Chelsea 2 Crystal Palace 1

[Max Fowler]

I thought Lavia's passing had a crispness that filled with confidence. Him and Nkunku seem to have brought an instant quality to the team but early days. 

Petrovic should be our number 1 now - miles better distribution than Sanchez and looks really solid too.

Palace were really bad I thought. It wouldn't have taken much to beat us but we take the win.

Oh and Caicedo was just appalling today. I love the guy but wow - we simply cannot sell Gallagher.

[Chelsea_Matt]

2 minutes ago, chara said:

Quietly pleased with our new Petr,,,and was the Brighton hassle with Colwill worth it? Even given playing somewhat out of position but surely not that difficult for a pro to fill in ?

Kudos to Conor....three points will do every day.

I think Colwill believes his own hype and needs to be more grounded tbh. Absolutely agree on the goalie too. Nice to see Lavia  make his debut. 

I hate to say it but while I’m pleased we won of course, we’re still garbage tbh. Just so fragile. 

[boratsbrother]

4 minutes ago, NoblyBobly said:

Another shout out to Petrovic. He does the basics very well, and you feel a goal to beat him it will need to be a good goal. 

That's what we've been crying out for over the past few years. A calm, steady Eddie who doesn't have brain farts and let in soft goals.

[johnnybozo]

Gusto makes me think we really should cash in on Glass Legs James and get a world class attacker in with the money. He could be a genuinely class act for years to come.

And once Calamity Sanchez is fit I don't want to see another shirt apart from no. 28 in goal. Petrovic is a solid keeper.

Edited December 27, 2023 by johnnybozo

[ShedMiddle]

We won. Poch is clueless. Obvious starting 11 and subs ignored. Badiashille has been terrible since the Newcastle mistake. Colwill was have a solid game and should've moved over to CB and Badiashille off. Diasi is not the required level. 

Gusto and Mudryk best players today. The one real positive is Mudryk. 

We got lucky in this one. At least the atmosphere wasn't the usual boxing day rubbish!

[chara]

6 minutes ago, boratsbrother said:

Colwill is a CB not a LB. How do you think a young JT would have fared playing as a FB? Not very well I say.

I took that into consideration and the JT thought and on balance think JT would have made a better fist of it ,

Just doesn't seem to read the situations well. Then again he's not alone in that!

[boratsbrother]

2 minutes ago, Max Fowler said:

 

Oh and Caicedo was just appalling today. I love the guy but wow - we simply cannot sell Gallagher.

Caicedo was being lambasted by the commentators for his awfully negative  sideways and  backwards passing all the time leaving Gallagher with so much to do when he gets the ball. 

200 million on two midfielders. One who is no use with the ball and one who is no use without it. You need players who compliment eachother not show up each others huge shortcomings.

[kev61]

3 minutes ago, NoblyBobly said:

I missed first half but in  highlights he looked very very decent. 

He honestly wasn't.Another player that will fail in the curse since Roman left.

[boratsbrother]

4 minutes ago, johnnybozo said:

Gusto makes me think we really should cash in on Glass Legs James and get a world class attacker in with the money. He could be a genuinely class act for years to come.

I like his enthusiasm as well.

[NoblyBobly]

4 minutes ago, kev61 said:

He honestly wasn't.Another player that will fail in the curse since Roman left.

Well it’s way way to early to make that judgement. He is no where near fully fit and ready but I sniff a decent player. 
 

edit: I will grant you though that putting on a Chelsea shirt seems to have a bad effect on your talent. 

Edited December 27, 2023 by NoblyBobly

[Dwmh]

Well 3 points is 3 points and makes it 3 points more likely we might get to a respectable 54 points ie 10+ on last year.
So happy with the 3 points.  Not any more comfortable with our long term future though based on today.
We are joint top on penalties scored with 6 alongside Arsenal.  Next are 2 teams on 4.  Who says VAR doesn't love us.

