Shocking stats (as if you needed to see them). Come on man.. just give us a good last few games, God knows we need it. : /
Yes, if only Costa had played well, we'd have had..........one player who played well. Everyone was the problem! Where were Hazard's runs? Did we get Costa into scoring positions? He's not magic.
FYI - you're on ignore (as you continue to prove, for great reason lolol). Tragically bored at work so here is a reply: I'm uncertain as to where I said no one else was an issue as that would be a pretty dumb thing to say, but you can continue arguing with yourself on your lonesome. Cheers.
I don't know how you can defend Costa after that "performance". Granted others didn't have a good game but I saw numerous passes that Costa should have been close to but instead was bawling his eyes out at the referee.
It's been an issue with Hazard many times now. If he's man marked and is not having a super awesome day, he becomes mentally fragile and just strolls the rest of the time. This is why he won't ever be like Messi or Ronaldo.....weak mind.
I wonder if the long rest is bad for player psychology. Clearly it's nice to be rested, but it boggles my mind how much fresher United looked. It's like Chelsea just pooped in their trousers right before the game....that or Conte had them play for a draw.
i'm not really one to make excuses, the whole team looked down. what was interesting to me though was we know Alonso missed out due to a virus, and Cahill, being interviewed after the match mentioned that quite a few people had been hit by a virus during the week. he didn't make excuses, was actually adamant not to, but i still found it interesting.
You also have to see who is the other team. For us: Home v. Soton - nothing to play for Away to Everton - Europa Home to Boro - relegation Away to Brom - nothing Home to Watford - nothing Home to Sunderland - most likely nothing, but might be relegation For Spuds: Away to Palace - nothing Home to Arsenal - CL Away to West Ham - nothing Home to United - nothing Away to Leicester - nothing Away to Hull - relegation So all in all, while Spurs have twice as many away games, most of the teams they are playing got nothing to play for.
On MOTD they showed some of the good work Herrera did man-marking him. He also put through a great pass for their first goal from Rashford. I'm not sure it's fair to say he has a weak mind. It's just that nobody else did much to help him and their fellas worked harder than we did. Add to that the fact that they also got the rub of the green on occasion and some refs calls and that's how we ended up losing. I don't see us playing that poorly again, tbh.
I'd question some of those judgements, tbh. With us, Everton are back in 7th and Arsenal have got 2 games in hand over them. I suspect both Boro and definitely Sunderland are gone rather than fighting for survival. Regarding sperz, Palace have done well against the 'big' sides this season and both Arsenal AND yanited are fighting for a better league position, whether it's CL or guaranteed Europa football remains to be seen. The bottom line is they have to play both Arsenal and Yanited, two good sides, , (LeArse, in particular, will want to take any possibility of an EPL win away), whereas the hardest outfit we've got to get past is Everton. So, OK! I accept nobody KNOWS what's going to happen but the reality is we should do it. Y'know... theoretically!
When we create even a modicum of space, Eden tends to do quite well. I give the guy a pass mainly because without his very individual efforts, we'd easily be 2nd or 3rd right now. Our midfield in general has not been good. Kante's passing leaves a lot to be desired and Matic's form has nosedived. Ronaldo and Messi get an insane amount of room to work with thanks to playing with a) wonderful attackers and b) really special midfielders. Neither of them would do any better in our side in place of Eden. Diego doesn't give a shit and our midfield doesn't really do a lot outside of Kante being an awesome tackler.
The point is, if the whole team is bad, highlighting one player repeatedly suggests an agenda rather than a serious evaluation of player performance.
I don't know this could be exactly what we need. If we bring that same ish the Spurs will rock us. And it could be the extra jolt to help snap us out of the funk without costing us points. Or Man U was enough and bring out A game and remind the Spurs who sits atop the table.
kante's passing is underrated. it's an area he's shown quite an improvement and he's had couple of assists over the top recently that have been great. he's not fabregas, but he's better than what we'd ever even hoped ramires to be. more specifically he's not a BAD passer and his touch is good if not great.