Chelsea (H) - Match Thread

[Lecter]

Opinions on Wijnauldum? I know you don't rate him as a footballer.

Yep you are right I am not a fan

He takes up some good positions at times though but for me he is very slow in and out of possession

[Buzzo]

I thought Wijnaldum played well last night. I personally thought the midfield 3 did play quite well and the amount of defensive work Kante was being asked to do testifies to this. If you could throw in a player with Kantes skill set to our squad then we would have decent options in midfield.

Wijnaldum has also now scored a couple of big goals for us in the last 6 weeks.

[Lecter]

I thought Wijnaldum played well last night. I personally thought the midfield 3 did play quite well and the amount of defensive work Kante was being asked to do testifies to this. If you could throw in a player with Kantes skill set to our squad then we would have decent options in midfield.

Wijnaldum has also now scored a couple of big goals for us in the last 6 weeks.

What I thought was interesting last night was 2nd half we pushed Can well forward and threw quite a lot of high balls at him to try and win

Dare I say it but it was straight out of the Mourinho handbook that one

To me though when I looked at Chelsea and you see they dont play the slow game we do, when they move forward they go at pace and often quite direct

I am not advocating lumping it but playing direct diagonal balls (with a bit more risk) to our fullbacks is something we should do more. The fullbacks are frequently free in wide areas but we take an absolute age and often 10 passes to switch the play

[Buzzo]

What I thought was interesting last night was 2nd half we pushed Can well forward and threw quite a lot of high balls at him to try and win

Dare I say it but it was straight out of the Mourinho handbook that one

To me though when I looked at Chelsea and you see they dont play the slow game we do, when they move forward they go at pace and often quite direct

I am not advocating lumping it but playing direct diagonal balls (with a bit more risk) to our fullbacks is something we should do more. The fullbacks are frequently free in wide areas but we take an absolute age and often 10 passes to switch the play

I do wonder about our lack of flexibility sometimes. Its almost as if the back 4 are on a £20k fine if they launch it, sometimes they don't go long to the absolute detriment of our position on the pitch.

It clearly makes sense to not go long all the time when you have a front 3 of Coutinho, Firmino and Mane, however I'd say Lovren in particular lacks the ball skills to do this all the time. Sometime the old 'clear your lines' mantra is ok with me.

If we are to lose Sturridge (looks likely) then a forward with Firmino's skill set, but who is a bot more of a physical presence would be amazing. Probably looking at about £60m or more for whoever that is though. Origi has the raw potential to lead the line for us, and was looking great towards the end of last season but he needs to kick on a bit now. I must admit, at times Diego Costa looks superb last night - he'd be great for us.

[The_weatherman]

I am not advocating lumping it but playing direct diagonal balls (with a bit more risk) to our fullbacks is something we should do more. The fullbacks are frequently free in wide areas but we take an absolute age and often 10 passes to switch the play

I was screaming at the laptop sometimes, we move the ball so slow it's ridiculous. Satisfied with the performance and the point though.

[Lecter]

I must admit, at times Diego Costa looks superb last night - he'd be great for us.

Hes a ****ing orrible **** him but he would be great to have in your team

Whether its being a nuisance to the defenders physically, or his hold up and link up play and even his dribbling whilst holding off players last night was immense

That ball from Cesc to his chest and then his turn and attacking the defenders

[Lecter]

I was screaming at the laptop sometimes, we move the ball so slow it's ridiculous. Satisfied with the performance and the point though.

That diagonal ball to the fullbacks has been on in every game we have played so far this year

We have just been far too slow with our passing to exploit it

To me its so telling that the bulk of our recent goals have come when we have moved the ball quickly into wide areas and either crossed / put dangerous balls across box or cut ball back

And thats against teams who have sat deep

[Lecter]

Had to laugh at Clattenburg turning down Milner's penalty appeal (and rightly so) then given them a free kick for exactly the same thing not even 2 seconds later. Kinda summed up us and officials right now. Not sure what we've done to annoy them so much but it'd be nice if our games were officiated fairly from here on in.

I said exactly the same to the bloke sat next to me at the match

You couldnt give one decision without the other

Keep saying it but the standard of refereeing this season has been atrocious. Clattenberg to me is one of the better refs but last night I thought he was poor (at least I hope it was a poor performance and not bias)

[Buzzo]

Hes a ****ing orrible **** him but he would be great to have in your team

Whether its being a nuisance to the defenders physically, or his hold up and link up play and even his dribbling whilst holding off players last night was immense

That ball from Cesc to his chest and then his turn and attacking the defenders

Yeah that was the bit in particular, I don't watch them much, and have always thought he may be a bit over rated, but that bit was immense.

He is absolute filth but he is also quality. We don't have anyone capable of holding the ball up and out muscling 3-4 defenders like that.

[PTP]

Lallana and Firmino have both been out of form for a few weeks, probably hasn't helped either that they've been moved around the pitch.

Henderson was superb from what I saw, I missed the first half because of work. Covered a few times for Milner's errors, another player who is struggling at the moment.

I think they are both shattered and have been shifted all over the place hasn't helped - with mane/coutinho missing games and Sturridge and origi not being on form these two have been the only attacking threat for a while - ideally we'd give them a bit of rest and rotate. Pretty sure I read somewhere Lallana was carrying a knock

[Scratch]

I'd imagine that now the busy Christmas/January period is out the way, we will have license to play our high intensity pressing game that has been missing for this period. I kinda get the feeling this was a conscious decision by Klopp, knowing that with a small squad, playing the way we had been playing prior to the fixture pile up would be unsustainable so we slowed our pace down and hoped to grind out results. Now that we a back to a game a week, it will be an unchanged, full throttle side that will hopefully be back to how we were before.

Fingers crossed.

[gratziani]

Felt we generally played well , and had two clear chances which Bobby did not convert

Been a recurring story lately , with Sturridge against Soton and Gio versus the mancs

We have been wasteful up top , and giving easy chances away defending as well.

Nearly being a good team again. Mane back and everyone fit hoping for us to start beating teams again

[wongers]

Not sure what Lovren did wrong today. Matip was far more wasteful than him (Chelsea's goal was his fault for conceding the free kick unnecessarily). Can is not the best with the ball but he he was much improved today. Mignolet was at fault for not hearing the whistle apparently but he saved us with the penalty save.

All in all, would you agree that you're overreacting? We're 4th and a point off second place ffs.

yes he was poor at times but was lallana who gave the free kick away not him