Stoke City Vs Chelsea (PL) 7/11/15 17:30GMT

[coombsie]

I think the game as a whole has changed and we haven't noticed. So many good value imports to be had, but we continue to shop sloppily. Our transfer policy has been shambolic, decisions no doubt made by a committee of faceless beuracrats. Jose's get-together after the Liverpool match was revealing. Who the hell are all these managers? 

 

 

I agree entirely, we have spent fortunes so very badly, especially on strikers. Additionally, the acquisition, stock-piling and continued loans of Europe's best young players who then fail to make the grade at Chelsea, should be questioned too.

This policy and the ridiculous signings that José refused or rejected, but still received is clearly down to Emanalo, so how come he NEVER gets criticised or threatened with the tin tack???

[claytonblue]

I agree entirely, we have spent fortunes so very badly, especially on strikers. Additionally, the acquisition, stock-piling and continued loans of Europe's best young players who then fail to make the grade at Chelsea, should be questioned too.

This policy and the ridiculous signings that José refused or rejected, but still received is clearly down to Emanalo, so how come he NEVER gets criticised or threatened with the tin tack???

Great point Emalano never trusted this fella; who failed as a player himself; yet he seems to have a say in the recruitment policy. Any recruitment policy thats has seen 34 recruited young players parked here there and everywhere abroad rather than those players pressing claims for a first team place is failing in its task. Not one of the 34 good enough; but I hear they all keep in touch on WhatsApp? or something. Emalano can jog on for me: useless.

[TheChelseaBlues]

Pretty sure that José gave the board a list including Stones, Pogba, Varane and Koke and got none of them. He is probably now pointing out to the same Board the problem this has given us:

Sorry but exactly are the Jose's required choices?

CB: Stones, Varane Marquinho, (January window?), Laporte ~35-40million pounds?

MF: Koke, Ruben Neves ~30-55million?

Attacker/CF: Griezmann ~50million?

How much are we spending in Jan? Then summer?

Cant buy players who arent for sale/dont want to come here

[The Leigh Limpet]

 

At the end of the day the title and maybe even top 4 has gone, so why not start thinking ahead to next season and sorting the problems out now.

 

Would'nt be in the least surprised if half of this seasons 'usual' starting 11 so far, wont be next season. No idea who will be signed, or possibly elevated from the reserves, academy etc, if any.

I just cant see everything 'gelling' at present, and us going on a long unbeaten run.

[Bobbywoodhogan]

People saying we had plenty of chances, loads of possession & really played well, No we did not, you do not win games with plenty & loads of Chances or Possession, it is goals that win matches, we never came near to scoring until Remy & Pedro appeared & then it was only two runs

by Remy that appeared to worry there defence, they looked comfortable all night long otherwise.

Alright we should of had a penalty, but the refs will give us nought because Jose antagonised them, infered they where incompetant, just because they are misguided, there was no need to go overboard like he did with attack on them, FA & the media, what he sowed, we are know reaping

the non-rewards, expect nought because that is what we are getting.

Yes, Chelsea ran around alot, had loads of passes but no forward penatration, we never got behind there defence to really put them under pressure, so they sat there & swatted all our attacks, they may have not deservered to win, but then again neither did we, flattered to decieve.

Completely agree with this

[lesblues]

I'm sure Jose called the shots putting last season's team together, bold moves that turned us into a title winning side. It's hard to believe he has had anything to do with our dealings since then.

Ah, why don't we just say Jose alone runs the club? When it was good, all credits to him but when its bad he wasn't involved?. Someday some of us are going to realize he's human not some omnipotent being.

Edited November 8, 2015 by lesblues

[coombsie]

It really does look as though the "S" word is going to be used a lot from now on. Yes the word is SURVIVAL because that is all that really matters this season now. Negative, yes, but that is how most of us feel right now. I couldn't give a flying f**k if we do not make the top 4 or win the Champions League, just as long as we do not have to suffer the ignominy of being bloody relegated. I cannot believe I even typed the R word, but our current form is just that, relegation form and we need to wake up NOW !!!

 

This thread is about the Stoke game, where once again we were second best. We CANNOT go on being second best if we are to survive. We are still 9 wins and two draws, 29 points from the magical 40 points that we are always told is the target to stay up. Anyone feel like putting their hard earned cash on that ???

