"Dave bob and gaz" hahaha sounds like my local builder, sparky and plumber not an EPL back 3
Chelsea thread
Oh dear, Burnley at the Bridge.
Should have never doubted my ability to influence football games ?
Well that was not ideal.
Had a very 2015/16 season feel about it.
Though I would hardly say we're in crisis as I've seen some articles write. The game was a bit of an anomaly. Its very rare you'll find yourself down to 10 men with only 14 minutes played. The fact we had lost our skipper and had 2 new players in both Rudiger and Christensen in defence goes some way to explaining our disorganisation at the back in that first half.
Morata looked good in the half hour he played with a goal and an assist. I think he's probably done enough there to start against Tottenham.
Was really good to Christensen play, he's got a big future. Felt terrible for Boga having to cut short his debut.
We'll be without Cahill, Cesc, Hazard and Bakayoko. As well as possibly Pedro so will be tough against Tottenham.
Awesome to see that Loftus-Cheek, Abraham, Brown, Palmer and Zouma all started on load at their respective premier league sides. Awesome experience for them. In the past when we've loaned out guys to other prem teams they don't seem to get that consistant playing time you'd hope for.
Could do with Zouma this weekend to be honest.
That was a better performance. Nice to see us win that after conceding late
Awesome first goal!
Not a bad result for a club in crisis.
That free kick was amongst the best ive seen. There was some serious pace on it.
Gotta love the football media these days eh.
5 out of last season's top 6 have dropped points in their first two games... so we're all in crisis right now hahahahaha!
Except ManU of course, they are Invincibles ;)
Gotta love the football media these days eh.
5 out of last season's top 6 have dropped points in their first two games... so we're all in crisis right now hahahahaha!
Except ManU of course, they are Invincibles ;)
Yea its amazing how quickly the media can form opinions. Whilst United look ok, some of the media are getting way too excited.
We started the 2010/11 season winning our first 2 games 6-0 and winning our first 5 games scoring 20 odd goals. The season finished with us being 2nd I think, about 9 points back. With Ancelotti getting the sack.
2 - Alvaro Morata is the first player in Premier League history to both score & assist a goal in each of his first two home games.
That was a really nice win. Though Everton did look rather jaded after their European exploits.
Willian was outstanding for us, seemed like every good thing we did went through him. Alonso too looked really good. I actually thought Morata looked a bit scruffy. Lost the ball a few times when played into him with his back to goal. Though he did usually have 2 or 3 guys on him so he certainly created space for Willian and Pedro to run into.
Interesting that of Morata's 2 goals and 2 assists, all 4 have come from the head.
Zappacosta in on deadline day, will compete with Moses for the right wing back spot. Drinkwater to add some much-needed midfield depth.
Another really good 3 points that. Tottenham, Everton and Leicester now in a row.
Great was to start a very hectic 7 games in 21 days.
Another goal from Morata too, very much identical to the goal vs Everton coming from a pinpoint Azpi cross. That's now 3 goals and 2 assists, all with the head.
He's had a hand (or head) in 5 of our 8 goals so far.
Enjoyed watching the game, but had to endure a nervy last 10 mins. Gooners this weekend :)
Nervous about you guys, because of our poor recent form, as well as having to play Europa League 3 days prior.
Having said that, we will probably rotate our full eleven out for the Europa game, and we are fairly successful against you guys - won 3 out of 4 competitive fixtures against Conte.
So basically, we could get a hiding, but I'm hoping for the best ;)
Nervous about you guys, because of our poor recent form, as well as having to play Europa League 3 days prior.
Having said that, we will probably rotate our full eleven out for the Europa game, and we are fairly successful against you guys - won 3 out of 4 competitive fixtures against Conte.
So basically, we could get a hiding, but I'm hoping for the best ;)
In Conte's defence, the 1 we won was more indicative of how a full-strength Chelsea vs current Arsenal clash should pan out (and yeah, I would say that of course!). The first half at the Emirates last season has been talked to death, being the catalyst for our formation change. The Cup final had the veneer of us not turning up at all, and of course the Comm Shield was a 50-50 penalty crapshoot (involving Courtois taking one, which is as close as you'll get to seeing Conte phoning it in and not giving a shark). I'm reasonably confident but still don't think we're fully up to speed yet. Though I can see Hazard having an impact off the bench if we need him to, which could be a factor.
We were in very poor form and missing our first choice midfield for that loss... Coquelin and Oxlade-Chamberlain started centrally.
And of course Alonso concussed Bellerin early on and we had to play Gabriel at RB for 70 odd minutes.
So not really indicative of two full strength line-ups...
Excellent comeback at Atletico this morning, set me up for the day :) Glad to see Hazard playing so well after his injury, have to admit to having a little chuckle at Costa's face at the end, too
Excellent comeback at Atletico this morning, set me up for the day :) Glad to see Hazard playing so well after his injury, have to admit to having a little chuckle at Costa's face at the end, too
A good result, but you will find out this weekend how good you really are.
For sure, the way City have been scoring I do not expect a clean sheet! Will be happy with a draw :)
Excellent comeback at Atletico this morning, set me up for the day :) Glad to see Hazard playing so well after his injury, have to admit to having a little chuckle at Costa's face at the end, too
A good result, but you will find out this weekend how good you really are.
