First things first. Liverpool deserved their win. I can’t even say Chelsea deserved a draw, let alone a win. When Liverpool scored in under 10 minutes, I thought we have enough time to come back and win. What I saw was a Chelsea team that could not score to equalise at home for 85 minutes. For all the desperation and urgency, sadly, I don’t think we created more than one decent chance. This is only our first defeat of our season to the team that tops the league. Doesn’t sound very disastrous but I cannot ignore the fact that our weaknesses were glaringly exposed.
And yes, the home league record was broken. It had to happen some day. I’d have taken a hard fought defeat over then completely subdued performance. Credit to Liverpool. They had a plan and they executed it to perfection. Looks like they are serious about their title challenge and all that!
What were the frailties, you may ask? Before the match, when the ESPN experts were asked to find the chinks in the Chelsea armour, they said ‘none’. I was surprised, as a ‘non-expert’ and as a fan, I could see what our weaknesses are. Our principal problem is our quality of the attack. We have a world class keeper, a impenetrable back four, a mouth-watering midfield and a so-so attack. Am I right? When you play smaller teams, our midfield generally rules over theirs, thereby creating space for attacks. When you play teams where your midfield is cancelled out by equally good opposition midfield, the chances are going to be few. So the forwards will have to be on their toes, to convert those few chances into goals.
Yesterday, our forwards were simply impotent. Liverpool must have felt no threat at all from the Chelsea attacks. I would even go a bit further and say they were quite comfortable with out forwards. If the game had to played for another 30 minutes, we would still have not scored. I want Anelka out. It’s as simple as that. Yes, I’m putting a bulk of the blame on Anelka rather than Kalou and Malouda. Anelka is supposed to be a big player, a somewhat-expensive signing and he has been playing for almost a year now. Let’s ask this fair question: what have we got from him?
What do I expect from him? I don’t want any magic from him. I just want the basic stuff. Things you would expect from a good footballer. Has he scored any crucial goals for us? Has he scored the first Chelsea goal in any match? Has he score a goal that won the match for us? Has Anelka ever won a man of the match award? Have you ever thought that ‘we won this match because of Anelka’? Would any centre backs be losing sleep ahead of the match because Anelka would play? Would you feel disappointed if you don’t find him starting in a game? If you hear a news that he is not available for a month, how would you react? If you make a list of top 5 Chelsea players of this season, would he be there in that list? Do this in any team and you’d find one or more of their strikers in there. In our list would he be there? If you make a list of 3 most dispensable players in the current Chelsea starting line up, would he find a place there? Have you bought ‘Anelka 39′ jersey, would you buy one? Have you ever said ‘oh I love/adore Anelka’ or would you? Once you’re done answering these questions, you’d have concluded on this topic.
I felt we looked like creating something only after Di Santo came in. That’s when Anelka escaped from the responsibility of the lone striker and was roaming around in the name of helping his team. As a striker, you won’t be touching the ball too often. But when you do, it’s at a premium, you should make the most of it. Anelka’s touches were looking like one-touch passes. He did not get between the centre backs. His movement was faulty for a lone striker. I don’t think Liverpool defenders took him very seriously. And now, Malouda and Kalou were also to be blamed for their performances. I won’t blame Kalou who is still young and Malouda who is still new to premier league, while Anelka, who is old enough and has played many seasons in England, does not play as well as he should.
Anelka is our biggest weakness and I’ve been saying this for many months now. Last week I wrote that we would realise this weakness when we stop winning and that’s what happened here. Teams are surely going to exploit Anelka’s presence. All they’d do is to keep Anelka free so that he gets the ball passed to him, only to be stolen moments later. Also, they’d give their best to stop Chelsea attacking the flanks so that the attacks through the centre are our only or best option. I still wonder why Scolari is still persisting with Anelka? Every manager has this obsession with a player that fans don’t love. I want to see Anelka’s contract document. May be it says ‘thou shalt be played in every match as long as that art fit’ and it must have been written in stone and the Queen might have signed it too.
I had written this after the Roma win:
Are we developing some sort of form against those teams that defend deep? We didn’t score against Cluj, we struggled to beat Wigan, we just about drew against Man Utd (yes, they defended deep that day like a freaking relegation battler). When the opponents come out and play, we come up with a fantastic performance and there are 7/10 all around. When they hold the fort, we seem to struggle to break them down. Just think why.
That’s the second frailty which has a close connection to the first. Secondly, this match was supposed to be Scolari’s test. Did he fail, well, yes is the right answer. If he didn’t, we would not have lost. When it comes to playing the big teams, it takes more than football to beat them. Only last week I wrote about Chelsea’s inability to break down teams when they defend strongly. When we couldn’t break down Cluj, Wigan, Man Utd and then Roma, when they defended deep. Remember, the goals against Wigan and Man Utd came through set pieces. I’m not saying we should score two goals from open play in every game. I’m just looking at the way we played these teams and the genuine chances we created.
