Chelsea match thread

[Jack & Helga]

Well most of 'em had an off day last night so another one in succession is doubtful! Lucky for them that Man City were so poor.
If they somehow play that badly again we may sneak a point

 

[TonyAgana]

The formation makes little difference, to get something out of this game EVERY single player needs to be on the top of their game and Chelsea need to have an off day.

Not so long ago you accused me of being "too simplistic"!

What WOULD help is playing our strongest players in their strongest positions - logic which has evaded many of us for the last few away fixtures.

 

[Foxy]

Not so long ago you accused me of being "too simplistic"!

What WOULD help is playing our strongest players in their strongest positions - logic which has evaded many of us for the last few away fixtures.

That goes without saying, but I really do think there will be little difference between playing a 451 or a 442 this weekend.

I think that too many people blame a particular formation for any problems, rather than player performances.

Its down to Championship/Football manager syndrome , unlike the mathematical calculation based "football", real football isn't quite so dependant on supposed formations as people make out.

 

[Come from away]

Against a Chelsea team I reckon you need an aggressive midfield - Jags, Monty and Fathi - if you buy that it leads to 4-5-1 most easily, but they still have to fully commit otherwise we get beat.

 

[Foxy]

After watching Chelsea last night, we need to get plenty of corners and whip them in somewhere around the edge of the 6 yard box. I lost count of the number of times Cech came out to try and meet them and ended up being completely stranded

 

[TonyAgana]

That goes without saying, but I really do think there will be little difference between playing a 451 or a 442 this weekend.

I think that too many people blame a particular formation for any problems, rather than player performances.

Its down to Championship/Football manager syndrome , unlike the mathematical calculation based "football", real football isn't quite so dependant on supposed formations as people make out.

We're not going to agree on the formation argument Foxy, but for me as an isolated case it's not based on Champ Manager syndrome as I've not played it since CM3! It's more down to how if you play 4-5-1, you've got 5 men in midfield, usually with one sat in front of the back 4. No argument there, right? When that happens, with Sheffield United and the limited ability of our players, man-marking is far more difficult to manage. That's my opinion, anyway!

That said, against Chelsea I'd be happy to see 5 in midfield and 1 up front so long as we've got genuine wingers on either flank who are their to supply Hulse - as opposed to playing Geary and Kozluk tripping over eachother!

 

[jodman]

It's more down to how if you play 4-5-1, you've got 5 men in midfield, usually with one sat in front of the back 4. No argument there, right? When that happens, with Sheffield United and the limited ability of our players, man-marking is far more difficult to manage. That's my opinion, anyway!

I think that the problem with us playing 4-5-1 is that we cannot keep / pass the ball well enough and so we just end up lumping it forward and sitting waiting for the next attack.

it reminds me a but of pinball, no matter how many times you keep hammerring the ball it just keeps coming back and eventually its gonna get between your little bat things...or something like that

Anyway, even though Man City were poor in the final third they did pass the ball well enough to at least create chances yesterday...i'm dubious as to whether we can do so on Saturday. I hope i am wrong.

 

[Robbie]

After watching Chelsea last night, we need to get plenty of corners and whip them in somewhere around the edge of the 6 yard box. I lost count of the number of times Cech came out to try and meet them and ended up being completely stranded

But this is the only game where i have seen cech have ANY problems with corners.

He is normally first to ball

 

[jim]

i think corners and free kicks my be the only way we can scoe on saturday if we got a chance ogtting anyting at all. mak sure we gt goo balls in the ox and we could get one may be two

 

[Greasy Chip Butty]

Warnock's decided to praise mourinho for this game, tis is after praising...:
Stevie G - 'Wins' two penalties and scores a goal
Andy Johnson - 'Wins' a penalty

is it really working praising the opposition...?

 

[Warnock=God]

i think corners and free kicks my be the only way we can scoe on saturday if we got a chance ogtting anyting at all. mak sure we gt goo balls in the ox and we could get one may be two

I guess Terry is back so that won't happen at all. The only way they look vonerble is with pace but still Terrys positioning makes up for it. It's a no win situation really.

 

[Bladesman]

Warnock's decided to praise mourinho for this game, tis is after praising...:
Stevie G - 'Wins' two penalties and scores a goal
Andy Johnson - 'Wins' a penalty

is it really working praising the opposition...?

No but he is daft enough to do so even though it clearly dosnt work.

He would do better praising us more than the other team.

 

[Robbie]

No but he is daft enough to do so even though it clearly dosnt work.

He would do better praising us more than the other team.

Depends what questions get thrown at him from the media.

 

[jim]

I guess Terry is back so that won't happen at all. The only way they look vonerble is with pace but still Terrys positioning makes up for it. It's a no win situation really.

away to make sure he doesn win it - get to the ball first

 

[bladerunner]

Im going to watch the game on german TV, live.

Its a superb weekend with 5 live game from the BPL.

