The build up - Chelsea 1st Aug 2009

[SteveRoyal]

I'd say Kebe was the stand out player along with Federici who was probably MOTM, I think Reading looked decent, passed it well at times, had a bit of pace about them and Brendan Rogers knows how to set out a team.

On Bertrand: Not much to say on a first impression. Need to see more of him and how he progresses at Reading. Kebe was impressive for them.

[PremAddict]

Glad we didn't win - didn't deserve to. The play was different; ball stayed down a lot more. Overall a good showing and BR will have some things to consider. Definitely exposed our weak areas as I expect Chelski would. Passing was pretty poor in the 2nd half.

Bright spots: Pearce, Davies, Bertrand. I would've loved to see how Marek would've done today.

[Plymouth_Royal]

Watched the game on the net.

Overall impressions.

1st half
Took us 25mins to get the ball down and play it but we did it well. The midfield weren't closing down hard enough in the first 15mins and it showed with the amount of chances chelsea had, albiet from long range. They should have had a penalty when bertrand brought down deco and that could have changed the game if they had got it. we then managed to get a few chances in the first half mainly through kebe's positive, attacking play and he took his goal very well. Davies' free kick could not have gone in if it wasnt for gunnarsson blocking cech's view and creating a gap for the bottom corner. But still, a great free kick. We looked OK defensively from open play, but not great from set pieces (mainly corners).

2nd half
we changed a few things with noel playing on the right for kanu and bikey coming on in place of gunnar. It clearly disrupted us and chelsea were all over us. we then brought on church for long, harps for tabb, mooney for davies and henry for kebe. Not much else to report on this half as chelsea dominated. But we did not look comfortable dealing with any decent crosses in the box and bikey was making some terrible errors at the back.

Definitely looks like 4-5-1 suits us better.

Individual - not giving ratings but will comment on how they played

Fed - kicking was awful and his nerves weren't helped when rosenior gave him a hospital ball to deal with. Nearly cost us a goal with a poor touch too. As for his goalkeeping, great saves, kept the score down but I think he needs to be more positive on corners because it wasnt until the second half that he actually came off his line and claimed them well. I think with fed he needs a good run in the first team until we judge him because he grew in confidence as the game went on. In terms of his reflexes and handling he looked quality.

Rosenior - played some dangerous passes at times and still hoofed it but he defended well and got forward well too.

Pearce - Solid display. Marked drogba well. A definite starter for the season and showed hes not afraid to play it at the back. Fantastic header for the own goal

Cisse - Played really well at the back. I was quite surprised as a lot of the reports from the hobnobbers have always come back negative when he has played centre back. He looked just as good in Defensive midfield too, mopped any loose balls and kept it simple. Only criticism is that him and pearce were not getting tight enough on set pieces.

Bertrand - first time i have seen him play and I thought he was pretty good. He got away with the penalty after initially making a great block but he got forward well and had the energy and composure to defend just as well. Great to see him and armstrong competing for left back.

Hal robson kanu - bags of skill, wasn't afraid to take on ashley cole but a bit predictable by always switching to his stronger left foot. Still had a good game and would be happy to see him start against forest.

kebe - Always looking to create something, positive in his play but a few frustrating crosses. took his goal fantastically and a definite starter.

tabb- simple, hard working, great tackles and comfortable. happy to see him or gunnar play DM for us.

Gunnar - same as above really, but did get caught out when having to challenge for the ball as his mobility isn't as good as the others. He will definitely play as DM for parts of the season but will not last the whole stretch IMO.

Davies - great goal, took him a little while to get used to the pace but as did the rest of the CM. lots of energy, good passing (except for that long ball in the first half ). would still prefer matejovsky in that hole but I would be happy to see him come in for marek when needed.

Long - Some awful touches, followed by some class one's. he created our 2nd goal with his great touch, turn, pace, dribbling between terry and carvalho who then brought him down. held the ball up well a couple of times but then not so well a couple of others. He did enough to show he can do it but he needs to be more consistent this season to earn a new contract and fulfill his potential.

subs

Noel - Not a winger. Unfortunate in the second half as he was out of position and it was all chelsea.

