I agree with greez I am sorry but from the off cheslea put in mikel. they had 6 men defensive line and had a game plan to stifle us and hit on break.. they chose the pattern. If they picked oscar and played possession they could have done that too. Our intensity did so much but it didn't force cheslea that deep... we can try it but cheslea will cut us up.however that said it is all we can do but i'd demand a bit of sense from our team also as if cheslea come out to attack we should be the ones absorbing and hitting fast on the break. for me the key to scoring agasint them is drawing fabgreas and all forward then htting very fast down the left side and cutting the up when there is space. delaying a move to control it or whatever is no good. it has to be mingolet gets it sprints out, doesn't for once hold the ****ing thing but throws it out wide towards sterling and/or coutinho who are told break fast fast fast. I'd especially do this if ivanovic plays higher up as he's not the fastest and cahill is a big donkey really.
The minute you saw Ivanovich at full back and Mikel in midfield you knew his intentions in fairness. He showed you a lot of respect in setting his side out like that. That said, I think you still knocked them out of their stride from the off and they never really got their passing game going at any point. They were restricted to counter attacks. Second leg will be a different game, as they'll be much more adventurous
Yeah, I'm not knocking our lads, they can only play what's in front of them and they did a very good job, shame we didn't get another goal. I just think we're over egging the performance a little by not recognising Chelsea's tactics. They simply let us play. And you're right, it does show respect. However, lets see how much respect is shown in the following leg when Brod falls head first into Mourinho's trap.
I was surprised just how openly Mourinho spoke about getting at your back 3 last night, he obviously sees it as a real weakness and will look to play through it in the return leg.
I think he targeted Can but after the early penalty he stood up well. Mourinho will attack in the second leg knowing full well Brod will be expecting the same withdrawn approach from Chelsea; aka the trap. They will get Hazard, Oscar and/or Willian attacking our FB areas forcing our WBs deep and giving us no width or output.
?? ivanovic plays all the time and his average starting poistion is usually as most attacking full back from the half way line. Mikel yes i agree his intent was clear. Whether respect or a guy knowing full well we'd not score unless they made an error and thinking they'd simply get one on the counter I don't know. His plan worked perfect right up unitl matic went slightly to one side and sterling turns and ran at goal. sure we pressed well.. it was good but equally in the 46th min costa was clean through but lacks pace to get there before mingolet. again game plan. I think it was a lot more even than i expected, a good number of our players did very well and restricted hazard in particular to playing deeper so he didn't hurt us and that was more surprising than chelsea's approach. This approach has been rolled out at old trafford where it coughed up an equaliser and city where again they cought up an equaliser... that says to me they aint exactly invincible as mourinho would like and his ideas actually hold them back a bit. I cannot see them repeating this trick at the bridge as i feel they will attack us first 20 with real intent and we need to be ready for it and be looking for the fast break to counter ourselves.
I think he was more looking for the vast spaces in the channels behind markovic and moreno. I think he was surprised hwo well henderson and markovic combined and how the lad markoivc defended. Willian was poor on the other side not really in it. sahko owned him. hazard and willian mostly got it with their backs to goal.. once they were in position facing us they were much more of a threat so yes.... if oscar plays you have fabregas deep playmaking and oscar allowing these two to go higher and really trouble this set up.
Finding the space yes but I read something some time ago (by someone that worked with Jose) about how Mourinho assesses the opposition and focuses on their weak points. I'm not saying I think Can is a weak point but that was the area that seemed like it had been targeted to me. Mourionho would have definitely been looking at the three CBs with a Michael Owen type rub of the hands
Can never believe a word Mourinho says - wouldn't be surprised if he kept talking about 3 at the back as a weakness in a reverse psychology kind of way hoping BR will change it because he's team had no luck getting through it
Can as the weak link is plausible - 20 year old midfielder playing in defence. Would be foolish of Mourinho not to target him. Having said that, Can did pretty well against a strong attacker in Hazard. Skrtel is the weakest link of our midfield but he is now well protected.
Exactly what I was saying Jimmy. From the outside looking in, can will be seen as the weak link but from those within Can is very capaable of holding his own and Skrtel is definitely the weak link. Of course, with Skrtel being central of the three, he'd be quite hard to target and single out too. The three at the back suits Skrtel.
Definitely suits Skrtel - doesn't have to worry about being proactive and being first to the ball. Nor does he have to worry about passing and starting attacks.
Personally, from what he said last night I think he was seeking to exploit the space in between the 3 CB's. As with the 2 wide players pushed up the 3 CB's spread and to cover the width of the pitch leaving masssive channels in between them that with the right ball they could easily have been exposed and almost were on a few occasions with simple balls. At the Bridge I'd have thought the 2 wide men will play deeper giving you more of a 5 man back line, but this will leave the flanks exposed and if he doubles up on Markovic, he could be in for a long night......
I'd rather than double up on Markovic than Moreno, he's a better defender IMO. That's not a criticism of Moreno, its praising Marko
Very surprising isn't it! But Moreno has certainly improved defensively - coincides when Sakho plays next to him. Moreno's recovery pace and covering is exceptional at times.
I'm hardly asking an unbiased observer, but would you say that, all-in-all, there is now some regular on-going improvement in our performance?
I think that he came with a game plan and that our performance meant that he got the plan wrong, our intensity caused Chelsea too many problems and (here's where it get a bit opinion based) with a decent striker in place we'd be going to Chelsea with at least a 2 goal lead. The counter argument to that you've already hit on, did he know that we cannot finish and rely on that. My opinion is that we kept Chelsea on the defensive with our performance but we failed to take advantage and score more.
I thought you were good last night, but up until that game, I was totally unconvinced from what I'd seen of late, despite the positive results. Confidence is always key though and good results improves it.
Yeah,Sakho is quality.Physically strong,wins pretty much everything in the air and,importantly,can cover the ground quickly. This gives Moreno licence to push forward,I think we have found a real gem in Sakho.Don't get me wrong,he's not faultless and still has his moments but overall very pleased with him.
