Chelsea 2017/18 thread - FA Cup Champs, League chumps

VorZakone said:
Barca is gonna beat them quite comfortably I reckon.
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I wouldn't go that far. Chelsea certainly is a game raiser against Barcelona. Their team to be able to play at their best is still a very tough team. For all we know, Barcelona is not that good compare to the past. Suarez ain't the same player. Iniesta clearly declined a level or 2. Dembele is recovering from injury and was not yet at the level where he can carry the team if other. Messi can make difference but he hasn't yet score against Chelsea so there is some extra pressure on him to carry.
 
IrishRedDevil said:
They are an awful team to watch. What is their style of play?

A few decisions by Conte that need to be highlighted:

At home, against 10 men and still playing Bakayoko and Kante. Bakayoko is truly awful and it's hilarious that they sold Matic to us and bought him.

They are so reliant on Hazard, yet he was subbed off today. It doesn't matter if he was having an off day, he's by trying best player and should be on the pitch.
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Give the ball to Hazard and hope he does something incredible.

They're so reliant on him.
 
Boring fans, boring kit, boring formation and boring team.

Third is actually good for them as things stand. Can see Liverpool leapfrogging them in the next few weeks.
 
Watching Chelsea play these days really left me wondering how did they win the title so empathically last season.
Bakayoko, Hazard, Fabregas all awful today.
 
Hazard's performance today was the worst I've ever seen him. So wasteful, gave the ball away so many times.
 
Conte’s subs were abysmal today, should have subbed Morata off. Let’s destroy Stoke on Monday and open up a small gap to breathe a bit.
 
ti vu said:
I wouldn't go that far. Chelsea certainly is a game raiser against Barcelona. Their team to be able to play at their best is still a very tough team. For all we know, Barcelona is not that good compare to the past. Suarez ain't the same player. Iniesta clearly declined a level or 2. Dembele is recovering from injury and was not yet at the level where he can carry the team if other. Messi can make difference but he hasn't yet score against Chelsea so there is some extra pressure on him to carry.
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The Barcelona side struggled with Mourinho's team that started forming in the 2000s. That team was a machine. This Chelsea team cannot be trusted like older Chelsea teams.

The last time Barcelona played Chelsea was in 2012, when Terry, Lampard, Drogba, Cole, Cech were all important players in the team.
 
Is 3-5-1-1 the most defensive formation seen from a top side in the PL? It gives Hazard far too much to do unlike last season where Pedro or Willian played in the 3-4-3.

Chelsea love to gloat about the fees they received for Costa and Matic but what good is a profit on sales if you replace them with shite like Bakayoko and Morata.
 
@Enigma_87
Is it even that? It reminds me of the times Pep was criticised last year and every other post was "Yeah, but Jose.."
I noticed it after the Arsenal game when Lukaku was getting criticised everytime Morata missed
 
Why’s he so defensive?

Needs to start playing with three attackers again. Just shows also how Costa is a big miss.
 
El Jefe said:
Is 3-5-1-1 the most defensive formation seen from a top side in the PL? It gives Hazard far too much to do unlike last season where Pedro or Willian played in the 3-4-3.

Chelsea love to gloat about the fees they received for Costa and Matic but what good is a profit on sales if you replace them with shite like Bakayoko and Morata.
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I always wondered about this. What's exactly the point of feeling proud of your club selling for good money if the replacements will be terrible or the money won't get spent ? That seems like a moral victory for me.
 
kouroux said:
Give me Lukaku all day everyday. He still contributes if he doesn't score. This thread is about Morata though so I won't ad more.
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Normally I would say Morata more likely to contribute without scoring because of his better touch and technique and passing ability. However he was horrendous today.
 
cyberman said:
@Enigma_87
Is it even that? It reminds me of the times Pep was criticised last year and every other post was "Yeah, but Jose.."
I noticed it after the Arsenal game when Lukaku was getting criticised everytime Morata missed
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Yeah, generally fans a bit fickle and there's always banter, especially since not many wanted Lukaku in the first place.

Morata is definitely in a bad form, generally he'll come good but today he could/should have made a difference, like the game against Arsenal.

They are struggling in attack and surely he'll take most of the blame.

Won't be surprised to see Hazard off this Summer to Real. Especially if Conte goes as well.
 
breakout67 said:
The Barcelona side struggled with Mourinho's team that started forming in the 2000s. That team was a machine. This Chelsea team cannot be trusted like older Chelsea teams.

The last time Barcelona played Chelsea was in 2012, when Terry, Lampard, Drogba, Cole, Cech were all important players in the team.
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Chelsea team has players with bag of potential which as I pointed out, them raising their game to the max would be a tough team for everyone. Beside Drogba and Ashley Cole, The other 3 ain't exactly that great in 2012. They raised their game in big fixture. And current Chelsea team has player who when they playing at their best can match that level. Terry being a knob nearly cost them the return leg at Nou Camp. Chelsea is struggling in attacking, but you can see their defense has been settling lately and Christensen is doing very well. The 2012 team ain't exactly great with player like Cahill, David Luiz (still here), Ramirez, Meireles, Bertrand, Bosingwa played a huge role. Mata was at his best yet he's hardly impress games in Barcelona and Bayern given the nature of Chelsea approach and his lack of physicality.
 
