First leg was the biggest fluke in football history I don't see how you can deny it.

Barca had enough chances to score 10 goals and on another night they probably would have, it wasn't like your defence limited them as in years gone past they waltz through it at will.

Doesn't count though because it doesn't suit your agenda as per.

Fair enough. First leg was a fluke, 2nd leg was something special though. One for the ages.

@Gil

the fact that Mikel played decently is irrelevant in the context of this particular scenario because he came in as a replacement for matic, who is chelse's most influential player, admit it.

Mikel might have had a fairly good game, but he cant fill matic's boots for the sole reason that matic along with playing that DM role to perfection occasionally darts forward and aid in attack as well ( something Mikel never does), plus he also carries fabrigas and improves his game immensely .

Mikel on the other hand is too busy concentrating on his game that he dont give a shit about Fabri and how he does. So even though you hate to admit its the fact. You missed Matic yesterday and without him Chelsea's midfield is a pale shadow what it is actually.


And terming this win as the flukiest ever tells me everything I need to know about you.
Either you only watched the highlights or the part after Newcastle went 2 up, which is quite simply logical thing to do, against a team like Chelsea, protect what you have rather than going forward unnecessarily and conceding silly goals.

It was a match that Pardew dominated tactically and all that Mourinho could do was helplessly shouting at linesmen and referee before yea blaming the ballboys for wasting time even when Chelsea got a lulzwowrthy 6 minutes of injury time in a match that didnt see any injury in the 2nd half
The plan to soak up pressure and hit on counter worked like peach. And your argument that they only had 2-3 shots on goal and still scored is again a joke. Its not about shooting tons of times and ending up scoreless, the game is about one breakthrough, one penetrating pass, one mistake of the opposition and what you get is a goal. Watch that match if you havent please.

Zzzzzzzz. I'm actually happy for Pardew, if I wanted anyone to end our unbeaten record it's them. Now that we've finally gotten that monkey off our back it's time to start building momentum again.

Hazard, Cesc, Costa & Cahill need more rest. We've got a decent squad it's time to using it. Hope Remy, Drogba, Luis etc get more gametime this month.

Possibly the idea of being another "Invincibles" was having some sort of negative effect on the side but I think only Gil believes that.

well, they still have chance to make another unbeaten run till they meet Pardew again

Doc wrote:Possibly the idea of being another "Invincibles" was having some sort of negative effect on the side but I think only Gil believes that.

It mightn't have been now but there's very much a case to be made, as Mourinho himself said just 2 days ago and as became the case for the Invincibles themselves (5 draws in their last 9 games that season), that as the campaign wears on and the run remains intact, you become increasingly focused on preserving the record rather than winning games; i.e, settling for draws where you otherwise would be risking losing to win, possibly even if not consciously.

Newcastle were good value for their win against Chelsea. Contained Costa, Hazard and Fabregas very well. Not that Fabregas took much containing. Willian was Chelsea's most threatening player, at least until Drogba came on. Mikel did all right, but wasn't really tested. Newcastle played without a CAM - unless you call Colback that. They were mostly using the wings. And offensively Mikel adds nothing. But he did all right, can't blame him for the loss.

Art Morte wrote:Newcastle were good value for their win against Chelsea. Contained Costa, Hazard and Fabregas very well. Not that Fabregas took much containing. Willian was Chelsea's most threatening player, at least until Drogba came on. Mikel did all right, but wasn't really tested. Newcastle played without a CAM - unless you call Colback that. They were mostly using the wings. And offensively Mikel adds nothing. But he did all right, can't blame him for the loss.

Except that it can largely be attributed to our slow movement of the ball. Anytime we won the ball all newcastle had to do was shift everybody back behind the ball and Mikel taking his sweet sweet time to first control the ball and then to try and pick an option killed off our attacks before they could every begin by allowing newcastle to setup.

lszanto wrote:

Art Morte wrote:Newcastle were good value for their win against Chelsea. Contained Costa, Hazard and Fabregas very well. Not that Fabregas took much containing. Willian was Chelsea's most threatening player, at least until Drogba came on. Mikel did all right, but wasn't really tested. Newcastle played without a CAM - unless you call Colback that. They were mostly using the wings. And offensively Mikel adds nothing. But he did all right, can't blame him for the loss.

Except that it can largely be attributed to our slow movement of the ball. Anytime we won the ball all newcastle had to do was shift everybody back behind the ball and Mikel taking his sweet sweet time to first control the ball and then to try and pick an option killed off our attacks before they could every begin by allowing newcastle to setup.

Nah, that's pinning the blame on one guy, when it wasn't really anyone in your team looking to play with urgency. And if you're playing the ball to Mikel in the first place, you're hardly expecting him to start a sweeping fast move of attacking play, are you? Mikel fulfilled his role just fine and to blame a DM for your sides lack of attacking threat is just clutching at straws.

Congrats Gil.

Rebs you delivered

lol here we go again.

Wow. Where was the bump after the spurs game?

The GOAT has resurrected them to elite level again.

Conte