Chelsea 1 Saints 0 - Post Match Reactions

Only Spurs left to play and thats one game against every one in league. Halfway point and only 18 points. Simply not good enough

I'd like to think that Les Reed is drawing up a list of replacements and sounding them out discretely. We don't want to do what Everton did and sack the manager willy nilly without a plan.

 

I don't think we'll sack him at all tbh. I just hope that he is backed in the transfer market and we get players in early.

Well, first of all he has to finalise the important part of who to sell. Profit comes first and he must be sweating on the falling value of VVD, although Austin's value must have gone up and Jack as well.

We're fortunate that there are some utter dross teams in this league.

Ha ha, made me laugh as well !!

We're fortunate that there are some utter dross teams in this league.

Yep, Swansea, Newcastle, Stoke, WBA and us. It's a bun fight!

Tick tock!

I am being proven right in my assertions.

You talking about your predictions of 17th over the seasons when we finished 8th, 7th and 6th?

How long before the Chinese hit the panic button. It doesn't matter what Krueger, Reed etc think, sooner rather than later the owners are going to see through the bull****.

We've conceded 7 goals in the last 5 minutes of halves in out last 8 games....has cost us 9 points

You talking about your predictions of 17th over the seasons when we finished 8th' date=' 7th and 6th?[/quote']

 

He knows. Gets plenty of bites though (including me )

Play your best starting 11. Simple. Not rocket science. How many "top 6" sides leave their top scorer on bench? None!

 

I'm sorry, but we need a manager that shows some ambition, and some intent on winning games of football. Some passion and desire. I honestly think I couldnt do a worse job than this clown.

 

HAS to be sacked in morning

Chelsea did today TBF. Generally agree though.

How long before the Chinese hit the panic button. It doesn't matter what Krueger, Reed etc think, sooner rather than later the owners are going to see through the bull****.

This weather should be suiting Krueger. If we could just get the puck up to the offense quicker we'd be ok.

We've conceded 7 goals in the last 5 minutes of halves in out last 8 games....has cost us 9 points

And we'd be in 8th place and 3 points behind Arsenal if we hadn't conceded those last gasp goals. (Yes, I know other teams could probably claim similar "what ifs"....)

"It's a funny old game, Saint...."

Not really. I have warned against complacency and the possibility of relegation. I have been undoubtedly one of the few posters to see what others could not and now I am being proven right in my assertions.

Ah the old "I am now being proved correct in my assertions" routine. The same assertions you were being proved correct in when you said we would go down last season, the season before that, the season before that, the season before.......................

Adkins did a similar thing in his last match here at Chelsea... we were losing 2-0, brought him on and we got it to 2-2. I can see the logic in doing it, especially since Austin does have injury issues. Had he scored, it would have worked wonders.

...

This weather should be suiting Krueger. If we could just get the puck up to the offense quicker we'd be ok.

Perhaps Ralph could show him how to employ the neutral zone trap.

At least we didn't equalise and have to put up with the 11 minutes injury time waiting for the Chelsea winner.

Was unfortunate enough to sit in the main stand with a Chelsea ST holder - terrible game, some comic defending at one point in particular. I've never sat amongst such pretty, preened young men in my life. The whole stand reeked of aftershave, and the chatter about skiing holidays and holiday homes was incessant. At least most at SMS seem to watch the game.

The result belied our performance, as did the fact that Chelski managed to score only one goal, and that wasn't even from open play. Fraser was good in goal, but Chelski didn't really produce much in the way of shots that you would not have expected him to save. It could have been 5/6 to Chelski had their finishing been more deadly, but if the football gods had smiled on us, Charlie would have scored with virtually his first touch to gain us a point, and if the they had been up for a laugh, then we wouldn't have given away the stupid free kick on the edge of the box, and taken all three points.

But football is an even stranger game when one tries to work out any sort of hierarchy based on results. How crap must Leicester be for Crystal Palace to tonk them 3-0?

