Dare I try player ratings? Yes i dare

[Pauly]

Sort of ruined the suspense there didn't i- but eh- weed will do that.

cech- 7: quality couldn't pick a fault- great save from crouch's header:

ferreira: 7: did well all night and was one of the few playing with sharpness and intensity. How he has played so little this season but then in these matches i dont' understand.

terry: 7: Well done- knocked a lot out of the box and wasn't caught out by anything

Essien: 7: Though he did very well too

Cole: 6: defended well in some difficult situations particularly against gerrard in the box, but his forward play was wasteful stupid and rubbish!

maka: 7: good as usual- strong as usual- missed a few passes as usual

lamps: 6: REST. he's clearly deflated... doesn't produce his best without options to pass too- no question for me that he's been a better player in ranieri's time than jose's.

mikel: 7: class- if we had 11 mikel's nobody would ever touch the ball. only player who kept the ball, didn't rush or panic or knock stupid ashley cole crosses into the box- what do they teach in england?

cole: 5.5: no idea what kalou and cole were supposed to be doing but they weren't offering absolutely anything to drogba, the midfield or really even the defense in either half.

kalou: 5: hardly touched the ball- no idea why he was kept on for... 110 minuts?

drogba: 5.5: bad strategy to just hit direct passes to him but in some senses you make your own strategy as a lone striker- if we had any chance to keep in the game he had to play an unselfish game like van nistelrooy used to play at utd up front.

JOSE: First half: -500: what are you payed for if you don't prepare a team with a reasonable strategy for the first half of their champions league semi final. You can't play at anfield, against a benitez who you know is going to push up players and exploit every area he can on the pitch, without the ball. Unless your backline is: buffon zambrotta nesta cannavaro maldini (2000) you cannot play football away from home like that.

second half: 8: i think he recognised the problem and focused his players and fixed it- we controlled the game after the first half- apart from some individual things like pennant, and also partly because of their worsened performance... but still..

ps. ncie penalty from geremi

[mad_mac]

Agree mostyl with that Pauly, but to be honest, at times Kalou looked like our best outlet with some of his runs. I do, however, wish we had taken him off sooner. Also, get the lad a bit mroe aggressive, he had a clear chance to header one home and he cushion headered it back into Reina's hands.

Scott

[Pauly]

did you see that drogba chance where he pulled out of the challenge with reina? i don't know what that was if it wasn't an example of an unfocused... nto in the moment player and team. not including ferreira maka cech and maybe mikel i don't think many of the players were mentally in the right place..

[mad_mac]

totally agree with that. Tonight Maka showed how invaluable he is in big games, and I hope that Diarra was sitting on the bench taking notes feverishly. Also, Drogba missed a couple of good chances tonight, one where he actually went over the ball, and a couple of times with weak headers.

Scott

[Lofty]

did you see that drogba chance where he pulled out of the challenge with reina? i don't know what that was if it wasn't an example of an unfocused... nto in the moment player and team. not including ferreira maka cech and maybe mikel i don't think many of the players were mentally in the right place..

Nor am I at the moment. And if I tried to give players ratings, apart from Petr Cech it would be something like A for Average to D for Dismal. Or Disappointing. And a big fat Z for Zero for Jose because that's where my confidence is at the moment. But like I implied, my head isn't exactly in the right place at the moment. I'm wrecked, gutted, and drained. Running on empty.

[Lady Diehard]

did you see that drogba chance where he pulled out of the challenge with reina? i don't know what that was if it wasn't an example of an unfocused... nto in the moment player and team. not including ferreira maka cech and maybe mikel i don't think many of the players were mentally in the right place..

Hmm - yes. Do you think that the Fool are a sort of psychological block in Cup competitions? Rather like the Arse in the Premiershop a couple of years ago before? I did wonder this as time went on, and on, and on... I have to say we never looked like scoring and there seemed to be a mental block more than anything else.

[The Brit]

people have so hyped up the first half it's untrue...after 20 mins cech had not one save to make, the crowd was quiet and we were in no danger...then cole gives away a free kick and they score, totally out the blue...any euro team would have been happy with the start we made, but that goal changed the game...we began to play a bit more after that and liverpool basically relied on the counter and sat back from then on..

here are my ratings:

Cech 7 made some good saves

ferreiria 7 solid

terry 8 more like his old self

essien 8 crouch went off having done sod all...says it all

cole a 5 terrible going forward, not once did he produce a cross a la bridge and wasn't great against crappy pennant either

maka 9 class display...best showing for months and didn't deserve to be on losing side

mikel 8 composure and good passing throughout

lamps 6 the last 2 months has seen his worst form in a chelsea shirt in his career...set pieces awful, game passed him by...this guy should be rested till wembley

cole j 6 tried hard, but flicks and tricks didn't come off

Kalou 5 should have been subbed so much earlier...he is very raw and tends to go missing in big games like this

drogba 7 battled hard on poor service all night and helped out at the back on all set pieces

subs

robben 5 tried his best after another month out but will be remembered for that pen

swp 5 brought on way too late

geremi 0 penalty from hell

[Pauly]

did you see that drogba chance where he pulled out of the challenge with reina? i don't know what that was if it wasn't an example of an unfocused... nto in the moment player and team. not including ferreira maka cech and maybe mikel i don't think many of the players were mentally in the right place..

