Tbh a striker should be taking them really especially one as lethal as Costa.

It was poor from him but I expected it because he had in large a poor game. I didn't think it was a pen in any case.

Hazard could easily have missed it too though as like Costa he was pretty low key too.

 

Can't believe all the crap this morning about Costa's penalty...claims that it was a dive...and Klopp saying that he wouldn't be 'friends' with Costa...I'm sure Diego is gutted...not

Match ratings, I'd say roughly:

Courtois - 6/10 - DIdn't have much to do, but I thought could have done better with their goal, it seemed to go under his dive

Cahill - 6/10

Luiz - 8/10

Azpilicueta - 7/10

 

Alonso - 4/10 - Thought he was shocking, probably the worst for giving the ball away cheaply all game.

Kante - 7/10 - Good workate, lots of tackles, but also a prime suspect for the sh*tty passing

Matic - 6/10 - Did ok

Moses - 6/10 - Couple of decent runs and crosses, but like against SPurs, that ball over his head seems to catch him out time and time again, needs to be more aware when defending those

 

Hazard - 6/10 - A few runs, but didn't get the ball much and was crowded out when he did

Costa - 5/10 - Poor night, summed up with a poor penalty

Willian - 5/10 - Don't remember him really doing much, and I noticed he wasn't tracking back as much as normal.

 

Subs:

Pedro - 6/10 - Looked lively and offered more in both directions than Willian

Fabregas - 6/10 - Took until he came on for us to look like we could pass the ball to a blue shirt

Batshayui - Another solid 30 seconds under his belt.

Matic was worse than Willian and Costa for me. His passing, composure and hold up play was terrible.

Easily a 4/10 performance

All in all, happy with the result, especially with how the other mugs behind us did :)

Also

KANTE, LUIZ,  COTSA & CONTE

LEGENDS

Pass completion according to Whoscored website:

Kante 27/41 = 65.8%

Matic 31/40 = 77.5%

Seems like Kante was giving the ball away more than Matic on that stat, which is contary to what you would think from reading this thread :-)

 

Team average was 68%, pretty poor for us .. only Hazard and Dave were at 80+%

2 minutes ago, Sexyfootball said:

Pass completion according to Whoscored website:

Kante 27/41 = 65.8%

Matic 31/40 = 77.5%

Seems like Kante was giving the ball away more than Matic on that stat, which is contary to what you would think from reading this thread :-)

 

Team average was 68%, pretty poor for us .. only Hazard and Dave were at 80+%

 

I haven't read any posts from during the game, could people not tell Kante was more wasteful than him at the time?

Kante was immense last night. Immense. 

4 minutes ago, Zeta said:

 

I haven't read any posts from during the game, could people not tell Kante was more wasteful than him at the time?

I didn't see the game myself, but there was certainly ALOT of criticism for Matic in the thread ... although as you pointed out in your post above, it was certainly pretty obvious to you that Kante was giving the ball away alot !

 

5 minutes ago, Sexyfootball said:

I didn't see the game myself, but there was certainly ALOT of criticism for Matic in the thread ... although as you pointed out in your post above, it was certainly pretty obvious to you that Kante was giving the ball away alot !

 

Kante was a big reason we didn't get beat. He was class

He was breaking up everything in the midfield and winning the ball back countless times. He was a million miles ahead of what Matic churned out.

 

9 hours ago, axman2526 said:

Let's not be so quick to point fingers at our manager for subbing eden, he hardly has a flawless record for pens with us does he? 

In any case how many of us would have turned down this football day? Had you offered me this, up at halftime, miss a pen, only draw but arsenal lose and Spurs draw you are absolutely right I would have been happy with that. Liverpool and Spurs gain nothing on us, arsenal fall a point further back. This was a good result and a good day of football for us. 

TBH, Hazard's penalty stats is brilliant. I think he has missed 6 in his career whilst he has converted 35 successful penalties. That is rather brilliant and probably one of the best penalty statistics around. Chances are he probably would have scored. He usually is one of the most composed when it comes to penalties.

17 minutes ago, Sexyfootball said:

Pass completion according to Whoscored website:

Kante 27/41 = 65.8%

Matic 31/40 = 77.5%

Seems like Kante was giving the ball away more than Matic on that stat, which is contary to what you would think from reading this thread :-)

 

Team average was 68%, pretty poor for us .. only Hazard and Dave were at 80+%

Stats....sigh

Do they show the amount of times Kante won the ball back? Broke down play or drove us forward?

This is exactly why stats mean very little when trying to interpret how the game went.

Just now, Chelsbear said:

Kante was a big reason we didn't get beat. He was class

He was breaking up everything in the midfield and winning the ball back countless times. He was a million miles ahead of what Matic churned out.

