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When QPR was happy time-wasting for the last half hour despite the two-man advantage at home, you’d get the measure of Chelsea’s performance today. When you realise that Chelsea had 60% possession in the second half despite playing with 9 men at Loftus Road, you’d see the kind of shift the team put in. I’ve never seen a team with 9 men play with such conviction and attitude as we did today. Hats off to the boys!
Yeah we lost a game on a day when we should have taken advantage of Man Utd’s annihilation at Old Trafford. It almost feels cheap to take about the result when we’ve produced such an outstanding effort. To play with 10 men in an away game is terrible. To have that man sent off in the first half is even worse. To have two men sent off in the first half of an away game is like suicide.
With a referee who came into the pitch with a determination of ‘let’s see how Chelsea gets a point today’, Chelsea could have easily shut up shop looking for the counter attacking opportunities. With nine men, it’s impossible for any team to dictate the game as you’re not going to see the ball. Chelsea though, took the game to QPR. They cared a damn about QPR’s referee, they didn’t bother how many players were on the pitch or where they were playing. They played like champions. They wanted to win this game. The result is a shame but football is known to be unfair, time to time.
GOOD:
Andre Villas Boas: When players play poorly or carelessly, I tend to blame the manager as his players normally reflect him and his expectations. On the same logic, my unreserved praise for Andre Villas Boas for the way Chelsea played today. I thought he made the correct substitutions and at the right times. Chelsea played with a great team ethic and the credit should go to AVB.
The whole Chelsea team: They simply rocked! They were unlucky. I’m so proud to be a Chelsea fan. This is one of the reasons which attracted me to Chelsea back in those days. We simply never give up. We give it our best shot. We win and lose as a team. We play like champions.
Man Utd getting schooled at Old Trafford: I knew City could win this match but what I saw today was total annihilation and humiliation. Here are the defending champions, conceding six goals at home to a fierce city rival. Utd’s run of luck had to stop and it bloody well did.
BAD
Refereeing: “WHY ALWAYS US?”. What’s with Chelsea and horrible refereeing? I mean, this was truly horrible. That was no penalty and Bosingwa was not a red card. Drogba’s was a sending off but I’d argue that if the penalty and Bosingwa’s sending off did not happen, Drogba wouldn’t have gone for that challenge in frustration. Chris Foy could very well have printed the team sheet and stuck it in his evil notebook. The only reason why I’m not going mental is that I hope and expect that it all gets rounded off in the course of the season. We will get our good times.
Anelka’s performance: Given the circumstances, we were not going to get too many opportunities. We had to make our chances count. Anelka in his 45 mins could have scored a brace and won the game for us, if he had finished better or if his decision making was better. While the tired Chelsea legs around him were playing like their life depended on this game, second half sub Anelka was losing possession like that’s why he came in for. Attrocious.
Chelsea MOTM:
I really don’t know. I don’t want to single out anyone as that would be a disservice for the other players. Great team effort, particularly by the defenders.
WHAT THE BOSS SAID:
AVB was terribly upset and it showed in his post-match conference:
I am very proud of the team. I don’t have a problem with discipline, I have a problem with referees applying discipline. Penalties can be given or not given, but if he gives a soft penalty like that he has to give soft penalties in the box in our chances on the opposite side as well. I don’t know what is the difference. If you give a penalty like that, if there is a shove or something like that, he has to concede a lot in the opposite box, so there is a difference of criteria there which doesn’t [make] us happy. The judgment used was not the same.
I have nothing to say about Didier’s sending off because it seems fair to me, but it doesn’t seem fair to me that Bosingwa was sent off because JT was in a position of cover and I think a yellow card should have been applied. Further to that I do not know, I cannot understand the difference of judgment from the referee, not only the major decisions but the fouls, the throw-ins. I just cannot understand it. Maybe I can be proven wrong but I have to share my disappointment from what I see.
I was aggressive to him [Chris Foy] but I think I have to be. I don’t care if he is okay or not, everybody can have a bad day, but this was not a bad day for us, it was a good day for us but it was a bad day for the referee. It is not a conspiracy theory, they take us into bands and [being called] cry babies. We are not cry babies; we are tough people like we showed today… but at the moment this pattern is happening. We are showing commitment and strength in depth to react to it and hopefully things will eventually go our way. On a normal situation with a normal referee with good judgement towards both games we win the game.
He just nailed it, I must say.
FINAL WORDS:
Now, we’re 6 points off Man City. As mentioned in my tweets, I do think that Man City’s mediocre run of form should start shortly. By beating Man Utd 6-1 at Old Trafford, they have really reached the pinnacle of this season. There’s not going to be a better day for them in this season than today. I expect them to take their foot off the pedal at this point. All they need is one bad defeat and we will see the real test of their character.
