Sucks for the injuries but overall thought we played really well. 

 

Solid performance overall, had more than enough chances to put this tie to bed in the first half; could have been 3 or 4 had we have been more clinical.  I'm not sure where we are going to find a Tiago replacement, he will be sorely missed if and when he eventually retires.  Pulisic was lively in the first half but fell off a bit in the 2nd even though he scored.  Alonso was up to his usual high standard when it came to defending...good going forward but he really is sh*te defending, gets caught up the pitch when the attack breaks down and hasn't got the legs to get back.  Ziyech not as effective as he has been of late. At least the forward line had more movement than what we have seen of late.  Lille didn't really cause us any concerns.  Unless we really play badly in a couple of weeks we should make the Quarters.  

Solid performance, the change to three in midfield helped us dominate in the second half

Thiago again showing his class

Havertz good movement throughout, nice headed finish

Kante in cheat mode second half 

Special mention to both Saul and RLC who both came in and gave solid performances 

Fingers crossed the injuries aren’t too bad and take the gloss off the evenings work

Now for the Scousers , we will need to cut out some of the sloppy passes seen in the first half

Good performance for the most part. Havertz and Pulisic played well. Silva immense at the back. Much more fluid.

4 minutes ago, forbzy said:

Great result. Even though away goals rule is scrapped it is always a good confidence booster to keep a clean sheet. Still a bit of work to be done in the away leg but we will go there with a decent lead to protect.

I hate that they scrapped the away goal rule, I thought it added a lot to the competition. The tension, tactics and just how players dealt with it mentally was always interesting to watch.

A good win and a clean sheet, Thiago Silva immense once again and Kai lead the line well and took his goal very nicely. Shame about the injuries hopefully they aren’t as bad as they look. Onto the dippers next let’s bag another trophy 💙UTC

Cole should watch out with that "german blood" comment lol

3 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

I hate that they scrapped the away goal rule, I thought it added a lot to the competition. The tension, tactics and just how players dealt with it mentally was always interesting to watch.

Totally agree Scott. It meant you rarely felt you were out of the tie.

3-0 down in an away leg just one away goal to make it 3-1 gave you hope for the home leg.

19 minutes ago, chiefBlueCFC said:

another clean sheet

Also, I heard we had more injuries... I'm absolutely over the injuries this season

I saw this tweeted after todays game and thought it was interesting:

Against Palace we had 63% of the ball in the first half and conceded 3 shots. In the first half vs Lille, we had 53% and conceded 9. At higher tempo and with quicker passing, our attack was far more threatening, but we lost the ball multiple times and let David/Sanches use their pace on the counter.
 

This is the trade-off we currently have to find the perfect balance in. Today's breathless attack and shaky defence was far better than ultra-safe defence & non-existent attack vs Palace. More proof that lack of attacking transitions have been our flaw.

I saw the first and snapshots of the second.

Havertz could have had a hat trick within 10 minutes such were the chances we had early on.

He took his goal well.

Ziyech should have scored with a tap-in yet decided to try and take it on his left..............

The pace of the first half was incredible at times and Lille though mostly out of possession still looked threatening.

A few underhit passes from,  Ziyech, Kante, Christensen and Rudiger had a couple of miskicks.

Great to see Mount jump up first on the bench applauding Havertz's goal.

Pulisic looked better in this position too, not just going forward yet fighting for every ball.

In the 2nd, Pulisic finishes very well and also with a hamstring breaking sprint stops one of their breaks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

1 minute ago, just said:

Totally agree Scott. It meant you rarely felt you were out of the tie.

3-0 down in an away leg just one away goal to make it 3-1 gave you hope for the home leg.

Yep, and as much as the Barcelona game was painful to experience, it was something I would never change. The Ramires away goal changed everything, and was everything I loved about the Champions League. Even the so called best team of all time were affected mentally by it. They were strolling and then we scored and they knew from that point on it was going to be a different game.

Good performance, good result. Shame about the injuries but hopefully it's nothing serious.

