping behind the managers back and when the results are still not coming the sniping starts to gather momentum to a point where the manager has lost the dressing room, especially if the ones taken out are senior players. Second, the players coming in don't perform any better than the lot you have taken out and the bad performances and results continue.  

 

What is happening is an apparent mystery, apart from Willian and Dave no one else has even been close to their best and they can't do it on their own.   The players say they are behind the manager...well it sure doesn't look like it from the performances I have witnessed recently.  Unfortunately 'player power' is too strong for owners and managers to take on.  The players will only 'perform' if they feel like it.  Something is seriously broken down at the Bridge and only the players know what it is IMO.

 

But at which point do you say plan A is not working and go with plan B ? And if plan B is really that bad, why did we go into this season with it ?

I agree with your points I'm just saying that it's not just the players not giving 100%

 

 

Yes I agree, the players not giving 100% is the symptom, not the cause.

The problem is that there a belief that tickets are being bought up by agencies and sold as part of packages when visiting London from other countries. Like the London eye, etc. The club must allocate tickets for that type of thing

There are agencies selling football trips to England, Spain, Italy, etc. Before I discovered membership, I used to get my ticket like that. And sang, don't worry :-)

No idea btw how the agencies get their tickets. Probably a deal with the clubs involved.

But at which point do you say plan A is not working and go with plan B ? And if plan B is really that bad, why did we go into this season with it ?

 

yes...a difficult conundrum...it must be the case that at the start of the season the minimum requirement set was to be in the top 4 come end of season. Now even that is looking very unlikely with our roster/form. I assume that when the board/owner made a statement in support of Jose recently, the expectation of top 4 was still there & that no assurance had been given behind the scenes to Jose that that expectation had been dispensed with even if there are now misgivings/an acceptance by the board/owner that the roster is deficient. Hence the on-going quandary for Jose now regarding selection. I wish that the board would privately tell Jose that he should now experiment as much as he likes and that the roster will be seriously looked at in January and come the end of the season with a view to making some wholesale changes.

Yes I agree, the players not giving 100% is the symptom, not the cause.

Totally. If the cause was one thing then it would be sorted by now. It's so many tiny things that have battered José/club/players. The club is in a funk and all we can do is keep going. No other option.

I'm proud that so many of our fans are still behind him though

Can any one point to a save of significance that Bergo had to make till we where down 2-1 and had to go for it?

A half chance on the turn was the best they had. It wasn't bergo making stunning saves. 

We had control of the game. The difference was that on the day , Courtinio who is their go to guy came up with two moments of magic. Are go to guys are still on holiday, each and every one of them

 

Mikel's yellow card really influnced the match for me. I fealt he was our best player to that point but Jose didn't want to risk the second yellow (the first one was not a yellow either). I think it was a mistake on Joses part to bring cesc on, it should have been matic but to that point I fealt we had the better of the chances.

 

On thing really missing from our game right now is the classic jose counter punch, It is one of the Major facets of Jose's style, Porto, Chelsea MK1, Inter, Real... all teams broke with pace and precision and they made teams pay, now are breaks look terrible always the wrong ball, the wrong choice. It's baffling. And this has to fall at the feet of our attacking players, Oscar, Hazard, Willian, Costa and Fabreagas, whether its the wrong pass, the wrong run we don't look a threat on the break.

yes...a difficult conundrum...it must be the case that at the start of the season the minimum requirement set was to be in the top 4 come end of season. Now even that is looking very unlikely with our roster/form. I assume that when the board/owner made a statement in support of Jose recently, the expectation of top 4 was still there & that no assurance had been given behind the scenes to Jose that that expectation had been dispensed with even if there are now misgivings/an acceptance by the board/owner that the roster is deficient. Hence the on-going quandary for Jose now regarding selection. I wish that the board would privately tell Jose that he should now experiment as much as he likes and that the roster will be seriously looked at in January and come the end of the season with a view to making some wholesale changes.

The downside being that we probably won't attract that top tier player if we miss out on top 4.

The downside being that we probably won't attract that top tier player if we miss out on top 4.

 

well...I don't know...I think a lot of top players would still like to play under Jose if given the chance.

well...I don't know...I think a lot of top players would still like to play under Jose if given the chance.

Or we start offering insane wages to beat competition? Who knows...

The downside being that we probably won't attract that top tier player if we miss out on top 4.

I think we will. We have the pedigree to bounce back immediately - we are the countries best European team over the last decade, you don't lose that sort of reputation and standing overnight.

Agree with some of the posts above.

Seems at present we are not direct, and want to keep passing the ball around,

No wingers getting crosses in (hardly surprising as Dave is on the wrong side, and Ivan can't cross) and no tempo. Too many passes and lack of commitment (not right word but can't think of a better one) from too many players.

