Closed Fulham 1 - 1 Chelsea

[Strike 6,958]

And then our midfield/attack....

Why is Mikel a starter? Why is Lampard a starter? Why is Meireles a starter? Why is Kalou at this club? Why is Torres a starter? Why is Ramires - a player with little to no technical skill - being used as our winger?

If the board had done it's job right and brought in young and hungry players over the last 4 years (right after Moscow) and bled them into the squad over these lot, no way would we be doing as bad as we have been.

Fuck you Gourlay & Buck. We're in this hole because of you.

I just want this season to end.

Every time Mikel and Meireles got the ball, they passed it back to Cahill or terry.

Look at Newcastle, Yohan Cabaye gets the ball and threads it through to Ben Arfa, Cisse or Ba. Even if it's intercepted sometimes, that is how you score. Spurs -Parker wins the ball and drives forward. Or if it's Modric, he spreads it to the wings or to Adebayor upfront. NOT Backwards to the CB's. And another thing, good teams don't resort to SHOOTING FROM LONG RANGE throughout the game. Meireles may have scored one fluke vs Benfica but yesterday he skied it from the edge of the area. And Kalou keeps nominating himself for miss of the season. Really frustrating

Meireles, Mikel and Essien should be shunted out in the summer along with Malouda and Kalou

[KonohasOrangeFlash 2,607]

We need better Passers of the ball, ones who will Pierce defences like Strike mentioned. With Modric we could have arugably been in the top 4 right now. In the summer, don't care who it is, we just need a Modric/Cabaye/Fabregas style player

[The Rising Sun 696]

Bye Bye top 4. Newcastle is definitely not making top 4.... Just saw their last 3 fixtures....

Totenham needs to continue wobbling, but i cant see that happening with their remaining fixtures.....

How did it come to this?

[planetchelsea 3]

I agree, in terms of football being played on the pitch, we deserve to be 6th in the league. Newcastle are much more hungry and their desire to win is shown on the pitch. If they end up in 4th place, they will thoroughly deserve it.

Most of our players show no real committment on the pitch and play lethargically, as most know they are out of contract in the summer, so they don't seemed to be bothered at all. I don't have much hope for the remaining fixtures. There's only so much a manager can do. The players that are going to be sold in the summer are the same ones we are relying on to deliver fourth place. That is the biggest irony.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Bye Bye top 4. Newcastle is definitely not making top 4.... Just saw their last 3 fixtures....

Totenham needs to continue wobbling, but i cant see that happening with their remaining fixtures.....

How did it come to this?

We had the easiest set of fixtures back in december and Jan but screwed them all up.

[The Rising Sun 696]

We had the easiest set of fixtures back in december and Jan but screwed them all up.

I Just hope that this time around, Roman does a complete overhaul, not only of the squad, but also the board room, the processes , the power structures and channels involved in every step of our club.

Integration of youth into senior team needs some sort of structure in a club like ours.... Otherwise it only takes one failed process to slowly pollute and spoil every other function of the club.

Cannot explain the depths of how much last nights result has got to me.

[SebastienBonny 49]

Very frustrating game

[planetchelsea 3]

Roman will never sack his trusted staff and board members. He loves them too much. They will end up destroying our beloved club

[Drogzola 283]

What I cant understand is why if we don't have wingers we keep playing wide. Would it not be better to try bring it up through the middle with tight passes and little triangles. Lampard is slow and so is Raul but they can definately adapt to playing quick passes. We dont have a force in the air with Torres and with Mata it makes sense as he likes tight situations. We didnt get onto one cross from open play and when we could have it was Kalou on the end of it who is not known for using his head (in more ways than one). Keep the game tight and it might work out better for us.

[Las7 951]

Problem is flanks and midfield, we have Lukaku and Sturridge that can play up top if needed but until there is actual natural wide players and some needed movement and passing in midfield other than Ramires. This season should have been scrapped a long time ago with Joshua; Sturridge; Lukaku; Bertrand; Bruma; Romeu; Piazon given a proper season during which we could have gone through a transitional faze. The amount of games that Lampard; Torres; Drogba; Raul; Essien; A.Cole; Malouda; Kalou have gotten this season is sickening considering their production. We have spend about 30 million pounds on central defenders loaning out Bruma to HSV our defense has been in shambles first 6 months. We have been using a forward as a make shift right winger since that was a position we haven't addressed since Duff; Robben and J.Cole left with Anelka; Kalou; SWP all having turns being ineffective from there. We've spend over 60 million on Torres thus far despite having Borini; Sturridge etc in our youth ranks for a few years - plenty of time to give them opportunities as Drogba subs. There is Joshua who should be taking over from Lampard at this time yet he has not been given a run in the team to gain better defensive capability. A.Cole until recently had played 90 minutes in 95% of all of our games while we have a perfectly good youngster to give him a rest from time to time.

