The Chels

Everton? But we didn't have to hold on for very long to be fair!

That's a fair point but Courtois, Luis and Costa certainly knew how to do it last year. Jose ought to ask them for advice already. I've lost count of the number of times we've thrown away a 1-0 this season.

Both are suicidal.

What did you expect him to say? Of course he doesn't want his player to get a retrospective ban, which he should but probably won't.

Are you surprised? We didn't have a particularly good defensive shape for much of the game but Matic was usually there covering. Without him there were huge spaces in the midfield and a Ramires-Cesc pivot is just disastrous. Preferably we would move away from relying too heavily on individuals (Matic/Hazard) and towards relying on a system where every player has a clearly defined and replaceable role so that this kind of thing (and Bradford/Newcastle, for example) doesn't happen. Of course it's difficult to replace players as good as Matic and Hazard but we don't have a established philosophy that would let us even try. Our over-reliance on Matic became very clear. In the end we were with 10 men but like you say we suffered far from too much pressure and looked like losing the game.

I think we could cope without most players but Matic is going to be a huge miss. We are very dependent on him.

We didn't play well but would probably have won if it weren't for some incompetent refereeing and a moment of (understandable) madness so I don't think Jose can be blamed too much. That said the corner for the Burnley equaliser came from the same issue we repeatedly saw against PSG and which cost us a goal then too. Ivanovic dropped into the box (quite clearly a tactical instruction), Hazard was 1v1 with the Burnley winger and it went out for a corner. I just can't see the logic behind this. Sure we might have conceded the corner anyway but it would have been a lot less likely if we had doubled up on the winger. We were looking quite dodgy from set-pieces all game and without Matic (and our inability to hold onto 1-0s when under pressure) I think this tactic was far from helpful.

Burnley playing pretty well to be fair. They always show great desire. Oh and Luis deserves to start every game just for his pressing alone.

I don't think he's impressed me in any of the big games this season either. I remember he got a lot of praise for his performance away to City due to his work-rate but I thought he was bloody awful. He kept giving the ball away and making the wrong decision in possession time and time again. I was obviously supporting Arsenal for that game and he was incredibly frustrating (similar to Ramires/Oscar).

Haha true, I think Azpi does that particularly well!

The thing is those teams you mention (Atleti/Barca) rarely change their style of play from the small games to the big games as dramatically as we do and so they don't need to change their usual starting 11. Sure Atletico have less possession against the bigger sides but they play a very similar style and you'll often see them defending with all 10 outfield players behind the ball against smaller sides too, with their last game against Celta Vigo being a prime example of this. In contrast we tend to go from having the majority of possession in the opposition's final third to simply defending ours. That said, I think those teams are able to cope with greater changes in approach while maintaining the same line-up better than we are because of the differences in personnel. We have used our 'best team' (and formation) in several big games this season - the matches away to United, Liverpool and Tottenham in the league as well as the home match against Liverpool in the COC come to mind. There are a couple of exceptions with Drogba in for Costa v United due to injury, for example, but the core of the team was by and large the same. No team is able to use the exact same 11 every game so I don't think a couple of changes should make that much difference to our attacking play, certainly not as much as it has done. For example Koke got injured very early on in Atleti's 4-0 win over Real but it made no difference. Nevertheless in those games we created more chances than we have in other big games this season but we were defensively all over the shop - and Cesc playing at CM is partly (but definitely not entirely) the reason for that. We need him playing next to Matic against the smaller sides as he helps dictate the play but when we want to defend and play on the counter then he is not such a good option there, which necessitates changes all over the midfield. He has certainly improved his tactical discipline but he is still not great at it, he can be rather easily taken out of the game and it is far too easy to run at and dribble past him, which spells chaos for our defenders who need as much protection as possible. Like you say we don't (and IMO can't) have one consistent line-up for both small games and big games but I think that's probably how Jose would have envisioned it going. I don't really expect that to change. This, basically. And well we tried to buy that player in the summer but it didn't materialise.