Another thing is, there was no variety in our playing style. Against a very organised midfield and an equally organised defence, we are not going to get too much space and time to do the fancy stuff. Trying to be cute may not always work. Sometimes, we should just do what we need to get the job done. That’s what Scolari believes too. Three points come above anything else. But the team yesterday did not play like that. Liverpool played like they exactly knew what move we were planning next. Like JM said, losing 0-1 and 0-2 are one and the same. That’ why he used to make those outrageous tactical switches that engineered many of the Chelsea comebacks.
Having conceded as early as the 9th minute, Scolari had more than 80 minutes to try and get back into the game. We did not get back into the game but we played in such a way that a goal for would have been against the run of play, at Stamford Bridge! Of course he brought on subs after one hour. I thought it was late, considering the game situation and the way in which some player were performing. Also, I thought Anelka must have been subbed and Kalou must have stayed on. Apart from the late and incorrect subs, I didn’t see any changes tactically in the way Chelsea approached the game. We were way too predictable. That’s what happens when you try to play too much on the ground. A very tactically sound team like Liverpool can out-think you and relish the defending game.
Let me be clear. Though Liverpool were defending well, they didn’t park the bus. They were very attacking, perhaps more attacking than Chelsea. In just 30 minutes into the game, we were beaten in the psychological battle by Liverpool. They were hungrier for the win than we were. In fact, they grew in confidence as we started faltering. I’m sure when Rafa came in to Bridge yesterday, he must have thought that a draw is a very good result. After scoring that goal so early, he must instrcuted his players to protect the lead at any cost. And then you see Liverpool slowly blossoming and playing with more courage and ambition.
It was sad to lose this way. There are defeats that would keep your chin high. Remember that 1-0 defeat to Liverpool at Anfield – the goal that never was? Chelsea were all over Liverpool that night. For a moment you could mistake Anfield for Stamford Bridge. If we are to lose, that’s how we should play. I’m not someone who wants 38 wins with a goal difference of 76. But I expect a good game from my team. The Chelsea that we know plays like their lives depended on that match – be it against Man Utd or Stoke or Liverpool or Hull City. That was the spirit which was missing.
Anyway, let’s not forget that what has ended is an unbelievable run. This unbeaten home league record may not be broken in our lifetimes. The whole run itself is very unreal in this modern football. I consider this a greater feat than the unbeaten league by Arsenal. The record by Arsenal required them to be in top top form for one season, which they were. Chelsea’s first league title under JM has to be the best league win in English league history. We just lost one match to a dubious penalty (Anelka scored, grrrr) other than that we amassed 95 points which Arsenal could not manage. We had a massive goal difference too.
You may not say that an unbeaten league is not possible again. It could be possible next season or the season after that, it’s kind of always possible. You cannot say that our home league record would be broken soon. Not just because it takes about 5 years to break that, it’s also very difficult to achieve that. You need to maintain your home form for 5 years. You might have to see different sets of players, multiple managers, varied pitches, ups and downs of rivals – you need to withstand so many circumstantial changes and still need to maintain your home form to achieve an unbeaten run like this. Leave alone breaking this, I don’t even see premier league teams coming close to this record. We must be very very proud of this record and call our set of players, managers, staff and team who achieved this feat as ‘unbeatables’.
Finally, one win or loss does not make the season. I was making a noise merely because I have started seeing a pattern, a syndrome. Anyway, to be second with just three points below the league topper is never bad at this stage. Let’s not worry about Liverpool, they’ll lose to Fulham at home (or can I not make these jokes anymore). We play Hull City next, at their home. Expect them to come out and attack us. And if they do that, we can play our game and put the match out of their reach. I want us to play another deep defending team (which Hull City is not) and beat them convincingly. As for Liverpool, the Chelsea I know would be a wounded animal and would be looking for revenge at the Anfield. Beware!
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Anelka was clueless yesterday. Di Santo was ok but still needs to mature. We need a strong forward who can score against big teams. Big Phil should get David Villa during the January transfer window.
Happy Deepavali to all Indians in BC.
i was so frustrated yesterday. When liverpool scored i didnt worry, i just thought that would create a more exciting game to watch and we would win it eventually. However, the more time went i realised that we were not going to score easily. Scolari made good moves at the 60th minute to bring on DiSanto and Beletti. The main reson we didnt win the game was out top 3 attakers. (Anelka, Malouda and Kalou) the first 2 are definately not of Chelsea fc standards. They were useless on sunday. If we had a drogba fit and a good left winger like robben or even like liverpools riviera we would have killed liverpool for sure. Liverpool deserved to win. There is no way they are going to win the league this season. I positive we will.
I was so disappinted.
But we will have a lot of game, so we have to have a positive heart.
The home unbeaten record had to go at some point and well it did on Sunday. Truth be told, we didn’t create much. Our attacking force were unsually off colour. Deco wasn’t creating enough, Lampard got crowded out most times, Malouda, well what can i say about Malouda? Kalou was so frustrating to say the least and i still think Kalou is an impact player i.e. someone who comes from the bench. He simply kept losing the ball, which was so annoying. Anelka ,Anelka ha!!! Starangely though i think he can still help the team. Anelka has pace for a 29 year old, i dare say he has greater ball sense compared to Drogba i.e. he suits the new Chelsea type of play.
