so what are your views on the match yesterday? unfortunately i didnt get to watch the game as i was at work seen the running minute by minute. the team that was selected was abit of a surprise but im glad Frei got a chance and Briggs left winger? is this one of them games where we rue the missed chances? plus why was Kasmi taking a penalty anyways? ah well at least now we can concentrate on the EPL,
Frei was exciting. Always looked to take his man on, clear pen as well. Schwarzer - so clear why he is our number 1 and so clear why Arsenal wanted him. He was outstanding. Ruiz struggled again - a concern to me. A few nice touches but he tired and did not look interested towards the end. Baird and Gecov - were tidy. Gecov for his age looked good. Sa looked ok. Should have chipped the keeper when clean through and also should have squared it back to Kasami who would have slotted in. All in all never good to lose, they gave it a go but Chelsea's youth team players look decent too and we should not take anything away from them either. Even with 10 men for the second half and ET they kept coming and could have scored.
Perfect summary CC. Only thing I'd add is about kasami - oozed confidence (maybe a tad too much with the penalty) and found good positions. If anything I'd have left him on and taken off Ruiz.
It was a good game. Again it was a case of us not taking the chances. Both teams can take credit for an open game. Credit to Chelsea for the 10 men playing well and going for it in the last 10 minutes of normal time. Our new players were impressive in a good team performance Schwarzer was solid except for their disallowed goal, which was given off-side because Sturridge decided to make sure as Kelly moved into clear. Grygera played in the center with Senderos and Grygera was probably my MOTM good solid performance. But Gecov who played defensive midfield with Baird also just slotted in perfectly as well, good partnership. Briggs and Kelly had solid games at Full-back. Kasami and Frei both gave Chelsea problems, Frei was always testing Chelsea with his speed and runs and Kasami has good delivery of passing and crosses. In attack Sa and Ruiz combined well, but no end product. Sa gave Luiz a tough time, and Ruiz runs and passing had their defence turning back towards their own area. The only negative was Ruiz needs to get back to close down space and block players going forward. On a few occasions he just let them run away from him, as if to say not my job to track them. I felt when Dembele replaced Sa and then when Zamora replaced Kasami we lost a bit of momentum on both occasions. The 2 young Chelsea players McEachran and Lukaku impressed for them, full of running and good skills. All in all if the new players can keep up these type of performances it's looking good.
I'm not sure what to think of the game. Too bad we lost comes to mind, but I never really expected us to win so I'm not too upset. With Frei's penalty and Alex getting sent off so early, I thought Chelsea handed us a gilded opportunity - but we blew it. I was watching on my computer so the resolution wasn't good, but I came to some of the same conclusions Super Brian and CC had. Frei is fast and brave. Kasami, though he missed the penalty, was good for us again. He's like a rampaging bull out there, something we lack. Dembele was poor, I thought, back to his old ways of getting the ball and running around with it while everyone watched. Ruiz seemed to struggle again, but also showed moments of real quality. His pass up the middle to Orlando Sa was a thing of beauty. Sa is pacy, but rusty. He had the best chances for goals, but wasted them. One's take on last night's game probably comes down to expectations. I looked at the Chelsea game as learing opportunity for some of our new and young players. And it was. But I'm still feeling a bit frustrated. Chelsea tried desperately to hand us a win, but we just didn't take it.
Agreed with DR and CC. I thought Kasami was great. He had some attitude and wanted to win. Frei did very well, only 17, he wanted to take people on, very positive. We should have won, the pen miss and the should have been square ball from Sa to Kasami with a gaping goal would have meant 2 nil. Having said that the blus played really well to with 10 men. Good game all round and now on to the league and moving up the table.
From what you guys are saying, it sounds like Ruiz is still adjusting, classic case. Pleased with Frei, I keep forgetting he's only 17! We're moving in the right direction guys, there's reason to be optimistic.
Well said, Bidley. From the radio commentary it sounded like Gecov and Grygera were very good, Frei dangerous and Sa did some things very well and some things not-so-well. The most interesting comment was when they said he was more of a Darren Bent style striker - looking to hang on the defenders shoulder and break forward, rather than looking to work with his back to goal as a Zamora style target man. Would those of you who were there agree with that summary? If it's right, it sounds like he adds something different without necessarily being a carbon copy when Bobby isn't available. Ruiz sounds like he's slowly improving (that chipped pass into the box for Sa was delicious). Given how tired he was by the end of Wednesday, I hope he starts from the bench at the weekend, but I think he is getting his act together. As Bidley says, we're moving in the right direction. We have to start racking up some wins though, hopefully starting this weekend.
I was watching the game in a little window on my computer about the size of a fiver, but the pace of Sa` was the first thing in the game that caught my eye. He was caught offside once or twice, but between Sa, Frei and Kasami the pace of our offense was causing Chelsea fits. Yes, I think Darren Bent's an apt comparison for Sa. His shooting was wreched, but that will improve with more games, and eventually I could see him getting regular minutes off the bench. I hate to keep harping on this, but we need to add pace to our game. We are a slow, one-dimensional team (Bobby gets the ball and passes to Duff who crosses it into the box where Dembele, Dempsey, Zamora, etc. try to head it in ... did I miss a step?) Perhaps some combination of Ruiz, Sa and Kasami will cure this scoring malaise we've gotten ourselves into.
