Thought we played pretty well, having Hazard in the team was a huge plus. We never let the mistake or bad referee decisions get to us, and kept going at them until we get the 2 goals lead. My memory is a bit fuzzy, but was that the first penalty we got this season? I had my heart in mouth when the referee blew the whistle, wouldn't be surprised if he gave out a yellow card to Moses for diving, the kind of sh* refer work he's been doing up to the point.

On 12/2/2017 at 04:43, Scott Harris said:

Winning the Europa League clouded his failings that season. His coaching cost us a lot of Premier League points, a chance at another league cup final and a World Club Championship win. He always set us up not to lose, he never set us up to win. Even when we were chasing a win, his choice of a sub was a RB. Us winning the Europa League was great, but considering the opposition we had, it would have been a major cock up if we had not won it. Any of those teams we faced would have been an expected easy win if it was a Champions League game.

He also tried to force Terry into an early retirement by saying things like Terry couldn't play more than one game a week anymore. He refused to apologise for past comments made at the club and it's fans and he also refused to back us when Suarez sunk his teeth into Ivanovic. 

Benitez never even tried to get on the right side of us Chelsea fans. He used us as a way to spark some life into his managerial career. He doesn't deserve our respect, he never did enough to earn it.

Fair enough boss... Very well articulated

9 hours ago, ozboy said:

What I do like about Moses is the way he runs at defenders and the way he can cut inside as well as out. He actually has great technique. 

He always had good technique, what he lacked as an attacking midfielder was vision, crossing ability and finishing which made him fell in the pecking order here and at most clubs he was loaned out to. 

It was a decent display today from him. First half iffy but grew into the game.

22 hours ago, Argo said:

Because he isn't good enough.

I guess that is the reason Loftus cheek wasnt given a chance last season. People forget that Kennedy was our starting leftback over Baba when Hiddink was in charge. Alonso looks Jaded even hazard will be Jaded if he played as much as Alonso. We need to give kennedy a chance or buy a new LWB in January

13 hours ago, The Don Antonio said:

I guess that is the reason Loftus cheek wasnt given a chance last season. People forget that Kennedy was our starting leftback over Baba when Hiddink was in charge. Alonso looks Jaded even hazard will be Jaded if he played as much as Alonso. We need to give kennedy a chance or buy a new LWB in January

Left back and left wing back have a completely  different tactical requirement. 

On December 2, 2017 at 09:43, Scott Harris said:

Winning the Europa League clouded his failings that season. His coaching cost us a lot of Premier League points, a chance at another league cup final and a World Club Championship win. He always set us up not to lose, he never set us up to win. Even when we were chasing a win, his choice of a sub was a RB. Us winning the Europa League was great, but considering the opposition we had, it would have been a major cock up if we had not won it. Any of those teams we faced would have been an expected easy win if it was a Champions League game.

He also tried to force Terry into an early retirement by saying things like Terry couldn't play more than one game a week anymore. He refused to apologise for past comments made at the club and it's fans and he also refused to back us when Suarez sunk his teeth into Ivanovic. 

Benitez never even tried to get on the right side of us Chelsea fans. He used us as a way to spark some life into his managerial career. He doesn't deserve our respect, he never did enough to earn it.

I didnt want to respond to this to close to the game either side which is why im responding now. While i have no doubt he was responsible for some of the games, notably QPR, we would have dropped loads of points regardless of who was in charge. That team just didn't have the quality to put runs together. What we have to remember is Jose returned the following year with the lads a year older and added more quality yet still publicly stated on numerous occasions the squad weren't ready yet.

You are right that he used us, but we used him aswell. He needed to get back on the managerial roundabout, we needed an experienced manager to give a steady hand for a few months and let the young squads evolution go smoothly, which imo he did.  

Great display by Hazard and to be fair the Newcastle keeper played well with a couple of great saves from Hazard.

Pretty much went as expected bar getting a goal. 

Thought we did alright on the whole, but the gulf in class was painfully obvious. Individual errors on our part didn't make the job any easier, but even had we put out our first choice team, focussed and in good form, I'd have expected a loss.

Hazard is unreal. Absolutely unreal.

Thought Darlow had a decent game for us, keeping the score down and denying Hazard his hat trick. Murphy is growing into the League a bit. Ritchie had a stinker but Mo Diame is a f**king fraud, who'd have thought we could find a player that's worse than Sissoko...

Anyway, good luck for the rest of the season, think the Premier League is Man City's to lose, but it's not like that's your only chance of silverware. Lucky f**kers.

 

ps, if you want travel, food, pub advice for the return fixture, let me know.

Nothing to see here...

Edited December 4, 20178 yr by The Fish

14 hours ago, Argo said:

Left back and left wing back have a completely  different tactical requirement. 

Same does WNGER  and right wing back but Moses seems to cope. Besides kennedy has played lwb for us in the carabao cup, and is obviously the backup for Alonso but is never given a chance. 

