PBP: FAC - Chelsea FC vs Manchester United FC - Mar 13, 2017 [R]

You're in the wrong thread. You want the Mourinho thread where you can post what an utter cnt he is. Stay classy.

 

We're getting tough to beat and that is a sign of progress for me. If you look at what happened the last time at the Bridge when we got hammered back in October, we've only lost 2 games: one that hardly mattered and Monday vs Chelsea. Chelsea might have been the superior team, but there's no denying that we were staying them for the most part until Oliver deliberately changed the game.
We've still got some improving to the team and squad and there is zero doubt that it will happen this summer and next season, we really should up for it (being genuine contenders to the title). As far as this season is concerned, things are tight enough up top that we can reasonably believe that up to 3rd place in the league is within our grasp. And there is still one more trophy to play for. Accomplish either of those goals and we'll be back in the CL next season, which was the primary goal all along and it will not have been a bad first season at all for Jose. With surely, plenty to come and look forward to next season. The Doom and Gloom brigade are entitled to feel however they want to and it's their choice. But as far as I'm concerned, I like where we're headed. There's no question about it.

 

If i'd thought we were dominating, or controlling the game i'd have said so, look-up having someones number

 

As previously mentioned, if anyone wants to see what a concerted "hack job" is, they simply need to look at the United v Arsenal game in October 2005, when United players, especially both Neville brothers where clearly instructed by SAF to track and kick the living shit out of Reyes every chance they got.
What we saw with Hazard was nothing of the sort. Jose recognized him as the danger guy for Chelsea and dispatched Jones to stay with him, no matter what 1 on 1. The very nature of Hazard's game, his fleet footedness and Jones's natural clumsiness at times, led to Hazard being fouled relatively frequently.
Both Herrera's fouls arguably were stupid, but there was nothing malicious about either one of them and nothing that we don't see pretty regularly in Prem games either. The second in particular was really stupid, as it came right after one of Jones's and even though Herrera was not privy to the final warning from Oliver, he should have known better at the time.
Definitely don't believe there was a plan from Jose to deliberately strike down Hazard every time he touched the ball. The plan was to keep a body on him at all times to try and reduce or negate his influence on the game. And it was working relatively well (even though Hazard still was at the heart of everything good from Chelsea early on) until Oliver completely changed the whole dynamic of the game...

 

I'd hazard a guess(see what i did there, no, ok) that most of the doom'n'gloomers are the johnny come-latelies and those that only know success, but you're right

 

My English is fine. Whose number do you have, exactly?

 

Damn us for expecting some sort of results compared to the amount of money we have spend, both on transfers and wages.

 

I've got the Samaritans on speed-dial....

 

Few fouls over 90?

It was 5 fouls in 30 minutes.

Jones was overzealous so was Ander (were going to disagree on the 2nd yellow because it's a clear foul to me) and Smalling (who was beaten so bad he wasn't even quick enough to foul him. I guess Rojo wasn't when he stepped on him?

 

The FA Cup is not a significant priority for us this season. It's always a nice-to-have (and for clubs like Arsenal, the only realistic cup to play for) and it was great for us to win it last year when everything went horribly wrong. But we drew the best side left in the competition and lost only 1-0 even though we were down to 10 men for much of the game. And we were without our leading scorer.

Given the very heavy lifting we have left to get back into the CL, crashing out to Chelsea this week was a blessing in disguise.

 

Was replying to a brainfart and I always mean general expectations, we are likely to finish 6th.

 

I don't dispute that we're likely to finish 6th, but somehow a ray of hope still flickers that the Arsenal ship is sinking fast and that Liverpool's nice run of late is a mirage. But we have to take 6 points from our next two EPL opponents to have any shot at scraping 4th. The end of season run is brutal.

As for general expectations, I think most of us here were pretty realistic about the limitations of this squad. We're pretty good, but not great. We were worried about a lack of scoring threat apart from Ibra and it's panned out exactly as feared.

I'd be surprised if anyone here really is surprised with our overall performances this season. The results have been disappointing -- the missed chances that led to dropped points and here we are in 6th -- but our performances have been about what we expected. The real surprise this season, apart from Chelsea's incredible turnaround after the evisceration by Arsenal earlier in the season, has been Tottenham's and Liverpool's durability in grinding out and staying in the top 4 mix.

 

I don't see the likes of Zaha being protected by officials despite being fouled at a similar rate to Hazard.

 

Yep, I remember a game this season where Martial got upended on the left 3 times in the space of 10 mins. The uproar by the press was insane.

4 soft fouls in 35 minutes equals 'hack job'...you heard it here first guys.

 

It is funny coming from Chelsea fans.

 

It was the same before we started spending like a drunken sailor......

No offence to drunken sailors intended.

 

I think Mourinho's bunker mentality is starting to take effect.

 

I dont know why some fans feel the need to come and justify bullshit on the oppo boards when they've already won. We had the same crap from those shitters on the real board when they felt the need to convince themselves that they won fairly (another joke red).

We're too lenient around here...vote me up for mod. Being the most welcoming and lenient board on this site ends here. Maybe those mods on the Chelsea board are onto something.

 

The majority of our arsehole mods are MIA anyway.

 

Lol...which mod edited my post?

@The Jitty Slitter ...everybody is welcome as long as they want to discuss a pro Man Utd agenda. I'm waiting for a response about my mod request. I've told the supermod we're the only board keeping this site going, and its in danger of losing Man Utd posters due to salty trolls, and becoming a ghost town like the Chelsea board. You are like one of our own anyway jitty, so you will get a long leash...but you will have to fall in line with the new rules.