OhForAGreavsie

Well I'm glad of it. I'm a world class pessimist when it comes to my football team so I'll just have to try to feed off your confidence and see if that can get me through it.

Never mind the mountain of evidence we've seen this season, and prior to this season indeed, having just watched us play Villa, how can we look anyone in the eye and say we really have any idea what is an easy fixture and what isn't?

It was indeed dire but we got where we needed to go and I'm happy.

Reminds me of Bobby Stuart making a fool of himself ahead of our cup tie at City last season. He went on about how there was no way City's midfield on the day would be able to live with ours. He particularly pointed to Milner as a weakness. I wanted to reach into the TV and shake some sense into him. Milner in their midfield was the last thing I wanted to see that day. Milner in their midfield is always the last thing I want to see.

I've been calling for Oscar to be replaced for a long time so I won't change my tune at this point but he is not alone in this team. We have to continue upgrading the quality but the boys got the job done today. Somehow. All praise to them for that.

And KDB scored twice more today. Oh well more criticism of Jose on it's way I suppose. Not from me though.

So happy, so proud of the battling performance. I'm not happy with the quality of the squad but the players are what they are and they got us over the line today. Love 'em for it.

This is bad news. Agbonglahor (sp?) has been appalling. Benteke can only be more difficult to deal with.

Great finish.

In order to play on the front foot you need better passing than we can muster.

Right move. Remy out to have started as many have pointed out. That should be the Drog's last start in a meaningful game for Chelsea.

I just don't agree with you. This collection of players is not able to play the way you want them to. I'm convinced that trying to do so would make things worse not better.

Our defence can't hold a lead because the rest of the team can't hold the ball.

It is not voluntary! Our side is packed with people for whom passing is NOT a strong point. With this line up, keeping the ball is tough, keeping it for long spells is just not going to happen. Many people talk about the high quality of our squad. I don't agree with that opinion.

And especially from the Drog.

Not too many viable options sadly. In quality terms, our supposedly great squad is actually wafer thin so a few injuries/suspensions are bound to cause problems. Maybe one of the development players will show he's ready to step up, maybe Atsu can be recalled to provide some cover, but outside of that there's nothing we can do till summer. For now, let's just support the players we've got and hope they'll carry us gloriously across the line.

Before we think about if we can afford an £80m transfer fee, I think we need to consider whether we should spend that much on one player. Personally, I think we are still a few top class players short of being ready for that kind of shopping. I doubt we could make a marquee signing and buy two other top level players in the same year. In any case, I'd like Jose to take a long hard look at Loftus-Cheek before he commits huge resources to Pogba. I'd only be happy for the boss to sign off on Pogba if he decides that we are not going to be able to help Ruben maximise his potential. I'm not committing one way or the other on whether Ruben can reach Pogba's level but if Jose decides he can get somewhere close, and save us £80m in the process, then that's all good.

From a purely FFP standpoint, we could probably afford to spend more than we have done in recent windows. I suspect one of the reasons we haven't is so that we can build up an FFP surplus. That way, if a marquee signing of interest becomes available, we'll be in position to make a move. P.S. Barca have huge pull. If they want Pogba, and if they are his first choice destination, I think it will certainly be possible for them to persuade him to wait an extra five months for their ban to expire.

And Jose said both Frank and Ashley were offered contracts. Other than the fact that Jose's English is sometimes a bit difficult to penetrate and he fails to quite say what he wants to, it's hard to square that circle.

Probably because the Chelsea PR machine decided it might be a good idea to humanise him; give people a chance to learn a little about the man, give them something to focus on other than the beast image.

Not possible I think. I haven't read the rules but it has been widely reported that no Premier League club may make more than one loan signing from another Premier League club. If Boro are promoted this year, then they could take no more than one Chelsea player on loan during 2015/16.

My point exactly. Zouma was picked because, for whatever reason, Jose considered him the best option for those games. That's how it is, you won't get games under Jose just because of the numbers on your birth certificate. In my opinion, there is no point calling for some players to be picked simply because they are young. At least not until our fate has been settled for the season. Until then, meaningful minutes will be handed out strictly on merit only. If you are judged the best available, you will be judged old enough and you will play. If you are not considered the best available, it won't matter a jot how old, or how young, you are.

One of the youngsters is getting games and he's getting them because he has convinced Jose to trust him, and to believe that he's the best player available in his position for certain games. If other youngsters want to follow Zouma's lead they can see what they have to do. Well all know how competitive our matches tend to be. Game time is not going to be handed out, it is going to have to be earned I think this i sthe right way to look at it. You're not asking for RLC to appear in the match day squad because he's young, you're saying you think he should be selected because he's the best choice available; you're saying he is ready to be picked on merit. Now it's up to RLC to persuade Jose to agree with you.

I wish Marko well, he's a nce enough bloke but, honestly, does anyone care?

I love RLC and confess that my hopes are up that he will make it but the penny needs to drop with him. He does not impact games in the way he should, at least not often enough. There has been some improvement but he still has a tendency to be brilliant when the game comes to him, but to then stroll about waiting for it to drift back to him again. I want to see Ruben being more proactive, busier, dominating football matches in the way I think that he has the ability to do. This has been my feeling since before he played against City in the States and I'm a little sad that this still needs to be talked about. Sad because I want this lad to make it. In that regard, I think it's good news that Jose has taken him more under his wing and I was intrigued by what TSO had to say after the Sporting game. The comment about hoping the people around Ruben would allow the coaching staff to do their work and help Ruben's development suggested both that Jose has identified the problem which has been holding RLC back, and the cure. If Jose can get into Ruben's head the young man will have a heck of a career and we'll have a heck of a player. A good outcome is far from certain though. If Ruben continues to play as he has been doing he isn't going to make it. Edit: There was a typo in the bit in bold., it originally said is. Slight change in meaning!