Bikey - Awful, there was alot more holes in our back four and was mainly due to him and lack of defensive cover in the centre midfield. We need to replace him with a younger and stronger Ivar. Would definitely start Pearce, Ivar or Cisse ahead of him.

Mooney - same as Noel but a couple of his through balls to church were over hit.

Henry - Not a lot of time to make an impact and played central attacking midfield. Would have liked to have seen him play right wing for kanu in the second half rather than noel playing there. lost the ball a couple of times though.

Harper - looked good. got about the pitch well and kept it simple in the middle. one horrible pass though!

Church - good movement and played left, right and centre forward when he was on. You can see his movement was spot on when he was playing centrally and if it weren't for a over hit or misplaced pass he would have had a couple of chances.

[LoyalRoyalFan]

Just got back. In the first half we outplayed Chelsea. Chelsea didn't look bothered and we captialised with a great goal from Kebe and a fantastic free kick from Davies. The end of the game was overshadowed by the idoitic Chelsea fans who wanted to cause trouble.

Federici - 9 - Fantastic game today. Made some fantastic saves and is my Man of the Match.

Rosenior - 7 - Still error prone and still prone to booting it up the pitch.
Pearce - 8 - Looked solid under pressure.
Cisse - 8 - Looked solid as well,however he would be better placed in a holding midfield role rather than at Centre Back.
Betrand - 7 - Didn't see much of him to be honest. Looked good going forward.

Gunnarsson - 7 - Didn't see much of him either. Looked comfortable on the ball.
Tabb - 8 - Ran his socks off. Good in the tackle,got stuck in. Good passer of the ball as well.
Davies - 8 - Looked comfortable on the ball. Fantastic free-kick.
Kebe - 8 - Different Kebe from last season,a better Kebe than last season.
Robson-Kanu - 8 - Ran at the defender's and put in some good crosses as well.

Long - 6 - Another 50-50 performance by Long. I am still not convinced about him. Didn't look good when he was up front on his own. Didn't look for the space.

[Ian Royal]

How can you give sevens to players you describe as not convincing & 50/50 and error prone? Surely that's 6 at absolute best?

[West Stand Flash]

Played well frist half, star man was Robson Kanu to me & should be a sure fire starter next Saturday. As soon as numerous changes cam second half we lost all shape & looked poor. didn't deserve to win, so will take a draw against a full strength Chelsea team.

Dervite will sign in next 48 hours, but we are desperate for a main centre-forward, long/church not up to it.

[Plymouth_Royal]

How can you give sevens to players you describe as not convincing & 50/50 and error prone? Surely that's 6 at absolute best?

Last edited by LoyalRoyalFan on 01 Aug 2009 17:19, edited 1 time in total.

[wickedwhispers]

Federici = MOTM

[Jeffers217]

How can you say Cisse should start in front of Bikey on the basis of 1 game?! I agree he was better than him today but can you honestly say that for last season? The only reason he is not starting is because he's banned for 5 matches.

Hal Robson-Kanu was the stand out player for me today- went forward, skillful and was prepared to take on players. I would go for him over Henry at the moment.

Still the conclusion for today is: WE NEED TO SIGN A GOALSCORER. Long was crap

[LoyalRoyalFan]

How can you give sevens to players you describe as not convincing & 50/50 and error prone? Surely that's 6 at absolute best?

Last edited by LoyalRoyalFan on 01 Aug 2009 17:19, edited 1 time in total.

[Plymouth_Royal]

but we are desperate for a main centre-forward, long/church not up to it.

Bit harsh.
Chelsea are one of the best teams in europe and the second half church had no service as chelsea were dominating. He played in 3 different positions in the second half, right wing, left forward and centre forward. His runs looked spot on as i mentioned earlier and i think if as you said, we hadn't lost shape, we might have had a better idea of how he may fair for us. I partly agree about long, showed sometimes he can do it with his strength some decent touches, BUT other times his touch was woeful and ended up traveling half the pitch in the wrong direction trying to lay it off.

