Chelsea at Home

[gjblues]

Park the bus, park the bus, Antonio Conte,
Park the bus, park the bus, I say,
Park the bus, park the bus, Antonio Conte,
Playing football the Italian way.

Well that was a bit of stroll in the park. I’d have thought a team chasing CL football would have showed a bit more adventure, even against City.
It’s not even as if a point makes a great difference for them.
Four wins to go or three if we beat United.

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[gjblues]

On a side note, we had a bit of discussion over our pre-match pint today – some thought the PL trophy was always presented after the last game, regardless of whether it’s at home or away. Others thought it was presented at the team’s last home game (after they’d won it, obviously).
Does anyone know the definitive answer – there’s £10 riding on the answer 🙂

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[Adlab]

Pretty sure the presentation is during the final weekend of the season

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[cm]

Coming from someone who has seen his side win numerous league titles. If the trophy is won well in advance and if there is a home game remaining, it is usually presented after the final home game. It allows majority of the people in attendance to enjoy the moment rather than a couple of 1000.

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[cm]

What in the fucking fuck cunt am I watching. pic.twitter.com/vNJ18KhgVS

— Mario Gomez (H) ? (@KalNaimar) March 4, 2018

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[Anonymous]

Well done city on the title. What a way to surrender one. Extraordinarily negative approach. To any football fan who sat through that display, And didn’t die of boredom, I’m so very, very sorry you saw that.

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[nine nine nine]

cm, let’s try and not put up posts with language like that mate.

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[nine nine nine]

442, City are a great team and likely to get even better but it’s not acceptable for the defending Champions to give them that level of respect.

I didn’t expect anything from the City game and whilst I don’t like to see us lose I can take a defeat if the players have given everything, they have put up a performance and have tried to give City a game.

We did none of those. Poor, Poor, Poor.

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[goatistuta]

I was staggered by how poor Chelsea were today. I get that it’s dufficult to pin City down and get hold of the ball for any significant time BUT walking around and standing still while a team plays around you at the very top of the premier league is scandalous. Those poor fans, all that way for that. Jeeeeeez.

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[cm]

Apologies 9. I know the language was poor, but the content of the video took me by surprise. Did not watch the game, considering the effort Chelsea put against United last weekend, I did not expect that, especially when a win was needed in order to keep pace with the 3 teams above.

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[nine nine nine]

cm, me neither mate.

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[Anonymous]

I wouldn’t usually say this kind of thing but having seen that performance with my own eyes (well half of it), I think it’s obvious that something must be done, immediately.

The way I see it, Conte’s mind is not on his job. Whether he has a valid reason to be upset is totally beside the point because Chelsea are trying to qualify for the CL next season. They are also still competing in it this one. The players also do not seem to be able to motivate themselves to play and that really is the final straw in any scenario like this.

I think Chelsea need to fire Conte tomorrow and get an interim manager in.

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[nine nine nine]

The Why.

Conte was asked if he felt his players had followed his instructions

‘Yes they followed my instructions. We prepared the game in this way, to not concede space between the lines. Against City you have to use your brain otherwise you risk losing in a bad way, 3-0 or 4-0.

‘We tried not to concede space and for a long part of the match it was good. To concede after 30 seconds in the second half was a pity because then the game was very difficult for us to come back into.’

He was also asked about his decision to not make any changes until the 77th minute

‘We had two strikers [on the bench] and we tried to change the game with them, but when we play against a strong team it’s very difficult for us to keep the balance from last season, with Hazard in the number 10 position. We need to have two players who run a lot defensively and I think Pedro and Willian played a fantastic game.

‘I tried to wait because the substitution was with Hazard and you hope, until the end, that a player like Hazard can invent something but we were unlucky in this aspect. I decided to make the substitution, I don’t know, a bit late. Against United I did it a bit earlier.’

Conte responded to criticism from television pundits regarding his tactics for today’s game

‘At this moment you have to accept criticism but I’m not so stupid to play open against Man City and lose 3-0 or 4-0. If I remember well, a few days ago Arsenal played twice against them and you [the media] criticised [Arsene] Wenger because they conceded three goals in 20 minutes. Pundits need to use their heads and understand when you speak about tactics you must have knowledge, not just speak in a stupid way.’

I can buy some of the above but when it was obvious it wasn’t working Conte should have changed things at half time the substitutions were too late especially after conceding so early in the second half Conte should have reacted to that.

Madness to take Hazard off when you’re chasing a goal especially after wasting him in the wrong position Pedro should have been substituted not Willian and there was no point in bringing Morata on when the 90 minutes was nearly up. Far too many errors from Conte in this game and I’m pro Conte.

