Chelsea Away Post-Match thread

[Corky]

Would've taken that at half-time, frustrated we didn't win it in the end. Second half performance much better- we played quickly, kept the ball better and got Vardy into the game. Maddison was dictating things. 

 

Certainly merited a point and glad Ndidi made up for his error.

[Innovindil]

If we figure out how to start matches well, we'll be there or there abouts this season. 

[Unabomber]

Very disappointing 

[Mike Oxlong]

Thought Wilf and James came across well in the post match interview 

[Danny Clender]

Hopefully Maddison understands his position better now, that was him showing what he's capable of and so much more to come.

 

Fuchs was a real pleasure to watch.

Did Soyuncu really do that flick and chipped ball near the corner flag? insane composure.

Hopefully Rodgers has worked enough stuff out now to play like that second half consistently. 

I still think he'll tinker next game though. 

The positioning was much better once the first half blinkers came off. 

 

Perez will come right, i'm not so fussed abut that yet. 

 

 

[gurru991]

5 minutes ago, Bats8711 said:

So - what exactly did we change at half time?

 

 

Cags told them in broken English that he would Fvck them up if they didn't play better.

[Babylon]

Good point in the end, but need to cut out the negative shit. We are good, just go for teams.

[BKLFox]

Only negative of today was FT, it’s like some people have never seen a game before or understood the occasion of how Chelsea players wanted to do it for Lampard hence the extra intensity at the start. Once the game settled & we started to play our game we looked comfortable.

Next week before posting your doom and gloom remember a game is 90mins + extras not 10-20mins.

[Babylon]

Just now, Mike Oxlong said:

Thought Wilf and James came across well in the post match interview 

To be fair to Maddison he’s done a lot of interviews for this game and he’s come across brilliantly. 

[Buce]

 

So, turns out Utd spunked 80 million on our third best centre back.

 

[jammie82uk]

2 minutes ago, Innovindil said:

If we figure out how to start matches well, we'll be there or there abouts this season. 

Yeah the poor start today and start of second half last week is a bit of concern but otherwise it’s looking promising 

[gurru991]

1 minute ago, BKLFox said:

Only negative of today was FT, it’s like some people have never seen a game before or understood the occasion of how Chelsea players wanted to do it for Lampard hence the extra intensity at the start. Once the game settled & we started to play our game we looked comfortable.

Next week before posting your doom and gloom remember a game is 90mins + extras not 10-20mins.

I was laughing at the comments in the first half. Pretty much everyone was shit & needed replacing.

[somebum]

Nice quote from the BBC website

 

"

Wilfred Ndidi was clearly still bothered about his first-half mistake in that interview.

He barely looked up from the floor and James Maddison stepped in to praise his teammate for his response in the second half."

 

Head up wilf, you learn from your mistakes it will make you even better

[TheLittleBigMan]

7 minutes ago, Corky said:

Certainly merited a point and glad Ndidi made up for his error.

This. The look on his face after he scored said it all. 

[Mike Oxlong]

1 minute ago, BKLFox said:

Only negative of today was FT, it’s like some people have never seen a game before or understood the occasion of how Chelsea players wanted to do it for Lampard hence the extra intensity at the start. Once the game settled & we started to play our game we looked comfortable.

Next week before posting your doom and gloom remember a game is 90mins + extras not 10-20mins.

We were shit in the first half and following a bland performance v Wolves it’s hardly surprising that there were plenty of negative comments 

 

The match thread is to discuss the game as it progresses and the forum is the means to express opinions which may be different and diverse 

 

A match thread full of positive comments after that first half would have been a bit weird

 

And when we started to put it together the comments rightly reflected that 

 

 

[Kopfkino]

That first half was utterly dreadful. Hopeless on and off the ball for half an hour. Bollocks to the occasion or Chelsea coming out firing, should have been prepared for that and dealt with it. Just a continuation of the slow starts that have plagued us for basically two years now. 

 

Second half was great though, three points there for the taking and didn't quite manage it. 

[Jimbo]

2 minutes ago, Buce said:

 

So, turns out Utd spunked 80 million on our third best centre back.

 

Soyuncu is fast becoming a firm favourite of mine. I always find myself routing for the underdog (I'm still waiting for Kelechi to come good ) with so many so quick to write him off, I was willing him to come good. Only 2 games in, but he's looking a proper player right now. He's got a mistake in him, but that's the nature of a ball playing centre back. 

