Chelsea (Home) Sunday 1st May

[Btay]

Alright lads it’s 2am here so I’m going to bed. 

All of you have a great afternoon and celebrate that one! Stay safe, love you all

[duncanmckenzieismagic]

What a fucking day that was!

Waiting for the team bus was like a bloody blue street party! Longest 7 minutes of my life but worth it in the end

[Hafnia]

14 minutes ago, duncanmckenzieismagic said:

What a fucking day that was!

Waiting for the team bus was like a bloody blue street party! Longest 7 minutes of my life but worth it in the end

7 minutes?!  Lampard needs to seriously escalate this shit now. Some nasty naughty stuff going on. 

[Hafnia]

1 hour ago, Btay said:

Alright lads it’s 2am here so I’m going to bed. 

All of you have a great afternoon and celebrate that one! Stay safe, love you all

Sleep well… if you can get your head down. 

[Romey 1878]

1 hour ago, Hafnia said:

7 minutes?!  Lampard needs to seriously escalate this shit now. Some nasty naughty stuff going on. 

I thought the 7 minutes was about right myself. I expected 5 at the very least because we did do a lot of time wasting (quite rightly too).

[Romey 1878]

I'm going to need some time to properly recover from that game.

First half I thought we were absolutely spot on. We got our tactics right and the players stuck to those tactics. They committed to them fully and we were incredibly organised. Chelsea had a lot of the ball and tried to draw us out but we were having none of it. It was another time when we actually had the better openings in the game tbh but we didn't make the most of them. At half time I was feeling fairly comfortable if I'm honest.

Second half was a different story. Whether Chelsea got better or our mindset changed after getting such an early goal I don't know, but we just got deeper and deeper and allowed them a lot more time and space. It was not good for my blood pressure, I was so stressed out. The players really stood up to the pressure put on them though, they didn't wilt when they easily could have. They didn't make mistakes despite being under the pump. They fought for each other and they fought for those three points. It was the entire team but special praise to the defence and Pickford - just phenomenal, every one of them. Putting their bodies on the line in regards to the defenders, and making stupendous saves in terms of Pickford.

Those three points could be absolutely massive in our quest for survival.

[badaids]

4 hours ago, Hafnia said:

Hinchcliffe needs to fuck off. He’s a tit

I can’t work out whether his nose looks like an arse or a pair of bollocks. He himself manages to be both at the same time of course.

[Hafnia]

1 hour ago, Romey 1878 said:

I thought the 7 minutes was about right myself. I expected 5 at the very least because we did do a lot of time wasting (quite rightly too).

5 I had at a push. Ended up playing 8.  My gripe is that when we’ve been chasing we never get added time like that. 

[Hafnia]

30 minutes ago, badaids said:

I can’t work out whether his nose looks like an arse or a pair of bollocks. He himself manages to be both at the same time of course.

Liverpool have ex players shamelessly being bias, we have ex Everton players trying too hard to prove otherwise 

[MikeO]

3 minutes ago, Hafnia said:

Liverpool have ex players shamelessly being bias, we have ex Everton players trying too hard to prove otherwise 

Ossie is always great, he was summeriser on 5live today; takes his emotion out of it during the game but unashamedly blue in his post-match reaction. Does the job very well for me.

[Bailey]

What a game that was!

The effort the lads put in to see that through was something else. That goal just after half time was huge. It gave us something to hold on for and player by player they did that. 

Pickford made two brilliant saves and some other good ones too. He was commanding when crosses came into the box too. It was a huge performance.

Coleman, Mina and Holgate all did really well too. Coleman had two outstanding defensive contributions in the first half, Mina was a complete shithouse all game and was a true leader on the pitch. He wound Havertz up to the point he was non-existant. Holgate chipped in when he needed to as well, making some great blocks and clearing headers.

Iwobi was a bit out of the game in the wingback role. He dealt with everything asked of him, bar one badly misplaced pass, he was good on the ball too. 

I have seen Mykolenko get a lot of praise but I was probably most disappointed with him. Whenever he got isolated he got beaten, especially by Ziyech when he came on as he dragged him wider than he had been all game. He also missed the target with a big chance. He was solid enough in the rest of the game but he was our weak link IMO.

The central midfielders all played their part without doing anything notable. They just harassed, fouled and disrupted all game. The only player that beat them all time and time again was Loftus-Cheek. They did next to nothing on the ball though, with Doucoure being the worst culprit. Great energy from them all and the switch of Delph to Allan was perfect by Lampard.

The wide players werent seen to best effect. Gray should have also sealed or at least forced a save. He put in a great shift but was largely on the periphery. Gordon was his usual self, driving at them time and time again. They didn't like having to deal with him at all especially as the game went on however he just needs to add more quality to his game.

Richarlison did his usual bit. Ran his arse off, always tried to do something even when the odds were against him and it was that attitude that got him the goal. He deserved it. Rondon was a good sub to bring on. On one hand he frustrated me, on the other he did well. He also had a chance to seal it and fluffed it, he also had a chance to get us on a really good counter and fucked it. When he got in a tussel with a Chelsea player he largely won it though and we needed that so much at the end of the game. It was a big contribution, even if it should have been bigger.

I did think the game was largely going the same as the Liverpool one at half time. They were playing way too slowly and loosely and it was no surprise to see them play a lot better second half. That goal was massive because it gave us something to hold on to and the Pickford saves were just as huge because it would have given the players a chance to throw the towel in a bit like they did last weekend. 

It was a really gritty and fiery performance perfect for the situation against a quality but relatively soft team at the moment. We will need to play better in the games coming up when the onus is on us to go and win the game rather than not lose it.

[Hafnia]

9 minutes ago, MikeO said:

Ossie is always great, he was summeriser on 5live today; takes his emotion out of it during the game but unashamedly blue in his post-match reaction. Does the job very well for me.

Doesn’t get enough tv time for me

[Gwlad]

5 hours ago, Btay said:

Alright lads it’s 2am here so I’m going to bed. 

All of you have a great afternoon and celebrate that one! Stay safe, love you all

Love you too. Well done for staying up!

[Cornish Steve]

On Friday, I met up with a number of friends and former colleagues in the New York area. One is a diehard Chelsea fan. When we discussed the game, he felt Chelsea were hitting some form and that we'd stand no chance. I told him our fans would be our 12th, 13th, and 14th players and that we'd win out.

Today, I left New York about 20 minutes before kickoff and was flying over the Atlantic for the next several hours. The first thing I did when I arrived at Heathrow was to check the score. To his credit, my former colleague had sent me a congratulatory text message telling me it was an incredible game to watch.

[Romey 1878]

https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/a-club-team-crowd-manager-23839235

[plaidharper]

[plaidharper]

[Cornish Steve]

2 hours ago, plaidharper said:

This is a great picture, and it carries a lot of symbolism.