So glad we held on to get the three points to save another Sunday being ruined. Just glad Wellbeck wasn't available for them as you just know he would have scored.

Now let's get another three points at Old Trafford.................................

I was genuinely resigned to dropped points at half time, I just didn't feel we had the experience and know how to see it through with ten men.

Delighted to be wrong and hopefully this is a huge kick on point now, especially mentally.

 

 

 

 

 

3 hours ago, Sconnie Blue said:

They offered nothing until Colwill and Enzo decided not to close down that lad for Brighton’s first goal. 

Mainly Colwill letting him come in onto his left foot so easily.

Good win at a crucial time heading into the busy part of the season. First 25-30 minutes we were awesome, those set pieces play really worked wonders. Then a lose of concentration and we conceded as usual, the double yellow came and usually we would have folded. To our credit, we kept ourselves in the game and not conceding many chances, a 50/50 penalty went our way for once. The ending was nervous as usual, as usual we found a way to get into trouble, but credit to the players to play out the extra 10 minutes added time. Attacking wise we looked good against a team that likes to press, defensively we are not having a good time. I can't remember the last clean sheet , and we conceded 10 goals in the last 3 games if I counted right. For the second goal, there was no way we should have let the free header given we had 4 central defenders on the field.  Again, bottle half full, could have easily been a draw, so take whatever we could get.

Some thoughts:

Positives
- Firstly, well done to the players for hanging in there and fighting it out

- Enzo, Well done

- Sanchez - kicking aside, some really solid saves and general keeping 

- Mudryk - had a quiet game but when he gets on the ball, things happen. We need to see more of it and him. He has the ability and it just needs fine tuning. There’s definitely a player in there

- We’re scoring more goals

Negatives:

- We can’t or don’t know how to control games 

- Game management from Poch and players needs to improve 

- Caicedo should have been sent off. I am amazed the ref didn’t and got it wrong. So reckless and stupid

- Gallagher silly decision jumping in. 

3 hours ago, Argo said:

I'd say we've likely mathematically done enough already given the promoted sides but it's irrelevant, relegation wasn't a remote possibility last season or this.

Assuming no significant points deductions (if we get charged etc. which is still unclear) I would agree.

That's  3 games we've had a player sent off. Gusto's red card was harsh I thought but the other two were clear enough and Caicedo could also have been sent off (thanks ref).

That's on Poch. He needs to manage things better.

The second thing that's on Poch was the way we went to sleep when we were 2.0 up. This is indicative to me of the manager not having instilled the right culture.

Other than that it still seem obvious that we are missing some creativity in the middle of the park. We don't have that no 10 style play. If Palmer had played instead of Gallagher from the start I think we'd have put more pressure on them.
Other than that you can't really blame the team for looking disjointed playing centre backs as full back isn't the way.
In terms of player performance Sanchez did well, Badiashile was much better, Silva was much better. Jackson did quite well. Caicedo was solid enough but can do more, would still be better playing in front of Enzo rather than behind him.

That’s not even considering the amount of yellow cards we’ve racked up too. 

Quiz time ... when was the last time that #8 and #26 both scored for us in a league game ? 🙂 

 

34 minutes ago, Sexyfootball said:

Quiz time ... when was the last time that #8 and #26 both scored for us in a league game ? 🙂 

 

Trying to think of league games Terry scored and if Oscar (2014 onwards) or Lampard did in the same game.

Most recent I can come up with was the 3-5 vs Arsenal so I'll go with that 🤣

36 minutes ago, Sexyfootball said:

Quiz time ... when was the last time that #8 and #26 both scored for us in a league game ? 🙂 

 

Was hoping it would inexplicably be Koulibaly and Kova in the season we hope to forget.

Spoiler

Looks like it was in a 4-0 win over Brentford in the FA Cup under FSW: https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/chelsea-fc_brentford-fc/index/spielbericht/2289522

 

This game was very different to the Chelsea we have seen so far this season. We were scruffy and physical in grinding out the win. How the game was going in the first half, I actually felt we could still win this after going down to 10. 
 