The next four home games are Norwich, Sunderland, Bournemouth and Watford and quite frankly if we do not win all 4, with a trip to 3 Point Lane in there too, then things could get VERY dodgy indeed. We have a saying at work, ABT time.........It stands for Arsehole bites trousers, meaning getting very nervous indeed and for me ABT time has already started.

[Barry Bridges]

People saying we had plenty of chances, loads of possession & really played well, No we did not, you do not win games with plenty & loads of Chances or Possession, it is goals that win matches, we never came near to scoring until Remy & Pedro appeared & then it was only two runs

by Remy that appeared to worry there defence, they looked comfortable all night long otherwise.

Alright we should of had a penalty, but the refs will give us nought because Jose antagonised them, infered they where incompetant, just because they are misguided, there was no need to go overboard like he did with attack on them, FA & the media, what he sowed, we are know reaping

the non-rewards, expect nought because that is what we are getting.

Yes, Chelsea ran around alot, had loads of passes but no forward penatration, we never got behind there defence to really put them under pressure, so they sat there & swatted all our attacks, they may have not deservered to win, but then again neither did we, flattered to decieve.

We are now reaping? We got what, 3 penalties in all of last season league play? Remember the Sunderland match two seasons back. Amongst countless other examples.

We've been reaping this harvest for a long time mate, which has driven Mourinho's comments....not his comments driving the terrible officiating, as you suggest.

[coco]

Missing the bigger picture.

 

How many of these players will want to come to a club with no European exposure? Their agents will advise heavily against it for commercial reasons. We will be in a situation not unlike Liverpool and Spurs in recent years

 

Excuse me Sir, but it's nothing like the same situation as spurs and lpool, we don't fail year after year, we have won everything on offer in the last 3 years.

 

So the chances are we will bounce straight back into title contenders again very soon. We will be an attractive club to new signings, they will want to be part of the bounce back.

 

I admit that if we carry on like this into next season and the seasons to come, then yes we will struggle eventually to sign quality players, but not yet.

[Davey Baby]

Have to agree on that. For all the good Ramires does in tracking back, getting in tackles and having the energy and lungs of a marathon runner, I cannot recall a Chelsea player who miss places so many passes and gives the ball away as much. It is beyond bad.

 

And Costa? It has just got tiresome. Remy might not be the long-term answer but offered more in 15 minutes than Costa has done in 3 whole games.

 

It was painful again yesterday. Despite playing some decent football it looked like we lacked belief. I turned to my son at half-time atnd said we're gonna lose this

1-0. Hate being proved right but we huffed and puffed without ever looking convincing yet Stoke looked dangerous every time they broke. We are just so predictable and easy to defend against - we could still be out there now and we wouldn't have scored. 

 

So Jose, I think we must be at the stage where it isn't possible for us to win the league so lets try something different. Today the u 21's beat Liverpool 4-0. A goal each for RLC and Traore and a brace to Abraham. Let's see a couple of these lads (and /or Kenedy) starting matches and have Abraham on the bench. It's time for the likes of Costa and Ramires to sit it out.

 

Spot on.

 

We'll have to start calling you Nibsy Baby.

[icecoolguy22]

I'm feeling sympathetic rather than angry about how we played. I think it's the least deserving lose we had this season, although it didn't mean anything. I suppose we could have played Zouma at right back, Mikel/Matic in the holding roles and still lost, or got a boring 0:0. At least Jose picked an attacking team and we gave it a real good go, should have scored, should have got a penalty at the end, and their goal was coming from an offside player assisted the goal. How the hell C Adam didn't get carded or not a few more yellow on the day was beyond me. We played lot better, passing was accurate and with some pace, real downside was the shooting and lack of support from the fullbacks to add width. We just have to stay positive and keep playing attacking football, only way we could recover is by scoring goals, and more goals.

[Barry Bridges]

Excuse me Sir, but it's nothing like the same situation as spurs and lpool, we don't fail year after year, we have won everything on offer in the last 3 years.

 

So the chances are we will bounce straight back into title contenders again very soon. We will be an attractive club to new signings, they will want to be part of the bounce back.

 

I admit that if we carry on like this into next season and the seasons to come, then yes we will struggle eventually to sign quality players, but not yet.

We also, currently, have a manager capable of attracting top tier talent just with their name and track record alone.

