***Official Chelsea v City Match Thread***

[carl_feedthegoat]

What a strange reaction, away against a Premier League rival.

You listen to Ted too much!

Sorry mate but they were there for the taking today. We had it all our own way for about 82 of 92 minutes played but we didn't create a single clear chance. Everything broke up in the final third because they sat back and defended in numbers and because dzeko just isn't tevez. It's not that I don't rate dzeko but he is absolutely useless outside of the box. He is too slow, especially in possession. Tevez would of stretched them for aguero and vice versa. Not only that but if dzeko is going to start it has to be with tevez because aguero just ignores him completely but tevez works well with him.

Mancini fucked up imo , he should have taken the absolutly shocking Aguero off at half time and brought on Tevez / Balotelli and then taken Dzeko off later and replaced him who whoever was left out of Balo /Tevez.
Bringing on Balo with 4 minutes to go is just mongolic imo , I just do not get it.

Also Nasri should have come on for the inefective Milner after half time.Chelsea were fuckign shite and we were lethargic.

Its 2 points loss , make no mistake.

Have you 2 ever played football? I know you didn't get many years Carl but I'm not sure about Ash. Surely you understand the realities that we are away from home, against a top team?

We played shite in the final 3rd Beefy and chelsea were not a top team today,changes should have been made long before they were...Aguero can score anytime in a match and I can understand the reluctance to sub him but his overall performance has been below par for a while now imo as it was today,he loses the ball constantly and also continues slipping on the grass.
With that in mind Mancini should have taken off Aguero and then later Dzeko..it was a no brainer imo.

[Beefymcfc]

You're right mate in many instances but what do you do? Who's better than Aguero? Who better than put a ball away than Dzeko? Who would you want in a scrapper other than Tevez or coming off the left than Mario.

Our personalities may change but there's nothing to say that they will be any better than we've got. A couple of years ago we would never have seen the attacking line-up that we have, anywhere, it's mind blowing when you think about it. Changing that line-up has many factors andmany that I wouldn't change just for the sake.

Guidetti, he should be there in normal surroundings, given a chance he could become successful. That tells you what pressure Mancini is under to succeed.

[Blue Since 76]

They weren't a top team on the day today, they were an ok team, similar in quality to West Brom or Swindon & City at even 70% would have beaten them. Personally I don't blame Mancini for it though, apart from that he needs to get the team a bit more fired up in general, especially at the start of games. I think a new top quality attacking signing would have had that effect & we should maybe change a couple in the summer.

Swindon! Bit harsh.

Dzeko never plays well when he starts, but generally looks immense when coming on. Tevez usually struggles when he comes on, as if he struggles to find the pace of the game. However, we still haven't lost a PL game where Tevez and Aguero started. So can anyone explain the starting pairing?

That's where the game was lost, to me. Nothing up front for 70 minutes then bring Tevez on who didn't make much difference. The other way round, who knows

[Beefymcfc]

What a strange reaction, away against a Premier League rival.

You listen to Ted too much!

Sorry mate but they were there for the taking today. We had it all our own way for about 82 of 92 minutes played but we didn't create a single clear chance. Everything broke up in the final third because they sat back and defended in numbers and because dzeko just isn't tevez. It's not that I don't rate dzeko but he is absolutely useless outside of the box. He is too slow, especially in possession. Tevez would of stretched them for aguero and vice versa. Not only that but if dzeko is going to start it has to be with tevez because aguero just ignores him completely but tevez works well with him.

Mancini fucked up imo , he should have taken the absolutly shocking Aguero off at half time and brought on Tevez / Balotelli and then taken Dzeko off later and replaced him who whoever was left out of Balo /Tevez.
Bringing on Balo with 4 minutes to go is just mongolic imo , I just do not get it.

Also Nasri should have come on for the inefective Milner after half time.Chelsea were fuckign shite and we were lethargic.

Its 2 points loss , make no mistake.

Have you 2 ever played football? I know you didn't get many years Carl but I'm not sure about Ash. Surely you understand the realities that we are away from home, against a top team?

