A forgettable game, but it's a win and that is the most important part. I gotta admit, our games haven't been as fun to watch this season, it just seem's like each game is becoming more and more of a grind.

that false 9 thing with three upfront does not work... better to play a real 9 with hazard and/or Pedro upfront than without any striker !

good that alonso picked yellow...

he will miss cup midweek and can play on weekend

28 minutes ago, sonic90 said:

Cesc is a better 9 than Hazard

Pep played him there for Barca in games where Messi was unavailable/rotated

Just now, Londonisblue said:

that false 9 thing with three upfront does not work... better to play a real 9 with hazard and/or Pedro upfront than without any striker !

I think it works well against teams that playing more open, Southampton have had a defensive mindset all season so it was always going to be hard to get it to click against them.

2 minutes ago, acidicleo said:

good that alonso picked yellow...

he will miss cup midweek and can play on weekend

And that's exactly why the FA will sanction him for with a two game ban for time wasting so that he can't play both

Edited December 16, 20178 yr by Londonisblue

Just now, Deino said:

Pep played him there for Barca in games where Messi was unavailable/rotated

I remember him playing there for Spain a few times too.

3 minutes ago, Londonisblue said:

And that's exactly why the FA will sanction him for with a two game ban for time wasting so that he can't play both

never heard of more  ban for time wasting!!

so is it better to kick someone down than time wasting? 

Edited December 16, 20178 yr by acidicleo

Not good to give Southampton as many chances as we did at the end of the game. Hazard is the kind of player even when he is poor he can turn the game in a flash, he should have stayed on instead of Willian and that was made pretty obvious after the sub.

 

3 minutes ago, acidicleo said:

never heard of more  ban for time wasting!!

so is it better to kick someone down than time wasting? 

with us you never know... I have never heard of it either but the FA can be innovative when it comes to fines and sanctions ... and also commentators and pundits showing 150 replays of it in post match analysis may influence such a possibility. But in all honesty, if he's sanctionned like that, this would be absolutely revolting !

Edited December 16, 20178 yr by Londonisblue

1 minute ago, Scott Harris said:

I remember him playing there for Spain a few times too.

Yeah he did back when their strikers were declining.

----

Game was so-so. The front 3 were all poor in some stages. Hazard doesn't do well in the center because the opponent would just squeeze him. Willian's having his off day today, first half was decent and towards the end tiredness must have been a factor because he didn't even go past an injured Bertrand.

Pedro needs to be direct more, he's easily stifled on the wings.

Azpi needs some rest too, towards the end he made a few errors that could have been punished. 

Fabregas was good, it's a pity about the offside but his shot where the ball just rolled along the face of goal defined his game today. 

For the record, Yoshida had a blinder today. 

5 minutes ago, Londonisblue said:

with us you never know... I have never heard of it either but the FA can be innovative when it comes to fines and sanctions ... and also commentators and pundits showing 150 replays of it in post match analysis may influence such a possibility. But in all honesty, if he's sanctionned like that, this would be absolutely revolting !

oh i get you now...so true with their treatment to us!!!

We play a good game. It it was  4 - 0 as it easily could have been everyone would be bragging. My consern is that we don't put more of our chances. With 1 - 0 sure the opponent is still in the game. At the end we won and is what matters.

Edited December 16, 20178 yr by Nikos

Azpilicueta was scandalous last minutes. All the chances they had were on him personally. 

Not impressive performance. We didn't create almost anything - one good combination between Willian and Alonso, some good crosses from Moses, then deflection and shoot from long distance and that's it. Everything else was mistakes from Soton' players. When Morata went in at least we created something on our own. So I hope we'll play with real number 9 next game, doesn't matter Morata or Mitchy. 

Fraser Forster today;

 

 

A win is a win.

but as already said we need to be more clinical 

38 minutes ago, Deino said:

For the record, Yoshida had a blinder today. 

He's been good for quite a while now. I tend to pick him in fantasy football because of how cheap he is 

24 attemps on goal,8 on target suggests we should have won by more.Personally i couldnt care less ,i will take 1-0 all day long.....UP THE CHELS !

Important win, but the question is, can we beat Barcelona or any top club with this kind of performances? 

I'm happy with our win don't get wrong, I just feel that our performance isn't really shown top class. Playing with false 9 isn't for us, Hazard is not a striker, he must keep his freedom and beat players through the middle. 

I think we've to improve ourselves a little bit, if we aim high, then we should perform higher and I believe that we can, we have enough quality for that. 

COME ON CHELS!!!

1 hour ago, fitz said:

Fraser Forster today;

 

 

100% the reason why it was only 1-0

Gonna watch the game now (couldn't see it earlier) and give my opinion after...

3 hours ago, Londonisblue said:

that false 9 thing with three upfront does not work... better to play a real 9 with hazard and/or Pedro upfront than without any striker !

IT works away from home but not at home when teams park the bus

Another 3 points for the mighty blues! Well done boys

Was at the game we got the 3 points without really having to go into third gear, job done. UTC