Thiago MOTM. Never fails to impress me.

Said it from the start of the season the system works dramatically better without Lukaku, 7 touches it’s not even metaphorical anymore to say we play with 10 men when he plays..the false 9 is just a better fit for out system 

15 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

I hate that they scrapped the away goal rule, I thought it added a lot to the competition. The tension, tactics and just how players dealt with it mentally was always interesting to watch.

Totally agree. Back in the 70's especially although Chelsea weren't involved after 71 to go to an iron curtain country really hostile with virtually no away support to get a 1-1 or even a 2-1 loss gave you a real chance in the second leg and often a psychological advantage.

12 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

Yep, and as much as the Barcelona game was painful to experience, it was something I would never change. The Ramires away goal changed everything, and was everything I loved about the Champions League. Even the so called best team of all time were affected mentally by it. They were strolling and then we scored and they knew from that point on it was going to be a different game.

Another factor to it Scott is that a team that found themselves 3 - 0 down had nothing to lose and everything to gain by going for the crucial away goal.

Now we may see teams in those circumstances just shutting up shop to avoid it becoming a hammering.

Edited February 22, 20224 yr by just

12 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

Yep, and as much as the Barcelona game was painful to experience, it was something I would never change. The Ramires away goal changed everything, and was everything I loved about the Champions League. Even the so called best team of all time were affected mentally by it. They were strolling and then we scored and they knew from that point on it was going to be a different game.

It was actually Messi's penalty miss that changed everything. They came out in the second half flying out of the blocks but after that penalty miss they got a bit too overzealous and the nerves trickled into the crowd.

18 minutes ago, strider6004 said:

I saw the first and snapshots of the second.

Havertz could have had a hat trick within 10 minutes such were the chances we had early on.

He took his goal well.

Ziyech should have scored with a tap-in yet decided to try and take it on his left..............

The pace of the first half was incredible at times and Lille though mostly out of possession still looked threatening.

A few underhit passes from,  Ziyech, Kante, Christensen and Rudiger had a couple of miskicks.

Great to see Mount jump up first on the bench applauding Havertz's goal.

Pulisic looked better in this position too, not just going forward yet fighting for every ball.

In the 2nd, Pulisic finishes very well and also with a hamstring breaking sprint stops one of their breaks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nice win. I could tell that Pulisic was playing with greater confidence long before his goal. And that goal was like his finishes in days of old, diving in from the left side. As for the rest, Silva was a rock, Kante a phenom, and Havertz is still climbing. Somehow, though, it just seems like Lukaku's seven touches weren't missed. I know that he was a demon in Serie A, but when do we admit that his return to Chelsea was a <ahem> flop?

Obviously did not miss Lukaku at all but I wished he had come on as a sub and maybe scored a goal to boost his confidence. We are stuck with him till at least the end of the season,.if not more. We could use some of his goals.

28 minutes ago, RomansRoubles said:

Obviously did not miss Lukaku at all but I wished he had come on as a sub and maybe scored a goal to boost his confidence. We are stuck with him till at least the end of the season,.if not more. We could use some of his goals.

He struggled against lower league opposition big time in the domestic cups. What makes us think he would come on today and magically score in a Champions League knockout game. Im glad he didnt come on, would of just ruined our momentum. 

Good performance overall. We came on to them with intent, pressing a lot and with a lot of movement when attacking. Then we lost a bit the control of the game, imo, until the second half. But we performed much better than when Lukaku plays. And Werner provided us so much more than Lukaku that I still don’t understand how Tuchel can let him rot on the bench in favour of Lukaku.

Think this game showed the end is nigh for Alonso 

equally RLC showed good composure, strength and touch when he came on. 

16 minutes ago, Oli said:

He struggled against lower league opposition big time in the domestic cups. What makes us think he would come on today and magically score in a Champions League knockout game. Im glad he didnt come on, would of just ruined our momentum. 

Oh I agree. It was more of a hope to boost his confidence. We could use every player given our injury record. Still holding on to hope that he does something by the end of the season.