Palace are a boring 11-15th type of team, but imagine having a player that can produce finishes like Olise's today

Meant to tag the poster (MK?) who pointed out how dumb moving Gusto was.
We were just seeing how having an out and out FB so suits our natural side.  Then somehow we manage to not just replace a fish out of water CB playing LB, but at the same time remove a genuine LB playing out of water in midfield and move Gusto from right side to wrong side.  Incredible.  Lavia for Colwill and shift Maatsen was such an easy call to make.

Nkunku looks classy - but unless he plays 9 then it is him or Cole, not both.  Mudryk had a better game but not a reputation changing one.  Madueke looks vastly better than the player we have mostly seen before, but that is not quite the complement it might sound.

2 minutes ago, McCreadie said:

So glad we won, but Jackson’s offside goal is less forgivable than his horrible miss. He is staring straight across the line and is a mile off. The Palace player that nearly plays him on is behind him and he doesn’t even know he is there.

Yes.  We were constantly offside under Lampard, sometimes under TT, often under Potter and again constantly offside under Poch.
Whether it it the manager's ideas or just his ability to get the message across doesn't matter much but I suspect it is very difficult to get a $billion set of players to listen if you don't win regularly.

ditto - corners.

6 minutes ago, NoblyBobly said:

To not give that pen in real time was outrageous. Apparently they asked Clattenburg  in the studio and he failed to reply??!! 

He paused like the coward he is.  Obviously he didn't want to be in a position where he was arguing for a pen for Chelsea that VAR didn't give.

7 minutes ago, NoblyBobly said:

Another shout out to Petrovic. He does the basics very well, and you feel a goal to beat him it will need to be a good goal. 

Yup.

47 minutes ago, chara said:

Nasty tackle on Mudryk....watch the "snag"

I thought Mudryk stepped into a sliding challenge in an attempt to win a free kick.  Players so often get away with that, annoys me a lot.

27 minutes ago, NoblyBobly said:

I like Gilchrist already

Loved it when he raced back to get in a half tackle, then Disasi stood up and shielded the ball and the big striker pushed him over.  Gilchrist slapped Disasi on the back to say well done as if Gilchrist was the big French international and Disasi was the kid on his debut.

[chara]

2 minutes ago, boratsbrother said:

I like his enthusiasm as well.

Gusto is not James but if James can't play his better talent is irrelevant and Gusto is good enough I think to hold a place in a settled...one day?..defence.

[Rob B]

Positives:

Gusto - Great game.  He’s got a knack of not letting players get around him, and then very quick feet when he’s won it back.  Big talent 

Gallagher - Everywhere.  Simply, our best midfielder and surely even our board have to extend his contract?! 

Mudryk - Decent again.  Particularly first half.  As others have said, needs to work on impacting the game over a whole 90 

Nkunku - Obviously lacking match sharpness, but can already see his class.  Walks into this team when fully fit 

Negatives:

Defence - Really poor goal to concede today - again.  Badiashille and Colwill in particular look shaky at the moment.   

Maatsen - Simply not a right winger and definitely not at PL level.  Tbh, I’m not a fan generally as I don’t think he has the physicality, but play him in his position, or don’t.

Jackson - Bad day at the office.  He simply had to score the 1v1 that he put wide. 
 

Another game in about 60 hours or so where we absolutely must build on this win.  Would absolutely love to see a front four of Mudryk, Palmer, Sterling and Nkunku but I think Poch sees CN as a number 10 

[Floyd25]

23 minutes ago, Max Fowler said:

- we simply cannot sell Gallagher.

Only the ‘fans’ on that ridiculous X platform are the ones wanting him sold, but I always find people on there to be really odd, like their on a different wavelength to other people. 

[chara]

@Dwmhagree in general with your breakdown,even the Mudryk point but still feel it was one of those pro dark arts snags made to get maximum effect and minimum attention..

[Holymoly]

Fantastic result against a fellow mid table club. Hopefully pulls us away from a relegation dogfight.

[Mark Kelly]

32 minutes ago, Chelsea_Matt said:

I think that’s harsh, even from you, Mr K 🤣🙈😬

Did you see the half assed  celebration? He was more animated when we got the penalty than when we scored it! 