Hmm - yes. Do you think that the Fool are a sort of psychological block in Cup competitions? Rather like the Arse in the Premiershop a couple of years ago before? I did wonder this as time went on, and on, and on... I have to say we never looked like scoring and there seemed to be a mental block more than anything else.

I don't think there's any psychological block against liverpool but if I was playing for Jose Mourinho against Liverpool i know what i'd be thinking about in the week before the game and during it. They are two things:

1) Whenever I watched Eidur Gudjohnsen I got this sense of the way his game differed (as do somewhat most "stylishly tempremented" players) based on whether he thought he deserved to win or not. A one on one seemed to slide in easier, a flick sharper and better and more useful when he thought we deserved to win the game. And when he didn't you could be sure you'd see that opposite, one on one missing side of eidur's game. In many ways these recent losses represent the just culmination of a season- there is no way we "deserve" to be 3 points from utd with a few games left and I think that weighs on the players mentally like lampard who is used to playing differently. I think it effects you before a game.

2)I don't know if the players understanding of the tactical module of football is nearly as amazing as mine but I would definitely be thinking about how Benitez always seems to come up with a strategy that works against us, and all the reasons that I didn't have confidence in JM against liverpool. I'd feel doubt like a rock weighing on me the week before and it would be deflating.

[Lofty]

Ok, to be fair it wasn't so much a case of individual performances - Joe Cole was disappointing, and Ashley Cole didn't exactly have Jermaine Pennant in his pocket. Essien, Maka, JT, Petr Cech all gave pretty good performances. Drogba played his usual game without being spectacular; Lamps continues to disappoint. His free kicks just ain't up to it these days. Paulo has come in for all kinds of stick lately, also did ok. Neither Robben nor SWP were on the pitch long enough to make any kind of impression. Not tonight anyway.

How it seemed to me was more a case of the sum of the parts adding up to a hell of a lot less than you'd expect given the supposed quality and experience of those parts. I don't think we can blame tiredness either, because towards the end it was one or two of the Liverpool players who suffered from cramp. Or am I being unfair? After all, it's been a long season. But even so, Liverpool didn't look like a good team. I'm going on overall impressions here, ok rather than any kind of analysis, which isn't exactly my strength. Having said that, my impression was that Liverpool should have been there for the taking. But they weren't were they? How often did we truly threaten as an attacking force? I remember shortly before they scored their goal, one of those possession analysis flashes - something like Liverpool 79%, Chelsea 21%. Or maybe it was only 71% to 29%. And yes I know about how you can prove whatever you like with statistics - but that's pretty bloody extreme by any standards. All in all it's a massive disappoint, and I seriously can't see any half sensible reason why things needed to be that way.

[Liam]

I would give Essien, Terry, Makalele and Cech a 7 and everyone else 5 or less (including new CSR favourite Mikel).

[Phillip]

Maka deserves a higher score, and didn't JT get skinned alive in the 2nd half, that almost led to Kuyt scoring?

I would drop JT down to the Lamps level, a 5, and raise Maka to a 7.

[The Brit]

I bet if we'd won the shoot-out people's ratings would be much more realistic as would be the post-match comments...people lost their perspective in their disappointment...yes i wear blue specs, but I wonder if some of you were watching the same game as me

[g3.7]

if you give drogba a a rating of 7 and joe cole the same rating as lampard then I have to say we were probably watching a different sport!

[The Brit]

wouldn't be for the first time would it?...but feel free to lay into jose and the team just as we are all depressed enough with defeat

[g3.7]

haha. no, not for the first time.

all of this discontent... it's not just this single game. this "outpouring" of disapproval re: the football and the the squad has been on the horizon for months... late goals or united slipping as we slip has managed to stall it... but now, we arrive in the cold light of day and see that the squad is poorly contructed and the football has gradually got worse.

[Guest]

BAH! (yes im stealing your word )

Going into the match against Bolton everyone was talking about how good a job Mourinho has done under the difficult circumstances he's had to endure this season and suggesting that this could be his greatest season at Chelsea yet. Two games later and everyone is now saying how the teams crap and he should be sacked.

