5 hours ago, Ernie_blue said:

I have been defending Fabregas playing in a midfield 2 for a while now but it was clear to see it doesn't work yesterday. He looked really poor and out of place to me. The pass to put Pedro through is exactly what he can do the other end though and he is the only player who can see them passes. I would still play Fab before Pedro and Willian.

It's clear fab brings a lot to the table but we need to only play his with 2 CM's behind him, we know the reasons why

26 minutes ago, DonAntonio said:

It's clear fab brings a lot to the table but we need to only play his with 2 CM's behind him, we know the reasons why

I agree against the big teams. I still think at home against the weaker teams you could play Fab in a 2. Baka and Kante could out perform any midfield in the league IMO.

Disappointed we never beat them.

As always when we don't.

Alonso wouldn't be able to play in a four if Conte made that switch. Struggled earlier in his career in a four. Lacks pace and can't get back which can cause ctr bk to come out to help and loose  defensive shape.

I'm not bothered by the MOTD analysis. It almost totally concentrated on their improvements in defence. Looking at Chelsea in the cold light of day we did look a bit below a top shelf team but as we know from last year that can change.

2 hours ago, Ernie_blue said:

I agree against the big teams. I still think at home against the weaker teams you could play Fab in a 2. Baka and Kante could out perform any midfield in the league IMO.

Point is even weaker teams can overload a midfield and stop you controlling games, all good teams control the middle of the park, baka can play box to box don't think of it as defensively setup exclusively, we can play baka and kante and still be attacking, the point is if you control the middle you recycle the ball quickly so you can start an attack again quickly and sustain pressure,  you take pressure off the wing backs, allowing them to push up,  and can generally push up and defend on the front foot, that' how you dominate teams,  this way  ab sits in front releases hazard and morata, thats a deadly and balanced team, if we don't play that to me it's an error.  Also in a big game where we expect to be attacked I'd play the 2 of kante and Baka and stick Andres behind them, maybe in a 4, hit them on the counter, in all cases 3 in the middle is so necessary, Mou spoke about why a 4-3-3 beats a 3-4-3 because you can control the middle of the pitch, any good team can make a 3-4-3 lose it's function by overloading the middle.

The irony is that Fabregas could have won us the game if Pedro had more composure.

At the end of the day, we simply were not good enough to beat them

1 hour ago, Forever Blue said:

At the end of the day, we simply were not good enough to beat them

OR, they were not good enough to beat us !

It's not even that Conte needs to go with a 3 man midfield, he just needs to play Bako in the midfield with Kante. Why on earth he started with Fabregas I have no idea. 

On 18/09/2017 at 18:47, DonAntonio said:

It's clear fab brings a lot to the table but we need to only play his with 2 CM's behind him, we know the reasons why

Fabregas is a phenomenal player but his only weakness is that he's lethargic. He's not fast or strong, it's hard for him to keep up with the modern game. He's very intelligent but that can't grow him a new pair of legs, so basically whenever he's in a two-man midfield it's a one-man midfield, Mourinho learned that the hard way against Tottenham 3 years ago. 

I'm actually all for Fabregas being a squad player, he's actually a lot better when he rotates, same as Willian. 

2 hours ago, yorkleyblue said:

OR, they were not good enough to beat us !

On 9/18/2017 at 21:43, DonAntonio said:

Point is even weaker teams can overload a midfield and stop you controlling games, all good teams control the middle of the park, baka can play box to box don't think of it as defensively setup exclusively, we can play baka and kante and still be attacking, the point is if you control the middle you recycle the ball quickly so you can start an attack again quickly and sustain pressure,  you take pressure off the wing backs, allowing them to push up,  and can generally push up and defend on the front foot, that' how you dominate teams,  this way  ab sits in front releases hazard and morata, thats a deadly and balanced team, if we don't play that to me it's an error.  Also in a big game where we expect to be attacked I'd play the 2 of kante and Baka and stick Andres behind them, maybe in a 4, hit them on the counter, in all cases 3 in the middle is so necessary, Mou spoke about why a 4-3-3 beats a 3-4-3 because you can control the middle of the pitch, any good team can make a 3-4-3 lose it's function by overloading the middle.

Well said.  It doesn't have to only against the big teams that we play Baka and kante, we need them even against the small side so that we have guaranteed control of the mid.  This way - teams will never outdo us in the middle.  Cesc does not work with two in the middle - Cesc is an option for when we are battering a team, and the team is parking and camping in their goals and we badly need to unlock them, then we add cesc to press their box so that their defence is suffocated!  Should they try to break out, the two mids [Baka and Ngolo] either win the ball or perform tactical fouls to stop the break and regain our shape.  But we cannot have ngolo and Cesc as the two cause Cesc does not have the legs to cope with courageous teams that can put like 4 in the center of the pitch and have a go at us.  

 

Excuse my ignorance but what do these

::things::

mean?

4 hours ago, Slojo said:

Fabregas is a phenomenal player but his only weakness is that he's lethargic. He's not fast or strong, it's hard for him to keep up with the modern game. He's very intelligent but that can't grow him a new pair of legs, so basically whenever he's in a two-man midfield it's a one-man midfield, Mourinho learned that the hard way against Tottenham 3 years ago. 

I'm actually all for Fabregas being a squad player, he's actually a lot better when he rotates, same as Willian. 

Even still with Baka and kante the kid can get overloaded with our system, they are good but not an extra player against a good team good, I think in games against big teams we need to go with a midfield 3 it just works as we saw against Tottenham