 

I'd bet a pretty penny that without CL footy  Mourinho would still be able to bring in certain players we otherwise couldnt attract without CL football.

[The Brit]

People saying we had plenty of chances, loads of possession & really played well, No we did not, you do not win games with plenty & loads of Chances or Possession, it is goals that win matches, we never came near to scoring until Remy & Pedro appeared & then it was only two runs

by Remy that appeared to worry there defence, they looked comfortable all night long otherwise.

Alright we should of had a penalty, but the refs will give us nought because Jose antagonised them, infered they where incompetant, just because they are misguided, there was no need to go overboard like he did with attack on them, FA & the media, what he sowed, we are know reaping

the non-rewards, expect nought because that is what we are getting.

Yes, Chelsea ran around alot, had loads of passes but no forward penatration, we never got behind there defence to really put them under pressure, so they sat there & swatted all our attacks, they may have not deservered to win, but then again neither did we, flattered to decieve.

The irony is, the pisstake Jose made of utds style of play at the clubs end of season awards last may is exactly what we have become as a team...lots of passing and possession, but no goals

[Barry Bridges]

The irony is, the pisstake Jose made of utds style of play at the clubs end of season awards last may is exactly what we have become as a team...lots of passing and possession, but no goals

I think he was taking the piss of certain managers' mind frame that if they have the most possession and passing, they deserve the 3 points regardless of the score line......but its sad we've become that team in terms of playing style. 

[The Brit]

Sure but that clip he made of Utd just passing it around with no end product came into my mind the longer Saturday's game went on

[icecoolguy22]

We used up all the lucks at the end of last season grinding out 1:0, now we got no luck at all. 

 

On the football side, we are over complicating the game. It's simple, attacking players make runs, fullbacks overlapping, and once in a while you drill the ball into the box even if you don't have a team mate there already, it's called take a chance. We thought Pedro would bring something new with his channel running, now even he doesn't do that anymore, just another player want ball at feet and wonder aimlessly. 

[54veteran]

Our underlying problem has always been that we're trying to win CL and PL with the same squad, and we've fallen between two stalls. Ticky tacky Barca & co are now on another planet, and PL is full of very good, hard working players who didn't cost a fortune. If Leicester ,WHam and Palace are still top 10 by Xmas, you wonder whether our domestic game is undergoing a fundamental change.

The way we're buying/selling/loaning players suggests RA is treating them like racehorses, and is only interested in the bottom line. He'll have to learn the hard way

[Zola]

It's like the humility karma Gods have come for Jose.

We were not that bad against Stoke, but rather toothless.

We need 3 or 4 top signings...something we should have done in the summer.

[Zola]

Our underlying problem has always been that we're trying to win CL and PL with the same squad, and we've fallen between two stalls. Ticky tacky Barca & co are now on another planet, and PL is full of very good, hard working players who didn't cost a fortune. If Leicester ,WHam and Palace are still top 10 by Xmas, you wonder whether our domestic game is undergoing a fundamental change.

The way we're buying/selling/loaning players suggests RA is treating them like racehorses, and is only interested in the bottom line. He'll have to learn the hard way

Interesting post

reminded me of the well known quote "Hard work beats talent, when talent doesn't work hard"

[lesblues]

Our underlying problem has always been that we're trying to win CL and PL with the same squad, and we've fallen between two stalls. Ticky tacky Barca & co are now on another planet, and PL is full of very good, hard working players who didn't cost a fortune. If Leicester ,WHam and Palace are still top 10 by Xmas, you wonder whether our domestic game is undergoing a fundamental change.

The way we're buying/selling/loaning players suggests RA is treating them like racehorses, and is only interested in the bottom line. He'll have to learn the hard way

Now RA is to blame? He treats players like racehorses?. Sure, he bought pappy and never made him see the light of day. Sure, he isn't the one integrating youth into the senior squad. Stupid of him to have affiliated us with clubs like Vitesse so the youth can get match experience, should have just left them to rot in the reserves. Foolish owner, Should have stopped messing with transfer dealings since torres!

[54veteran]

Now RA is to blame? 

 

Probably, yes. It's where the buck stops

[coco]

Probably, yes. It's where the buck stops

 

.....and starts.

[EmeraldBlue]

Sick as a parrot. Hate football.