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Football: The grind begins


Mexal

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Looking at Chelsea's starting XI vs. Tottenham, I can't say I feel confident that we will get any points from this today.

In April, we started against them with Costa, Hazard and Fabregas on the bench and we were able to beat them, but we don't have any of those three available today. Back in April, our bench looked so strong compared to Spurs' bench but today the roles are reversed.

Saying that, given their record at Wembley, facing Chelsea on their first home game here is a scenario they'd probably rather avoid. If they do win, that'll give them all the confidence they need going into a season at Wembley.

Edit: Chelsea have started well. Free header sent wide by Morata. Really should be 1-0.

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Spurs were the better team for most of that half and battering on the door for the end of it, but they need to finish better coz they will get caught on the break, as indeed they were. And Chelsea had other chances. Still, keep that up and they should get at least a point and probably win tbh.

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Liverpool have a somewhat important game on wednesday. So I suspect that's why Klavan got a start against Palace.

Anyway, meanwhile in the Bundesliga. Mario Götze made his comeback yesterday. And he looked quite on the pitch, quite like the old Götze before he moved to Bayern. The second round of the German cup has just been drawn. And the game of the round is Leipzig - Bayern.

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On reflection, I'm very happy with Chelsea's performance today. Given the media trying to suggest we have already imploded, and that the board and Conte are at loggerheads, certain players have backed Costa over Conte and it's only inevitable we won't even contend for the title, today was a pretty good show of unity and desire between the players and Conte.

Despite missing a number of key men, every one of the starting XI gave every last drop of commitment they had today. Rüdiger still looks a bit shakey, but it wasn't from lack of effort. Christensen impressed me with some key blocks from Harry Kane. Bakayoko looked like a powerhouse at times. For a big man, he surely can move. David Luiz was all over the place in the first half but in the second half he calmed down, stuck to his role and barely put a foot wrong. Morata should have buried the free header but, despite being isolated, he held the ball up well. And Alonso two goals were really well taken.

I still wouldn't say things look rosey at Chelsea, but going by today's performance, I would like to think we could still give the Manchester clubs a run for their money.

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As a neutral, Spurs looked the stronger side for most of the match and were perhaps a bit unlucky to not score a couple of goals.

In Ligue 1, looks like Neymar's having quite the impact, leading a 10-men PSG to a 6-2 win over Toulouse, scoring two and grabbing 2-3 assists. Not sure if this is Neymar maturing into a genuine rival to Messi and Cronaldo or if it's an indictment of the French league. I have a feeling it's at least part the latter.

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5 minutes ago, Mmerek Hamšzulíe said:

As a neutral, Spurs looked the stronger side for most of the match and were perhaps a bit unlucky to not score a couple of goals.

In Ligue 1, looks like Neymar's having quite the impact, leading a 10-men PSG to a 6-2 win over Toulouse, scoring two and grabbing 2-3 assists. Not sure if this is Neymar maturing into a genuine rival to Messi and Cronaldo or if it's an indictment of the French league. I have a feeling it's at least part the latter.

Naturally, as Spurs were the home team, they were more likely to dominate possession against a weakened Chelsea side. But Chelsea's game plan was executed brilliantly, I thought. After all, Chelsea hit the post once, as did Tottenham. Morata missed a free header that should have been a goal. Kane had a couple of good chances that Courtois saved. Chelsea scored both of their shots on target. It was even a Chelsea player that scored Spurs' goal. All in all, the clear cut chances were spread pretty evenly between the two sides.

As for Neymar, I do believe the latter is true. He could end up producing a Ronaldo or Messi style goal tally in Ligue 1, but even that wouldn't be enough to win him the Balon D'or unless he led PSG to winning the Champions League or won the World Cup with Brazil.

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7 minutes ago, JordanJH1993 said:

Naturally, as Spurs were the home team, they were more likely to dominate possession against a weakened Chelsea side. But Chelsea's game plan was executed brilliantly, I thought. After all, Chelsea hit the post once, as did Tottenham. Morata missed a free header that should have been a goal. Kane had a couple of good chances that Courtois saved. Chelsea scored both of their shots on target. It was even a Chelsea player that scored Spurs' goal. All in all, the clear cut chances were spread pretty evenly between the two sides.

As for Neymar, I do believe the latter is true. He could end up producing a Ronaldo or Messi style goal tally in Ligue 1, but even that wouldn't be enough to win him the Balon D'or unless he led PSG to winning the Champions League or won the World Cup with Brazil.

Yeah Kane had the most scoring chances, but I think Christensen was their most dangerous player. The free kick he had into our box at the end of first half went untouched somehow. He had a number of other crosses that could've had a better result for Spurs, and Dele was kept in check. The defense did its job. Batshuayi did his best to undo that. 

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I thought Chelsea played very well. They do have a very strong best XI plus 3-4 players off the bench when everyone is fit. What they need is to add a bit of depth to cope with the extra European fixtures. While Spurs had most of the play, it was hardly one way traffic as Chelsea created some good chances as well. Morata had a decent game aside from a bad miss - his hold up play was good and he did an excellent defensive job on set pieces. Not a massively surprising result tbh as Spurs (and Kane) tend to be slow starters. They weren't all that impressive against Newcastle until Shelvey got sent off and Alli scored shortly after. The game became very comfortable for them after that.

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I was dubious when the team was announced ahead of the game, but it was a brilliant plan by Antonio Conte and the team pulled it off. Spurs had most of the ball, but for all their possession, they did about as much with it going forward as Chelsea did with the limited possession they had. Chelsea rarely dominate possession against big teams anyway, even at home.

I was impressed by Morata. We can focus on the miss, but he will know he should have scored that. He will score more of those type of chances than he will miss. But his hold up play was great and he has a turn of pace. There was a moment in the second half he made Alderweireld look like a turtle. Defensively, he won a lot of headers, similar to the job Drogba and Costa has done for us when defending set pieces in the past.

I thought Kane played quite well. Only the post has stopped him scoring against Newcastle and Chelsea. I have to admit, as talented as Dele Alli is, he is hard to like as a player. He goes down like a little fairy when he's touched but would also leave his studs in when going in for a tackle. You can't do both. Roy Keane didn't hit boys hard then roll on the ground at the brush of a shoulder. There were a couple of really reckless challenges from Dier and Vertonghen that could easily have been red cards instead of yellows. Tottenham's last red card was 14/15 season. Go figure.

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40 minutes ago, Mmerek Hamšzulíe said:

Yeah, Dele Alli seems to have a nasty streak combined with a penchant for diving/acting. Shame to see from a player with so much talent, and who is undoubtedly a big hero to a lot of kids.

That tends to be my first association with him, even before his talent.  His bad tackles always look malicious/intended.

Spurs generally have become a very dirty team under Poch but receive a surprisingly soft reaction from referees.  Perhaps decades as inoffensive lightweights means that no-one believes those nice chaps could be cloggers.

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I used to mostly joke about it but Aguero is a snide little shit isn't he? The moment just now where he tried to barge Holgate into the advertising hoardings then had a go at him for... I dunno, having the temerity not to injure himself I guess? Anyway, seems to be doing that sort of thing more and more often. Thinks he's Diego Costa.

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Calvert-Lewin looks half decent. Rooney hasn't been as terrible as I thought he would be either so far.

I'm not sure I can see Everton holding onto this lead though.

ETA: Er, I might change my opinion on that. Good effort Walker.

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