[Royalee]

Very encouraging - hopefully Brendan'll stick with the team which played in the first half.

Federici was man of the match, brilliant saves and Pearce ran him close - definitely captain.

Davies took a brilliant free kick and played well and I was impressed with Bertrand and also Cisse at centre back, plus the system also suits Gunnarsson which surprised me - him and Tabb played well and we looked solid until Harper came on - he was pretty much the entire reason we didn't win as our midfield went to shit and they were allowed to camp themselves on the edge of our 'D'. Noel Hunt clearly isn't close to being match fit having seen that - we probably need a striker but that's already been acknowledged.

Overall things are looking very rosy indeed.

[Ian Royal]

Very encouraging - hopefully Brendan'll stick with the team which played in the first half.

Federici was man of the match, brilliant saves and Pearce ran him close - definitely captain.

Davies took a brilliant free kick and played well and I was impressed with Bertrand and also Cisse at centre back, plus the system also suits Gunnarsson which surprised me - him and Tabb played well and we looked solid until Harper came on - he was pretty much the entire reason we didn't win as our midfield went to shit and they were allowed to camp themselves on the edge of our 'D'. Noel Hunt clearly isn't close to being match fit having seen that - we probably need a striker but that's already been acknowledged.

Overall things are looking very rosy indeed.

That started well before Harper came on. IMO we lost it when HRK was replaced by NHunt. Lost all balance and had to rely on Kebe, who decided to hide.

[Royalwaster]

Played well frist half, star man was Robson Kanu to me & should be a sure fire starter next Saturday. As soon as numerous changes cam second half we lost all shape & looked poor. didn't deserve to win, so will take a draw against a full strength Chelsea team.

Dervite will sign in next 48 hours, but we are desperate for a main centre-forward, long/church not up to it.

You got any evidence of your last statement?

And however much I agree that HRK played well, I think Kebe was better than him. Scored a good goal, some good hold up play and one or two decent crosses (and a few not so good ones as well). If he plays like that regularly we should do well - just worried that he won't. Hunt on the wing definitely did not work.

[Royalee]

Federici - 9

Bertrand - 8
Pearce - 9
Cisse - 9
Rosenior - 7

Kebe - 6
Gunnarsson - 8
Tabb - 8
Robson-Kanu - 7
Davies - 8

Long - 7

Subs:
N Hunt - 4
Bikey - 7
Harper - 3
Mooney - 4
Church - 6

[Royalee]

Very encouraging - hopefully Brendan'll stick with the team which played in the first half.

Federici was man of the match, brilliant saves and Pearce ran him close - definitely captain.

Davies took a brilliant free kick and played well and I was impressed with Bertrand and also Cisse at centre back, plus the system also suits Gunnarsson which surprised me - him and Tabb played well and we looked solid until Harper came on - he was pretty much the entire reason we didn't win as our midfield went to shit and they were allowed to camp themselves on the edge of our 'D'. Noel Hunt clearly isn't close to being match fit having seen that - we probably need a striker but that's already been acknowledged.

Overall things are looking very rosy indeed.

That started well before Harper came on. IMO we lost it when HRK was replaced by NHunt. Lost all balance and had to rely on Kebe, who decided to hide.

That disrupted our attacking play a bit, but was not the reason gaping holes started appearing in the middle while some twat ran around waving.

[Plymouth_Royal]

How can you say Cisse should start in front of Bikey on the basis of 1 game?! I agree he was better than him today but can you honestly say that for last season? The only reason he is not starting is because he's banned for 5 matches.

Hal Robson-Kanu was the stand out player for me today- went forward, skillful and was prepared to take on players. I would go for him over Henry at the moment.