All this disguises the fact that once again Pellegrino was tactically inept in his choice of the starting line-up and the substitutions. I have been urging him to grow a pair and play 3-5-2 and Sky showed our formation as that. But if anybody believes that Redmond is a striker, they need their brains tested. At least Gabbiadini was up top, but when can we actually see him there alongside Austin, the striker in form?

A shame that Cedric had to go off injured crashing into their ridiculously dangerous ditch around the pitch. And then at the end, we lost Bertrand too, so there goes our best two wing backs and our width, which isn't Pellegrino's fault. What is though, is not playing Hojbjerg against Leicester and then taking him off during the second half. Redmond who has only pace, but no football brain and an inclination to pass backwards when the simpler pass was forwards, should have gone off for Boufal, or even not have started instead of him.

We haven't been too far off from getting some points against some of the top teams, but our position is dire and slipping, from not producing the performances that should have seen us beating the lower down teams, many of which are starting to pick up points and looking over our shoulders. We are not far from halfway through the season and have to beat those teams to put clear water between them and us. I am not confident on the evidence that Pellegrino has displayed so far that he is up to it.

Typical. Narrow defeat which buys Pell needless kudos. We are going down with this clown.

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2 points from 15. Relegation form. Board needs to wake up fast.

So, narrow defeats so far this season vs Man Utd, Man City and Chelsea, two of which we deserved a draw (not today) and unfortunate not to beat Arsenal.

 

Unfortunately, half decent performances against these top sides only serves to mask the underlying issues.

 

If we don't get 3 points next week at home to Huddersfield then Pellegrino's position becomes less tenable...

Replace "less" with "un" and I almost agree with you

Very nearly half a season gone and MP doesn't know his best 11 or best formation. Goes into every match with the intention not to lose rather than setting up to try and win. That philosophy will only ever mean that you will inevitably lose more than you win. Subsequently the players will lose confidence and a losing mentality sets in. We are in a relegation dogfight, and need 3 teams to be worse than us come the end of the season. If we finish 17th with this manager we will have done well.

Just back from the game (best part of the afternoon!) A predictable result, the positives being that we were still in the game for 90 minutes and thus the game remained interesting. Whereas sometimes a bad result a la Leicester can provoke knee-jerk reactions, I am more sure after today's result that Pellegrino is not the right man.

First of all, the team selection wasn't too bad. Perhaps van Dijk is going in January, so we need to see whether our other CBs are good enough, and if he isn't going to play to his full capacity (I don't think he's been bad, but not exceptional either), maybe he shouldn't be an automatic starter. A few dodgy moments here and there today from JS, MY & WH but overall I thought they all did well. Yoshida was superb, and I feel for him that he gave away a seemingly "good foul" which they then scored from.

Forster pulled out some good saves and kept the score down, but once again found wanting for a low shot. Yes, Alonso placed it well but questionable from the goalkeeper.

As for the manager:

- Cedric was clearly too injured to continue early in the game. He is signalling to the bench but nothing. Chelsea nearly score from an attack where Cedric can't make a tackle because he's struggling so much and we still don't make a change, it takes Cedric going down again before we finally take him off. I think the reason is because Pellegrino didn't know what to do. Once the sub was made, he didn't give any instructions. Stephens, Ward-Prowse and Lemina were all looking to the bench for instructions. You can bet Conte would have been making it abundantly clear who was going where and doing what had Moses had to come off.

- Start of second half we looked completely out of sorts. No shape whatsoever. People are debating whether the players can be bothered, but that didn't look like a performance where the players weren't trying, they just simply didn't have any direction.

- I know Redmond is trying his best, and he wasn't terrible every time he got the ball, just more often than not! He never turns and runs at players. His blistering pace is a myth, but even so, is he being instructed not to take risks? Boufal eventually comes on and makes an immediate impact because he runs at players. The two are not even comparable, yet Redmond is relied on time and again while Boufal always seems to be a last resort. Although our shape improved when Boufal came on, it did seem odd that Hojbjerg made way as he had been one of a better players and was just starting to assert himself with more attacking freedom.