Dispite what everyone else seems to think, I don't beleive Mourinho did such a bad job vs Liverpool. In the first half he decided to have Chelsea sit deep and let Liverpool over extend themselves before hititng on the counter attack. In the end it didn't work out but if it could have,and if it did, we'd all be here talking about what a genius Mourinho is right now.

[youlots]

A bit of balance from Qaz - well said. Had we scored another at home or 1 goal at Anfield we would have won. We didn't. Oh and some of our players are crap at penalties (whereas Pool, as their "history" shows are perenially consistent at penalties and continue to collect silverware as a result).

That's it. That's football. At least we were there to lose it in the first place and in all 4 comps at the business end. Better than any other team in England (incl. Manure) and every other team in Europe this year.

Some alleged "supporters" should get some perspective.

[g3.7]

BAH! (yes im stealing your word )

Going into the match against Bolton everyone was talking about how good a job Mourinho has done under the difficult circumstances he's had to endure this season and suggesting that this could be his greatest season at Chelsea yet. Two games later and everyone is now saying how the teams crap and he should be sacked.

Dispite what everyone else seems to think, I don't beleive Mourinho did such a bad job vs Liverpool. In the first half he decided to have Chelsea sit deep and let Liverpool over extend themselves before hititng on the counter attack. In the end it didn't work out but if it could have,and if it did, we'd all be here talking about what a genius Mourinho is right now.

sitting deep and using a counter attack! oh dear! a counter attack typically suggests waiting untill your opposition is high up the pitch and with players positioned to attack, leaving holes in their defence- often holes between midfield and defence and large spaces behind fullbacks who have pushed up. a counter attack would exploit these holes by working the ball at pace (something we now rarely ever do- our football is pretty much one paced) into those areas- to get running at the central defendera and/or behind the fullbacks. what we did was let liverpool come onto us and instead of exploiting the holes, we longed it up to drogba, in area where liverpool have no-one out of position.

it defies belief that anyone can think jose's (lack of) tactics were "not bad". they were horrible. liverpool played 4 in midfield, compared to our 5 (which is what it was without the ball) and had 70% posession. an outnumbered midfield containing top player like bolo "couldn't get into the pre: roman chelsea side" zenden and jermain "I only look good against my old mate ashley" pennant had 70% posession over a midfield including kalou, joe cole, lampard, mikel and makelele... that's an astonishing stat. we improved posession wise after half time because it would have been literally impossible not to, we did however remain toothless.

I think you have had your head in the sand if you haven't felt, heard or even read the discontent regarding our tactics and our football, and it's never enough to watch a game where the better side, in a leading position, manages to not go through and say

In the end it didn't work out but if it could have,and if it did, we'd all be here talking about what a genius Mourinho is right now

no, we wouldn't. well, the people who say mourinho's a genius for figuring out how to beat watford away, would, but they always do.

he has had difficulties with the board- granted, but it doesn't really affect our tactics or our football. the difficulties weren't there last season, and the quality of the football was already on the slide (we were lucky to be in a sitation where all of our challengers weren't ready to challenge for the title). and as for the squad? that's his making. he wanted a smaller squad, and now, he can't trust players he has signed, making our squad even smaller. he was, in the summer, in a position no other manager in the world was- spend what you like on who you like, and make the squad as you choose.

[ianwatkins]

JM was completely at fault for the midfielders and forwards poor performance. The long ball tactics were so bad completely nullifing (is that a word) the qualities of Lamps and Mikel and totally destroying any chance of Joey or Kallou having any affect on the game.. Why are bolton such a good long ball team.............wait for it!!!! because they have got a whole team of 6 footers.

I bet giggs,shrek scholes and ronaldo would look as bed if they played like we did last night.

[Elliott]

BAH! (yes im stealing your word )

Going into the match against Bolton everyone was talking about how good a job Mourinho has done under the difficult circumstances he's had to endure this season and suggesting that this could be his greatest season at Chelsea yet. Two games later and everyone is now saying how the teams crap and he should be sacked.

