Yep. But look at the starting line up today. Would you bet on Matic, Pedro, Traore, Oscar and RLC starting against West Ham? I certainly wouldn't. Our strongest XI just isn't ready yet

Incidentally, where was Cesc ?

Suspended

Seems Madrid got the hair dryer treatment after their 3-1 defeat to PSG, they were up for it in the first half as reflected by the intensity of their performance. Just a shame we couldn't deal with the pressure better, I don't think 4-4-2 helped in that respect as Oscar and Matic were outnumbered on the transition. 4-4-2 can work against the likes of Burnley, not City/United.

 

Our wingers didn't work hard enough in the first half, which is required with 4-4-2. Conte will have learned a lot today in defeat.

Suspended Ah yes of course - cheers

Edited July 30, 20169 yr by bjd

is costa injured again

is costa injured again

 

back pains stopped him from training, so Conte said he never selects players who he has not seen training before a game.

Shocking first-half. Luckily they took pity on us and gave their kids a run out second-half.

 

No-one came out with any credit before half-time. Not sure where this leaves Loftus-Cheek. Or Oscar. Or Pedro. Traore was lucky to stay on. 

 

I'd swap Matic for Matuidi anyday. 

 

At least Cuadrado, Chalobah and Moses stepped up second half and Hazard looks like he's enjoying himself again.

 

Still a month to go with the transfer window. Hopefully the Board will come through for Conte. 

Oh and this whole Loftus-Cheek as a striker nonsense has to stop. Play him properly or don't play him at all.

Seems he doesnt have the quality Conte wants to see in a midfielder so he wants to try him in other positions before making a decision.

Loftus cheek is so overrated

Loftus cheek is so overrated

I dont think so. He is a good player, considering his age, he might be struggling with us changing managers every now and then but i know he will still come good.

my biggest fear with rlc is that three managers have deemed him not fit enough for a midfield role. if he hasn't managed to muster up his fitness to an adequate level now i doubt he'll be able to do it in the future. it's not like he hasn't lived like a pro athlete for many years already, with stamina probably being one of his main focus areas all those years. the fact that conte plays him 'out of position', or what we believe is out of position anyway, is at least a testament that conte has taken a good look at rlc in training which could bode well for our future youth players.

 

as for the match it's still early days fitness and tactics wise, along with a very very whistle loving refree who broke up a lot of our rythm i felt. i actually like the look of traore a lot even though he didn't produce the goods. he's lightning quick and has good technique. on top of that he works like a true champ all game long. against both liverpool and real today he slotted in as a fifth midfielder in defense as long as he was on the pitch. conte will probably love that intensity from him. also liked batshuayi's presence out there, even though it was pretty obvious that he at times was a man among boys. he also seemed more technically gifted than what i feared before we signed him (given that the reports on him were of a very raw player). having him slotting in right behind costa (or another striker) could maybe work.

 

i also do think that football nowadays is played at such speeds that you need some sort of pace, especially in the back line. the cahill and terry pairing is severly lacking in that department imo. getting zouma back on his feet and hopefully another quality cb in is an absolute must, as most have pointed out. having a quicker defense would also allow for a higher defensive line and thus allowing us to press further up the pitch.

 

i look forward to our next game and hope we can build on our second half today, and maybe have conte come one step closer to figuring out our best xi for west ham.

Edited July 30, 20169 yr by opinionsarelike

2nd half a vast improvement, a lucky deflection, a real god goal from marcello, and a worldy, whats to worry...

"It's just a pre season game guys no need to lose it" - everyone in the Liverpool game thread. Seems like that tone has changed...

Also, will say it again Cuadrado > Willian

Just cant get my head around RLC as a striker sh*t.

He is not a striker - LET IT GO.

Why the hell is he starting but Batshuayi is not, is BEYOND me.

Pedro and Oscar with the type of performances that befits them perfectly.

Matic has probably been the worst chelsea player in the pre-season. God bless that we have Kante.

Chalobah has been good feeding off the scraps. Should have started instead of Oscar who is even more rubbish as a CM than as a No. 10 which is saying something.

Moses has shown that he deserves his oppurtunity to play for us. 