However it’s his commitment to the course that gets to most people and this goes for Malouda too. Anelka, most times seems uninterested. Felipao, i hope, will learn from this for sure. Most pundits have come to accept that Chelsea has only a way of playing now, full backs bombing forward all the time. Watching the game, Loserpool kept playing the ball diagonally into these vacated spaces. I hope with time Felipao gets the lads to vary their game to always have an edge over the opponent.
The home record had become stifling for the players , to say the least. They always seemed worried about not losing rather than going for the win whenever most teams came to the Bridge. This was especially true when playing the other 3 of the “top 4″. Loserpool didn’t break the home record, they ended it. This record will stay for a very long time to come. It will take a minimum of 4 years before a team can even think of ever “breaking” it. They say we don’t have a history. I say we are creating history all the time. Carefree Forever.
We definitely need a creative striker, Villa. Let’s look at Ribery too. The left wing is our weekest link.
mikel/lampard/deco are creative players but they were on holyday yesterday and gerrard totally shout down lampard and this is why gerrard is little better than our number 8 . our capitan once again were weak in this game.
by the way yesterday players didnt show CHELSEA SPIRIT and now we must wait until liverpool lose some heavy points(not even draw). the record is nothing. this season we lost 7 points at stamford bridge.
united lost to mancity last year at home but they were too strong at home and chelsea must bring back power to stamford bridge.
let pray for liverpool loss\
while it is still early in the season, we surely don’t have a team that can break down defense easily. big credit to liverpool, they surely frustrated us. we lacked a bench that can fight either.
tried as mush as we could, we could not break the gridlock and some calamitous defending also.
i don’t know if we miss drogba or essien, but something was missing in the team. Anelka was ghosting around and did not ‘worry’ the liverpool defense at all.
well, it gonna be a very close title race this year, no doubt about it.
juz when i needed sth positive to get me through the upcoming exams, here i am.. brokenhearted..
yea chelsea need to improve…liverpool came with a plan in hand and i feel that scolari could make use of tactics to change the game which we have much possession.However scolari cant do so as they lack key players and our bench only have young scott sinclair and di santo and defender belleti…i feel tt we need to have a good striker and winger to boost our attack…we lost cuz we are unable to convert the possession to goals….in jan we need to get a gd winger and a deadly striker…our attack is considerably weak compare to the top 4 …our wingers are inconsistent…..AND the BLUE SPIRIT is missing…..we have no confidence and composure…surely scolari need to work on this….so lets hope for the better…CHELSEA ALL THE WAY….we are down but nt out…c’mon…chelsea back wif a bang!!!!!!!!!!!
i think liverpool is our nemesis…they always play very very well against us…just one goal and they defend very tightly…we need to be able to get thebreakthrough…i belive if we do so we can actually gain the confidence and wgo for the win…but we cant get a goal…anelka sets up for others but he is nt the kind who can create chances for his own….torres can berbatov tevez rooney can van persie can…i am worrie drogba cant play in thebeautiful football chelsea is craving for…. liverpool are very determined and united and they work hard…kuqt keane change for every ball…riera is dangerous….chelsea need to buy players for sure…villa,benzema,robinho,if tevez is available get him
promote paim
Don’t underestimate the impact of injuries, and how long it takes to get your fitness and overall team continuity back.
Fabio Paim- lol. Interesting.
http://startingeleven.blogspot.com/2008/10/starting-eleven-football-blog-roundup_27.html
Chelsea In For Barry?
============Cech============
==Bosingwa=Terry=Carvalho=A.Cole==
====Lampard=Mikel=Barry====
=====J.Defoe=Drogba=Di Santo====
WTF NICE TEAM ..GO CHELSEA
I was soo hyped before the game.. and wat a dissapointed desplay by chelsea. like some have already said.. I agree about pool. they played really well and they were closer in winning 2-0 then we gettin a 1-1 draw.
does this mean pool is the nr one contender fo the league title, NO. they will have their share of problems when they play the defensive mind teams. right now everything is goin their way.. the goal they scored at the bridge, all them from behind wins and so on.
Mr anelka need to play wit more confidence, that goes fo Malouda and kalou. DAMN kalou he should have passed the boll to a wide open Anelka midway throu the first half..instead of firin a “are you kiddin me” shot on target. Kalou is överrated, he needs a good assist to score. he is not a creative player. I never liked him.
Mikel was his usual self I would say.. along wit A-cole JT and carvalio. Jose B, wat was all the fuss about him. I never been impressed by that fella. we should have gotten dani alves instead.
wat we really need is DD to get back. we need J-cole and ballack as well. essien will be welcomed when he gets back but right now Mikel is holdin his own in the middle.
Lamps..when it comes to crunch time your suppose to be the man. dont get me wrong guys..he been one of our best players soo far if not the best, but its in games like this we need him the most.
the new kid on the block.. di santo..was actually a kewl thing to watch.. even if he didnt do magic, he showed wants minutes. AND if it wouldnt have been fo A-coles crazylegs he would have had a great assist=)
but I cant but luv A-cole..atleast he tried I think he had the two best chances fo chelsea.
