Chelsea 1-1 Leicester - Sunday 18th August, 2019

[Stan]

1 hour ago, LFCMike said:

Think Leicester will be disappointed not to win that after that second half

Pretty much this.

Listened on the way back from Bristol. Sounded like we got pounded first 20 minutes. Chelsea coming out of the blocks all guns blazing so we also sounded fortunate to only concede 1 goal.

Tempered the pressure up to half-time then took control, in Pat Nevin's* eyes right until full-time. We had better chances in the second half, controlled the midfield and Maddison sounded like he missed a sitter. Choudhury sounded like he had another solid game as a defensive midfielder. Ndidi making up for the mistake with the equaliser. Maddison constantly sounded as if he had acres of space between Chelsea's defence and midfield which is surprising considering Kante & Jorginho were on the pitch most of the match. 

Happy with a point despite the lack of a winner, given the context of how the game started. 2 games and 2 points. Time to kick on the next couple of games (Sheff Utd & Bournemouth) which won't be easy. Sheff Utd I feel will be underestimated by a lot of fans who think they're just a hoof-ball, route-one kind of side but under Wilder they're anything but. 

*Regarding Nevin, I thought his and Alistair Bruce-Ball's commentary was brilliant on BBC Five Live. Despite Nevin's links with Chelsea he was praising and critical of them (and Leicester) in equal measure and made for a good, rational commentary on what at times sounded like an end-to-end game. Very praising of Mount and likewise of Choudhury & Maddison. Tactically-speaking, Nevin is one of the best. He was also constructively critical of Lampard. About 10 minutes before our goal, he suggested Lampard make a change to the midfield because it clearly wasn't working any more and players were getting jaded/fatigued (also suggested taking Pedro and/or Pulisic off. As it happens, no changes made, we scored and then Lampard decides to make a chance. And despite the criticism, he wasn't scathing of Lampard. Just played it down to inexperience. 

[Cicero]

We will create the majority of our chances this season by forcing the opposition to make mistakes. The intensity in our press is the biggest positive I've seen under Lampard. 

When our press dies down, that is when our chances dry up, as there is little creativity in the side. It's the very reason we saw little to no comebacks last year under Sarri. Always relying on Hazard to create something. 

So it makes it extra more frusturating that the chances we do create, we fail to convert. As it gives the fans' the feeling the game is already lost the moment our players tire down. 

[Spike]

16 minutes ago, Cicero said:

We will create the majority of our chances this season by forcing the opposition to make mistakes. The intensity in our press is the biggest positive I've seen under Lampard. 

When our press dies down, that is when our chances dry up, as there is little creativity in the side. It's the very reason we saw little to no comebacks last year under Sarri. Always relying on Hazard to create something. 

So it makes it extra more frusturating that the chances we do create, we fail to convert. As it gives the fans' the feeling the game is already lost the moment our players tire down. 

All chances are made by mistakes. If there were no mistakes every defender would be perfect.

[Dan+]

We grew into it so much to the point I'm actually a bit disappointed with a point. First ten minutes was horrific from us and Chelsea were relentless, could easily have been more than a goal down.

At half time I was really fucked off with how we'd played - a continuation of the Wolves game, all the possession yet absolutely nothing created.

The second half, did Chelsea just tire or did we step up a few gears? Or both? We had so many chances in the end but so often got that final ball or finish wrong.

Maddison had a weird game, he was totally ineffective in the first half. I thought the set up was weird, I can't even tell where he's meant to be playing a lot of the time. Leaving an ageing Fuchs exposed on the left was a very risky game. Second half he was a lot better but he should've scored as well.

Overall I'm happy with that, reckon we edged it overall after a terrifying start and could easily have won it.

[Cicero]

Also, only Willian can come on with fresh legs and still be the worst player on the pitch for us. 

[Stan]

Just now, Cicero said:

Also, only Willian can come on with fresh legs and still be the worst player on the pitch for us. 

When I heard him coming on I genuinely had no worry that he would do anything. Not often I feel like that about a player but even we couldn't urge the uselessness out of him and help him do something good

 

[Dan+]

Willian is toss. It's only our tendency to concede to pigs like that that makes me scared to slag them off before the game is over.

