We could have used this Summer to take this team to the next level with some transfers. Looks like its already coming to bite us that we haven't made use of it yet.
Indeed. I just think we're buying too many of the same sorts of players, hard-working fellas, i.e. guys who run up and down very quickly but are generally pretty clueless when it comes to creating something out of nothing. You need some of those guys but we seem to be stocking up on them.
One thing they covered on MOTD last night was how ineffective Fab is in terms of defensive duties. There was one bit I also noticed after about 30 seconds of the match where Silva simply turns and rums away from. Shearer said he looked like he had a piano on his back and, tbh, I agree... it was bad.
For me it continues to come back to Willian. Watch him for an entire match. Look what he does with the ball at his feet. He is such an infuriating player. He will make a great run into space, get the ball and immediately turn and pass it back to his first outlet which is almost always back. He refuses to take on defenders. He'll even Ramires puts himself in quality positions inside the box and around the box, he just has shit touch and can't catch a break. Costa, yesterday had zero support. He can't take on a backline all by himself. It's not that he's useless, he just can't do it. We had one moment yesterday where he cut back, laid it to Hazard, who shot directly at Hart. With Oscar I feel it's different as he is the other scoring threat in our side outside of Costa and Hazard. If Oscar can get healthy we should be alright, but rumor is he'll miss next weekend too. The issue I see is that we just don't shoot. I can't stand Aguero, but holy hell it was a joy to watch him get the ball in the box and turn and fire. We need that out of someone. Falcao might do that but no one on our team has that mentality.
That's what I was saying. We have one player out injured... ONE! Then we're down to our solitary creative payer, Hazard, to do it all for us or a piece of pressure from a set piece like a corner. Fabregas is creating very little now. As you say, Costa can't take on an entire defence on his own. So what are you left with? The ref was bad so that didn't help but, even if Atkinson had been perfect, does anyone think we'd have won yesterday with the players we've got atm on THAT form. Unless Fab gets back to picking out a pass and Oscar gets well, (and STAYS that way), it's gonna be a VERY long season
I know it's august but do the players think it's still pre-season? We've yet to have a convincing game where we look like the champions we are. The biggest issue I see is our lack of depth. We used to be able to rely our bench to provide some impact. Sadly we are lacking in that area.
If Costa had elbowed Fernadinho I feel it would have been a red card. That could have changed the match. If the linesman hadn't called Ramires offsides it could have been different. What doesn't change is that at even strength our only chance came at the 65th minute with a Hazard shot straight at Hart. We were absolutely useless in the final third. I can't give our team credit for possession when I often use sideways passes as negative when teams do it against us. We offered nothing yesterday and that's troubling. The Swansea match is different. We were up 2-1 and creating chances (while not putting anything on target I might add) but even putting a cross in is something we struggled with yesterday. Having to go a man down on a side that was putting us under all kinds of pressure killed our chances. But I still felt comfortable in that match until the sending off. We are still a side that is having issues creating quality chances however. Against Swansea Oscar scored from a free kick mishap and Willian scored from a deflected cross. Those are our only goals. Falcao might have 2 of our 5 shots on target.....
Had a company outing yesterday and once I saw the scoreline I decided to watch the extended highlights rather than the game in its entirety. The highlights didn't make us look that far apart, but I'd imagine that would've been a lot different had I watched the whole game. Gotta say, from what I saw at least, I really don't think that Fernandinho foul was a red. I do think Ram was marginally on for his goal though - the arm was in an offsides position but that doesn't count as it's not a playable part of his body, right? Anyways, looked around to see if we were linked to anyone new in the rags because of this match.. nope Thought you all might appreciate this though, here's the Mail headline I saw when looking into the elbow situation more: Diego Costa's death stare: Still fuming from Fernandinho's elbow, Chelsea wildman waits in the tunnel to intimidate his rival Lol, wildman
He lead with his arm. It caused a cut and injury. It was judged a foul and a yellow card, isn't that supposed to be a red if all those things took place? I don't think it was violent conduct by any means, not like the Zlatan elbow in preseason. I'd encourage you to watch the match. We did some things well. It's also matches like this where you can focus on individuals to see what they do good or bad. Zouma looked good (though in fairness I stopped effectively wating after the Kompany goal as we are in the process of moving and I was boxing stuff up). Ramires wasn't bad in Ramires' terms. Begovic was pretty good too. But watch for movement, or in yesterday's case, absolute lack thereof. It was awful. No movement in the box. It's pretty eye opening really.
I'm not convinced we can afford that. Fab is super slow. Jose wants someone who can press at a high rate and be quick in transition. I'm not saying Fab couldn't do 5hose things, but IIRC he played as a 10 more often than not late in the season and we weren't overly effective offensively. One of Mata's biggest flaws was his pace or lack thereof. Fabergas suffers from the same lack of pace. Now perhaps with more midfield coverage it isn't as needed I suppose so getting someone like Witsel to play beside Matic could change that. For me we need 3 more players. Stones, or a similarly aged and skilled CB. A midfielder who us strong enough to replace Matic on occasion and skilled enough to play along side him. And a top quality RW/RM type who can challenge defenders. Those are the ideal buys for me. We have a lot of depth at the attacking spots, but it remains to be seen whether said "depth" is any good. Moses was our most effective player in preseason, yet he can't see the pitch here....
Eh just because it caused Costa to bleed doesn't make it any worse of an actual action committed imo. I understand the frustration because it takes our player out of the game for a time, plus it's a head injury which may be seen as more severe than an injury to another area of the body, but that type of foul is a yellow 9 times out of 10. I would feel extremely hard done by had one of our players gotten a red for a challenge like that. It probably didn't help that Atkinson had been quite poor from everything I've read, probably making it seem more unfair with all the other decisions not going our way Maybe I'll give the match, or at least one of the halves, a watch this afternoon. Forgot to mention that Begovic looked terrific from the glimpses I saw - seemed to be the biggest bright spot on the day. Also, I'm usually a huge proponent of Ivanovic compared to most, but I admit that I'd be interested to see a starting XI with Dave on the right and Rahman on the left. Maybe even giving Ivan some game time at CB alongside Zouma/Cahill/Terry
I often feel we are hard done by anyways and I truly believe th as t I'd it was Costa who did that to Fernadinho, it would have been red. But it wasn't as bad as the Ramires offsides goal. The more I see it the more I think he's on.
Personally, I thought it was on. Super close, I mean super close, but it was on. Ref called it late, too.
The Premier League is afraid of goals. It really is. It's why penalties are so hard to come by and 50/50's are 100% off....
City is a match up nightmare for Chelsea. That's the only reason they paid what they did for Sterling. You overwhelm Bane with speed, make Chelsea drop back assistance then give Silva and Toure more room. Sterling doesn't even have to cross, much less score. He can do worthless Sterling stuff and it opens up the field in the attacking 1/3. City knew what they had to do and they did it. It cost them, but Chelsea can't compete with that team with the players Jose fielded. Willian and Ramires are a nightmare together. We all know why. They add nothing to the attack. Willian at least runs around. Ramires is generally positioned well, but that's about all he does at the level. I hear the arguments with Costa. But fact of the matter is, he's got to hold better. He's going to set the record for most turnovers per touches in EPL history. On a bright note, it's nice to see his speed again. Doesn't do much for him, but nice to see it. I'm not going to get too excited about this loss. Anyone with a level mind should have seen a loss coming, but 0-3 was a bit unnerving. I'm still wondering why no one liked Brady. Brady is a guy I think would have translated very well to Chelsea. Norwich is loving him right now.