Malouda, if you read this, I dont know were u have lost ur swagger..but u need to find it soon cause, else someone will be nuked back to france soon.
there is no way Valencia will let villa leave in jan guys. and to tell ut the true.. lets not exaggerate, its not the end of the world that we lost. its a long season. lets stick to the players we have. lets not try to buy ourselfs out of the lil problems we have. we DO have the strongest squad in football today.
big fil, you should never have said anything about chelsea bein invincible II, foo=)
Now this means we gonna tear up the league, I wouldnt wanna be the next opponent.
lets start a new streak
go blue
The last two teams who defeated us on home turf in full time went on to win the championship – arsenal ( pl) and barca ( cl)
LFS is known for his no nonsense approach. No idea why he is still sticking with Anelka , considering with what he did with Romario ..
I am worried if this will affect our performance with Hull, who are level on points with us and have defeated 4 London sides already – Arsenal, West Ham, Totterham and Fulham ..
Can’t win the EPL if we don’t improve our win ratio at home. 2/5 now. ( last year our away wins were more than home wins). Hopefully yesterday’s was just a one of result .
Its not hard for chelsea to beat the likes of Liverpool and Man Utd ! . As everybody knows our away record is very strong this year. we dropped at least 5 points in our ground. So after this tragic sunday as i call it
“bloody sunday” we most go ahead.
—————————-
Our next match is to play against Hull City , im sure we have to win this game. I told before if we could kill Liverpool we are the champions in December . But now i dont like to see how chelsea fell apart like last year when man utd beat chelsea then poor result against Fulham and ……
———————-
Next fixture is in Hull ground ( an easy game to be honest)
After that we welcome Sunderland at Bridge ( another easy game)
Then we travel to Blackburn ( we will win this match not as easy as previous matches but not hard)
On 15th of November Westbrom-Chelsea ( what can i say ? Just THREE points )
22 of November : Chelsea-N,Castle ( Oh come on chelsea – its all over ! chelsea wins 4 to nil !!! )
————-
In November 30 the most important match of the this month YESS
WELCOME TO STAMFORD BRIDGE , WHERE NO ONE WILL LEAVE WITH THREE POINTS AGAIN !
CHELSEA – ARSENAL (all the previous game were a little bit easy if we win this match it will be okay to chalenge for the title race. im sure we will win EPL this year…
if we get these 15 points and beat arsenal we will hve 18 points !!!
imagine please…..its too good.. for us. so im sure if we win our next 6 matches and we can get these points , im sure liverpool and man utd will drop enough points for us to stay on the top of the table
Wednesday night at Hull City – will be the first test of Big Phil’s credentials. Don’t get me wrong Iam not questioning the man’s track record, he is a world cup winner after all – but Hull will not be the pushovers everybody expects them to be!
Forget Liverpool, forget Sunday and concentrate on Wednesday. I am going to the game and I cannot wait. First because I haven’t been to their new stadium and secondly I really think we will play well and win well.
KTBFFH
Will be tough to beat Arsenal. They are improving with every match which is the right way to peak in the premiership and they have the best attackers. Their midfield is a bit suspect as well as their defense, but is chelsea a great attacking team?
We should underestimate Hull.By the way,when are Drogba,Ballack and J.Cole
returning
I’m sorry..
Correction-We should NOT underestimate Hull.
game on wednesday already? kewl lets get back on track.
ma fella blue fam lets be proud of wat chelsea did at the bridge and remember even the best can slip but we will be right back on track sooner then later.
Big phil? well lets not hate on him yet. I would say the players didnt deliver, and I would even say that he surprised me by throwin in da young fella early in the second half.
the league is gettin competetive, which is great, but lets not kid our selfs when its all said and done it will be down 2 two teams, chelsea and man u
**A reminder to us all!**
The amazing home record is NOT broken! The run just ended ~~ that is all.
The record still holds and in this new era of football I doubt we will see this record “broken” in our lifetimes. A major accomplishment we should be very proud off. I remember that last EPL loss at home, it was to Arsenal’s “unbeatables”. That year they were simply unstoppable. I also remember it was the week my best friend’s son was born. As of today his kid is now in KINDERGARDEN!! (In the US this is the 1st year of school before elementary classes). Thinking of that tidbit alone put a smile on my face all day yesterday in light of the loss.
We lost a game / at home / to a team that out played us in their defense and nicked in one goal that took a bad deflection.. so be it.
This was PS’s 9th EPL game in charge and if I recall correctly JM lost his 9th EPL game as well (albeit it not at home). Regardless I enjoy watching the new JS style of play, “when they come to play” that is ~ i.e. (the Aston Villa or Middleborough games). I enjoy a manager that other team really respect not love to hate.
Personally I think this is a weight off of our backs. For the last season or so at home we have looked like we were defending a record and not gunning for a win. I’m content in these early days to put Liverpool in the top spot highlight (better them than the Arses or the Mancs) and let the teams gun for beating the current top spot holder . It takes the pressure off and lets us focus on shoring up our weaknesses.
