2 things from today

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Not sure how we would have done better with full backs who attack and put crosses in. Chelsea defense won every battle in the air. Our forwards are not the type to beat defenders like Ivan in the air.

We just showed our lack of experience by trying to win a game that the opponents needed to win more.

greatteams is spot on. A narrow approach doesn't help at all when your trying to break down such an organised team at home. We were crying out to use the full width of the pitch but we weren't set up in such a way. However whipping crosses into the box from the byline isn't our style of play either and the number of times we tried was remarkable. Henderson's energy in the middle was missed today and this was the type of game he relishes, shows what a key player he has become.

Fact is it might and probably would have been massively different had that first goal not gone in. We can count ourselves as a bit unfortunate and also a bit naive as Chelsea were always going to play like that. The 2-0 scoreline hurt even more but we have to beat Palace - no excuses.

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Im with kash, I draw would have set us up perfectly.

I don't think there is any lesson to learn from today.

If a Jose team puts everyone behind the ball there really isn't much anyone can do other than hope for a longer range shot to go in or pounce on a mistake. Neither happened. On another day who knows.

The mistake obviously cost us, but we couldn't break them down.

BR did nothing wrong imo. Dropping the diamond which has worked so well was the right thing to do against a team that was naturally going to play with little width, There WF's track back and are quite happy to step inside to close down the space.

The problem we had with the 4-3-3 was we had no width other than our fullbacks. Who failed to use the space they had as effectively as the should have done.

You can see why BR is rumoured to be looking at bringing in attacking player who can out wide and centrally (Lallana & kono) and why have Moses on loan. We didn't have an option to bring on to give us more of a threat out wide..

Fair play to Chelsea. Today was all about the result and they got it. With Henderson and Moses out we just didn't have the creative options available on the bench today to cause them problems in the final third.

This has to change next season.

It was a mistake that led to the result.

Otherwise it would have been a draw... just saying.

Gerrard needs to put it behind him and motor now, for himself and the team.

Agree with TKT.

The only lesson to be learned today is don't fall over on the half way line with he opposition clean through.

Everyone already knows we need more players, it's not a secret that has suddenly revealed itself.

We wouldn't have lost if we hadn't unfortunately gifted them a goal though (IMO).

Yup, to be fair this allows us to be better prepared for future games.

To unlock defences
Be more patient
Brendan to add more to his playbook too.

We aren't the finished article by a long way.

Man city have the best squad in terms of balance, and it shows.