Yes, putting away the smaller teams is their bread and butter.
Chelsea 2017/18 thread - FA Cup Champs, League chumps
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) is joined by CEO Duncan Drasdo and Financial Director Andy Green from the Manchester United Supporters Trust for a special episode on all things behind the scenes at Old Trafford including a brief history of MUST and their aims today, views on INEOS and Sir Jim Ratcliffe so far, and the Old Trafford regeneration.
Chelsea were awful this evening, they played like the away team and created nothing. When Morata isn't on they look void of any real attacking threat, city kept the ball well but rubbish from Chelsea. Another great title defense by Chelsea, shock horror!
The Costa situation has backfired I think, they always had a presence up top but have zero without Alvaro. It would be a great time to play them, think having less preparation with Europe has caught them out. Early days and they could certainly turn it around, but I would be shocked if it they did. Conte looking an unhappy figure for a while, missing certain signings and things going on internally is never good. I would be worried if I was a Chelsea fan. Need Morata back asap
The Costa situation has backfired I think, they always had a presence up top but have zero without Alvaro. It would be a great time to play them, think having less preparation with Europe has caught them out. Early days and they could certainly turn it around, but I would be shocked if it they did. Conte looking an unhappy figure for a while, missing certain signings and things going on internally is never good. I would be worried if I was a Chelsea fan. Need Morata back asap
Oh well it's life. Look at this place when we drew with Stoke. Chelsea were terrible on a day when we won 4 nil so naturally the reactions are extreme. Had we lost today, no one would give a feck about Chelsea. That's how it goes.
Amazing how in the space of 24 hours we've gone from 'looking like champions' to 'will they hold on to the top 4'..
Exactly, just a bad day at the office for you guys against a team bang in form.
Still title contenders.
Was really hoping for a draw but knew they had no chance when Morata went off.
I found those reactions annoying too.
Reminds me of the time City signed Bernado Silva and this place completely lost it for a number of days.
How do this people cope with any change in life?
This place is buzzing at the minute and rightly so. We have Liverpool away next, it could all change... Football reactions are extreme and especially so on forums dedicated to just that. Usually it's all in the moment stuff though.
I kinda hope they get their hysterical or obsessive behaviour out of their systems on here and are actually not utter cretins in real life.
Do not be surprised when people say those extreme opinions are wrong though.
Either their midfields are just tired after the Atl Madrid or City is just too good. They need more depth squad IMO. But I must say losing Morata today and replaced him with Willian is basically a sign of give up. They should have sign another striker if they don't trust Bats.
Don't be surprised when people say your opinion is wrong either. Opinions eh.
One poor result and it will turn like we are back in the Moyes day.
As for the topic of conversation, Chelsea are still a very good side and seem very mentally strong so I would expect them to get back on the winning trail soon.
Hopefully they perform like this against us too, especially with our horrid record at the Bridge.
Didn't even deserve a point after that performance. Conte doesn't get his tactics wrong often but today they were horrendous after Morata got injured, attempting to play on the counter without a recognised striker was a ridiculous decision. We could barely get out of our own half most of the game and had no outlet going forward
The one bright spot for us was Christensen, this kids going to be an absolute star in a few years, so composed and comfortable on the ball
Regarding Llorente, I remember reading somewhere that he chose Spurs due to us only willing to offer him a 1 year deal while Spurs were happy to offer him more. Hopefully we look to bring in another forward in January, Conte really doesn't seem to rate Bats and we can't rely on Morata all season
The one bright spot for us was Christensen, this kids going to be an absolute star in a few years, so composed and comfortable on the ball
Regarding Llorente, I remember reading somewhere that he chose Spurs due to us only willing to offer him a 1 year deal while Spurs were happy to offer him more. Hopefully we look to bring in another forward in January, Conte really doesn't seem to rate Bats and we can't rely on Morata all season
To be honest, Chelsea winning the league last season was madness to me. I really didn't and still don't think they're all that but Conte is a good manager and seems to get the best out of them. They'll beat Palace in their next game and probably go on a run. That's football.
Palace always beat Chelsea 
They won 3-0 at Highbury so couldn't be all that bad.
You summed it up very well. I don't think Fabregas should have started this game tbh, especially with Chelsea's initial defensive set-up. Pedro is much more effective on the counter.
In all seriousness, Chelsea will be fine. They're a very good side with a very good manager.
Bakayoko performing better than Matic?
Please he’s not even performing close to as good as, long term who knows but right now Matic is comfortably doing a lot better
They have a very good main lineup and Conte is a very good manager despite some baffling decision. Their squad has zero depth, though, and that will be their main problem.
