Just now, TomCFC85 said:

You can be Zinedine ZidAntonio, and we can team up to kick and headbutt our way through our enemies. 

3 minutes ago, Fendieta said:

I was thinking that during the game.  Two teams playing 343 that are well organised ends up in a checkmate.  Surely if you have the superior team maybe a 433 would be better suited as you've got another man forward against the 3 CBs?  I'm no coach but I think it makes sense.

not sure CFC finished the match with a 343 - I would say it was more of a 3511, with Hazard playing in a Center Forwards role

3 minutes ago, Ash blue said:

I know a lot are very disappointed with the result but this wasn't such a bad display.

You need to realise that le arse shipped 4 goals against Liverpool and have generally been poor against top 6 opposition in the premiership. Today against us, they were always going to defend a lot better than they have been.

I thought we controlled most the game especially in the second half when bakayoko came on, we looked so much more assured. 

My only negative was that conte did not start a midfield trio of kante,bakayoko and fabregas. Also starting cahill was a mistake personally. He needs to be phased out from the first team. 

The luiz sending off was 100% right imo. It was at least a yellow as he had the chance to clear but tried to be too clever. 

Overall it wasn't a bad performance

I think he is incredible stupid for doing it over and over to be honest, he has just been lucky not to have been punished more for it. I think Luiz waiting around in dangerous areas for challanges is at the same level of stupidity as Ivanovic defending with his hands behind his back.

Just now, Pendergast said:

You just watched your first Chelsea - Arsenal game? Go back statistically 12 years before Conte's arrival and you will find out. I am not going to retell every single game but it was quite simple.

Hint - we cross the ball in almost every free kick and corner. Not that crab we did today. 

I'm wondering because I have watched those matches. Please tell us all the code to beating Arsenal unless it's simply to put balls in the box on fks and corners because it would be a wonder they ever win, everyone they play does that

Disappointed. Tactical set-up and selection were poor.

How on earth Cahill, Fabregas and Willian and Pedro starts when they played significant minutes on Tuesday? Could have played 352 and frustrate the hell out of Arsenal but didn't do it. Way too late to sub Bakayoko on albeit he didn't have a good game either but we really needed a solid midfield 3 when they have pace all around. Should have pressed them all game, they have poor ball control and yet we give them space. Should have managed Pedro and Willian better on Tuesday, Willian played the full 90 and Musonda is nowhere to be seen.

Forward line was poor today. Typical L'Arse defenders, play their best game only when it suits them. Then they get shat on by any decent team after this.

Referee Michael Oliver really is taking the p*ss. At first, I thought maybe Morata just needed to toughen up (and frankly he does) but then Arsenal gets a free kick for the slightest of touches. Wtf? At least be consistent. The worst was the cards on Luiz, overhead kick was a foul? Koscielny jumped at the ball after he tried the overhead, why is that a yellow? Then Luiz's 50/50, he barely had a good look at it and looked like he just couldn't wait to give the red when he should've assessed it further. VAR can't come soon enough.

Several individuals need to look at themselves today and step up their game. 

We need to buy a WC RF or at least look into it because Pedro and Willian aren't consistent enough despite being at their peak. 

This team needs to step up their game.

3 minutes ago, robdog said:

not sure CFC finished the match with a 343 - I would say it was more of a 3511, with Hazard playing in a Center Forwards role

It was too late in the game though I think.

Conte needs detention after that.

I said before the match 3-5-2 or 3-4-3 as long as Fabregas is not one of the two.

It was that obvious, it is a disrespect to the league when you play Fabregas in a midfield two.

 

My player ratings:

Tibo - 7: Solid, did everything he was asked

Azpilicueta - 7: Same as Tibo

Luiz - 5: Arguably our best defender today, but that moment of madness is what brings his rating down

Cahill - 5: Poor enough today, looked shaky at times

Moses - 5: Full of running, but his final ball was poor

Alonso - 6: Better than Moses, but he let Bellerin past him too often for comfort

Kante - 8: Very good game, was brilliant at stopping Arsenal's attacks and starting counterattacks

Cesc - 6: Creative, but his defensive side really lets him down in matches like this

Pedro - 4: Wasteful, I still can't believe he didn't score when 1-on-1

Willian - 4: I felt he was our poorest player today, he gave the ball away an awful lot and seemed to always run into trouble

Morata - 6: Did his best today, but you could clearly see the frustration creeping in as the match wore on

Bakayoko - 7: Very good when he came on, added that extra bit of defence we needed in midfield

Hazard - 7: Lively when he came on, should be back in the first XI very soon

Christensen - n/a: Not on long enough to form on opinion

Things we did wrong:

1.  Not starting with Bakayoko - this was the main issue.  This gave Arsenal confidence in the first half and made them believe they can beat us.  They initially gave us respect in the first 15 minutes but realised just overun them in mid and they get the upper hand!

