announcers talking about pulisic as if they never watched him boss the entire real madrid team a few years back in the CL.
Why is this ref letting them take free kicks from fully 10 yards away from the offence? Not the first time this evening either. Not that it was a goddamn foul in the first place!
yes. i think also the experience and quality of guys like jorg, alonso, and az made a big difference. Kova, too.
Definitely. Dave in particular was excellent today. Clean sheet away from home in Europe with no rudi or kante. Will take that all week long.
To be fair I did not see that game, I only watch Chelsea and Ireland. CP is playing better than at the start of the season. I think that he has earned the right to more minutes.
Arrizabalaga - 7 - little to do, good concentration Azpilicueta - 8 - calm, confident, alert. Looks a different player from early in the season especially in terms of physical conditioning Tomori - 8 - just a total baller Zouma - 5 - not awful but a few poor decisions at key moments Alonso - 6 - supported going forward, reasonably solid at the back. I think I even saw him sprinting once or twice! Kovacic - 8 - looked like a seasoned pro in a match populated by youngsters Jorginho - 7 - see Kovacic Willian - 6 - worked hard but little end product Hudson-Odoi - 5 - looked really nervous and unsure of himself which is unlike him. Did he complete a single take-on? Kept trying though and is still a superstar in the making Mount - 8 - creative, some good dribbling, very forward-looking, created his own chance out of nothing first half Abraham - 5 - struggled to make any impact. Any contact between him and any defender was given as a foul which didn't help his cause Pulisic - 8 - great dribbling, pace, and frankly made the difference at the end of the game Batshuayi - 7 - the man scored the goal, say no more James - N/A - no time Lampard - 9 - this is a well-drilled team with maturity and intent. Good sub choices though James could've been risky late on.
Good ratings. I think the James sub was the right one at that point - young fresh legs with the ability to make a tackle if necessary or participate in a counter if possible - make the team more defensive without completely switching to a defensive posture.
Would probably switch these two, but its a nitpick. Jorg was more important for his defensive work today imo Not his best game by any stretch but this is harsh I think.
One thing I really noticed from a tactical point of view was there were a lot of moments when Ajax had possession where Chelsea players were taking up a bit of a Schroedinger's position, midway between two passing lanes and then reacting quickly at the right moment to shut Ajax's passing game down. That's risky but 90% of the time it worked fantastically.
Of course Real Madrid won in Amsterdam 2-1 last year in the knock out stage and I'll leave it to you to figure out what happened in the return match! Props to Chelsea, they came out to play and stuck with the plan. I was amazed that only one goal was scored in this match given how wide open the play was and how many mistakes were made by both teams. Ajax really missed Frenkie de Jong as they didn't have an easy chance bringing the ball out from the back. The return match should be equally as entertaining!
Also, this is a real pet peeve of mine, but why is it that ratings for players in soccer games follow this convention: 5: terrible 6: average 7+: good Why bother with a 1-10 scale if 1-4 are never used? And if the range really is 5-10, then why is "average" a 6? Never made any sense to me...
I understand the point, but I don't think a 5 is terrible. I don't think Hudson-Odoi or Abraham were terrible - you're the one who called a 5 harsh.