Dispite what everyone else seems to think, I don't beleive Mourinho did such a bad job vs Liverpool. In the first half he decided to have Chelsea sit deep and let Liverpool over extend themselves before hititng on the counter attack. In the end it didn't work out but if it could have,and if it did, we'd all be here talking about what a genius Mourinho is right now.

sitting deep and using a counter attack! oh dear! a counter attack typically suggests waiting untill your opposition is high up the pitch and with players positioned to attack, leaving holes in their defence- often holes between midfield and defence and large spaces behind fullbacks who have pushed up. a counter attack would exploit these holes by working the ball at pace (something we now rarely ever do- our football is pretty much one paced) into those areas- to get running at the central defendera and/or behind the fullbacks. what we did was let liverpool come onto us and instead of exploiting the holes, we longed it up to drogba, in area where liverpool have no-one out of position.

it defies belief that anyone can think jose's (lack of) tactics were "not bad". they were horrible. liverpool played 4 in midfield, compared to our 5 (which is what it was without the ball) and had 70% posession. an outnumbered midfield containing top player like bolo "couldn't get into the pre: roman chelsea side" zenden and jermain "I only look good against my old mate ashley" pennant had 70% posession over a midfield including kalou, joe cole, lampard, mikel and makelele... that's an astonishing stat. we improved posession wise after half time because it would have been literally impossible not to, we did however remain toothless.

I think you have had your head in the sand if you haven't felt, heard or even read the discontent regarding our tactics and our football, and it's never enough to watch a game where the better side, in a leading position, manages to not go through and say

In the end it didn't work out but if it could have,and if it did, we'd all be here talking about what a genius Mourinho is right now

no, we wouldn't. well, the people who say mourinho's a genius for figuring out how to beat watford away, would, but they always do.

he has had difficulties with the board- granted, but it doesn't really affect our tactics or our football. the difficulties weren't there last season, and the quality of the football was already on the slide (we were lucky to be in a sitation where all of our challengers weren't ready to challenge for the title). and as for the squad? that's his making. he wanted a smaller squad, and now, he can't trust players he has signed, making our squad even smaller. he was, in the summer, in a position no other manager in the world was- spend what you like on who you like, and make the squad as you choose.

Spot on, G4.

[german-blue]

Sort of ruined the suspense there didn't i- but eh- weed will do that.

cech- 7: quality couldn't pick a fault- great save from crouch's header:

ferreira: 7: did well all night and was one of the few playing with sharpness and intensity. How he has played so little this season but then in these matches i dont' understand.

terry: 7: Well done- knocked a lot out of the box and wasn't caught out by anything

Essien: 7: Though he did very well too

Cole: 6: defended well in some difficult situations particularly against gerrard in the box, but his forward play was wasteful stupid and rubbish!

maka: 7: good as usual- strong as usual- missed a few passes as usual

lamps: 6: REST. he's clearly deflated... doesn't produce his best without options to pass too- no question for me that he's been a better player in ranieri's time than jose's.

mikel: 7: class- if we had 11 mikel's nobody would ever touch the ball. only player who kept the ball, didn't rush or panic or knock stupid ashley cole crosses into the box- what do they teach in england?

cole: 5.5: no idea what kalou and cole were supposed to be doing but they weren't offering absolutely anything to drogba, the midfield or really even the defense in either half.

kalou: 5: hardly touched the ball- no idea why he was kept on for... 110 minuts?

drogba: 5.5: bad strategy to just hit direct passes to him but in some senses you make your own strategy as a lone striker- if we had any chance to keep in the game he had to play an unselfish game like van nistelrooy used to play at utd up front.

JOSE: First half: -500: what are you payed for if you don't prepare a team with a reasonable strategy for the first half of their champions league semi final. You can't play at anfield, against a benitez who you know is going to push up players and exploit every area he can on the pitch, without the ball. Unless your backline is: buffon zambrotta nesta cannavaro maldini (2000) you cannot play football away from home like that.

second half: 8: i think he recognised the problem and focused his players and fixed it- we controlled the game after the first half- apart from some individual things like pennant, and also partly because of their worsened performance... but still..

ps. ncie penalty from geremi

I would give big pete a 8 and Drogba a 6.5. I agree with the other ratings

[Tim W]

haha. no, not for the first time.

all of this discontent... it's not just this single game. this "outpouring" of disapproval re: the football and the the squad has been on the horizon for months... late goals or united slipping as we slip has managed to stall it... but now, we arrive in the cold light of day and see that the squad is poorly contructed and the football has gradually got worse.

Hate to say it but this is the second time in a week you've made sense - you off the beer?

[g3.7]

you know I was never on the beer- horrible stuff!

[german-blue]

you know I was never on the beer- horrible stuff!

guilty u are

[The Brit]

not sure where g4 got his possession info from, well the first 20 mins but the final stats had a final count of 54 inour favour so considering utd had more of the ball at the start shows how much more we must have had to get it back in our favour by the end...and as i keep saying in that first 20, pool didn't create a thing...by the way you do know we lost the tie on penalties don't you, not the stuffing utd are getting right now...having said that, my ratings were ott and I say deduct a point off everyone and that should be about right