Sad about the man that had a heart attack at the MHU turnstiles tonight. Was told after the game he passed away.

3 hours ago, Sindre said:

No because Valencia would be ahead on head to head and Ajax would be ahead on points in that case.

No, a draw against Valencia will mean us both on 8 and Ajax on 10 assuming the latter beat Lillie. Now while we'd go into the last day in 3rd Ajax and Valencia face off on matchday 6 meaning a win at home to Lillie will guarantee we go above one of them at a minimum.

3 hours ago, BadBlue said:

Great come back but i don't think we deserved a point tonight. Ajax much better team than us today, we had a very poor game and only Blind's stupidity (correct 2nd yellow and red card) and referee's decision to send off a second player (very harsh) put us back into the game.

Then we had 20 min to win it against a 9 men team and they created the better chances! Overall we have a lot of work to do and have to buy when the ban is lifted, we are seriously lacking in quality in a few positions. 

An equally young Ajax team showed us the big gap we have to bridge to become a good European team again. 

Happy for the result in the end but dissapointed by the team and a lot of the players today,, we were simply lucky to the draw. 

Really don't buy this notion Ajax outplayed us, they went 4-1 up through two shots on target. They were clinical fair enough but in no way outplayed us.

What a crazy game! Ajax were certainly looking in control at 4-1 but , unlike many teams, they don't believe in sitting on a lead and they left themselves open at the back. Once we got to 2-4 you could sense we were building some momentum and could score more. The biggest danger was that we would also concede more on the break. Obviously the double red card and penalty significantly increased the odds in our favor. Personally I think Ajax can have no complaints over Blind's second yellow, and the penalty was probably correct with the new handball rules. The second yellow for Veltman seemed very harsh to me although there are suggestions that it may have been more for dissent. We were unfortunate with the disallowed goal that would have made it 5-4. Again technically the correct decision based on the new handball rules but Tammy knew nothing about that so it was harsh on him.

Kudos to Ajax for continuing to go for a winner even with 9 men. They almost got it too. Overall I'd say Ajax were comfortable in the first half, whereas we shaded most of the second half. The ref will probably dominate a lot of the headlines but it was still a great game of football with a lot of attacking play to admire from both teams.

Valencia away will be tough but we seem to do better on the road at the moment so I think we can get a result there. We will definitely need to improve significantly at the back if we are to make much progress in this competition though.

That was...was...what can you say to describe that game? Amazing entertainment, stupid, engaging. What the heck did we just see?!!

 

Ok try and make sense of this all. First half not one single Chelsea player can come out of that with a shred of credit. We were out fought, out thought and second to everything. Did Ajax get lucky? Yes but they earned that and we earned it for them with stupid play.

As a big supporter of his that is the first game Tammy looked a Championship player this season. He made a real pigs ear of the first OG and gave Kepa no chance.

However Dave and Alonso took the cake. Alonso was hopeless with every single touch. That may be the first 0 out of 10 display I can remeber. Complete liability. 

Dave gifts them free kick after free kick knowing we cannot defend them, plays promise onside for goal 2, is nowhere near getting back to help on goal 4 and, let's be honest ladies and gents, he was an hair away from getting our second goal, which was going in anyway, disallowed for offside. 

Unlucky on goal 3? Sure but wtf are Tomori and Alonso doing giving away the stupid free kick in the first place. He had nowhere to go!

 

Second half, great start, much better attitude. What a goal that would have been from Zoumaldo. Sadly we get bitten on the break for 1-4. 

Now how at 1-4 am I disappointed at a draw and feel we missed a trick and may end up in the Europa because of it?

First criticism of Ajax here. Young team, you need your experienced players to help out.

So what is Blind doing making that tackle on Tammy when he is on a yellow. That is as blatant a second yellow as you will ever see. Idiot.

Like Davey baby I think the rules around handball are a joke. Personally I do not think the second pen is deliberate nor should it be a pen or second yellow. Ref following the law though, as VAR did in disallowing our 5th as it sadly hit Tammy's hand.

Praise for Frank bringing James on? One way to look at. Another is he should have started. 

Sadly batman let frank down and I think we missed Kova it those few remaining minutes.

Finally 4 minutes...lol...mad mad game.

What a game !

What a comeback !!

Going to be the pessimist and say I didn't enjoy that game. Terrible first half and only for a huge slice of luck we managed to draw the game against 9 men! I'd have preferred a 1-1 bore draw than the humiliation we suffered in the first half.

So I guess head to head doesn't affect the table right now as ours is better than Ajax', Ajax' is better than Valencia's and Valencia's is better than ours.

6 hours ago, Richard P said:

Sad about the man that had a heart attack at the MHU turnstiles tonight. Was told after the game he passed away.

That is terribly sad, hopefully his loved ones could be with him. At least his final moment was at the Bridge.

Cant begin to describe the game but Kovacic I thought was outstanding again. His composure and ability to open things up in midfield is really coming through.

