CHO decisive. Willian with the goal. Abraham ... it feels good to have a proper striker that scores ! Arrizabalaga with some huge saves ! There s a lot of work to do, especially on set pieces, but remember the age of the team ... future is bright ! 

It's ok, you can all come out from behind the couch now. Great game and so many positives........ depending on your mind set. It's a win that will put a spring in the step for the younger guys. Lille are no pushovers, but we pushed them over anyway, and march on to the next match. Willian did great, which is amazing for a non footballer with a walking stick, and even Alonso did well despite being the worst player on the planet. Shame so many of the others are only brilliant and exciting before and after the game. If only they'd stop being total crap when they actually get the ball.

2-1 to us, what's not to love? KTBFFH..... fans.

Edited October 2, 20196 yr by Teebah78

Just now, robdog said:

FYP

Also, I guess we won't hear from @RIP Mourinho after Slick Willie scores the winning goal

I don't know why you feel the need to have jabs like this, Willian was objectively bad this game besides the goal, that doesn't discredit the criticism. 

I'm happy he's won us 6 points with his goals, but I still don't think he should be starting so many games, even now. 

1 minute ago, Slojo said:

It was the starting point, because before then he was replacing Luiz and putting in great performances, he actually had a really good game in that Barcelona match but made that mistake and after that it was almost every game he was giving a silly ball away when under pressure, it definitely got to him. 

Even now he's still not that comfortable passing the ball when under pressure, I just hope it's not something we see from Tomori and he learns not to over play it like that. 

The thing about Tomori, is he attacks so well out of the back.  He's strong enough to run forward, he now has a goal and assist this season and made a few more nice runs that should have led to goals, neither of which AC has.  Tomori plays to make plays, AC plays solid, but maybe plays too much to not lose IMO.

4 minutes ago, robdog said:

FYP

Also, I guess we won't hear from @RIP Mourinho after Slick Willie scores the winning goal

Willian gets very little appreciation and lots of hatred.  I don't know why.  He's been hardworking and loyal since 2013.  He deserves some respect in my humble opinion.  3 crucial points Willian gave us - and last weekend he sealed victory too.

Just now, dhidza said:

Willian gets very little appreciation and lots of hatred.  I don't know why.  He's been hardworking and loyal since 2013.  He deserves some respect in my humble opinion.  3 crucial points Willian gave us - and last weekend he sealed victory too.

emojigate

Tammy is really improving his hold up and build up play. Really good goal too.

Tomori made mistakes, he's still learning.  For me he did lots of good and these mistakes will be worked on.  Strong defender with pace and good attitude.  Great performance

That is the most hair I have seen on Joe Cole's head in years ?

Ground out a result. Not a great game but Lille have some good players. Thought Sanches looked great for them when he come on at the end. We were a lot better in h2.

Big win tonight.

I actually thought we just about deserved the win.

A few things to work on but great experience for our young team.

Onwards and upwards.

Result was more important than the performance.

2 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

That is the most hair I have seen on Joe Cole's head in years ?

He's been to see Dr Farjo.

By the way surely Pulisic can do better than Pedro, he's had a string of stinkers now. Pedro is amazing on his day but this season more often than not he's not doing well

1 minute ago, dhidza said:

Willian gets very little appreciation and lots of hatred.  I don't know why.  He's been hardworking and loyal since 2013.  He deserves some respect in my humble opinion.  3 crucial points Willian gave us - and last weekend he sealed victory too.

The criticism should be easy to see... he's played 204 premier league games with 24 goals, often times he's one of our main 3 in the attack, it's not enough production for his position for a top team.  his work rate is great and he has nice attributes, he fits the era of the 4-4-2 better in my opinion as the wide midfielder more than attacker.  He defends and works hard enough that hed be a great 4th attacking option, but too often he's our 2nd or third.

I think we dominated the game overall. For a young team playing away in a Champions League game that was impressive.

With being such a young team we are going to make mistakes. Tomori made two almost very costly ones at the end there. Kepa done brilliantly on both occasions. This was a great result and a great learning curve for all the young players. Frank is giving them first team opportunities at the highest level and this experience will be invaluable.

We just need to sort out this zonal marking!

 

Loved the win but Frank needs to rethink the tactics. We needed more urgency and better control of midfield.

I hope the coaching department can get CHO, Emerson, RLC and Kante up to speed again. They are vital if we want to achieve something this season. The senior players need to step up.

James was mediocre today, probably jitters or nerves idk

A much needed win. Up the Chels??

emojigate

Some fans hated him before that they just used that as an amplified excuse to the hatred he's been a loyal servant and should get some respect.

No one knows what happened between him and Conte maybe something similar to Costa but to say Conte was a Saint and Willian wronged him is silly he was a miserable sod since the first minute of the second season....

Loved the win but Frank needs to rethink the tactics. We needed more urgency and better control of midfield.

I hope the coaching department can get CHO, Emerson, RLC and Kante up to speed again. They are vital if we want to achieve something this season. The senior players need to step up.

