Chelsea 6 Middlesbrough 1 (6 - 2 on aggregate)

[Ham]

24 minutes ago, Original 21 said:

Well that was easier than I thought it would be. Good to see Chilwell back. Palmer scored two good goals. Disasi has a touch of the Rudiger about him. 

Villa will be a different proposition on Friday. Can’t see the manager preferring Mudryk over Gallagher for that one.  

 

He really did show shades of Rudiger!

Good spot.

[Proud-Blue]

I said before the game that losing would be indefensible. This is a mid table championship team with an injury crisis, and we were at home. 

That said, I honestly didn't expect that level of reaction from the players. There were some excellent performances in there, especially from Chilwell, Disasi and Palmer. Enzo also had some good moments as well. That was a good performance and we should be delighted.

I loved the Disasi goal especially. The run and finish were perfect. It's exactly the kind of goal we usually get from Reece James. 

Only negatives of the night were the goal which I think Petrovic should have saved and Mudryk... yeah... Mudryk was concerningly poor. Please start Noni!

Otherwise excellent, and we have a cup final to look forward to! Almost feels like supporting Chelsea again!

 

[Original 21]

Don’t know about anyone else but I’m hoping we get Fulham in the final. 

[Dwmh]

30 minutes ago, Ham said:

For those asking about progress.....

 

 

Teams played outside the prem:
2022/23 D Zagreb, Salzburg, AC Milan, Dortmund, Real Madrid and Man City (both cups)  All twice each

23/24  AFC Wimbledon, Brighton Blackburn Newcastle, Middlesborough x2, Preston NE
12 of the goals are against Championship (or Div 2) oppo.

It is a different world this season.

 

Edited January 23 by Dwmh

[ShedMiddle]

23 minutes ago, Ham said:

He really did show shades of Rudiger!

Good spot.

Had a go at Disasi just before his goal. Not convinced.. but wasn't convinced by Rudiger at first. Hope you're right!

[ShedMiddle]

1 minute ago, Dwmh said:

Teams played outside the prem:
2022/23 D Zagreb, Salzburg, AC Milan, Dortmund, Real Madrid and Man City (both cups)  All twice each

23/24  AFC Wimbledon, Brighton Blackburn Newcastle, Middlesborough x2, Preston NE

It is a different world this season.

 

Agree - it's all relative

[Dwmh]

Rubbish first 10, straight out of the first game.  Then Chilwell got whacked and somehow it all changed and we looked pretty competent in dealing with a poor team.  Which is certainly progress on earlier this season, indeed progress over the fortnight.

Test remains Villa and Liverpool.

Fernandez playing very adventurously.  The back 2 were pushing up 15-20m inside their half which means i presume that Boro had no one forward at all (or there'd be some frantic chase backs for Silva).  I don't think Boro helped themselves which may been because players weren't available.

It was basically Chilwell instead of Gusto - not much different in concept to  recent patterns.

[Ham]

😂

 

 

[My Blood Is Blue]

5 hours ago, Ham said:

@My Blood Is Blue

Who voted for a Boro win?

Name and shame.

I couldn’t, but they know who they are….and they know I know who they are!

[CarefreeMuratcan]

5 hours ago, Ham said:

😂

 

 

This is writ manifest my attitude after the 4th goal:

"I love crushing the dreams of lower league teams". 

[JonnyCFC]

Only just watched the game, just what we wanted a positive comfortable win.

Yeah boro were really poor but we put in a decent performance and scored some good goals.

Great goal from Dasasi, wins the ball and what a run and finish, more of that please.

Nice to see Enzo score, more of that too please.

Chilly looked great.

And Cold Palmer is just so good!!

Obviously can’t get carried away due to the opposition but with a few players returning hopefully we can build on this and see out the season in a positive way.

[east lower]

7 hours ago, Dwmh said:

Rubbish first 10, straight out of the first game.  Then Chilwell got whacked and somehow it all changed and we looked pretty competent in dealing with a poor team.  Which is certainly progress on earlier this season, indeed progress over the fortnight.