You mark my words.. Chelsea will use this and spank Hull 4-0 midweek. They will take the Scouser loss like a missed meal and come to Phil Brown’s table extremely hungry. GO BLUES!!
Please buy Lukas Podolski!
all blaa blaa, but the truth is we were no match to liverpool yesterday, and this season our performance against top teams (manu and liverpool, and both in homegrounds) have not been so good. but for the injuries, the results are still ok. we have still 29 games to go….and its 87 points. so if we avoid losses and have 10 draws, we would definitely be champions, hehe.
Manchester United has a good squad. Liverpool has the second best squad in the Premeirship, followed by Arseanal then, Chelsea this out of the big four.
I hope this is a wake up call.
Liverpool have a better squad than man u; geez!
Here you are a result by result of the AMAZING 86 unbeaten home League record which started in 2004 and ended in October 2008.
Be proud and look forward to Wednesday night. You got bragging rights wherever you are in the World.
2003/04
Sat Mar 20 Fulham 2-1
Sat Mar 27 Wolves 5-2
Sat Apr 10 Middlesbrough 0-0
Sat Apr 17 Everton 0-0
Sat May 1 Southampton 4-0
Sat May 15 Leeds 1-0
2004/05
Sun Aug 15 Man Utd 1-0
Sat Aug 28 Southampton 2-1
Sun Sep 19 Tottenham 0-0
Sun Oct 3 Liverpool 1-0
Sat Oct 23 Blackburn 4-0
Sat Nov 6 Everton 1-0
Sat Nov 20 Bolton 2-2
Sat Dec 4 Newcastle 4-0
Sat Dec 18 Norwich 4-0
Sat Dec 26 Aston Villa 1-0
Tue Jan 4 Middlesbrough 2-0
Sat Jan 22 Portsmouth 3-0
Sun Feb 6 Man City 0-0
Tue Mar 15 West Brom 1-0
Sat Mar 19 Crystal Palace 4-1
Sat Apr 9 Birmingham 1-1
Wed Apr 20 Arsenal 0-0
Sat Apr 23 Fulham 3-1
Sat May 7 Charlton 1-0
CHAMPIONS
2005/06
Sun Aug 21 Arsenal 1-0
Wed Aug 24 West Brom 4-0
Sat Sep 10 Sunderland 2-0
Sat Sep 24 Aston Villa 2-1
Sat Oct 15 Bolton 5-1
Sat Oct 29 Blackburn 4-2
Sat Nov 19 Newcastle 3-0
Sat Dec 3 Middlesbrough 1-0
Sat Dec 10 Wigan 1-0
Mon Dec 26 Fulham 3-2
Sat Dec 31 Birmingham 2-0
Sun Jan 22 Charlton 1-1
Sun Feb 5 Liverpool 2-0
Sat Feb 25 Portsmouth 2-0
Sat Mar 11 Tottenham 2-1
Sat Mar 25 Man City 2-0
Sun Apr 9 West Ham 4-1
Mon Apr 17 Everton 3-0
Sat Apr 29 Man Utd 3-0
CHAMPIONS
2006/07
Sun Aug 20 Man City 3-0
Sat Sep 9 Charlton 2-1
Sun Sep 17 Liverpool 1-0
Sat Sep 30 Aston Villa 1-1
Sat Oct 21 Portsmouth 2-1
Sat Nov 11 Watford 4-0
Sat Nov 18 West Ham 1-0
Sun Dec 10 Arsenal 1-1
Wed Dec 13 Newcastle 1-0
Tues Dec 26 Reading 2-2
Sat Dec 30 Fulham 2-2
Sat Jan 13 Wigan 4-0
Wed Jan 31 Blackburn 3-0
Sat Feb 10 Middlesbrough 3-0
Sat Mar 17 Sheffield Utd 3-0
Sat Apr 7 Tottenham 1-0
Sat Apr 28 Bolton 2-2
Wed May 9 Man Utd 0-0
Sun May 13 Everton 1-1
2007/08
Sun Aug 12 Birmingham 3-2
Sat Aug 25 Portsmouth 1-0
Sat Sep 15 Blackburn 0-0
Sat Sep 29 Fulham 0-0
Sat Oct 27 Man City 6-0
Sun Nov 11 Everton 1-1
Sat Dec 1 West Ham 1-0
Sat Dec 8 Sunderland 2-0
Wed Dec 26 Aston Villa 4-4
Sat Dec 29 Newcastle 2-1
Sat Jan 12 Tottenham 2-0
Wed Jan 30 Reading 1-0
Sun Feb 10 Liverpool 0-0
Wed Mar 12 Derby 6-1
Sun Mar 23 Arsenal 2-1
Sun Mar 30 Middlesbrough 1-0
Mon Apr 14 Wigan 1-1
Sat Apr 26 Man Utd 2-1
Sun May 11 Bolton 1-1
2008/09
Sun Aug 17 Portsmouth 4-0
Sun Aug 31 Tottenham 1-1
Sun Sep 21 Man Utd 1-1
Sun Oct 5 Aston Villa 2-0
No team WILL ever beat this record – certainly not even in my lifetime and possibly not in yours.. Enjoy and reflect!!!
oh yea, so we are history now. thats pathetic.
the unbeated record had to end eventually. maybe now we wont play so defensively at home. liverpool deserved the win and they played very well. i believe that they could make a serious for the title, but they wont be able to get it done.
ktbffh
I Was Missing Jose @29 – You are missing the point – we created history when Chelsea took the record away from Liverpool!!! Shame it was Liverpool that ended the run that could have gone over 100 League games UNBEATEN at home.
