A great day at the Bridge yesterday. I thought we were brilliant and apart from a few moments controlled the game. Rudiger was superb and didn't let Salah get a look-in. As for Salah, why wasn't he booked for his second dive. Hazard was brilliant and in the second-half took the piss out of three of their defenders. Reminded me of Zola against Carragher all those years ago. Great header from Giroud and the strike from Alonso would have been one of the goals of the season had it gone in.

Chelsea fans were brilliant. As for the Scousers, hardly a word out of them after we scored. So much for all this so called brilliant support from Liverpool fans.

Teams coming into form just at the right time, agree that todays starting line up is probably what we will see vs United. Giroud although not as pacey as Morata knows how to bother United’s backline. Do feel bad for Willy though but with Baka at least not being awful again, think the mid 3 is set with a 3-5-2. Hope the team keeps it up the streak and takes the 6 points on offer. I could take  5th if it’s a matter of a point or 2 or goal difference. 

p.s. I’m going to Wembley!!

4 hours ago, big blue said:

Well that was a good day. Baby boy born healthy at 4pm, and even managed to see the last 10 mins of us holding on to 3 points. 

Miracles do happen. 

Hopefully catch the full 90 mins later. 

Congratulations! My youngest daughter Zola was born on Sep 17 2006 when the Drog scored to beat Dippers 1-0. Saw his goal then got the call for the c-section !

Happy with the win and the performance.

Rudiger had a great game at the back.

What a goal by Giroud !

Let nobody tell me that Hazard isn't the bollocks. He was brilliant, taking on two and three players and leaving them for dead. However, the support to compliment his good work was lacking. Bakayoko's confidence was shot to pieces but it was a more assured performance in this game. The back three looked rock solid while Kante covered every blade every grass, yet again. We are very fortunate to have Hazard and Kante at the club. We won this game by hard work and attrition and if we can ally that, with some pace and skill in midfield, and that doesn't mean we have to go searching for talent outside the club, we will be force to be reckoned with.

8 hours ago, big blue said:

Well that was a good day. Baby boy born healthy at 4pm, and even managed to see the last 10 mins of us holding on to 3 points. 

Miracles do happen. 

Hopefully catch the full 90 mins later. 

Congrats, mate! 

@big blue I hope you’re naming him Olivier out of respect for the bigger miracle of the day  congratulations!

13 hours ago, Malcolm9 said:

We played well, so what are you on about?

Tactically we outplayed Liverpool in every way, if we had of played a more open game it could have played into their hands.

We can't continue playing this game of underdogs and "suffering" without the ball and also suffer to do much with it than hoof it forwards, while hoping Giroud knocks it down to Hazard.
Don't get me wrong, our squad was fresher than the dippers and have no reason whatsoever not win, plus the necessity of this win. 
On other occasions we have used this method against other big teams this season we have dropped massive points, on another day Liverpool would have applied more pressure on us and gotten a point.

We need to start making teams play into our hands than this sitting deep and hope for a counter. 

 

I get the feeling that the team have 'turned a corner' and we will win our two remaining fixtures.

We held our nerve yesterday to get the three points there have been other times like against City where we also competed well yet we were undone by a single goal. Sometimes these margins are very small. 

I also think the World Cup is looming for the internationals and they are now more focussed and rising to the occasion and the others also have the looming prospect of a FA Cup to play for, in other words lots to be motivated about.

Though I think we will win our next two league matches the final against JM is too close to call. 

 

 

Solid performance, executed the 1:0 game plan well. We contained them so well the GK barely had a save to make in the second half. We set up defensively, wouldn't have worked against another other team apart from Liverpool, they only had 1 plan. I'm not going to repeat others by judging each player, all starting 11 did their job efficiently. Conte was still passive in his subs, Cesc should have came off 20 minutes earlier, he was a liability when we had no possession to work with. We do need a different set up for Wednesday through, Huddsfield would happily sit back and take a point off us.

14 hours ago, Bluefog said:

Courtois 8 - pulled off some crucial saves. 

Alonso 8 - Coped surprisingly well. Was worried about his lack of pace but he did very well. 

Cahill 8 -  Continues ld his recent good form.

Azpilicueta 9 - fantastic determination and focus all the way through.

Rudiger 9 - Handled Salah brilliantly well after a slightly nervy opening.

Moses 8 - Worked his socks off, made the goal and caused problems for their left side. 

Kante 9 - He lost out on a few challenges but cut out passes and won back possession often. Tried his heart out as always. 

Bakayoko 7 - Rare flashes of confidence and ability were on display today. Still managed to confuse everyone in the box. A little bit of promise.

Fabregas 7 - There weren't too many options for him up the pitch today with his passing. Showed good stamina.

Hazard 9 - Stepped it up to an unplayable level after the break. Tired towards the end. 

Giroud 8 - Scored an excellent header and gave their defence enough to think about throughout. The link up was off, though. 

