Well you don't lose class, and i stick to what i always said, Cesc is the best Footballer at our club, sell him at our peril. 2 now for Costa, and Batman is up n running, oh and Liversh*te got turned over by the mighty Burnley, Beer n Curry will taste all the better...

We need to keep Fabregas locked under the stairs in Cobham, that magic is absolutely glorious.

Can't believe Coco called it 'a punt' upfield. That was inch perfect, carved open the the team. Fabulous pass.

 

 

Carved open the Watford team that was in our penalty area at the time.

Jesus, if you want to support a team that wins all the time I'm pretty sure you can follow Barça or Celtic. [emoji849]

Because we cannot ever wish Chelsea to be that consistent? Just because i want my club to be best in the world, i should go and support someone who is now?

Reign in this holier than thou attitude.

Because we cannot ever wish Chelsea to be that consistent? Just because i want my club to be best in the world, i should go and support someone who is now?.

Nope, I'm saying that support isn't about just about criticism but about celebrating when things don't go to plan. So many people on here are quick to jerk their knees. We shouldn't be Arsenal fans. [emoji13]

Reign in this holier than thou attitude.

[emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]

Holier than thou? Not in the least. Disagreeing isn't trying to show I'm better. [emoji57]

Nope, I'm saying that support isn't about just about criticism but about celebrating when things don't go to plan. So many people on here are quick to jerk their knees. We shouldn't be Arsenal fans. [emoji13]

[emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]

Holier than thou? Not in the least. Disagreeing isn't trying to show I'm better. [emoji57]

That may be your way at looking at but people are different. I am estatic with today's win but these wins should be more of a rarity than the norm.

Just speaking for myself but today we looked bereft of ideas with Oscar and Pedro. Ivan still in the squad grates me. However, nearly all of us saw this last year but no changes have been made in these areas. We won today by playing well the last 20 mins but it won't be like this every game. We will start losing/drawing because we cannot consistently keep winning in the 90th minute.

Looking at the longer picture, we will probably finish outside top 4 if nothing happens till the end of the transfer window.

What do you expect when youre team is not just playing terribly, but showing little desire?

Everyone to dress it up nicely?

Dress up nicely? Sell players, everyone is average and always been, Conte's honeymoon over, awful Chelsea and so on. Football match is 90mins and Conte just gave us a lesson of that fact. He clearly had plan B and C.

Dress up nicely? Sell players, everyone is average and always been, Conte's honeymoon over, awful Chelsea and so on. Football match is 90mins and Conte just gave us a lesson of that fact. He clearly had plan B and C.

The PLan C should have been Plan A, THAT is what most on here are saying.

It gets TIRING to watch the same sh*t players (Iva, Oscar, Pedro) underperform game after game after game. If its Hazard/Diego/Azpi, fans can understand them having a bad day. 

But most of us EXPECT a lot of the players in the team to actually get their asses kicked. And that my friend, is a sign of mediocrity.

Oh, Fabregas is magic, he wears a magic hat,

he could have signed for Arsenal, he said no f**k that.

He passes with his left foot, he passes with his right!

And when we win the Premier League, we’ll sing his song all night!”

having not read any of the previous posts because i like saturdays, i'll chime in with some of my opinions. feel free to disagree for further discussion.

 

- while it seems obvious that fabregas should start the next match, it's easy to forget that he came in after three very important moments of the game. 1. we were clearly all out, 2. we finally had someone who could relieve costa off of some pressure against 3 cb's and 3. we had ran watford into the ground and they were just trying to get something out of the game the last 20-25 minutes.

 

fabregas did fantastic, but comparing his working environment in midfield as opposed to oscars and matic' is comparing two different things all together in my opinion. however i do feel that fabregas should probably play more, but it needs to be ingrained in a healthy way. unfortunately our midfield two and three combinations all have pretty severe compromises, so interesting to see how conte solves it.

 

- conte and the squad are clearly reaping the benefits of a grueling fitness regime as well as drilling several formations. our 4-4-2 switch has now a 2/2 success completion, and even though we all disliked the formation in pre-season, i'd be curious to see how it'll work for 90 minutes given our fitness levels now compared to then. it's rare to see a manager get his end decision so on point in a new country so quickly.

 

- costa did great at scoring the winner, and i didn't think he did anything particularly wrong today, but he didn't have a good match in my opinion. he needs to be more of a focal point for the team. for all the grief we gave matic/oscar/kante for not putting him through first 70 mins, costa didn't exactly provide a good target to hit and when he got the ball he was more likely to lose it than find a team mate/goal.

 

- without willian (and sometimes with him) we completely lack an offensive right side. pedro is and will probably always be bang average and ivanovic doesn't seem to get his cross beyond the first defender. doing something here is completely necessary for the future, because as of now the opposition can basically shift their team 10-15 yards to the right to cover hazard and azpi and still get back and defend our right.

 

all in all a mediocre game with a great outcome. onwards and upwards, feel very positive about this season.

