09 Aug 2015 09:11:16
On review of yesterday's performance Fabregas was the weak link for me - he didn't do anything appalling, he just didn't do anything at all; he was insignificant!
When we went down to ten men we didn't need to shut up shop and play for the draw, but we did need to get a grip on the midfield; a midfield we were gifting to Shelvey. Whatever your feelings on Mikel or Ramires there was certainally a job for them to do there, a job that RLC would have been Better for in my opinion. Bringing Zouma into the game in midfield is a decision I can't get my head around, is Jose sending a message to the powers that be about his squad?
09 Aug 2015 10:02:17
IMO if he is using Zouma rather than Mikel it should be time for Mikel to move on.
09 Aug 2015 11:31:24
I think if every game is analysed we will all be bald, grey or suffering ulcers by season end. Although winning the league in a canter last year I am sure many realised it was not the complete performance it could have been and through pre-season you look for tweaks or so for the next eight months and that is where the frustration is, we do not appear to have made any significant steps forward. Your comment re: Fabregas is correct. He dominates when we do but when we have to dig in he goes missing and from last Christmas he looked as if he was running on empty. I feel he should be substituted more often. Yesterday, players like Shelvey should not be dominating Chelsea's midfield and that area has been highlighted by most. I disagree with the Loftus- Cheek comment because he looks very good running forward with the ball, good feet but tracking back and Mourinho was correct, he ball watches; more experience before he gets thrown in. So no improvement there and a buy needed but not just for the sake of it as was suggested. I think Azi will be over on the right at the first opportunity with Ivanovic losing out as much of the defensive issues I thought stemmed from Brana having a shocker. Nice to see Oscar showing a bit of what he is capable of.
09 Aug 2015 13:29:31
I agree - Fabregas is the weak link - why Jose plays him as a holding midfielder God alone knows - to be honest, Fabregas has not had a good game since before Christmas - I was fuming when Jose took off Oscar and not Fabregas when Courtois was sent off. And what's happened to Brana over the summer - he has not only lost all positional sense and what little pace he had but also all of his hair!
09 Aug 2015 14:12:04
I agree with all your posts! Fabregas problem is he needs to time to create! Yesterday give credit to Swansea for playing their hearts out and misleading us in so many ways! One cool thing about Brazilian TV is they re show the games at least twice a day so I got to rewatch the Chelsea game again last night and one area I am more concerned with then Fabergas is MR CAHILL again! Last season I commented various times and was shot down by a few of you that he is a great defender and gets the job done, well I beg to differ in a big way! I feel should Rahman come in, Stones and we have Zouma I would be starting Zouma and Stones with Rahman and Dave for our third round champions league if we are winning and don't need a must win or FA cup or or CAPITAL ONE CUP!
I know we need to keep our back four in tact to start the season but for me Zouma is way better then Cahill and so is Stones should he come in! Even Terry is going to need a rest!
On the Cortouis situation he made an amazing save on the first Goal and the three defenders all fell, also give credit to the Swansea player who made a nice recovery on the ball and then scored! What was worst was the RED card we got because it is our defenses fault, we let SwAnsea get behind us various times, two for offside which they could have scored and the Penalty Cahill and BI couldn't catch up to the player!
We have a lot to look forward to if Oscar plays like yesterday and yes Fabergas needs to be better but again our defense showed major weakness!
One thing I will say Man United looked awful and will need lots of help and now that Neymar has the MUMPS looks like PEDRO isn't going anywhere!
09 Aug 2015 14:16:17
People wake up. Other teams are playing football too. Swansea looks much stronger than last season. Montero had the best game of his career up to now. It's even more amazing how Terry and Cahill were completely trashed by Gomiss.
Our team is not in form. Season will be long and other big clubs will lose points as well.
Patience,please patience.
09 Aug 2015 14:48:15
I agree with most of the above comments except I would put most of the blame on Jose who made no tactical adjustment that I could see and Brana was just being himself(always struggled against pace). When a player like Montero is having that type of match and every meaningful attack is going thru his side you have to mark him more closely without the ball to try to discourage passes to him. Even when they were camped in our half we kept allowing him acres of space to receive passes on work, that's a tactical issue.(remember last season against united when we marked Felaini out of the match because united were playing a lot thru him.) It could get worse for Brana next match against either Sterling or Navas and all our opponents will continue to pick on him until something changes.
09 Aug 2015 14:53:30
I agree antibot. You may have some strange views, but it seems you can at least be objective. Keep it coming
09 Aug 2015 15:59:44
Slightly confused as I'm pretty sure everyone was complaing that we play two holding players, as it stifles us creatively. And yet when we play a more attacking player, such as Fabregas, you complain that he isn't good enough defensively and want Mikel/Rami to play?
09 Aug 2015 22:20:56
Fisher that isn't the conplaint with him, from me, yesterday at all. He was just insignificant - offered nothing anywhere.
10 Aug 2015 00:23:13
Did you guys realised that it was willian's fault that we conceded 2nd goal? What on earth he was doing so deep in defence?
10 Aug 2015 10:18:25
Ummm, not sure you can blame Willian - he was tracking back with a Swansea player - ideally he would have passed that player on to Ivan but Ivan was playing as though he had dropped a tab of acid pre-match!
10 Aug 2015 10:21:17
Fuser, I don't think anyone is suggesting we replace Fabregas with Mikel - the point is that Fabregas is not a holding player. Oscar has played the 2nd holding role successfully for Brazil - I don't know why he and Fab don't switch.
10 Aug 2015 19:23:32
If not willian gomis would be offside so how on earth you can not blame him?