I know that defeat against Spurs hurts, and I’ve seen people being harsh to our players. I think it’s fair to say that they were all below their standards today. Why it happened against Spurs, Arsenal and Liverpool and not against Unite, Everton or many lower profile teams is something we need to figure out. Maybe it’s because our team is physically not up to it and maybe we need a few reinforcements. Conte said they are working on it, so no doubt we’ll soon see what they will do about it!

For now, we're still five points clear at the top and the fixture list gives us every chance to extend our lead soon. There’s also the FA Cup to play for, where the 8th trophy for us would put us above Liverpool. And honestly, this one defeat is nothing in comparison to the great achievement of 13 successive victories! They can have this one night if we can have the one in May ;)

No surprise that commentary from martin Tyler was so pro-Spurs tonight...made it sound like they had created chance after chance, when they had just two efforts on target...and created very little else.

Edited January 5, 20179 yr by The Brit

Drunk on a Wednesday night. Screw u Spurs

1 hour ago, DonAntonio said:

Who complained about the formation? Having 2 short guys on the back post is obviously a problem they exposed it twice in a day, although Jose left on not great terms do you think he might of known what he was talking about sometimes since he is one of the best managers in the world? Joses problem is people management not as a tactician, tactics he is one of the very best in the business, hence all his trophies,  We have identified a problem area, tottenham identified it now everyone else will see it, expect plenty of crosses from the right to the back post.  Conte had a shift around and got it almost right 1st time after Arsenal, you don't change a winning formula, but now that's 4 goals conceded in 2 games from balls coming in the box, when you identify an issue you tweak the squad to address it and he will. 

We'll have to disagree about Mourinho. Surely being a tactical genius he would have used this strategy when we played them. I don't think there's an issue with the squad at CB. Zouma is about to shake off the rust in the FA Cup and then we have a solution for this. Or Conte makes a tactical adjustment. 

Moses is learning everyday at WB. I think Conte can take him to a top level. He's played how many matches at WB? 20? Maybe Conte figures putting Willian ahead of Moses is better than having Pedro there. Maybe Zouma is better suited than dave at RCB sometimes. 

It's 1 out of 14, Conte was outdone today, he can make adjustments without buying new players there. I'm all for getting him what he needs, I just think it's a knee jerk reaction to say those two couldn't get it done tonight so we need to change the squad. Those two are very good players, Moses on the up and Dave at his peak.

Part of how Conte adjusts to this is what will determine if he sticks around long term and hopefully he thinks the solution to this issue can be handled internally. IMO those two positions are two of the least urgent spots we need to buy for. 

Edited January 5, 20179 yr by TheChelseaBlues

I suppose it wouldnt be a bad idea to make a little change in the team for the next game now i wouldnt mind seeing Kurt come in to daves postion and let dave play has the rwb and start using moses has more of an attacking option.....

4 minutes ago, Womble said:

I suppose it wouldnt be a bad idea to make a little change in the team for the next game now i wouldnt mind seeing Kurt come in to daves postion and let dave play has the rwb and start using moses has more of an attacking option.....

I don't think Dave offers enough going forward for him to play there regularly. Maybe ideally it's split between the two. Moses if we want to be more attacking there, Dave more defensive. 

Zouma sliding into that spot is brilliant too IMO. He's made to play in a back 3, before the injury at least. It would be nice to have Dave there to back him up as well top play in matches more suited to him 

Very poor performance, at least now we can see Zouma get into the team, Conte can now drop Cahill and give Hazard the captains armband.

We need to bounce back against Leicester and could pull further clear as Liverpool and Man City have difficult games next. Leicester and Hull are good games for us to get back to winning ways, and put this game behind us.

I hate losing to the Tater Tots more than anything.  However, it was eventually going to happen and it's better to now focus on the title race.  

On a side note, for the past several years I have not liked Cahill.  He is a really, really poor man's Terry and just doesn't do anything for us.  I think Zouma should get a run at Cahill's spot for the next couple of games.  

7 hours ago, timetowaste said:

What an embarrassing performance, Pedro put in the worst performance of any player in the premier league this season.

He wasn't even our worst player last night Moses, Kante, Costa, Alonso, Cahill were much worse, What game were you watching? he was our best player in the 2nd half, 1st half he was terrible, but was much much better 2nd half

Edited January 5, 20179 yr by pacquiao

9 minutes ago, TrueBlueSeaFC87 said:

I hate losing to the Tater Tots more than anything.  However, it was eventually going to happen and it's better to now focus on the title race.  

On a side note, for the past several years I have not liked Cahill.  He is a really, really poor man's Terry and just doesn't do anything for us.  I think Zouma should get a run at Cahill's spot for the next couple of games.  

Ive been on that train too. For 85% of the matches we play Cahill will do, its that top 15% he isnt enough for. 

We gave Erikson way too much time on the ball for both goals and the marking on Dili Dali (soon to be at  Real no doubt)was awful.Kante had his worst  game fo us and his distribution was woefull.Willian should have started imo.We have won 13 on the trot so i will not be over critical.Good chance to see some fringe players and youth v Posh and rest some for a tough game at Leicester.....UP THE CHELS !