- I felt a bit sorry for Gabbiadini. I'm sure people will accuse him of not doing anything, but in the first half I thought every time the ball came to him he did something good with it. And second half had absolutely no service. Just before he was replaced he made several good runs but was never picked out, he looked in despair! Austin comes on and immediately gets a through pass. Bet Gabbiadini was thinking "seriously? why couldn't someone have played me in like that?!", maybe he'd even have scored it. Either way, it looks like we don't work on the attacking third at all in training, because it was so incoherent.

- Strange that Pellegrino doesn't speak to the players he substitutes. Almost like he's annoyed with them. I don't want to be sucked into thinking that a quiet/focused man lacks 'passion', but I couldn't help but wonder about the difference in managers when Chelsea had a free kick near the end. Conte was shouting and gesticulating giving instructions, while Pellegrino stood with his hands in his pockets. As a one off, ok that means nothing, but over the course of the game it's amazing how many more instructions their manager seemed to want to give than ours. Not necessarily a problem, just an observation.

Replace "less" with "un" and I almost agree with you

Think he and Black should be gone by Monday, not because of today but the defeats or dropped points to teams we should be thumping, only problem is i do not trust Reed, never have, to find a replacement.

we have been fed b*llsh*t about the Southampton way but where are the players coming through the system? something needs to happen because we are drifting badly and do not kid yourself there are 3 worst teams, current form suggests that is not the case

Think he and Black should be gone by Monday, not because of today but the defeats or dropped points to teams we should be thumping, only problem is i do not trust Reed, never have, to find a replacement.

we have been fed b*llsh*t about the Southampton way but where are the players coming through the system? something needs to happen because we are drifting badly and do not kid yourself there are 3 worst teams, current form suggests that is not the case

Regarding Black, was he there today?

Ah the old "I am now being proved correct in my assertions" routine. The same assertions you were being proved correct in when you said we would go down last season, the season before that, the season before that, the season before.......................

Actually I may well be proven correct, even if my time frame is a little bit out of form.

Actually I may well be proven correct, even if my time frame is a little bit out of form.

I predict that the sun will go supernova tomorrow, or maybe the day after, or perhaps my time frame may be "a little out of form".

Only Spurs left to play and thats one game against every one in league. Halfway point and only 18 points. Simply not good enough

Currently on track for 36 points, very touch and go.

Another nail in MP's coffin, surely he can't go on for much longer?

Very nearly half a season gone and MP doesn't know his best 11 or best formation.

This is complete nonsense. Just because he’s changed formation against City, Arsenal & Chelsea doesn’t mean he doesn’t know his best formation. It’s called being flexible, if he played the same formation against every side he’d be accused of having no plan B. He’s played the same formation in nearly every game.

I’d also suggest he knows his best team in “ winnable” games the past 6 weeks . He plays the same keeper & full backs when fit, plays VvD , OR , Tadic , Boufal & Austin. That’s 8 regulars, pretty steady for a side that keeps losing games. Again, if he played the same 11 week in week out, he’d face criticism.

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Personally, I thought the game went to plan for the most part, keep it tight, restrict them to long shots and try to hit them on the break.

 

Austin would not have lasted 90 minutes having to cover the ground that Gabbi did, so bring him on for the last half hour.

 

We had 3 good half chances, plus a few scrambles in their box, minfd you they had a fair few scrambles in our box too.

 

Whatever genius came up with the idea of keepers showing the wall side of the goal at free-kick needs shooting . It is a terrible starting position, unless you are Lloris or De Gea.

Watson I presume.

.... That’s 8 regulars, pretty steady for a side that keeps losing games....

We're fortunate that there are some utter dross teams in this league.

We're not fortunate that we have become one of them

Regarding Black, was he there today?

I was watching on TV. Yes, he was there.

We're not fortunate that we have become one of them

We're just dross. We're not quite 'utter dross' just yet

This is complete nonsense. Just because he’s changed formation against City, Arsenal & Chelsea doesn’t mean he doesn’t know his best formation. It’s called being flexible, if he played the same formation against every side he’d be accused of having no plan B. He’s played the same formation in nearly every game.