Cisse has played well at the back all pre season and as BR has said it's a new era and a lot players are getting chances to show what they can do. But based on this game and pre-season you wouldn't pick bikey if he was available anyway.

[winchester_royal]

Cisse was excellent in the DM position. Seems to really suit him.

Fed - 6 - Some good saves, but not at all convincing from crosses. Never feel safe with him.
Rosie - 7 - Some good play, combined with some really naff passes.
Pearce - 9 - Absolute rock. Seems to have improved immeasurably since last season.
Cisse - 9 - Good at CB, brilliant in DM.
Bertrand - 7 - Good. Some fantastic pieces of skill, and his overlaps were largely ignored by Kebe.
Gunnar - 8 - Played very well against a mobile Chelsea midfield. We looked more open after he was subbed.
Tabb - 7 - Solid enough.
Davies - 7 - Good goal, but lost the ball too much for my liking. Matejovsky still ahead in my book.
Hal R-K - 9 - Fantastic prospect. Ran with pace, skill and control. Him and Kebe caused them all sorts of trouble. Glad he was taken off though. May have been impressing a bit too much if you get what I mean.
Kebe - 8 - Rodgers clearly rates him.
Long - 7 - Some good direct running, and he won't have to face John Terry every week.

All the subs were pretty useless TBH.

Considering the opposition this was a really encouraging performace. Particularly from 25-55 minutes.

[Royalwaster]

Federici - 9

Bertrand - 8
Pearce - 9
Cisse - 9
Rosenior - 7

Kebe - 6
Gunnarsson - 8
Tabb - 8
Robson-Kanu - 7
Davies - 8

Long - 7

Subs:
N Hunt - 4
Bikey - 7
Harper - 3
Mooney - 4
Church - 6

LOL - Kebe 6 and Bikey 7; you really have no clue!

[CMRoyal]

Very encouraging - hopefully Brendan'll stick with the team which played in the first half.

Federici was man of the match, brilliant saves and Pearce ran him close - definitely captain.

Davies took a brilliant free kick and played well and I was impressed with Bertrand and also Cisse at centre back, plus the system also suits Gunnarsson which surprised me - him and Tabb played well and we looked solid until Harper came on - he was pretty much the entire reason we didn't win as our midfield went to shit and they were allowed to camp themselves on the edge of our 'D'. Noel Hunt clearly isn't close to being match fit having seen that - we probably need a striker but that's already been acknowledged.

Overall things are looking very rosy indeed.

Agree with all that except the "very" part of "very rosy", and your over-harsh words about Harper. Truth is, we completely lost shape and momentum with all the changes around the 55-65 minute marks. Precious little to learn after that, although I agree that Hunt - and Harps for that matter - looked short of fitness. And Mooney surprised me; didn't even look like a pro player when he came on, but picked out two or three really spot on passes.

The first, and crucial, hour was very encouraging, though. Still think Robson-Kanu looks a bit raw, and generally the team often lacks the nous to find the simple, obvious pass. Davies is a real prospect, scored a good goal but occasionally seemed to forget the quality of the opposition and thus played too casually at times. Generally good though, and suddenly finds himself ahead of Gylfi in the attacking midfield pecking order.

As for the rest - some great saves from Fed, good distribution but one or two dodgy moments. Rosy covered well but as a passer isn't good enough for a Rodgers team - we need someone more comfortable on the ball. Cisse and Pearce were immense, Plastic had a good solid game but started to get twisted about towards the end, "Pinball" Tabb and Gunnar look comfortable in a 4-3-3 set-up, and Long was his usual frustrating self at times but improved as the game went on. Kebe was the real revelation though - he seems to thrive as one of the three strikers, as BR describes them, and the Chelsea fans I spoke to afterwards all seemed to think he was our best player. Overall, a good performance and one that seemed to surprise and impress the opposition and their supporters. Encouraging stuff, especially if we get that extra centre back in and an experienced forward to speahead the attack. Also, might be worth trying Karacan at right-back against Burton Abion.