Home Form

[blue monty]

just looking through my official fans guide fixture book, i get it every season and fill in the results only chelsea of course :D i know we are unbeaten at home, but our home form cost us the title last season take a look at this.

2007/2008

15 sep chelsea 0-0 blackburn

29th sep chelsea 0-0 fulham

10th nov chelsea 1-1 everton ( last minute goal)

26th dec chelsea 4-4 villa (last minute goal)

9th feb chelsea 0-0 liverfool

12th apr chelsea 1-1 wigan (last minute goal)

11th may chelsea 1-1 bolton (last minute goal)

thats 7 draws at home, and 13 away wins last season, so far this season.

2008/2009

31st aug chelsea 1-1 spuds

21st sep chelsea1-1 man u, and 3 away wins out of 3!!

interesting stats would you say?

[Tim]

Yeah as has been said before, in a way, this home record isn't great for us.

Obviously it's impressive to have SMASHED L*verpool's record, but under Jose I did get the feeling that our 'safety first approach' to protecting it meant that we drew games we could have won if we'd taken a few more risks and been more aggressive.

Bottom line, W-W-L is worth more points than W-D-D, and the only stat that really matters is who's name is on the trophy come May.

[blue monty]

Yeah as has been said before, in a way, this home record isn't great for us.

Obviously it's impressive to have SMASHED L*verpool's record, but under Jose I did get the feeling that our 'safety first approach' to protecting it meant that we drew games we could have won if we'd taken a few more risks and been more aggressive.

Bottom line, W-W-L is worth more points than W-D-D, and the only stat that really matters is who's name is on the trophy come May.

didnt know its been said before :D

[Tim]

Ha, no I meant a while back, and given (as you pointed out!) this season's home stats so far, maybe 'the record' is still a problem.

Wasn't having a go, honest.

[ethicalstrategy]

Yeah as has been said before, in a way, this home record isn't great for us.

Obviously it's impressive to have SMASHED L*verpool's record, but under Jose I did get the feeling that our 'safety first approach' to protecting it meant that we drew games we could have won if we'd taken a few more risks and been more aggressive.

Bottom line, W-W-L is worth more points than W-D-D, and the only stat that really matters is who's name is on the trophy come May.

Sorry, but we have never had a safety first approach to protecting the home record. Last season we did concede late equalisers in some home games but it was our finishing which was poor not our approach.

[loz]

And we weren't exactly being cautious against United this season - we were pushing for the winner right up till the end.

[Tim]

Well, ethical, I do think that we do/did often fail to turn the screw and finish games, and it could be argued that maybe the players have the home record in the back of their minds and so don't want to overcommit and risk getting hit on the counter.

We had more than enough time to get the winner against Spurs, but really didn't create anything of note, so maybe the fear of the record ending against Spuds, of all teams, did play on some of the players minds a bit. I know it would've killed me if they had done it.

I guess all this is pointless hypothesising as we will never know the mindsets of players and managers, but, like I said, if the idea of one of our main rivals ending the record is horrible for the fans to contemplate, it must play on the minds of some of our players, if only a bit.

[blue monty]

Ha, no I meant a while back, and given (as you pointed out!) this season's home stats so far, maybe 'the record' is still a problem.

Wasn't having a go, honest.

NO WORRIES tim. i hate when you think you done a good topic and its been done already :D

[icecoolguy22]

Most teams come to the Bridge playing for a draw, and we haven't been able to rip them open on a regular basis this year. It's still early under Scolari days, only 3 home games at home. Man United deserved a point, Spurs just got lucky, they never looked like breaking us until the freaky bounce off Lampard gifted them the goal. Playing away is somewhat diferent, teams are likely to play instead of parking bus in front of their box, in return give us more room to play with.

[ozboy]

The match against villa this weekend is shaping up as a good test of home form. They are a good side that we have struggled to beat. No Deco, Joe Cole or Carvalho and possibly no Kalou. Their pace up front will trouble our central two.

[Mr Chelsea]

our home unbeaten record is very impressive and always seems to be mentioned

the bridge needs to be more of a fortress, teams dont fear us they know if they work hard they can hopefully grind out a point

[ethicalstrategy]

Well, ethical, I do think that we do/did often fail to turn the screw and finish games, and it could be argued that maybe the players have the home record in the back of their minds and so don't want to overcommit and risk getting hit on the counter.

We had more than enough time to get the winner against Spurs, but really didn't create anything of note, so maybe the fear of the record ending against Spuds, of all teams, did play on some of the players minds a bit. I know it would've killed me if they had done it.

I guess all this is pointless hypothesising as we will never know the mindsets of players and managers, but, like I said, if the idea of one of our main rivals ending the record is horrible for the fans to contemplate, it must play on the minds of some of our players, if only a bit.

Tim

I don't disagree that we didn't always go for the kill, I just don't agree that it has anything to do with protecting the record. You also seem to be mixing your message up. You initially said that this was a problem under Jose, but then talked about games last season and this.

Typically, the draws that we have had at home have either been against Arsenal/Utd/Liverpool where we mainly haven't been too disappointed with a point or against teams that have "parked the bus" and we haven't been able to find a way through. The pattern is usually, we go 1-0 up and then create a shed load of chances but miss them. Then as we get to the last 10-15 mins we start to protect what we have got and sometimes we hang on and other times we don't. Mostly under Mourinho we did whereas last season on 4 occasions we didn't. I don't believe that any of those had anything to do with us protecting our unbeaten home record.

[Tim]

Fair enough. What I meant was that we seemed to protect at times under Jose, (as he was so proud of all the stats after all) and that our form under Big Phil at home, so far, could suggest the same thing. It is, however, way too early to tell. I do think it might play on the players minds a bit, as they know how gleeful the football world will be when we lose, but that's just my hunch.

Villa will certainly be a good test as they are more than capable of causing us some big problems.

[ethicalstrategy]

Villa will certainly be a good test as they are more than capable of causing us some big problems.

We can agree on that!

[dkw]

i dont think we ever go out at the bridge to protect the record, but i do think as the end of a game approaches we seem to get nervus if its still close. i think some of the players do then seem to try and protect the record.

[midlandblue]

I dont think it's as important to Scolari as it may be to others. It's not his record and I dont believe it affects his tactics on the day.

[ethicalstrategy]

i dont think we ever go out at the bridge to protect the record, but i do think as the end of a game approaches we seem to get nervus if its still close. i think some of the players do then seem to try and protect the record.

I think that's just normal nerves that always creep in when hanging on to a lead to be honest. Don't forget that in most cases we have been 1-0 up so the risk has been dropping 2 points and not actually losing the games.

[blue monty]

I THINK THE TEAM MUST OF READ MY TOPIC

[Oblivion]

On home draws:

Scolari on home draws

Sounds like he knows what he has to do this season (as I'm sure, the players do also), but there's always the luck factor