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[Anonymous]

9… I honestly do believe conte got massively lucky last year. It was more fluke than skill. As a Chelsea fan I can’t fathom why we continue to use hazard as a striker when it’s just not his game. Letting batshuayi go on loan with a number of youth who could have done the job. The sulking and just about everything else that has drawn fire on the club this season.

The club will have to make a decision soon and immediately after the Barca game. The players can’t be happy playing that four style of football. It was more ant football than jose’s anti football partial machine he had in the car park under the bridge.

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[nine nine nine]

442, sadly all difficult to disagree with.

My only comment would be although Friday press conference wasn’t the place to be saying it and I’m fed up with Conte washing our dirty linen in public we are now miles behind City who given the squad Pep inherited and the money he spent net in his first season ( and subsequently) City should have been winning the title ahead of Chelsea but Conte’s message was right if we want to try and catch City as a club we will need to be more ambitious in the transfer market no matter who the Manager is and whoever the Manger is he needs more say on who comes in who goes out and to whom.

For all Conte’s faults this season this is not the first time that the club has gone from Champions to also rans and imo there is more than just Conte responsible for where we find ourselves and without we sort out the source of these problems the same problems will arise with the next Manager too.

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[Anonymous]

“I honestly do believe conte got massively lucky last year. It was more fluke than skill. ”

I disagree, so I will have to ask you about his time as Juve manager. He was there 3-4 years or so, winning the Serie A 3 times in a row. One of those wins he went undefeated for the entire campaign and for another he set the Serie A record points total.

Milan thought that Pirlo was over the hill and let him go to Juve, where Conte based his team around him. It was in these years that most PL fans were drooling over the prospect of having Pirlo. It was almost fashionable to appreciate his abilities during his time at Juve and although most of the credit goes to Pirlo himself, Conte must also be acknowledged for seeing something that the lads who worked with him every single day could not.

So I’m sorry, Conte wasn’t lucky to win the title. When things go bad for managers and they lose the backing of the board, things tend to go to sh*t. I saw it with Rafa and the owners undermining took hold and unsettled him and the players under him. It’s not exactly the same scenario but when things go bad, they go bad.

EDIT (additional)
Conte had this to say after the match. Although I think he makes a really good point, the players clearly didn’t appreciate playing like that. . . and they really didn’t try at all even when they had the ball. but anyway :

“If I remember well, a few days ago, Arsenal played twice against them and then you criticise a lot (Arsenal manager Arsene) Wenger because they concede three goals in only 30 minutes.

“I think that the pundit has to use the head to understand when you speak about tactics because I think that you must have knowledge to speak about tactics and not only to speak in a stupid way.”

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[Anonymous]

Mak… hear you fella but let me put a case forward.

Last season we started with four at the back and overloaded the wide areas to get the ball into Costa. It didn’t work very well and conte went with a back three dropped alonso into the mix and recalled Moses. We then went in an unbeaten run but I said at the time we had been found out tactically and therefore needed to develop a new system for this season. We didn’t and signed players that have not kicked on. That can be put down to ore season and time bedding in. But what we have seen over this season and the last three months of last was this side starting to struggle. It simply hasn’t been addressed and many fans will want I see us go back to 433 and hazard revert to a left forward.

Something needs to happen because the players no longer believe in the shapes and style we’re playing. It’s not getting results and senior pros are desperately out of form and have been all season.

The inability to switch tactics for teams is surprising for me. Or it’s stubborn. Conte delivered last season but has been found wanting this. I’d be happy for him to continue next year if there was more flexibility in his method and approach. But as we have seen with his stance against his employer – he doesn’t bend or blink, and I think cfc need someone more pragmatic and open to other ideas and who will integrate youth, much of which is performing better than our current stars.

I’ve said it elsewhere but I’d be happy to see both hazard and courtouis leave… I’d be raiding arsenal and bringing chech back. His all round game yesterday was as sharp as anyone in the league.

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[nine nine nine]

You can’t win a PL title by fluke its over 38 games and a true test. Having said that I think we were fortunate to stumble into a system that caught everyone out, the winning run had a massive effect on our confidence and made us look invincible bit like City now and there was no European football to worry about. All three came together at the right time and the rest is history.

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[Pagan]

9, I don’t think Conte stumbled into the 3 at the back system, I personally think he always wanted it, so played that way in training, and then played the matches with 4 at the back. Our defending last season went down hill as the season progressed as the players became less comfortable with the old system and more with the new. I think we would have gone to 3 after the Arsenal game, but circumstances meant we had nothing to lose changing at half time and the rest is history…..Pagan

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[Adlab]

Wow. A substitute (above) for reading War and Peace!
I thought Chelsea were poor. They didnt really appear to want to make a game of it. But…Despite what has been said I did think Conte was making a point with his team selection. Or at least trying to. I cant see him being there next season.
That will be two big managers jobs to fill – inc Arsenal

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