Chelsea v Arsenal (PL) Tue 21st Jan 20:15 GMT

[Stas1]

4 minutes ago, Dean said:

too much hysteria on here. Get a grip people. 

Lets celebrate, shall we?

[dansubrosa]

Took a picture of Kepa tonight.

[Spiller86]

3 minutes ago, forbzy said:

You might have a case, and I agree he waited too long to make subs. But when they did come on the subs hardly made a difference in our favour.

Totally agree. We can call for subs but when we have few who can make an impact off the bench you can hardly blame that. 

First goal was unlucky with NGolo slipping. Not sure why we had only one back, I know they say there are two of him but there aren't really!

[forbzy]

Is Tomori injured? He hasn't featured much in recent weeks and I feel like he gave us a bit more pace at the back.

[Scott Harris]

Just now, SFL82 said:

I don’t get what people want frank to do, we are dominating games, with half our team being the youth squad and still in 4th, what is it you want, he had to push for a second goal, it’s all individual errors and toothless attacking how can he effect that, it’s fuxking stupid blaming the manager. We have been doing the same sh*t from mourinho days, just stale toothless attacking, he actually fixed that we were scoring for fun but we have reverted. Who would have done a better job with what he has been given?? 

The only thing I will blame Lampard for is his insistence on starting Kante when it's clear that Kante has been poor pretty much all season. I think Lampard just has a really weak squad and players that too often don't put maximum effort in.

I will judge Lampard when he get's his own team to work with. I'm sicking of seeing managers pay the price because our players decide to stop trying.

[forbzy]

Just now, Spiller86 said:

Totally agree. We can call for subs but when we have few who can make an impact off the bench you can hardly blame that. 

First goal was unlucky with NGolo slipping. Not sure why we had only one back, I know they say there are two of him but there aren't really!

If there are 2 of him, we seem to have been playing the wrong one in recent weeks ?

[Spiller86]

Just now, Stas1 said:

Lets celebrate, shall we?

No need to celebrate but no need for hysteria. We're still 4th by 6 points. There are problems that we're all aware of. Hopefully we can now kick ourselves into gear in the transfer market.

[Slojo]

Just now, SFL82 said:

I don’t get what people want frank to do, we are dominating games, with half our team being the youth squad and still in 4th, what is it you want, he had to push for a second goal, it’s all individual errors and toothless attacking how can he effect that, it’s fuxking stupid blaming the manager. We have been doing the same sh*t from mourinho days, just stale toothless attacking, he actually fixed that we were scoring for fun but we have reverted. Who would have done a better job with what he has been given?? 

Like Alan Shearer said to Jermaine Jenas, possession doesn't win you games. Yes, Tammy was wasteful and Michy at the end, but our performance there was shocking against a 10 man team without their best player. 

As soon as we scored we went straight into 2nd gear, we were strolling about the pitch it was disgraceful. And halftime we came out the same... There was no urgency coming out, only CHO had the desire to score more goals, everyone else was strolling around the pitch. We didn't even work Arsenal either that's the worst part, we looked toothless out there. 

I get what people are saying in Franks defence, but that just wasn't good enough, right team selection this time, but the gameplan has to evolve on the circumstances, it didn't. They had 10 men and we got progressively worse, we had Emerson on a yellow against Pepe in the first 20 minutes, how on earth did he stay on the pitch for 90? He cost us big time, plenty on here pointed that out, Frank chose to keep him on when we had the luxury of swapping an LB at halftime. 

[Gol15]

Just now, Spiller86 said:

Totally agree. We can call for subs but when we have few who can make an impact off the bench you can hardly blame that. 

First goal was unlucky with NGolo slipping. Not sure why we had only one back, I know they say there are two of him but there aren't really!

It's not unlucky, counter attacks this season are causing much bigger problems to us in comparison to the last season. Kante slipping there could have been Jorginho or Barkley or anyone else the point is that we have no clue how to defend. I imagine all Kante haters are very happy after this f**king game.

[Sing the Blues]

17 minutes ago, Wearyourblue said:

I think Sarri would have done us well, I don't see anything FL has brought to the table so far. I don't see any attacking or defending organization. I see too much of Mount / Willian in the attack ( I think Willian should start often... just not all the time).