Now we have a mid-week league cup match. I’m sure we have some really tired players who need rest so they can be ready to hammer the goners. For the next premier league match, Fernando Torres will be back and Ivanovic will play right back with Alex back in the mix. For the league cup game though, we should look to field the ones that didn’t have to put in the double shift today. Hoping to see the likes of Josh, Romeu, Lukaku etc.
That’s it for now. This could have been a much better day but you know what, today’s performance has filled me with so much pride and confidence that I don’t care about the result. Media might have handed over the premier league title to Manchester City but I have this crystal ball that shows some wild celebrations on the last day of the premier league by AVB and his boys. When are we playing Man City?
drogba was awful even before the redcards. and this is evidence that his days are over
Play fuking Ivanovic ahead of Bosingwa!!!!!!! He had much better crossing too.
i guess d ref did not com with yellow card in the 1st half
The ENGLAND should investigate this martch.
THIS IS UNBELIEVABLE! http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2011/oct/23/chelsea-andre-villas-boas-mourinho
Before you click it please note…. I made a very, very, very , very , very identical tactic on CFC’s Facebook page at half time. In fact this is what I wrote.
Change to a 3-5-1. Romeu on for Mikel (compsure is required right now and we need to get it to the width as quick as possible). Terry – Romeu – Ivanovic (3). Cole – Lampard – Mereiles – Luiz (5). Cole and Luiz in the wingback positions of course. Anelka in the Trequartista role up front with freedom to roam. Width, movement and a higher tempo are key for now. QPR are pressing us to death so the quicker we get it down the wings and into the box, we stretch them on the small pitch. Cech can now pass the ball out again and maintain possession rather than losing up the field like Warnock wants. Lampard and Mereiles act more as deep lying playmakers using their passing to stay deep yet use Anelka, Cole and Luiz up front. Romeu pushes forward while in possession with an interchange between Lampard and Mereiles.
I can’t believe it…. I have been saying it ever since AVB made his first interview. We think the same. In fact I manage the same on FM and have been since FM 2010.
I mean ENGLAND FA or board of EPL reffs should investigate this martch as this can affect them from being choosen for major competitions.
THIS IS UNBELIEVABLE! http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2011/oct/23/chelsea-andre-villas-boas-mourinho
Before you click it please note…. I made a very, very, very , very , very identical tactic on CFC’s Facebook page at half time. In fact this is what I wrote.
Change to a 3-5-1. Romeu on for Mikel (compsure is required right now and we need to get it to the width as quick as possible). Terry – Romeu – Ivanovic (3). Cole – Lampard – Mereiles – Luiz (5). Cole and Luiz in the wingback positions of course. Anelka in the Trequartista role up front with freedom to roam. Width, movement and a higher tempo are key for now. QPR are pressing us to death so the quicker we get it down the wings and into the box, we stretch them on the small pitch. Cech can now pass the ball out again and maintain possession rather than losing up the field like Warnock wants. Lampard and Mereiles act more as deep lying playmakers using their passing to stay deep yet use Anelka, Cole and Luiz up front. Romeu pushes forward while in possession with an interchange between Lampard and Mereiles.
*Ivanovic was used at RB instead and Romeu didn’t come on. Mikel did push forward but when we lost possession he shielded. We played like a billion crosses in the second half and effectively shut QPR up. This is amazing for me because either AVB was on his Ipad and saw this or me and him have the same brain.* – THE DIFFERENCES
I can’t believe it…. I have been saying it ever since AVB made his first interview. We think the same. In fact I manage the same on FM and have been since FM 2010.
sorry for the double post.. comment system was fooling around
That refree is a beast and bastard for conducting that kind of game, he is a man united fan to hell with him
“Drogba’s was a sending off but I’d argue that if the penalty and Bosingwa’s sending off did not happen, Drogba wouldn’t have gone for that challenge in frustration. ”
if that is true, drogba’s brain is ‘inverted’ – read rubbish-;
so much more he should not throw out of the window the last chance of getting a result today!!
“Now, we’re 6 points off Man City. As mentioned in my tweets, I do think that Man City’s mediocre run of form should start shortly. By beating Man Utd 6-1 at Old Trafford, they have really reached the pinnacle of this season.”
man city has the best strikers in PL by a long mile!! if torres does not prove he is back week in week out, chelsea strike force = 0!! chelsea’s defence is also frail! chelsea has a midfield and a coach that is all!
drogba & luiz caused all the trouble today, not the referees;
shall we not praise the team any more if they lose??
who needs heroics in 9 men when they were dumbest of the world to get there in the first place!! play football not judo!!
being shown red card is fucking part of the football game!!! chelsea lost to an average QPR! stop
Drogba sholdn’t have started ahead of Anelka.
