Bruce should have started with those two. I didn't see the substitutes and I don't know they were even in the squad until they started warming up during the match.
The first half performance by Chelsea was outstanding. McGregor is a fantastic keeper. We have to be more sensible in the wall. It's our wall and you don't let the other team split it. I'm not going to criticise our players because of the quality of the opposition. We'll be able to judge better next week.
I was really pleased with Sagbo. Sharp, strong, held the ball well, headed well - could be a real star in there.
What match where u watching. The only supporters I could I hear most of the time where the Hull City supporters.
same happened away to brighton last season for their goal in the second half, you could hear mcgregor shouting "elmo push into him, elmo push into him" as he directed the wall for a freekick
Overall though I am pleased with the team. I hope I am proven wrong about my gut feeling towards graham and Koren or I hope it doesn't take Bruce too long to accept it either. Dropping players is tough but I think something is not working anymore with Elmo. Some semi-decent crosses but far too many poor ones and soooooooo predictable every time. However our team looks good. Looks miles better than Palace imo. For us to stay up we will need to have no fear. Play the same no matter who we play and I don't think we can afford to try an squeeze a 1-0 win. 2-0 down today we should have thrown the kitchen sink.
I really enjoyed the game. Once we passed the 5 minute mark, it seemed like it could have been a nightmare game. Chelsea have obvious quality, pretty much every single one of their players cost more than our whole team - and Oscar, Hazard and the likes passing at the start was impressive. The penalty save was great, but it was only a matter of time before we conceded. From sort-of 30 minutes on though, once we calmed down and had a little more confidence, we just got better and better though. Really nice to watch at times - even if we didn't quite have the final product. It would be harsh to blame anybody for that though, Graham had almost nothing to work with, and Chelsea were obviously very difficult to break down. Huddlestone and Livermore coming on was another turning point. It gave the team, and the fans a real lift. The atmosphere was brilliant after that - we played well, i'm not sure how much Chelsea sat back with big games coming shortly, but either way, we looked good. Brady was great on the left wing (after being a little dodgy earlier on), Sagbo put himself about a bit, and the midfield seemed to really enjoy passing the ball. Great day, i'm optimistic about the season at the moment.
My team for Norwich would be McGregor Rosenior Davies Chester Figueroa Huddleston Livermore Aluko Brady Sagbo Proschwitz
Personally I think a lot of encouragement should be taken from City's performance this afternoon. They were up against one of the best teams in Europe, everyone of their players trying to impress their returning "hero status" manager. City in the first 35-40 minutes were battered by a very, very good team. The Tigers exhibited a fair degree of nervousness and were overawed by the occasion. Hardly surprising, a league higher than most had played in with any distinction before, and against such daunting opposition...are Chelsea not one of the favourites to win the whole bloody thing this year ? Wave after wave of Chelsea attacking movement required total defensive concentration, with no time to even contemplate mounting an attacking threat of their own. The two goals conceded did result from defensive errors ( a missed check/tackle before their first (well engineered and well taken goal) and a miscalculated free kick conceded ( ok, it was Lampard, but let's face it, he can't have scored too many free kicks of that calibre before from that distance). It may have been an attempt to reduce the relentless pressure we were under at the time. So it backfired. McGregor was not that far off getting a fist on Lampard's effort. 2-0 down at half time was IMO, given how Chelsea were playing, a creditable result. We were not allowed a sniff in the first half. I don't see any published possession stats for the first half, but I would hazard a guess, (from my vantage point of watching on TV) it was close to 80/20. No wonder Graham didn't do much...the ball could never get to him...it was a major assault at the other end. If we did get the ball from a frantic clearance ( or even a calmish engineered move out of defense) those in midfield didn't get a chance to breathe before the wave came back again. Chelsea were that good up to that point. End of match possession stats 52/48. I saw that MAJOR shift starting about 5 minutes before half time. City started to calm down,( relax even) and gain some confidence. They pretty well held their own against the same "superstar" Chelsea team from that point on. Ok, they didn't create too many chances, but neither did they allow the opposition to dominate proceedings. Huddlestone's & Livermore's insertion added to their composure on the ball, and they played well. Just didn't create the chances to capitalize on. That will come. We should get those 10 wins this season, plus 10 draws AT LEAST if we play as well as we did in the second half today. The League does not have 20 Chelseas in it. Very encouraging day IMO.
Sometimes you need movement in the box to make them effective though.... To be fair, we knocked it around nicely and put some decent balls in that second half. Gonna have to work on penetration though. It's very similar to last season really. We'll create opportunities if there's someone who can create a yard of space in the opposition box.
I've just been watching the first 20 minutes on Sky and I think they quoted 76:24 possession. Brady would have been better wide and Huddlestone and Livermore should have started. I think Sagbo would have been better in Graham's position but I suppose Bruce wanted to bed him in. I don't think many lone strikers would have done well against Chelsea yesterday. I'm still pissed by the free kick - we were incredibly naive.
Did anybody see the girl wearing a black ball gown? What a ridiculous thing to wear to a football match.
Thanks great stats. Maybe thats why the Daily Mail had Elmo as our best player. Its not baseball but stats dont lie.
I disagree, I thought it was great management. If he started those 2 after 2 days with us then whoever made way would've spat their dummies. "What chance have I got when the manager just picks people on name rather than effort in training?" and all of a sudden you've got an unhappy camp. After this nobody dropping out of midfield - probably Meyler and AN Other - really cant say a thing. I was also hugely disappointed with Graham. Not his ability but his unwillingness to do something about not getting the ball on a plate. We're away at Chelsea, you're not going to see much ball so ****ing run your bollocks off chasing every single lost cause. Sagbo was much much better.
team did well me thinks , brucie throw them to the wolfs but our battle comes with teams at bottom./..................onward and upwards
You are too generous he was worse than awful,nowhere near up to speed .He seemed to wander around aimlessly when they had the ball and was undecided what to do with it when he had it.Oscar an co. mesmerised our midfield and only when Huddleston came on did we settle and looked much calmer. In Meyler's defense he may have performed better with Huddleston around him but with the starting set up he was totally lost. I feel he is a better player than either Bruce or McShane so hope they never have to be called upon.
