1 minute ago, DonAntonio said:

Need more steel in the middle of the pitch and proper wing backs, add in a classy forward on the right and we have everything we need

I think that nails the shopping list. Moses has been fantastic but he gets found out defensively - maybe he can improve, maybe not...

Just now, ashwin said:

So much doom and gloom :)

Top of the league and in a great position, all our rivals are struggling too and relatively we are due some bad performances. The team will evolve in the summer, I have no doubt. I will be concerned if we do not strengthen our midfield in the summer.

exactly! its a great performance for the year given last year and hardly any new players. We all want more and we probably need new players to do that most likely.

By the way, what a player we have in Kante. Almost take him for granted at times

Can someone explain how we extended our lead to 9 points?

Decent performance.

Good result. 

Excellent result in our rivals matches.

I'm happy.

KTBFFH 

2 minutes ago, buzzcfc said:

By the way, what a player we have in Kante. Almost take him for granted at times

if only he could pass!

Just now, ForeverCarefree said:

Decent performance.

Good result. 

Excellent result in our rivals matches.

I'm happy.

KTBFFH 

decent performance?

 

Come on now.

1 minute ago, buzzcfc said:

By the way, what a player we have in Kante. Almost take him for granted at times

He gives the ball away in dangerous areas though, if he works in that and his passing he is world class 

we got battered in the middle despite the heroics of kante, matic was the weak link,fabregas made the difference when he came on, start fab and pedro  on Saturday and all will be well on the fulham road.

1 minute ago, JM7 said:

Can someone explain how we extended our lead to 9 points?

 

We were 8 points ahead of Arsenal who lost, and Tottenham could only draw, so only go ahead of Arse on goal difference. So out point extended the lead to nine.

I thought we were unlucky not to take three points, but it's a decent result all things considered. 

We looked relatively comfortable defensively, made sensible decisions passing out against the high press. The three Liverpool chances I counted came from our sloppy passes in the final third, and all of those breakaways came with a deflection in their favour along the way.

I thought we looked threatening when we commited in attack, but between Pedro and Moses' half chances we really should've seen the ball in the net in open play. But I suppose you could argue Firmino's chances were on a similar scale, and we got the goal from a bit of class from Luiz, so it's not all bad. Costa's penalty miss is what it is, he earned it and there wasn't a better option on the pitch, it was a poor penalty but I can't criticize him for stepping up to take it on.

Kante was excellent, doubly so in the second half. I thought Costa and Matic also stood out in a tricky game to take a hold of.

There's definitely a bit of work to do on how our wingbacks position themselves when we sit deep, as we've conceded too many from a far post cross. I'm also reluctant to criticize Moses and Alonso, as they put in such incredible shifts every game, but its clearly a weakness our opponents are exploiting.

Now to look forward to the Arsenal game, Saturday can't come soon enough!

8 minutes ago, DonAntonio said:

Need more steel in the middle of the pitch and proper wing backs, add in a classy forward on the right and we have everything we need

I dont think we need more steel, but someone who can actually pass the ball. Cluld string together three passes in a row until Fab came on. Im not sure what people expect Haz and Costa to do when they are chasing shadows all came never receiving the ball in good positions. I lost track of the times Costa was chasing useless punts from out the back

1 minute ago, jamie#8 said:

decent performance?

 

Come on now.

I thought so. 

Liverpool barely threatened, all the best chances fell to us. We didn't need to chase a win, Liverpool did. They failed miserably at that and we stuck to our task and increased our lead at the top of the table. 

Pedro or Luiz should have taken the pen as soon as Costa stepped up I sensed he would miss

1 minute ago, spadefx said:

I thought we were unlucky not to take three points, but it's a decent result all things considered. 

We looked relatively comfortable defensively, made sensible decisions passing out against the high press. The three Liverpool chances I counted came from our sloppy passes in the final third, and all of those breakaways came with a deflection in their favour along the way.

