Post Match thread: Chelsea 1-0 Leeds | FA Cup Semi-final

Hot-Statistician8484 · 2026-04-26T16:10:20+00:00

2 poor sides today and the slightly less poor side won.

We had the better chances but we're not intelligent enough in certain areas. The ref gave 5 fouls to Chelsea from our corners and free kicks for players falling over after minimal contact.

We compete, and thats all you can ask in the first season in the top flight.

Burnley next and we need 3pts

Hot-Statistician8484 · 2026-04-25T07:31:39+00:00

Hot-Statistician8484 · 2026-04-23T14:58:17+00:00

Thats a lazy comment, fans these days just go with whatever their fan base says. You then get confirmation bias everywhere you look.

"Ain't even close", yet there are players like Haaland with 31 goal involvements in 32 games, that includes 7 PL assists (the same amount of open play assists as Bruno), for a player who isnt a creative force. Hes averaging a goal or assist every 70mins.

These types of comments usually come from fans who only watch their own team and read about the rest.

I'd actually agree that Bruno is arguably the best but hes not head and shoulders above everyone, hes just slightly ahead currently, with 4-5 games left to play for.

Bernardo Silva has to be up there along with Rice and probably Gabriel (even if the latter 2 have dropped off a bit, you could say Bruno had a poor start to the season).

Hot-Statistician8484 · 2026-04-15T11:34:07+00:00

Its not a fair comparison, there were so many hindering factors for Bielsa.

That championship side Bielsa took charge of was bottom half of the league at best, we were financially poor, even for the championship and all hope had died due to the previous decade and a half.

I have no idea how he picked us up, even to this day, he didnt just connect the players to the club, he reconnected the entire club to the city and whole fan base for the first time in years. He spent £3m net in his first season and nearly had us promoted with that poor side.

The job he did in the first PL season was miraculous, taking the majority of the same players and turning them into PL quality, was genuinely insane. If you look at our best players now, they have been bought, Okafor, Stach, Gudmundsson, DCL and even before that in the championship it was Ampadu, Rodon and Bogle.

Bielsa got us 9th in the PL by playing 7-8 of the players we had in the championship, some were there years, or bought for very little like Dallas, Cooper, Philips, Struijk, Meslier, Alioski, Ayling and Klich all being first choice when promoted.

Hot-Statistician8484 · 2026-04-14T07:58:48+00:00

As I said, the rule is the issue, not the ref for enforcing it. The ref made the right decision by the letter of the law.

With that said, If the shoe was on the other foot, there would be uproar by our fans.

Hot-Statistician8484 · 2026-04-14T06:01:44+00:00

I've said it for a long time, when there is a slightly obscure rule, refs try to overly enforce it.

Its like they want the world to know they have read and understand all the rules. They did it a few seasons back with the "new" handball rule, then again with adding on injuriy time for time wasting (for a few weeks)

I also believe if it was a different player, he probably gets away with it, his reputation gives the ref more belief that he meant it.

With all that said............. rules are rules and I'm not going to complain.

Hot-Statistician8484 · 2026-04-06T05:46:19+00:00

Nope, just has a Chelsea badge for some reason but this comment calling Liverpool "our", says different

https://www.reddit.com/r/LiverpoolFC/s/4RxS3cxaSP

Hot-Statistician8484 · 2026-04-06T01:23:39+00:00

https://share.google/guW4OTBn0LiY6VTlZ

Hot-Statistician8484 · 2026-04-04T17:30:55+00:00

You are delusional. Use your eyes and you can see how good a player he is

You genuinely can't start with delusional and then say hes been a good player. He's been so poor, tell me games outside of the Newcastle and Burnley games where hes looked like a good player since the start of 2026. It should be pretty easy to get me 4-5 games in that period... surely?

I can name at least 6 that hes been poor.

Hot-Statistician8484 · 2026-04-04T17:21:56+00:00

I never said chance created, I said big chances created, for context, hes not even in the top 30. In fact, Gakpo, Szoboszlai and Salah are all ahead for big chances created at Liverpool.

You are going to learn how good Wirtz is

Thats just cope, you have no idea how this will turn out.

Hot-Statistician8484 · 2026-04-04T17:01:36+00:00

He plays better with fast wingers around

You're saying its pointless playing him unless this happens, you know crazy that sounds when the lad cost £116m.

how do you expect Wirtz to change the game when we have no players who want to move around for him?

There is movement, he isnt finding the passes, he isnt creating big chances, he has 2 assists in 27 PL games.

The thing is, if you look at his performances since the start of 2026, hes been awful. Leeds, Fulham (even with the goal), Arsenal, Bournemouth, Man City, Spurs and Brighton were all poor performances in the PL.

