Most touches on the pitch?

 

Azpi. Says it all. He's so limited at LB.

 

Not oscars biggest fan but think Willian Fab Matic and Mikel have all offered less this half.

Would also be inclined to risk baba rahman at left back to stretch them even if he is weak at defending

What a pathetic half of football. What do we spend our time practicing? Can't string a few passes together and always going backwards under little pressure.

Need to get Hazard on for Matic and start attacking. We're just waiting for them to score as it is at the moment.

Costa did absolutely nothing at the end there, just another example of opposition players and fans moaning and the ref falling for it. so f**king sick of it.

 

Where is the performance we had against Arsenal ? We attacked Arsenal, why are we playing so cautiously against Watford ? 

I don't think this tactic will work with Costa under Guus. He's more calm now.

Very true the halftime whistle came at a great time so hopefully Guus has calmed him down and realized he needs to put on Haz and RLC

What a surprise BT lead on the crimes of Costa to start their punditry.

It really annoys me, he says its gona end up a red card as all the other times.... What other times ffs

We still have Traore on the bench.

I'd actually like to see him on but only if we aren't going to punt balls at him.

Get hazard on and take matic off push fabregas in the

Midfield with mikel

That's exactly what I been saying since the line ups were released!  Poor - very poor line up that we have!  No width and no attacking threat!  Manager is s$%t!

The biggest mystery to me is why we seem to be the only team that plays a right footed wingback in lb position. Azpi is wasted down that flank and we can't stretch them 100% for this reason.

Where is the performance we had against Arsenal ? We attacked Arsenal, why are we playing so cautiously against Watford ? 

 

Maybe it was a case of getting Arsenal at a good time. They're in a poor run of form so maybe tonight we're playing a team who whilst maybe aren't better, are more up for it.

 

Maybe it's a case that Guus hasn't been tested in any real way yet and now we are, we're struggling.

Come back from break the first thing they talk about is Costa

Costa to score....

Come on lads ffs, win this game! We need it.

That's exactly what I been saying since the line ups were released! Poor - very poor line up that we have! No width and no attacking threat! Manager is s$%t!

He's lost one game as Chelsea manager, get a grip

No changes at half time.

Hahahaha that Costa smile

Come on you Blues! I'd love for Costa to score in front of our fans.

no changes yet......

ooooh mikel

OH MY MIKEL

Ohhhh almost!

Fabregas is not the issue

Having Matic and Mikel in the team just doesnt suit him, he has to play further forward and doesnt get on the ball as often.

 

Ordinarily it would be fine (he didn't have a problem against Arsenal after all).

 

I'm unsurprised to see the usual histrionics and finger-pointing in the matchday thread (this isn't directed at you personally) but today I think the problem is tactical. We are simply failing to deal with their diamond midfield and also failing to exploit the inherent weaknesses that formation possesses (note how Ivanovic has seemed almost entirely untroubled during the first half - perhaps because he has no direct opponent as they have no left winger).

 

We are getting overrun in midfield because we are outnumbered rather than because anyone playing there is useless or not putting in the effort. When we're off the ball they are having to deal with three (or four) players coming directly at them with little support from further forward; the fact that we've only conceded three shots on target (one of which was a header from a cross, another a shot from distance) is testament to the fact that they've coped fairly well. In addition, neither of them are giving the ball away particularly often. Another problem is that Fabregas, our best creator by far, is playing further forward and thus suffering even worse from the outnumbering (in addition to the fact that Watford are playing with two defensive midfielders) isn't really getting on the ball much.

 

Our problem going forward is that our style is inherently cramped in terms of width because we have two right-footed players playing on the left, one of whom is not a naturally attacking player at all, and the other of whom is not used to playing wide. They are happy to let Azpilicueta have the ball (he has had 57 touches so far, the most of any player on the pitch - our next most involved player is Matic with 41), who is a) playing on the wrong side, and b) not a particularly attacking player to begin with.

 

If we are going to exploit Watford's weaknesses there is one change we need to make immediately - Rahman on for Azpilicueta. My next move would be to try and get Fabregas on the ball more, however the only ways of doing that is to either move him backwards (which won't work because we're already getting overrun in the middle even with two more defensively-minded midfielders and a more defensively-minded full-back) or move him wide (which seems bizarre and will rob us of pace). Therefore I think we're going to have to sacrifice him - bring him off for Hazard and move Oscar inside; it will put more pressure on their midfield and give us far more attacking options down the left. In addition we will retain our two DMs who will be crucial in covering for Rahman.

 

--------------------------Courtois

 

Ivanovic--------Zouma--------Terry----------Rahman

 

-------------------Mikel----------Matic

 

----------Willian---------Oscar---------Hazard

 

----------------------------Costa

RB at LB is so arrgghhh

Mikel 

Is Oscar got his touch right there, he would have scored.

Guus will only make changes after they score. How can you not make changes at HT after that awful performance?