Chelsea v Bournemouth (PL) Sat 14th Dec 15:00 GMT

[haviet1]

4 minutes ago, Kev56 said:

Well we know /knew the problems from the start, with the ban and all, but f**k me the last few games we've been utter f**king useless. I've been saying it for ages this idea of sideways, sideways backwards and repeat football is NOT f**king working, and people keep telling me it's the modern way. Well f**k the modern way. And anyone else tells me that piece of crap Willian deserves t be playing for us aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh f**k it all. Totally pissed off.

Rant over. 

 

Modern day football is press high and hard, steal the ball, and move it forward lightning fast and strike.

That's how Liverpool won the CL, how they going to win the PL this year, and that's how they destroyed Man City. Citeh had no clue what hit them.

All these side way passes are foreplay without penetration. Simply useless.

 

[Nibs]

23 minutes ago, Dean said:

Your points are all fair, Nibs. Really shouldn’t be losing to Bournemouth, West Ham and the like. Really just saying, as you are, that some of the takes are a bit OTT. I’m also not a big fan of the reliance now i’m seeing on the January transfer window: 1) it may not change much; 2) i thought we were going to give youth a chance? Are we really THAT fickle? I’d much rather see Frank fix things with the team we have and then reassess in the summer.

 

Lamps does have a real dilemma as I've touched on elsewhere. I too would like to see us stick with the youth but that's a gamble if some of them are struggling to regain the form they showed earlier. It would be better if CHO was already showing signs of being the player we hope he will be or if RLC was fit & available and raring to go. But right now, we are struggling and the squad does look a bit thin, so I would be all for replacing some of the players I don't see having a future at CFC (Giroud, Pedro, Barkley, Christensen) and signing better quality players in those positions. Not saying discard the youth, but rotate them when needed and just give ourselves a better, stronger looking squad.

 

[The Chelsea Way]

Annual defeat to Bournemouth - tick. 
 

Mourinho, Conte, Sarri and now Frank have fallen victim. We were the better team today but predictable in our attack. Just not our day. The goal had a freak feel to it imo. 
 

[hephzibah]

i'm not happy with the way some of us come here and instead of just acknowledging that this squad is not good enough to win well organized teams, we come here and start claiming that this player or that player should start instead of this player or that player. 

There are numerous top quality players all over the world. We cannot continue to use average players and expect good results. All we can get from average players is mistakes week in week out, ignorance week in week out. 

When we had players like Hazard, Costa, Fabregas etc., the team had the quality to break teams down and win football matches. They were better than the opponents and so they were able to win matches. 

If Chelsea have the ambition to compete for trophies again in England, then we need to see it in this forth coming transfer window and in the summer. 

Edited December 14, 2019 by hephzibah

[JoeyN]

2 hours ago, Jackson27 said:

With Mount And Pulisic, You Have Two Players Who Want The Exact Same Area To Play In, You Can't Start Both, You Have To Start Either Or Put Pulisic On The Right Wing And Mason In His LMF Role, Fair Play To Bournemouth Though

Easy on the shift key bro.

 

[Dean]

2 minutes ago, Nibs said:

Lamps does have a real dilemma as I've touched on elsewhere. I too would like to see us stick with the youth but that's a gamble if some of them are struggling to regain the form they showed earlier. It would be better if CHO was already showing signs of being the player we hope he will be or if RLC was fit & available and raring to go. But right now, we are struggling and the squad does look a bit thin, so I would be all for replacing some of the players I don't see having a future at CFC (Giroud, Pedro, Barkley, Christensen) and signing better quality players in those positions. Not saying discard the youth, but rotate them when needed and just give ourselves a better, stronger looking squad.

 

If there are ways to do it in a sensible way (ie not panic buys that turn out to be flops) then sure. But we shouldn’t count on it. Overdoing it could be disruptive. We should also allow for the possibility that some of our current players are just having a dip in form and the reality that they are still youth: in theory their best playing days are ahead of them and so they SHOULD improve with time, though inevitably some of them won’t make the grade.

[STATS]

You called it. Serious note. Utter pathetic performance. Leicester dropped points. Bournemouth's injuries and even Harry Wilson got injured before kick off ffs.

We looked physically weak and did not get any foothole in the game. We just looked feeble and not willing to compete. Don't have anything positive to say about any of the players out there. Pulisic was not exactly good, but think Mount should have come instead of him as Mount was anonymous all game. Ryan Fraser roasted Azpi all game also. Azpi did not have the legs to deal with him. Sad to see such a good start come to a major stutter. It is realistic that by next weekend we may be not even be in the top 6. That can genuinely happen. With the form book, Spurs look more capable of beating us than we do of beating them. Hopefully that game gives motivation to the players and gets them to back their bloody ideas up.