 

I’d also suggest he knows his best team in “ winnable” games the past 6 weeks . He plays the same keeper & full backs when fit, plays VvD , OR , Tadic , Boufal & Austin. That’s 8 regulars, pretty steady for a side that keeps losing games. Again, if he played the same 11 week in week out, he’d face criticism.

 

 

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As I live and breathe - the Duck One just passed up a chance to say "Pony"

We're fortunate that there are some utter dross teams in this league.

At this exact moment in time, I’d say only Swansea are worse than us.

Imo, We are on par with Newcastle, stoke, WBA, Bmouth, Huddersfield and Brighton.

I don’t think Palace and West Ham will get dragged back into it, both have good players playing for the manager (we have good players, just most that don’t want to be here / play for the current man in charge).

I was watching on TV. Yes, he was there.

Sort of puts a spanner in the works of the poster who was saying he'd gone 3 games ago on a number of threads yesterday lol.

Sort of puts a spanner in the works of the poster who was saying he'd gone 3 games ago on a number of threads yesterday lol.

Well perhaps he'd just come back to clear out his locker and stayed to watch the game for old time's sake. I think the poster who said he's left is definitely right. They wouldn't bother announcing such a trivial event on the official website or anything would they?

Meh the manager isn't as good as the last one and a lot of the players are bang average four top 8 finishes and a cup final were our high point hope you all took time to enjoy it because it because it looks like the good times are over. The sad thing is we've turned into a ****e version of a Pullis West Brom or a Burnley, working hard, keeping everyone behind the ball and rarely threatening, but without the quality to keep a clean sheet and nick a goal..... basically we are crap.

Just back from the game (best part of the afternoon!) A predictable result, the positives being that we were still in the game for 90 minutes and thus the game remained interesting. Whereas sometimes a bad result a la Leicester can provoke knee-jerk reactions, I am more sure after today's result that Pellegrino is not the right man.

 

First of all, the team selection wasn't too bad. Perhaps van Dijk is going in January, so we need to see whether our other CBs are good enough, and if he isn't going to play to his full capacity (I don't think he's been bad, but not exceptional either), maybe he shouldn't be an automatic starter. A few dodgy moments here and there today from JS, MY & WH but overall I thought they all did well. Yoshida was superb, and I feel for him that he gave away a seemingly "good foul" which they then scored from.

 

Forster pulled out some good saves and kept the score down, but once again found wanting for a low shot. Yes, Alonso placed it well but questionable from the goalkeeper.

 

As for the manager:

 

- Cedric was clearly too injured to continue early in the game. He is signalling to the bench but nothing. Chelsea nearly score from an attack where Cedric can't make a tackle because he's struggling so much and we still don't make a change, it takes Cedric going down again before we finally take him off. I think the reason is because Pellegrino didn't know what to do. Once the sub was made, he didn't give any instructions. Stephens, Ward-Prowse and Lemina were all looking to the bench for instructions. You can bet Conte would have been making it abundantly clear who was going where and doing what had Moses had to come off.

 

- Start of second half we looked completely out of sorts. No shape whatsoever. People are debating whether the players can be bothered, but that didn't look like a performance where the players weren't trying, they just simply didn't have any direction.

 

- I know Redmond is trying his best, and he wasn't terrible every time he got the ball, just more often than not! He never turns and runs at players. His blistering pace is a myth, but even so, is he being instructed not to take risks? Boufal eventually comes on and makes an immediate impact because he runs at players. The two are not even comparable, yet Redmond is relied on time and again while Boufal always seems to be a last resort. Although our shape improved when Boufal came on, it did seem odd that Hojbjerg made way as he had been one of a better players and was just starting to assert himself with more attacking freedom.

 

- I felt a bit sorry for Gabbiadini. I'm sure people will accuse him of not doing anything, but in the first half I thought every time the ball came to him he did something good with it. And second half had absolutely no service. Just before he was replaced he made several good runs but was never picked out, he looked in despair! Austin comes on and immediately gets a through pass. Bet Gabbiadini was thinking "seriously? why couldn't someone have played me in like that?!", maybe he'd even have scored it. Either way, it looks like we don't work on the attacking third at all in training, because it was so incoherent.

