Chelsea under Conte | Let's sign the next Hazard, literally.

Kentonio said:
How does saying you were the better team and Jose played it really well qualify as being sore losers? :nervous:
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Your PR team didn't come out hours after the game with the excuses of viruses?

I don't refer to Chelsea as a poster on the Cafe, I'm referring to the staff.
 
Theafonis said:
How are we sore losers? You're embarrassing yourself with this sore winners attitude. Its like that was your cup final or something -- sheesh. We pretty much accepted last weeks defeat with dignity and kept it moving.
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Again, did I mention the fans?
 
We still lack something in midfield and attack. I believe with Ake and Christensen our defence is relatively set, barring maybe a wing back. I feel striker and central midfield is somewhere we should focus on upgrading. Matic has too many off days; even today was poor one again from him not including the screamer.
 
Deep_Stroker69 said:
We still lack something in midfield and attack. I believe with Ake and Christensen our defence is relatively set, barring maybe a wing back. I feel striker and central midfield is somewhere we should focus on upgrading. Matic has too many off days; even today was poor one again from him not including the screamer.
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Agree and would like to see if RLC can challenge for a first team place too. Cahill must now be concerned that his position is now under threat.
 
The Outsider said:
Agree and would like to see if RLC can challenge for a first team place too. Cahill must now be concerned that his position is now under threat.
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And he bloody well should be. I thought Ake was really good today. Cahill too often backs off his man, whereas Ake closes them down soon and doesn't give his man much space. He just turned 22 years old in Feb too, he's got so many years to get better and under Conte I think he absolutely can. Cahill missing today was a stroke of fortune imo, I think Cahill is more of a liability than a strength.
 
Ake was fecking brilliant today. May be I was wrong to think he is till not ready to challenge for the starting slot yet.

Really impressed. Hope he stay with us next season.
 
Claude Makélélé said:
Ake was fecking brilliant today. May be I was wrong to think he is till not ready to challenge for the starting slot yet.

Really impressed. Hope he stay with us next season.
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He has been ready for a year now. It was more a matter of having a position available for him. Has everyting to be a top CB/DM, can play the Libero role and always got a hollywood pass in him like Luiz.

Same with goes for Chalobah. That lad is ready as well.

If we buy a good striker with the Costa money, we could be onto a really good young team for the next 3-4 years.
 
So happy with Ake's performance today, solid and composed... today has shown Tony hopefully that maybe mixing things up is good for our squad sometimes
 
I just don't understand other fans sentiment when they say we should drop 40mil on a defender when we've got young solid defenders in Ake and Christensen
 
Respect for what he did today - benching the front two, was really brave and you can tell he's a winner. Expect them to get the double now.
 
Theafonis said:
I just don't understand other fans sentiment when they say we should drop 40mil on a defender when we've got young solid defenders in Ake and Christensen
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Are you actually going to sign a CB? Seen rumours of Koulibaly and van Dijk. I just don't think you need to because of the players you've mentioned and other clubs will look at them, if you sign another CB IMO.
 
Theafonis said:
I just don't understand other fans sentiment when they say we should drop 40mil on a defender when we've got young solid defenders in Ake and Christensen
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If there is an opportunity to sign someone near world-class like Koulibaly, Laporte etc. we should pick them up regardless.

bucky said:
Are you actually going to sign a CB? Seen rumours of Koulibaly and van Dijk. I just don't think you need to because of the players you've mentioned and other clubs will look at them, if you sign another CB IMO.
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The club is not going to sell Christensen for sure as they have gone through a lot to retain him in the past. Probably same for Ake since he was rated very highly not only by the coaching staff but the old guard as well.

We can always ditch Cahill and limit the number of games Luiz plays.
 
Red Dreams said:
after being completely out thought and dominated in a match Conte showed what a good coach he can be by the changes he made.
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Exactly this. Conte got it spot on today, the plan was always for Eden, Cesc and Diego to come on. Game management was perfect from him.
 
Sky1981 said:
I have a dream that one day managers will not be judged by the numbers of youth they play but by the content of their cabinet trophy.

Nobody cares about youth that much, most successful managers have shit result with youth because they're not hired for romantism of youth.

Besides, playing average academy players that has no long term future ain't going to get you nowhere.

Would saf trust the class of 92 if they weren't so special? Would he axe ince he got cleverly instead of scholes?
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I read this like Martin Luther King
 
The Outsider said:
Agree and would like to see if RLC can challenge for a first team place too. Cahill must now be concerned that his position is now under threat.
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Cahill isn't very good. He has his moments but reminds me of Smalling.

Why you wouldn't give Ake a chance is beyond me.
 
TheReligion said:
Cahill isn't very good. He has his moments but reminds me of Smalling.

