Chelsea popped up with a moment of absolute quality and got us, but we deserved a point. We should have had a pen. Why they didn't even review that is beyond me. And the goalscorer is lucky to have stayed on the pitch. I don't know if it was a red or not, but it was pretty damn close. Either way, if either of those things had gone our way we would have gotten something from the game. I can see why Eddie decided to play the way he did, but I completely disagree with his decision to bring on ASM in to a game like that. If we're going to sit back and defend, bringing on ASM is a pointless decision. He cannot defend for ****. Ratings - Dubz - 7 - Good. Manquillo - 7 Lascelles - 7 - Mostly good. Schar - 7.5 - Quite solid Burn - 7.5 - I'm still gonna rate him a 7.5, because even though you can argue he slipped up for the goal, he was solid all game, and it was quality ball, quality touch and quality finish. There's no guarantee that Burn could have really done much more about that, and to believe that it's burn fault all round that we lost the game would be incredibly harsh. Targett - 7.5 -MOTM - Gonna give him MOTM, because at times he threatened Chelsea with some great balls into the box and was good defensively. Longstaff - 6- Serviceable, good work rate but not much better. Bruno - 7 - Good Murphy - 6 - Worked hard Wood - 5 - Ok. Almiron - 3 - ****ing useless. A good shot on goal, but offered nothing else. Please don't ever buy any one else from the MLS. ASM - 1 - Literally no point playing him in a game like this, late on when we're defending a draw. I don't know what Eddie was thinking bringing him on. He should only be playing if we're on the offense and can get out of our own ****ing half. Unless you want to play him as a support striker, you don't play him in a game like this on the wing because he just becomes a liability.
We weren't necessarily defending for a draw, we'd had plenty of chances throughout the game, so bringing ASM on was justified, as he'd bring a new dimension to the attack and increase our chances of nicking a win at the end.
No it wasn't justified. We were playing 5-4-1, and at the time we were largely playing out of our own half. Like or not, that's a defensive formation. We had our spells in the game, but we were naturally going to be camped back in our own half for a strong duration of this game, and in that sort of situation, ASM is a liability. A far more sensible thing to have done would have been to play him from the beginning and try and nick a goal and then take him off later when Chelsea would naturally be pressing harder for a winner, considering they were the favourites and expecting a win probably more than we were. If we were to bring him on, it should have been as a central striker, because playing him as a winger in a formation like that is largely pointless. He has to dribble his way out of his own half and that's dangerous. Bringing him in a situation like that was a stupid decision, and I was right, considering he did **** all but give the ball away and dribble his way into nothing and do no defending. It WAS the wrong decision. You could have brought on other players in that situation such as Fraser and Gayle that would have made more sense. I know they came on, but only after Chelsea scored. Fraser is less of a liability when sitting back.
I didn't think Almiron was that bad. They guy gets through an amazing amount of work and was really useful in the pressing game that Howe was trying to play. Sure his final ball was not very good but I still think he is a useful player to have. Thought the defence played pretty well but Lascelles is really not comfortable on the ball. I can see why Howe played him in this game but don't see a role for him in a team that is trying to build from the back. Same applies to Longstaff to a lesser extent. I assume St Maximin was used as we really didnt have a lot of other options and we were hoping he could create a bit more going forward, but I think that and Kovacic coming on, was what caused our loss of shape in the last few minutes. Burn was definitely at fault with the goal. He lost his man and it allowed the floated ball in to Havertz. It was a shame as he had another solid game until then.
It's harsh thought. It wasn't a routine goal, it was a perfectly executed world class goal. His fault, but there's no guarantee he'd have stopped it anyway. I wouldn't mark him too down for it really. He may have been MOTM if it wasn't for that.