 

- Strange that Pellegrino doesn't speak to the players he substitutes. Almost like he's annoyed with them. I don't want to be sucked into thinking that a quiet/focused man lacks 'passion', but I couldn't help but wonder about the difference in managers when Chelsea had a free kick near the end. Conte was shouting and gesticulating giving instructions, while Pellegrino stood with his hands in his pockets. As a one off, ok that means nothing, but over the course of the game it's amazing how many more instructions their manager seemed to want to give than ours. Not necessarily a problem, just an observation.

This is complete nonsense. Just because he’s changed formation against City, Arsenal & Chelsea doesn’t mean he doesn’t know his best formation. It’s called being flexible, if he played the same formation against every side he’d be accused of having no plan B. He’s played the same formation in nearly every game.

 

I’d also suggest he knows his best team in “ winnable” games the past 6 weeks . He plays the same keeper & full backs when fit, plays VvD , OR , Tadic , Boufal & Austin. That’s 8 regulars, pretty steady for a side that keeps losing games. Again, if he played the same 11 week in week out, he’d face criticism.

 

 

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Don't agree with you. His best formation is one which scores goals and wins games. 4 out of 18 suggests he doesn't know his best formation. 8 regulars? I'll give you the full backs and goalie, but he's chopped and changed the centre backs no end of times. To suggest that Boufal (8 starts) and Austin (5 starts) have been regulars this season is, to use your phrase 'complete nonsense'.

Just back from the game (best part of the afternoon!) A predictable result, the positives being that we were still in the game for 90 minutes and thus the game remained interesting. Whereas sometimes a bad result a la Leicester can provoke knee-jerk reactions, I am more sure after today's result that Pellegrino is not the right man.

 

First of all, the team selection wasn't too bad. Perhaps van Dijk is going in January, so we need to see whether our other CBs are good enough, and if he isn't going to play to his full capacity (I don't think he's been bad, but not exceptional either), maybe he shouldn't be an automatic starter. A few dodgy moments here and there today from JS, MY & WH but overall I thought they all did well. Yoshida was superb, and I feel for him that he gave away a seemingly "good foul" which they then scored from.

 

Forster pulled out some good saves and kept the score down, but once again found wanting for a low shot. Yes, Alonso placed it well but questionable from the goalkeeper.

 

As for the manager:

 

- Cedric was clearly too injured to continue early in the game. He is signalling to the bench but nothing. Chelsea nearly score from an attack where Cedric can't make a tackle because he's struggling so much and we still don't make a change, it takes Cedric going down again before we finally take him off. I think the reason is because Pellegrino didn't know what to do. Once the sub was made, he didn't give any instructions. Stephens, Ward-Prowse and Lemina were all looking to the bench for instructions. You can bet Conte would have been making it abundantly clear who was going where and doing what had Moses had to come off.

 

- Start of second half we looked completely out of sorts. No shape whatsoever. People are debating whether the players can be bothered, but that didn't look like a performance where the players weren't trying, they just simply didn't have any direction.

 

- I know Redmond is trying his best, and he wasn't terrible every time he got the ball, just more often than not! He never turns and runs at players. His blistering pace is a myth, but even so, is he being instructed not to take risks? Boufal eventually comes on and makes an immediate impact because he runs at players. The two are not even comparable, yet Redmond is relied on time and again while Boufal always seems to be a last resort. Although our shape improved when Boufal came on, it did seem odd that Hojbjerg made way as he had been one of a better players and was just starting to assert himself with more attacking freedom.

 

- I felt a bit sorry for Gabbiadini. I'm sure people will accuse him of not doing anything, but in the first half I thought every time the ball came to him he did something good with it. And second half had absolutely no service. Just before he was replaced he made several good runs but was never picked out, he looked in despair! Austin comes on and immediately gets a through pass. Bet Gabbiadini was thinking "seriously? why couldn't someone have played me in like that?!", maybe he'd even have scored it. Either way, it looks like we don't work on the attacking third at all in training, because it was so incoherent.

