Gerrard was a desperate figure of a man today. Reckon he thinks its lost now. Be interesting to see if he picks himself up.
Manchester City came and played open football which was heading for a draw until Kompany made an error. Calling the play of Chelsea, "relegation fodder", it makes you wonder how they are only 2 points behind Liverpool and stopped the Scouse juggernaut in it's tracks
FFS give him a break. It was only one mistake which Chelsea capitalised on. To say he threw the title away is harsh. We wouldn't be in this lofty position were it not for him. He has been by along distance our best player this season..
Chelsea didn't deserve to win. They defended incredibly well for the whole match which meant they didn't deserve to lose. If they truly deserved to win, they would have counter attacked with more purpose - they weren't even interested in that. Look at Real Madrid vs Bayern earlier this week - that is an example of a team sitting back, and breaking with pace and aggression. If Chelsea played like that, then fair enough - they would have deserved the win and Mourinho would have earned the plaudits. Defensive masterclass - yes. 100%. Tactical Genius - hell no, and it;s no wonder our national game is in a state when certain sections of media continue to praise this style. Time wasting from the first minute? Wow.
Did they? We are set up as an open attacking side. If we had tried to play a more closed game with the intention of going for a draw then it is more likely that we would have been beaten easily. So we went with what we had. It had worked for us well over the last 11 games. Unfortunately we came up just a little short. Now you can say that many of us were over-optimistic about our chances. However, I have truly enjoyed the ride so far and won't call it over until the fat lady sings. You can stay with your gloomy predictions if you want but I know who's enjoying this ride the most. For goodness sake, we are over 1 season ahead of our development schedule. Champions League is already secured and it's STILL possible to win the title! It's a wonderful, brilliant, thrilling season. I said before the season started "I think that we CAN win it". I am more than delighted that we've got so close to achieving that. I'm even more delighted that the ride hasn't finished.
I don't agree with the Gerrard bashing that I've seen today, but I admit he was poor. Everyone has poor games, no big deal. But he's not been our best player this season, not even close.
Wouldn't really label it time wasting Jimmy, I think it's a deliberate attempt to break up the flow of our game. Slow the game down, get behind the ball and go again, if you let us get in full flow and sustained period of pressure we'll more often than not score.. It's something Chelsea did excellently well at today. Honestly gutted that we're not winning it this season. I doubt we'll get a chance as good as that for years to come - still immensely proud that we got ourselves in to the position. But, this is what Mourinho thrives off, we go again, do our side of the job in the next two games then pray that someone will do us a favour.
If done right, the Gerrard bashing is within the confines of this game... Carelessness that lead to goal. Immature that he as the most senior player reacted like a 21 to his own mistake. All human. And as I said, I bet he feels worse than we ever will. Nice to see you post Carl....when we lose...no patterns at all.......
Chelsea didnt deserve to win? Of course they did. They came and did exactly what they had to. They defended brilliantly amd scores both goals in the game. But they didnt deserve to win?
You have to give credit to Mourinho. He doesn't just fluke this sort of stuff and it's a discredit to him as a manager to say that's the only way he can win games. When he needs to, he plays attacking football and when he needs to, he gets his teams to dig in and grind out a result. IF just parking the bus to win was all you had to do, then everyone would have all the winner's medals he has, but they don't. It's one thing saying that you're going to line up 10 behind the ball and win, it's quite different actually doing it. And he's done it over and over again WHEN he's needed to. Barca vs Inter in the CL second leg springs to mind. He's not someone I like to be honest, and I certainly wouldn't want my team playing that style of football, but you have to hand it to him, he's a winner.
Yes, they attacked with real intent and carved us open multiple times (!) Oh wait, they pounced on a bad mistake, and they scored in injury time when we threw the kitchen sink. Yep, great desire on show.
Never mind him, he's still excited about Giggs winning his first game in charge against a team with the worst away record in the top 5 leagues. #6YearContract