I didn't think we played badly at one all I tbought we were playing some decent football and the penalty come a little bit against the run of play. Chelsea were able to see the game out but then they do have players with real quality on the ball. Having said that I felt like teh only singinficant difference was Eden Hazard who for me is one of the most talented players in the world and was far netter than anyone else on the pitch. I dont get the Deeney bashing either I thought he was one of our best players today.
Carragher could have given the man of the match award to hazard after 30 seconds. Wasnt interested in anyone else on the pitch
Not too bothered about this match. We seemed to lack a little belief and never really troubled Chelsea. We didn't move the ball around the park quickly enough, and tended to dwell on the ball when trying to create chances instead of crossing or passing first time. We took the extra touch and it gives sides like Chelsea time to get organised and into position. I thought we were a bit off it tonight and Chelsea won comfortably. They were handed the goals and once they had their nose in front it was quite a straight forward match for them to win. Of course we should have had a penalty, but then we just don't get them, so I've given up on getting any justice from an official. We have to make our own luck. To get a good decision we have to work twice as hard as the other team in order to be awarded something. We were not too effective tonight, and I think it was a fair score in the end. We didn't do enough today and Chelsea played us very well I thought.
They got their penalty just as we were enjoying our best spell in the game. For about 10 minutes after HT, we kept them pinned back fairly well, picking up loose balls and continued to probe at them. The penalty knocked the stuffing out of us and we never really sustained any pressure on them after that. Thought Luiz dragged Deloufeu down and it should have been a penalty, which would likely have changed things. A little disappointed that we seemed to let them play a bit, but equally understand why we didn’t press them, given the quality of forward runs from their midfield and their ability to play quick, short passes between the lines. Disappointing to come away with nothing, given we shot our selves in the foot a couple of times. Really important that we get after Newcastle and get an early goal, because we know they’ll be hard to break down and the longer it goes on, the more you see them catching us on the break. 3 points on Saturday and things look rosy again.
Crap is maybe a bit strong but Willian and Hazard had nothing to do with him being poor tonight. He was out of position often and regularly comes to cut balls out in the air and gets nowhere near. I’m sure he’s great in and around the training ground and is good member of the squad. But we need investment at CB to make sure that we are never at risk of him having a prolonged run in the side. If we were to spend a reasonable amount on a quality CB, I think we’d all soon realise just how big the gulf in class to Mariappa would be.
I don’t think we gave the best account of ourselves today. First half especially it was too easy for them. Doucoure at fault for the first rather than Capoue imo. Then what a goal from Pereyra. The technique on that was sublime. The start of second half was fantastic. We had their number and they didn’t know how to react. But the pressure didn’t lead to a goal and as is so often the case, we were punished. Motm Holebas, who absolutely bullied a young whipper-snapper who would have fancied himself in a one-on-one against a man twice his age. Jose showed young Odoi the value of experience.
Could only listen to this one. Both 3CR and the Beeb were adamant that Luiz fouled GD, and the "random" selection of social media posts the Beeb put on their feed all echoed that opinion (granted, it's impossible to know how representative those are). I'll be interested to see the replays, highlights. If we'd got a penalty, they likely wouldn't have gotten theirs (although if they were 2-1 down I expect they'd have been hitting us much harder so there is only so far the "if only" game will get you). It sounded like their penalty knocked the stuffing out of us: first denied a penalty of our own, we're having a great period where we're bossing things and then we concede a penalty to go behind again. I suspect the team just lost belief at that point, perhaps seeing it as a lost cause given the ref's apparent bias and Chelsea's reputation. Shame really, but doesn't seem like something to be too downbeat about.
I think for the most part we gave it a good shot. In the end Hazard was the difference for both teams. Deeney I thought caused problems and did well with the high press we employed, but could have done better with that late effort and had a shot well blocked.
Tbf he did a good tackle in the game to stop Hazard and an important header away when it looked like they were in at 2-1 so difficult to keep quality players like that quiet for 90 mins.
Considering there's a claim that we never get penalties, I'd be wondering whether she watches any of our games.
I'd really like to see us never do that stupid fu*king tactic of immediately hoofing the kick off straight up the wing to no one, thereby surrendering possession within 10 seconds of play from something that's supposed to give us an advantage, again.
Mariappa is fine for certain games, he's good against strong, slower strikers. Where he gets exposed is against players with good movement and quick feet, and Hazard is one of the best. One thing I did notice tonight was that he was constantly behind the other three of the back four, which makes it all the more frustrating that he steamed forwards so brainlessly to leave the gap for the second goal.
