Vialli's in the crowd..nice.

That really was a fantastic finish from Ba.great movement to get into position as well. Happy for him,i thought he was in danger of becoming the forgotten man at CFC

This post has been edited by Kerplunk: Dec 2 2013, 02:12 AM

Haha terry looking proud as punch observing his and cahill's goal on the telly!

Felt a bit sorry for the bison when he came off. Apart from that horror no-look back pass and a couple of giveaways in the first half, I thought he did quite okay. Still can’t get my head around the introduction of lamps though. His pass out to mata which lead to our second goal was neat, but not something say, someone like KDB isn’t capable of.

Star of the show was without a doubt, juan mata. He tracked back well, but imo his tackling is still nothing to write home about. However when it comes to making the team ‘tick,’ in an attacking sense, nobody else in the squad even comes CLOSE. His perfectly weighted first time pass out to hazard from the halfway line when we were leading 2-1 and on the counter, is a perfect illustration of what juan can do, and the others can’t. Ecstatic that he completed the full 90 mins, almost expected jose to pull him out at some point.

Ba has always been one of our unsung heroes, and he really looked like a leaner version of the drogs in the second half. Saints defenders just couldn’t handle his strong and aggressive hold-up play. I still remember when he came on, he immediately took down a long punt from petr out of the air with a classy first touch, then proceeded to lay it off to nando, effortlessly. We would be fools to kick him out in January, and I for one believe we couldn’t survive by just relying on nando and eto’o firepower this season. He’s been severely underrated (and underused, yes I’m looking at you Jose) by many, but we don’t need to look too far back if we want a reminder of his class. My favourite case in point is his spectacular double which kicked utd out of the FA Cup during the last campaign.

Ramires as we all know can cause hell when he’s unleashed further up the pitch, and he put in a delicious cross which gave ba the goal he richly deserved. Very solid overall. Hazard was ‘okay,’ made some dangerous runs and pegged the saints back with some direct running, but we all know he can do so much more. Let’s hope he rediscovers part of the chemistry he had while playing with mata.
Now that oscar’s out, it’s a fantastic chance for juan to shine. The Brazilian will probably be reinstated once he fully recovers, but by then mata should’ve been given a good run of games to force his way into jose’s good books. The gaffer’s favourite number 10 was unfortunate to get injured, and he deserves a good rest imo.

JT and Cahill weighed in with two absolutely crucial goals, and I loved the latter’s technique to spin-around while falling backwards, to head the ball in. Couldn’t do anything about the one we conceded, but boy were they on top of their game vs osvaldo and co. Same goes to Iva and Azpi, they practically bullied Southampton’s attackers for the majority of the match. Special mention goes to nando, I thought he looked really lively, making some quick dribbles and winning free kicks. Should’ve gotten an assist as well when his deflected cross fell to Oscar, who was unmarked in the box.

Next up is Sunderland. Some hope for a KDB cameo maybe? Hmm perhaps poyet will give us a hand..u know..being an old boy and all

Mikel with the assist!

Petr cech.again.sigh.

4th howler that's cost us a goal this season.jose should give him an earful at HT,and he fully deserves it.rubbish keeping.

I don't get why schurrle has been brought off..and why the hell did lamps just take that free kick..that was made for mata.

Hm...now we're replicating stoke's style of play...sheesh. Painful to watch.

Nice job cech and jose. Especially cech. Why the hell was an unfit eto'o brought on and a pretty decent torres taken off..schurrle the scorer of a superb double and rugby style long balls in the final 20 mins...i don't get it.

80 mil pound bid to resign drogba anyone?since we just love our longball tactics?

Bring back drogba already..and let's recapture our great 'hit and hope' days,where everything goes through the air.

I don't know about u guys,but the sight of jose congratulating assaidi after that superb strike,was quite frankly,disturbing.

u do not,and i repeat,u DO NOT go out in full view of ur own players,and go on patting the back of an opponent who's most probably scored the winner against u,in an extremely important competition .U just don't..its unprofessional and it sends the wrong message to ur own team.

It just promotes a feeling of 'oh there's the gaffer celebrating with the opposition players.maybe dropping all three points isn't too bad.perhaps we can all have a celebratory drink with them in the dressing room?'definitely not the mentality i want to see in chelsea fc.

Come on jose.you're better than that.where's the fire?where's the fury?we were down 3-2 for heaven's sake.it wasn't some consolation goal while we were leading 7-0 or something.