Why you wouldn't give Ake a chance is beyond me.
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Cahill has been their captain. He may not be outstanding as whoever picked PFA team of the season think, but he's not making mistake. You don't axe your captain who performed at least decent for the sake of playing a youngster. Youngster can be inconsistent game & cost you. As Chelsea head coach it's too much risk for their own job. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
 
Raees said:
Respect for what he did today - benching the front two, was really brave and you can tell he's a winner. Expect them to get the double now.
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The Skipper said:
Exactly this. Conte got it spot on today, the plan was always for Eden, Cesc and Diego to come on. Game management was perfect from him.
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I call BS on all this talk of benching Hazard and Diego being part of some sort of tactical master plan.

There was no change in how Chelsea played (was the same formation) or any particular frailty in spurs that were exposed. Batshuayi for Costa, and Willian for Hazard only weakened the team as they were like for like substitutes of lesser quality. For most of the game, Chelsea were the weaker team and were lucky to get 2 goals from set pieces against the run of play. There is no evidence of any tactical nous.

My suspicion is that Conte wanted to avoid the potential psychological pressure of losing to Spurs at full strength (which would give the momentum to Spurs for the PL run in) and thus decided to rest the two players. If Chelsea lost, he would have explained it away as Chelsea not being keen on the FA, with talks of "a full strength Chelsea would have won" (and if they won - we can all see the thought plan). If Spurs had dominated them effectively earlier in the game e.g. leading 2-0, I doubt he would have brought on Hazard or Costa.

All this talk, after the fact, is simply trying to make himself look better tactically, and improve his image which was in shambles after he looked clueless at old trafford.

EDIT: The 3-man back deployed by Poch and the man-marking used by Mou were two actual tactical changes that were made by those teams for use against Chelsea.
 
cheeky_backheel said:
All this talk, after the fact, is simply trying to make himself look better tactically, and improve his image which was in shambles after he looked clueless at old trafford.
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Yes, his image was in shambles for losing just one game. :lol::lol:

As good as Jose's tactics were, that's a ridiculous to say! :lol: :lol:
 
I see 1 or 2 United fans still bitter that we knock them out of the FA.
 
He's such a defensive manager. Not one to defend Jose blindly, but he's absolutely spot on regarding Conte. If Jose came to United and played the style Conte was playing at Chelsea he'd be slaughtered.
 
There's a difference between a defensive team and a counterattacking team.Looks like people confuse themselves quite often. A counter attacking team is dogged in defense and breaks away at pace at every oppurtunity.
 
Conte is hopefully on his way to a double in his first season.He has a really good shout for getting the assistant manager job under Mourinho now :D
 
Baxter said:
He's such a defensive manager. Not one to defend Jose blindly, but he's absolutely spot on regarding Conte. If Jose came to United and played the style Conte was playing at Chelsea he'd be slaughtered.
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Scores 4 goals, gets called defensive. Life is hard being Conte. :D
 
Red Dreams said:
after being completely out thought and dominated in a match Conte showed what a good coach he can be by the changes he made.
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People are overdoing this out thought stuff now. Mourinho has had off days as well. Sometimes one manager gets the better of the other. We got battered in our first meeting with Chelsea.

Red Dreams said:
The three top coaches in the Prem are Mourinho, Conte and Pochettino.
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One season not winning a title but possibly making the top 4 doesn't exclude pep from these lists.
 
I can see why Conte wants a serious injection of money into this team. He's basically squeezed every last bit of talent out of them but that's not going to happen every season. I'd sat they need another 2 world class attacking players to provide more creativity if you're going to stick with Matic and Kante in the middle. There's only so much Hazard can do. Costa is more interested in trying to get sent off than playing football and rest should be squad players at best.
 
Akash said:
I can see why Conte wants a serious injection of money into this team. He's basically squeezed every last bit of talent out of them but that's not going to happen every season. I'd sat they need another 2 world class attacking players to provide more creativity if you're going to stick with Matic and Kante in the middle. There's only so much Hazard can do. Costa is more interested in trying to get sent off than playing football and rest should be squad players at best.
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Agreed.
We need to upgrade our RF position so that opponents have someone else to mark other than Hazard. A way CM(Veratti,Naingollan,etc.) is needed to provide creativity from the centre as well as maintaining the defensive shape. We need depth or an upgrade on the wb position too.This transfer season is really crucial for us and hopefully we don't blow it up like in / season.
 
Baxter said:
He's such a defensive manager. Not one to defend Jose blindly, but he's absolutely spot on regarding Conte. If Jose came to United and played the style Conte was playing at Chelsea he'd be slaughtered.
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When ManUtd had 35% possession against Liverpool at Anfield there were shit loads of negative articles about Jose, wonder will they do the same with Conte as Chelsea had around 35% possession in Neutral venue.

Chelsea are counter attacking team but for some reason Chelsea fans are outraged when someone says it. It's not even a dig.
 
Akash said:
I can see why Conte wants a serious injection of money into this team. He's basically squeezed every last bit of talent out of them but that's not going to happen every season. I'd sat they need another 2 world class attacking players to provide more creativity if you're going to stick with Matic and Kante in the middle. There's only so much Hazard can do. Costa is more interested in trying to get sent off than playing football and rest should be squad players at best.
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There are plenty of Chelsea fans around (online and in stands too) who have their head up the arse thinking that this team is the best thing since internet.

