An atrocious performance from Chelsea as we fell 2-1 to Southampton at Saint Mary’s. Rodriguez put them in front then Terry headed home to equalize only to see Lambert put So’ton back in front 1 minute later.
Scorers :
Stats :
What We Learned :
1. It’s not all Rafa’s fault
2. No Mata = No hope
3. Ryan Bertrand doesn’t deserve to start
4. Torres and Ba must be given a start together
5. Lampard-Mikel doesn’t work
1. It’s not all Rafa’s fault:
Rafa Benitez fielded a solid squad with all the players being on international break and with the busy schedule coming up, yet the fans continue to blame him for a loss. His substitutions weren’t great (bar Hazard), but that squad was good enough to win. What that squad didn’t have is the finishing ability, passion and want to win. We could of scored many goals, but didn’t because of the lack of finishing. We scored an equalizer which should of turned the match in our favour, but a stupid foul led to a goal that put us down. We had the ability to win the match, but we didn’t. So why is Rafa being blamed? It’s not his fault that Mata was out, it’s not his fault that we couldn’t finish or play with passion.
2. No Mata = No hope:
Juan Mata has no doubt been our best player this season and his absence (due to illness) cost us dearly. He’s the creator, the maestro, the best of the best for Chelsea. When he doesn’t play, we struggle. We could of done so much more with Mata in the squad. I don’t know what else to say really, he’s just what makes us, us. Chelsea need Juan Mata to be in good form, but his absence today made the game so much harder especially since he’s irreplaceable, IMO.
3. Ryan Bertrand doesn’t deserve to start:
Failed to get in the game early on and gave away the free-kick that Lambert scored from. When he did break forward his final ball was poor. A lack of communication almost let Ward-Prowse in. He hasn’t been at his best at all this season and especially in Europe. After getting torn apart by Shakhtar earlier in the season, he struggled as well in this match. It’s not that he’s no fit as a replacement to Ashley Cole, it’s just that he’s not fit at this point in the season. The decision to resign Ashley Cole was a great decision as we have no fit replacement as of this moment. He was poor against Steaua (1st leg) and this is just another performance to forget for him.
4. Torres and Ba must be given a start together:
When you watch Torres of late, he often drifts wide and prefers to take on the full back in a one on one situation, often getting the better of them. He seems to prefer to mix it up, drop back, go wide and attempt to create rather than be a target man. This could be used effectively if he is deployed as a wide striker. The Spaniard even has a good ability to cross the ball, which would be met by a goal hungry Demba Ba in the centre. How often have we seen crosses come in of late, with nobody in the middle to meet them? Torres will often be out of position for a centre forward, using his own hunger to get the ball at his feet, where he likes it. I truly believe that a confident Torres could be a very dangerous prospect out on the left, beating his full back, cutting in on his right foot and firing in a curling effort in to the top right-hand corner. I feel this would be the only real effective way to play both Ba and Torres and could solve some of our finishing problems, perhaps.
5. Lampard-Mikel doesn’t work:
Lampard : Lampard was kept largely off the ball by a dominant Saints midfield. Found a bit more space after the break but still a below-par showing.
Mikel : Allowed Davis and others too much space in the middle in the first half. Replaced by Ramires in the second half.
This combination simply doesn’t work, I can’t stress it enough.
Mikel is underrated. In all these games that we saw the Lampard – Mikel not working well, Mikel has been getting all the stick for it, for making mistakes, losing possession, playing only sideways and backward passes, etc. But for me, it’s not Mikel, but Frank Lampard, who instead of staying with Mikel, and helping with the transition between defence and attack stays forward, which leaves Mikel to deal with the role of two people, which causes problems for him and for the team, leaving us neither good defensively, nor attackingly. Mikel does, or tries to do the job of two players on his own, yet he’s the one who faces criticism while Lampard is hailed for scoring penalties.
Other Points :
1. Marko Marin is decent
2. Ivanovic has been quite awful in the past 2-3 months
I have to agree with you, EKVR. The only criticism Rafa gets is his priority. He chose to play a “weaker” 11, when IMHO, a top four finish is more important than an FA cup game we have more chance of losing than winning. Even if the team made of world class players should have easily beat Soton, and must be held responsible for their failure, Rafa ought to have started our 1st team and take off key players at the half, when we’d be leading comfortably; not forgetting that everyone except Rafa knows that Lamps is shit in the pivot. If Lamps isn’t going to be played in a 4-3-3 or as an attacking mid, he should please be benched.
nex tym he shuold start with the best players then after 1 or 2 goals,thenu take them off, u dont start with the bad ones and when things turn out to be bad u get them off it might be too late
I completely agree wiv u,but I think benitez should have created a formation dat will suit ds team since they have not played together b4,pls I think Chelsea attack play wiv some sort or restrictions unlike when RDM was in charge,we are too predictable,have been and will always be.how can u play a one way traffic kinda of football .Chelsea biggest problem is impatience ,they(board,owner n even fans)wants everything now , can we just. sacrifice one season to build a team dat scares team???but benitez has not done anything special so far sacking RDM has no point ,Marin should be given more time,confidence and freedom even Moses ,lampard can’t win balls n can’t create goals doesn’t belong to d pivot maybe he b use as top 9.man united should be treated differently or d replay won’t worth it
I don’t think we should be deceiving ourselve, this team are bounce of rubbish. This team lacks everything to make a team successful. The winning spirit is zero, Rafa do field a nice team but the players failed to work for positive result. the like of oscar and marine are not chelsea type. They are good but they are not a winner. To qualify for the champions league we must not loose any match again.