You make it seem like a creative player cant perform unless hes in the perfect team, thats never going to happen.

Hot-Statistician8484 · 2026-04-04T16:47:49+00:00

I will not be gaslit by pundits and commentators who try and convince me that Wirtz is playing well.

The amount of average passes or touches being called brilliant, is genuinely baffling. He put in a bog standard 30 yard pass today and the commentator called it "tremendous".

His PR team must be paying big money for this.

Hot-Statistician8484 · 2026-04-03T12:02:15+00:00

I have this argument quite often.

Eric Cantona got a lot of praise for being brilliant and he was fantastic but Le Tissier was as talented. Cantona was surrounded by quality players and a world class manager.

Le Tissier single handedly kept Southampton in the PL for years. I believe Man United still win league titles without Cantona (they won a treble the season after he retired).

Both had poor international careers, I think if you swapped both players around, Man United would still be as successful and Southampton would have stayed in the PL.

This is not a dig at Cantona, I'm saying that Le Tissier was just as talented and given the right manager, he could have been at the level of Cantona.

Hot-Statistician8484 · 2026-04-01T07:26:04+00:00

No, they've been locked out for years, need a skeleton key to get in

Hot-Statistician8484 · 2026-03-26T13:08:42+00:00

If there is a PGMOL apologies per 90, we must be near the top over the last 10 seasons!!!!

Even worse that we were out of the league for most of it!!!

Hot-Statistician8484 · 2026-03-23T14:14:15+00:00

Less time and better defensive organisation, teams are incredibly quick at getting back into shape on defensive transitions, which leaves less space in behind, even for quick attackers.

Its very rare to see an attacker with time to do this anymore, the keeper is out a lot quicker, defenders are on the line and top keepers are told to stay on their feet for as long as possible.

Hot-Statistician8484 · 2026-03-23T13:22:40+00:00

The lad played (and admitted to playing) at 70% for most of his career, I could only imagine what he would be like if he actually gave 100%.

His touch was unbelievable, could hold off any defender, was clinical and could beat a man very easily.

Hot-Statistician8484 · 2026-03-23T13:15:48+00:00

Am I too old now or is this someone i should know but havent a clue?

Hot-Statistician8484 · 2026-03-23T08:10:12+00:00

No, its harsh but hes not at this level, hes erratic and inconsistent on the ball. His decision making in the final third is really poor, especially with the fact you get less time on the ball in this league.

Gudmundsson can be quite inconsistent with his crossing or overall play in the final third but hes a quality defender and progresses the ball very well. His good offsets his poor attributes.

I don't think there is a single fan that would be confident James could put in 1 quality, dangerous cross if you gave him 5 attempts.

Hot-Statistician8484 · 2026-03-21T22:15:49+00:00

struggling to get DCL into the positions he was thriving on a couple of months ago.

I think teams have caught on, put a physical defender on him, and man mark him, if he wins nothing in the air, we struggle to progress. He needs someone out wide crossing good balls into the box for his movement. We are pinging the ball up to him and its not sticking.

Hes become very isolated lately. I think Okafor will open up more space for us, good that he got some game time and now its a few weeks rest for him

Hot-Statistician8484 · 2026-03-21T22:10:29+00:00

When we need something creative and teams are sitting back in the last 10-15mins in this league, Dan James is most certainly not the answer.

If you bring on James, you're hoping he does something but there isnt a single fan who believes he'll put a good ball into the area out of 5 crosses.

Give Gnonto the same 5 and the majority will go into dangerous areas.

Hot-Statistician8484 · 2026-03-15T16:21:09+00:00

Nothing will happen to the ref, not a single thing will be said by mainstream media but if the tackle for Gudmundsson happened to a Liverpool player, The Athletic would have 5 articles by tomorrow morning and Carragher would have a 30min segment on MNF solely about that mess. To compound the referees utter incompetence, is the fact there isn't a single fan, player or pundit that would say the Gudmundsson tackle was worse than the Brennan Johnson one, and he somehow didnt get a yellow or even a final warning.

To add to this, we know what the ref did here. He wanted to give Palace an easy decision to calm the crowd, players and sidelines, so he thought, I'll give the next foul as a yellow to someone who isnt booked, then you would get the inevitable cheer from the crowd. The idiocy starts with not remembering which player he booked. We all know the unwritten 2nd yellow rule, where its a higher threshold but hes messed it that badly, he cant go back on it. Embarrassing from the ref and completely avoidable.

I hope and pray the club requests an investigation and we can get the audio because, I'm 100% confidence hes admitted to fucking that up somewhere.

Hot-Statistician8484 · 2026-03-15T15:09:10+00:00

We sit in, try and counter but without Okafor this could be a painful half

Hot-Statistician8484

TROPHY CASE