I think every player has been a bit poor tbh, we are struggling a bit. 

A bit nervous and as soon as we give the ball away in their half it's a Lillie attack, I can also see a weakness on Alonso's side, whenever he has the ball the opposition is confident of reclaiming it. 

Hopefully we settle into the game and play much better in the 2nd, the team as a whole need to do better. 

Just now, Dr Gonzo said:

I think we are pretty much at the level I was expecting, young inexperienced team. This group was always going to be hard.

We are competitive and developing all the time. 

Just get rid of zonal f**king marking!

Get rid of Willian, Zouma and Alonso as well. Maybe then we'll stand a chance in this competition!

Yep Kante & James off the pace. Pointless having 3 centre halves if they can’t defend one player between them. Kovacic & CHO on for James & Willian. 

We need Rudiger....otherwise set pieces will kill us

Not a fan of 3 at the back, but i thought we actually played very well until we scored. 

Then we sat back and conceded possesion, before some awful defending from a set piece again. What are we doing to rectify this in training? Doesnt seem to be getting any better. 

Centre midfield looks a little off the pace, maybe switch to 433, and put another body in there. 

We are a better side than these though.

 

2 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

Willian's flicks are infuriating. It's such a risk because he keeps leaving us open to the counter attack when he gets them wrong. 

How he keeps playing games is beyond me, besides two decent passes to Alonso on the counter attack he hasn't offered anything, he has been sloppy. 

We should've just started with Callum. 

I feel like the problem this match lies in the midfield. Too much sloppy passing and losing the ball, the defence also hasn't been able to get the ball to the midfield causing them to pass the ball between themselves back and forth. Adding an extra man in the middle might help us.

Played ok in the main. Enjoyable game to watch. Still so frustrating at how shockingly bad we are at the back, especially from set pieces.

Fortunately Lille are as equally green as we are so the game is still there for the taking. Can’t call it but, if forced to, 1 each is a likely outcome.

 

I think it wasn't that good first half, we scored first but nothing more, only Jorginho's shot was close.

We're getting beaten by invidividual's pace and techinque, Lille has got some serious players in their attack I'd say, but they aren't really creative. Pace is something we have to know how to deal with it. 

Our assistance to defence from attack is actually zero, I can't feel Mount, Abraham and Willian in winning some balls while tracking back.

Kante isn't at his best today that's for sure, same as Alonso. 

We must improve in the second half, if we will continue in this way Lille will find a way to break into with their pace in the attack. Maybe get into another midfielder or demand more defending duties from our attackers.

COME ON CHELS!!!!

 Double post.

Edited October 2, 20196 yr by Snedger

Our inability to defend a set piece is beyond a joke. That said, they deserve to be level. We haven't been better than them.

 

Zouma incredibly poor with the ball at his feet. Alonso takes up good positions but needs to make his crosses count. Jorginho poor so far, despite that tremendous effort. Willian working hard but poor, yet again. We can't get Mason into the game.

 

I'm worried. They've grown into it. A draw isn't a good result but a defeat would be pretty disastrous.

Really need to win here. Valencia losing as well and things would be looking a lot more promising.

1 hour ago, just said:

You are quite new in here and I have noticed you've really been a little ray of sunshine. Good to see you are not being carried by the most exciting young team we have had since the days of John Neal.

Good for you. Nobody likes too much positivity.

Aren't you a smug c**t

I think we have been quite poor. We are playing far too slow, we aren't creating anything, and there are too many sloppy performances today. We are getting it out wide and doing nothing with it, it just gets played back inside and then back 10 yards. It's wasteful. 

Willian, Kante, Alonso, James, Jorginho, they need to be doing more, they are playing too slow and / or have been really sloppy. Zouma is the worst of the lot out there though. No player scares me as much as he does. It's like I said a few weeks ago, it looks like he is having to work much harder than should be needed, every part of his play looks like he is struggling. His touch almost got him into trouble 2 or 3 times, he failed to read the flight of the ball for their goal (something he has always had a problem with) and he just looks so clumsy. He's not good enough for us, nowhere near it.

1 minute ago, coco said:

were in it, so its our level.

We all love Chelsea but the lack of quality and experience is there to see, if you add our average / poor performances it is my opinion that Europa League is more where we belong at the moment.  We are a poor team for CL, So is Lille.  We have zero pace, we build slowly and predictably, our defense is disastrous and we have a very fragile midfield, Again, we are a team in transition and building for the future. 

4 minutes ago, Paintello3 said:

We need Rudiger....otherwise set pieces will kill us

Rudiger will make no difference with zonal marking. it has never worked for any team and doesn't work for us. its a ridiculous tactic and we will continue to concede set piece goals, regardless who is in there, You can't blame the defenders really, its the system that is sh*t.

Have to sort out the defence that 8 goals shipped from set pieces. I just don’t understand how or why frank persists with it. I’m baffled

31 minutes ago, evissy said:

32 minutes ago, Londonisblue said:

How var could hesitate though ? There s never an offside on that goal ! 

Does VAR hesitate? Is that even possible. It just checks and it could take time.

I meant the refs checking var telling the ref that there could be a situation. When without it you could see there was nothing really that could have cancelled the goal. 

1 minute ago, WhiteWall said:

Rudiger will make no difference with zonal marking. it has never worked for any team and doesn't work for us. its a ridiculous tactic and we will continue to concede set piece goals, regardless who is in there, You can't blame the defenders really, its the system that is sh*t.

True but not entirely. Rudiger would add a lot of stability and consistency

Just back from a funeral, how we doing chaps?

1 minute ago, Strider6003 said:

Just back from a funeral, how we doing chaps?

What a way to say hello.

Nice to see such criticism in this forum.

What happened to all of you that said you wanted to see our Academy players?  What happened to all of you that wanted Frank & Jody back?  What happened to all of you who were saying we need to be patient as we give youth players and an inexperienced coaching staff time to develop?

We're young, we're naïve, and we need to learn how to play in this competition.  We are in the CL because of Sarri and the players from last year.  This is a totally different team.

Some of you need to readjust your expectations.  Again.

It's just as expected, an even game. I think I underestimated Ajax, I thought they would be a bit worse since they lost a few players.

Our senior players need to step up. Lots of sloppy passes when in good positions, flicks that don't come off. As for their goal, conceding that once in a season is poor, conceding the same goal nearly every match is ridiculous.

We are crap at bringing the ball out from the back tonight. Really not playing the back 3 very well. I’d be happier with Kovacic for James. Great finish by Tammy.