 

Maybe so, but the point I am making is that the negative criticism of Matic is unfair ...

Just now, Sexyfootball said:

Maybe so, but the point I am making is that the negative criticism of Matic is unfair ...

It's really not.

Matic had a howler, Kante did well.

Stats don't show you how the game played out, watch it back.

Just now, Chelsbear said:

Stats....sigh

Do they show the amount of times Kante won the ball back? Broke down play or drove us forward?

This is exactly why stats mean very little when trying to interpret how the game went.

I agree you can prove anything with stats, but when Matic is gettig flogged for giving the ball away, and Kante, who everyone agrees had a great game, actually gave the ball away more than him ... then what gives ?

Honestly I have no idea why every game some poor player or other has to get roasted by folk on this board.

4 minutes ago, Sexyfootball said:

I agree you can prove anything with stats, but when Matic is gettig flogged for giving the ball away, and Kante, who everyone agrees had a great game, actually gave the ball away more than him ... then what gives ?

Honestly I have no idea why every game some poor player or other has to get roasted by folk on this board.

He isn't getting roasted though, all people are doing are pointing out he had a poor game. When Cesc came on we played far far better so it makes sense some would want Matic dropped so we play better...it's about the team not the player after all.

Kante had the ball more which is probably why he has higher stats in that regard whereas Matic looked scared to have the ball at all last night. Kante takes risks more than Matic also.

I think with Matic he doesn't offer nearly as much as Kante gives you and that's why he is praised. His effort in winning the ball back, tracking back and his general play is why he stood out for me. I don't remember any of his miss attempted passing causing us any great issues either. You only have to look at the MOTM thread to see what most of the folk who voted thought of Kante last night.
 

If Matic has a good game he will get praise too.

Edited February 1, 20179 yr by Chelsbear

For the stat folk

 

It's really not rocket science where we need to upgrade the team. Against the big teams the same players are standing out like a sore thumb. Alonso, Moses & Matic.

I thought we were really poor last night despite the pundits saying we were brilliant. Yes we defended well but to give the ball away so cheaply was painful to watch. Reminded me of the Barca CL games where we looked scared of the ball. 

Can't understand why Conte doesn't play 3-5-2 against the top 6. Is he that scared of leaving an extra defender free to bring up the ball? Am I missing something? 

Conte is clearly an excellent tactician but I feel like when Cesc comes on we keep the ball and look a lot more composed. 

Pleased we're 9 points clear at the end of the day but hope we sort this at the end of the season. Might seem pessimistic but just know we can do better.

It's good that we're disappointed with last night, that shows where we are as a club right now. We are becoming winners again. Under a certain previous manager we would have been happy to go to Anfield last night and draw 0-0 with no shots on target, we are evolving and now we need to banish the memories of that Arsenal match on Saturday. KTBFFH

Matic really wasn't bad in the game, he has become the go to player to moan about. 

IMO It's confirmation bias at play those who don't like Matic are looking for his mistakes and pounding him for them.

Hopefully like Pedro these things go round in circles, as I don't think Matic is going to get dropped anytine soon as he adds some much more balance to the side than fabregas and i doubt I will be able to put up with all the slating

 

TBH I do have a little sympathy with Costa on the pen. Not that I was ever anywhere near professional level but when I played football I was very clinical one on one but utter sh*te at pens. I just could never hit them properly.

5 minutes ago, PedroMendez said:

Matic really wasn't bad in the game, he has become the go to player to moan about. 

IMO It's confirmation bias at play those who don't like Matic are looking for his mistakes and pounding him for them.

Hopefully like Pedro these things go round in circles, as I don't think Matic is going to get dropped anytine soon as he adds some much more balance to the side than fabregas and i doubt I will be able to put up with all the slating

 

Who doesn't like Matic?

Because you criticise his form you instantly dislike him? Such rubbish.

 

3 hours ago, doctorblue said:

Can't believe all the crap this morning about Costa's penalty...claims that it was a dive...and Klopp saying that he wouldn't be 'friends' with Costa...I'm sure Diego is gutted...not

It was a pen, you'd have to be blind to think there wasn't contact, he clearly gets clipped, I have no idea what people think they've seen.

15 hours ago, DonAntonio said:

I suppose if you watched the games you would know they outplayed us for 3 halfs of football even the game they lost they bossed us in possession, tempo, momentum, we were just more clinical and had a great second half, the first half and whole of the game we lost they bossed us completely 

First half at The Bridge ok they did without creating anything, but WHL? No, we had two chances each, they took theirs, we didn't. On another day Alli and Eden would score and miss one each, and on another Eden would take his and Alli wouldn't. If anything that game reminded me of the Rafa/Jose games, tight matches and the results came down to who made better of the limited opportunities.