James was mediocre today, probably jitters or nerves idk

A much needed win. Up the Chels!!

Edited October 2, 20196 yr by Deino

3 minutes ago, dhidza said:

Willian gets very little appreciation and lots of hatred.  I don't know why.  He's been hardworking and loyal since 2013.  He deserves some respect in my humble opinion.  3 crucial points Willian gave us - and last weekend he sealed victory too.

There are plenty of reasons why, and it's been pointed out for years. I'll praise him for the goal tonight, but that doesn't wash away how frustrating of a footballer he has been for us, especially in recent seasons. I don't like to praise a player for their work rate too much, it should be the bare minimum requirement from any player. He can be also be incredibly lazy at times too. There has been plenty of times where he just gives the ball away, throws his hands in the air and gives up. As for respect, you have to earn it. I haven't liked the comments coming from him in the media over the years, especially when Conte was here. He was incredibly unprofessional during Conte's final months, even though it was Conte that got the best out of him.

8 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

Kepa saved us, he was the difference between us winning and losing tonight. I just thought we were too slow and sloppy until Hudson-Odoi came on. 

I'm pleased overall though, getting those grindy wins are vital for success.

I agree. I am happy that we won, of course and in pockets we played okay.

Ultimately we deserved to win the game because they were poorer than us. However, for major portions of the match we passed the ball around with little if any penetration. The media are now continually going on about our youngsters but i actually thought we struggled a bit at this level and Mount and James were pretty anonymous.

We need to take the positives from this and, if it wasn't for this sh*t zonal marking we may have kept a clean sheet.  This should help our players gain confidence for our league campaign and hopefully it will also improve us in the CL., but i fear for us against more clinical sides than Lille.

What i would say is that despite the 2 mistakes, Tomori is still developing into one of our best centre backs.

11 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

There are plenty of reasons why, and it's been pointed out for years. I'll praise him for the goal tonight, but that doesn't wash away how frustrating of a footballer he has been for us, especially in recent seasons. I don't like to praise a player for their work rate too much, it should be the bare minimum requirement from any player. He can be also be incredibly lazy at times too. There has been plenty of times where he just gives the ball away, throws his hands in the air and gives up. As for respect, you have to earn it. I haven't liked the comments coming from him in the media over the years, especially when Conte was here. He was incredibly unprofessional during Conte's final months, even though it was Conte that got the best out of him.

There are people who criticise Willian too much and have an agenda, I've argued with that group of people a lot, then there are people like Robdog who love to be sanctimonious and offer zero constructive criticism or argument. Their main goal is pretty much "where are all the haters at now???". 

Both are as bad as each other, I won't take back what I said about Willian, but I'm also glad he's proving a point and showcasing why he's starting games, because he's just won us 6 vital points. 

Edited October 2, 20196 yr by Slojo

12 minutes ago, Deino said:

Loved the win but Frank needs to rethink the tactics. We needed more urgency and better control of midfield.

I hope the coaching department can get CHO, Emerson, RLC and Kante up to speed again. They are vital if we want to achieve something this season. The senior players need to step up.

James was mediocre today, probably jitters or nerves idk

A much needed win. Up the Chels??

UP THE CHELS INDEED !!!! 

Crucial result, but i thought it was a gritty but average performance in a below average quality CL game.

Kepa my man of the match.

Tammy did well, considering the awful service given to him.

Mount disappointing.

As others have said, Timori played well but made unforced errors. I'm sure this won't affect him like it did Christensen.

James looks a bit overweight to me. Was told he'd walk into the team once fit, but doesn't look ready atm.

Kante looked nowhere near fit, so why risk him?

CHO. Pass for the goal but nothing else.

Commentator said William goal was a bit lucky. See Willians head and body shape when he hit it and you can see he defo meant to hit the shot into ground exactly where he hit it knowing it would bounce sharply and awkwardly for the keeper.

Again, not the best quality performance but a crucial, grritty away win was more important than lovely football today!

On talksport they said Lille were unbeaten at home since April including a 5-1 win against PSG, so for our Lion Cubs in their first Champions League away game to come away with a win should not be taken for granted. A fantastic result after the Valencia game and now sets us up for a very exciting group! Tammy is the answer to all our prayers, so onwards and upwards! Goodnight and KTBFFH!!!

Everything that happened tonight especially the winning goal is not strange to all of us. First of all, I want to appreciate the staff and the players for giving everything to ensure that we win for the first time in this group. This group is a little bit tougher than I personally envisaged. I just hope we qualify from the group. However, to win football matches these days, it all comes down to having exceptional players who can break down a tight defence. If we didn't have Hudson Odoi again in this match, it would probably have ended 1:1. In the match against Valencia and indeed since the beginning of this season, I have been praying for him to come back because I know Hudson Odoi is just like Hazard, he just knows how to get past players and create chances or even score by himself. Against Brighton last weekend, he came in and gave Willian that pass for the second goal. He came in again today and gave Willian again the pass for the goal. He's the sort of player I will call a difference maker and I hope he gets fit in time to start getting into the first eleven.