KTBFFH
Pick a game or games out of the sequence above in 28 that were your favourites and memorable and I will tell you mine and why.
KTBBFH
Quoting since66
Pick a game or games out of the sequence above in 28 that were your favourites and memorable and I will tell you mine and why.
oops sorry
KTBFFH
LOL
Hi BC and new I am back I used to be AGFriend, so we lost against Liverpoo, so what?
records are there to be beaten, pity against my team managed by an extraordinary manager, very
much in the same “matter” as JM.
I always said that the best acquisition Chelsea has ever made was to sack the “toad”, the man (AG) never understood that the xtension of hism contract, by RA, after 3/4 games in charge, was a way to give him a “golden hello” at the end of the season, it is much better than to get “charity” at least gives the impression that he deserved it , lol.
So BC now I am Carvalho’s friend but completely different, this time I am a friend, BTW BC have you seen my friend israeli lately?
bye now.
It’s about time
Just for the recorded I must admit there weren’t anyone happier then me to see this fake LFS lose a home game so fast.
I still think the last 2 managers where much better than him
JM and AG both got sacked by the worst team managements of the EPL.
You probably think I’m nuts to put AG with JM at the same level but the facts are simple
I always like to feed you with little bit of stats
LFS stat after his 9 EPL verses AG stats of 32 games are as follow
LFS Wins =66.67% AG wins=68.75%, AG wind this category!!!
LFS points per game=2.22 , AG points per game 2.31 AG wins this category as well!
LFS loses =11.1% , AG loses 6.25% AG wins big time
Home recorded = I don’t need to say anything about this
Just to remind you that AG ad achieved 74 points along his 32 games as EPL manager
And if MR LFS continues with his stats he will have only 71 points after 32 games.
The only hope you have is that I don’t see any tem as strong as Man u where last year!!!
All this boring stats is only to remained you all how foolish you where about AG.
But just as I was thinking before I believe this home lose will only do good for the team, sometimes it looks like they are so afraid to lose so they stop taking chances.
This way of home playing as cost us the championship last year and may be you where lucky this lose came so early so from now on they will play more freely and with less worry at home.
guys look at this …. we have conceded 4 goals this season:
Goals conceded at home Goals conceded away
3 1
this means if we stop conceding at home we will be unstoppable,
@35 denver – true . if we win our home games , then we will be champions. Man u won 17 games last season out of the 19. in the second season of jose mourinho, we won 18 games . only charton seems to have got a 1-1 draw and not many of those games were 1-0 wins
anyways , lets not look very further, but one game at time and try to win wed. if we are not at the top, our gap with the top should be very less, so that they are also under pressure. last two seasons we played too much chasing game
With just one predatory striker, there is no way, we will win the league. If Tevez is available, we should buy him given that he is only one loan and has not started often after berbatov has come in .he can attack and defend and is a proven player in EPL .
after playing kaluo as a winger, now he can neither be a true winger or a center forward. Anelka should probably be benched and kaluo be played a lone striker with Joe cole or Scott Sinclair played on the right wing.
Though they have totally different CV, both AG and LFS are very predictable in their team selections.. Every one can predict their team with a exception of probably one player .. That is where Jose was different..
When you have teams that play attacking football, then other team will probably line up 10 people just like liverpool did .. This definitely will not be only time.. and this is something that needs to be learned from barca..
Quoting BFDS
LFS is not fake. I cant believe that you could possibly lose faith in him so early.
Quoting bcfan
Tevez would be a great addition to our offense, but where would be play him?
so you all so far have your heads in the sands like a ostriches…. LOL forget stats Yanks live on stats… 86 unbeaten at home is a record to be proud off. Don’t start spouting off who is better than so and so…. apart from Jose….. Dave Sexton was the better manager 2 trophies in three years and a losing finalist. John Neal was a better manager – a manager saved Chelsea from relegation to the old Division Three, brought Kerry Dixon, Pat Nevin, Joe McLoughlin and the rest got promoted the following season. Chelsea’s first game that season was at Arsenal – I was in the old Clock End and Kerry Dixon scoredm we drew 1-1 – Dixon is a Chelsea legend.
Eddie McCreadie a Chelsea legend at left-back, scored a goal after a 60 yard run in 1965/66 season which Chelsea won the League Cup, became Chelsea manager for one season. Steve Finneston, Ray Wilkins and the rest won promotion back to the old first Division in 1976.
Sunday was a ‘bad day,’ for you lot – respect your Chelsea history, research your Chelsea history and be proud of your Chelsea history – 86 unbeaten league games at home a record which lasted FOUR YEARS and EIGHT MONTHS.