The results are alarming. We just scraped past an under-strengthed Lille and we could easily be in the EL now, if they played their better players.

After this, there is no way Lamps will not be buying in January. Performances have dropped hugely.

[WeatherMan]

1 hour ago, 2211 said:

What's worrying is that 3 of our recent defeats have been against West Ham, Everton & Bournemouth.

3 teams who are in wretched form.

This recent run is indeed really quite a concern. Before the season started my hopes and expectations were a realistic top half of the table finish and a decent run in one or two of the cups.

So far we've done  better than I was hoping for with regards the league position but the slump in form is gradually eroding that, the home form is particularly worrying. It's been a very long time since Stamford Bridge was considered 'a fortess' but even so we should be doing better at home than this.

The youngsters seem to be struggling and none of the senior players seem able or capable of leading the way at the moment. Fitness levels seem to be an issue as well, too many players looking tired, leggy, lethargic this early in the season is not a good sign with the busiest period still ahead.

I really hope Frank can turn things around pretty soon. The January window should be interesting now we are allowed to make some signings.

[dR3]

It's really funny to see all of the lurkers come out of hiding as soon as we hit a rough patch.

[Snedger]

5 hours ago, loz said:

5 hours ago, Jangz said:

I have long held a view that the pitch at SB is just too small to play possession football.. teams are able to sit back given the narrow pitch size.. teams that have in the past done this well.. like barca.. city ... All have bigger pitches.. I think at home we need to go more direct..

That debate has been had before. Our pitch is almost the identical with to the Nou Camp. Only about a metre in it.

I recall reading a Pat Nevin article discussing our pitch size and he said that even though a metre in width and in length sounds like nothing, it equates to something like two tennis courts in area. And I’ve played 5 a side on pitches similar to a tennis court. So on that basis, it can make some real difference to the area that needs covering.

[Cam]

We've dropped so many bad points recently. The team has ceased functioning in any positive manner, and look lethargic and lost of any ideas. We should be there with Leicester at the moment, but now we're right back into the scrap for 4th. Not bad considering the expectations at the start of the season, but very bad when you consider our recent performances and the sides we have thrown away our points buffer on.

I don't know whether it's fatigue or inexperience, but hopefully Frank has some ideas up his sleeves. 

Edited December 14, 2019 by Cam

[haviet1]

It's both.

You can see a lot of these players are tired with heavy legs.

Lack of quality rotation is what's hurting this team the most.

[strider6004]

On MOTD they said our CBs were pumping it long when Jorginho was in space in front of them.

I've noticed this a few times and not just with CBs yet WBs too when we have a man inside with space yet it goes straight back to the CB. I don't get it unless it is real fear of effing up and have egg on the face. Now unless we change this we will continue being so predictable.................

[haviet1]

3 minutes ago, Strider6003 said:

On MOTD they said our CBs were pumping it long when Jorginho was in space in front of them.

I've noticed this a few times and not just with CBs yet WBs too when we have a man inside with space yet it goes straight back to the CB. I don't get it unless it is real fear of effing up and have egg on the face. Now unless we change this we will continue being so predictable.................

 

During the game, I count at least 3 to 4 times where Rudiger bomb the ball diagonally over the air from the backfield to the top left corner, where it goes out of bounds. Waste of possessions. 

[strider6004]

Just now, haviet1 said:

During the game, I count at least 3 to 4 times where Rudiger bomb the ball diagonally over the air from the backfield to the top left corner, where it goes out of bounds. Waste of possessions. 

Agree.

[sonic90]

3 hours ago, Strider6003 said:

On MOTD they said our CBs were pumping it long when Jorginho was in space in front of them.

I've noticed this a few times and not just with CBs yet WBs too when we have a man inside with space yet it goes straight back to the CB. I don't get it unless it is real fear of effing up and have egg on the face. Now unless we change this we will continue being so predictable.................

That sounds very selfish of the defence to not risk being countered in case the midfielder loses it, but if both are doing it consistently who knows it might be the tactics in place? Zouma's long balls are slightly more accurate but you really do need a great passer like Luiz to pull it off. 

[axman2526]

Congratulations Bournemouth. You cannot say they, or rather their forwards did not try their best to not win the game for them with almost every set piece they had offering a presentable chance and combinations of King and Cook wasting glorious chances.

They did work their socks off and we could not break them down. Despite them losing 5 on the trot. Huh...