Are you kidding me? That dinosaur would have us fighting a relegation battle right about now with our squad and his outdated tactics. You got jokes. 

[The Don Antonio]

3 minutes ago, Sexyfootball said:

With Kante as a starter in the PL we are won 5 drawn 3 lost 6

Without Kante we are won 7 drawn 1 lost 2.

Lamps lacks balls. He plays Kante based on reputation instead of form..

[Spiller86]

Just now, Scott Harris said:

The only thing I will blame Lampard for is his insistence on starting Kante when it's clear that Kante has been poor pretty much all season. I think Lampard just has a really weak squad and players that too often don't put maximum effort in.

I will judge Lampard when he get's his own team to work with. I'm sicking of seeing managers pay the price because our players decide to stop trying.

Agreed. CHO was one of the few forwards who tried. Tammy and Willian stopped pressing as soon as we scored the penalty. I thought Dave was good he kept trying and got rewarded.

[rtwelch]

17 minutes ago, abigsmurf said:

Pile of sh*te.

Not sure what was worse, the awful short corners we kept trying, all the times we tried to do a dozen passes in the box instead of anyone taking it on, the headers straight at the keeper or another demonstration of a defence that was literally non existent for the first goal.

For their second goal Abraham was hobbling around, barely able to walk. Instead of kicking it out and letting him get treatment, we apparently though the best course of action was to have him defend instead... Not that we didn't have 4 or 5 chances just to clear the ball and ease off the pressure.

Terrible tactics and players who are gutless, always wanting to pass to someone else rather than taking on good chances and then forgetting that they also need to defend and overcommiting themselves.

This.

[forbzy]

Just now, Scott Harris said:

The only thing I will blame Lampard for is his insistence on starting Kante when it's clear that Kante has been poor pretty much all season. I think Lampard just has a really weak squad and players that too often don't put maximum effort in.

I will judge Lampard when he get's his own team to work with. I'm sicking of seeing managers pay the price because our players decide to stop trying.

I still think our best midfield trio under Lampard is Kova/Jorgi/Mount. That has been our most successful combination. However Mount has been getting a fair amount of abuse on here in recent weeks, and I can understand why he went for the more experienced 3 for the Arsenal game. Barkley did well against Burnley and probably had a case for starting against Newcastle but it doesn't seem to take much for people to turn on him here either.

[Spiller86]

1 minute ago, Gol15 said:

It's not unlucky, counter attacks this season are causing much bigger problems to us in comparison to the last season. Kante slipping there could have been Jorginho or Barkley or anyone else the point is that we have no clue how to defend. I imagine all Kante haters are very happy after this f**king game.

No doubt. But a slip is a slip. Problem is there should have been someone else back. Particularly when we're leading 1 nil. 

[Gol15]

Just now, Sing the Blues said:

Are you kidding me? That dinosaur would have us fighting a relegation battle right about now with our squad and his outdated tactics. You got jokes. 

Sarri is probably in a dark room somewhere smoking and laughing at us as we speak. Or he doesn't give a sh*t he's first in his league and will probably do better than us in CL.

[WhiteWall]

3 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

Weakest Chelsea side in years. Lacking in quality and the bollocks to see things through when things are tough.

The attitude was terrible after the red card, we went down a gear, something that should never happen. I have been saying for years that there is a mentality issue at this club. There is an arrogance about us, like we feel we can just coast our way through games and win, our performance after their red card was another example of this.

Watching us trying to create one decent opportunity is torture. Emerson can't cross for sh*t, Willian does f**k all but pass the ball on to somebody else, half of the team just stroll around and pass side to side, Kante can't do anything anymore, including stay on his feet to make a simple tackle, Christiansen is the weakest cb I have ever seen, Rudiger is too busy shouting at the rest of the team instead of concentrating on his own game, Azpilicueta is looking pissed off with everything every time I see him, Kepa can't save anything, and Abraham looks like Bambi on ice in recent weeks. It's like the whole team have just shut down and stopped playing like a team. This happens at the same times of year, every year, and I'm tired of it. 