On the Benitez situation @Scott Harris makes a good point, Benitez's substitutions were frustrating and always negative. He would sub on two players around the 70th-minute mark as always, and usually they subs didn't make sense. He did win us the Europa League so I respect that but at the same time we were in 7 competitions with a very talented squad, we were in a semi-final with Swansea and lost, we would've gone on to play a Championship team in the final, that would've been an easy trophy in the cabinet. Also the club world cup final... What on earth happened there. 

I thought Rafa handled himself well in the media but he also dodged a lot of questions, he refused to apologise for his comments towards the club and the fans which were just disrespectful. He reached further than Jose Mourinho territory, I was glad when the fans protested the way they did, shows we don't forget so easily.

I don't hate Rafa Benitez anymore though, I actually don't really think about him. He's irrelevant now and he's shown that he's an average coach at best, it might offend a few but I respect him more for what he did at this club than before he joined. Yes, he joined for his own self-interest but he took it on and tried to salvage the season for us when it was a hard time, I respect him a bit for that, but that's as far as it goes. I don't hate him anymore, but I don't like him either. 

16 hours ago, Argo said:

Left back and left wing back have a completely  different tactical requirement. 

I see a lot of people write this.

Can you please outline the differences for me?

1 hour ago, The Don Antonio said:

Same does WNGER  and right wing back but Moses seems to cope. Besides kennedy has played lwb for us in the carabao cup, and is obviously the backup for Alonso but is never given a chance. 

That just strengthens my point because Moses was a bang average winger who has now found his correct position.

at the end of the day benitez had the last laugh, he took on a job where most never wanted him and were not shy in letting him know and yet he left us with a very in my opinion under rated europa trophy, and 3rd place with CL qualification. His appointment although ridiculous could be viewed as a little stroke of genius

11 minutes ago, Van Butsen said:

I see a lot of people write this.

Can you please outline the differences for me?

At wingback you have to be a lot more tactically astute on the ball. You need to keep things ticking over minute by minute and be a key part of the build up play up the pitch, at full back you don't need to be so heavily involved in the buildup unless you are playing under Pep.

55 minutes ago, Slojo said:

On the Benitez situation @Scott Harris makes a good point, Benitez's substitutions were frustrating and always negative. He would sub on two players around the 70th-minute mark as always, and usually they subs didn't make sense. He did win us the Europa League so I respect that but at the same time we were in 7 competitions with a very talented squad, we were in a semi-final with Swansea and lost, we would've gone on to play a Championship team in the final, that would've been an easy trophy in the cabinet. Also the club world cup final... What on earth happened there. 

I thought Rafa handled himself well in the media but he also dodged a lot of questions, he refused to apologise for his comments towards the club and the fans which were just disrespectful. He reached further than Jose Mourinho territory, I was glad when the fans protested the way they did, shows we don't forget so easily.

I don't hate Rafa Benitez anymore though, I actually don't really think about him. He's irrelevant now and he's shown that he's an average coach at best, it might offend a few but I respect him more for what he did at this club than before he joined. Yes, he joined for his own self-interest but he took it on and tried to salvage the season for us when it was a hard time, I respect him a bit for that, but that's as far as it goes. I don't hate him anymore, but I don't like him either. 

Reacting in game has always been his big weakness. And with the comments, you can understand why fans didnt want to forget, but then the next year we signed Samuel Eto'o who 8 years prior called us a pathetic club and he was welcomed with open arms.

I think the general hatred towards him must have ran deeper than his comments

28 minutes ago, Argo said:

That just strengthens my point because Moses was a bang average winger who has now found his correct position.

Exactly because he was given a chance to find his position. I am just sick of chelsea players not being given a chance and then go to shine for other clubs.

1.KDB

2.Lukaku

3. Salah

4. Solanke

5 Ryan Bertrand..

6. Loftus ( Thank God its only a loan)

   I would rather the player given a chance and he fail than not given a chance at all. Alonso is definitely jaded and is close to get injured or having a stinker and costing us points. Just rest the lad and give kennedy a chance. 

12 hours ago, The Don Antonio said:

Exactly because he was given a chance to find his position. I am just sick of chelsea players not being given a chance and then go to shine for other clubs.

1.KDB

2.Lukaku

3. Salah

4. Solanke

5 Ryan Bertrand..

6. Loftus ( Thank God its only a loan)

   I would rather the player given a chance and he fail than not given a chance at all. Alonso is definitely jaded and is close to get injured or having a stinker and costing us points. Just rest the lad and give kennedy a chance. 

De Bruyne fair enough.

Selling Lukaku and signing Costa has been more than justified, as was signing Morata instead of resigning him.

Salah despite shining at Liverpool im not sure how effective he would have been with us, he seems to have found his perfect fit.

I would hardly say Solanke has "shined" at Liverpool, his career there so far is resemblance to Fabio Borini's at the same club.

Bertrand has found his level, plus doesn't have the attacking play to be a wingback. He made about 70 appearances for us, he had more than enough opportunities to convince the club he could suceed Cole and never did.

Rubenlooked out of place playing for us unless it was league 1 opposition in the cup, correct move to loan him.

Moses got his chance because we started playing with wingbacks, if we revert back to a flat back four he will be back on the bench, why? Because he isn't starting material as a winger.