2.  Eden Hazard.  I know there's the fear that he's not yet 100% , but an 80% Hazard is still one of the best EPL players.  He looked great when he came on and naturally opponents back off when Hazard is on the pitch

3.  Gary Cahill -  looked out of his depth.  wrong decisions and didnt support Alonso in the battles against Bellerin, whilst in contrast - Monreal and Kolasinac double teamed Morata/Pedro effeectively

4.  Cesc fabregas at 70 mins.  Taking out Willian for Eden was wrong - Cesc had the worst day in my opinion.  He added nothing at all to our team and I am afraid other teams are seeing this.  Cesc Fabregas is good for us when we play teams that are parking the bus and need to be unlocked.  Wehn we play pressing and physical teams - we need to start our strong, pacey and physical mids.  

I feel I need to mention Michael Oliver,  he did so well for Arsenal.  He gave us absolutely nothing!!  Each time we got the ball in good positions, he stopped the play.  Arsenal players took turns to foul Morata and he gave nothing.  This is one thing I really hate about the EPL, the officials really f**k sh*t up.  This doesn't do even the English players any good (they are used to officials assisting them or acceptong this barbaric sh*t) and when they play in European /world cups - they are sh*t cause this behaviour is not accepted.  The ref was so inconsistent and this even gave Arsenal more advantage.

What we did well:

Second half we improved and added Bakayoko in.  Arsenal had no shot on target as a result:

What we should do going forward:

Start Hazard and Bakayoko!  Impose ourselves frpom kick off,  prepare for physicality and inconsistent refs - Attack all out and get early goals to prevent refs influencing games and to not give opponents confidence.  We are waway to Stoke next and ween to play physical and strong! 

Cahill's a good player but he can't really read the game as good as JT was even when JT was declining. He slows the game down when we have the ball. Players are trying to do runs upfront but he passed it to Luiz who passed it back to him then to Thibaut then ball goes back to Arse. How many times are we going to see that? With Rudiger, at least he passes it forward enough that our midfield doesn't get swarmed every minute.

A real game of two halves.

First half Arse realised we had screwed up in midfield.  Half goes to Arse.

Second half we realised (eventually) that we had screwed up in midfield.  Half goes to us.

Much as I rate Conte his Kante/Fabregas combo' is a thing of real ugliness to behold - hope I never have to see it again.

 

Conte said it was a good game, brought Pedro off because injured....not what we saw sir 

A word in Morata, I thought he played well and had some nice touches. However today we needed a battering ram - like Costa or Drogba. 

We certainly didn't do enough to win this game so a draw was just about right.

Luiz was a red for me, he had plenty of time to clear it. It was the 89th minute he should be getting the ball forward quickly trying to get a winner rather than messing about along the touch line.

I thought our free kicks and corners was poor today, we tried to be too clever but it hardly ever worked.

I thought Morata needs to toughen up a little bit but didn't get any protection from the ref.

Saying that I thought he done quite well considering he had no support from Pedro or Willian.

To really trouble the big teams we need better performances from these 2, they are a good couple of levels down from Hazard and don't make any impact in the big games.

All in all considering we was far from our best a point isn't that bad and if Arsenal can put in performances like that against the other big teams then it could turn even out to be a good point.

We are in 3rd in the table which all things considered is a good start.

If we can beat Stoke next week then we're back on track so nothing to worry about yet.

 

 

2 minutes ago, DonAntonio said:

Conte said it was a good game, brought Pedro off because injured....not what we saw sir 

That just confirms he doesnt know what to do against Arsenal. Shame. We ve got a great time recently against them but it's over I think. 

Seeing Fabregas start amazed me, especially after what we saw Liverpool do to Xhaka-Ramsay midfield. Instead, we let them pressure us. 

Shocking decision from Conte and I don't say that out of hindsight, many people were questioning the Fabregas start, Bako was ideal for this game and he showed the difference when he came on. Hazard not starting didn't bug me too much, his match fitness is important, I personally would have liked to see him start though. 

But the biggest problem for me is Cahill, why on earth are we still persisting with playing this man? Rudiger and Christensen have to get these big games out the way so they can become more comfortable in the league. Right now I feel both of them are a bit nervy but the quality is still there, with Cahill that simply isn't the case, he's average. 

4 minutes ago, JM7 said:

A word in Morata, I thought he played well and had some nice touches. However today we needed a battering ram - like Costa or Drogba. 

I agree actually.

