Just finished watching the game.

 

What a wonderful start. Willians goal really was superb. A goal of the season contender for sure. A very erratic goalkeeper display but that is him in A nutshell. Really good shot stopper and sweeper keeper. Poor on balls in the air.

Alonso was really off his game. Personally thought any of the pen calls were really soft had they been given.

Impressive display form baka. Credit to him for a dominate midfield display. Could not be accused of hiding from the ball this time.

Hazard at his best a delight to see. Charly boy looked impressive. Batman linked up well but ruined a couple of moves too. Still better than morata has been though. Least he was not throwing himself to the ground any time a player breathed in his direction.

 

Really enjoyable game. Good showing lads. Brighton made more of a game that the 0-4 suggests.

Baka’s Best game in a CFC shirt. Now needs to show it in a big game. Fact is we were better without Fab. Same as last season. 

Moses control of the ball for his goal amd Moses’s first touch in general dont get enough credit. 

Other than his touch in the second goal I thought bats was average. 

Fun game but average opposition. 

Come on, let's not go crazy on Baka's display. Like someone posted on the Baka thread, just about all of his passes were short passes either sideways or backwards - super-safe passes.   He still made a few clumsy challenges that resulted in free kicks in dangerous positions, and while it would have been harsh, he could have been whistled for a penalty for his slight challenge on Brighton's Argie striker.   Baka's best game in a CFC shirt was the ManU game, and this pales in comparison to that performance.  This performance merited a 5/10, at best.

For once we got more than we expected, right from the kick off we were attacking, with a little bit of luck and quick passing/movement we had the game in the bag after 6 minutes. Sure, they put up a fight and could got a goal back, but for most part we were in control and should had the 3rd goal long before Hazard's effort. Hazard showed what he could do when given a bit of space, we need to keep him at all cost. The difference in this game was we played an attacking team, and we took the gamble of quick passing, running at them without the usual wait and see. usually, the luck seems to be on the side that playing with ambition and being adventurous.

Also - how good was that Argentine wingback who looked like he was from Pirates of the Caribbean?

Schelotto - few times now I've seen him be quality. One to keep an eye on.

1 hour ago, ozboy said:

Baka’s Best game in a CFC shirt. Now needs to show it in a big game. Fact is we were better without Fab. Same as last season. 

Moses control of the ball for his goal amd Moses’s first touch in general dont get enough credit. 

Other than his touch in the second goal I thought bats was average. 

Fun game but average opposition. 

Good point about the opposition and I suspect Conte was not looking to play Baka in a 2-man midfield yet necessity kind of forced the issue.

I bet he has never played before in a 2-man midfield and it showed a bit with repetitive passes between him and the centre backs.

This might mean we  need Luiz in central defence to assist him in finding better passes to get the ball further up the pitch.

If Baka is going to play that role more often he needs more coaching, remember no pre-season.

He just might be a lot better than we see now.

 

Also good to see Moses score again, and a good goal too.

 

Edited January 21, 20188 yr by Strider6003

4 hours ago, Phillip said:

Come on, let's not go crazy on Baka's display. Like someone posted on the Baka thread, just about all of his passes were short passes either sideways or backwards - super-safe passes.   He still made a few clumsy challenges that resulted in free kicks in dangerous positions, and while it would have been harsh, he could have been whistled for a penalty for his slight challenge on Brighton's Argie striker.   Baka's best game in a CFC shirt was the ManU game, and this pales in comparison to that performance.  This performance merited a 5/10, at best.

I agree. The only top performers yesterday were the front 3 and maybe Kante. The rest were between average and poor.

Thought the link up play between the front 3 was exceptional yesterday and the Willian goal that resulted from the three combining was one of the goals of the season.

Does help when your striker stays on his feet and isn't on his arse for the majority of attacks, so move after move breaks down.

 

Edited January 21, 20188 yr by Nibs

3 on top is what we need as long as midfield players are so defensive minded. Baka did not have one long pass forward and only one shot as I remember.  4 great goals and hope to see more of Willian and Hazard from start.

8 hours ago, BordeauxBlue said:

Also - how good was that Argentine wingback who looked like he was from Pirates of the Caribbean?

Schelotto - few times now I've seen him be quality. One to keep an eye on.

Needs to work on his diving. 

On 1/20/2018 at 14:11, Scott Harris said:

Really ? Willian played 120 mins on Wednesday, the game has 10 minutes left, it's 3-0. It seems the perfect time to bring a younger player on.

i meant barkley would have been the perfect sub 

On 1/20/2018 at 14:24, TheBluesBrother said:

LOng periods we were under the cosh.............................An improvement on recent displays

Actually, the statistics say differently

Happy with the result and what a great start. High tempo,great movement and two great early goals.

Brighton did come back in spells and all credit to them for that.

Some of Eden Hazard play was simply outstanding.

 

5 hours ago, yorkleyblue said:

Actually, the statistics say differently

I was listening for a bit on '5 live' and also got the impression we were under the cosh for periods.

Notice they had more corners yet less shots.

Not sure how they calculate possession, yet Baka and Christensen were playing ping pong at times on the edge of our penalty area and that was certainly not the best use of possession.