16 minutes ago, yorkleyblue said:

This is the point, people.  Get  a f**king grip.  You can't legislate for a double pinball header deflection and then a deflection through someone's legs

But surely you stand a better chance of influencing the outcoem if you have more than one shot on target

I am not pissed off at all. I have lowered my expectations and I think we are going through a cluster f**k-up - starting from the board's transfer policy to Conte's tactical limitations to individual players mental and physical form. I love the club and I hope the owner will step in and make some painful, costly but necessary decisions to improve on all fronts.

not good enough, sick of losing to this bunch of clowns and what really rankles me is that they are the most crap i can ever remember them being 

PEOPLE PICKING ON BARKLEY. YH A GUY WHO HASNT PLAYED IN 8 MONTHS AND IS RUSTY COMES INTO A TEAM WITH NO DIRECTION OR INTENT. LOL. Alonso and Moses and Pedro were the culprits today and have been for a while. Too inconsistent and will get embarrased vs Barca in 3 weeks

Just now, charierre said:

No they got congested looking for silverware, we won't always win it but I'd  much sooner we give the cups a real go then just accept that top four is our goal in January.

I'd obviously like to win everything we can, like any fan. Just the replay against Norwich and the two matches against Arsenal just really tire the players and it's showed in their performance.
 

sh*te second half, crying out for a better striker than Batshuayi.  Pedro should have stayed on, too.

 

willian going off was the big issue, so unfortunate

1 minute ago, zes said:

PEOPLE PICKING ON BARKLEY. YH A GUY WHO HASNT PLAYED IN 8 MONTHS AND IS RUSTY COMES INTO A TEAM WITH NO DIRECTION OR INTENT. LOL. Alonso and Moses and Pedro were the culprits today and have been for a while. Too inconsistent and will get embarrased vs Barca in 3 weeks

It was the decision to include him in the squad in a big game, we have Musonda who has a defined role and was ready to play as far as I know. 

Knowing our board there'll probably go and sell Eden and Tibs for like 1billion and we'll go and sign crouchy for like 30 mill....

I think there's a lack of belief in the squad. Brighton gave us a brief respite but overall we look jaded and lacking in purpose. Sadly those are issues the coach has to be accountable for. I wasn't impressed by Contes post match interview either.

Chelsea was obviously the better team in the first team but hardly created anything, this has been the problem for most of the season. They don't create enough chances. 9 corners and most being short I reckon.

When you play 2 defensive midfielders you need more going forward from your wingbacks, tbh Alonso put in a few crosses but it was pointless.

Baka played really well tonight but do you really need 2 midfielders who do the same job, Luiz could have added some craft.

The result bothers me, of course it does. But more than that its the performances and the shape.

Last season we had intensity all over the pitch and we started with similar intesity tonight. But again we slowed the game up lost all momentum and then if Hazard's mazy runs didn't come off we didn't really have any other idea.

A number of players were poor tonight. Some of these are poor players in my opinion but a number of these are top players who just didn't perform.

I thought Dave was off his game tonight and i know that is blasphemy to say it but i thought he had an odd performance

21 minutes ago, grandia said:

Hazard is gonna leave isn't he?

If we don't win the Champions League, FA Cup or finish in Top 4. Chances are likely but i hope not.

A few thoughts about tonight:

- We didn't play 3-5-2 tonight. At any point. Barkley (while obviously a completely different type of player) was effectively a straight swap for Willian. He was operating far further forward than Kanté and Bakayoko. Plus look at how we set up off the ball: a clear 5-4-1 with Barkley/Willian and Hazard/Pedro wide. In my opinion we can't play the 3-5-2 without Morata on the pitch (maybe Batshuayi) or at least a midfield runner more willing to get forward than Bakayoko (especially when Fabregas is playing) as we simply won't have enough players in the opposition half ready to receive a pass, at least not without making unreasonable demands of the wing-backs.

- I wouldn't judge Barkley too harshly on tonight's performance. He was peripheral but hasn't played in 12 months(?) and has been a Chelsea player for all of two weeks. I can't imagine anyone imagined a scenario in which he would have to come on after less than half an hour either. Give him time, I think he'll prove to be an astute signing, particularly considering what I was saying about midfield runners in the first point. He has a skillset which is currently unique within our squad - that said this may not be the case when/if Loftus-Cheek returns next season.

- Very encouraging performance from Bakayoko tonight. Looks like a much better fit in a two-man midfield than a three, and seems to be building an understanding with Kanté. Was great defensively and even played some brilliant passes, one of which Hazard would normally have scored from. Thought Hazard looked exhausted tonight for what it's worth.

