Really thought that he should have shook things up by introducing the Real Madrid starting XI around the 50 minute mark.
Disappointed with the effort of the team after we went 1-0 down. A very strong team v Burnley please. Time to take the FA Cup seriously.
This was exactly my point.... On a more positive note, I think Kelvin Davis was very good today, came out very decisively and his reflexes look excellent despite his age.
I agree that Mourinho consistently makes decisive substitutions and indeed often makes effective changes to the system as well. That's to his credit. However, with the resources he has available to him we could do better in that regard as well. I don't think he changed the system at all today (as he did in the game at Stamford Bridge by putting two up front), it was simply a case of two fresh, world-class players coming on that put that much more pressure on us.
Well yes I partly agree, his formation wasn't changed, but at the point of their substitutions they noticeably increased the tempo and looked to attack rather than counter which certainly knocked us out of our rhythm.
I thought for an hour we played well. A slow first ten minutes and then we got stuck in and started playing well. Last 20 was shocking but game over. Those criticising Ramirez today are just going for the easy target. He caused them some problems today. Judge the game not what you expect to happen.
Unbelievable.,,If you thought we were okay for 60 minutes. We were lucky not to be two down in the first 15 minutes!! Yes, we hung in there for 60 minutes and if we had scored who knows. Ramirez did a few things right BUT he wasn't an outlet to relieve pressure and as always got dispossessed like a schoolboy. Many promising moves came to nothing as he takes an age to move the ball on and invites a tackle. Bottom line, I am disappointed at the lack of cohesion and what seemed like lack of leadership on the field..,and ultimately the result. Having said that, not depressed my losing, just the manner of it. Call me a "typical Saints fan", well part of that is definitely right. What would you call yourself?
We were pretty thoroughly dominated in the second half. Had the deflected goal not gone in, Chelsea would have scored soon after anyway. IMO, the Cork/Lambert substitution made no difference. When we took Cork off, then we couldn't get the ball past midfield so the extra attacker was useless. But had we kept Cork in, we wouldn't have been able to break down their defense. They would have pushed up their back line and probably scored another goal anyway. Chelsea was in complete control of the game at that point. It was child's play for them to counter whatever feeble move we tried to make, though I'm sure it won't prevent Mourinho from patting himself on the back. We were outclassed today, I can't see any other way of looking at it. The only question is whether we should be upset by being outclassed.
We were outclassed in terms of technical quality and midfield steel, but for the most part we gave as good as we got. We had 54% possession, 12 shots to their 11. Those are not the stats of a team that was dominated. Barring a lucky break or Chelsea being way off their game, we were never going to win this game. Neither of those happened. In the first half we probably shaded it and created some decent chances. I stick by my assertion that if the luck was slightly more in our favour, and we had scored first instead of them (giving us the opportunity to play on the counter that they had) the result could have been different.
Think most Saints fans and probably majority of "impartial" write-ups of this game will say that Chelsea "eased to a win" "dominated the game" "had a comfortable day" Possession in your own half means **** all. Shots that go nearer the corner flag or trickle into the keepers arms, mean little too.
I am disappointed that we lost by 3, but I expected to lose today. Our first half performance just got my hopes up, by suggesting we might be able to ride it out. I will judge the season more by what we do in the next two months. I think it's a good thing that we can be disappointed by losing to the likes of Chelsea. We got our hopes up because we played well and got in a fantastic position early in the season...we need to do well in the next couple of months and consolidate in 9th (or get to 8th if we are really lucky). We are fully capable of this and that will be a good second season.
Attacking third passes completed: Southampton 77/120 (64%) Chelsea 75/127 (59%) Chelsea dominated the last half hour, after they scored a lucky goal and brought on two world-class attacking players. I don't think it's rational to be too upset by that fact frankly.
You can quote stats all you want, but I think for most people watching the game we were clearly dominated in the second half. Those statistics mean very little as well - we only had 2 shots on target compared to Chelsea's 5.
5 of our shots were blocked, and 5 were off target, so not quite as bad as 2 on target out of 12 makes it seem. Chances created: Saints 7, Chelsea 9. Again, hardly domination (except for the last period of the game as I've already acknowledged).
The reason we lost is because we have small squad filled with youngsters. That is all. We will be fine as soon as we get a nicer run of fixtures.
