Firstly, we should have won against Atletico. We had plenty of chances but came up short. For pretty much all the game they passed better, were more direct, looked quicker, were technically better than all but Hazard and Morata, but hardly ever looked like scoring because they just don't have what's needed at the sharp end of the pitch, the opponents goals. We sat back let them fart about all over the pitch and pretty much always repelled their final assault on our goal, pretty comfortably. That's become our strong point, our defence does that part of their job very well.
So what happened? Here's my take.
Absolutely nothing STARTS from our back 3. Everything is sideways, or with Cahill, backwards, before a longish ball to a wing back who then races down the line and crosses, usually into the closest opponent. Sometimes Hazard gets the ball in the opponents half and he races forwards until they take it off him.
I believe that Bakayoko is just not good enough yet. He doesn't know whether to defend or join in the attack, does both OK but neither brilliantly. There is no link from back to front other than a long ball over the midfield. Fabregas needs to be just behind the front attackers, but struggled with the pace needed. His passing and effort were excellent, but only Hazard or Morata benefit. Hazard and Morata cannot do it alone but are having to. Moses is not good enough, Zappa isn't yet either though he is really lively. We are playing with 3 groups, the defenders, the mid field and the front 2. There is not enough meshing of these groups and our football is boring and predictable unless Hazard is involved. We need a serious quality upgrade of a ball playing defender, a more destructive midfield and numbers in attack, or we will simply continue to struggle.. What we desperately need is a rampaging midfielder and a Captain to drive us forwards. Right now we have neither. We are doing as well as we can with our squad but don't have enough pure quality throughout the on field 11.
So what happened? Here's my take.
Absolutely nothing STARTS from our back 3. Everything is sideways, or with Cahill, backwards, before a longish ball to a wing back who then races down the line and crosses, usually into the closest opponent. Sometimes Hazard gets the ball in the opponents half and he races forwards until they take it off him.
I believe that Bakayoko is just not good enough yet. He doesn't know whether to defend or join in the attack, does both OK but neither brilliantly. There is no link from back to front other than a long ball over the midfield. Fabregas needs to be just behind the front attackers, but struggled with the pace needed. His passing and effort were excellent, but only Hazard or Morata benefit. Hazard and Morata cannot do it alone but are having to. Moses is not good enough, Zappa isn't yet either though he is really lively. We are playing with 3 groups, the defenders, the mid field and the front 2. There is not enough meshing of these groups and our football is boring and predictable unless Hazard is involved. We need a serious quality upgrade of a ball playing defender, a more destructive midfield and numbers in attack, or we will simply continue to struggle.. What we desperately need is a rampaging midfielder and a Captain to drive us forwards. Right now we have neither. We are doing as well as we can with our squad but don't have enough pure quality throughout the on field 11.
My take on the current situation is that we’re flying and Eden Hazard is hitting some really good form that’s making us great to watch.