He's also starting to look like he could deliver in the final third. He's been a litle unlucky in the last few games not to assist or score himself.

If he can add that to his game then we really do have a player. 50m could be good business which at the time I wasnt sure about.

I'm at the game on Saturday and praying Barkey isn't in for Jorginho or mount if injured. Would prefer to see 4231 with Odoi, Willian and pulisic or 442 with Batswayhai.

Edited November 6, 20196 yr by DP2

Cant begin to describe the game but Kovacic I thought was outstanding again. His composure and ability to open things up in midfield is really coming through.
He's also starting to look like he could deliver in the final third. He's been a litle unlucky in the last few games not to assist or score himself.
If he can add that to his game then we really do have a player. 50m could be good business which at the time I wasnt sure about.
I'm at the game on Saturday and praying Barkey isn't in for Jorginho or mount if injured. Would prefer to see 4231 with Odoi, Willian and Abraham or 442 with Batswayhai.

It will be Kante

2 minutes ago, loz said:

3 minutes ago, DP2 said:

Cant begin to describe the game but Kovacic I thought was outstanding again. His composure and ability to open things up in midfield is really coming through.
He's also starting to look like he could deliver in the final third. He's been a litle unlucky in the last few games not to assist or score himself.
If he can add that to his game then we really do have a player. 50m could be good business which at the time I wasnt sure about.
I'm at the game on Saturday and praying Barkey isn't in for Jorginho or mount if injured. Would prefer to see 4231 with Odoi, Willian and Abraham or 442 with Batswayhai.

It will be Kante

Hopefully but if Mount's injured I hope Frank goes 4231 or 442.

35 minutes ago, AlexTommo said:

So I guess head to head doesn't affect the table right now as ours is better than Ajax', Ajax' is better than Valencia's and Valencia's is better than ours.

As I understand it, without Lille it looks like this:

Chelsea - Valencia 0-1 (3 points Valenica)
Valenica - Ajax 0-3 (3 points Ajax)
Ajax - Chelsea 0-1 (3 points Chelsea)
Chelsea - Ajax 4-4 (1 point each)

So head-to-head points are Ajax 4, Chelsea 4 and Valencia 3. As for goal difference Ajax +2, Chelsea 0 (and Valencia -2). That's why the table is currently:

1. Ajax
2. Chelsea
3. Valencia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019–20_UEFA_Champions_League_group_stage#Group_H
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019–20_UEFA_Champions_League_group_stage#Tiebreakers

Edited November 6, 20196 yr by Zero

9 hours ago, Valerie said:

Oh lord  Just got Joe Cole through the barriers to the Millennium hotel at the Bridge. Just when I was asking a security guard how to negotiate the barriers, a guy - obviously Joey Cole - asked the same question. I could show my hotel key card, but the guard asked Joe Do you have a ticket or a card? And I exclaimed He's a former player, yeah! So we could both go through, and Joe, clearly in a rush, panted Thank you at me. In the hotel lobby there was an opportunity to try and talk to him, but as he was clearly in a hurry, I let him off the hook.

I keep bumping into our old boys 

Yeah..."bumping" into eh...definitely not stalking though eh.....I dread the day you "bump" into Cudicini, it will be all over the news.

Have to give Ajax a lot of credit - They could have easily tried to kill the game off by time wasting, looking for free kicks, etc but they carried on playing football and attacked! Just shows their class.

I hope we and Ajax get through.

4 hours ago, axman2526 said:

That was...was...what can you say to describe that game? Amazing entertainment, stupid, engaging. What the heck did we just see?!!

 

Ok try and make sense of this all. First half not one single Chelsea player can come out of that with a shred of credit. We were out fought, out thought and second to everything. Did Ajax get lucky? Yes but they earned that and we earned it for them with stupid play.

As a big supporter of his that is the first game Tammy looked a Championship player this season. He made a real pigs ear of the first OG and gave Kepa no chance.

However Dave and Alonso took the cake. Alonso was hopeless with every single touch. That may be the first 0 out of 10 display I can remeber. Complete liability. 

Dave gifts them free kick after free kick knowing we cannot defend them, plays promise onside for goal 2, is nowhere near getting back to help on goal 4 and, let's be honest ladies and gents, he was an hair away from getting our second goal, which was going in anyway, disallowed for offside. 

Unlucky on goal 3? Sure but wtf are Tomori and Alonso doing giving away the stupid free kick in the first place. He had nowhere to go!

 

Second half, great start, much better attitude. What a goal that would have been from Zoumaldo. Sadly we get bitten on the break for 1-4. 

Now how at 1-4 am I disappointed at a draw and feel we missed a trick and may end up in the Europa because of it?

First criticism of Ajax here. Young team, you need your experienced players to help out.

So what is Blind doing making that tackle on Tammy when he is on a yellow. That is as blatant a second yellow as you will ever see. Idiot.

Like Davey baby I think the rules around handball are a joke. Personally I do not think the second pen is deliberate nor should it be a pen or second yellow. Ref following the law though, as VAR did in disallowing our 5th as it sadly hit Tammy's hand.

