Sheaf Saint

Yeah, this. Friend never going to give a pen for that though.

And this is the difference. We bring on Long and Walcott, Chelsea bring on Mount and Chilwell. Che and Tella obviously couldn't continue and we don't have any other options because Broja can't play.

Actually, I'd say our best in the air is the player who couldn't play against his parent club tonight.

Cracking game. Don't really care what happens from here because I expected us to get beaten when I saw the strong team Chelsea had put out. It's been great entertainment and we've had a proper go at them.

For all our good play, we must stop conceding free headers from corners.

Oof. That was a poor tackle from Che. Never going to win the ball with that.

That was glorious from Stu, and close from Arma!

And laughed about it.

That's the point of Che 😉

He literally had his hand on KWP's shoulder holding him down and preventing him from jumping FFS.

He's just come back from injury and he's up against a defence that hasn't conceded a single goal from open play this season. I'm not expecting miracles TBF.

Uh oh. That's not going to go down well with Ducky 🤣

How is that not a back pass then?

Doing more than alright. Giving them a proper game so far. Tactically, I think Ralph has got this spot on. Maybe that's why it's so quiet on here tonight - the anti-Ralph posters don't have anything to complain about.

Valery just tried to walk the ball past two defenders.

Unusually quiet on here tonight. Where is everyone?

How on earth did the ref / lino not spot that shirt puling?

Well we're certainly getting stuck into them, but the gulf in quality on the ball is obvious.

http://hockeyweb.site/daily/news/chels26/

Ah, taters just said.. KWP at RB, Salisu at LB and Valery in the centre. Hmmmmmm.

Only just got a working stream. What does our formation look like?

Good to see Stu is deemed fit enough to start. Whatever team Chelsea put out, the thought of Valery at RB worries me. Him aside, it's a strong looking team.

I've never got my head round IPTV streaming, but I know my Samsung TV includes some IPTV apps. Can anyone please point me to an idiot's guide to finding and setting up a suitable provider?

Can't say I'm filled with confidence TBH. Last time he played (at Sheff Utd) he was dreadful defensively. I'd be very concerned about playing him at CB against a more competent team.

Yes, it seems expectations are too high among certain fans. Many have such a simplistic view of the current situation that they are incapable of thinking anything other than "it must all be the manager's fault, sack him". It's idiotic to not take other considerations into account. We are a cash-strapped club with a relatively poor squad, and Ralph currently has one task and one task only - to keep us in the PL until such time we can secure the investment we need to start competing again. He's on course to achieve that as we're currently 4 points above the relegation spots having had the toughest set of opening fixtures of any team in the league. And he's doing that while getting us playing attractive, entertaining football, and having drastically improved our defensive setup. We *might* have got a few extra points by now if Redmond or Moi or Theo were better finishers, or if Bednarek didn't keep having brain farts and making costly errors, or if JWP hadn't have been sent off at Chelsea. These are all things that are out of the manager's control, so to blame him for them and want him replaced is just plain stupid. If we change managers now, our squad will still have the same limitations and it won't suddenly make us the world-beaters that some people expect us to be. People are saying we should consider form stretching back to last season as well, but the difference in our performances now compared to the painfully bad ones being served up last winter/spring when there were so many other factors in play is so obvious that I can't agree with that. It's how we're performing in the here and now that matters. We're so much more organised and have become much harder to beat, and have only really lost one game that we shouldn't have (Wolves). We were on course to get a creditable draw with Chelsea until the red card, and we lost at Goodison where we always lose anyway. Aside from that we have been competitive in every game and our defensive record is better than Man Utd, Spurs, Arsenal, Leicester and Everton. I'm not seeing any evidence that we are as bad as some of the doomsayers are making out. They must be watching different games from me. Of course we need to start translating some of our good performances into wins. But we've already played 5 of the current top 8, and with much more favourable fixtures in the 2nd qtr of the season, and with Stu & JWP returning, I absolutely believe we will. If we don't, and we're still where we are having played everyone, THEN I'll start to get concerned. Until then, I prefer to remain confident.