Test remains Villa and Liverpool.

Fernandez playing very adventurously.  The back 2 were pushing up 15-20m inside their half which means i presume that Boro had no one forward at all (or there'd be some frantic chase backs for Silva).  I don't think Boro helped themselves which may been because players weren't available.

It was basically Chilwell instead of Gusto - not much different in concept to  recent patterns.

Agree with this. We were slow and quite laborious in our play for 15 minutes.

Boro’s tactic for much of the first 30 minutes was to try to hit long balls over the top of the back four. 

What I found bizarre was that all the things they did well in the first leg of the tie, they didn’t do yesterday, thankfully. Also the wing-back who was a great outlet for them in that first-leg did not play. Of the three players they did have that had any real quality, only the centre-forward played well. 
 

I know Mudrych was poor yesterday and there really aren’t many valid reasons for it, but for me he, just like most footballers, needs some consistent minutes on the pitch to improve.

One magic moment was Palmer’s trick performed to get him past one of the opponents out on our right touch line in the second half, genius move and he knew it by the little expression he gave to the crowd.

Edited January 24 by east lower

[CarefreeMuratcan]

Just reflecting on this the morning after.

We scored 6 (SIX). SIX. 

[thevelourfog]

I wasn't able to watch the first leg (and I am sure am forgiven for not seeking out highlights!) so was a little surprised at just how awful Middlesbrough were. It's nice to see us be clinical but they gave us every single one of those first 4 goals, all of them the sort that would induce pages of complaints here if we'd conceded them. Why on Earth were they playing at from the back at 0-0, nevermind 3-0?

I really liked Disasi's first half performance. The less said about Broja or Mudryk, the better.

[Thiago97]

Great to see some goals and watch a match without any real tension from quite early on. The opposition were dreadful though, I was shocked to see how bad they are. I am surprised they are as high as they are in the Championship after watching them over two legs.

Good positive performance from Chilwell, I thought he added something we have been lacking in recent weeks. Decent enough performances from the rest of the team, but they didnt really have to step up to a high level to be honest.

Mudryk just looked lost with what to do. Enzo was clearly getting frustrated with him at one point in that first half, as Mudryk could not read the game and Enzo's intentions.

He is still  shockingly raw for a player of his age (which whilst young, he is not exactly 17 -18 years old)

[paulw66]

Funny thing is, there wasn't that much difference between the two legs. 

Just the finishing 

[NoblyBobly]

3 hours ago, JonnyCFC said:

Only just watched the game, just what we wanted a positive comfortable win.

Yeah boro were really poor but we put in a decent performance and scored some good goals.

Great goal from Dasasi, wins the ball and what a run and finish, more of that please.

Nice to see Enzo score, more of that too please.

Chilly looked great.

And Cold Palmer is just so good!!

Obviously can’t get carried away due to the opposition but with a few players returning hopefully we can build on this and see out the season in a positive way.

We’ve got a Chilly, we’ve got a Cold, now all we need is a Mr Freeze! 

[My Blood Is Blue]

Great performance last night, admittedly against very weak opposition, but I'm still going to enjoy it for what it was, a semi final win and 6 goals!

Chilwell made a huge difference, his understanding of the role and his positioning just highlights what we've been missing when Colwill has been playing there (not a dig at Colwill, he is not a LB) and Colwill likewise looked much more comfortable at CB.

Disasi did well and scored an excellent goal, whilst Cole Palmer just seems to get better and better, he is an absolute gem and an upgrade on anybody we let go in the summer IMO.

The downsides, unfortunately, were Mudryk and Broja. Mudryk just looks so incredibly raw and looks exactly what he is, a player with minimal experience at this kind of level... I hope the understanding of the game and decision making can be coached into him, but it's going to get harder the further along this rebuild goes as expectations will increase. As for Broja, well he just is not cut out for this level at all, if the interest from PL teams is genuine then I'm shocked as I just don't see a PL player there at all. Palmer massively showed him up after he went off and Palmer moved into his position.