This one really really hurts. Thank God we have a cushion of 5pts but losing in that manner was very worrying. Shaky at the  back, out muscled in midfield and Hazard and Costa not firing up top. 

Tottenham has no answer against Utd yet had every answer last night. The record doesn't bother me at all, what bothers me is how we will fare against Arsenal and Liverpool, who are capable of doing more damage than Spurs.

I really think Conte needs to dip in the transfer window. Sign a LWB and I also think we need a superstar like Griezman although that will  be in the summer.

We really need to defeat Leicester. 

 

Dont think it was as sh*t a performance as some make it out to be. Yes we lost 2-0 but its not like they dominated the full 90. Spurs away is ome of the toughest grounds to play and we just won 13 in a row. Main reason we lost was because we werent sharp enough. Hazard had a couple of huge misses, he sinks either one and its a different game. Kanté had a terrible performance, but I think that had more to do with the fact that Wanyama had   possibly the best game of his life. He dominated that central midfield. Cahill once again was poor against a top side. He gives the opposition way too much time on the ball and is so scared of getting beat he would rather back pedal and try and block a shot/cross then actually close the oppoment down. We got a scare innthevopening minutes when Eriksen fired just wide and then on Allis second it was on full display with Eriksen hetting all the time in the world to put in a cross Cahill two yards off, back turned and legs in the air.

All in all we have seen this before and the issues should be well known to Conte by now. He says he is working on it and I trust he will get it right. Still a long way to go, but I still think we sre in an excellent position to win the title come may.

what about wanyama last night, c**t was everywhere

he's been fairly decent this season but ofc he turned into maka mk2 against us

 

lets be honest they are a very good team,we were not  outplayed and if hazad had put that header away then who knows.

if anyone had said after the arsenal game that we would be 5 points clear in the new year we would have had them certified .

time to dust ourselves down and go again

 

Matic has done so much offensive job this season so far, but defensively - ZERO. Conte put him on the pitch with the idea to protect Eriksen area - he didn't even try to block him. We conceded 3 similar goals in 2 matches because he wasn't there and his positioning was so bad. I do understand why Cesc was out - he cannot compare physically to spuds players and his defensive skills are low. But I think it's time to admit that Matic is exactly the same type. 

1 hour ago, Hemel Blue said:

We gave Erikson way too much time on the ball for both goals and the marking on Dili Dali (soon to be at  Real no doubt)was awful.Kante had his worst  game fo us and his distribution was woefull.Willian should have started imo.We have won 13 on the trot so i will not be over critical.Good chance to see some fringe players and youth v Posh and rest some for a tough game at Leicester.....UP THE CHELS !

 

Was coming on to say exactly that. 

Woke up this morning hoping it had been a bad dream. But on the night we were poor and Spurs were more up for it - no doubt revenge for the last two games. Frustrating as first 40 minutes, although we weren't great, we had kept them pretty quiet, despite their midfield dominance. Neither Kane or Ali looked a threat and then we allow Erikson way too much space not just once but twice with Ali producing the same outcome.

Hard to be too critical following the fantastic run. After the disaster of last season, didn't think we would be in the position we are now so don't want to be too harsh on the players after one bad performance. BUT it was Spurs and it's hard to take players not being at 100% for such a big game. The whole defence was poor and Dave had his worse game I can remember. Kante put in his usual energetic performnce but looked more like Ramires last night as he gave the ball away so often. Early on you could see it wan't going to be Pedro's night - bit of a headless chicken. And our two big-game players Costa & Hazard just didn't get into it. Costa wasn't able to dominate the Spurs defence and Hazard was very in & out. Looked like he wanted to come off in the second half and was very sluggish - then he would have the occasional burst and beat a player or two. But just not enough by anyone last night and disappointing from Conte to leave the changes so late.

Will write it off as a just one of those bad days and we have had so many good ones we'll have to take it on the chin and just hope we bounce straight back. 

 

Gutted to lose to Tottenham but hey-ho sh*t happens. Can someone correct me if I'm wrong "did Spuds win the Premiership last night?" The over reaction of their rascal fans is ...well over to top to say the least. Fair play they took their two chances and we where below par but the way there brain dead fans are going on,let's not mention they ain't won a Mecca since 1991, won't bring up they've not won or challenged for a title since 1961. They beat us Doh. I expect there will be loads of them missing work today to attend the "we beat Chelsea victory parade in Norf London.

For us a bad day at the office we move on COYB

Gutted. Just gutted.

It's important not to overreact about last night. Granted we were poor and barring a ten minute spell after half time we were second best for 80 of the 90 mins.

However, we're 5 points clear in an extremely competitive league having just won 13 games in a row, which bar one or two occasions historically has never been done and there's a reason why. The things teams in the Premier League struggle most with is consistency, as it's so unpredictable and much more competitive than most other leagues. There's a reasons teams such as Barca, Real, Bayern, Juve walk their leagues, because the divide in class is much higher between their lower teams than our lower ones. As much as I and all other Chelsea fans can't stand them, Spurs are a good team with exciting players & a top manager who will be there or thereabouts come the end of the season. We went and lost at a ground we have struggled at in recent times but that's the nature of football.