Yeah you're spot on as usual Leggy. I mean beating one of the best teams in Europe away from home is no indicator whatsoever.
Excellent comeback at Atletico this morning, set me up for the day :) Glad to see Hazard playing so well after his injury, have to admit to having a little chuckle at Costa's face at the end, too
A good result, but you will find out this weekend how good you really are.
Yeah you're spot on as usual Leggy. I mean beating one of the best teams in Europe away from home is no indicator whatsoever.
You must be blind . City are the team to beat at the moment unlike Arsenal who go from good too crap.
AM are a top side in Spain not in Europe.
Good to see you back. Did you get time off for good behaviour?
Excellent comeback at Atletico this morning, set me up for the day :) Glad to see Hazard playing so well after his injury, have to admit to having a little chuckle at Costa's face at the end, too
A good result, but you will find out this weekend how good you really are.
Yeah you're spot on as usual Leggy. I mean beating one of the best teams in Europe away from home is no indicator whatsoever.
You must be blind . City are the team to beat as the moment unlike Arsenal who go from good too crap.
AM are a top side in Spain not in Europe.
Good to see you back. Did you get time off for good behaviour?
Oh right yeah of course, sorry. I must have mistaken them for the other Atletico Madrid who have made 2 CL finals in the past 4 seasons and won the Europa League twice in 3 years at the start of the decade.
https://twitter.com/EPLStuff/status/91384840757121...
Hazard mimicking Sterling
Bugger! Not what I wanted at all, City outplayed us but right up to the end I thought we were going to nick a goal :(
Ahh, well, that's football for you :)
Thank goodness we didn't let the heads drop and showed good spirit to win the match, mind you, the Hornets should've been 1 -3 up before we subbed our way to the comeback win! :)
Yea you felt that was either going to be a confidence defining loss or win. Michy showing again what he can do, now he just needs to do it from the start. Great to have that pressure on Morata knowing if he's playing well Conte will take him off early.
Shark that was a top result for us.
I like Morata but at the moment I kind of feel as though he's only as good as the balls played into him, which is ok, but with our last 2 strikers in Costa and Drogba they were both the kind of player that if they weren't getting the service they wanted they had the ability to create something our of nothing. Like Costa's goal vs West Brom last season.
There was a little bit of that with Morata vs Stoke. Time will tell though, stillearly days.
Roman hanging out with Chelsea fans in New York
Dermot Drummy, our former youth team manager and reserves manager, has passed away. He was only 56.
https://weaintgotnohistory.sbnation.com/2017/11/27/16707580/former-chelsea-youth-and-reserves-coach-dermot-drummy-passes-away
Mark Clattenburg: I allowed Tottenham to self-destruct against Chelsea in 2016
Former Premier League referee Mark Clattenburg says he "allowed Tottenham to self-destruct" when he refereed the 2-2 draw with Chelsea in May 2016 as Spurs conceded the title to Leicester.
Spurs needed to beat Chelsea to retain any hope of winning the league.
Clattenburg says he "went in with a gameplan" so he could not be blamed by Tottenham for losing the title.
He booked nine Spurs players in the bad-tempered match, but now says he could have sent off three players.
Chelsea and Tottenham received record fines from the Football Association following the game, while Tottenham midfielder Mousa Dembele was banned for six games for violent conduct against Chelsea's Diego Costa.
Speaking to NBC's Men in Blazers podcast, he said: "I allowed them [Spurs] to self-destruct so all the media, all the people in the world went: 'Tottenham lost the title.'
"If I sent three players off from Tottenham, what are the headlines? 'Clattenburg cost Tottenham the title.' It was pure theatre that Tottenham self-destructed against Chelsea and Leicester won the title."
Asked if he helped to "script" the game, he replied: "I helped the game. I certainly benefited the game by my style of refereeing.
Read that yesterday. Quite frankly the revelation that refs are coming up with a plan that isn't "ref the game as per the rule book" is disgraceful. and a total disservice to all other refs across the whole world at every level.
Also confirms everyone's cynical opinion that Clattenburg is an incompetent egotistical clown with an agenda beyond applying the rules of the game.
The FA will be dealing with the damage from this for years to come.
Well that was poor. Still not completely sold on Bakayoko, Morato goes down too easily and id much prefer to have one of Willian/Pedro starting along with Hazard and Morata up front.
It's a shame to be out of the title race so early. Especially given that I don't overly rate City as being as good as their record suggests.
Should be a good battle for 2nd-6th though.
Barcelona in the round of 16. Tough tie but we've done ok against them in the past so here's hoping we can do it again. I believe Messi still hasn't scored against us in something like 8 games so would be nice to continue that streak.
Man City, Liverpool and United all got piss easy draws. Tottenham not so much.
No Morata vs Huddersfield. Batshuayi still on the bench, gone with a front 3 of Willian, Hazard and Pedro.
3-1. Nice and comfortable, good response to our poor performance vs West Ham.
Roman hanging out with Chelsea fans in New York
Is that the NY chapter of the Chelsea Headhunters?!