Just had to get that off my chest.

I think jose secretly wishes he kept him. After all, he suits our favorite long-ball strategy perfectly. Hit it up top and lukaku does all the work in the box. All hazard and mata need to do is keep hitting them long,then get back behind the halfway line to defend. Dream football which would leave barca green with envy!

This post has been edited by Kerplunk: Dec 8 2013, 01:37 AM

Agree with those who claim cahill has been looking shaky. I'm not sure why,but his marking and closing down has really left the door wide open for luiz to be recalled.having said that,i'm.still most disappointed with cech.he really needs the competition,and I wonder if the thought of courtois returning next season is making him nervous.

To be fair,IMHO,the majority of posters here are quite fair and nobody goes all out abusive or anything.the criticisms are made based on observations,with a hint of emotion sometimes,and that's not necessarily a bad thing

Trust me,we're quite a 'sensible' lot if u observe what goes on in the other threads,after a loss

Come on lukaku!get back on jose's good books by getting on the score sheet and earning at least a draw

Fearless really is the word to describe everton's performance. Arsenal did a fine job of isolating lukaku,but everton's refusal to hit it long with a bit more frequency to the big belgian only made it easier for the centrebacks to deal with him. Martinez really stayed loyal to his philosophy of keeping things on the ground,but with a powerful striker in their side,a few more long punts would certainly cause more panic in the gunners defense imo.

5 point gap.guess that's not too bad.could've been seven.

Johnny on the spot nando!

Sigh.Shebby made a simple a observation on our lack of a 'game plan' and players not knowing who does what..can't say i disagree. Another ugly win today,but how long can we keep this up?good 3 points but that lack of fluency and composure will cost us against better teams,more often than not.

Just to make a comparison,u look at the goals scored by city when they murdered arsenal.they have a distinct way of ripping through the defence when they attack.its pass and move,playing the ball quickly on the break and moving forward whenever there's a chance.a basic philosophy which meant that when aguero went off,their attack didn't go down the drain.

We're relying too much on individual brilliance, i.e ; schurrle double vs stoke,willian's great run n shot(swept in by nando),rami's piledriver,etc. jose needs to address this..because i just feel a serious injury to hazard / mata and our season will be practically over,looking at.the way things are going.

Satisfied with the points. But extremely worried about our future games.

we didn't do too bad vs sunderland, if u look at our performance. its just that a lack of killer instinct and our inexplicable losses of concentration during the match cost us dearly. i know jose hinted at a 'change of approach' in the future, but i don't feel that's the real issue that needs to be addressed.

we can always nick a goal here and there, but the first thing he needs to sort out imo, is the defense. that solidity just isn't there anymore. i don't know if its cahill or luiz or terry or whoever. defensive coach needs help maybe?

p. s: i know the guarin rumours aren't exactly 'exciting,' so to speak, but i'm confident he can make a world of difference to our pivot. this will be at the expense of lampsy but once fredy beds in, the team will reap the rewards.

apart from that, anyone else thinks feruz would do a better job upfront compared to a certain samuel eto'o? missed an embarassing chance vs the black cats. i vote for demba ba vs arsenal!

I'm a bit surprised by how ashley's being sidelined so far this season. Had some lapses in concentration during our earlier matches,but pretty good in the others.having said that,Azpi has been topnotch in 99% of all his games so he deserves a first team spot,even if its in his unfavoured position.

Anybody read about de bruyne holding showdown talks with the club,wanting a return to Germany?sigh..its just severely disappointing if we end up pushing him out the exit door.we're just unreliable when it comes to shaping young talents with star potential,and it doesn't looks like that's going to change anytime soon. The worst part is we're probably going to receive a fee which reflects only a quarter of his true value,after condemning him to the bench for most of the season.

There are some murmurs about inserting a buyback clause,which is the only thing I'm hoping for atm. Best case scenario is for another loan deal,but I have a feeling the lad already feels let down by the amount of chances he's been afforded in the first team and will look to seal a permanent deal a.s.a.p

This post has been edited by Kerplunk: Dec 21 2013, 11:45 AM

Goes without saying we need that 3rd goal.But knowing Chelsea we're going to take our time about it,or worse not get it at all.Hence those of u with hypertension or heart problems..BRACE YOURSELVES. (would love to be proven wrong about this,in case anyone's wondering

This post has been edited by Kerplunk: Dec 30 2013, 01:04 AM