Someone behind me and my daughter's blamed Sissoko too ... I found myself having to defend him ... The world became very very strange for a few moments
I doubt his tactical discussions involves players hitting the post or the referee being a colossal ****ing idiot.
LOL. Bringing on Hazard as a late sub last year worked and playing 5 at the back yesterday worked too. He'll run out of tactics then we'll have them for tea.
I agree with all this. and would add I prefer academy players, other things being equal, because they can play the kind of one touch football we play. Most of the players we buy, with the notable exception of Eriksen because he's technically brilliant, lose at least a year to learning how. It's something I liked about Walker-Peters: he looked entirely at home with the team in his first start. Also, credit to Chelsea. They found a way to win, which is what teams that win things do. No doubt we missed Walker and Rose to a certain extent. But the pattern remains: we win plenty of big games, just not the biggest ones, regardless of whether Walker and Rose play or not. Young teams more often than not learn how to win those games as they mature, but we certainly haven't learned yet, and it's not inevitable we do.
Excellent analysis. More evidence that the squad needs strengthening in certain areas. Also, players made mistakes that they shouldn't be making at this level. I hope Pochettino watches these things.
There has been the suggestion that a lot of teams may now try to emulate the Chelsky performance. I am not worried about that because the difference is in the average technical competence of the opposition MF. When the MF passes/tackles are flying about fast and furious, Chelsky have MF players who can get the ball under control, retain possession etc. For most other PL teams, it will just be pinball for their MF and the pure hope the ball sticks to them.
Hopefully MP will also understand this and counter it even where the tactic is done properly. As Neville said so well, a little more width would have countered even against technically excellent players like Chelsea's. Let's not forget we should have come out of this with a draw even given all of the above. I hope Hugo wont make a poor mistake like that again all season.
Really didn't understand Taylor giving a foul when two players went up for the ball, then indicating his elbow when the player protested. If you're saying that he elbowed him, then how is that not some sort of card? He seems to be another one of these "let things flow" refs, who tend to lose control of a lot of games. The Premier League seem to like them at the moment, for some reason.
Sky, BT and MOTD like them as they give them so much to talk about. Other than the stuff they blatantly ignore as it doesn't fit in with how they're telling the viewers how the match went.