I'm sure we tried something very similar away to City with Cesc next to Matic, Ramires on the right wing and Willian playing through the middle. It didn't turn out very well. In fact Oscar, Cesc and Willian have all played as the number 10 in one big game or another this season with the team performance differing very little, which is why I believe the issues we see in such games (i.e. regularly appearing so clueless in attack) extend further than the personnel. That said it seems like we tried to go for both Tiago and Sneijder in the summer window. Those two playing at CM and CAM respectively would IMO have helped alleviate a lot of the big-game problems we've seen. It's a pity that neither deal came through.

We didn't even play a high line against Spurs until we had conceded 3 goals and we were in our normal defensive shape for the entire first half. The same issues were evident in the game with PSG but they were just a lot more wasteful than Tottenham. It's not like the performance or tactics were any better so I'm not sure why people expect there to be no complaints. Regular big-game performances like these give us huge cause for concern. A good but very lucky away result against PSG doesn't take away from that.

So what's your excuse for the City or United away games this season? There have been too many poor big game performances for us to simply put it down to something like fatigue or lack of match sharpness, which just so happens to be a convenient excuse this time. Personally I think your expectations are too low if the PL would be a massive bonus for you. Just look at our squad. We were so close to winning the PL/reaching the CL final last year, we added 3 La Liga winners (and CL finalists) and a WC winner, and you still think winning the PL with only 1 genuine (and inconsistent) title rival would represent a major achievement? No team will ever be perfect but we sure as hell shouldn't be as far off as our recent performances against the likes of PSG, Liverpool and City would suggest.

Lacking match fitness or fatigue, whatever it's the same thing - making excuses for the manager. I would be more than willing to be patient if there was any improvement in our big game performances or tactics but we've seen absolutely none (don't think Rome showed so little improvement after so much time and investment, do you?) We have no chance of winning the CL at this rate and will no doubt gift Tottenham a goal or five in the COC final. Oh and sorry for being disappointed when I see the likes of Courtois, Matic, Hazard, Fabregas and Costa in our line-up and yet still see us play with more fear and just as basic tactics against the big teams as lower league clubs show.

Do you think 'the world' remembers (or even noticed) his lapses in concentration against the likes of Basel, Atletico, City, Liverpool, Everton and Villa or is forced to always watch his lackadaisical and inadequate defending? Of course not. I'm glad that not everybody is completely blinded by his occasional goals/assists or Mourinho's fondness for him, even if the majority clearly are.

You wanted us to be even more defensively vulnerable than we already were? It is possible, contrary to what we have seen this season, to defend in numbers (including the attackers) and maintain defensive solidity while still creating good chances going forward. We actually had neither (I can't stress enough how pathetic this is) a good attacking or defensive system in place for the nth time in a big game this season, so excuses like 'our players were tired' are not particularly valid.

Costa is just a passionate guy and would show it for whatever team. Doesn't mean he loves the club - not yet anyway! He's not been here that long.

The media, pundits, players and former players, the manager, fans. He is so overrated it is unbelievable. The wonders of being a Mourinho untouchable (and occasionally scoring a goal).

Meh Schalke's defending (or counter attacking) is nothing special. Real are just playing pretty badly at the moment.

God, hopefully not. I'd be fully expecting another Iniesta moment (shudder) if we did.

Oh really? I reckon Salah, Arda Turan, Lampard, Moreno and Okore would be among the most recent benefactors who would beg to differ about that.

You're right that they didn't manage to create many attacks through our middle, partly down to Ramires playing there instead of Cesc but I think it was largely because they lacked quality there and didn't have anyone to play between the lines. I have to disagree with your second point. It was quite clear that PSG had the beating of us in the air very early on (and that they were doing little through the middle) but Jose still refused to press or double up on their wingers. Instead he invited crosses by getting our FBs to drop into the box and our widemen to defend the wings alone. The outcome was inevitable. Terry and Cahill weren't having their best games but there was little they could do to change things. Mourinho, however, could have made tactical changes to minimise the problem but didn't (he arguably aggravated the situation) and so he must shoulder a bigger part of the blame IMO.

We really, really didn't. We only had 1 shot on target more than Liverpool, who probably created the more clear-cut chances.

It's not only the attacking front where we are lacking in these games but also the defensive one. We do not look assured at all and have consistently lost leads in big games this season. Neither of these issues have been rectified - is it because Jose doesn't think there is any need to or is it because he doesn't know how to? I suspect the latter.