Chelsea started their defense of the FA Cup against Southampton at the Saint Mary’s stadium. A tough start for Chelsea was turned around with 5 unanswered goals including a debut double for new signing Demba Ba who started only days after signing for the European Champions.
Scorers :
What We Learned :
- Demba Ba is what Chelsea were missing.
- Rafa Benitez has made Chelsea drastically better.
- Juan Mata is Chelsea’s best player.
- Terry’s absence under Benitez not felt.
1. Demba Ba is what Chelsea were missing : He didn’t look settled in Chelsea’s team early on as he struggled to get hold of the ball. Showed striker’s instinct to poach the equaliser though. Hold-up play improved after the break and he managed to get a second goal thanks to some good movement. Denied a hat-trick by fine Boruc save and then by Lampard taking the late penalty. A great debut for him and shows a lot of promising signs of things to come with him as striker. With him in attack, Luiz and Cahill can now boom long balls forward and expect him to contest the ball – something we couldn’t do with Fernando Torres.
2. Rafa Benitez has made Chelsea drastically better : Better in attack, better in defense and better with the lead. Rafael Benitez has had his tough times as Chelsea’s interim manager, but he’s made positive changes that Roberto Di Matteo didn’t make. Benitez has added more flair and creativity to the attack while making sure the defense is firm and tight. A bit caught out by Southampton early on, but we caught our tone and got it going. Didn’t allow them many chances after taking the lead and kept our attack prolific in front of goal as we scored 5 once again under Benitez.
3. Juan Mata is Chelsea’s best player : Once again, Juan Mata was the heart and soul of our attack as he had 2 assists and a few fine shots. It was a fantastic display. Even though Ba got the last touch on Chelsea’s equalizer, it was mainly his good work that created it. Crossed brilliantly for Ivanovic for the third and was at the heart of most the Blues did and deserved to score a goal. His dribbling, passing and crossing was what created most of our chances as we turned the match in our favor and then finished it off.
4. Terry’s absence under Benitez not felt : Without Terry, we struggled until Di Matteo. There was no stability and nothing was going right for us in defense. Under Benitez, we’ve played really well and played similar to how we do with JT in the squad. His defensive tactics have payed off as we don’t conceded as much as we did under Di Matteo and without Terry. Something, we felt would put our season in jeopardy hasn’t done much damage as it could of. Thankfully for us, Rafa has a good defensive sense and has made sure that even without Terry, we will play similar to with him.
Other Points :
- Torres or Ba?
- Luiz-Ramires the best double pivot combination?
- Lampard – 193 goals.
Torres for 50 million..Ba for 7 million..hopefuly Ba proves 2 be a 25 million worth striker so dat we can balance d combined 57 milion spent on dese 2 makin dat lone 50 million spent on sum1 lik torres a bit less painful..!
couldn’t understand a word of that mate
I agree for the first time with the post!
Torres or Ba?
….OF COURSE BA.
Luiz-Ramires the best double pivot combination?
….I THINK IS THE BEST COMBINATION. OMG! WHY WE TOOK SO LONG TO UNDERSTAND???
One more point. Luke Shaw is one for the future and from what I’ve seen,he’s even much better than Ryan Bertrand is now. He has the potential to become a great left back. Chelsea should get him. Bertrand is 23 right,I’m not sure? Shaw is only 17! Hazard struggled against him and couldn’t make an impact until he went to the left where Cork plays. Other than that,Ba is hopefully set for a great future with Chelsea. If Torres starts moaning again without competing with Ba then fuck him. I just had to say it. Sorry.
I was going to suggest Shaw and Ward-Prowse as potential targets. Decided not to.
Good eyes Zane. I told someone during the game that Shaw is way better than Ryan Bertrand. Bertrand is too attack minded that he forgets to defend. I prefer Shaw, or Baines as long term replacement for Cole, Ryan might cost us.