On to the final we go, so so pleased we're going back to our second home again!

[NoblyBobly]

1 minute ago, My Blood Is Blue said:

Great performance last night, admittedly against very weak opposition, but I'm still going to enjoy it for what it was, a semi final win and 6 goals!

Chilwell made a huge difference, his understanding of the role and his positioning just highlights what we've been missing when Colwill has been playing there (not a dig at Colwill, he is not a CB) and Colwill likewise looked much more comfortable at CB.

Disasi did well and scored an excellent goal, whilst Cole Palmer just seems to get better and better, he is an absolute gem and an upgrade on anybody we let go in the summer IMO.

The downsides, unfortunately, were Mudryk and Broja. Mudryk just looks so incredibly raw and looks exactly what he is, a player with minimal experience at this kind of level... I hope the understanding of the game and decision making can be coached into him, but it's going to get harder the further along this rebuild goes as expectations will increase. As for Broja, well he just is not cut out for this level at all, if the interest from PL teams is genuine then I'm shocked as I just don't see a PL player there at all. Palmer massively showed him up after he went up and Palmer moved into his position.

On to the final we go, so so pleased we're going back to our second home again!

I’ve said it before , but visualise the team with a fit Chilwell AND a fit James. Then add a half decent CF. We would be light years away from where we have been this season. 

[My Blood Is Blue]

Just now, NoblyBobly said:

I’ve said it before , but visualise the team with a fit Chilwell AND a fit James. Then add a half decent CF. We would be light years away from where we have been this season. 

I agree, I think we are building a really good team. It is still very young and very raw though and in fact, seeing Chilwell last night showed just how much we've been missing his kind of experience in this team. 

[Max Fowler]

I hate to be a debby downer but this means nothing to me unless we win the final. I am far from convinced we will keep up our run of form in the Premier League, nor beat Liverpool if they progress. Well done for reaching it lads - but this is a trophy I couldn't care less about winning and frankly I am not even sure how we ended up in the final.

Shades of Gareth Southgate with England where the whole draw opened up for us and we really couldn't fail to make it. My concern is frankly - the board will look at this as some incredible sign of progress when we scraped through against Newcastle and did just take two legs to beat a completely bang average, mid-table Championship team.

The way this season has gone - I would not be surprised to see us put in a complete nothing display in the final and lose 2-0 - it has been a season of our hopes continually being raised and then shattered, and then tearing our hair out wondering why.

[asvaberg]

21 minutes ago, NoblyBobly said:

We’ve got a Chilly, we’ve got a Cold, now all we need is a Mr Freeze! 

How about Mr.Napkin guy?

[Sabrina F.]

I thought the most interesting thing last night was Pochettino subbing off Mudryk at half-time in a game with a 3 goal advantage and a certain win.

Feels like he is at his wit's end with Mudryk. If his development was a priority, he'd have played the 2nd half to boost his confidence with a better performance against a beaten and mediocre side - but instead, he came off for Madueke. 

The cups seem quite important to Pochettino, which from his POV makes sense. He's got a 2-year contract, he might not get Europe, certainly Top 4 is very unlikely, so a cup trophy on his CV will feel like the type of thing people would remember as proof of him being a victim of circumstances and still getting a trophy. Very Benitez 2013, and I would advise him that exactly if I were his agent.

So his seat is fragile while Mudryk has 7 years left on his contract.

At the start of the season, the Chilwell LW backlash was completely insane. Last night proved why any sane manager would prefer Chilwell. Chilwell's runs are excellent, the vertical element he brings is top notch, he can even invert at times which is what Tuchel was doing in 2021 with the WBs against low blocks. 