Burn can't be blamed. Both Havertz and Werner screwed up easier chances, that touch from Havertz is ridiculous. Anyone saying he shouldn't be on the pitch is a stretch, it could have gone either way but there's no malicious intent for me Almiron worked hard, probably around 5/10. Wood was abysmal. He was really good vs Saints the other night, but his performance vs Chelsea was amateurish, he did absolutely nothing right and the constant turnover means we really struggled to get some respite. He was clumsy, haphazard and I'd be surprised if he completed more than 5 passes all game I'd mark Schar down to 7 for missing that header and swiping that volley over the bar. Solid in defence, but could have done much more up the field. Agree with Targett as MoM, completely dependable and great deliveries time and time again.
Tash and I in full agreeance! ASM shouldn't have been bought on, at that point in that game. Class technical player but has a heart the size of a pea when it comes to battling and running for his team mates. If Chelsea had 12 with the ref we had 10 when he came on. The only positive I could see from him playing is he's a few mins in the legs for vs Everton but completely threw our chances when he came on. Other than that I thought Howe could have killed the tempo a little bit with the 2 remaining subs in the last 5/10 mins - no good throwing Gayle and Fraser on for 3 mins when we've just gone a goal down. Fraser could have made a world of difference for the last 20 mins in place of Almiron and I would have thrown Ritchie on as well for the last 10/15 just to steam around the pitch and kick lumps out of Chelsea but past that ASM was the only danger man on the bench so get why Howe put him on but it must be so disheartening for your team mates who've given 110% for 70 mins to see him come on and do that pathetic jog he does to close players down. But with all that said it was a free throw for us, can be proud of the lads for the way they went about it for 89 and a half mins and one moment of pure class from Chelsea stole the points and hopefully that sense of injustice will boost the team spirit over the coming weeks. Can't fault the team in anyway shape of form. What you can blame is the officials. Genuinely think VAR needs to come out and explain that penalty decision in public because it doesn't get clearer than that, shirt pulling, 2/3 failed attempts to win the ball from the wrong side and doesn't touch the ball at any point. I can not see how they can defend that and the linesman (at that end), ref and VAR officials need demoting to League One for a few weeks or sent on gardening leave because it was appalling. Don't think Chelsea fans would disagree tbh!
I think Burn is a great defender and yes it was a great goal but he lost his man there. I am just saying he was at fault, which he was. Unfortunately defenders and goalkeepers mistakes are more likely to lead to goals so the punishment for their mistakes is more severe. You could see Burn knew it as well. He was distraught about it. He has probably saved us 10X that number of goals in the last few matches but to him that one will hurt. That's what makes him such a solid defender. Too many people tend to let their view on a players performance be clouded by their general feelings about that player. They should be judged on their performance in every game.
It's a fair point; I didn't disagree, I just think we're talking about levels here and the movement, pass and touch from Havertz/Jorginho were 10/10, genuinely World Class. As I said, both Werner and Havertz got in behind Burn's side of the defence twice earlier in the match. But Burn still did so much quality work he rates highly. Targett was MoM, though, because he didn't make any errors. I'm still fuming about the decisions, mind. I didn't even feel this strongly about the Man City Fraser non-penalty debacle, which was bad enough, but the Chron put out a stat which reckons we're 19th out of 20 clubs on VAR decisions going against us. Only Norwich have it worse. To survive when you've spent half your season under Bruce/Ashley, winless in 14 and with Premier League desperately trying to get you out of the league is nothing short of miraculous. To narrowly lose to Chelsea when they're bringing on Pulisic, Kovacic, Lukaku and we're starting with Longstaff, Almiron and bringing on Dwight ****ing Gayle is nuts. Howe is invincible, I hope it stays that way for many years to come.
If anyone thinks Burn is the reason we lost yesterday they're foolish. It was a fantastic goal, and it's not his fault we didn't score and played 5 at the back with a tonne of players out injured.
Tash - once again no-one is saying that. I am saying that he was at fault for the goal, mainly due to poor positioning. There are multiple reasons why we lost - we didn't score, we didn't get a clear penalty, we lost any control in midfield in the last 15mins. I suspect that if Burn hadn't been playing we would have conceded a few more. He somehow brings that whole back line together so that even if Lascelles plays we don't look too bad.