I am surprised at some of the more downbeat posts on here. Disappointed with the loss as I thought, overall, we matched Chelsea and a draw would have been fair. Agree that Hazard was the main difference between the sides. Watched the match with family, who included a Spurs fan and a Liverpool fan. They both had the same view - that Watford played well and are a good side; that we deserved a draw; and that, defensively and in midfield we are sound, but that we need a better strike force and that Deeney isn't really up to it any more. Can't say I disagree with any of that.
I make that four penalties that have escaped us now this season: Fulham,Soton,Liverpool and tonight. There was a nasty crack when CK was injured,I hoe it was his boot hitting the post but I have a nasty feeling it was his rib. Hazard is a monstrously talented footballer and as much as it peeves me to say it I'm glad I saw him at that level. I expect he'll be in Madrid by next season. Why did the Chelsea fans spend the entire match slagging off almost every other team imaginable?
yes im not too downbeat, we concede goals against the lesser teams (Cardiff last home game) so no surprise Chelsea getting the 3 points.
Most of it has been said. I thought we went toe to toe with a massively overpriced team and the difference was defensive concentration and final ball/finishing. Word for Holebas. He's my favourite player at the moment. Forced them to sub their sub. He is a legend.
Disappointed not to come away with a point. Chelsea distinctly average apart from Hazard. Thought Gracia made right subs but they didn't have an impact Deeney useless as usual Foster rushing out a bit of a worry. Apart from the penalty lucky to get away without conceding penalty or goal in the incident leading up to Kabasele colliding with the post
If someone at the start of the season had offered us 9th place on Boxing Day around 99.9% of us would've taken it. With the deluded 0.01% thinking champions league places being the exception.
My first live game for about 3+ years, very different experience all round. We have a lovely ground these days. I thought we did well, played well overall and could have drawn/won had on another day. Chelsea kept the ball well but struggled to create clear chances through our defense, and we looked dangerous every time we broke away, which was pretty often. Deeney seemed to win just about every ball played to him, I thought he did well. Their penalty happened in the middle of a rising bubble of momentum, and we struggled to recover. Almost scored near the end again when deeney clipped it just over. We look right at home competing with the big boys I would say. Clearly we cannot outplay man city, Chelsea etc, but we can keep it tight and break when possible which gives us a chance of points against pretty much anyone. We tried our best, but it wasn't enough this time. That is ok. Let's get 3 points against Newcastle.
He’s okay as an occasional backup. As a medium term first choice after a single injury he’s a disastrous budget option. If kaba is now out for a while and Mariappa plays for 2 months we will feel the full impact of his shortcomings.
Ultimately the game showed the difference between the top 6 clubs and the rest, which is the quality across the first 11. Today we had good displays from many in our team; but although they tried you look at players like Sema ( a discounted Amrabat), and our substitutes - Quina you can't expect too much from a young player with hardly any competitive minutes this season - Success, another who needs to go to the Championship on loan to build up his competitive minutes. Poor first touch and never looks like he has a goal in him off the bench. To see why we lose games like these. On a day everything goes for us we can beat a Chelsea, Man Utd, etc. But it's unrealistic to think we can do so routinely. It's a big step to build more quality across the squad to regularly compete with the best teams in this league. So although disappointing not to get anything out of the game, overall it was a good team performance.
We’ve been doing that for decades. I’m really surprised we still do but it seems to have become a club tradition. A bit like Z Cars...
Great post. Couldn’t agree more. The thing I’m enjoying this season is that, although we do it have as good a team/squad as the top 6, we can and do give them a challenging game. We’ve had some great close games against Spurs, Arsenal, Man U and now Chelsea.
The foul on GD in the second half wasnt a penalty. If it had been given against us we would be fuming. Dont forget the Holebas long throwins into the box to Deeney which he gets no where near to winning normally. We've been doing that for a few years now with nearly the same result every time.
Agree with that apart from the penalty. I was furious that it wasn’t given from where I was sat. But having got home and watched it back, it’s not a penalty. That being said, I have seen refs mistakenly give them - normally when Vardy is involved. But Deulofeu knew what he was doing and the referee didn’t buy it.
We are getting better at playing home matches against the top six with games this season against Man City, United and now Chelsea all being lost 2-1, with a win against Spurs being the total reward so far against the top six, coupled with a 3-0 defeat against Liverpool we just have Arsenal to play! A bit of a mixed bag especially when you see Brighton getting a point of Arsenal and Palace getting three off Man City the other day, however results wise we aren't being thrashed which we have been in the past, this all bodes well for out 5th consecutive season in the P.L. Roll on Saturday!
