Excalibur KTBFFH

This is not a knee-jerk reaction. It's been something that's been said ever since we bought him from Benfica. He's a liability at CB and simply not trust-worthy. Especially in the EPL, with the direct, physical style of play of the lesser teams.

Put Cahill next to a competent CB like Ivanovic and we have no problems. It's not just about John Terry. IMO, Cahill has outperformed Terry this season (and I believe Terry has been brilliant)

Exactly. Luiz is an awful CB and should be sold in the summer. That's what it boils down to. Everything else is just hot air.

Chelsea 4-2 Liverpool 1997 FA Cup. Absolutely epic game and comeback. One of my first CFC memories, and for Chelsea it was a bit of a statement because we were on a different level that season.

I just don't understand why Mourinho hasn't played Ivanovic at CB even ONCE this season. With Iva and Cahill, we would have been much more solid at the back. If Luiz starts at CB (god forbid) against City, we could be in for a long, long afternoon

Vidal or Gundogan will obviously improve us massively. I mentioned Gundogan because I like his style more and because he's more of a realistic target.

Luiz will be out of Chelsea in the summer like Mata in January.

Ashley Cole should be re-instated into the team and Luiz should never play CB again, because he's a liability and has cost us so many points. Ramires should also be dropped. My opinion

I see very little comments about Ramires. IMO, he was the worst player on the pitch for Chelsea today. Absolutely shocking game. No drive, no energy, poor passing (except the one to Hazard), poor touch, easily dispossed, offered NOTHING in attack and didn't cover for Brana or Willian when they pressured us. Simply put, he was useless. Matic made him look mediocre today. And he's been useless for months now. Do people still believe he's a regular starter in this squad? I don't.People keep banging on about a striker, but we also need a CM who can dictate the tempo against defensive opposition like today. A Gundogan type midfielder. We can't put all the creative burden on the 3 behind the striker, especially in games where there is no space. Add to the fact that our full-backs barely even over-lap these days (under orders from the manager), it leads to sterile, dull, uninventive football.

Another absolutely shocking performance. Not good enough. No effort, nothing. Did he sip on some bottles of alcohol before he played today? He's been a disaster for months now.

Am I the only one worried about Terry being out? Luiz looked shaky against a Remy-less Newcastle and I know that Anichebe is no Drogba, but I fear that he might have a hard time against a big, strong striker, as he usually does. And I'm surprised people want Torres or Salah to start this game. This is a decisive time in our season and we need our strongest XI playing today. We still have 4 days rest till Man City. These were my comments in the match preview. I guess there was a little bit of truth in them.

Luiz should never play for us at CB again, except in an emergency situation. This WASN'T an emergency situation because we had Ivanovic, a CB who plays at RB. Only god knows how many points this player has cost us in the last 3 years since he's been here. Just this season in the few games he's played at CB : Everton, Cardiff and now WBA. And that's just from memory. It was rumored at the start of the season that Mourinho wanted both Luiz and Mata out. Jose got rid of Mata. He will surely do the same with Luiz.

He did struggle against him. He clearly couldn't match Anichebe's power, so resorted to shirt grabbing. He also lost almost all aerial duels with him when he came on. He is always looking to get in front of his man, getting ridiculously tight, instead of holding his ground. That sort of thing doesn't work against physically strong and tall strikers. If Pepe Mel had watched more tapes, he would have started Anichebe from the get go and it probably would have been worse.

When I said he struggles against big, physical strikers and when I voiced my concerns about Terry being out for this one in the match preview thread, I was ridiculed. I knew he was going to have a mediocre game defensively again. He could have gotten sent off for stupidly grabbing Anichebe's shirt after he was on a yellow. Hopefully, from now on, when Terry is unfit (it will surely happen again), we need to play Ivanovic at CB with Cahill, Azpilicueta RB and Ashley Cole LB.

I don't think Mourinho did such a thing, you are significantly underestimating him, mate. If anything, he would have instructed the players to go for the 2nd goal in the half-time team talk. The players were just not good enough and Luiz in defense means we couldn't really on our usual defensive solidity when they pressed us. The Mikel for Oscar sub might have invited more pressure, but Ramires was basically anonymous today, so he had to put another body in there.

That's a poor mentality to have especially this season, where the league is so tight. We shouldn't care what other teams are doing, we should only focus on ourselves and we were dire today. Not just the result, but the amount of individual poor performances and negative defensive tactics at only 1-0 up.

I just don't understand how multi-millionaires can put up that type of performance and not hang their head in shame. The first half was terrible enough, but we learned nothing from that. We haven't created any clear-cut chances today, the goal we scored was from a corner. Never controlled the tempo of the game, nothing. West Brom have been by far the better team and they are an awful bottom three team. PATHETIC performance. And the ref can fuck off too, the bloody wanker. The Oscar for Mikel change when they were putting us under extreme pressure didn't make sense against a bottom three team. Cech just kept on lumping it and gifting them back the ball. West Brom are an awful team and we've made them look good today due to defensive tactics and poor individual performances. And Azpilicueta at LB again against a team we are meant to dominate. Didn't we learn from West Ham? Oh, and the "football" was dull, boring garbage.

I just don't understand how multi-millionaires can put up that type of performance and not hang their head in shame. The first half was terrible enough, but we learned nothing from that. We haven't created any clear-cut chances today, the goal we scored was from a corner. Never controlled the tempo of the game, nothing. West Brom have been by far the better team and they are an awful bottom three team. PATHETIC performance. And the ref can fuck off too, the bloody wanker.

We are the only "big" team playing today. I bet fans of other big teams are laughing their ass off at this. Shocking defensive bullshit. Too many players were passengers today. And the idiot bookies who made us favourites must think twice. Just not good enough. Azpi, Luiz, Ramires, Oscar, Hazard, Willian all dreadful.

Disgraceful performance. Just awful. With Anichebe there, we struggle, just like I thought.

Again, we still tend to struggle in these mid-week games against weaker opposition. It's like half of our lads woke up from the wrong side of the bed. Anyway, the goal we scored means it will be a more open half.

I actually thought Ramires' injury was an ACL for a minute. But we look so poor today. Too many players are not themselves. Not a single one of our attacking players has played well and Ivanovic's goal was our FIRST shot on target against a bottom 3 team. Something has too change. Luckily for us, the goal came at an important time.

It's amazing this guy can seemingly do everything but take corners and set-pieces.

And against teams that we dominate (in terms of possession) I think it makes more sense to start an LB at LB, namely Ashley Cole. Azpilicueta can't overlap there and he's been found wanting in defense as well. It's a little bit pointless.

Pardon my Italian, but why the fuck is Hazard so narrow in this game, drifting in? He has to stay out-wide, because he isn't really affecting the game.I hope Mourinho rectifies this in the 2nd half