The Conte Era - Chelsea 17/18

Lucifer wrote:Due to being a modest bloke I wont brag too much but I do believe i have substantial amount of contribution in Chelsea's current fine form and probably winning the league.

And you did it for free as well ffs. You should ask for compensation the next time a club benefits from your services.

I did t get to watch the game because I was in international air space, but on current form a front three of Willian-Hazard-Pedro sounds like something out of a Pep wet dream. (And imagine replacing Pedro with James...)

It's crazy how much we've changed since Mou left, although the real litmus test will be next year in the later stages of the CL to see if we can play like his against the big boys

Yea, it will be interesting to see how we will do in the CL.

Conte's first season at Juve was really similar to the season we're having:
he took a former colossus who had a midtable finish and no CL or EL prior to Conte joining, and he won the league in a convincing fashion and breaking some records along the way (Juve went the whole 38 games of the season undefeated in Conte's first year).

Then in his second season, he didn't feel  that much of recoil of having to playing in the CL; he obliterated Serie A due to the superior team he and Juve's DoF created, and they are still dominating even now thanks to following Conte's trail.
That won't happen in the PL lol. If we do win this year's, replicating it would be immensely difficult.

I've seen some posters here on GL claiming that he's a CL choker, but I don't feel that way. I mean, he got run over by Bayern in 2013's quarters, and he did choke in 2014's CL, but 2 CL campaigns are not a solid sample size to warrant this derogatory label.
Not mention that he was playing with some total scrubs in Moses and Alonso's role like Peluso, Padoin, Isla (the equivalent in PL would be last season Ivanovic, Stewart Downing, Bosingwa)
He also handled his last international competition event with Italy at Euros at a satisfying level imo.

And honestly, in light of Pedro playing like this, I don't think we need a player like James. And not because Pedro is in hot form (which I doubt he'll maintain for the entirety of the season), but because we need a player of his kind.
We already have two wingers/AMs hybrids who like to playmake and be creators, drift around the pitch to disorientate defenders, drop deep to collect the ball in Hazard and Willy. We only have Pedro as a more vertical player that relies more on his off-ball movement,  cutting in, getting behind defenders, and function as a secondary goalscorer.
That's why I would rather have Sanchez who can do a bit of both rather than James who can only do the first.
I personally think a player like Schuerrle would fit in Conte's system and the current crop of AMs we have.

Not quite the most solid performance ever, but I'm still satisfied. It seemed like we didn't put the most concentration, which resulted in their 2 goals and other dangerous chances, but as soon as we needed to score, we put our foot on the gas pedal and did it right away; almost effortlessly. To me that's an impressive exhibition of strength.

It also showed the great mental fortitude our team has. In this wins streak there were games when things went downhill like when we started at one goal disadvantage, when we started with 2 goals down, when we struggled to break the ice and unhinge the stall, and now when we got equalized upon 2 times in a row and we always managed to come on top and win the game

Costa MOTM. I know, Cesc and Willy had 2 assists and 2 goals respectively, but Diego was quintessential today. He always manages to bully the opposing cbs and create goalscoring chances out of difficult balls or optimistic hoofs in a Drogbaesque way and today was no different

An important win with Liverpool and City playing as we speak, but a very revealing performance as well. As you said, we were well off our best as far as defensive resolve is concerned (conceding as many goals in 18 minutes as in the entire 12 games before it lol), but when our advantage(s) was/were seized and our backs were against the wall, again and again we proved more than capable of pulling ourselves back in front and seeing matters out to the finish really rather adeptly. 'Only' against Stoke at home, granted, but it does auger well going forward, especially when it's effectively the only [and the probably unexpected first] instance in this entire run where we've been truly up against it and matched toe to toe on the goalscoring front. Which speaks to our competence but also our mental grit. We've proven we can win big and win small, win pretty and win ugly, and win through defensive solidity with clinical chance-taking, as well as prolific productivity up front when not as steely at the back. Very important in this league and a huge source of encouragement respecting our prospects of seeing this position we're in through to the end.

Annoying that Liverpool won. On the bright side, they are our only title rivals now, Seeing as we're 10 points ahead of everyone else (Arsenal can move to 9 behind but that hardly changes anything).

Another 3 points and a change to take the record for consecutive wins in a seasons, lets do this!

BTW:

100/0 - Chelsea's PL win ratio this season:

August: 100%
September: 0%
October: 100%
November: 100%
December: 100%

Blip. (via @oilysailor)

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) December 31, 2016

Impressive!