A backline of 4 centrebacks today might have something to do about it. Scored two corners and hardly conceded any big chances. Reminded me of games back in the day where we maybe weren’t at our best but still managed to get a scruffy win.

 

RDZ said after the game that had the left with a point they would have been disappointed, so you can imagine how they felt with 0 points. That they were the better said, better than their last 2 games that they won, and should have won, and deserved to win.

Simple analysis :

Offense:

- Our offense was back to post chuku, pre Palmer era. No connector means the offense feel very disjointed. 

- Sterling was back to lazy Sterling which is a very big worry. 

Defense:

- Defensively, we conceded almost nothing playing 10 man which impressive. 

- You can't concede near post against corner. This is Drogba territory. 

 

 

10 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

RDZ said after the game that had the left with a point they would have been disappointed, so you can imagine how they felt with 0 points. That they were the better said, better than their last 2 games that they won, and should have won, and deserved to win.

Good for him 👍👍

 

Is amazing some ex players are complaining about our penalty.

I am very unbiased when it comes to assessing our team, some would say far too critical, and when I saw this in real time I immediately thought stonewall pen, and the replays only confirmed it.

Milner is not trying to foul Mudryk, he tries to defend well, use his upper body to force Mudryk wider to allow the keeper to get the ball. 

If he had kept his balance then he would have done fine, in trying to keep up he slips and both his left left and right leg trip Mudryk and Milner gets nothing on the ball.

Is not deliberate, is not a red card for clearing him out. But is a straightforward slip, trip and stonewall pen. How these guys played the game and cannot see that shows they killed too many brain cells heading the ball and drinking it up.

You know who you are you bitter Scottish tw@t.

16 hours ago, just said:

Luckily the players have more belief and fight than you do fella.

Ten men, we only need ten men!

😆

Considering how many bookings we are picking up per game, there will be a lot more matches with just 10 men lol.

Great reminder of a simple fact in football; finish your chances and you win a game. We scored 3 and played 45 mins with 10 players and still won. We didn't do well in any other statistic in the match. 

7 hours ago, Bob stark said:

- Sterling was back to lazy Sterling which is a very big worry. 

I thought Sterling was fine, but the issue is when Mudryk plays on the opposite wing, Sterling has to play a more disciplined game, recycling possession more, and being generally more risk averse. Willian would do the same thing for us to accomodate for Hazard on the other side (not comparing Hazard to Mudryk in terms of ability before anyone jumps on that!).

Obviously once we go down to 10 the whole gameplan goes out the window though.


On Mudryk I thought he had some nice flashes, and did well to win the pen. His positioning and movement still needs a lot of work though. He struggles to find separation, makes selfish runs rather than using his pace to drag defenders out of position, and presses really poorly. If those things arent improved upon I don't think its going to matter how fast or naturally talented he is.

2 games against the Lizards and 2 wins - easy as pie, can we play these mugs every week? 

20 hours ago, Backbiter said:

Yes, the monitor review was because VAR told him to change his decision on the handball. Not that the appalling NBC/Peacock commentators informed us that was happening. Ekoku was scandalously bad today. And the studio pundits (Mustoe and Howard) agreed with his insane take on the Mudryk pen, which was that he hadn't meant to trip him up and shouldn't have been penalised. For three ex-pros to be that ignorant about intent not being part of the foul law is beyond belief.

Couldn't believe Warnock and Jenas expressing the same view last night on MotD. They both felt the arm across from Milner to impede Mudryk was fine (Reece James got a second yellow last week for briefly touching Gordon's shoulder), and both somehow felt the trip that brought him down was accidental and therefore not a foul. Complete and utter bullsh!t. They didn't address whether he should have had a red for denying him a goal-scoring opportunity without making a genuine attempt to win the ball, which is a sending off offence.

(Thanks erskblue for the picture).

Edited December 4, 20232 yr by Backbiter