Edited December 5, 20178 yr by Argo

On 12/2/2017 at 09:43, Scott Harris said:

Winning the Europa League clouded his failings that season. His coaching cost us a lot of Premier League points, a chance at another league cup final and a World Club Championship win. He always set us up not to lose, he never set us up to win. Even when we were chasing a win, his choice of a sub was a RB. Us winning the Europa League was great, but considering the opposition we had, it would have been a major cock up if we had not won it. Any of those teams we faced would have been an expected easy win if it was a Champions League game.

He also tried to force Terry into an early retirement by saying things like Terry couldn't play more than one game a week anymore. He refused to apologise for past comments made at the club and it's fans and he also refused to back us when Suarez sunk his teeth into Ivanovic. 

Benitez never even tried to get on the right side of us Chelsea fans. He used us as a way to spark some life into his managerial career. He doesn't deserve our respect, he never did enough to earn it.

Well said, but his wife also had a dig at us as soon as his contract was up as well.

30 minutes ago, 1997FACupFinal said:

Well said, but his wife also had a dig at us as soon as his contract was up as well.

His wife's mental, didn't she also say that Benitez always has to clean up after Jose's mess when he got his contract at Madrid?

Edited December 5, 20178 yr by boomerdog

2 minutes ago, boomerdog said:

His wife's mental, didn't she also say that Benitez always has to clean up after Jose's mess when he got his contract at Madrid?

Yep, she most certainly did. 

14 hours ago, Van Butsen said:

I see a lot of people write this.

Can you please outline the differences for me?

A fullback's primary job is to defend and occasionally help the attack as an auxilliary winger. Depending on the tactics ofc. Normally FBs have wingers or inside forwards in front of them and plays in a 4 man defence.

WBs are normally tasked with helping each stage of the structure. They become the LB/RB in defence, the wide midfielders in midfield and wingers in attack. Plays in 5 man defences.

WBs and FBs are normally interchangable in role depending on tactics. Some players can do both roles but some are limited eg. Darmian, Blind are decent FBs but doesn't have the pace and technique to play a WB's role, Dani Alves is a WC FB but not necessarily the best WB because he can sometimes wander too far upfield.

Alonso is a decent WB because he can do a job at LB, LM and LW albeit he is not pacy. Azpi imo can be both but his qualities are better suited in defending and occasionally deliver balls from deep ala Alves because he can't always beat a man 1v1.

TL;DR In a given tactic;

A FBs primary role is defending and their secondary role is delivery from deep or functions like an auxiliary winger.

While WBs function like a LB/RB, LM/RM and LW/RW depending on circumstances.

2 hours ago, Deino said:

A fullback's primary job is to defend and occasionally help the attack as an auxilliary winger. Depending on the tactics ofc. Normally FBs have wingers or inside forwards in front of them and plays in a 4 man defence.

WBs are normally tasked with helping each stage of the structure. They become the LB/RB in defence, the wide midfielders in midfield and wingers in attack. Plays in 5 man defences.

WBs and FBs are normally interchangable in role depending on tactics. Some players can do both roles but some are limited eg. Darmian, Blind are decent FBs but doesn't have the pace and technique to play a WB's role, Dani Alves is a WC FB but not necessarily the best WB because he can sometimes wander too far upfield.

Alonso is a decent WB because he can do a job at LB, LM and LW albeit he is not pacy. Azpi imo can be both but his qualities are better suited in defending and occasionally deliver balls from deep ala Alves because he can't always beat a man 1v1.

TL;DR In a given tactic;

A FBs primary role is defending and their secondary role is delivery from deep or functions like an auxiliary winger.

While WBs function like a LB/RB, LM/RM and LW/RW depending on circumstances.

I just think it's down to the manager and how he wants the team to play.  Personally don't see much difference between our wingbacks and attacking fullbacks.

7 hours ago, Argo said:

De Bruyne fair enough.

Selling Lukaku and signing Costa has been more than justified, as was signing Morata instead of resigning him.

Salah despite shining at Liverpool im not sure how effective he would have been with us, he seems to have found his perfect fit.

I would hardly say Solanke has "shined" at Liverpool, his career there so far is resemblance to Fabio Borini's at the same club.

Bertrand has found his level, plus doesn't have the attacking play to be a wingback. He made about 70 appearances for us, he had more than enough opportunities to convince the club he could suceed Cole and never did.

Rubenlooked out of place playing for us unless it was league 1 opposition in the cup, correct move to loan him.

Moses got his chance because we started playing with wingbacks, if we revert back to a flat back four he will be back on the bench, why? Because he isn't starting material as a winger.

Fair enough. 

   I guess if we wont play Kennedy we might as well buy another wingback because Alonso's performance is suffering from over use and is very prone to being our next hamstring victim

3 hours ago, Van Butsen said:

I just think it's down to the manager and how he wants the team to play.  Personally don't see much difference between our wingbacks and attacking fullbacks.

In our team, the difference is marginal because Conte prefers WBs when you look at our personnel. 

It's just one of those differences in positions like a CM can be a deep lying playmaker or box to box or water carriers depending on who plays there.