Chyke Bob. Ryan Bertrand runs over the half way line when the ball is still with the centre backs or in the centre of midfield. You can press as a defender but if you do it like that,your centre backs will get stretched in counter attacks. Luiz always had to go wide just because he wasn’t in position. Bertrand isn’t EPL standard for me and at the age of 23,he should be playing as a first choice if he was that good.
I’m happy for Lamps…. 193 goals, d same amount of goals Kerry Dixon scored for Us…. Innit? I hope he stays so that he can reach d top spot with 203 or more compare to Bobby’s 202….. On Demba-Ba, i hope he brings us Drogba season 2…. Good luck to him and d Team
i hope lamps will be with us & set a new tally of goals…………………..
I wish we can hold onto Lampard. Welcome Ba
BA wasn’t at his best until that second goal…..trust me i’m convinced BA can can help us……….ernestbible….
I would luv 2 see ba nd fernando 2getha.anyways,grt perfomance by chelsea.
Sometimes i saw Ba going to the wing or sometimes he wanted a pass but didn’t get it. We must adapt to him when were going to attack beacause he can be the key in our attack. Benitez showed us once again that he are right man for the job. He’s defensive tacitics are so magnificent and were not struggling without JT in defensive. Otherwise it was a solid preformance from the guys.
KTBFFH <3
I kindda dont like Rami-and geezer in that pivot when we come against top clubs they might not be able to hold,put mikel in and probably get benat etxebarria and as for BA??he is a Poacher and i love poachers.
Mosses is also good !
I agree with you,that David Luiz-Ramirez is the BEST pivot combination for Chelsea…cos the two of them are extremely strong defensively,so it will be very hard to BREAK our defence. Lampard should be coming-in as a sub. If Rafa Benitez can maintain these Line-Up,I believe,Chelsea can Win four-trophies this season.
mosses and hazard was also quite good……..
Torres and Ba! That was the point!
luiz & ramirez best pivot combination??
If i may ask where’s mikel? The heart and rock in defensive midfield
Remires – luiz best combination, if I here!!!. Wait until we play a solid team.
news coming in that chelsea have opened talks with lamps …
The best pivot is still yet to be proven. My best is any that has Mikel because of the defensive stability and read a stat on this site that had him with the highest pass accuracy.
marko marin really impressed me,chelsea should not let him go
you have to put mikel in pivot, rafa, unless our defence collapse against teams having good attackers like mancity.
Marko marin needs playing time and he will be fine.
BA is a striker Chelsea need, shows the paste, he positioned himself well and the running that give a threat to defender very strong on ball which we don’t have with Torres. The combination of Remires and Luiz very good with the team we plaid but we need to wait till we meet with a big team, I still disagree with their combination because both of them are attacking minded which will give problem in our defense.
Ba is wat we need upfront, Luiz n Ramires combination is the best we have right now but i thnk Mikel will also do well wth one of thse players(rami/luiz) wth Lampard cmin frm the bench.
unfortunately, i din’t watch the match but some things i know. ba will improve the attack 70% compared to torres 30% bcos of his strength, timing, positioning and better accuracy with shots @ goal and also the era of missing one on one has ended thou a few may happen but not the disastrous ones with torres. Now, luiz ramires pivot may look good in the match but never say its d best bcos we have to consider opposition, play pattern n formation. There are cases where dis combo will not work so we need to tactically work on wat will work against which team and not the case of this is d best. And in any case we wanna play 442 or 4132, mikel and probably ramires is still d best so we shuldn’t be carried away. however, we still need a world class striker or another striker so as to spring up competiton and to be able to try other formations during play and especially in europe against experienced and tactical oppositions.
ba is a proving striker and our new drogba
Ba has played one 1 game against a weaker opposition and you all area calling him a legend..WTF
Dumb fans dont you all get it, there are no more English players in the squad no wonder Benitez and Abra is trying to remove cole, lamps and terry????