Lol the meltdown in here after the capoue goal.

Lol the meltdown in here after the capoue goal.

 

Very insightful.

Just seen the highlights on MOTD. That pass from Cesc was amazing, as I said after the West Ham game, he creates things out of nothing with passes like that.

Defence splitting pass on the counter, that's what we lack without him.

Bats getting a game is brilliant & he almost got a second.

Tibo should do better with theirs for me, it's the near post but not great defending.

Costa looks a lot fitter & lighter, reckon he would have been caught for the winner last season.

All in all a good win!

Also Gomes lol!

Let me know what your opinions are on these questions i have. Mazzarri played a 3 5 2. Something that we think Conte wants to play with us.

 

1. How much did Watford's loss have to do with their formation being a 3 man defense and us switching to a 2 striker system. Remember when we played 4-5-1 they had a 1 goal lead over us. It changed after the introduction of Cesc and Batshuayi (Can i just call him Ayiiii). As in was it the formation that worked to their disadvantage or just us being that good in the final quarter ?

 

2. Since Watford already plays in a 3 man defense, I know we are trying hard to get Koulibaly, but if Napoli ends up being stubborn, what about making a move for one of Watford's defenders? 

 

3. Should we go with a 2 striker formation more often now considering how it has helped us both times or should be start lone striker and make the change after 70th minute ? 

So just got home again...not sure why conte took so long to make pretty obvious Subs, but fcuk it, he made the changes and they came off..,again...two tests of character two wins...in some ways, more impressive than strolls city and Utd have had...we clearly need to improve, and buy, but we shouldn't moan too much...same situation last season, we'd be sitting on one point right now

So much better with Cesc on the park ahead of Matic. Can't understand Conte favouring Matic.

The choice is actually between Cesc and Oscar...and I can't believe that fraud has been picked ahead of Cesc...those two goals v Milan in pre-season was the worst thing to have happened to our preparations...it made conte fall for the Oscar bs

As great as it is that he is scoring, Costa has been poor both games and should be dropped.

What nonsense...if strikers score goals, you never drop them

Think people underestimate how much work had been done by Matic and Oscar before fab came on.

Also I think it's positive conte gives people like Pedro a go. That said prefer Moses.

Batman's decision making is not always perfect so I don't think he is quite ready to start yet. But great for the last 20-30. 1 goal, 1 assist already.

Just not many avenues to goal outside of Costa and hazard at the moment.

Edited August 21, 20169 yr by ozboy

Sure costa had some questionable moments, but tedious how media focus on him every game as the devil incarnate...no wonder he wants to fcuk off back to Spain

Carved open the Watford team that was in our penalty area at the time.

Weren't there about 6 or 7 Watford players in front of him when he made the pass and 4 who were directly taken out by it on the way to Costa. It was a fantastic pass. Beautifully weighted, through bodies and right into Costa's path.

not sure if anyone posted Don Antonio's post match interview but here it is

Poor performance and in all honesty - daylight robbery.

Conte's teamsheet was sh*t,

Oscar for Cesc again - Lol, what to say.

Pedro in the teamsheet was an abysmal choice.

Ivanovic still starts for some god forsaken reason.

Matic/kante were good.

Hazard was sublime.Cesc too in his cameo.

Diego was poor most of the game, but got the winner. But Michy deserves to start the next game.

All in all: lucky.

No offence but the luck notion always grates me.

Chelsea fans constantly demand for the players to keep going right until the end and when they do and get rewarded its dismissed as luck.

Im actually happy we have had two late winners already under Antonio because traditionally we have been awful with points saving late goals so if that's something that changes under Conte then ideal.

No offence but the luck notion always grates me.

Chelsea fans constantly demand for the players to keep going right until the end and when they do and get rewarded its dismissed as luck.

Im actually happy we have had two late winners already under Antonio because traditionally we have been awful with points saving late goals so if that's something that changes under Conte then ideal.

Fair enough.

But I used to say the same thing when united used to do it too.

Simply said, yes we have won 2 games, but I would rather see a comprehensive win and performance.

Also luck because we were lucky to be only 1-0 down because we were abysmal for 70 minutes.

Fair enough.

But I used to say the same thing when united used to do it too.

Simply said, yes we have won 2 games, but I would rather see a comprehensive win and performance.

Also luck because we were lucky to be only 1-0 down because we were abysmal for 70 minutes.

West Ham was comprehensive in terms of play, we totally dominated them and they scored from their only half chance, would have been a travesty if they nicked something from that.

Can't argue with you're assessment on today, but that also hasn't surprised me, Conte may be just what we need but he isn't going to totally erase last season's bolax overnight, if we are picking up three points while he blows off the cobwebs then that will put us in good stead. Also one thing to note is Italy were dogsh*t vs Sweeden in the Euros and won aswell, so hopefully Conte has a habit of winning when his teams are sh*t, because I think a few more displays like yesterday are still to come in the short term.