 

 

So Bakayoko had one of his best games in a chelsea shirt.. And he was still the joint worst player on the pitch for us? Seems a bit harsh that hahaha

10 minutes ago, JJP said:

So Bakayoko had one of his best games in a chelsea shirt.. And he was still the joint worst player on the pitch for us? Seems a bit harsh that hahaha

I'd prefer to say, 'the least of excellent performers' :p

Not one player had a bad game or even an okay game. Everyone was good-excellent. A really good team performance yesterday.

 

35 minutes ago, Boyne said:

This is a great pic normally to smack a Liverpool fan in the face with.

When they're above in the league and looking like they're the better side at this point, though... Not quite the same :| 

2 hours ago, BiafranBlue said:

We can't continue playing this game of underdogs and "suffering" without the ball and also suffer to do much with it than hoof it forwards, while hoping Giroud knocks it down to Hazard.
Don't get me wrong, our squad was fresher than the dippers and have no reason whatsoever not win, plus the necessity of this win. 
On other occasions we have used this method against other big teams this season we have dropped massive points, on another day Liverpool would have applied more pressure on us and gotten a point.

We need to start making teams play into our hands than this sitting deep and hope for a counter. 

 

Agree with this, even though it was a great result and performance yesterday given the way the season's gone. 

The 3-5-2 has been quite limited and relies on the front two to do too much. In the event one of them isn't having a good game, the whole attack becomes badly blunted.

 

Edited May 7, 20188 yr by Bluefog

From MOTD on Chelsea's defensive display vs. Liverpool

https://streamable.com/unftq

5 hours ago, Bluefog said:

Agree with this, even though it was a great result and performance yesterday given the way the season's gone. 

The 3-5-2 has been quite limited and relies on the front two to do too much. In the event one of them isn't having a good game, the whole attack becomes badly blunted.

 

We only been using more recently, that's because it doesn't work having two in midfield, three gives us so much more. I would personally play Barkley or Willian in that attacking midfield role that Cesc has, as they are more mobile and will score more goals.

Giroud is a good striker, but going forward he can't be our main threat if we want to challenge, and Morata will never be that player for us unfortunately.

Edited May 7, 20188 yr by Malcolm9

Thanks for all the well wishes everybody. 

17 hours ago, General said:

Congratulations! My youngest daughter Zola was born on Sep 17 2006 when the Drog scored to beat Dippers 1-0. Saw his goal then got the call for the c-section !

Zola is a fantastic name.

I've been trying to float a few chelsea related names in there, tried pushing eden, which has lead us to Ezra. 

 

 

2 hours ago, big blue said:

Thanks for all the well wishes everybody. 

Zola is a fantastic name.

I've been trying to float a few chelsea related names in there, tried pushing eden, which has lead us to Ezra. 

 

 

Good choice, I like that name. Congratulations to you and Mrs. Big Blue, and well done to little Ezra for kickstarting his Blue life with a win over the scousers!

19 hours ago, old git said:

Let nobody tell me that Hazard isn't the bollocks. He was brilliant, taking on two and three players and leaving them for dead. However, the support to compliment his good work was lacking.

I have to disagree with that. Did you not notice the send off the Blues Fans gave Eden as he was subbed off? I thought the standing ovation he received was very complimentary for the work he performed during the match.

On 06/05/2018 at 18:36, Backbiter said:

If we had played higher up, we'd have played in to their hands, as Roma did in that first leg. Deny their front three space and they can't use their pace. It was a very tense finish but the tactics did pay off. We had the chances to get a second, and it was typical of this season that we didn't take them.

The issue wasn't so much the lineup, it was the substitutions afterwards.

Waiting that long to make a sub when Cesc & Giroud where on their last legs, so risky and could have easily cost us. And taking off Hazard is ridiculously unnecessary and a very irritating thing Conte keeps doing.

I didn't like the lineup at all actually, I don't think Alonso deserved a start after Emerson's last 3 games and I definitely did not like seeing Bakayoko in that starting lineup. But both players performed well.  

3 hours ago, robdog said:

I have to disagree with that. Did you not notice the send off the Blues Fans gave Eden as he was subbed off? I thought the standing ovation he received was very complimentary for the work he performed during the match.

I should have made my point clearer. I meant the support from the rest of the team. He'd take on and beat players, opening up space for others but that space was rarely utilised.

29 minutes ago, old git said:

I should have made my point clearer. I meant the support from the rest of the team. He'd take on and beat players, opening up space for others but that space was rarely utilised.

ahh gotcha - I have to admit I thought the Home support was wonderful - then I read on twitter from some dirty red scousers about how Chelsea fans were chanting, 'Always the victims'. I have to admit that did sound funny but Loserpool fans weren't too happy about it

1 hour ago, robdog said:

ahh gotcha - I have to admit I thought the Home support was wonderful - then I read on twitter from some dirty red scousers about how Chelsea fans were chanting, 'Always the victims'. I have to admit that did sound funny but Loserpool fans weren't too happy about it

They were feeling victimised about being called victims then? Sounds about right. 

Eden looked like a warrior with his ripped shirt. Whose spot in the top 4 are we wanting more?