Chez

This tactic of not bothering to defend free kicks and hope for an offside is an absolutely shit show. I've said it all season, its pure luck that we have not conceded a hatful of goals. We have three centre backs in the side. Why do we need to gamble in this way. Defend properly.

when a CM get injured and we don't replace like for like we become wide open and crumble. Likewise not having a like for like CM replacement available to substitute a tiring player has cost us time after time. When Romeu got injured I feared the worse. When we didn't bring Juka on we as good as handed the victory to Leeds. I don't know if he would have changed anything, Ive not seen much of him, but I do know that our other midfielders are not cut out to run a game. That's just just one issue. We have a lot of others...but they are well covered in this thread. We are painful to watch. I'm hopeful we can turn it around. Not sure how Ralph turned it around last time, but he needs to repeat the trick.

Agreed, but you still need to be brave on the ball and attack with pace and purpose. I watched the Everton vs City game during the week and they were backs agains the wall for a lot of the game, but when they got the ball they moved it well and were a threat. The six defeats has knocked the stuffing out of us. Hopefully we can take a bit of confidence into the Leeds game - we need to be positive, not sit and wait for them to make chances.

the quality of finish for both goals shows he is an extremely talented footballer. Hopefully he can show a bit more. He faded badly in the first games and he didn't really dictate much today at all.

Could Chelsea have been less stretched? If you were happy with the amount of possession we had and the chances we created, that's fine. This was a million miles away from some the displays we have seen in the past year where we go toe to toe, are brave on the ball, attack with intend and cause opponents problems. We were meek, which is expected after so many defeats, but anyone thinking we have turned a massive corner is mistaken. We need KWP back in the side quickly. Playing Bednarek there is basically giving up.

they created quite a lot of very good opportunities, but the final ball was absolutely terrible. So yes, in terms of MOTD clips, which require an actual shot at the end of a move, maybe little, but that's not the whole game. IMO we were very fortunate at times and on another day we might have been behind. It was much more about their failure to execute than our good defending. I'm not saying it could have been another 9-0, but there are games agains the better sides when you get the run of the green a bit and that helps to avoid a big defeat. Second half we were better, but created absolutely nothing. This was not a good display. We competed and held on, not much more.

we were fortunate to be leading considering how shit we were first half, so don't see it as dropping two points. Fought hard in the second half and made life harder for them. Didn't do much going forward, but the balance between attack and defence hasn't been right so we had to be more reserved.

thank god we leave 29 points goodbye

Djenepo has defended well, and worked hard, but thats lazy and almost cost us.

lovely skills from Djenepo. Should be anther yellow.

great workrate and block Romeu

excellent stop

Excellent Redmond. Simple stuff, drop the should and get a cross in. Great header too. Unlucky Saints.

another good tackle from Djenepo. He doesn't mind a slide tackle does he. Coem on Saints. Chelsea can go to sleep at times.

got the byeline for the first time in about 3 years. Nice

Djenepo's putting in a decent shift defensively.

good play Romeu. More of that needed.

I'm not talking about that challenge. You are right, that may have been painful. I'm talking about almost every time anyone touches him in past Saints games.

I know Djenepo has been caught a couple of times, but in general, boy does he make a meal of things. He rolls around crying like a baby then a minute later he's fine. He basically tries to con the ref, maybe not with the Kante challenge, but others and I think the refs are wise to him. He's perhaps become the boy that cries wolf

don't think you can request yellows via VAR can they?

Get in there. What a brilliant finish. Football, bloody hell.

we are getting run ragged. We are wide open everywhere. We look likely to concede with every attack. Thankfully we haven't. Got to adjust quickly.

I've wondered if this would be beginning of the end of football as a live spectator sport? The thrill of witnessing a goal is what going to games is all about. Without the thrill, what are you left with? Its fine for TV viewers as you get to see the replays and dare I say it, you are less emotionally entwined in the action. If I was an owner, I'd be slightly concerned that VAR may be damaging my product in the long term, assuming people stop going to games because of it.

every season is the same, they moan how shit he is for the first ten or so games, then he wins a shed load of games to get them in the promotion hunt, they lose in the play offs and then he is back to being shit again. It must be difficult for their fans to know if this is good or bad news.

the save from Mane is top draw. I don't recall ever seeing that. Fair play, but most of the others are just good saves and ones you'd expect him or anyone else to save. I recall discussing Forster's ability at length on several previous threads. I have said in the past that he gets himself into good positions. He is a big old lad and that makes him hard to beat if strikers just hit is hard. He's an imposing figure and at times he is a bit of ball magnet. On the flip side though, for low shots in the corner he just doesn't get down quickly enough. For a big guy his command of the box is woeful. He has never come off his line to claim catches - and that worked well with VVD and Fonte (and Morgan and Wanyama and Ricky etc.) as everyone knew where they stood and won everything. Less so when we didnt have that strength on the air. Maybe with vestagaard and Bednerak it can work again.