I thought Fernando Torres did well yesterday. He never had the opportunity to score goals but he was agile and quick, caused disturbances in the Atléti defense resulting in several promising set-piece situations. At least he wasn't as selfish as Diego Costa who sought glory and ignored his better positioned teammates.
Well it's normal procedure to postpone a punishment as long as the outcome of the appeal is pending. Otherwise Barca might end up being punished for an offense they are later found innocent of.
If Hazard will be starting, they definitely can score 2 or more goals at Stamford Bridge. What were his attacking options, though? Oscar who has been off-form for quite some time now? Ba and Torres who're very average? Eto'o who is too old? I think a 0-0 draw against the no.1 of Spain is not a bad result. Besides, he did use Modric last season quite a lot iirc, and Ozil was a regular starter under him. Salah is not a midfield player, Oscar has played too many games in a short amount of time and looks exhausted, Ramires lacks good technical skills. Remember that they got their most important EPL game on Sunday, the game where they have a final chance to still compete for the title.
In my post I mentioned Atletico to have one of the meanest defences in Europe, and almost everyone over here has been praising Atletico for a while now, therefore do no make assumptions and call others out on it. A scoreless draw away is hardly invaluable. Also if you think without Hazard Chelsea has no creativity at all, you aren't doing them any justice.
I would have set up with a front three of Schurrle, Willian, and Torres and used their pace to counter attack relentlessly. For some reason Mouhrinho set up in a very passive formation. He seemed to have no interest in scoring a goal in this match, his team didn't press at all and only sat in their defensive third. Of course Atletico should also be criticized for such poor attacking play. When a team sets out to defend deep for 90 minutes, your attack can't consist of aimless crosses all night long. There was no invention, quality, or penetration in Atleti's attack last night. Hell the RB and LB rarely looked to over lap the wingers who were mostly central, so they weren't even putting in crosses from good positions.
I think Mou's game-plan was to avoid conceding a goal at all costs at the Calderon and he succeeded. He's obviously very confident about his chances at Stamford Bridge. Whether his plan will be worth something against an Atléti team which excels away from home is a different question. However I can see why he chose this approach. It's extremely hard to score against Atléti at all, but the chances are obviously higher at home.
According to media reports Freiburg's goalkeeper Oliver Baumann is going to join 1899 Hoffenheim for a transfer fee of € 6m.
If Jose packs in at Anfield and goes for the draw like he did in Madrid, Chel$ki will not win the BPL. But of course, he's said as much.
They miss the most important components of a good counter attacking team. A focal point at the top that reflects the purpose of the gameplan; a #9. You're right. There is very much a contradiction inherent in this side which is why so many criticisms are just false perceptions and generally misguided attempts at assessment. Even more impressive that Mourinho got them where he did. It's a transitioning side right now, simple as that.
Roman Abramovich bought Chelsea ,after watching ManUtd vs Real slug it out attacking football in CL Quarters in 2002, and now his team is like watching a turd dry out in the sun. How can you be inspired as an owner to watch negative football? No effing way in my own right am I going to watch this crap if I owned a team. No trophy is worth watching dogshit football.
Salah is squad player at best. Lampard is not the player he once was. Mikel has barely been a Mourinho regular and also a defensive player. Willian is a runner. Oscar is creative but also a player who does a greta deal of tracking back. Schürrle is the only primary attacking player you listed. Also as mentioned above, the team lack a clear #9 focal point for their counters. There's still much to be worked on if this is supposed to become a true Mourinho countering team.
I disagree. Winning is what matters. Unless you're a truly transcendental side with a really unique style or tactical identity, no one remembers the losers. Everyone likes a winner though, regardless of what style it is. Mou is correct in his core idea of going with the tactic he believes gives him the best chance of winning. Whether it actually is is up for discussion, though. If a team wins, people ultimately will spin it in hindsight to make it palatable. If a physical, defensive team wins it is "tough, disciplined, killer instinct, winning mentality". If a attack-minded, possession-based team wins it is "dominant, fluid, proactive, takes control of the game". And if they lose, people will spin it differently; to rephrase the former example, it is "boring, uninspired, bus-parking," etc. So if you win, it doesn't matter how you do it, people are going to remember you fondly. If you lose, it doesn't matter how you do it, people are going to remember you not-so-fondly.
Considering Chelsea really doesn't belong in the semis (This isn't the Chelsea of five years ago) against a team that has shown to be better this season, it's a good result. Let's not be crazy here. The problem here is your association with hard workers and drones with negative football. It doesn't have to be that black and white. If it's a cynical approach, it's just one that is concerned with conservative efficiency. Like I said before, he didn't create this kind of football nor has he set a precedent for some kind of downfall of football or anti-football garbage people are spewing. It's simple a variation of football in a continuously harsh and punishing football reality that favors results more than style. For all his negative football, his teams still over his career have been excellent and fun to watch counter attacking teams, even if it was in very ruthless means. His Inter side was one of the best to watch despite their defensiveness. Their counter attacking football was marked by sublime pace, combination, technique and finishing. That can't be denied. So was his Chelsea side, both setting records for amounts of goals scored. He just doesn't happen to have the same personnel at this Chelsea side yet or maybe it's too early for him to mold the team in his image. But that won't stop him from enabling tactics that will get results. And I don't see his this is something to be spat on.
Problem here are two fold. One: short attention span. Two: Entitlement We saw the same arguments against tikki takka which is almost the extreme opposite of what people are criticizing here so the inherent contradiction makes it pretty evident this isn't about some kind tactical morality, but more about personal preferences/anger totally misguided.
Definitely not that..obviously. If you expect this Chelsea side to go for goals the whole match and get two you are under-estimating Atletico as a serious away opponent in CL semi-final. Nobody here has rightfully made an argument what what they realistically expect from this transitioning Chelsea in THE CL SEMI FINAL.
Herrera's teams had a f@cking clue when it came to possessing the football. Didn't play to his team's strengths? How convenient, you know, since he has sold his best offensive player. His team's strengths are defined by his coaching methods, not the other way around. And what counter measures are you talking about? One that sets up Torres alone on an island and has 2 lines of DMs and CBs for an area that was occupied by 4 atleti players at times? I must forget, obviously, that poor Chelsea can't field some semblance of an attacking lineup against talent rich Atletico. I mean, Oscar and Schurrle are just scrub players who couldnt possibly be able to attack Atletico. I'm not asking Chelsea to play like 'me'. I mean, I'm not saying they're not playing football, because i'm sure whatever the f@ck they put on display is some form of football. I'm just saying that I, personally, would rather pick at my pubes as a method of meditation than watch that garbage.