Rayman wrote:

Partly you could blame the defensive issues to injuries to Koscielny and Arteta then the loss of Sagna, last year we were quite solid defensively. But Mourinho would not have Monreal as CB cover.

Chelsea had Cech Ivanovic Cahill Terry/Luiz Cole/Azpilicueta in 12/13 the year before Mourinho came and they conceded 39 goals that season in the league. Next season Mourinho comes in, same defenders and they concede 27 league goals. He made a huge difference defensively and has reformed Terry who looked like he was finished in 2012.

Mourinho wouldn't have signed Chambers/Debuchy to replace Vermalean and Sagna too. Say what you want about Vermalean he'd be in our starting XI right (if fit) - so too Sagna.

TBH I thought Wilshere flattered to deceive much as he did v Citeh.

He looks good driving forward on the ball and trying to make things happen,
but for mind all he's really looking to do in the final 3rd is to drive into the area to try to score his wonder Wengerball goals. IMO he should have fed the likes of Welbeck & Sanchez at least 3x including both the head butt and injury incidents. He should be driving forward, drawing the man and slipping the pass.

MistaT wrote:

Rayman wrote:

Partly you could blame the defensive issues to injuries to Koscielny and Arteta then the loss of Sagna, last year we were quite solid defensively. But Mourinho would not have Monreal as CB cover.

Chelsea had Cech Ivanovic Cahill Terry/Luiz Cole/Azpilicueta in 12/13 the year before Mourinho came and they conceded 39 goals that season in the league. Next season Mourinho comes in, same defenders and they concede 27 league goals. He made a huge difference defensively and has reformed Terry who looked like he was finished in 2012.

Mourinho wouldn't have signed Chambers/Debuchy to replace Vermalean and Sagna too. Say what you want about Vermalean he'd be in our starting XI right (if fit) - so too Sagna.

Hindsight is good, but Vermaelen has not been fit all season long for Barcelona so he is a non-factor.

All the Sagna talk is misleading when we have another right back playing superbly for West Ham gets overlooked.

Matchday Accessories

Anzac wrote:

TBH I thought Wilshere flattered to deceive much as he did v Citeh.

He looks good driving forward on the ball and trying to make things happen,
but for mind all he's really looking to do in the final 3rd is to drive into the area to try to score his wonder Wengerball goals.  IMO he should have fed the likes of Welbeck & Sanchez at least 3x including both the head butt and injury incidents.  He should be driving forward, drawing the man and slipping the pass.

Yep, not at all impressed by his beating two men only to run into a third one act any more. He plays like a kid, which I suppose he is in footballing terms.

I thought Wilshere was very good myself. We lost a LOT when he had to come off IMO.

Like Anzac said, Wilshere screwed up at least 3 good opportunities. What was so good about him according to you?

Wilshere screwed up the opportunities—no one else even got on the end of one. Ramsey has become woeful.

One of our biggest liabilities going forward on the day was Sánchez. Gave away the ball cheaply very frequently, much more so than Jack.

Some of those opportunities were nowhere near as good as you're making them out to be. In the one where he got injured he had 3 or 4 players level with him in a line like some sort of attacking offside trap. There was a clear pass early to Sanchez but to say he was 'in' is ridiculous, he would've had a man to beat and probably another covering defender. Wilshere was trying to commit one more to slip it through but it didn't work out. In general he was putting in a good big game performance. At the heart of everything good by linking up with Chamberlain and the front men and Rex is right - we did lose a lot with him going off.

I'd say we created 50 percent less chances when Wilshere came off, then Wenger made sure we created another 25 percent less by shifting Welbeck wide and Chamberlain central.

Clrnc wrote:

ultimate_warrior wrote:

GK, CB, DM, WF and CF should do it.

Honestly speaking, I know we are missing a proper DM and another CB. So what?

Any decent manager would have at least had a quality team like us in 2nd place right now considering how shit the rest is.

That's what United, Pool and City fans must be thinking as well. Fact is, we are all shit together, and Chelsea are far and away the best team in the league.

Anzac wrote:

TBH I thought Wilshere flattered to deceive much as he did v Citeh.

He looks good driving forward on the ball and trying to make things happen,
but for mind all he's really looking to do in the final 3rd is to drive into the area to try to score his wonder Wengerball goals.  IMO he should have fed the likes of Welbeck & Sanchez at least 3x including both the head butt and injury incidents.  He should be driving forward, drawing the man and slipping the pass.

Wilshere always misses the opportunity to slip in the pass. It's what makes him a rather ineffective player considering the positions he takes up. He always takes one-touch too many. Same thing happened with the goal he should have scored.

I'm still in shock as to how we lost that match. First 35mins is the best I've seen us play in a long time yet I just felt if we didn't score during that period we'd lose the match somehow. Up until their goal everyone was spot on apart from the finishing. Then after the goal was just shambolic, you could see how we fell apart and could have lost 3-0 in the end. We looked so open at the back it was frightening, Per is suppose to be keeping the shape at the back and even he was bombing into their half. Shocking stuff really

Our performance in the first half has to be balanced against how poor United were.

They were really shite, there were spaces for our players to run at their defenses at will, and they had no cohesion going forward.

Yet, we couldn't score. We couldn't create high percentage chances.

Wenger will be just fine. Him and his 7 million pounds pa.

I'm aboard the Wenger out train, but I think the game plan against United was sound. It was the players' fault this time.

What was the game plan against United?

How did it differ from the game plan against Swansea, against Anderlecht?

We knew that their defence was in terrible shape and just kept running at them. Quite simple, but would've been effective if we put our chances. What Wenger did after we didn't and conceded a freak offside own goal was less impressive, though. Still, I don't think the players can hide behind Wenger this time.

They never try to.

It's people always trying to shift blame from one to the other. The players this game, the manager next game.

At this stage, you can't do that anymore. Everything these guys do, good or bad, is a reflection of the manager and the way he has trained or set them up to express themselves. Is it the first time we are ballsing up like this? Of course not. It's just the scale of the cock up, and the failure to learn from previous disasters that's mind boggling.

Which player will you single out this time? Just one, or two? Or is it the entire team?

We do this almost every other week. Criticize the midfield and defence in general for their appalling naïveté and porosity.

And yet, this week especially, it's the players fault!?

Nah.