[Miguelito07]

Really really happy with the win - honestly I am. But, we are so bad to watch....(sorry). This is our level now. Mid - table. 

[NoblyBobly]

8 minutes ago, Mark Kelly said:

Did you see the half assed  celebration? He was more animated when we got the penalty than when we scored it! 

Sometimes I think it’s me imagining a lack of passion and desire to play for Chelsea Football Club in a lot of these players. But Gilchrist comes on and immediately looks up for it, animated , he’s clapping, shouting  and encouraging,  players like he’s JT!  The contrast is stark. 
I’ve no idea if he can play or not,  but looking like you love being here is a good start. 

[Miguelito07]

11 minutes ago, NoblyBobly said:

 But Gilchrist comes on and immediately looks up for it, animated , he’s clapping, shouting  and encouraging,  players like he’s JT!  The contrast is stark. 

Probably next player to get sold....

[Bones]

55 minutes ago, Max Fowler said:

I thought Lavia's passing had a crispness that filled with confidence. Him and Nkunku seem to have brought an instant quality to the team but early days. 

Petrovic should be our number 1 now - miles better distribution than Sanchez and looks really solid too.

Palace were really bad I thought. It wouldn't have taken much to beat us but we take the win.

Oh and Caicedo was just appalling today. I love the guy but wow - we simply cannot sell Gallagher.

Agreed. Although Caicedo was pretty decent in a few previous matches. Hopefully he just needs more experience to pull himself together.

[Bigpokey24]

 

[Dwmh]

4 minutes ago, Bigpokey24 said:

 

🙂
Listen son, here in the first team, you turn your back to a shot from inside the box, never mind a clearance up the far end.

I was just trying to get my face below the ball captain.

[east lower]

2 hours ago, chara said:

My senior dog is 13,,,she controls a ball better and is faster than Broja

My wife’s got two knee replacements and has never kicked a football in anger (me, yes but a football no) and she’s got a better chance of scoring a goal  for us than him.

Gusto and Gallagher good tonight, promise and progress for Mudrych. Disasi, Colwill and Badiashile looked on edge and all made a number of errors.

Jackson had a decent first half but by god does he need some confidence and proper coaching. Nkunku - You can see he’s a good player, needs to get and stay fit for a while so we can see the best of him. Lavia looked tidy in his cameo, don’t know too much about how creative he can be. Gilchrist at the end was just so happy to have been on the pitch. Completely committed, coincidentally I saw a Q&A that JT did recently and he said that this lad is one to watch.

Coaching lacked imagination, although taking Maartsen off was the right decision as he’d had a good first 25 mins but became less and less effective as the game went on.

Biggest disappointment for me was Caicedo, it’s as if his forward radar has packed up. He just doesn’t pass the ball vertically forward - ever. He won’t even travel forward with the ball. Question we should ask is why does he look ordinary for us and when at Brighton had at least two clubs ready to spend £100m+ for him?

TBF Madueke has came on and made a difference in the last couple of games, but I’m still to be convinced by him.

[xceleryx]

Like with most of our performances these days there's good and bad to take from this. 

Gallagher was immense, as was Gusto. Mudryk had a good first half and you can see what he offers, just about growing further and producing it for longer periods. Nkunku is a class above, as expected,  but lacks the real match fitness and sharpness at this point. Lavia looked decent for his first outing after so long out, while the cameos of Madueke and Gilchrist encouraged. 

The not so good include virtually the entire defence outside of the aforementioned Gusto and Petrovic. Caicedo also needs to showcase more awareness in and out of possession, he puts too many teammates under pressure with shitty passes but his role in the Palace goal was shocking. All he had to do was continue to track the runner he was near, instead he stops and just stands around watching Olise continue his run into the box and eventually converting the cross. 

Maatsen is also too feeble physically, and defends like a sieve. Will be surprised if he remains here beyond January. 

3 points is 3 points though, onto the next one.