2 hours 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.

You could also argue that conceding 1 goal at home in the second leg of a finally balanced tie would give you a mountain to climb. So it could work both ways. Overall I think change probably encourages home teams to attack more, since now there is less damage done by letting in a consolation away goal if you manage to win by a few.

 

1 hour 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.

No way.. I am sure if he had come on and scored he would have had a stupid celebration. Probably frowning his face and acting arrogant. The sooner we get rid of him the better...

1 minute ago, The Don Antonio said:

No way.. I am sure if he had come on and scored he would have had a stupid celebration. Probably frowning his face and acting arrogant. The sooner we get rid of him the better...

He'd do the Christ the Redeemer pose if he scored. 

Much better football to watch!

So wonderful to see Silva continue to be so good, effortless defending.

Funny thar Kai in the middle and Pulisic on the left and they both look a lot better eh?

Tie not over, we let them have more of the ball than I expected and feel we could have punished them more.

Shame it looks like Kova has done his hammy again and Ziyech either his ankle or Achilles...

Good win and performance. A clean sheet is always pleasing.

And the high tempo from kick off, set the tone for us for the rest of the match.

Silva, Pulisic and Havertz were, for me anyway, our best players.

Pleasing performance and excellent result.

Couldn't ask for anymore than that.

6 hours ago, forbzy said:

You could also argue that conceding 1 goal at home in the second leg of a finally balanced tie would give you a mountain to climb. So it could work both ways. Overall I think change probably encourages home teams to attack more, since now there is less damage done by letting in a consolation away goal if you manage to win by a few.

 

I liked the jeopardy of the away goal, it made the second leg more interesting tactically. That said Lille will feel they aren’t out of this tie, small ground, fans really up for match and they can afford to throw the kitchen sink at us in the knowledge a goal against doesn’t leave a completely impossible task. It’ll be interesting to see how games pan out from the quarters when the teams are more evenly matched…will the away side just park the bus in the first leg? The very reason the away goal rule was brought in for.

19 minutes ago, erskblue said:

Good win and performance. A clean sheet is always pleasing.

And the high tempo from kick off, set the tone for us for the rest of the match.

Silva, Pulisic and Havertz were, for me anyway, our best players.

Personally I’d add Kante to that list, he could have had 4 assists last night all of which he truly made.

8 minutes ago, charierre said:

Personally I’d add Kante to that list, he could have had 4 assists last night all of which he truly made.

Good shout.

 

 

Silva was again brilliant for us last night.

 

Good and important win!

We still had some boring moments in the game, but in current form I can't ask for more. It's impossible to keep the first 20 minutes in the first half for the whole game, those minutes were fantastic. We were so dynamic, strong in attacking possession and created chances.

Havertz was pretty good, lively at least in the striker position. Defense did the work, I think Lille broke us easily from Alonso's side, many balls passed by him and some of their press worked for them because they won the ball.

Still not over yet, but we can be more confident in the second leg. Now it's time to beat Liverpool!

COME ON CHELS!!!

Great performance. I thought Havertz played really well, as did Kante and Pulisic. Tie should be done, just need to be careful in the second leg

Best we've played in weeks. 

Scored two (2) goals on the 22/02/2022, lall while setting a record for consecutive clean sheet wins at home in Europe? 

11 hours 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.

I would start Havertz against LIverpool and Lukaku against either Burnley or Luton.

However a warning for Sunday I do recall VVD against Havertz last season and VVD was very physical against him in my book too physical and the ref did not want to know.

11 hours ago, The Don Antonio said:

No way.. I am sure if he had come on and scored he would have had a stupid celebration. Probably frowning his face and acting arrogant. The sooner we get rid of him the better...

He's so going to do the Maguire vs Albania at some point.

Not to mention it would have "won" him his place back for Sunday. Tragically there's every chance he'll start anyway but that would have confirmed it.

Team looked so much better without Lakaku on the pitch.  Movement, pressing, pressure Havertz brought to the game was like a breath of fresh air .

Atmosphere in the Shed was great as well 👍 good noise from the Chelsea boys