[Cicero]

7 minutes ago, Stan said:

When I heard him coming on I genuinely had no worry that he would do anything. Not often I feel like that about a player but even we couldn't urge the uselessness out of him and help him do something good

He's the biggest fraud in football. Much like Mikel, the fact we've kept him for so long is mind boggling. 

Azpilicueta also looks to be zero worry for the opposition. So many times I see teams giving him so much space when he's attacking with the ball, because he's zero threat. Our right side has been ineffective for years now. His only strength was his defensive attributes, but he's been run through the ground over the course of several years. Never sustained any long term injury, plays week in week out given the lack of competition. His legs are gone. 

[carefreeluke]

Seen some new things with Frank but there's also so far some similar themes occurring to Sarri's and Conte's time in charge. Today reminded me a bit of Conte in that after the first 20-25 minutes and being one-nil up, we sat off a bit and definitely allowed Leicester onto us. For me, we did that for too long of a period, must have been for around 30-40 minutes and we were punished for it. As noted, we should have switched formation and brought Kovacic on as an extra man in midfield, funnily enough, this is a typical change Conte would do to help manage the game. 

I also think there's some game management work to do with pressing and team shape. In the first half of last season, Sarri used to make the team press high and aggressively for significant periods but he quickly learned that it wasn't maintainable and we saw his game management in this regard get better as last season went on. It's something I feel Frank will have to work out as well, the pressing, shape, and game management side of things.

Leicester definitely had the better of it today overall. 

[Stan]

20 minutes ago, Cicero said:

He's the biggest fraud in football. Much like Mikel, the fact we've kept him for so long is mind boggling. 

Azpilicueta also looks to be zero worry for the opposition. So many times I see teams giving him so much space when he's attacking with the ball, because he's zero threat. Our right side has been ineffective for years now. His only strength was his defensive attributes, but he's been run through the ground over the course of several years. Never sustained any long term injury, plays week in week out given the lack of competition. His legs are gone. 

Looked to shirk the marking responsibility for Ndidi's goal as well if I saw that correctly. Barely challenged him. 

[carefreeluke]

21 minutes ago, Stan said:

Looked to shirk the marking responsibility for Ndidi's goal as well if I saw that correctly. Barely challenged him. 

I didn't manage to see who was responsible for it at the ground but just seen the goals back now. He's really declined. 

[SirBalon]

3 hours ago, Spike said:

All chances are made by mistakes. If there were no mistakes every defender would be perfect.

Nearly all mind you. There are times when the sublime happens and there's nothing that could've been done about it other than a subsequent moment of genius facing genius.

[Spike]

2 minutes ago, SirBalon said:

Nearly all mind you. There are times when the sublime happens and there's nothing that could've been done about it other than a subsequent moment of genius facing genius.

Like when Maradona threw his hand in the air. 

[SirBalon]

1 minute ago, Spike said:

Like when Maradona threw his hand in the air. 

Hahaha... Actually yes! The ref and his llinesmen (that's what they were once called) failed and to be honest, VAR would probably failed on that one too as it took zoom and amplification to capture it in the end. Geniuses need a bit of devil inside them too. 

[Cicero]

17 minutes ago, carefreeluke said:

I didn't manage to see who was responsible for it at the ground but just seen the goals back now. He's really declined. 

All hope is on how Reece James fairs in the premier league. The most avid watchers of our youth team during the FA Youth Cup and Youth CL dominance, all say James showed the most promise. Even ahead of CHO and Mount. And after watching his performances in the Championship, he has everything. 

Need him fit ASAP

[Dan+]

I find it bizarre how different the second half was. Out of nowhere we seemed to have a tenacity and the amount of times we broke was unbelievable. Very much teething problems with our attacking though - noticed a few times we seemed to break our own attacks down by intercepting our own passes.

I'm encouraged after watching that. I was livid at half time - I'd seen 135 minutes over the two games of one shot on target, cautious, frankly crap football from a manager I expected better from. That second half was what I want to see.