So far, so good and I'm proper happy that he's backed himself and the manager has backed him. 

[SheppyFox]

Being the better team at Stamford bridge will never get a moaning post from me. Well done lads.

[The Quick Brown Fox]

Can see Praet seeing off one of the regulars. The press and quick press was lovely to see.

[Jimbo]

4 minutes ago, gurru991 said:

I was laughing at the comments in the first half. Pretty much everyone was shit & needed replacing.

To be fair, that's the way the 1st half went. We lacked urgency and any real threat. We were too lacklustre. We looked off the pace and kind of half hearted in the high press. 

2nd half we seemed a different team, we changed our system slightly and in the end it paid off, could have been better but I reckon we'd have all taken the draw at 4:30 today

[StriderHiryu]

12 minutes ago, vanity said:

 

I plan to watch the game again, but for the legion of you smarter than me, can you break down the changes we made at the half? Did we go more narrow? It looked as though Maddison adjusted his positioning, he tucked inside a bit more, sort of left-center instead of left, and he began finding the ball. As his confidence grew, he started to move further out left giving us some width, even got around the corner a couple times. The adjustments at halftime were terrific, but I gotta say, we sure AF don't score much for all the amazing chances we had. A good finishing team probably puts 4-5 goals up on Chelsea that 2nd half. 

 

Maybe somebody tell our players to just kick the ball as hard as they can when point blank in front of the goal? Because this guiding it crap doesn't work for us. Maddison especially, just belt it, we have Perez and Vardy to clean up. 

 

I noticed several times that Perez and Vardy were on top of one another looking for the pass. We need to figure out how to space them better to force the defense to defend a larger area of the pitch.

Very good questions! I’m not 100% sure we changed the system because whilst Maddison definitely got on the ball way more often I felt like he was getting it in both central and wide areas. I will say though that he upped his game massively in that second half. It was notable how much more off the ball work he was doing and I felt for the most part he played it much faster too. He just made the wrong choice / lacked the killer instinct in the final third. So I just think the manager got into the whole team and they raised their game. Right from the off we seemed much improved. 

 

I also think your other observations are very astute. Perez and Vardy being on top of one another happened a few times as did Ricardo and Perez, as well as some others. In some ways it’s good that so many different players were getting in so many times but then I feel like if the 15/16 frontline was around both Vardy and Mahrez would be walking off with a brace each. Frustratingly it seems like our forward players aren’t yet on the same wavelength and it’s costing us goals. At the end some of our players fell to the ground like we had lost the game and I think that’s actually a good thing because how we haven’t come away with all 3 points only they know!

 

I hope that the team is doing a lot of work on forward interplay. The signs were there in preseason and arguably again today. We’ve also got a much deeper squad with options now too. But we’ve got to start taking advantage of the situations we get into. 

 

Sheffield United away will be a game we learn a lot about our team. They are an attritional side that are full of fight. It will be a tough challenge and we will need our forwards to be on point. 

 

[Izzy]

“The players were very concentrated” is becoming Rodgers version of “Quality and Intensity” 

[bfox]

Chilly will need to learn from Ricardo on how to start an attack when under pressure, instead of going back. N'didi needs to know that there are times when you are perfectly right to go safely backwards but there is always the opportunity to get the ball and face towards the opposition and look for the pass through there AM's. That would be a big change for a start!

[foxinsox]

Back 5 looked very solid. Fuchs still has it, and needs to teach Chilly the long throw. Cags developing real understanding with Evans and looking good. Needs a better song! 

 

Midfield more patchy, with not enough width. Tielemans not yet justifying his price. Ndidi good in the air, our best attacker of the ball for set pieces. Best forget their goal! Praet and Madders good. Hamza good, but hard to see how he fits. 

 

Vardy looking isolated much of the game, Perez too. 

 

A dominant second half, but wish we could start better. 

 

Chelsea pressed well at first, but looked tired second half. 

 

Sheffield will be a dull grind, winnable, but no pushover at home. 

[Foxxed]

Ndidi is an oddity. When we're passing the ball around he's the weakest link. But when we need to tackle, intercept or head he's the strongest. We wouldn't have conceded if it weren't for him. And we wouldn't have scored if it weren't for him.