I thought we looked threatening when we commited in attack, but between Pedro and Moses' half chances we really should've seen the ball in the net in open play. But I suppose you could argue Firmino's chances were on a similar scale, and we got the goal from a bit of class from Luiz, so it's not all bad. Costa's penalty miss is what it is, he earned it and there wasn't a better option on the pitch, it was a poor penalty but I can't criticize him for stepping up to take it on.

Kante was excellent, doubly so in the second half. I thought Costa and Matic also stood out in a tricky game to take a hold of.

There's definitely a bit of work to do on how our wingbacks position themselves when we sit deep, as we've conceded too many from a far post cross. I'm also reluctant to criticize Moses and Alonso, as they put in such incredible shifts every game, but its clearly a weakness our opponents are exploiting.

Now to look forward to the Arsenal game, Saturday can't come soon enough!

Matic!!

 

Honestly what are some people watching.

Good point in context of things considering Arsenal lost and Spurs drew however could of been a lot better had Costa scored but I guess we were being a bit too selfish. Still annoyed sometimes with how much we allow the opposition to have possession. We had our chances but it is as if the approach was not to lose. That is fine but we have seen how awful this Liverpool defence is and we could have tested them more. Luiz and Kante were brilliant. Kante won every challenge and his great work ethic nearly got us the winning goal when he laid off Pedro but he just missed the target. Luiz scored a magnificent goal and what a time to get it. However apart from that he bossed the game and won all his challenges. So glad he has proved his critics wrong and proved to be best defender this season.

 I see people say Hazard had a bad game. I agree he could have been better but he did earn the free kick which we scored from, won us a few free kicks to ease the pressure and considering he could not get the ball much because our tactic was to hit them on counter, was not too bad. It is hard when a player is used to receiving the ball and doing magic then changing his game to receive the ball on counter.

I just hope we put the Gooners in their place on Saturday. Full throttle from first minute. They are going to be low on confidence and they are fearing us right now. Their only available natural CM/DM right now is Coquelin because Rasmey went off injured so you assume he will be out so we should absolutely take advantage. COYB. Let's take another step to regaining this PL title.

My MOTM has to be Side Show Bob - I admit I was worried when he went down in the 1st half - he was immense today

The one positive on our performance despite that pathetic goal was actually defending we were very organised, we faf about with loose balls too much and Moses gets found out almost always when we concede, but the shape and organisation looked very solid. 

8 minutes ago, ChelsaePirate said:

Antonio Conte was not happy at post match interview...

The point is if we win this we do not have to worry about Chelsea all remaining 15 matches of the season..

Less heart ache and better performance until May

What did he say

Not going to cry about getting a point at Anfield, some people need to get a grip, especially given last seasons crap. We didn't play great, you can't always play great, now you've got people making up that we play bad against top teams, though we beat United, Tottenham and City...please. Results went in our favour, hopefully we can beat Arsenal, then we are flying, I'll take 1-1 with a smile tonight, with the hope that we can deliver against the gooners.

1 minute ago, ForeverCarefree said:

I thought so. 

Liverpool barely threatened, all the best chances fell to us. We didn't need to chase a win, Liverpool did. They failed miserably at that and we stuck to our task and increased our lead at the top of the table. 

We hardly created a chance. We couldn't string 3 passes together.

2 minutes ago, Xfaxtor said:

I dont think we need more steel, but someone who can actually pass the ball. Cluld string together three passes in a row until Fab came on. Im not sure what people expect Haz and Costa to do when they are chasing shadows all came never receiving the ball in good positions. I lost track of the times Costa was chasing useless punts from out the back

We have that in Fab but he is weak, we need someone who can break up play but also drive forward, if you can do that passes don't need to be exquisite, creating space to pass into is more important 

For those bemoaning our big game performance, here is the current Big Six Mini League table.

 

 

 

Just now, Brutos said:

What did he say

commiserated the lost victory with agony

Just now, Sexyfootball said:

For those bemoaning our big game performance, here is the current Big Six Mini League table.

 

 

 

performances don't always reflect results.