[Danny Boi]

Very good performance from Fellaini today.Shut off Fabregas very well and a great header at the end leading to Van Persie's goal.

Much more encouraging from Januzaj too today.Really need to kick on from here.We're so close to getting it right.We just need to put a run together and for one our strikers to find a bit of form.

 

[Cina]

Good result and I think that goal may actually be a real turning point now.

 

[bosnian_red]

Well deserved point. Chelsea were cnuts all game and all they did was look to kill the game and do little niggling fouls at every opportunity and make the most of every little contact. Ivanovic more then deserved that red. We played really well in the first half and should have been winning, never really started in the second because of Chelsea's tactics.

That goal will give us a huge boost of confidence. A big feck you to all you cnuts thinking we would get smashed, have some faith in your team playing on our own pitch.

 

[Oo0AahCantona]

Decent first half, Di maria didnt seem fit and was fairly invisible, bad second half but made up for it with a classic injury time finish!

 

[Dion]

hahahahahahahahahahahaha

Thats about all I got.

 

[#07]

The never say die spirit is back. Two fight backs in one week! We'd have lost both times we've played this week six months ago.

Great first half, cak second half. But we've proved that we BELIEVE again.

"WE WILL NEVER DIE...!"

 

[Sunny Jim]

Good performance first half. Poor second half. Decent result indeed.

Defense is a MAJOR MAJOR worry. Something has to be done. We won't make top 4 defending like that

Rojos wank at CB.

 

[MDFC Manager]

Absolutely pumped! feck yeah!

 

[zing]

Rojos wank at CB.

Yea, he just doesn't seem much good at the moment.

 

[LARulz]

It's only a point at the end of the day.

But that is the best way to get a point. Last minute equaliser is a huge confidence booster, add to that it's our only fit striker who has been off form and missed a few great chances today.

 

[Ixion]

Good first half, good last 20 minutes. I noticed Rafael picking up Drogba a few times in the first half and couldn't understand it, that goal was avoidable. Second game in a row with a late late goal though and keeps us a point of Arsenal and Liverpool and within 3 of the Top 4 which is what we need.

 

[Trigg]

Good performance.

I thought Smalling and Rojo suit each other very well, just a shame that our set-piece tactics are so mental. Rafael marking Drogba! Really?

They have quite a few big targets at set pieces. Have to check to see who the others had but we had quite a small team.

 

[limerickcitykid]

Fellaini was class, IMO. Only saw the second half but he moved quite well. No longer lumbering and his passing has improved. No more elbows. This is a good sign.

He caught Luis with a nice sly one. Good game from him though, really impressed.

 

[17 Van der Gouw]

We easily deserved that point, we probably didn't deserve a win - but hey, lots of people in here wrote off our chances even before a ball was kicked.

Some of the posts were a bit silly "RVP is useless" - "Fellaini shouldn't be near the stadium" and "This will be embarrassing"

Now without sounding kneejerk, we've taken a massive step forward today. Even if we'd lost 1-0, we still held the best team in the country and at times (especially during the first half) took the game to them and created a few really good chances. Very happy and feeling positive, it's starting to come together.

A much bigger result than beating Everton the other week.

 

[OnlyTwoDaSilvas]

The goal was a relief, but it was strange seeing everyone celebrate that like a win. I thought we were comfortably the better team, especially in the first half. Two sloppily defended set pieces were the difference. I really think we should have won. Maybe I'm being too hard on the team, but after the first 45, I felt confident we'd win, but we didn't turn up for most of the 2nd half. Shame. Chelsea looked far too respectful of us, and I think they were there for the taking. Especially with Ivanovic looking uncharacteristically flimsy at the back.

Smalling was impressive. Rojo needs to toughen up and stop losing the individual battles so easily.

Three excellent saves from De Gea as well. Neville described one as 'comfortable', but to catch such a rasping shot so cleanly was a very good stop. He was gushing with superlatives for Courtois, but barely recognised De Gea who made the best two saves of the game.

 

[Jacob]

Rooney is sooo important for us, there's no question about that.

 

[DevilRed]

Good result for us and it showed that we CAN match the best. Wasn't a win but its been a LONG LONG time since we had the character to score a late goal at OT.

Really a reminder of the good ol days and hopefully we can do better against citeh next week. This is a tough stretch of matches though and we will need Rooney/Falcao back because clearly we weren't creating enough.

Thought that Fellaini was tremendous today and no surprise he had a hand in the goal. Januzaj and Di Maria were relatively poor in their final ball but its to be expected when going up against the best defence in the league. Mata was poor in the sense that he never really created anything or did anything of note other than the botched shot from a Di Maria freekick. He did work hard though to his credit.

Our defence looking better by the match but we did give away one or two chances to them (e.g. hazard walking through us). Great goalkeeping by DDG yet again though.

Next week is going to be even tougher for us and we haven't even won a single away match all season long.

 

[sullydnl]

Excellent result considering Chelsea are a comfortably better team atm.