 

1. The season is getting closer and I have to say that, We are still very un-prepared.
2. For me our first team: Tibo;azpi,GC,JT,aina;Kante,Cesc;Willian,Costa,Batshuayi,Hazard have not once played together due to injuries/vacations/some weird reason Conte keeps playing RLC as a striker.
3. Pedro, Oscar, Mikel are still in our roster
4. Our defence can still only defend the box but the high press is going to kill them each game. Still a lot of gap between midfield and defence. Would love to see how Kante fairs with us just to see if its a matic related issue or a system related issue. 

We were doing ok until the first goal, most of the team apart from the front 4 were doing ok. RLC, Traore and Willian killed everything in the final 3rd though. The right wide was weak af too. We looked a little tired too so maybe all the training and playing with 10 men is catching up with us.

 

We're yet to see our first 11 play together, and what our first 11 is may change in the next few weeks so I'm looking forwards to seeing what that is like from an attacking perspective. 

A game of fits and starts....friendly or not we are only a couple of weeks away from our opening game and what I saw tonight defensively was not filling me with any confidence.  Two aging central defenders, a defensive midfield disaster name Matic (who I would flog for lots of cash to Juve in an instant) and attackers running into blind alleys time and time again in the first half.  The 2nd half saw an improvement but lets not kid ourselves, RM were giving the kids a run out including the goalkeeper, but you can only play what's in front of you.  Oscar and RLC were completely MIA.....anyway I guess things can only improve, because after all that's is what pre-season is all about...improvement...shame we didn't see any evidence of that today.

"It's just a pre season game guys no need to lose it" - everyone in the Liverpool game thread. Seems like that tone has changed...

Erm, no it hasn't

Erm, no it hasn't

Ummm, yes it has lol. And weren't you the person who was calling everyone dickheads because of it?

Didn't see the game and have only watched brief highlights but looks like everything came down the right hand side with Aina, Traore, Cahill and Willian all massively at fault for goals.

Bit of a wake up call that this is still a set of players who finished 10th last season and I think we definitely need another two new players to be competitive this season.

Ummm, yes it has lol. And weren't you the person who was calling everyone dickheads because of it?

I've remained consistent in my view that it's very hard to read anything into pre season friendlies.

And at the risk of going old school on you, I've been on this forum (in its varies guises) for nearly 20 years and not once have I called anyone a 'd**khead'.

I've remained consistent in my view that it's very hard to read anything into pre season friendlies.

And at the risk of going old school on you, I've been on this forum (in its varies guises) for nearly 20 years and not once have I called anyone a 'd**khead'.

Apologies, I'm mistaken. It was someone else with a similar screen name.

 

You probably have, but there were more 'it's only a pre-season game' comments in the Liverpool thread than there are in this one.

Didn't see the game and have only watched brief highlights but looks like everything came down the right hand side with Aina, Traore, Cahill and Willian all massively at fault for goals.

Bit of a wake up call that this is still a set of players who finished 10th last season and I think we definitely need another two new players to be competitive this season.

 

Aina had a decent game, he lost the ball on the wing for the first goal, but we had plenty of cover in behind with Willian, Cahill and Matic.

 

Begovic whilst not at fault for any of the goals, he looked a bit rusty.

 

Matic, Cahill and Terry all looked slow, don't think we can afford to play all three together, not for now anyway.

 

The goals came from RM pressing us in possession, they always had between one and three players pressing the ball holder.

I understand it's a pre-match party with lots of booze and food in the parking lot near the stadium. It's supposed to be great fun.

They are, lived in the US for 10 years and can honestly say, it's the best part of an American "football" game

Shocking first-half. Luckily they took pity on us and gave their kids a run out second-half.

 

No-one came out with any credit before half-time. Not sure where this leaves Loftus-Cheek. Or Oscar. Or Pedro. Traore was lucky to stay on. 

 

I'd swap Matic for Matuidi anyday. 

 

At least Cuadrado, Chalobah and Moses stepped up second half and Hazard looks like he's enjoying himself again.

 

Still a month to go with the transfer window. Hopefully the Board will come through for Conte. 

I do hope we don't have to endure much of Pedro this season

I will definitely post pictures for all of you!

Don't forget your promise, Ede!