Saw some of the first half and the last 30 of the second. People saying Mignolet had a good game, I saw him make a good diving save off one 'Boro shot from outside the area... my riposte to that would be a supposedly top keeper who can save only one, one, penalty out of ****ing 13 is an absolute bag of ****e and not top quality, one out of 13, it's absolutely shocking. And as for ****ing Toure's lunge that gave them that last minute pen... it leads me to conclude that he's absolutely ****ing brainless, how else can a player who's been around as long as he has do something so unbelievably stupid. Ship him out soon as, he's dross. Get a quality keeper in at Christmas too and please ****ing bench that soft lad Mignolet. He looks on the verge of tears and lost most of the time. If those Hart rumours I read were true please sign him. He's an annoying twunt with his constant shouts of 'away away!' but at least he's got a pair of bollocks and commands the area unlike our resident timid kitten. Agree about Markovic, needs to let loose once in a while but looks promising. And at least we can take penalties well. Lalalalalalalallana had a good match, looked busy and energetic, hope he's getting fit. But 14-13 pens against 'Boro on a damp Tuesday night in the Carling Cup, it's pretty embarrassing and shows there's still a lot of things that need fixing, and quickly.
May I simply say the sloppy, amateur hour football we are displaying would not be accepted by any top manager. If a player did what sterlings done in 2 of the last 3 games he'd never play for Chelsea again.... The state of our set piece defence and seemingly inabity to realise taking a ball to the corner is a good idea well.... Ffs
The ridiculous thing is I've been hearing today that Real are looking at Raheemio, not sure where the story has come from. I rate him highly and think he's been brilliant in a couple of games so far, but he's so far away from their first team right now that the link is utterly absurd. Who knows, maybe we'll go to the Bernabeu and he'll score a couple. Whatever, Rodgers needs to get on top of this and layeth the smack down soon as.
Thinking about it that shoot out tells it's own story. We've scored 14 goals but we've conceded 13 too... sound familiar. Ok it's penalties so no defence and match play is out of the picture etc but there's a fundamental problem with the keeper there and that inability to stop goals is going to carry through the defence as a whole, if you build from the back. This is going to sound like I want Mignolet as a regular beating boy but he is really looking ropey now. I think he was given a lot of slack last season because he made that pen save against Stoke in the very first game that allowed us to get off to a good start. If he hadn't saved that I think things could've turned out very differently. GK needs looking at badly. It's not like it's a new problem we've been short there for two, three seasons now. And we've got a history of having absolute muck back up keepers. This has made Mignolet seem better than he is as he's preferable to Jones.
Not saying he hasn't got issues but using that penalty shoot out as evidence that he's ****e? Did you see the quality of the penalties being taken? And he got hands to a couple.... Always told that if taken right a keeper should never get near a penalty. And I saw a shed load of well taken penalties tonight. Keeper not remotely our main issue, not in tonights match and not overall so far this season......hell I'd be dancing for joy if Migs was our only problem......
Genuinely see your point frank but let's not forget his bad positional play at set pieces, his flapping at balls in the air or his hesitation under pressure when receiving back passes, he's not the total ailment but he's a major symptom.
Well that was interesting! Honestly though, think back, when was the last time we were anything decent on set-pieces? 06 maybe? Since Hyypia and Carra left ( or at least not side by side on the regular). Entertaining of course but ****ing hell!
13 penalties is pretty shocking but then again we scored more than they did. not happy with mignolet at all. whats happening with valdes ?
I loved the fans sending a message to Rodgers by chanting Suso as he stepped up for his pens. Take the ****ing hint Rodgers.
I can't see Suso starting at the weekend but should defintely be on the bench and ready to come on. Have to remember it was a championship team we were playing but him and Lallana definitely stood out.
Brod needs to make his own decisions and he will. Pacheco mkII will get his chance if he works hard enough.
Quite a strange game in all. I think it's easy to see the negatives so I will try and put a positive spin on it: Overall, we controlled the game for most parts - it was nice to see us actually keeping the ball and trying to move it around. Still concerned that we are really struggling to create anything in the final third - we did this for fun last season but we hardly tested their keeper last night and scored a flukey opening goal. Very disappointed in Markovic - this lad has world class potential and I didn't expect him to set the world alight right away but he looks really scared and playing with fear. Expect we could see something similar to Henderson's progression - quiet, tough first season but will shine in the coming years. Lallana was my MOTM - it was good to see a player other than Sterling trying to grab the game by the scruff of the neck. I questioned his price tag but if he can continue to keep that level up against tougher opposition, or at least be able to rotate with other players and ensure minimal disruption, then I'll be happy. Sterling was brilliant again. Enrique was calm and composed for most parts - thought he played very well but he should have done better for the corner. Story of our season - one simple mistake and we get punished. But considering it was his first start in a while, I was happy. I thought Kolo and Sakho was reasonably solid - bar a few dodgy clearances! But on the whole, they were tight and defended as a unit. Kolo, for all of his funny abilities is a natural leader. It was so refreshing to actually see a defender organise the line. Young Rossiter - biggest compliment I can pay is that he didn't look out of place. Calm and composed on the ball, and defended very well. Penalties - we have some boss penalty takers!
Just getting some practice on for the weekend when we get awarded 3 dodgy pens to win 3-3 after being 2-0 down with 10 mins to go
