And Liverpool score a goal in injury time..... Smfh

2 hours ago, comtrend said:

We could cope with Kovacic, Ben Chilwell and Chalobah I believe, but you take 4-5 starters out of any top team except maybe City, then you will struggle. We saw last season how Liverpool struggled just loosing VDV, imagin them loosing their 3 top forwards for a while, then their entire central midfield.

Difference is their forwards score goals. Makes little difference who is fit or unfit in our front line. None of them can buy a goal.  We are far too reliant of likes of Mount, the wing backs and headers from set pieces for goals.

How I wish we had a prolific goal scorer. Why do our forwards never score goals (minus Drogba, Anelka and Costa in the last 15 years). We have a real curse when it comes to forwards who can score regularly.

Welcome back festive period Chelsea! Does not matter who the manager if we are manage to be terrible are Christmas time.

Big blow in the battle for 3rd. We should have at least held them but that second half performance was terrible. 

Their keeper had nothing to do, and every effort they had beat Mendy. Silva saved him once and bowen another. Was West Brom levels of bad, sure it was a poor pass from Jorgi but put the ball out for a Corner don't take such a stupid risk. As for that deflected cross...so so poor. Defending was terrible too we badly missed Trev. They murdered AC.

First half good, second half abysmal, another display of Lukaku offering nothing.

It was laugable how bad we were, TT will be gone in Jan if they players don't sort it out!

Who's next for Chelsea Christmas presents?

3 minutes ago, loz said:

Difference is their forwards score goals. Makes little difference who is fit or unfit in our front line. None of them can buy a goal.  We are far too reliant of likes of Mount, the wing backs and headers from set pieces for goals.

When you've a crippled midfield and defence teams know they can do what they did today and be pretty sure of a great attacking chance every break.

Our attack can't afford to commit as much (how many times did we try to cross the ball to a single player in the box surrounded by 6 players?) and ever 5 minutes or so they get to relieve some of the pressure on the counter and unnerve our players.  When we look so vulnerable we aren't able to put the kind of endless pressure that leads to mistakes and lapses in concentration.

10 minutes ago, The Don Antonio said:

And Liverpool score a goal in injury time..... Smfh

Don't worry about them or City. We will be far off them come the season end, over 38 games we cannot match them.

4 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

Don't worry about them or City. We will be far off them come the season end, over 38 games we cannot match them.

Without Salah and Mane Liverpool will suffer for sure. I do not wish them any injuries, just saying that if they are out for extended period of time (apart from AFCON), Liverpool will drop lots of points.

As for ManC, they can easily field 2 full squads of top class players capable of winning PL.

Unless we splash the cash, we will continue to feel disruption to service due to injuries or red cards or fatigue.

 

5 minutes ago, Stas1 said:

 

Unless we splash the cash, we will continue to feel disruption to service due to injuries or red cards or fatigue.

 

At this moment in time your right, we need to splash out, trouble is we won't be able to sign anyone of significance for another 5-6 months yet.

But we can bring back those loanees that are performing, can’t we? Bring back Gilmour, Gallagher, Broja, Maatsen, and play them, it can’t be worse than our second string team, can it?

The game swung on Mendy not kicking the ball out, we would have been 2-0 if he just did the simple and obvious thing.

You alright lads missed the game can anyone summarise it, I could only see the score but a mate sent me a cryptic message about Mendy

34 minutes ago, abigsmurf said:

When you've a crippled midfield and defence teams know they can do what they did today and be pretty sure of a great attacking chance every break.

Our attack can't afford to commit as much (how many times did we try to cross the ball to a single player in the box surrounded by 6 players?) and ever 5 minutes or so they get to relieve some of the pressure on the counter and unnerve our players.  When we look so vulnerable we aren't able to put the kind of endless pressure that leads to mistakes and lapses in concentration.

Crippled is a tad dramatic.  We had three of our first choice back five out there and Christensen is hardly an inexperienced kid. And two of our first choice midfielders. 

34 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

Don't worry about them or City. We will be far off them come the season end, over 38 games we cannot match them.

I think we are the best of a bad bunch and Utd are only slightly worse at the moment.  Finishing 3rd or 4th will be about right given the gap between us Liverpool and City.

2 minutes ago, LongtimerLurker said:

You alright lads missed the game can anyone summarise it, I could only see the score but a mate sent me a cryptic message about Mendy

Good first half, lovely Mount goal, should have been 0-3 up but mendy messed up and gave them a pen and Havertz missed a simple headed chance.

Second half awful, created nothing, gave them a cheap second and Mendy handed them a winner by fumbling a cross in to his own net.

3 minutes ago, loz said:

Crippled is a tad dramatic.  We had three of our first choice back five out there and Christensen is hardly an inexperienced kid. And two of our first choice midfielders. 

Champions cope with such problems. We won't be Champions again until we get rid of festive Chelsea, cause you can count on us giving out sloppy gifts like that every single time.