Benetez is so selfish: he would like to get FA cup or Europa cup than be in the top 4. He dosnt care if Chelsea play champions league next year or not. He wants a cup to add his CV. That is why he put a reserve team today. Champions league next year has been sacrified by Benetez. He knows that Mikel &Lampard doesnt work, and why wait until 60mn to make change? Raffa doesnt care, anyway he will not be there next year.
I suppose it was not Rafa’s fault at inter right? He is a garbage couch.
The boys should just play their own game and do their best. One more loss could be crucial. I support them all the way but if there’s no champions league for us next season it’ll really cause crap in the transfer window and mourinho won’t return. So good luck boys. Make us proud.
Boring match,worst match i ve ever seen in my live d subs wat wack bullshit i Moses should have leave b4 marin ad wat was banayoun doing Der, Torres was d only 1 dat played ad i see ad along side marin,Terry was awful,i don’t know y u ppl can’t blame d person dat should be blamed ivanovic cause dat 1st goal. A 1-2 ad instead of chasing rodrigues he removed his hand is dat a defender luiz ad cahill is our best defender is has no mistake on him ad dat joker Ivanovic cost us out league 1 cup ad nw dis he should be bench ad along side his partner bertrand ad lampard(always looking 4 all time goal record bullshit) HAZARD WORLD BEST
LACK OF WINNING MENTALITY….the player just take it for granted…not serious….espclly Ivanovic, Betrand so poor depend and going foward, John terry so slow, Lampard full of shit just want to score goal only for the record breaking…WTF….mikel confusing play with lampard always lose possession regarding depend and want to score goal….Credit to Torres, Moses and Azpi…they do try to win..but there is no support….IMO, Hazard should play early in the second half…we see he totally change the tempo of the game when come in….2nd team for Chelsea so poor…..Islam Feruz is much better striker ..can start playing him…good finisher, quicker, pacey…Benitez tactic is to win the second replay with MU later…but he forgot the Champion Leauge place is more important lor……Come Chelsea…we support u..we care….
we learn nothing
I have to agree with u, this all true, as a chelsea fan I kind don’t like the way frank playing his giving to many balls away this season and his free kicks are afoul, his score goals but when he playing chelsea are not playing great football, not his pas anymore, as for Bertrand the guy his shit his ruing around giving the ball away to many time every time he play, Moses was bad he had a bad game, I don’t blame torres anymore, he was alone against four defender all the time how can he score goal, we only have few player that are preforming well this season and they are matta, hazard, david luize, oscar garry cahill, ramire these player has played at the same level all season
Mikel and Lampard combination is obviously awful.
Moreso,Chesea needs a replacement for Ashley Cole the earlier the better and I think Luke Shaw is a preferable option.
i think we had a decent team to win the match, what i saw as the difference was the Saints players had more desire to play and win (they had players ready to make runs and closing Chelsea down as soon as they lost possesion). We sure need to start Ba and Torres together with Torres being a supporting Striker
Boody hell! Are we even interested in securing an automatic CL spot? No CL next season and we are in danger of becoming like Liverpool. The players need to get their priorities right and must pull themselves together even though they’re tired and have played and will play more games than other teams.
Bloody hell! Are we even interested in securing an automatic CL spot? No CL next season and we are in danger of becoming like Liverpool. The players need to get their priorities right and must pull themselves together even though they’re tired and have played and will play more games than other teams.
I normally watched Chelsea play against the best football team in the world (Barca) with full of confidence, but it has turned to the opposite even if they are playing Enyinba of Aba in Nigeria. We are full of uncertainty whether the problem is from the manager or the players. I did believe sometimes that the problem is from the players, because most of them are not committed. No aggreesive football even if they are lossing
I believe Lampard should be played further forward not at the pivot.
Bertrand is simply not good enough for the EPL.
I believe in Torres and Ba combo especially when Mata ain’t available.
Marin is not good enough to play for Chelsea.
Terry and Lampard should sit down more often.
Rafa Benitez has poor team selection ability.
the problem is the manager, i don’t see the reason why they sack Mateo,we need jose mourino to save the best team bluse, next cl is importance to chelsea, we good attacking as well as wingers but no good long stricker, so owner should bring in falcao
Hmmm, what a wise observation! The squad yesterday were individually gud enof 2beat S’thon. Why blaming BERTRAND? How many time has he started as a full back? (Practice makes perfection)
Again, why was Moses/Marin not removed 4 Ba, so Torres would not be lonely upfront? Why always predictable line-up. Even, a non professional futbal fan can tell Benitez formation,subs and lineup for every game! Y?????
RAMIRES: It would hav been beta 2remove Frank for him instead of d only deep midfielder, MIKEL!
Well, Azpilicueta, Marin, Mikel,Hazard were all fair ystday!
BRING US MOU, HE WILL WHIP THOSE BOYS INTO SHAPE