Swansea 1-1 Chelsea - More points dropped and it's not good enough!!

Now before regular readers come and have a pop at me following on from my post the other day after the QPR game, I want to make a point that I am trying to make clear to you all.

My issue at the moment is and has been that we all know we aren't playing well, we know we are a couple of players short of winning the league, we know we are in a struggle for fourth place and have various issues with players at the moment.

For me, I have said time and time again that I don't care how well or badly we play at the moment based on ALL of the above, as long as we win games. I feel and felt as though as long as we kept winning games, over time the performances will come. I said it after QPR because we played OK and got the win to go through to the next round, however yesterday's game is different.

I know Chelsea fans will say that it's the same thing at the moment week in, week out and I agree but we were still winning games and picking up points or going through in the FA Cup. Before yesterday's game we had kept four clean sheets in a row which is unheard of this season for god sake!.

Yesterday we dropped points once again which is what we have done at Wigan, home to Fulham and away at Norwich in recent weeks and it is unacceptable. These are all games we should have won and put these teams to bed.

Some will argue that a point away at Swansea considering they beat Arsenal the other week is a good result and with City losing, we have gained a point, but some of you will look at it differently.

AVB said after this one that based on our second half performance, if we had started the game the same we would have won three points but I honestly think he was watching a different game to me. We never looked like scoring!.

Once again I was surprised that Gary Cahill was never given the start with JT out. Apart from his goal (which took a deflection) Jose Bosingwa is becoming just as frustrating going forward now as he is in defence. How many times did he lose the ball or put in a cross not even worth mentioning?. David Luiz or Ivanovic should have started out wide right with Cahill in the middle.

I said before the game that I would liked to have seen Michael Essien start in midfield instead of Malouda but soon after on Twitter after thinking about it, it became obvious that AVB was always going with Malouda. I never noticed he was even playing until about half way into the first half. Malouda is now too slow, too laboured and shouldn't be anywhere near starting games.

Oriol Romeu came back into the side and did OK apart from giving away needless free kicks. How many times did we do that in the game? As for Ashley Cole, you get the impression he is becoming just as frustrated as we are at the moment and the fact he is now suspended for United on Sunday is a big problem for us.

Raul Meireles continues to work hard in the midfield, once again getting through all the dirty work. He too showed signs of frustration in the game and got caught up in giving free kicks away when it's easier to stand up.

The main problem in this game for me and has been for a few weeks now is the final third. Can someone tell Danny Sturridge that he is playing as part of a team and to lift his bloody head up and pass the ball for once!. I am all for Sturridge running at defenders, taking them on and having a pop at goal as long as he makes the keeper work. Time and time again, he ignored EVERYONE around him and was having shots wide.

Juan Mata was busy in the game but I can't recall anything of note he did in or around the box that provided us with a chance to score. We need to give him the ball, get him on the ball to create in the final third if we are going to get the benefit of his quality on the pitch.

Once again, Fernando Torres drew a blank and is being criticised once more and maybe people's opinions are changing about him. He continues to make his runs but is ignored or given the ball too late. I cannot for the life of me remember when he has been given a pass that puts him through on goal in the last three games can you?. Once again he is being sucked deeper or out wide to get the ball and we don't want to see him there!. He has started to look a yard short of pace also.

It's obvious like the team, he IS struggling and maybe if Drogba was here, he would give us something different up front using his power and strength to hold the ball up and give us someone to play off of.

Their goal was sloppy defending but well taken by Scotty Sinclair and fair play to you mate for not celebrating. How many people did we have behind the ball defending fresh air as Sinclair had time and space to turn and hook the ball into the net?. For all the criticism about him, we missed JT's organisation at times yesterday especially defending set plays. Also just quickly on the goal, why does Cech continue to dive to save the ball using the other arm coming over and across his body? Think about it, the ball was going high to his right into the top corner and he dived which his left arm across his body stretching for the ball. Why not use your right arm and stretch to reach it giving you more of a bloody chance mate!!.

Our goal was lucky and it's as simple as that. It was the only time Bosingwa beat his man out wide and in saying that the cross was so bad that it took a deflection of the defenders leg and went in. Lucky, Lucky Chelsea!.

Now I have said it before people before you think I am "blinkered" as I have been called on here, but our substitutions yesterday were strange again. It was obvious that Florent Malouda was rubbish yesterday so why not put Michael Essien on in his position going forward from midfield next to Raul Meireles?. Instead, he takes Romeu off for Essien in a like for like swap?

I thought to myself as we struggled to break them down, why not stick Essien next to Romeu and push Merieles further forward right up behind Torres and play the three in behind him with Mata and Sturridge wide?. This would force Swansea backwards with the security of the two holding midfielders to deal with any Swansea counter attacks.

As we know, Malouda did then come off but for Lukaku (nothing against him) who forced the keeper into the first save he had to make soon after coming on BUT AGAIN for Torres to play wide left??

Why didn't we look at the other creative midfielder on the bench and give PIAZON a go in Malouda's position or play Mata there and ask Piazon to play wide left and see what he could give us?

It seems to me as though substitutions in games really has been our Achilles heel especially when we are losing games or chasing a win. AVB got them wrong big time yesterday.

Again for those people who have made comments or slated my view I want to point out a couple of other posts I have written where I have asked if the problem is our manager? and also what our main problem is this season? In the last post mentioned I have stated that I personally believe it to be the tempo of our play and again yesterday was another example of that.

So getting back to the game, we grab a point from The Liberty stadium which being honest IS harsh on Swansea. They may not have had the possession they would have wanted during the whole 90 minutes, may not have created enough chances to beat us and will feel as though they took a kick in the bollocks at the end but you played well and have impressed all of us this season.

Brendan Rogers and his side are a credit to the Premier League this season and their plaudits are well deserved. Shame we really can't say the same about Chelsea now can we!.

KTBFFH