3 minutes ago, CFCCAN said:

I think we are the best of a bad bunch and Utd are only slightly worse at the moment.  Finishing 3rd or 4th will be about right given the gap between us Liverpool and City.

Think it will be a battle, was a blow to our hopes to not at least hold West ham and not beat United. They are two of our main contenders to 3rd along with Arsenal and Spurs.

Edited December 4, 20214 yr by axman2526

1 minute ago, axman2526 said:

Think it will be a battle, was a blow to our hopes to not at least hold West ham and not beat United. They are two of our main contenders to 3rd along with Arsenal and Spurs.

I think the gap is too big for Arsenal and Spurs given the overall quality of their squads; if Utd can get on a run and we keep spluttering like we do in December then they will be back in the fight. We were poor today and handed 3 points to WH.  What I saw today and in midweek was worrying; there was no intensity, no real fight, it was blase' all over the pitch right from the kick off so the writing was on the wall. 

48 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

Don't worry about them or City. We will be far off them come the season end, over 38 games we cannot match them.

You are right. It's the hope that kills. I guess I have to just face reality....

Hopefully we win some cups and the club world cup is now a must even though it has always been since that debacle with Rafa

I’m a little disappointed with the defeatist attitude of some of our fan base. Yes it’s frustrating that we lost while are our rivals won and gained points . But keep in mind that it’s a long season and even if city win they’ll be 2 points ahead. That’s the nature of the PL sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. Did city fans or Liverpool fans lose hope when they lost to Palace or West ham. No they moved on. I know it’s depressing the last few games we lost our flare but I’m hopeful it’ll be a wake up call to the players and Tuchel not to be complacent and get there act together. No team is perfect. Let’s move on and take each game at a time and wait for the right moment to reclaim top spot. 

2 hours ago, Sindre said:

It was a poor pass, no doubt about that. But Mendy had several options to deal with the situation.

He could have kicked it out first time, when he controlled it he could have punted it out for a throw-in or corner. Or if all else failed pick it up with his hands and take the indirect free-kick.
So as he was the last to have control of the situation he needs to shoulder most of the blame in my view.

As of the game I didn't think Jorginho was awful. He controlled the game (like we couldn't when he was missing v Watford) and our trouble came from West Ham's long ball past our attack and midfield for Antonio who would then bully our defenders physically. That's how they scored goals 2 and 3 really.

Firstly I feel the pass was so under hit Mendy wasn't expecting it Sindre. Especially with an attacker that close. I also think with Bowen so close he expected to be tackled. You can see Mendy braced his body ready for the contact. The fact is the crap pass made the problem and Jorginho has done this before.

I watched the game on the American Peacock network. Glen Johnson and Michael Owen were the half-time pundits and the first comment made at the break was "what was Jorginho doing there?"

13 minutes ago, CFCCAN said:

I think the gap is too big for Arsenal and Spurs given the overall quality of their squads; if Utd can get on a run and we keep spluttering like we do in December then they will be back in the fight. We were poor today and handed 3 points to WH.  What I saw today and in midweek was worrying; there was no intensity, no real fight, it was blase' all over the pitch right from the kick off so the writing was on the wall. 

That is festive Chelsea for you. Players go on holiday and no manager since Conte got them to snap out of it.

10 minutes ago, The Don Antonio said:

You are right. It's the hope that kills. I guess I have to just face reality....

Hopefully we win some cups and the club world cup is now a must even though it has always been since that debacle with Rafa

League is beyond us, cups and CL however are not. Once we get going again after the usual slump we have a chance in all of those as we can beat anyone in a one off or 2 legged game.

8 minutes ago, Faisal said:

I’m a little disappointed with the defeatist attitude of some of our fan base. Yes it’s frustrating that we lost while are our rivals won and gained points . But keep in mind that it’s a long season and even if city win they’ll be 2 points ahead. That’s the nature of the PL sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. Did city fans or Liverpool fans lose hope when they lost to Palace or West ham. No they moved on. I know it’s depressing the last few games we lost our flare but I’m hopeful it’ll be a wake up call to the players and Tuchel not to be complacent and get there act together. No team is perfect. Let’s move on and take each game at a time and wait for the right moment to reclaim top spot. 

Call it defeatist if you will, personally day it is realistic. Winning cups is different to winning league. Pool and especially City are set up to do so and in recent years have won what 15, 16 games in a row to do so? Name shame in admitting those two sides are simply better than us.

5 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

Call it defeatist if you will, personally day it is realistic. Winning cups is different to winning league. Pool and especially City are set up to do so and in recent years have won what 15, 16 games in a row to do so? Name shame in admitting those two sides are simply better than us.