Respect the record and embrace the record and remember this. I WAS THERE WHEN WE WERE S**T!!
We really missed the passion and height of Drogba and Ballack. And the energy of Essien.
Let’s go another 29 games unbeaten now
@GamingTheSystem. True. the record Hasn’t ended. Cus who the F**k in the world its gonna run 4 almost 5 years unbeatem in their house. (I just realize that. Yeah who tha fcuk its gonna do that). On the other side the Blues don’t have to protect the fortress anymore. That shit was starting 2 look like Lord of the Bridge-Boys Of the Bridge kind of. So we’re free now. People please don’t blame Scolari, (life its always easier if u have somebody to blame the bad things on) that’s just stupid. More than the record wat pisses me of f is that Lfc is on top right now.
Mark My Words & stay positive that from this we have must Improve YES! improve, or fix our current flaws. Mistakes have a reason for their exsistene. That being that u must learn from them. Right. & Please stop saying that Liverpool deserve their to win. Cus in that case we deserve to win against ManYoo right. This is Football & 4 me it isn’t about deserving. Beacause as sadly as it sounds u win scoring more than the opponent. So they scored once and holded us to the end of the match.
Now. Move on people – We must take down Hull. – BTW- Those Bitches aren’t easy specially after coming from relegation. (didn’t they, o crap) I ‘m gonna call them the relegation Beast.
4 some reason I don’t hate them. (4 now)
GO CHELSEA !!!!!
Chelsitos! I’ve updated the post now. There are now more paragraphs for you to read. And of course more ranting on Anelka.
bc anelka wont play when drogba is fit.we missed drogba essien joey and kalou is better as a sub.ballack also was missed .we should not judge scolari i think liverpool were lucky. except in final third we played okay missed essien runs,drogba would have drawn 2 defenders created more space 4 lamps and deco.i was impressed with deco especially in first half.mikel was good but we missed essien or even makalele would have done well hopefully with full strength chelsea will beat liverpool including torres at anfield
we would break defences down a fresh kalou with disanto in 80th min can break any defence .drogba must be fit 4 all big games from now on he will take care of arsenal home and away and also liverpool .manu will be taken care by ballack lamps and drogba combined.drogba is the best though another striker in jan is needed if he is injured more often.cheers and a happy diwali to all
Scolari lacks league football expierience. I hope he draws lessons from these fixtures. Sometimes i feel he is spoilt, because he had had always good players. He knew that Liverpool is a very strong team, even JM tips Liverpool to win title this year. So LFS should have been more careful when he chose the tactics for this game. Liverpools are good at counter attacks and at surprising and long distance goals( there are many examples, CL final against AC Milan, that goal against us that never was, and their comeback from 2-0 down to win 2-4 earlier this season). Despite these facts, LFS chose to play a very open attacking football against such a dangerous solid defending and counterattacking team. In my opinion it was a careless play chelsea played, and we paid for it. But Scolari is an intelligent and clever manager, i hope he won´t repeat the same in upcoming fixtures. Looking forward to Hull now, i´d be happy with 2 goals and a win of ofcourse.
Happy Diwali folks.
Terry celebrating his 10th anniversary today with Chelsea. Surprise to hear that he played as a right back in his first XI appearance. Not a surprise to those who know that he played as a goalkeeper as well for 2 or three minutes.
@39 churchill
Quoting bcfan
I feel Tevez is versatile enough to play as a lone striker, second striker behind drogba or even on the wings. In the game against Liverpool, Fergie played both rooney and tevez in the wings with berbatov as the main striker.
Ofcourse they lost , but you would agree the first goal, that liverpool got was a lucky own goal.
I think this is the first time, Chelsea lost in 2008 in the PL .. The last time chelsea lost was to arsenal at emirates some time in dec 2007.. I had prayed that they go an year without a loss
…
cmon guyzzz
leave it
its just a defeat
its good the record came to an end
now we wll play our attacking football rather than thesee defending style
Great analysis, BC, as always. But Kalou was too wasteful for you to let him off so easily, being completely careless at times with his dribbling… He was poor. Also, you must at least confess the complete invisibility of Malouda. It’s not fair that you only criticize Anelka so harshly (I agree with you on that subject, by the way…) and address Malouda and Kalou so lightly.
When is Franco Di Santo going to start a match?! He’s been quite good, for a 19 year old!!
I think it’s proven that we need a winger and/or a striker in January. We only have Joey, Malouda, and Kalou. And Kalou is really a converted striker. I wish we hadn’t sold SWP, I honestly do.
He was never injured, very versatile, and I really think his type of speed is the sort of magnet that distorts the rigid, organized defense of the bus-parking teams. He creates chaos with his speed. We need that kind of player.
Let’s go for Jesus Navas.
I can’t wait till Essien’s back!