Another struggling, poor team to beat us. 

We did not even force their keeper in to a decent save, in a home game, with them missing 3 of their back 4.

Am still left wondering how Emerson managed to head that sitter straight at their keeper. What a useless player he is in every category.

[Malcolm9]

I'm not going to be too hard on the team or Frank as there is still a lot of learning to do. I am frustrated that we seem to be the winning ticket for teams that are struggling and I really hope we can sort that out. Personally I just think it's a lack of  confidence rather than a lack of ability.

We do need quality additions in January to give us that boost to push on. The Spurs game will be a huge test and it is vital we get the 3 points.

[Droopy]

What was it with this hero ball from the CBs? Hero ball might have been working in basketball(stopped being effective like 6 years ago) but thats a 5v5 game, on a much smaller terrain. In football playing hero ball is a suicide. We lost about 60 possessions because of the Rudiger's and Zouma's constant attempts to make an impossible assist. 

Edited December 15, 2019 by Droopy

[Hemel Blue]

2 hours ago, Malcolm9 said:

I'm not going to be too hard on the team or Frank as there is still a lot of learning to do. I am frustrated that we seem to be the winning ticket for teams that are struggling and I really hope we can sort that out. Personally I just think it's a lack of  confidence rather than a lack of ability.

We do need quality additions in January to give us that boost to push on. The Spurs game will be a huge test and it is vital we get the 3 points.

Well put

[Luca Vialli]

14 hours ago, hephzibah said:

i'm not happy with the way some of us come here and instead of just acknowledging that this squad is not good enough to win well organized teams.

If we can't win vs well organised teams is one thing, But our last three games...

West Ham - No wins in nine games until they played us

Everton - No wins in seven games until they played us

Bournemouth - Five straight losses and eight first team players out

What are we doing?

[fitz]

It's an issue that has come up before but we're just not physical or crafty enough, especially when faced with the  'stone wall" tactics many teams bring to Stamford Bridge. You either match your opponent's physicality kick for kick, or exploit it by winning free-kicks. penalties etc. At the moment we are doing neither. When facing a' shut out' we just go through the motions of possession football. Jorginho has learnt this and has adapted to become one of our more effective midfielders, he's tougher and snappier now than when he first arrived. The younger players have yet to learn the dark arts, Tammy for example hardly ever takes a tumble or appeals for penalties. Pulisic has yet to learn how to draw the foul in the right areas etc. Some games are an uphill battle and things like free kicks in the oppositions half give you an attacking base from which to hurt them. We need to be much much smarter on the pitch. 

[strider6004]

I think this is the first time I am missing Hazard, if RLC had recovered this might not have been an issue as he adds a different dimension yet it what it is.

We lack good penetration when teams come to SB to block us

We put in crosses yet Tammy is too isolated and heavily marked to take advantage.

For me we need another presence who can score goals yet not sure who as Bats is not showing much potential in his short cameos. 

[fitz]

Yes it was a case of Eden-who? when we were on our winning streak but now his footballing brain is missed as much as his skills. It's a real shame as I think he would have loved playing with this younger squad.

[icecoolguy22]

Big f* you to those c* in the dark room deciding games behind the so called VAR. If the new rule is to make players play for the whistle, then they should take away the flags of linesmen from making offside calls. Flags up, players automatically stop for a second or two, and the moment is gone. You can't allow the linesman to make the offside decision, then take it away just because you could slow motion the whole incident and spin it however you want. The VAR is supposed to correct the obvious wrong, play that incident at normal speed, it's offside everytime without the need for a second look. The c* behind VAR freeze the whole thing, draw a couple of lines at random angles on the screen, and somehow make it look onside. Even if they succeeded with making it onside, it was never obvious, it's some f* fancy free the frame draw a line in the sands kind of sh1t, and showhow it's allowed to overturn the original call ( whom looked straightforward offside). F* hell, I said it once before and again, VAR is great for match fixing, not much else.

As for the team, wasn't that bad of a game, just like last game we managed to f* up every goal scoring chances. I'm going to stretch this, maybe Lampard's words about we need forward enforcement got into the heads of the frontline players, they all looked lacking that belief and shaprness in front of the goal. We ended up overcommitting and eventually getting caught by them. We got so many players around their box, yet not many are willing to make runs, and the cross is usually way too slow.The bigger problem is we have a limited team, and Lampard can't afford to rotate much after that miserable game against WestHam. The regular 11s are fatigued, yet those coming ins aren't making the impact. I fear if ( and probably will) we lose the 4th spot by the new year, we will just buy anyone for anything to salvage the season.