I said it in the Title Race thread but games like today and the one against Arsenal is why Chelsea won’t challenge for the title this season. Morata is doing well but he won’t be as good as Costa, likewise their midfield isn’t as good without Matic
I expect them to be comfortably the 3rd best side but quite a few points behind the 2nd and 1st placed sides
I expect them to be comfortably the 3rd best side but quite a few points behind the 2nd and 1st placed sides
To some extent yes, but by xG Chelsea vs Atletico was 2.4-0.6 whereas tonight was 1.0 to 0.6 in favour of City. Shot totals don't tell you a whole lot; Chelsea in particular are set up to allow a lot of terrible shots from poor angles and from distance.
I don't think it's outrageous to suggest that the two performances were comparable in terms of dominance by the away side.
Possibly. I'm literally going off stats as I was watching the United game on Wednesday and didn't see any of the Chelsea match. There's no denying the Atletico result was brilliant, though.
The midfield wasn't the problem at all, the problem was bringing Willian on. He was appallingly bad on his own merits, and on top of that it had the knock on effect of pushing Hazard further up the pitch and out of the number 10 role from where he'd troubled City at times. With the attack so disjointed, there wasn't a lot the midfield could do.
Batshuayi or Pedro needed to come on; either one of them is much better getting in behind a high line/playing on the shoulder of a defender. Willian is infuriating in his insistence in dropping deeper then making baffling decisions to dribble when he should pass, or pass when he should dribble. That moment when he tried to dribble 4 City players in our own half heading back towards our goal instead of just laying the ball off was peak Willian.
That's fair enough, I'm not trying to have a go. I do think that pundits have been overblowing the Atleti performance to some extent; it was hugely impressive but it wasn't the greatest ever or anything. Atleti basically only created one real threatening opportunity to score aside from the penalty though, which was at the very end of the first half. Aside from that, they were mostly shooting from poor angles/very far distance. Only 4 shots in the area compared to 11 for Chelsea. Here's the xG map:
Versus the match from tonight:
I think the one from tonight overstates things in Chelsea's favour; the big chance for Chelsea was a Morata header from a tight angle that he probably could have done better with, but it's a flaw with the methodology since he was within the 6 yard box.
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Looking at that, the performances do look quite similar. I guess looking singularly at the stats, doesn't the tell the whole story. The Athleti match definitely looked a-lot closer by just looking solely at the match stats but by looking at what you posted, it looks like you's created far better chances.
I can personally testify that I pulled out a considerable amount of my own hair, especially whilst we were 1-0 down. Losing that match would have been highway robbery (although the penalty was completely justified thanks to an idiotic shirt pull by Luiz).
What counter? City managed to contain pretty much all danger from counters from the start. The only areas Chelsea really could exploit were on the wing, mostly with a quick diagonal ball. Since neither Alonso nor Azpilicueta know how to beat a man not much came from them.
The sensible option imo would have been to take out Cahill, move Rudiger to the left, Azpi RCB and bring on Moses as RWB. Michy for Morata and later Pedro for Bakayoko.
Agree on the squad depth. Its extremely thin and a bit of an embarrassment for a team supposedly competing for titles.
Disagree on the first 11 though. Its atleast 2 starters behind City and United and possibly behind spurs too. Fourth best in the league.
It's not the best line up in the league but still definitely a very good one. The problem I can say about their lineup is that most of their players are functional more than skillful. Hazard is the only one who can do magical things while the rest are a players designed the benefit the system more, but they have always been like that anyway.
Maybe the 3rd choice wingback Zappacosta would have won us the game.
He would have been a better option than Azpilicueta. Cahill shouldn't have played in this game; with Azpilicueta at his usual RCB role we'd have been much more dangerous going forward and we'd have had an actual outlet on the right.
Last 4-5 seasons yes. But City and United were pretty much asleep at the wheel all this while. Now things are different, City and United have bought very well over the last two summers. Genuinely think it will be impossible for anyone else to compete with those two.
Not disagreeing about that by a bit. What I'm saying is their lineup is still good enough to finish top 3 at least.
Disagree completely. To be honest, I think Chelsea's starting XI is better than ours.
Well, If we made combined XI I think it'll be something like :
De Gea
Valencia - Luiz - Bailly - Alonso
Kante - Matic
Pogba
Pedro - Lukaku - Hazard
Valencia - Luiz - Bailly - Alonso
Kante - Matic
Pogba
Pedro - Lukaku - Hazard
Can we disagree on any choice here ?
Still very early to fully write them off, but they haven't been overly impressive. They were very lucky to sneak that win vs Spurs too imo.
Hazard still not fully fit though. Though if Morata is out for an extended period, that will be a huge blow.
We'll see how we and City react to our 1st loss or when the chips are down.
Hazard still not fully fit though. Though if Morata is out for an extended period, that will be a huge blow.
We'll see how we and City react to our 1st loss or when the chips are down.
I don't think one can assess it like that. If Chelsea put out their strongest XI and we did ours, I think Chelsea's would be slightly stronger on paper.