Bc once again u put all the blame on the shoulders of Nicolas Anelka(i hate that man by the way), Anelka was absolutely invisible throughout the game but u have let odd Kalou and Malouda very lightly for me, i have alway insisted that Kalou is not Chelsea class, he can never be, why always put a curtain on this, its been what 2.5 years now since he has been here and what progress has he made?? he still shoots in the stands, cant get past his opponent most of the times has no ability in the air and we are still trying to figure out wether he is a winger or a striker, has he shown any sort of improvement?? ppl cloud it by saying he is a n impact player put him on at 80 mins…and so on, is that what we bought him for?? to forever be a substitute, much younger players like Bojan, Messi, Fabregas etc have already cemented their positions in their respective teams and continue to get better, while our dear Kalou is still a piece of junk at 23, some of the questions u asked for Anelka, why be a hypocrite, ask them for Kalou can u say affirmative for even one of them??
now Malouda i dont think i have the words to fit how crap that guy is but then selling a 22 year old Roben (no matter how unfit) for an old unproven cr?p like Maloda was always silly buisness, i guess u like flakking anelka cuz Grant bought him and not these two, all three of them should be kicked out, we need a proper winger and a striker, i dont know how long will Ranieri’s signings will last, somebody(LFS, Kenyon, Arnesen etc) please get it right in the transfer market…
oh and adonis pls not Navas, i see him week in and out, he has skill and pace yes but he falls over a toothpick, moreover he is puny and lightweight EPL defenders will pluck him off like a leaf…i personally wld have loved Quaresma, he’s gone, me and MD shouted ourselves hoarse for Sneijder and Vaart but to no end, but if Scolari really does have his Brazilian impact get Kaka for heavens sake, in jan he wld be even available for the CL…
@51 & 50 – You are correct Kaluo and Maluda were useless in the liverpool match , but one thing that you should note as pointed out by BC is Anelka has never scored a matching wining goal or the first goal. Kaluo scored the goal, to draw against Man U . Anelka had two clear chances in that match and one of the chances he just had to touch the ball .. Maluda , I have no comments on him..
My feeling is every opposing team is happy that we start with Anelka ..
anelka ‘n’ malouda – crap, kalou – back to his inconsistent best, deco – damn slow, lampard – just avg performance. what do we expect having pathetic wingers ‘n’ striker in our side. but my biggest worry is scolari doesn’t seems to be having plan-b or plan-c, which was pretty apparent even in his portugal days. atleast am glad that the scoreline stayed as just 0-1.
well agentfed i think he tried to make it 4-4-2 later with Santo and Beletti comin on, but it seemed pretty evident that the team had no fixed plans and strategies for that formation, so i m pretty sure he is workin that out as we speak…hes a shrewd man he will learn, he will make plan-b’s and c’s i m worried about the personnal, upfront all he has in his hands is junk…
i have been so upset over the past few days i couldn’t even write
we weren’t brilliant that game but once again a nasty goal from liverpool saw us out
im certain that had they not have scored so early, we would have seen an entirely different match
liverpool bogged down the central strip of the pitch, forced our wingbacks and wingers wide. anelka hasn’t converted too many of our crosses which benitez knows
i was surprised scolari picked this line up, i thought after our roma match he would at least try a two striker formation
I have moaned for a long time we are missing that player to bring the zest we lost. we need a winger with all round ability, we are quite low on strikers so selling anelka and bringing in two new ones could be an idea
i was never happy at having anelka but i think with a player like drogba and di santo alongside him, we will get some use from him.
I think two good considerations would be lukas podolski and our academy player miroslav stoch
podolski has some decent height on him, is in fact 3cm shy of drogba, he is very quick, quite strong and isn’t too bad with his feet, im not entirely convinced he can cut it on the wings as he only displayed that quality in the euro competition but he could fit in very well
we have always been missing that flair player since robben left. robben was very injury prone but when we had him, we were virtually unstoppable. I have said many times we need that player with joe coles feet and swp’s speed, they are quite rare but from what i understand, stoch has that ability, so maybe we should start giving him more of a chance
Like echoing many others’ comments, I was too disappointed to write. But I must point out that none of you blame the defense for our loss. Even at the every beginning of the match I felt that our defenders were too casual in the marking department and when Liverpool search deeper, there were a few panic blues in the box. Try watch the match again (it’s painful, I know, I watch 3 x first half), you will understand where I’m coming from. Our defense started to settle only after 20 minutes in play. It was not a particular individual mistake, it is just disorganize marking. Great defense earns you a DRAW, Great offense “might” earns you a WIN, GREAT Defense and Offense guarantees a WIN with Cleansheet. It was poor performance overall for the entire team. Let’s swallow this and move forward. This maybe the beginning of another new record credit only to LFS instead of living through our previous records from JM and AG. KTBFFH…. rise again!!!
Quoting joeblue
Do you really think Kaka will be available?! I highly doubt that. But that truly is a mouth-watering idea.
And about Navas… We need speed, my friend. He’s the fastest winger I know of. He’s superb. And his crosses are class. I don’t think it’ll take him to long to bulk up in England. And he’s not much different than Robben. Just healthy. I think he’ll be succesful in our team. His speed makes up for his lack of power. And we need nothing more than speed in our team.
My ideal signings for January: Aguero and Navas. Or Cappel, instead of Navas.