Hope JM can turn it around.

Seems at present we are not direct, and want to keep passing the ball around,

No wingers getting crosses in (hardly surprising as Dave is on the wrong side, and Ivan can't cross) and no tempo. Too many passes and lack of commitment (not right word but can't think of a better one) from too many players.

 

We can't play direct (i.e. like Liverpool did yesterday with Benteke) without a specialist target man (which i'm sorry, Diego isn't). Unless the board intervened then Mourinho is accountable for that imo (Benteke went to Liverpool, Dzeko to Roma, Mandzukic to Juventus). If you look at most successful teams in the Premier League they had a target man in the squad. We have Falcao ffs. Perhaps we should look at Pelle (ironically who we were linked with before he joined Southampton).

Edited November 1, 201510 yr by the special one

Atmosphere seem pretty sh*t today even before things went wrong, do we get a different clientele for these early kick offs or do we all need a skin full to cheer our team on?

Not another armchair fan complaining about the atmosphere, they certainly wouldn't have heard you cheering not matter how loud you shout at the tele.

I really need to turn off the sound when I watch EPL games in future, some of the commentary I heard was beyond my simple mind:

 

One said - Sakho/Skretel really should have tested Costa's kidney there, just to show him they are there.

Next - it's a yellow card offence, but it's NOT serious, it doesn't deserve a sent off

Best one - I find it disgraceful when players surround referee to get their fellow professional sent off.. F* me, where were you last week when Westham did that to us?

 

There's no excuse for the way we played the game after the first 5 minutes, we all anticipated an ugly game but Jose took it to another level. Having said that, the non sent off was a turning point of the match. I wouldn't say we will win playing against 10, we had 30 minutes against 10 men Stoke and did f* all, but we would have got at least a 1 point out of it ( as pathetic as it is).  We aren't getting any change from the referee at all, my theory is they will keep doing it until Jose makes that apology, get sacked, or resign.

Not another armchair fan complaining about the atmosphere, they certainly wouldn't have heard you cheering not matter how loud you shout at the tele.

Lol wind your neck in will ya!

I can assure you I'm far from an armchair fan though you are correct as I was watching the game from my couch Saturday.

I don't need to explain my loyalties to you or my history re Chelsea fc, all I was saying is the atmosphere seemed very muted on Saturday and whether it was down to it being an early kick off. Maybe it's the placing of the microphones by sky that made it come across that way.

As soon as Liverpool scored their second - while they were still celebrating - the whole stadium were on their feet singing Carefree.  I don't know what more we could do.  As I said, the atmosphere was fine - much better than some games I've been to.

Atmosphere was fine - only issue is clowns walking out 15 minutes before the end.

Atmosphere was fine - only issue is clowns walking out 15 minutes before the end.

 

That's really disgraceful IMO.

 

I understand their anger to see us losing, but they should have stayed and supported the team regardless of the score.

That's really disgraceful IMO.

 

I understand their anger to see us losing, but they should have stayed and supported the team regardless of the score.

I hate it. I've paid a lot of money this season to have the seat I have and I wouldn't dream of walking out that early. There's people not fortunate enough to get tickets and they would bite your hand off for a chance to go so it is really disgusting seeing people walk out.

Can any one point to a save of significance that Bergo had to make till we where down 2-1 and had to go for it?

A half chance on the turn was the best they had. It wasn't bergo making stunning saves. 

We had control of the game. The difference was that on the day , Courtinio who is their go to guy came up with two moments of magic. Are go to guys are still on holiday, each and every one of them

 

Sorry Barak got to disagree big time. 

 

We didn't have control of the game at all, you're highlighting the lack of saves from Begovic but we ourselves only mustered 2 shots on target for the whole game... Including the goal that was scored within the first 5 minutes. 

 

Against West Ham we only managed 4 shots on target. 

Against Aston Villa only 3 on target. 

Against Southampton only 3 on target. 

 

The attacking displays from everyone are well below the levels expected. 

As soon as they equalised, I said I couldn't see us scoring again.

As soon as they equalised, I said I couldn't see us scoring again.

 

And why would you? We've averaged just 1 goal per game in our last six matches. 

 

Considering our starting attackers costs £20/30m upwards each it's ridiculous how little they are creating from open play right now. 

And why would you? We've averaged just 1 goal per game in our last six matches. 

 

Considering our starting attackers costs £20/30m upwards each it's ridiculous how little they are creating from open play right now. 

Exactly.  I meant looking at our display specifically on Saturday though - I was hoping, as I have been at the start of every match,  that "this will be where we turn the corner".