When Chelsea won 13 games in a row last season, Diego Costa scored 7 goals that won them the game.

ti vu said:
Chelsea team has players with bag of potential which as I pointed out, them raising their game to the max would be a tough team for everyone. Beside Drogba and Ashley Cole! The other 3 ain't exactly that great in 2012. They raised their game in big fixture. Chelsea is struggling in attacking, but you can see their defense has been settling lately and Christensen is doing very well. The 2012 team ain't exactly great with player like Cahill, David Luiz (still here), Ramirez, Meireles, Bertrand, Bosingwa played a huge role. Mata was at his best yet he's hardly impress games in Barcelona and Bayern given the nature of Chelsea approach and his lack of physicality.
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Good points, it will be fun to watch, either there is an upset or Conte has a meltdown
 
They were tired and lethargic at a hectic point in their schedule which speaks to them not having the same depth or top level in quality they've had previously. IMO their main problem is they weakened their starting XI by selling Matic and Costa and replacing them with Bakayoko/Drinkwater and Morata.

Conte doesn't have great options in the squad when Hazard and Morata aren't delivering the goods and he has compounde this issue by switching to a more defensive 3-5-2. They simply need more top level quality in attack and midfield than they currently have if they want to challenge for the title again next year.
 
Don't know why Mourinho gets slack for being defensive.
Conte is up there with Simeone.
 
Adisa said:
Don't know why Mourinho gets slack for being defensive.
Conte is up there with Simeone.
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The real question is why Conte got offended when Mourinho complimented Chelsea team to be a very good transitioning team (solid defensively and making the most out of their defense). For some reason, the guy is so precious and can't think straight.
 
el3mel said:
I always wondered about this. What's exactly the point of feeling proud of your club selling for good money if the replacements will be terrible or the money won't get spent ? That seems like a moral victory for me.
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Agreed. The Chelsea fans who were happy with the sales and their respective fees all look quite silly now.

On another note, Morata absolutely deserves the stick he's been getting especially in the comparisons with Lukaku. When Rom went through his spell, the media and oppo fans couldn't stop throwing Morata's name in there. Keeping him useless in a game just involves stopping Azpilicueta from getting crosses into the box. Do that and its almost a certainty he'll offer nothing.
 
Loads of uncertainty with manager and players like hazard and keeper. It's a mentality thing with Chelsea, they haven't seen motivated after winning the league since the early days of Jose and Drogba. As the song goes "You'll never win three in a row". The success they've had is hollow. Things don't grow at the club, they get replaced.
 
Adisa said:
Don't know why Mourinho gets slack for being defensive.
Conte is up there with Simeone.
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Just because the two managers at Atletico & Chelsea are defensive, it doesn't give Jose a pass to be defensive. Also the stature of the clubs are vastly different. At United you are expected to win and win in style. You can get away with this kind of football at those clubs, not here. We will always be scrutinized more than them.

I don't know why fans have a problem with us being in a spot light all the time. Would you want it any other way?
 
I can only imagine the stick Mourinho would be getting from all quarters if the Costa/Morata situation had happened under his watch.
 
DdeGoat said:
Just because the two managers at Atletico & Chelsea are defensive, it doesn't give Jose a pass to be defensive. Also the stature of the clubs are vastly different. At United you are expected to win and win in style. You can get away with this kind of football at those clubs, not here. We will always be scrutinized more than them.

I don't know why fans have a problem with us being in a spot light all the time. Would you want it any other way?
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Maybe the point is about the general media being a lot harsher on Utd/Jose than reasonably without acknowledging much the improvement made
 
The White Pele said:
I can only imagine the stick Mourinho would be getting from all quarters if the Costa/Morata situation had happened under his watch.
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Mourinho is a very good man manager. He knew Costa was a loony and bought him anyway. It takes someone with very good people skills to handle Costa.
 
kouroux said:
Maybe the point is about the general media being a lot harsher on Utd/Jose than reasonably without acknowledging much the improvement made
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I think it's because of the expectations too. At the start of the season most pundits/journalists were putting us as the favorites to win the title. With these guys it's always black or white, you can't expect most of them to be objective. United also make for a bigger story. Remember how they used to suck Jose's cock while he was at Chelsea, and his football wasn't much different. But with United everything is different.
 
DdeGoat said:
Just because the two managers at Atletico & Chelsea are defensive, it doesn't give Jose a pass to be defensive. Also the stature of the clubs are vastly different. At United you are expected to win and win in style. You can get away with this kind of football at those clubs, not here. We will always be scrutinized more than them.

I don't know why fans have a problem with us being in a spot light all the time. Would you want it any other way?
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I can understand if it's our own fan base. You think the media positively care about us? If anything they shite stirring when it comes to us. When we're doing really well, we ain't given any credit, but the first sight of problem it's like the end of the world.

DdeGoat said:
I think it's because of the expectations too. At the start of the season most pundits/journalists were putting us as the favorites to win the title. With these guys it's always black or white, you can't expect most of them to be objective. United also make for a bigger story. Remember how they used to suck Jose's cock while he was at Chelsea, and his football wasn't much different. But with United everything is different.
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Chelsea was above us in how these people rate their chances of winning the league again. They ran away with the league last season and these same people were hyping their new signings why downplaying the players they let go. The more you look at it, the more you can see these people are doing damage controlling for jumping the bandwagon with their big mouths. They're doing it by targeting us who is the common enemy since SAF's days. Mourinho is also an easy target.
 
kouroux said:
Maybe the point is about the general media being a lot harsher on Utd/Jose than reasonably without acknowledging much the improvement made
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This. The narrative about Mourinho and United is so overly negative without any perspective on the progress in both squad quality and play style over what he inherited. There's still much scope for improvement, but things are better than they've been since Ferguson left.

City being a truly great team this year is a very lazy stick to beat the teams below them with.
 
DdeGoat said:
I think it's because of the expectations too. At the start of the season most pundits/journalists were putting us as the favorites to win the title. With these guys it's always black or white, you can't expect most of them to be objective. United also make for a bigger story. Remember how they used to suck Jose's cock while he was at Chelsea, and his football wasn't much different. But with United everything is different.
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I know. You are right, I don't expect much from the general media anyway. There are only 1 or 2 who are worth listening to
 
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