I've always been critical of Diego Costa because I don't like him as a person and I'm not a huge fan of his playing style but today I completely concede. We could have done with him bullying the Arsenal defence and winding them up, he always takes himself out of the game and defenders with him, Koscielny will always want to man mark him, leaves more room for our other 2 attackers. 

Poor from Conte. We are a better side than Arsenal, but not for the first time he gets schooled by Wenger, of all people. Starting a Cesc-Kante tandem in the middle against top sides is near suicidal, especially if you have a fit Bakayoko on the bench. They got the better of us in the cup final, and now this. Antonio needs to figure out a different approach because clearly other teams know our system and some match up well against it. Last season it took a major loss against Arse to change things around. It's time to go back to the drawing board once again, I feel.

I thought Morata struggled upfront, you could see his frustration. He's more of a finesse player, but he needs to get tougher and more physical, if he were to succeed in the PL. If he thinks Arse defence is too rough, he's in for some real surprise in our next league game away at Stoke. Hopefully he's a fast learner.

 

I would have been fine with this result had we not dropped points against Burnley. 

1 hour ago, robdog said:

agreed with you on this - more shots - more shots on goal - more possession & zero goals - I think people are bitter because the streak of wins at home versus le arse has ended - I hate to say it, but le arse were more physical in this match - I think that surprised CFC a bit - also I saw a post that CFC lost a bit of swagger when Baka came on - I have to disagree - CFC were going more forward - one last thing, did le arse get a shot in the 2nd half? I don't think so - offside shots don't count

I was still very frustrated after the game when I posted. Yes, embarrassing is a bit too much, but we have been poor today, half of the team didn't turn up for the game and I believe Conte got his tactics wrong. Only 3 points from the top though, so " Come on Chelsea !"

7 minutes ago, JM7 said:

A word in Morata, I thought he played well and had some nice touches. However today we needed a battering ram - like Costa or Drogba. 

I think he can't tell the line between a foul and no foul in the Prem. He'd get nothing from the ref but any time an Arsenal player was touched today merited a foul. 

Kante-Fabregas combo brings out the worst in both. Fabregas doesn't have the energy and Kante can't cover the midfield on his own.

Just now, Deino said:

Kante-Fabregas combo brings out the worst in both. Fabregas doesn't have the energy and Kante can't cover the midfield on his own.

They are both small too so putting them up against any kind of big player makes things difficult. Those big players don't even need to be good footballers either, their physical presence will make things difficult enough for players like Fabregas and Kante.

1 hour ago, Pendergast said:

Conte messed this match up, that's 100% sure. First of all - Willian and Pedro together on the pitch - the worst idea. At least he realised that wrong move and changed it in HT, but was too late. Bakayoko was potential man of the match. This guy is the Real Deal. 

Secondly - all these missed opportunities to put the pressure. We f***ed up every singal free throw, direct and indirect free kick with these passes around despite crossing. Really disgusting. 

Last but not least - Hazard for Willian showed lack of ambition. Let them play together, let them with Morata, these are ours three best players, but noooo... let keep Cesc and play for the point. He was scared AF. Too much respect for le Arse from Conte. Not happy about this. 5 years domination ended because of the coach. Di Matteo, Hidink and Benitez won this one without any hesitation and doubts. We got the formula and the Italian changed the tactics. When it's dumb decision I'll tell its dumb decision, sorry. Not a disrespect for what he's done last year, but against le Arse, he is just taking wrong decisions and costs us the matches. 

 

I'm not sure if he has too much respect for Wenger, but he certainly seems to make bad decisions against Arsenal, when Arsenal constantly play the same way against us year after year at Stamford Bridge and we've beaten them A LOT, Conte seems obsessed with just outplaying them instead of physically bullying them in the midfield. 

I wouldn't say he's being negative when he's playing Fabregas in midfield but Bako and Kante pressuring their midfield would have been an automatic pain in the arse for Arsenal and probably nullified the majority of their game. They're really bad at the moment against top opposition, we have the quality unlike midtable teams to completely chase their midfield while being able to outplay them simultaneously. 

But I think Fabregas playing higher up with Hazard was the right move actually, just the game was already set, we gave Arsenal confidence when it should have been shattered in the first half like it's always gone for the past 5 years when we play Le Arse. 

 

Edited September 17, 20178 yr by Slojo

4 minutes ago, Deino said:

Kante-Fabregas combo brings out the worst in both. Fabregas doesn't have the energy and Kante can't cover the midfield on his own.

To be fair to Kante, I dont think there is or has been a player/midfielder who can cover the midfield on his own while his partner has no bloody defensive nuance and is surprisngly poor on possession when pressed (you would have thought that playing with xavi and iniesta for 3 years would have taught him how to pass under pressure).