[True Blue]

Good opening 25-30 minutes in which we could have scored more, then a slow and controlled end to the half. In the second disaster strikes, we conceded and could have easily lost the game. Basically it was United's second half all over again we were hit on the counter at least 5-6 times from which we could easily have conceded. Lot of positives seen but also a lot of negatives during the game. The 4231 leaves us super open, think either Lampard should tighten things at the back or play 433 like against Liverpool which is more stable. Heavy legs in the second and our subs were terrible in particular Willian who's cameo was embarrassing. Stole a living playing for us, his occasional good game and an odd free kick couldn't have gave him so much time in this club. He basically opened a few good counters for Leicester, with Mateo and Tammy doing little to nothing. One thing is that i think Lampard made a mistake, he played the same team that played 120+ minutes in midweek. He should have heavily rotated for this game, the players looked tired in the second and out of pace. Norwich next away we have a 6-7 day rest and hopefully we manage to play a good 90 minutes like against Liverpool. From the players i'd point Kepa, Mount, Pedro and Kante as the good performers even Christensen was decent. Zouma again super shaky, makes a good challenge then becomes a donkey in the next. Azpilicueta was very poor i tried to defend him but he is exposed at rb now, similar to Ivanović before he left the club. I think he can still be very effective as a center back if cover is needed. People talking about James replacing him is fine young blood needed for that position but he never played a single game in the Premiership he will need time to adapt.

[Bluewolf]

The game reminded me of my days with my first bike my old RXS100, It could pull away from the lights and leave everyone for dead but about 2 miles further down the road every fucker was up your arse because it didn't have the power to last the distance.. 

Blistering opening in the first 20 minutes and looked unstoppable then after that we kind of er.. stopped, Credit to Leicester who looked all at sea in those opening minutes and had we scored more than the one we created we could have given them too big a mountain to climb but as it was 1 goal with our vulnerabilities was never going to be enough.. we looked so poor for 70 minutes compared to how we played against liverpool in midweek it was both baffling and frustrating to watch..  

They just completely overran us in midfield and what a huge disappointment Willian was, I don't think he even managed one pass that reached one of our players did he?? just when you thought we could have done with a fresh pair of legs to stretch them at the back a bit we got pretty much nothing.. Full credit to Mount who I thought had a decent game although it was more of an uphill struggle for him as the game went on but shows if you have a bit of faith in some of the youth they can deliver... talking of youth, I thought 'Tammy' had another poor game, just lacking confidence and a bit of composure at times.. not sure what's going on with Bats though, is he injured? I have not heard anything, given our current striker problems and the hunger he was showing in pre-season I don't see how he could be any worse up front for us than what we currently have.. 

Maddison can fuck off an all... bloke was getting right on my tits, all over us in the second half causing us all kinds of problems...  Big pat on the back for that performance.. on the balance I would say we were lucky to get a point really, could have come away with nothing and I was just watching the clock waiting for that second Leicester goal to go in, thankfully it was not to be.. First point of the season gets us out of the relegation zone and have to pleased with that.. 

[Stan]

1 minute ago, Bluewolf said:

Maddison can fuck off an all... bloke was getting right on my tits, all over us in the second half causing us all kinds of problems...  Big pat on the back for that performance.. on the balance I would say we were lucky to get a point really, could have come away with nothing and I was just watching the clock waiting for that second Leicester goal to go in, thankfully it was not to be.. First point of the season gets us out of the relegation zone and have to pleased with that.. 

I love this paragraph  

[Dr. Gonzo]

15 minutes ago, Bluewolf said:

what a huge disappointment Willian was, I don't think he even managed one pass that reached one of our players did he?? 

Yeah, I genuinely don't know if he completed a single pass when he came on yesterday.

It takes a special something to come onto the pitch and be so useless you can't even complete a single pass.

[Bluewolf]

1 hour ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Yeah, I genuinely don't know if he completed a single pass when he came on yesterday.

It takes a special something to come onto the pitch and be so useless you can't even complete a single pass.

He was on for 19 minutes and in that time he had no goals, no assists ( obviously ) no key passes, no dribbles ( except down his chin maybe ) fouled someone and was caught offside.. inspired substitution that was... 

[Stan]

5 minutes ago, Bluewolf said:

He was on for 19 minutes and in that time he had no goals, no assists ( obviously ) no key passes, no dribbles ( except down his chin maybe ) fouled someone and was caught offside.. inspired substitution that was... 