Anelka’s current form is better than Drogba. Somehow Drog’ lost his pace and power. He just became like Malouda or Kalou.
It was big mistake. Drog is super-sub at best and he knows that. I agree, Brana is better than Bosingwa. He crosses, he scores. Good in the air too.
The team underestimated QPR and that paid-off. They should learn from their mistakes. QPR is not Genk.. Any club in EPL is not Genk.
Well, you are right. We did lose to an average QPR side. But not even Manure or Man Shitty or Assnull would ve reacted the way we did. We were owning them in the second half. Unfortunate that we couldnt finish. And those penalties that were not given could ve made a huge difference. Remember Manure gave up when they had all 11 on the pitch.
ulus,
Well, you are right. We did lose to an average QPR side. But not even Manure or Man citeh or Assnull would ve reacted the way we did. We were owning them in the second half. Unfortunate that we couldnt finish. And those penalties that were not given could ve made a huge difference. Remember Manure gave up when they had all 11 on the pitch.
ulus,
Well, you are right. We did lose to an average QPR side. But not even Manure or Man citeh or Arsnull would ve reacted the way we did. We were owning them in the second half. Unfortunate that we couldnt finish. And those penalties that were not given could ve made a huge difference. Remember Manure gave up when they had all 11 on the pitch.
ulus,
My summary of the match:
1. Drogba is the biggest fool, his foolishness cost us the game;
2. Luiz is raw and makes a wrong decision or two but i have never seen a true Chelsea player like him, he was sweating blood for us. I could see the real passion in his eyes! Blame him for the penalty and for Jose’s sending off (which never was) but if all the 8 players put in that extra bit of energy like Luiz, we would surely have won! Of course they did but not to the extent of Luiz!
3. French suckers: Anelka was lazy and his egg-head is not helping us! Flo played like he had already played for manure that afternoon, he looked so tired, there wasn’t any fighting spirit in his eyes or body!
4. cris f**ker hates us so much that i would really be ashamed to even hear his doomed name now on. We played 9 against 12 men!
5. Substitutions?: Was a technical Sturridge taken off because Nico can play behind the defenders? Was Mata taken off because he was bit too small or he pulled his shoulder? We wanted to go all out and we did and taking Meireles, another technical player, off was justified?
6. The players who really have the blue blood: Luiz, Terry, Inanovic, Lampsy and Cech…others were doubtful!
7. Cheapest fans where yesterday’s home fans (don’t even want to name them)…holding the ball and trying to waste time…shame that they were very afraid to played against 9 men while they have the msot powerful 12th man on their side!
8. swp, virtually useless while with us was too bloated yesterday…he was so cunning and rightly earned a true hatered from Chelsea fans….i have him so much…swollen lips!
I would only be able to smile if we give the cheap neighbour a good spank when we meet again this season…can’t wait for that!
“But not even Manure or Man Shitty or Assnull would ve reacted the way we did. We were owning them in the second half. Unfortunate that we couldnt finish. And those penalties that were not given could ve made a huge difference.”
chelsea got the beat, a beat is a beat (like man utd 3 – 1 chelsea); yes i know ..;
football = goals, red cards, points, injuries .. apart from player rating there is nothing to record which team played better, or especially what could have been;
chelsea should get one more proper striker first of all; one who can score in champions league finals or against man city etc (or play without a striker like barcelona); for the defence i do not know what to say on paper they are super good but they concede goals , been like this for years, no idea how to fix it; the midfield & the coach are already good; hope torres will be doing ok – 1 or 2 goals every other game!!
Great one BC…kudos to the team minus the two Frenchmen!
I am bursting with pride !
KTBFFH !
Should AVB and Chelsea management file a formal complaint calling for an investigation over this refereeing ruckus? It is YES.. I remember Peter Barnes said ‘This is the worst refereeing case I’ve seen in my life’..
The referee is a complete disgrace, and due for an investigation.
Sorry, can’t agree with you there. QPR didn’t have a single chance against us for 1 hour playing against 10 then 9 men. We completely dominated them. I cant wait for the return game to pay our dues back (I am hoping for 6:0). But I agree that the fact we were in this position was partially due to our own making. It’s good that we have character and we have shown it well today but we have also shown lack in discipline. David Luis, Bosingwa and Drogba were all at fault for being undisciplined, to a different degree. Drogba mistake was just plain stupid (sorry for critique, I still love you, Drogg). And remaining 7(?) yellows was just ridiculous…But I also still think Luis’ penalty was too harsh, and Bossi should have be given just yellow.
