***The Official Chelsea FC Thread***

[steelerfan]

Re: ***The Official Chelsea FC Thread***

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/eden-hazard-links-up-former-11020793

You guys may be well aware of this but this is the first I heard about it. Interesting.

[KG]

Re: ***The Official Chelsea FC Thread***

The narrative going into the game (by pundits) made my head spin. "This is the perfect time for Spurs to play Chelsea!" Yeah, like the last time they played at Wembley?

The demise was greatly exaggerated, that is for sure.

It really was though. Outside of Song having a broken wrist & Sanchez joining they're basically at full strength.

Going into this match we:

Had 1 fully fit middie - It was a miracle that Bakayoko played all 90
No Eden
Pedro's still not at 100% after hurting his ankle and Ospinna breaking his face
Morata & Rudiger still trying to gel with the team and gain fitness
No Cahill meaning Andreas was getting his first start in a pretty big match

Then because of this we had to put Luiz at CDM and Willian at SS.

Yeah we still have some really good players but the uncertainty of all this going into a derby match was a huge concern for us CFC fans. Luckily Poch got his lineup wrong and started Wanyama who was terrible. They should have went all-out attack from the start knowing that we couldn't hold possession and would have to hump balls forward to Morata with his back to goal instead of the channels where he thrives. Luiz can play those balls from his CB position but they're much harder when you're in the middle of a high press in midfield.

[Altimus]

***The Official Chelsea FC Thread***

I don't want to read anymore negative stuff about Alonso on this board. LOL!

I liked him a lot last season. He was probably the best player last game and won the game today. He has his faults but I like him.

With that, I'll take the 3 and run away. A shame Morata missed that header but what you gonna do.

Batman... sometimes you watch him and think wow, he's a legit EPL striker. Other times, he looks like he belongs in the Championship for the season.

On a side note Tammy didn't score yesterday but movement wise he's spot on.


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[kwebbvols4423]

Re: ***The Official Chelsea FC Thread***

Alonso!!! Great performance today to get the win. I really think Christensen should be starting.

[Brahvocado]

Re: ***The Official Chelsea FC Thread***

Rumors of our demise were greatly exaggerated

[Altimus]

Re: ***The Official Chelsea FC Thread***

Rumors of our demise were greatly exaggerated

With that a game with no Hazard and I'd say a half way fit Baka.

I can't wait to see a fit Hazard and Morata together!


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[KG]

Re: ***The Official Chelsea FC Thread***

Yeah that should be fun to watch. Morata's movement off the ball is so good. He needs to work on protecting himself when receiving the ball with his back to goal. He's going to get chopped down in this league if he doesn't get better at it.




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[stlducks]

Re: ***The Official Chelsea FC Thread***

I think Conte showed how great of a manager he is with his choice of tactics on Sunday. Adding 3 defensive midfielders really protected the young back line(who looked very good on their own for the most part) and being physical in the midfield put a stop to Spurs attack. When Spurs did have possession, Chelsea sat in the box and defended every cross almost perfectly (besides the OG of course).
I also saw a stat that 20% of Chelsea's passes were long balls. That is not the usual style as I believe last season only 11% of Chelsea's passes went deep.
Conte outsmarted Poch this match as Spurs did not have a good plan to break down the defense.

[KG]

Re: ***The Official Chelsea FC Thread***

Chaloboah called up for the next round of WC qualifiers. I know he's not Chelsea anymore but happy for the kid. Crazy that's he's only 22.


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[Brahvocado]

Re: ***The Official Chelsea FC Thread***

Being honest here, UEFA started heating up the Atletico and Chelsea balls as soon as the thanks for the seasono text went out

[stlducks]

Re: ***The Official Chelsea FC Thread***

Being honest here, UEFA started heating up the Atletico and Chelsea balls as soon as the thanks for the seasono text went out

Somethings are just fate. Bayern/Arsenal could not happen so Costa/Chelsea had to happen.

[KG]

Re: ***The Official Chelsea FC Thread***

So I purposefully set aside time for some yardwork today during the draft to not watch it and get pissed, lol.

Even managed to ignore the Tapatalk notification when Brahv posted.

Effing Atletico.

I hope we loan Diego to then this year and he can't play vs us.

[Brahvocado]

Re: ***The Official Chelsea FC Thread***

Our group is rough but manageable.

Obviously there is going to be two absolutely scintillating, end-to-end games vs Atletico. Roma are bottlers of the highest order, and they just sold one of their best players(who loved giving us a hard time when he was with Basel). Qarabag is a bit of an unknown.

All in all, I'd still expect us to win all our home fixtures, possibly draw two times with Atletico. I'd like to think we can grab 2 wins vs Qarabag as well. Roma who knows, depends which Roma shows up.

[Brahvocado]

Re: ***The Official Chelsea FC Thread***

Eden played for the u23 team today for 70 minutes, saw some clips and he looks decent but obviously not 100% still.


Aaaannndddd Martinez has called him up and he seems likely to be off for Belgium duty. Sweet.

[KG]

Re: ***The Official Chelsea FC Thread***

Very good first half against a very leggy Everton team.

I'm hoping for an early goal in the 2nd half so we can see Musonda.



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