I wonder if it would have been better to bring Barkley on. Had a good pre-season, could have changed the shape up and given us something to think about and make it harder for us. Certainly may have been more effective than Willian. Having said that, Loftus-Cheek with his injury might have been more effective as well  

[Bluewolf]

1 hour ago, Stan said:

I wonder if it would have been better to bring Barkley on. Had a good pre-season, could have changed the shape up and given us something to think about and make it harder for us. Certainly may have been more effective than Willian. Having said that, Loftus-Cheek with his injury might have been more effective as well  

Barkley would have been a better option in my opinion, I don't mean to sound too harsh on Willian but when you bring a player on you expect them to have a positive impact on the game not just become a passenger... 

[Dan+]

Willian is the reason I think you should just keep playing Hudson-Odoi when he's back. Willian is frequently poor from when I see him and accordng to my Chelsea supporting mate 'lives off being the least shit player when we were awful' far too much.

Likewise, if Azpilicueta's legs have gone then what will be the harm in giving James a go?

Giroud I just don't get, there are times I watch him and think he's a really good striker, how is he so heavily criticised but there are other days where I think he'd do well to get a game for Huddersfield. Yesterday I thought he was particularly ineffective.

I do wonder at Chelsea what the minimum you will accept this season is. I've asked this same Chelsea mate a few times how coming about 8th or 9th would go down and he thinks Lampard would still survive it, but I'm personally unconvinced. I don't think the demands at Chelsea can be too high this year but it still can't be easy watching you probably being quite lucky to draw at home to a side you've been coming above for god knows how long and thinking it's acceptable.

[carefreeluke]

12 hours ago, Dan said:

Willian is the reason I think you should just keep playing Hudson-Odoi when he's back. Willian is frequently poor from when I see him and accordng to my Chelsea supporting mate 'lives off being the least shit player when we were awful' far too much.

Likewise, if Azpilicueta's legs have gone then what will be the harm in giving James a go?

Giroud I just don't get, there are times I watch him and think he's a really good striker, how is he so heavily criticised but there are other days where I think he'd do well to get a game for Huddersfield. Yesterday I thought he was particularly ineffective.

I do wonder at Chelsea what the minimum you will accept this season is. I've asked this same Chelsea mate a few times how coming about 8th or 9th would go down and he thinks Lampard would still survive it, but I'm personally unconvinced. I don't think the demands at Chelsea can be too high this year but it still can't be easy watching you probably being quite lucky to draw at home to a side you've been coming above for god knows how long and thinking it's acceptable.

My opinion on Willian is well documented, he's always been poor for us except for maybe the Mourinho days but even then he was perhaps a bit overrated. 

Azpilicueta has also suffered because of the change in style since Sarri came in. Mourinho and Conte suited his style, not forgetting he was a left-back under Mourinho and a centre back under Conte. Deeper blocks, more defensive football. It's not an exaggeration to say that under those two managers, Azpilicueta didn't even have to go past the halfway line. Since Sarri, he's been moved to right-back but also been required to contribute more to attacking play which isn't his strong point. He just looks a bit awkward doing it. On the other side though defensively he's declined slowly over the past two years which before was something you could rely on him for. You know, more perhaps progressive/expansive systems can leave defenders more exposed, even more so in our case where the team has been getting used to new systems over the past two years and the shape sometimes suffers a lot for that. Not ideal for defenders. Azpi however is even struggling a bit in the one vs ones and with mistakes like we saw against Leicester on Sunday. Lampard has mentioned Reece James a lot in his press conferences, maybe we will see him given a proper go. I wouldn't say Azpi's legs have gone, more so that for an extended period now (under Sarri and now Lampard) he's been pushed out of his comfort zone and asked to do some things which don't suit his strengths. He's still capable of big performances and he's had some decent ones in recent years but it's definitely time for him to play a lesser role.

I like Giroud mate, he's worth keeping around. He's always been of the level though where you can't rely on him consistently throughout the season, this doesn't make him a bad player. He's decent and useful but not quite good enough at the same time if that makes sense especially when you end up comparing yourself to the teams in and around you. 

As for the final paragraph, I ultimately want to see some progression and results with the playing style and system, while at the same time seeing some of the players develop and get better. I'm not expecting us to get top four and win some trophies but then again that's definitely not impossible. Progression with the players and playing style doesn't have to be exclusive of success in the league or in the cup competitions. Then again, if I see us make progress in the areas mentioned and we have a good go in the league and cups, I think most would be happy. 'A good go' is perhaps open to interpretation though.