I didn't expect much from us this season because I didn't think we had enough quality, but the one thing I did expect was for us to really dig deep and become a proper team again instead of just a bunch of individuals.

This is spot on. Agree with every point, its pretty much everything I have been shouting at the TV all night.  11 goals conceded in the last 15 minutes of games means two things. Physically not fit enough and mentally too weak.

The only thing Scott doesn't say here that I would have said , possibly because it is an unpalatable truth to face up to, but if we continually fail to overcome any team that defends against us and look so bereft of ideas then at some point questions must be asked of the coaching ability I this club.

[cfcblue]

3 minutes ago, Sexyfootball said:

With Kante as a starter in the PL we are won 5 drawn 3 lost 6

Without Kante we are won 7 drawn 1 lost 2.

I thought so... I think we are a better team when Kante doesn’t start... ??

[Sing the Blues]

2 minutes ago, Gol15 said:

Sarri is probably in a dark room somewhere smoking and laughing at us as we speak. Or he doesn't give a sh*t he's first in his league and will probably do better than us in CL.

With his squad he should walk it. And cool that's he smoking away. His lungs are laughing too. 

[Boston Blue]

I thought last year that more kids from the Academy in the team would create more passion and fight for the shirt.  This season, we have all these academy kids that have been proper Chelsea for years, and we still don't seem to have improved the mentality.  I know these players are young, but there is an overall lack of steeliness in the squad.  I thought Rudiger would have brought some of that back, but that hasn't happened yet either.

 

[loz]

Totally agree. We can call for subs but when we have few who can make an impact off the bench you can hardly blame that. 
First goal was unlucky with NGolo slipping. Not sure why we had only one back, I know they say there are two of him but there aren't really!

That was the obvious f**k up. Any one can slip. Its just sh*t luck. But to pile everyone forward when your 1 up against ten men is just the stuff of schoolboys. I don't believe Lampard was telling at everyone to pile forward. That was a lack of awareness on the part of the players.

We played with no intelligence, discipline or calm heads today and paid a deserved price. Even after undeserved getting back in front we were a total shambles at trying to see the game out.

Yes we need more quality in a number of positions but also, importantly, we need a leader on the pitch. There was none of that on show from any of our more experienced players tonight. Azpilicueta, Jorginho, Kante and Rudiger in particular should be providing a sh*t load more control than they did tonight. It was 11 players all playing as individuals. Nobody took any responsibility for getting the team to settle down and not panic.

[Dean]

7 minutes ago, Stas1 said:

Lets celebrate, shall we?

Yeah that’s exactly what I was saying. Get some sleep. 

[BadBlue]

Frank doesn't seem to learn at all, making lots of managerial mistakes, showing his inexperience, costing us points.

Awful game management and inability to motivate a young team that should know what a game against Arsenal means.

He is walking down a dangerous road that always ends with sacking at Chelsea. Hope we can have a little patience with him and back him in the transfer market. The issue is we are slowly becoming an unattractive proposition for a lot of  top players.

Kepa should be benched and we should look for a replacement mid-long term, he is not Chelsea quality.

Emerson shouldn't have been at Chelsea in the first place.  

Kante and Mount need a rest and  they must up their performances to deserve to play.

We miss Pulisic big time.

And please sign a striker and a LB.

 

[The Brit]

Lots of crap performances tonight but none worse than frank and his backroom staff. For experienced ex pros, frank and Jody’s game management was terrible. What was that against 10 men? Why no subs until after the equalised? Who set up that defensive set-up from our own corner  where an opponent can run the length of the pitch unchallenged...what happened when Tammy is clearly injured and no-one is shouting to the players to kick the ball out? Fcuk me. Amateur hour

[Stas1]

1 minute ago, Spiller86 said:

No need to celebrate but no need for hysteria. We're still 4th by 6 points. There are problems that we're all aware of. Hopefully we can now kick ourselves into gear in the transfer market.

It is our long-standing mantra "It is a wake up call".  Bollox to it. Our alarm clock has been silent for too many years now.

And no, I do not want us to go and buy silly as a knee-jerk reaction.

And I do not mind losing or drawing with youngsters, providing everybody gives their best on the pitch, and providing the manager does his work.