 

- Strange that Pellegrino doesn't speak to the players he substitutes. Almost like he's annoyed with them. I don't want to be sucked into thinking that a quiet/focused man lacks 'passion', but I couldn't help but wonder about the difference in managers when Chelsea had a free kick near the end. Conte was shouting and gesticulating giving instructions, while Pellegrino stood with his hands in his pockets. As a one off, ok that means nothing, but over the course of the game it's amazing how many more instructions their manager seemed to want to give than ours. Not necessarily a problem, just an observation.

Interesting read thanks.

The commentators at one point remarked that Gabbiadini was making runs that his teammates just were not picking up. No one seems to be on his wavelength.

On train home, with all trains being cancelled from West Brompton and having to go the long way round, didn’t help with today..

worrying atmosphere in the away end imo. Very flat, and kind of accepting of our rubbishness before, during and after the game.

Didnt deserve anything out of the game. We tried, no doubting it, we just weren’t anywhere near good enough. We’re well set up defensively, and are terrific passing it around our 5 defenders, but once last the halfway line, or anywhere near Redmond, that’s about as far as it goes. Very ponderous, very slow, no real ideas and back we go.

Losing away at Chelsea is not something to get in a huff about, but we aren’t showing anything and I’m still not sure what MP is trying to do. We’re not being spoken about yet by the media as dropping into the mix, but think our time will be up on that very shortly now.

Any news on the injuries : Cedric and Ryan ?

We have one of the biggest games of the season coming next week and we need both to be available.

(IMO the Manager needs to go but the 3pts next week are more important)

On train home, with all trains being cancelled from West Brompton and having to go the long way round, didn’t help with today..

 

worrying atmosphere in the away end imo. Very flat, and kind of accepting of our rubbishness before, during and after the game.

 

Didnt deserve anything out of the game. We tried, no doubting it, we just weren’t anywhere near good enough. We’re well set up defensively, and are terrific passing it around our 5 defenders, but once last the halfway line, or anywhere near Redmond, that’s about as far as it goes. Very ponderous, very slow, no real ideas and back we go.

 

Losing away at Chelsea is not something to get in a huff about, but we aren’t showing anything and I’m still not sure what MP is trying to do. We’re not being spoken about yet by the media as dropping into the mix, but think our time will be up on that very shortly now.

Really? I didn't think so. Sure, it wasn't raucous from first minute to last, but we were singing a fair bit, and stayed supportive of the team the entire game. You might be right about our 'acceptance', but I'm not sure that continuing to be positive/lighthearted instead of getting angsty about our play should necessarily reflect badly on the support!

Not saying it was bad, don’t get me wrong. Didn’t mean the atmosphere as a whole, just a feeling about the fans that’s all.

Don't agree with you. His best formation is one which scores goals and wins games. 4 out of 18 suggests he doesn't know his best formation. 8 regulars? I'll give you the full backs and goalie, but he's chopped and changed the centre backs no end of times. To suggest that Boufal (8 starts) and Austin (5 starts) have been regulars this season is, to use your phrase 'complete nonsense'.

Had I said that it would have been complete nonsense, or pony even. Seeing as I said " the past 6 weeks", I don't quite understand why you've quoted figures from the whole season.

As for formations, what sort of argument is that. If a side play the same formation week in, week out , does it mean the manager knows his best formation when they score & win, but doesn't when they lose. Bizarre train of thought

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Feel a bit for pellegrino as he's in a position he shouldn't have ever been in. There was absolutely nothing in his management career that suggested he'd be right for a premiership team. Especially as under puel we were very defensive and reed got rid of puel on that basis. Which makes pellegrinos appointment baffling. We got lucky with poch as he was unknown, did well to get Koeman. But reeds last 2 additions was been poor and it's painfully obvious to 90% of the fan base we're in serious trouble.

I can't think of any player that has improved and that's pretty telling. Reed to sack pellegrino would be falling on his sword so someone needs to get rid of reed first.

Something isn't right at the club that's for sure.