Official Chelsea Supporters Thread

Maverick Jester

The Special One
Joined
Oct 18, 2011
Messages
13,424
Good half for both sides really, and a good half of football overall. I think Atkinson is doing well in the middle, allowing the game to flow.

Arsenal are much better than they were at the same point in last season's fixture, so that's their improvement. As for Chelsea- glad to see that we can take games to opponents that are good on the ball, and control games against them. Haven't seen that from Chelsea in a long time.

Brilliant penalty from Hazard. Cheeky, yet superb.
 

Maverick Jester

The Special One
Joined
Oct 18, 2011
Messages
13,424
Good win. Controlled from start to finish. The Costa-Cesc partnership continues to blossom. Hazard was the key though, he terrified that Arsenal defence every time he had the ball.

Also- props to Oscar, his workrate was amazing, and Schürrle for not letting his head drop despite a number of stupid mistakes in the final third.
 

smokey

Honorary Master
Joined
Dec 12, 2007
Messages
13,465
Hazard and Oscar made that game for me. I'm glad Oscar is showing what he's really capable of. Here's hoping he can keep it up through the winter months (where he dropped off the last two years).
 

Maverick Jester

The Special One
Joined
Oct 18, 2011
Messages
13,424
Hazard and Oscar made that game for me. I'm glad Oscar is showing what he's really capable of. Here's hoping he can keep it up through the winter months (where he dropped off the last two years).

I hope so too. Keeping him fit and not overplaying him will definitely help.

Oh, and I had to laugh at the bitterness displayed by that old Frenchman:

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger: "It was an even game, but at the end of the day they have financial power and used it in a effective way with players like Diego Costa and Eden Hazard making the difference.

"They did not work our keeper more than we did their's. We had more shots and missed opportunities to take more. We lost on details and this is unfortunate.

On his touchline clash with Jose Mourinho: "I went out of my technical area because I wasn't happy with the challenge and I wanted to see what happened. Someone stood in front of me and that was it. I say absolutely nothing else on that.

"Jose says we should have finished with eight men and I return that compliment. I don't know how Gary Cahill finished the game. I don't know how Branislav Ivanovic finished the game. I don't know how Oscar finished the game.

"It is a concern to be nine points behind Chelsea, with the quality of the teams ahead of us, but we will keep on fighting and go on to the next game."

Financial power. Which would be a valid excuse... except for the fact that Arsenal has a higher net spend, and wage bill, than Chelsea. Perhaps he should've phrased it as financial acumen, then.
 

smokey

Honorary Master
Joined
Dec 12, 2007
Messages
13,465
I hope so too. Keeping him fit and not overplaying him will definitely help.

Oh, and I had to laugh at the bitterness displayed by that old Frenchman:



Financial power. Which would be a valid excuse... except for the fact that Arsenal has a higher net spend, and wage bill, than Chelsea. Perhaps he should've phrased it as financial acumen, then.

Maybe if his defenders played like Branna they wouldn't be such a weak side. He wishes he had players that like him. OK - Oscar had his mistimed challenges but then again, sometimes that's what you need. It didn't diminish his creativity so all round great game.

The funny thing is that the money comment probably set off a lot of Arsenal fans considering how we've gone about our business recently. Wenger really had no excuses.

His interview just seemed as if he's lost touch with reality.
 

Maverick Jester

The Special One
Joined
Oct 18, 2011
Messages
13,424
Maybe if his defenders played like Branna they wouldn't be such a weak side. He wishes he had players that like him. OK - Oscar had his mistimed challenges but then again, sometimes that's what you need. It didn't diminish his creativity so all round great game.

So did Wilshere, who often barged over Fabregas. But it was a committed performance from both sides, so I understand the ref's leniency. I actually thought that he handled it rather well, the Welbeck challenge aside.

The funny thing is that the money comment probably set off a lot of Arsenal fans considering how we've gone about our business recently. Wenger really had no excuses.

His interview just seemed as if he's lost touch with reality.

Agreed. But that's the norm with him, then.
 

Helghast

GoldenFinger
Joined
Jan 9, 2010
Messages
48,413
So did Wilshere, who often barged over Fabregas. But it was a committed performance from both sides, so I understand the ref's leniency. I actually thought that he handled it rather well, the Welbeck challenge aside.



Agreed. But that's the norm with him, then.

Ref was terrible, should've been like 5 red cards.
 

RexxGrim

Executive Member
Joined
Dec 19, 2009
Messages
6,355
So did Wilshere, who often barged over Fabregas. But it was a committed performance from both sides, so I understand the ref's leniency. I actually thought that he handled it rather well, the Welbeck challenge aside.

So Cesc block the ball with a raised arm in the box? How would you rate the referees handling of that.

Not saying Arsenal was going to win the game, but lets not pretend that Welbecks challenge is the only thing in the game the referee missed.
 

smokey

Honorary Master
Joined
Dec 12, 2007
Messages
13,465
Ref was terrible, should've been like 5 red cards.

It was similar to the City game. I twas always gonna be a hugely physical match, he did well to ignore stuff on both sides. The difference between Arsenal and Chelsea is that Arsenal got frustrated, Chelsea believed they could win it - which is why Arsenal had more and more rash challenges while Chelsea had less.
 

dbecks

Executive Member
Joined
Aug 28, 2008
Messages
8,897
Arsenal cant handle when u in their face - they lack bite and fight when needed. Like Dortmund, if you on them, they dont like it and wont be effective

AW is jus sour as always
 

Maverick Jester

The Special One
Joined
Oct 18, 2011
Messages
13,424
Ref was terrible, should've been like 5 red cards.

Depends. I thought that he allowed a few challenges to slide because of the nature of the opponents. In big games, dishing out cards actually lowers the quality of them (as was the case when we played City).
 

Maverick Jester

The Special One
Joined
Oct 18, 2011
Messages
13,424
So Cesc block the ball with a raised arm in the box? How would you rate the referees handling of that.

Wasn't in the box. Check the replay closely (his arm was over the line when the shot hit it), and if in further doubt, refer to Opta, who have it recorded as a blocked shot outside of the box. Anyway, if you expected Fabregas to go all John Terry and let it smash his face, that must have been disappointing (I would have been mighty impressed, though).

Not saying Arsenal was going to win the game, but lets not pretend that Welbecks challenge is the only thing in the game the referee missed.

No, he missed Alexis elbowing Ivanovic, Chambers manhandling Schürrle after already being on a yellow, and a number of other stupid challenges all over the pitch. But as I said, in terms of how he reffed the game, he did pretty well.
 
Last edited:

The Voice

Honorary Master
Joined
Jan 25, 2009
Messages
15,695
Wasn't in the box. Check the replay closely (his arm was over the line when the shot hit it), and if in further doubt, refer to Opta, who have it recorded as a blocked shot outside of the box. Anyway, if you expected Fabregas to go all John Terry and let it smash his face, that must have been disappointing (I would have been mighty impressed, though).



No, he missed Alexis elbowing Ivanovic, Chambers manhandling Schürrle after already being on a yellow, and a number of other stupid challenges all over the pitch. But as I said, in terms of how he reffed the game, he did pretty well.

He reffed a good game in hindsight. Also, he didn't send off Gibbs instead of the Ox (tsk, tsk Andre) - another improvement over last season's match.
 
Top