Not to mention an opportunity to dick Spurs over yet again.

But really, we play Spurs away, Liverpool away, and Arsenal at home in our next 5 league games. A huge test of our mettle. Come out of those with very few points dropped and surely then it'll indisputably be ours to lose.

Shed wrote:Not to mention an opportunity to dick Spurs over yet again.

But really, we play Spurs away, Liverpool away, and Arsenal at home in our next 5 league games. A huge test of our mettle. Come out of those with very few points dropped and surely then it'll indisputably be ours to lose.

If we get to the end of those games while still 6 points clear, at least, and we'll win the title, no doubt.

Points at the exact halfway mark of the season:

Points record-breaking title win of 2005 – 46
This year 2016 – 49

2016 League table:




Testament to how good we've been this term so far when even after finishing 10th last season we've still earnt more points than anyone else in the calender year.

How can you not love this guy ffs

How can anyone not love him?

I guess it was bound to happen sooner or later. We had key players having a shocker and they scored on two crucial moments (right at the end of the first half and when we were very close to equalize in the second half).

Good thing we had a solid advantage before this game. It was one of the hardest games we'll have this season and at least we got that out of the way. It will serve as a wake-up call for everyone in the team too

Disappointing time for our run to end (i.e. on the cusp of making history), and against a disappointing opponent, but you can't reasonably expect to always win, or to never lose – and certainly a defeat away in one of the season's most difficult fixtures (for all the league's sides but especially for us as London rivals) is something we can grudgingly accept. Just weren't totally at the races this time around, and, aside from a few sporadic moments and brief spells of quality, we deserved what we got tonight.

The important thing now is how the boys respond starting 2 weeks from now against Leicester. An optimist might say with the winning streak now over, though upsetting, it lifts the mounting stress to keep it going and takes the monkey off our backs and will allow us to play with more freedom and less fear. Even as a fan, it seemed to me that the longer the run went on and the more we seemingly proved ourselves, perhaps counter-intuitively the more nervous I was becoming before each match - and that same anxiety surely must be felt by the players as well. That there's increasingly been a certain tentativeness in our performances lately would seem to confirm it. So with that now gone, it's an absolute must to avoid the run's end giving way to some kind of complete collapse in confidence and competency, and getting back to winning ways at the King Power is the best and only way to do that, especially heading into an equally as challenging period with Arsenal and Liverpool soon to come.

Yea I feel like some players were really over eager and excessively nervous about the fear of losing this record. I think we made a lot of mistakes that go beyond having a bad game or Spurs shutting us down, like Kante making several uncontested and unforced misplaced passes, Hazard trying to score a volley when he was free to control the ball and shoot it with his best foot and missing a 1 yard header, Costa wasting 1 whole minute to call out Pedro for that counter, Moses couldn't have played any worse both offensively and difensively even if he tried. I feel like the performance anxiety influenced those situations.

Agreed. Just like our losses vs Pool and Arsenal weren't the end of the world and killed our season but instead spurred and motivated us to do better and achieve this historical 13 wins streak, this loss should do the same.

I don't care about the win streak.

Disappointed we lost, but as long as we keep on top of the pile I will be happy. Let's win this title.

Also, we lost at WHL during the 09/10 and 14/15 seasons, before going on to win the title.

We had to be beats eventually, and away to Spurs isn't a bad way to get beat either. As long as we bounce back with a win

Kick wrote:Also, we lost at WHL during the 09/10 and 14/15 seasons, before going on to win the title.

Indeed, not to mention, have beaten or at least avoided loss to them at WHL in seasons that amounted to naff all. Means nothing beyond 3 lost points.

04/05 > 09/10 and 14/15 then We beat Spurs at WHL and won the league

I think 04/05 is our greatest team ever.

What's your favourite line-up for our Fa Cup game vs Peterborough?

I'd like us to rest the players that played basically always until now and were tired vs Spurs, and try some players that haven't had many occasions.

Begovic
Zouma Luiz JT
Ivanovic Chalobah Cesc Aina
Pedro Willian
Michy

We've got a week break after this game so no need to rest everyone.

True, I forgot about that. Still, I'm looking forward for some Bat, Chalo, Zouma and Aina action

Katy Perry wrote:True, I forgot about that. Still, I'm looking forward for some Bat, Chalo, Zouma and Aina action

They are the main ones who should play.