Shambolic season which would have been easier to swallow had there actually been any attempt to revamp our squad - instead just papering over the cracks.

[kingofchelseadom 41]

This season has been awful as i predicted. Obvious from last season CFC were in need of new talent. Instead we got a New Manager. Even if we get 4th we need to back it up next season. Hopefully the board etc comes to the party and purchases players keen on success again. This should have been started in 2009. Suck it up. our season will start in when this one finishes. Wait and see.

[capriccioso 2,545]

The stats on points being dropped and goals conceded in the last 10 mins deserve a topic on their own. This has fucked up our season worse than bad luck, refereeing decisions and the "high-line" put together.

That's very interesting, have you done the research? If so can you post the data?

What does this mean, though? Are we using our substitutes too early and leaving tired players on?

[The Big Drog 1,110]

The tempo of the passing is so ridiculously slow, plodding and negative that we never looked like sweeping aside Fulham, even after going 1-0 up. Yes there are other problems, a lack of penetration on the flanks is a big problem, a lack of quality delivery from the full backs is another (teams often dont mind letting our full backs getting their crosses into the box) but the greatest problem is a lack of tempo in the passing.

Im not saying that the side go out there with the plan to play slow, predictable, dull football, rather I think it is simply that that is the only kind of football these players can play. How many times last night did Raul Meireles pick up the ball in a promising position, finding a bit of space behind the Fulham midfield, only to fail to turn and then he ends up playing the ball backwards again, he doesn't have the creativity, imagination or technical ability to play as a number 10. Behind him, Lampard and Mikel are far too negative with their passing, worse still they seem to take an age to actually pass the ball. David Luiz always looks like one of our most threatening creative players when he plays, despite being a centre back, his clever, quick distribution was a miss last night also. It also doesn't help that the winger's, Kalou and Ramires, lack quality on the ball and always look more likely to lose the ball than actually find a teammate. As a result of it all, Torres had absolutely nothing to feed on, nor did Drogba when he came on.

Juan Mata is the first choice number 10, his absence was a real loss last night. But in the central midfield positions, changes are desperately needed in the Summer. Modric would have been the perfect signing, a player who can play in a deeper central area than Mata but remain a creative force (as he has done for Spurs)., we must look for a player like that in the Summer. Alongside him I believe Romeu is the man for the job, the La Masia graduate is far superior on the ball than both Mikel and Essien, his passing is quicker, his link up play more effective, his general dictating of tempo more positive, he should be the first choice central midfielder next season.

Yes a penetrating winger is needed, so too are arguably a striker and a right back but I think that more important than all of those things is a central midfielder who doesn't require 5 touches and 6 seconds to make a 10 yard pass backwards.

[planetchelsea 3]

Hopefully, the squad will be recuperated enough for the Spurs match. Ample time to prepare and rest key players

[Liquidator 5,176]

The marking for their goal was a disgrace. Lampard, Bertrand and Ramires all on the front post with only Bertrand doing what he was supposed to be doing- being on the front post. The other two just stood aimlessly watching as the ball went straight over their head

[Jase 43,479]

The marking for their goal was a disgrace. Lampard, Bertrand and Ramires all on the front post with only Bertrand doing what he was supposed to be doing- being on the front post. The other two just stood aimlessly watching as the ball went straight over their head

That. And why on earth wasn't there someone else standing at the far post?!!

[francozola 2,040]

I blame JT. He is the organizer and should have noticed that whoever it was that was assigned to be on the post wasn't there. Cech too should have done something about it.

We are just so bloody clueless sometimes during set pieces.

[Jase 43,479]

3 of the last 5 goals we conceded have come from set-pieces.

1. Collins's header from a throw-in!

2. Javi Garcia free header from a corner!!

3. Same as Garcia. Another free header from a corner!!!

RDM lost his job at West Brom because they were losing games by conceding lots of goals from set-pieces...