Anyway, we have to take from this game what we can and learn from our mistakes…UP, BLUES!
i preffer the ponys than grat performance
Being an underdog is really cool…I am not really disappointed much after our loss today…and Manu’s trashing by City makes it much easier to take. This was really coming, Manu were very poor lately (Re: us last year
. The king really has no clothes! We should have really beaten them at OT too, if we were more lucky and more clinical in finishing… Well, there are a still a lot of games ahead.
Altho I am seething at Chris”Ovrebo” Foy , I would like to point out the good from yesterday’s encounter as many things came out into the open :
1. AVB though young is no inexperienced coach but a great tactician
2. Luiz now has a clear-cut wakeup call to cut out the foibles but strut the jazz in the opposition half
3. Drogs isn’t the top dog anymore and we need still need Hazard… and the Bos is a bit shaky at times too
4. 29 games to go… so if anything gotta be sorted out … better now than in Xmas crunch or in the run-in
5. Citeh got the players … but have they got the steel and spirit like shown by Chels yesterday ? We shall see !
6. Yesterday was an abberration and whatever the QPR’s say about their victory they will still go down…. we’ll help them with that on the return bout…..
JOSEHOLIDAY,
I agree with you except on getting Hazard, i have just heard a lot but not actually seen him. I still regret how we were linked and missed on VDV, Silva, Aguero and Pastore. Only one that we captured from the mouth-watering list is Mata and the guy is doing great. let me hope that we will buy the good players instead of watching them don another shirt! Think if we have got caught of Silva and Aguero, just these two along with Mata would be flourishing!
KarmaCW,
I tghink we need another top-class forward… but I want Modric or someone like that so the first-halfs of games don’t need to be “warm-up” periods / periods of opportunity for opposing teams .. when the ball gets played fluently and speedily… something that Chels is not exactly known for … anyways I do understand that Chels is going thru a transitional period and there will be hiccups like yesterday…
Ingredients for success in my view are :
1. Steel …….. difficult to produce … we are nearly 5 star here
2. Skill…. 2-3 players might need to be brought in for this
3. Style… we can already see a change from the past
4. Leadership…. If AVB can do it with 9 men .. he can do it with 11 over the seasons
5. Teamwork….blowing hot and cold at the moment… but second half against QPR it was sublime… a joy… excellence
6. Experience….. Drogs isn’t the best example yet but Lamps surely is
Chels has someway to go in some areas but we might get there even sooner than we expect with AVB…. but the funny thing with football is that Liverfool won the CL in 2005 with nearly none of the above …..
So qpr think they are the natural rivals of the Chelsea Football CLub. Sorry lads but we dont play mini-league anymore. On the game itself, right from the start it was almost as if mr. Chris Foy had an agenda. I am not naive about football. I’ve followed the game long enough to know some refs have it in for certain Clubs. You give them the chance and the tear u top shreds with biased commentators telling “they can see why it was given”.
I am happy with Andre’s post-match comments. Yes he will b fined, but next time the next referree would b careful with his decisions. Drogba’s challenge was shocking especially at the time When the team needed to regroup. Everybody knew the ref had it in for us. Even the QPR fans knew that. I dread it when we get Mark Halsey, Mike Dean, Phil Dowd and Chris Foy. It’s as if these referees want to make a statement with us. I’ve seen bad officiating but this is shocking stuff.
We lost to a less than average side which may disrupt our momentum. We need to bounce back and quick.
Just aside , what happened at Manure. Shocking collapse. They’d been riding their luck with their dodgy defence. Apparently manure have the best young talent in England. Well, we’ll soon find out if that’s true.
If the FA does not investigate Chris Foy for his handling of that match, then Foy was simply carrying out the agenda of the FA. This is ridiculous, simply not acceptable and failure of the “Ovreboistic” level. Didn’t Chelsea recently receive an award for behavior on the pitch, how can a team suddenly become bad in one match? This referee is the type of referee that provokes riot, and I think the FA better be wary of such people who are NOT FIT to be umpire in a match. If there had been any form of aggressive protest from the fans could anyone have blamed them?
I’ve just read that the FA will fine André for what he said post Match yesterday – what an absolute farce! He wasn’t being vulgar or dramatic and he didn’t question Foy’s overall competence, just pointed out that not for the first time a shit refereeing performance has cost us points. What’s the point in the team working hard and strategising all week only for it to be constantly undone because the officials can’t do their job.