We played shite in the final 3rd Beefy and chelsea were not a top team today,changes should have been made long before they were...Aguero can score anytime in a match and I can understand the reluctance to sub him but his overall performance has been below par for a while now imo as it was today,he loses the ball constantly and also continues slipping on the grass.
With that in mind Mancini should have taken off Aguero and then later Dzeko..it was a no brainer imo.

Aguero was shit mateand I wanted him off but at the same time the game is 90 minutes and he usually comes through when needed.

We were the better team, away from home, to a top 4 club. No complaints here mate.

[mr_nool]

They weren't a top team on the day today, they were an ok team, similar in quality to West Brom or Swindon & City at even 70% would have beaten them. Personally I don't blame Mancini for it though, apart from that he needs to get the team a bit more fired up in general, especially at the start of games. I think a new top quality attacking signing would have had that effect & we should maybe change a couple in the summer.

Swindon! Bit harsh.

Dzeko never plays well when he starts, but generally looks immense when coming on. Tevez usually struggles when he comes on, as if he struggles to find the pace of the game. However, [highlight]we still haven't lost a PL game where Tevez and Aguero started[/highlight]. So can anyone explain the starting pairing?

[highlight]That's where the game was lost, to me[/highlight]. Nothing up front for 70 minutes then bring Tevez on who didn't make much difference. The other way round, who knows

You do realise that we didn't actually lose the game?

[Brad]

Good result, were still unbeaten, don't forget we lost that game last year, this time around we got a good away point against the champions league winners.

[carl_feedthegoat]

Good result, were still unbeaten, don't forget we lost that game last year, this time around we got a good away point against the champions league winners.

And they got an even better result against the PREMIERSHIP CHAMPIONS.

[Lev Bronstein]

They weren't a top team on the day today, they were an ok team, similar in quality to West Brom or Swindon & City at even 70% would have beaten them. Personally I don't blame Mancini for it though, apart from that he needs to get the team a bit more fired up in general, especially at the start of games. I think a new top quality attacking signing would have had that effect & we should maybe change a couple in the summer.

Swindon! Bit harsh.

Dzeko never plays well when he starts, but generally looks immense when coming on. Tevez usually struggles when he comes on, as if he struggles to find the pace of the game. However, [highlight]we still haven't lost a PL game where Tevez and Aguero started[/highlight]. So can anyone explain the starting pairing?

[highlight]That's where the game was lost, to me[/highlight]. Nothing up front for 70 minutes then bring Tevez on who didn't make much difference. The other way round, who knows

You do realise that we didn't actually lose the game?

Thanks for that, I was beginning to doubt myself!

[Peter Doherty (AGAIG)]

Good point. A win on Wednesday and it's a very good week.

[Brad]

Good result, were still unbeaten, don't forget we lost that game last year, this time around we got a good away point against the champions league winners.

And they got an even better result against the PREMIERSHIP CHAMPIONS.

Still one point gained for us though, and they did end our unbeaten start this time last year so atleast this year that hasn't happened.

[Mark Garrett]

A point at Chelsea is never a bad result so I'm quite content, although a bit more care with our passing in the final third would have seen us grab all three points.

Thought defensively we were excellent with all the back four deserving plaudits and Barry patrolling in front of them was very solid and reliable.

Yaya was sloppy in possession and put us under unnecessary pressure - needs to return to form quickly. Aguero was disappointing, his touch was off throughout. Milner was typically industrious and combined well with Zabaleta down the right

[Slim]

They weren't a top team on the day today, they were an ok team, similar in quality to West Brom or Swindon & City at even 70% would have beaten them. Personally I don't blame Mancini for it though, apart from that he needs to get the team a bit more fired up in general, especially at the start of games. I think a new top quality attacking signing would have had that effect & we should maybe change a couple in the summer.

Swindon! Bit harsh.