Praise for Frank bringing James on? One way to look at. Another is he should have started. 

Sadly batman let frank down and I think we missed Kova it those few remaining minutes.

Finally 4 minutes...lol...mad mad game.

The handball rule is moronic, as most of the changes are. We now have the farcical situation where refs on the field arent allowed to make a decision based on opinion but VAR is. 

The game was fantastic, its what football should be with 2 teams going for it. I cant see how anyone can argue the first red, its as blatant as you can get and was just stupid by Blind. Our set piece defending wasn't great but the delivery by the Ajax player was outstanding, sometimes you just have to accept the attacking play was so good the defending was incredibly difficult. 

7 minutes ago, dkw said:

Yeah..."bumping" into eh...definitely not stalking though eh.....I dread the day you "bump" into Cudicini, it will be all over the news.

"Perfect match at SB".....I can but hope  

1 minute ago, dansubrosa said:

Have to give Ajax a lot of credit - They could have easily tried to kill the game off by time wasting, looking for free kicks, etc but they carried on playing football and attacked! Just shows their class.

I hope we and Ajax get through.

Didn't you notice the absurd time wasting by their keeper? Should have been booked after his second warning.

Just now, Valerie said:

Didn't you notice the absurd time wasting by their keeper? Should have been booked after his second warning.

Ah yeah, but he was the only one. To be fair on him on the rest of goal kicks he didn’t take the p*ss.

Reece James introduction made a difference and Dave did well on the left. Maybe this is the way forward. Alonso has his moments but they are few and far between and he gives away stupid free kicks. I like Emerson but maybe Dave is better. Whatever, it's good to have options and Reece looks like a fantastic prospect.

Can't actually analyse the game because it was so mad. Overall I thought we were a bit lucky and at one point I thought Ajax were going to win by 7. In the end it was great experience for the young players and they will come away realising that anything is possible in a match. To come back from 1-4 down doesn't happen very often at all but they have now lived that and know that it is possible. Character building stuff.

COYB!

Despite a lot of earlier doubts Zouma is another player to look like a regular now. I think the the benefit of a season in the championship is the difference between the likes of mount/tomori/James and cho. Cho is just a year behind and somehow despite his talent it shows. 

I think Frank was right to bring Alonso off at half-time, this type of move has not happened for me since Mourinho yet serves to give all the players a metaphorical kick up the rear.

Reece was better on the right after finding hid feet and took his goal well. He also linked up with Willian well.

Willian was good last night we almost scored from one of his better corners not sure if it was Zouma or Tomori that rocked the crossbar.

Azpi did well on the left yet when attacking needs to be careful of those off-sides around the opposition box.

Tammy was poor and needs to work on his headers.

CHO struggled to make any difference.

Pulisic did well for our first goal in winning the penalty.

Jorginho exceptionally cool with those penalties.

Thought Ajax had some luck last night with Tammy's own goal and the ricochet off Arrizabalaga's head though still deserved to be in front.

Bats had too little time for me due to short injury time.

 

Thinking Ajax will be two players down in their next CL outing due to the Red cards.

 

 

 

 

8 hours ago, Richard P said:

Sad about the man that had a heart attack at the MHU turnstiles tonight. Was told after the game he passed away.

That's sad news. Puts it all into perspective when people around me were moaning that they had to use a different entrance than usual.

1 hour ago, Andy North said:

Reece James introduction made a difference and Dave did well on the left. Maybe this is the way forward. Alonso has his moments but they are few and far between and he gives away stupid free kicks. I like Emerson but maybe Dave is better. Whatever, it's good to have options and Reece looks like a fantastic prospect.

Can't actually analyse the game because it was so mad. Overall I thought we were a bit lucky and at one point I thought Ajax were going to win by 7. In the end it was great experience for the young players and they will come away realising that anything is possible in a match. To come back from 1-4 down doesn't happen very often at all but they have now lived that and know that it is possible. Character building stuff.

COYB!

Fair points and at 1-4 it was 'Oh No'.

To say the least and as 'politely' as I can put it !

One of the craziest matches I've seen.

I was disappointed with how we played in the first half but it has to be acknowledged that Ajax are quality team.

It cannot be denied that the team spirit is very high at the moment which is highly encouraging. The players are playing for one another and believing in what we're trying to build, and Frank is doing very well in the greater context of where we expected to be at this stage. We're going to have bumps along the way, but the journey has been enjoyable so far.

Thought Abraham struggled and I think Michy and to a lesser extent Giroud have a chance to potentially challenge Abraham for the number one striker position in the coming weeks.

Alonso had a shocker, and we look much improved once Reece James came onto the pitch.

Kovacic and Jorginho have been quality players this season. Far better than anyone expected and Frank is getting the best out of them at the moment. The way they've stepped up has alleviated the absence of Kante.

With Jorginho suspended for the Palace clash, I expect Kante to start on Saturday.