So in preseason, Poch never started Chilwell and Mudryk together. He played Mudryk with either Colwill or Cucurella in an LCB role, or Chilwell with Colwill as LCB/LB with Nkunku occupying the half-space and crashing the box.

It was sound thinking and it all became very apparent why last night. When Chilwell plays, Mudryk becomes completely redunant. Right now Mudryk's main contribution is the threat of his verticality, his on-ball contributions are nonexistent. With Chilwell bringing that vertical, off-ball runs world class ability (a CL winning one, might I say), Mudryk has to play between the lines, drop a bit deeper, playmake a lot more, have a pristine first touch and ball retention and well ... his football intelligence is disastrous. He's a 23 years old with the know-how of a U18 youth team player. Football is a unique sport like that, you can have all the physical and technical attributes, if you don't understand when to drop, when to run, when to hold the width, when to crash the box, when to attack space etc, you're doomed. It's a sport that's as cerebral as it is physical. Mudryk's instincts are poor, Chilwell's instincts are sharpened by emerging in the PL young and immediately being a threat.

So the Chelsea of old would know it doesn't have the luxury to wait for Mudryk to develop that know-how or instincts (and they may never develop). The Chelsea of Old would get rid of him sooner rather than later because it would have bigger priorities (winning PL/CL games) and be fine with the risk he could explode elsewhere or be a late bloomer relatively speaking.

We have a lot of project players, too many of them, but there are projects worth going through the teething times - it flashes with Palmer and Colwill immediately - and then there are daunting projects. Mudryk feels like a daunting project to me.

By subbing him off at HT, we certainly know what Pochettino thinks. He might not be the greatest coach ever, but he is an experienced coach with a decade of PL football, who has seen a lot of players with potential. I'd take his opinion seriously.

Edited January 24 by Sabrina F.

[Mark Kelly]

14 minutes ago, My Blood Is Blue said:

Great performance last night, admittedly against very weak opposition, but I'm still going to enjoy it for what it was, a semi final win and 6 goals!

Chilwell made a huge difference, his understanding of the role and his positioning just highlights what we've been missing when Colwill has been playing there (not a dig at Colwill, he is not a LB) and Colwill likewise looked much more comfortable at CB.

Disasi did well and scored an excellent goal, whilst Cole Palmer just seems to get better and better, he is an absolute gem and an upgrade on anybody we let go in the summer IMO.

The downsides, unfortunately, were Mudryk and Broja. Mudryk just looks so incredibly raw and looks exactly what he is, a player with minimal experience at this kind of level... I hope the understanding of the game and decision making can be coached into him, but it's going to get harder the further along this rebuild goes as expectations will increase. As for Broja, well he just is not cut out for this level at all, if the interest from PL teams is genuine then I'm shocked as I just don't see a PL player there at all. Palmer massively showed him up after he went off and Palmer moved into his position.

On to the final we go, so so pleased we're going back to our second home again!

Yes it's astonishing the difference when players are played in their natural preferred positions isn't it?

Who knew? 

Evidently not the master tactician , who even when his players were all fit still didn't do so for "reasons" .

Still , a good win and proof once again that as I have been banging on about recently , it's not the players holding back the coach it's the coach holding back the players . 

With a young inexperienced bunch of players and some evident duds our results will fluctuate but perhaps now we won't actively make things harder for ourselves going forwards.

A lot of those goals last night came from slavishly playing out from the back for no reason other than for an old fashioned club to look modern and trendy .

Lets hope the immediate recall of Sanchez to the starting line up doesn't lead to the same.

[Mark Kelly]

Just now, Sabrina F. said:

 

By subbing him off at HT, we certainly know what Pochettino thinks. He might not be the greatest coach ever, but he is an experienced coach with a decade of PL football, who has seen a lot of players with potential. I'd take his opinion seriously.

I'd like to think that Pochettino walked to his office and looked at the plaque on the door , slapped his forehead and had an epiphany and thought "Coach? " 

You never know.

It could work.

Maybe the next guy?