Dzeko never plays well when he starts, but generally looks immense when coming on. Tevez usually struggles when he comes on, as if he struggles to find the pace of the game. However, [highlight]we still haven't lost a PL game where Tevez and Aguero started[/highlight]. So can anyone explain the starting pairing?

[highlight]That's where the game was lost, to me[/highlight]. Nothing up front for 70 minutes then bring Tevez on who didn't make much difference. The other way round, who knows

You do realise that we didn't actually lose the game?

Thanks for that, I was beginning to doubt myself!

And I think he may have meant Swansea, not Swindon.

[Moonchesteri]

What did we buy Garcia for??

I think that is to attract as many female fans as possible. There's a lot of potential supporters to win out there so it may not be such a bad move?

Seriously, I think people are writing him off waaaay too early.

[DoomMerchant]

You do realise that we didn't actually lose the game?

You do realize that Chelsea were a blue bag of shite today?

[Swales4ever]

Feel sorry for Dzeko. he's been much better that Aguero this game, but on the other hand, Tevez and Kun can sometimes work magic together.

I don't agree. There's been several crosses going in this game and that's supposed to be his thing. Yet he's failed to show on several occassions. I think we played his type of game today, at least as much as we ever will, and he failed to show up. Poor.

I wouldnt say that we had some quality crosses today. Everything went on the first post... as far as I recall tbf.

I very much start to be pissed off this pride, ffs.
I am a fair lover of Edin Dzeko. I've been advocating his purchase for an year, but fuck me, today the box has been quite decently bombed in excess of ten times: none of them was exactly calibrated on his angel face, BUT, almost every time, the Centre Forward was nowhere near to he was supposed to be. In other terms, the likes of Alan Shearer, Ian Rush, Ruud Van Nistelroy or VanPussy would have met a few of that. Rest assured!

Bosnian rant aside, SisFu and others are spot on. Disappointing 2 points dropped by the far better side, but:

we have bossed the ground of the European Champion, largely

the composure of our defence is almost back: can recall only an half dodgy belated jump of nasti on Sideshow Bob and we definitely have our Vincent BACK on his own.

sooner or later, our YOUNG forwarders, deliberately purchased amongst the Youngest top talents to build up a dynasty on, shall acquire some seniority, coolness in front and we will start running riots at every place.

Meanwhile I am very proud to take a point there by such a dominant performance, with several players never boosted up to 3rd gear.

Also, do not we forget that, experience, bias, die hard winning mentality and all that shite, BUT the Scums are such years light below our quality to the extent that we start the season with virtual 6 points in the bag. Should take two EXTREMELY BENT refereeing to let them grab a point over us in two derbies.

[Swales4ever]

You do realise that we didn't actually lose the game?

You do realize that Chelsea were a blue bag of shite today?

oh do You realize that we have made them a bag of shite?

[Swales4ever]

Upon browsing the last pages, I am compelled to say all my amusement at Ted doing the Carl... piss funny.

just saying.

[DoomMerchant]

You do realise that we didn't actually lose the game?

You do realize that Chelsea were a blue bag of shite today?

oh do You realize that we have made them a bag of shite?

we can take credit for Rafa's handiwork if we want to be optimistic i suppose. Won't bother me.

Ultimately, a point away at Chelsea SOUNDS better than if you actually watched the match and realized that we should have walked away with 3 points, as the scum did.

cheers

[Swales4ever]

You do realise that we didn't actually lose the game?

You do realize that Chelsea were a blue bag of shite today?

oh do You realize that we have made them a bag of shite?

we can take credit for Rafa's handiwork if we want to be optimistic i suppose. Won't bother me.

Ultimately, a point away at Chelsea SOUNDS better than if you actually watched the match and realized that we should have walked away with 3 points, as the scum did.

cheers

one of the beauty of football, Mate, is that everyone can see what he wants in it.
I do respect Your view.
I just saw another football match.

cheers

[DoomMerchant]

one of the beauty of football, Mate, is that everyone can see what he wants in it.
I do respect Your view.
I just saw another football match.

cheers

It's not deadly or horrific. But it's not the effort of champions IMHO.