Good win. Hope we can climb all the way up to top 7 or top 8. Costa seems to be more focused on scoring and assisting now. Mikel seems solid. Oscar feels like a player let loosed from his leash, seems to be more involve in the attack. Pedro trying hard to impress. Willian is good as usual. Zouma is solid.

The only bad thing is Hazard's injury. But look on the bright side, with Hazard on the sideline, the team can perform!

3 goals and clean sheet. I'm a happy man.

This post has been edited by briantwj: Jan 3 2016, 11:26 PM

COSTA MOTM !

So happy with this win, onwards and upwards!

mikel is MOTM for me

he control the midfield like a bawse

Any highlights available?

same team but different outcome.

the differences that i spotted are the players are now less roaming. costa no more go to sideline. oscar too. both of them stick to their position. less swapping between flanks. most of the time willian was at the right and pedro at the left.

and iva less going forward. instead azpi is the one going forward. in match vs man utd and palace he had opportunities to score. really help the defense since azpi is much more mobile.

and mikel was superb today. he shield the back 4 and slot into the defense to cover the other defender.

It's a point that i've mentioned,but worth repeating I.e; we've cut down on a lot of our 'pointless' clearances and now prefer to hold on to possession whenever the situation merits it. As a result,the players are now growing in confidence.

Haha what did I tell you guys?there were signs we could get a result vs palace after the united game,and here we are! It's a magnificent win

+1 and zouma too

1st half, a bit shaky. 2nd half more solid. Since we gonna change manager, why dont let oscar play at dm like he use to. And put fab at no 10. Buy another no 10 player, cb and a rb. If remy and falcao gonna leave, buy a striker and recall bam for half season will do. Buying 2 striker will hurt our financial.

Another thing is, if mikel keep doing what he did just now, no need to buy a DM. Give him 10yr contact and make him a legend!jk

i also noticed that Hazard, Oscar and Willian seems to play with more freedom now. Maybe Hiddink's order too.

I agree with you
He plays like makelele

First game without JM, the lads already play with more freedom... attack department concentrate more on attack

omg i was wrong!

btw, why did jose's tactic couldn't work anymore?

my opinion is, he wants the team to revolve around hazard. he want to make hazard the best player. but after the fall out with eva, mourinho still trust hazard, but hazard himself doesn't want to play for mourinho.

so his instructions were to let hazard score the goals/assists while others is just a mere backdrop to make hazard shine.

is this plausible?

"Fabregas ran the show in second half. We couldn't get near them." - Alan Pardew

business as usual...

Hiddink: 'We know there is a lot of quality in the squad, not just in the starting 11. When they get the ball they can play.'

Hiddink: 'Mikel played very well, he's the ideal player to bring balance to the team. He knows the game very well and how to cope.'

Hiddink: 'Hazard sprained his leg, he has a little problem with a groin muscle. We will see more with an MRI scan tomorrow.'

Lol mikel age like a wine...

Why the hell we keep playing matic if mikel is this good?

Also i notice hiddink style when opponent have the ball they let em play a lil...players still pressing but not as aggresive as mourinho style...

But the result is quite good owh...palace seems to loose their defensive shape when we let em play a lil and not just fast counter attacking us...

Actually i notice this one.fab got all the space he want but i dont wanna admit it coz some ppl be like "shitty fab"

Anyway, the one who protect and cover him is non other than mikel.

+ he wont let iva attack coz he know when iva attack, there a big hole. This one i hat off guus compare to mou. If u notice, iva did ok last night. Just that got times zouma cover him. Still not enough for me. Maybe the wet field affect opponent pace hence he can catch up with them.or..maybe not

hiddink is more to defending space.. not pressing aggressively, like what he said in the interview, he wan the balance.

Anyway, the guys are motivated enough to keep on pressing for more goals and it seem they are more enjoying themselves the freedom given.

Hope they keep up the momentum the coming 3 home games and see what will happened next visit to Arsenal