No disrespect it’s not realistic when you say we have no chance of winning the league when we haven’t even reached half a season with 2 points bellow the top of the table. And at no point I made the argument that we are better than city and pool. My main is argument is our fan base are quick to throw in the towel when we lose a game. Yes do city and Liverpool have experience with grinding out result absolutely. Does that mean they’ll maintain that form who knows maybe they can maybe they can’t. And finally I didn’t mean to offended anyone I’m stating an opinion that you may disagree with. Fact is they’re half a season to play for we’re 2 points off the top they’re  still chance to turn things around. In 1998 during this period Arsenal were 12 points adrift of SAF Man United and in  the end they won the double. Trust the team and manager and let’s take it one game at a time 

2 hours ago, General said:

Gone from smashing Juve to a horror show vs Watford and more of the same today, performance was better today & we’ve been undone by Mendy and a huge slice of luck a speculative cross goes in ffs. Wo Chilly and James in tandem and a strong pivot the system is not working. Alonso & Dave are not able deputies neither are Saul or RLC. Hope we can regroup through the upcoming busy period and not slide down the table. TT is an elite coach he needs to find a solution. I’d say if Chilly is out for months we need to bring somebody in, not freaking Saul at LB. Also have Gallagher at Palace but Chelsea won’t bring him back they’d rather keep Saul!

Bringing someone in is no guarantee. Look at Saul. We're better off giving younger players a chance to shine. Chalobah is a prime example. 

It doesn't help when your goalkeeper starts trying to mimick Kepa! That's what I would worry about, a shaky keeper is certain doom!

Didn't watch the game so it makes it a little harder to add perspective but, can anyone seriously say we haven't look likely to lose a game recently? From the sounds of things Mendy didn't have the best day which to his credit he is due a bad game considering the levels he's been at. 

Any other day we win this game or draw, when do we ever conceded more than 1 let alone 3 goals?! This was a wake-up call for anyone and everyone I don't just mean our fanbase,  some mutuals thought we were favourites just because we were in the lead for a while now and are ucl holders. 

I feel like we will be better chasers than leaders going into this festive period. Tuchel and Lamps both constantly referred to closing the gap between the two elite domestic rivals. We had done for 13 or so games and now one has opened up. Therefore now is the time to see how far we have come in 2 seasons. Most important thing for us is to stay within touching distance all through December and into January and the tail end of the season. 

If this was the 17/18, 18/19 or 19/20 season I do not believe we could hit between 97-100 points (with this current squad) which is the level Liverpool and City did reach. I dont think they will hit the highest 90s but I do expect this race to pass the 90 points threshold if the teams continue at the pace. 

All today was is a setback nothing more unless the team allows it to be. Realistically speaking City, Liverpool ans Chelsea this season are expected domestically to beat any team put in front of them bar each other. Is this reasonable? Not for every single game but the team out of the three which does this the most will be crowned champions. We are still in this race and there is no need to be defeatist, remember when we were at the top we had the pressure of winning to stay top now that has passed we can carry on doing what we've been doing since Tuchel arrived, improving and challenging the two teams that have shown the most consistency in this league for the last 4 seasons.

 

12 minutes ago, LongtimerLurker said:

Didn't watch the game so it makes it a little harder to add perspective but, can anyone seriously say we haven't look likely to lose a game recently? From the sounds of things Mendy didn't have the best day which to his credit he is due a bad game considering the levels he's been at. 

Any other day we win this game or draw, when do we ever conceded more than 1 let alone 3 goals?! This was a wake-up call for anyone and everyone I don't just mean our fanbase,  some mutuals thought we were favourites just because we were in the lead for a while now and are ucl holders. 

I feel like we will be better chasers than leaders going into this festive period. Tuchel and Lamps both constantly referred to closing the gap between the two elite domestic rivals. We had done for 13 or so games and now one has opened up. Therefore now is the time to see how far we have come in 2 seasons. Most important thing for us is to stay within touching distance all through December and into January and the tail end of the season. 

If this was the 17/18, 18/19 or 19/20 season I do not believe we could hit between 97-100 points (with this current squad) which is the level Liverpool and City did reach. I dont think they will hit the highest 90s but I do expect this race to pass the 90 points threshold if the teams continue at the pace. 

All today was is a setback nothing more unless the team allows it to be. Realistically speaking City, Liverpool ans Chelsea this season are expected domestically to beat any team put in front of them bar each other. Is this reasonable? Not for every single game but the team out of the three which does this the most will be crowned champions. We are still in this race and there is no need to be defeatist, remember when we were at the top we had the pressure of winning to stay top now that has passed we can carry on doing what we've been doing since Tuchel arrived, improving and challenging the two teams that have shown the most consistency in this league for the last 4 seasons.

 

Yeah agree the loss today was not a complete shock - we've not been exactly at it on a few occasions recently, missing players, and performance issues creeping in more - had hoped we would get at least a draw today, but not terribly surprised by this disappointing loss.

Hope we can bounce back quickly, got Leeds and Everton both at The Bridge for our next two coming league games - hoping for a reaction and two solid wins if we to get back on track swiftly.