- Overall I thought the tie was pretty balanced over two legs. We were better in the first leg, and they were better tonight. Worth considering that we were missing two of our main attacking heavies in Morata and Fabregas, and another in Willian when he went off injured. Not to begrudge Arsenal the win as they took their chances better than us, even if they were rather fortunate with their first, but that's football I s...(inset further clichés here). Certainly not our most encouraging performance, but I didn't think it was the disaster that a lot of people appear to have perceived it as.

- Mickey Mouse cup, etc. etc... I don't think Man City would be particularly worried regardless of which side had won tonight.

4 minutes ago, RickUK said:

sh*te second half, crying out for a better striker than Batshuayi.  Pedro should have stayed on, too.

 

willian going off was the big issue, so unfortunate

As they say " you don’t know what you’ve got until it's gone".  Quite a few people here do not recognise how valuable Willian is for the team.  His decision making is often beyond my comprehension, but he makes up with his energy and drive.

I am so f**king angry it's unreal. 

4 minutes ago, PloKoon13 said:

A few thoughts about tonight:

- We didn't play 3-5-2 tonight. At any point. Barkley (while obviously a completely different type of player) was effectively a straight swap for Willian. He was operating far further forward than Kanté and Bakayoko. Plus look at how we set up off the ball: a clear 5-4-1 with Barkley/Willian and Hazard/Pedro wide. In my opinion we can't play the 3-5-2 without Morata on the pitch (maybe Batshuayi) or at least a midfield runner more willing to get forward than Bakayoko (especially when Fabregas is playing) as we simply won't have enough players in the opposition half ready to receive a pass, at least not without making unreasonable demands of the wing-backs.

- I wouldn't judge Barkley too harshly on tonight's performance. He was peripheral but hasn't played in 12 months(?) and has been a Chelsea player for all of two weeks. I can't imagine anyone imagined a scenario in which he would have to come on after less than half an hour either. Give him time, I think he'll prove to be an astute signing, particularly considering what I was saying about midfield runners in the first point. He has a skillset which is currently unique within our squad - that said this may not be the case when/if Loftus-Cheek returns next season.

- Very encouraging performance from Bakayoko tonight. Looks like a much better fit in a two-man midfield than a three, and seems to be building an understanding with Kanté. Was great defensively and even played some brilliant passes, one of which Hazard would normally have scored from. Thought Hazard looked exhausted tonight for what it's worth.

- Overall I thought the tie was pretty balanced over two legs. We were better in the first leg, and they were better tonight. Worth considering that we were missing two of our main attacking heavies in Morata and Fabregas, and another in Willian when he went off injured. Not to begrudge Arsenal the win as they took their chances better than us, even if they were rather fortunate with their first, but that's football I s...(inset further clichés here). Certainly not our most encouraging performance, but I didn't think it was the disaster that a lot of people appear to have perceived it as.

- Mickey Mouse cup, etc. etc... I don't think Man City would be particularly worried regardless of which side had won tonight.

great post, can probably end the thread there!

Don’t think we played that good in the second half. Are they going to figure against City. I doubt it.

25 minutes ago, luckywerthers said:

not good enough, sick of losing to this bunch of clowns and what really rankles me is that they are the most crap i can ever remember them being 

Pathetic half arsed performance, from players and management AGAIN!!! Well I will get back  home about 1am tonight then up again at 5:45am for work, I wonder what time these prima Donnas will get up in morning? midday for a massage I suspect. 

City’s first trophy of the season then.

1 minute ago, chi blue said:

Pathetic half arsed performance, from players and management AGAIN!!! Well I will get back  home about 1am tonight then up again at 5:45am for work, I wonder what time these prima Donnas will get up in morning? midday for a massage I suspect. 

 

1 minute ago, chi blue said:

Pathetic half arsed performance, from players and management AGAIN!!! Well I will get back  home about 1am tonight then up again at 5:45am for work, I wonder what time these prima Donnas will get up in morning? midday for a massage I suspect. 

Couldn’t agree more. No guts against a really crap arsenal side.

21 minutes ago, Itsintheblood89 said:

I am so f**king angry it's unreal. 

Likewise 

Just got on the train. f**k that second half performance and f**k Arsenal. It’s a sh*thole I wanna go home.

Conte got the team selection wrong, it should have been the same side at Norwich as it was our first win after several draws.

Musonda should also have been on the bench.

No blame for any player yet for me the wrong team selection.

Rudiger isn't Chelsea quality imo. Why we bought a player who was average at Roma is a mystery.

Can't do much about flukey goals, can do something about lack of commitment. I accept we don't have the quality we used to in some areas, can't accept lack of effort from some players. We are penny pinching in the market, maybe due to costs from the upcoming stadium work, don't think Conte is happy with recruitment, can see him and Haz leaving, it'll be difficult replacing them. We may have to deal with the fact we'll be out of the title picture for a while, we could use it as an opportunity to get a return on our youth investment, I don't mean loan & sell and there will be a resurgence at some stage, maybe once the stadium rebuild is finished.