That said, I thought we were good today. Defense is improving and there were good performances generally (even Fellaini did well).

Still have some reservations over Blind and RvP but still, we're definitely going in the right direction at least.

 

[Mali_Zeus]

Fellaini. Different player than last season.

 

[Scarecrow]

Great result for Southampton and West Ham. One step closer to the title.

 

[Joemo]

They have quite a few big targets at set pieces. Have to check to see who the others had but we had quite a small team.

Van Persie on post (or near) and Rafael marking Drogba? Doesn't take a genius to see that's not right.

 

[Wowi]

A late goal!!!! Buzzing.

 

[Sunny Jim]

1st half very good, poor IMO in the 2nd, but don't give a man. Great result and huge goal

Carricks reaction was class.

 

[ThierryHenry]

Cheers for that lads. We're only 9 points off the top now!

Agree with the Fellaini praise. Also - it's obviously the risks he takes that make him so good, but Di Maria gives the ball away a ridiculous amount. Going to cost you now and then.

 

[JUPITER]

Great point - totally deserved it. So much for us being 'torn apart' by Chelsea.

And now we get to see Souness sitting gutted that we got something out of the draw.

Onwards and upwards, fellow reds, onwards and upwards.

 

[17 Van der Gouw]

Excellent result considering Chelsea are a comfortably better team atm.

That said, I thought we were good today. Defense is improving and there were good performances generally (even Fellaini did well).

Still have some reservations over Blind and RvP but still, we're definitely going in the right direction at least.

Exactly, like I said above - we've proven we can at least match the best teams in the country. Massive performance for us, draw or not.

 

[saivet]

First half I thought we were decent, possibly edged it. Second half, Chelsea dominated and were cruising and they probably should have seen it out.

RVP, thought he had a decent first half, second half he was anonymous and looked knackered but got that crucial goal.

 

[berbatrick]

We do late goals again!

Never during all of last season did that siege build up of the opposition goal, with the ball almost always in their half, a couple of half chances, the build up of the inevitability, and then, either genius or luck, the finish. To do it vs the master manager and the master team at closing out games is special.

 

[Smores]

Very good result considering the second half performances but still a lot of concerns.

Certainly a lot better than every other performance this season, let's see how we do at City.

Fellaini immense btw , glad he's now proving useful

 

[ItsEssexRob]

Fair result in the end I dont think we played amazingly and you guys played well in the first half.

Just annoying to concede so late.

 

[ZIDANE]

Smalling played well, distributed the ball better than usual.

If only he picked up Drogba instead for the goal. Got a way with the penalty appeal though.

 

[Mozza]

Van Persie on post (or near) and Rafael marking Drogba? Doesn't take a genius to see that's not right.

Van Persie always takes the front post area, he should have been attacking the cross as Drogba did

 

[Striker10]

Chelsea weren't all that. We can be relatively pleased. I think Smalling's pace is really what we need in the defense. Another game where we've gone behind but showed the spirt to keep on attacking. One mistake cost us perhaps the win. Chelsea can talk all they like and cry about missing their striker. We get injuries every bloody week and you would expect a more dominant performance from the inform team. Now we've got to develop this belief and beat City next weekend.

 

[Stack]

We look like we are improving. I am enjoying this season.

 

[Gopher Brown]

It was a good point, but our passing was incredibly predictable. Without Herrera in midfield, Blind was swamped meaning Rojo and Smalling had to hit it long time and time again.

 

[dsch]

Good result! Very happy because I was convinced that the last free kick was going to go down Courtois's throat like the others.

 

[Someone]

Good point and an almost a very good performance from us. We came up against the best team in the league and we looked really good apart from that period after the goal, i honestly didn't expect us to come back but we did and this will do wonders to the team.

 

[Get In Scholesy]

Feel as if it was 2 points dropped to be honest. I felt like we dominated the game throughout, Chelsea came and sat off us the entire time, didn't really want to press, it seemed like they were quite comfortable to go back to Stamford Bridge with a point from the start. They were there for the taking in my opinion, but once we conceded (a really crap goal) I didn't see us winning the match, mainly due to their knack of sucking the life out of football. Unfortunate but this is football.

I enjoyed how we played, it was great to watch and can only get better with Rooney and Falcao coming into the picture. Really proud of Januzaj, did extremely well tonight to prove himself at this level yet again. I refuse to be overtly negative, but still feel as if that was 3 points for the taking.

 

[Mockney]

I am the only one not dazzled by our performance? We are still too slow and unproductive on the ball, it is amazing how often we take the ball backwards. No penetration.

Second half we were terrible. Never looked remotely like scoring from anything but a set peice, which is a worry. But in the first we created some great chances against the best team in the league, which in context is better than overrunning a QPR.

As Gary just pointed out, the 2nd half tends to give a slightly distorted impression of the whole match.

 

[17 Van der Gouw]

Fellaini. Different player than last season.

Agreed. I really do trust LvG to develop and coach our players to be at their best.