What's important now is that Antonio doesn't allow the players to dwell on one result. And based on the reaction after we lost back to back to Liverpool & Arsenal, I don't think he will. This is the biggest test of his Chelsea side. Barring two results we've breezed this season far more than any of us expected. A year ago we were in a relegation dog fight, now we're 5 points clear after a summer where we missed out on key transfer targets and we were debating whether we'd even make the top 4?

Last night was a blip, if we lose to Leicester and drop points at Liverpool & Arsenal, then we should be concerned but I don't think that will. Have faith in our players who've performed so well and a tactically astute manager whom we are lucky to have. In Antonio & Chelsea we trust!

11 minutes ago, Batshuayi said:

It's important not to overreact about last night. Granted we were poor and barring a ten minute spell after half time we were second best for 80 of the 90 mins.

 

It's also good to remember that Pochettino have been able to work with his Tottenham team for almost three seaons now. Conte have been with us for half a year, he's had one handicapped transfer window and we are using a formation no player in our squad had played in before this season. We were bound to have slip ups, no PL-team have ever reached 14 wins in a row ever, we are the only team along with Arsenal fifteen years back to get to 13.

We are still in a fantastic position and we can still cope with pretty much any PL-team. In theory we have no business being the runaway leaders this season and yet we are. Conte is doing a fantastic job and i'm sure we'll be back on track soon enough. I think we can clinch the title this season, it will be tough with five teams closing us but we can do it, and next season we should be ever better.

Its very hard to be critical of a team thats just won 13 out of 14 games, the run was always going to end but naturally, we all wanted it to continue and not lose to the Spuds.

Somehow, anytime we got into a good position we ended up giving away the ball and it was usually via a terrible pass, the players just werent on it.

The first 10 mins of both halves we dominated and had the 2 most clear cut chances, unfortunately both fell to hazard who should have buried the header, IMO, he must of shut his eyes and expected a clattering from Lloris, a braver player like Diego would have buried that chance.

Its nearly impossible to pick a MOTM, I think Courtois was poor for the 2nd goal, Azp was solid enough but Alli scores from his side of the back 3 twice. Luiz, again, nothing great, Cahill was very poor and it showed when he hauled down Eriksen and they nearly scored from the resulting free kick.

Moses, got caught on the 1st goal by playing everyone onside while the back 3 stepped up. Kante had his worse game for us, he couldnt find a chelsea player all night. Matic got by passed all to easily. Alonso, was like Pedro, full of go but didnt produce anything and probably cost us the 2nd by lunging in on Walker instead of standing up before he pushed it off to Eriksen.

Pedro was shocking but was working hard for the team. Hazard had an invisibility cloak on and barely got into the game, missing 2 clear cut chances in the process. Costa had 2 efforts but off target that he should have done better with but he wasnt supported enough.

I think Conte has to make the Cesc sub either directly after Allis 2nd or on the 60th min mark, at that stage we needed something to unlock Spurs and throwing him on at nearly the 80th min mark was no good for us.

Still, Spuds were well up for it and looked like a dangerous side, we got caught out twice and were punished for it, the real test of this sides resolve and mental capacity is coming up as we travel away to Leicester on Saturday week, win there and we'll go 8 clear of Liverpool who have to play Utd at Old Trafford on the Sunday. Put it this way, I'd rather be in our poistion looking down, than fawning at a Chelsea loss and looking up at a huge gap.

KTBFFH

Edited January 5, 20179 yr by Delnino

After 13 wins we had to lose at some point, so it was Spurs oh well. We are still 5 points clear and have Leicester and Hull next before Anfield. By that point our lead could be even bigger and the boys will have a deserved rest ahead of the Fa Cup.

yeh who knows the lead over liverpool could be 7-8 points by time we face liverpool.

12 hours ago, JMaher94 said:

It does work against the top teams however, you need to play with 352 instead of 343 as you're left quite exposed in the middle. If we had Nainggolan (for example) in midfield tonight then we'd have been able to bully Spurs mid. That's why Conte wants to change to it.

I think that's an important point.

People are saying we're playing 3-5-2, but it's not really.

It's 3:

Dave Luiz Cahill

4:

Moses Matic Kante Alonso

3:

Pedro

Costa

Hazard

 

With the 2 "wingbacks" up and down the field, that leaves us with just 2 people in the centre and against a side that floods the middle or just has dominant players, they will struggle.

 

If we played with a 3-5-2 or 3-5-1-1, that would leave us with 3 in the middle and more capable of coping in those circumstances.

Eg.

3:

Dave Luiz Cahill

5:

Moses Fabregas Kante Matic Alonso

2:

Hazard Costa

 

It does of course mean we can't make a space for Pedro or Willian to start as well, but against the better sides where it will be a battle in the middle of the park, it might be more important to dominate that area and sacrifice a bit of space up front. We'd have to adjust the way we play in those games as well, since we wouldn't have the extra pace to spring as many counter attacks