I’ve just read that the FA will fine André for what he said post Match yesterday – what an absolute farce! He wasn’t being vulgar or dramatic and he didn’t question Foy’s overall competence, just pointed out that not for the first time a sh*t refereeing performance has cost us points. What’s the point in the team working hard and strategising all week only for it to be constantly undone because the officials can’t do their job.
BC, I completely agree with you on that referee thing. He was shocking. And yes, I am very proud of our performance after going down to 9 men. But there is a worrying trend growing at Chelsea and that is: Our profligacy in front of goal! Remember the manutd game? We could have easily beaten them had we taken our easy chances. Then again as you rightly mentioned, Anelka should have given us the victory yesterday. This is worrying and should be changed. I mean we say man utd are lucky but the thing they do ever so well is taking their chances when it matters the most and that is the only difference between them and us right now. They play badly, but take that one late chance that falls to them, and the exact reverse happens with us. If only our finishing would have been better, we would have been level with City!
Tell me if i am wrong, this is the ideal chelsea team with the current available players
———Cech—————-
Iva — Terry –Alex –A.Cole
———D.Luiz————
Sturdge-Lamps-Mata-Malouda( Malouda can be subbed for mceachran n mata moves to the wing)
———Torres———–
Earls Court, Battersea and White City all possible destinations for relocation.. can we have a article on those venues for our possible new home…
well said bro.. well said!!!!
Hey, guys.. Chelsea just beat Everton 2-1 to reach the Carling Cup QFs!! Amazing match!! Turnbull sent off.. Then Drenthe too.. And Kalou and Sturridge scored for us.. Petr Cech had a blinder of a game.. Saved a penalty! Basically, he kept us in the game, loads of times..
So the CPO have betrayed chelsea now, their personal motives are more important than the clubs development and a slap in the face of the most benevolent owner in football.
The only words I have left to utter will get me banned so I’m out!!
Yeah it was an asinine move by the CPO. I love the Bridge having gone there numerous times as a young kid in the 90s, but unless we move to a bigger stadium we will ultimately be in trouble. A 42,000 seat stadium just won’t generate the kind of revenue that is needed in the age of Fair play regulations, nor is it a proper home for a club of our size. I see the only way the club will win this battle is to pay off all the shareholders. Some fans, huh?
My God, Anton Ferdinand is a certified moron, I don’t care if he is black or white. He was just featured in a very very serious interview in Telegraph, openly sponsored and paid by a video game company, where it was stated he didn’t actually hear Terry calling him black c….?!!! What? Then why you moron made that claim in the first place? It’s so easy to blemish Terry, he is a convenient target. The fact that John leads and is well respected by his teammates, half of whom are black, is easily forgotten… I suspect that Terry holding England captancy against wishes of Anton’s brother maybe playing a role…
The vote by the CPO actually tells me something about the so-called supporters of Chelsea Football Club in the UK. What this tells me is that they have been too comfortable. It’s been too good to be true. We’ve had it too easy. How do we expect the Club to compete for the best players in the world, pay them good competitve wages whilst our gate proceeds remain stunted. When the ticket prices were increased for the Champions League matches, these same “supporters” were calling for boycotts. Sometimes I just feel that people find it fashionable to antagonise Chelsea Football Club. Now our own fans are the ones doing it. Not the FA, not the Premier League. Not Platini , not UEFA. We expect Roman to continually dip into his pocket to keep us competitive whilst the Financial Fair Play is looming large over our Club. The UK media have been against this CPO buy-back for so long that it’s sank into our own fans head. How do u explain Ken Bates advicing CPO shareholders to reject the idea. Ken F*****g Bates! Seriously? Does this guy really care about Chelsea? He has Leeds United to worry abt now.
Now the vote has been decided. The Club may not come back again for another (most probably they wont.)How many Clubs will say to their owner “No, we dont want a bigger Stadium.” Even looserpool with the world acclaimed Anfailed would like to move to a bigger stadium. Conversely their problem is their owners cant even find the funds for that. I sincerely hope this decision by the Say No CPO campaign doesn’t come back to haunt us all. You all know who will then turn around tell us we have the dumbest fans around huh? Yep the British media. I just hope Roman is not deterred by this. He has done more than enough for our beloved CFC.
Predictions for today :
Erm….. Torres scores…..Chelsea wins .. no red cards for the blues ….
Too much to ask for ?
Yep, too much to ask for.
I have witnessed that smart real estate agents everywhere are getting set to FSBO Advertising. They are seeing that it’s not just placing a sign in the front place. It’s really with regards to building relationships with these suppliers who someday will become consumers. So, whenever you give your time and effort to aiding these vendors go it alone – the “Law associated with Reciprocity” kicks in. Great blog post.