Administrator Stan Posted December 28, 2018 Administrator Share Posted December 28, 2018 Kick-off 12.00 Live on Sky Sports VS Head to Head Chelsea 3-1 Crystal Palace Chelsea 2-1 Crystal Palace Crystal Palace 2-1 Chelsea Chelsea 1-2 Crystal Palace Crystal Palace 0-1 Chelsea Recent Form Crystal Palace - DWWLL Chelsea - WLWWD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
True Blue Posted December 28, 2018 Share Posted December 28, 2018 Palace turns into Barcelona against us, if we win this one i will be surprised. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cicero Posted December 28, 2018 Share Posted December 28, 2018 Pedro injured no? Reuben Loftus-Cheek it is. Giroud Hazard-------Ruben Kovacic---Kante Jorginho Alonso---Luiz---Rudiger---Dave Kepa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Posted December 28, 2018 Share Posted December 28, 2018 Come on Palace! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 29, 2018 Share Posted December 29, 2018 We really need palace to win this one. Hopefully they can get a draw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluewolf Posted December 29, 2018 Share Posted December 29, 2018 5 minutes ago, Gunnersauraus said: We really need palace to win this one. Hopefully they can get a draw No we don't.... we really don't Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator Stan Posted December 30, 2018 Author Administrator Share Posted December 30, 2018 Well this is fucking boring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cicero Posted December 30, 2018 Share Posted December 30, 2018 Wish that Giroud goal wasnt offsides. Difficult to break palace down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carefreeluke Posted December 30, 2018 Share Posted December 30, 2018 11 minutes ago, Stan said: Well this is fucking boring. Yes mate. This has been a carbon copy of many halves we’ve played this season. We’ve also had some very decent games and periods throughout the season but the half we’ve just seen has become more commonplace since the end of November. My issue with it is that we lack a type of player in certain positions but also the fact that we move the ball so slowly. Every player looks like they need time to get set, another two touches to work out what to do, then another 5 minutes to make a pass. Everything is too precise and controlled. You’re never going to break down two banks of four playing with this tempo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator Stan Posted December 30, 2018 Author Administrator Share Posted December 30, 2018 3 minutes ago, carefreeluke said: Yes mate. This has been a carbon copy of many halves we’ve played this season. We’ve also had some very decent games and periods throughout the season but the half we’ve just seen has become more commonplace since the end of November. My issue with it is that we lack a type of player in certain positions but also the fact that we move the ball so slowly. Every player looks like they need time to get set, another two touches to work out what to do, then another 5 minutes to make a pass. Everything is too precise and controlled. You’re never going to break down two banks of four playing with this tempo. Agreed. But that's typical of Sarri and most Italian managers' mindsets. I was actually watching an episode of Man City's All or Nothing documentary and City were playing Chelsea (under Conte). Guardiola alluded to the fact that Italian managers and tactics prey on another team's mistake. They're harder to break down, let alone against a side who doesn't fancy attacking too much and sets up not to concede, like Palace have done today. Consequently you get a game like this where it's a bit of a stalemate. Perhaps it will be a mistake which leads to a goal but for a neutral, it's not nice to watch! Regarding moving the ball slowly, it reminds me of Australian A-League football. I watch that regularly and it's very slow build-up and not great quality on the ball either. At least in your side you have at least one player who can conjure up some magic, in Hazard. But when he's crowded out by 2 or 3, maybe 4 players at once, it becomes increasingly difficult to create something. Closest you've come is probably the free-kick after Hazard was fouled. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator Stan Posted December 30, 2018 Author Administrator Share Posted December 30, 2018 Chelsea score through N'Golo Kante! David Luiz chips a ball up from defence on to Kante's chest. He's able to bring it down and almost scuff a shot past Palace's keeper. Almost trickled over the line. Noticed Kante made that run about 3 or 4 times in the first half and he was nearly picked out. Palace should have defended it better considering he was the only one in the box, and given his height compared to the CBs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subscriber CaaC (John)+ Posted December 30, 2018 Subscriber Share Posted December 30, 2018 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator Stan Posted December 30, 2018 Author Administrator Share Posted December 30, 2018 Another well-taken goal chalked off for Giroud as he was offside. Looks to have got injured just now while finishing that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subscriber RandoEFC+ Posted December 30, 2018 Subscriber Share Posted December 30, 2018 Possibly the least entertaining football match of 2018. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subscriber CaaC (John)+ Posted December 30, 2018 Subscriber Share Posted December 30, 2018 Zaha normally puts these ones away Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cicero Posted December 30, 2018 Share Posted December 30, 2018 Needed that. Nice cushion between 4th and 5th now and only 2 points off of Spurs. Thought we retained the ball well and it worked in our favor considering Palace gave us far too much respect. The amount of space Jorginho had did our entire team favors. Willian. Please leave. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator Stan Posted December 30, 2018 Author Administrator Share Posted December 30, 2018 2 minutes ago, CaaC - John said: Zaha normally puts these ones away Does he? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cicero Posted December 30, 2018 Share Posted December 30, 2018 That's now Pedro and Giroud injured. Need to think twice about loaning out Odoi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Honey Honey Posted December 30, 2018 Share Posted December 30, 2018 Those match stats for Palace are horrendous. What was it 1 shot in the first 85 minutes or something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carefreeluke Posted December 30, 2018 Share Posted December 30, 2018 3 hours ago, Stan said: Chelsea score through N'Golo Kante! David Luiz chips a ball up from defence on to Kante's chest. He's able to bring it down and almost scuff a shot past Palace's keeper. Almost trickled over the line. Noticed Kante made that run about 3 or 4 times in the first half and he was nearly picked out. Palace should have defended it better considering he was the only one in the box, and given his height compared to the CBs. What's worse on their part is that we do that move 3-4 times a game at least, so if they did their homework they should have been expecting it. Anyway, I remember the last time we played Huddersfield away and I gave them a lot of stick for their approach. They camped on the 18-yard box the whole game and didn't show any sort of ambition to win the game. That was worse from Palace today who also have a lot more quality and pedigree. I didn't have time to write it at half time but Palace's tactics actually help us in a way, they allow us a foundation from which we can control the game. Palace playing so deep with no outlet allows us to retain possession easily. From what I've seen of Palace this seems to be a common approach from Hodgson but trust me it isn't the best way to play against us and giving Jorginho a lot of time on the ball as well suggests it wasn't Roy's day on a tactical level. That said our use of the ball, combined with Palace's approach made this a very dull affair indeed. Since Mourinho returned our squads have been filled with players that suit a certain type of football, the same happened with Conte. What I don't think is helping Sarri is some of the tools he has at his disposal. I tuned into most of the first half of the City game today and paid particular attention to how they moved the ball. Yes, Southampton's defending was poor at times but City's team is filled with technicians that suit that style of play, everything was 1-3 touch and it was football played at a particular intensity as well. This is also a City team in a bad moment as well for their standards. We've shown some good use of the ball and played some very good football under Sarri so far but there's also been a lot of games like today. For me overall I think we lack that bit of mobility, quickness, and sharpness on the ball. It's even true with players like Willian though. Regardless of the fact that he can be very careless in possession (which is another factor in itself that adds to this problem), he's very slow on the ball and always slows play down. His trick is to get onto his right foot but he always waits for the defenders to commit as well. They'll stand him up and he's very easy to defend against. That's why some of his best play in terms of dribbling for us has come on the counter where there's more space, and where the game is a bit more chaotic. This environment can also provoke defenders to dive in. Overall Sarri's attempting to play a style of football with players that have been playing a different ball game for the majority of their Chelsea careers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cicero Posted December 30, 2018 Share Posted December 30, 2018 @carefreeluke It irritates me when fans can't comprehend that. We have an abundance of players who aren't good enough on a technical level to thrive in this system, so it's baffling really to see fans expect more from what we have. I also applaud and fully support Sarri for not giving up on his philosophy and adapting to the league. We would then be going backwards. It also seems like no matter what Sarri does, he can't win. Giroud just limped off injured, and fans were criticising Sarri's game management on how he doesn't rotate players. Yet just a couple weeks ago when we lost to Wolves, he was criticised for rotating players Sarri has a job of changing the whole playing culture of the club. We have two wingers in Pedro and Willian who are not good enough. Two strikers in Giroud and Morata who are not good enough. Two full backs in Alonso and Dave who, on a technical level, aren't good enough. And bar Barkley and Ruben, we have an abundance of average footballers on the bench. What do the fans honestly expect to happen this first season? We are 4th with a 5 point cushion. What on earth is there to complain about?? During a manager's first season, when the results aren't coming you have to ask yourself, can you see what the manager is trying to do? The answer with Sarri is yes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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