 

[bladerunner]

have seen the 1st half but i honestly cant see how we could make an equaliser in this form. we are 1 or 2 yards away from every single chelsea player.

come on the blades in the 2nd half. try to work harder

btw great move by the chelsea fans for standing up and applauding injured hulse leaving the pitch..!

 

[Bladesman]

One of them days today as we saw it was a return of the old 4-5-1 formation. So no surprise that chelsea came out easy winners really. Also no surprise to see results elsewhere go against us either.

Bad weekend so far.

 

[keenzy]

4-5-1 never works for us..... the midfiled and defence get mixed up too easily. go back to 4-4-2 and play our usual game. no point pissing around with the formation with games like these. just get the team playing in a formation they know well so were prepared for other games.

Davis - waste of money. Morgan and jags at the back and a monty - tonge center of park.

Where was squiny today too?

 

[7UpJordan]

I wondered why Shelton wasn't brought on, we were 3-0 down and we could have at least brought him on to show what he could do. Kazim Richards needs to learn not to be so greedy, but he looked skillful against Chelsea's prima-donna cheaters.

 

[S64 Blade]

Dissapointing game really.

The defence was shocking at times(was highlighted on MOTD too) which cost us for all 3 goals.

Thing i couldnt understand yesterday, is like Jonny said, no Shelton to be brought on, or even Stead. I thought that Nade was pretty useless and looked knackered and not interested in working. With Stead or Shelton we may have got a goal or two.

End of day though, i never expected us to get a win. But a bit more organisation and hard work by some players wouldn't have gone a miss.

 

[keenzy]

monty my MOTM.... only one who looked interested really. morgan had an uphill battle as his pace isnt great and davis looking un interested.

Geary at fault for 1st and 2nd and davis/jags for 3rd. no organisation between them too.

we were 3-0 down, could have brought shelton on give him a run out. CKR needs to learn to pass it more, but put in a decent game.

We need to work on our marking and organisation.

 

[Sharpy]

Monty? How many passes did the lad actually complete?

For me, CKR was our only outlet all game.

We were awful tbh.

 

[stuie01]

The marking for all 3 goals was awful - too much space for all of them and that was us done ! - CKR was unlucky not too score - what was that goal disallowed for anyone know ?

 

[Samantha]

what was that goal disallowed for anyone know ?

Foul, apparantly - although I havn't seen it on the TV.

None of them looked that interested, CKR looked pissed off, Nade seemed to be doing a Kabba & expected the ball at his feet, Monty was trying - although he always tries - yes he cocked up and yes he rectified some mistakes, Armstrong seemed to be trying although sometimes too much.

Just wondering if that goal HAD been allowed would things be different.

(P.S. Can anyone remember a game where one/all of NW's kids were mascots and we actually won?)

 

[SouthEssexBlade]

Goal was disallowed for foul on keeper, handball or offside. All 3 would apply so take your pick!

 

[Foxy]

On our way back now & in the process of scripting our first weekly podcast (to be posted tomorrow.)

If you would like to air your views on the game or on any other news this week (loans, call-ups or away kit launch f'rinstance) give us a ring on 0114 2998344 remembering to leave your preferred name and location.

To be definitely in with a chance of featuring, you'll have to leave your message before midday tomorrow in order to give us chance to edit the programme.

cheers.

 

[Come from away]

If the Davis goal had counted it would have been a different game, different moans. Now we are in a dog-fight with Charleton so it's time for Webber and Stead to step up. Maybe Shelton will be fit for the last run of home games.

 

[keenzy]

monty was the only one putting the boot in. yeah a few passes went astray but everyone elses were. monty did play a few good balls out wide and he was the only one steaming to get forward. CKR did well, but he needs to learnt to pass more.

lets just sweep this game under the carpet and have done with it. was inevitable the result.

 

[Foxy]

monty was the only one putting the boot in. yeah a few passes went astray but everyone elses were. monty did play a few good balls out wide and he was the only one steaming to get forward.

Definately. Lampard didn't get a kick all first half, theres a quote from Merson somewhere too saying he hated playing against Monty because he never gives you an inch or lets you play your game.

 

[TonyAgana]

Didn't really expect so much negativity from everyone after this game, TBH (don't really know why, we're all Blades fans!). I thought we looked good for a point - plenty of attacking play, plenty of shots, Paddy didn't really have that much to do. Poor defending let us down and we gifted them all 3 goals which is very frustrating because players made fundamental mistakes that they don't normally make (except Claude - he's wild), but other than that the line-up was much closer to what some people on here (me included) were calling for.

I was a little bit annoyed with Warnock (it wouldn't be a Saturday if I weren't) bringing back certain players who haven't played for weeks/months but refusing to involve Stead when Nade went AWOL for 45 mins. Dunno, maybe he just didn't want to risk anybody else.

Also agree with the Shelton issue - what the hell was he on the bench for? If you're not going to bring on a new striker, of whom you're a bit unsure, when you're 3-0 down away at Chelsea, when can you give him a risk-free run out? Reminds me of Sharp away at Wolves on the last day a couple of years back.

Get well soon Hulse. Time for Nade or Webber to take his chance now, though.