Its very likely the best season of their lives for Luiz, Alonso, Moses. Costa is gone, Cahill is crap and Pedro will likely become average as he was for last 3 seasons. I would try any get 5 new starters if money and squad harmony was not an issue. Still atleast 4 new starters should be get-able.
 
AshfordLad said:
Its very likely the best season of their lives for Luiz, Alonso, Moses. Costa is gone, Cahill is crap and Pedro will likely become average as he was for last 3 seasons. I would try any get 5 new starters if money and squad harmony was not an issue. Still atleast 4 new starters should be get-able.
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A great point about Luiz and especially Alonso and Moses.

I think the match against Spurs shows we need to strengthen, think we rode our luck at times defensively yesterday. Spurs scored two cracking goals but the introduction of Hazard late into the game settled the outcome.

Was surprised Poch chose Son at LWB as normally the WBs are Spurs strengths.

I don't think this was a master plan by Conte, just think he realises some players need a kick up the ass and was a good opportunity to use some of the squad that competed in the early stages of the cup.
 
cheeky_backheel said:
I call BS on all this talk of benching Hazard and Diego being part of some sort of tactical master plan.

There was no change in how Chelsea played (was the same formation) or any particular frailty in spurs that were exposed. Batshuayi for Costa, and Willian for Hazard only weakened the team as they were like for like substitutes of lesser quality. For most of the game, Chelsea were the weaker team and were lucky to get 2 goals from set pieces against the run of play. There is no evidence of any tactical nous.

My suspicion is that Conte wanted to avoid the potential psychological pressure of losing to Spurs at full strength (which would give the momentum to Spurs for the PL run in) and thus decided to rest the two players. If Chelsea lost, he would have explained it away as Chelsea not being keen on the FA, with talks of "a full strength Chelsea would have won" (and if they won - we can all see the thought plan). If Spurs had dominated them effectively earlier in the game e.g. leading 2-0, I doubt he would have brought on Hazard or Costa.

All this talk, after the fact, is simply trying to make himself look better tactically, and improve his image which was in shambles after he looked clueless at old trafford.

EDIT: The 3-man back deployed by Poch and the man-marking used by Mou were two actual tactical changes that were made by those teams for use against Chelsea.
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That's it, exactly. He has a short squad and gambled to preserve the last few drops from his stars for the league, does not give a feck of Ake and Batshu really, never played them before.

Was so lucky and genuinelly surprised Spurs conceded the game, in the end, his post match press conference became both self aggrandising bs and an attempt at convincing himself he can rely upon the bench from now on. :lol: Good for his campaign at this point of the season he could also use the result to stick the psychological knife into Spurs naivety by talking lyrics about their prospects. :lol:

If Chelsea had lost, he would have come out repeating his well rehearsed mantra: "remember we come from a 10th place in the league, our results are super extraordinary, we must work work work to get up there with the best".

Football is wonderful when things go your way, one day you are shite, three days later you are hero, isn't it?
 
msudip060 said:
There's a difference between a defensive team and a counterattacking team.Looks like people confuse themselves quite often. A counter attacking team is dogged in defense and breaks away at pace at every oppurtunity.
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So what is the difference?:confused:
 
cheeky_backheel said:
My suspicion is that Conte wanted to avoid the potential psychological pressure of losing to Spurs at full strength (which would give the momentum to Spurs for the PL run in) and thus decided to rest the two players. If Chelsea lost, he would have explained it away as Chelsea not being keen on the FA, with talks of "a full strength Chelsea would have won" (and if they won - we can all see the thought plan). If Spurs had dominated them effectively earlier in the game e.g. leading 2-0, I doubt he would have brought on Hazard or Costa.
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This is exactly the plan that Jose Mourinho has been using for years in tough games: find some reasons for a loss even before the match and if he wins that game: take full credits. I have been followed fecking 14 years and I full know that. This statics works as it protects the club, the team after a loss.

But you know what a bout Conte?
After 1-2 to Liverpool:
- Liverpool played like a team and we are not. We must improve.
After 0-3 to Arsenal:
- Arsenal showed they were stronger than us. I have to find the solution very, very soon because against Arsenal we played a very bad game.
After 0-2 to Tottenham:
- We lost against a good team, a very strong team. We must continue to work, to improve.
After 0-2 to United:
- We didn't play a good game and United deserved to win the game.

This is the man who cares more about his team than about mind games and excuses. He dropped Terry and Ivanovic after Arsenal loss. Then Costa was also dropped after Chinese saga in January. Matic off next game after he committed a foul cost us 2 points against Burnley. Willian and Pedro - he picks the better after each match.

So Hazard and Costa both had a match to forget against United. Why didn't he drop them? Tottenham saw how United stopped Hazard at OT last Sunday and they have all the ability to do the same.

And if - yes if - we had lost to Spurs last night, just look at Conte's reaction to big game losses above. Would he say "a full strength Chelsea would have won" ? No! that's bullsh!t.
 
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