MrExcalibur100

Oscar's biggest problem, IMO is not a lack of creativity, but a difficulty in finding space to operate through the middle. He tends to get dispossessed a lot at the centre of out attacking third. He looks better when he has space to operate on the wings, like at Southampton. What happened to the rotation of position between Hazard, Willian and Oscar? Nowadays, they just stick to their positions, and it makes it easier for the opposition to pick them off. It also doesn't benefit Oscar's style of play, which is mobility and attacking from both the left and right wings, just in and around the 18 (like Basel this season in the home tie, if you remember). This new, very rigid positioning by Mourinho is hurting his game. It seems Mourinho has reduced the freedom he gave the front trio, because there was a lot of interchanging earlier this season, when Oscar thrived. I don't buy that burn-out bullshit at all. Mourinho needs to let Oscar alternate his position with Willian in in-game situations a lot more than they have been doing. Or he could make Oscar drop deeper and dictate the tempo (like against Newcastle at home) while Ramires gets more license to get into attacking positions. The lack of a reliable striker doesn't help. Eto'o is clearly our best one, but the guy has been over-used due to Torres being so injury prone. Also, a general lack of goals from the team as a whole. Our defense, Hazard and now Matic have been carrying us. We need others to step up. Willian (who I'm still not convinced by), Ramires, Torres, Schurrle and Oscar especially need to step up. Note: Our strikers not converting is to comfortable an excuse. Remember, he was outstanding early season when our strikers were even more miserable. And that hasn't stopped Hazard from being just awesome.

The Guardian is notoriously anti-Chelsea, so the crude tone is not surprising. I agree, next season's strike force should be Costa, Eto'o and Lukaku.

How do you put thumbnails on these youtube videos?

6 goals and 2 assists in the premier league all season IS a cause for concern.

The team is being carried by the defense, Matic, Hazard and the manager. Nothing from the strikers, nothing from Oscar (what happened to you? Two assists (?!) in the league all season is a bloody joke, I'm sorry) or Willian (aside from graft, his numbers are awful. 2 goals and 1 assist in 13 starts), little from Ramires bar the last game. These guys need to step it up seriously, or we can kiss good-bye the opportunity of any silverware. Schurrle also needs to be integrated back into the starting XI. He looked sharp when he came on and I bet he's hungry to prove a point. I'm not to excited about our chances in the CL this season, it's the league for me. The good thing about the league is that we have an important cog to this team, Matic, fresh to play because he will be cup-tied in the CL.

Which two poor performances? He hasn't played a poor game since he joined us. If you're thinking about Man City FA cup, the team as a whole looked tired and he was one of the best of a bad bunch. He's been nothing short of brilliant in almost every game thus far.

I said the strongest team since that 2005 team. Besides this team has more talent and flair than that team and is a world-class striker short of being better. That 2005 team was built on the strength of the manager too.

Hands down the best manager in the game and a Chelsea legend to boot. He has his faults, but so does every other manager in the business. Thanks to Jose, we are looking stronger than we've ever looked since his first spell.

Maybe he should have been better rotated in our previous games, because now is the crucial part of the season. I can't think of too many matches he can be rested in. The obvious alternative, if he should be rested, is to play Hazard or Willian as a 10 (preferably Willian) and bring in Schurrle. Is the fact that his wife is now pregnant a factor at all? It could be.

Mourinho claimed he's been carrying an injury in his post-match press conference with the BBC. Is that why he's been so poor recently??

Another amazing performance today. It's clear that this guy is one of the best in Europe in his position, like all the Portuguese based Journo's were saying. He will be incredibly crucial in the title run-in, seeing as he is cup-tied in the CL and would be fresh to play every minute in the PL.

Thanks! White sox all day.

I'm SO happy to read the comments here from PROPER Chelsea fans. I've been reading some comments by some so-called Chelsea fans on public forums like the Guardian and co, and they are bashing our players and managers, for lack of a better word. Since when did we Chelsea fans become so fucking entitled and clueless? We've been unbeaten for 13 games, which is the longest unbeaten streak of any team in the PL this season, and are seated atop the league yet these fools always have something to complain and moan about. No wonder people think Chelsea fans are glory hunters. Everton are a bloody good team. They had only lost 4 games coming into this game, which is less than Liverpool and Man City. They are also very good at keeping the ball, and according to Jose in his press conference, he had to change our regular strategy of pressing high up the pitch to counter this. Anyway, back to my main point. I'm just fed up of these glory-hunting (yes) fuckers who claim to support us, but won't hesitate to bash us on public forums like the Guardian in full view of opposing fans, giving a wrong impression on how the game panned out. Chelsea of the last two seasons will certainly not have won that game, I'm sure of it.

Mandzukic is overrated and will soon be benched by Lewa. We want an elite striker, not that foul mouthed idiot.

Mikel, Luiz and Torres. Can't wait to see the back of these 3 players.

Yeah, 4-3-3 is more defensive than 4-2-3-1, especially the way we play it. Oscar will obviously start against Everton. The thing that worries me about this current squad is the lack of goalscorers in it, at least when compared to some of our past teams. We all know about the strikers, but Lamps is now an elder citizen and he isn't having the excellent season he had last year (mostly due to injury lay-offs). So that's one source of goals gone. Mata is gone. Another source of goals gone. Oscar's goal output has been decent, but he hardly ever creates for people. His assists are very poor for a number 10 in an elite team. Willian, doesn't score goals. One reason why I think he's not worth the amount we paid for him. Little goals from Ramires, Luiz, Matic and Mikel. And our defenders aren't scoring as many as they normally do.

This guy is considered a valuable asset, and I'm sure the club will be looking to sell in the summer like they did with Mata. He has shown so far that he's not good enough at CB, and Mourinho has made it clear that Luiz won't be playing consistently at DM, for the sake of the evolution of the team. That leaves him with no place in the side. We should sell to PSG, Bayern or Barca. Whoever of these clowns are interested in him, AND use the money to bring in a top quality CM like Kroos or Gundogan. Our main transfer budget should be dedicated to the marquee striker. I know Luiz is a cheerful character and is well like by some of our fans, but we can't afford to be deluded. We see he's nowhere near good enough in his position and the manager is reluctant to sell him elsewhere, so we have to be ruthless and sell. He, Ba, Torres and Mikel should all be sold if we want to give ourselves a very good chance of overcoming this monstrous City side (because they are only going to get better) and become a major force in Europe again, like the owner so desperately craves.

So we have some Evertonians on this site? Cool. It's a shame that your lot might just be missing out on that 4th place finish this season to the RS. And while you're here, could you please provide an assessment on Lukaku's performances so far. Because from what I hear, he's done most of his talking off the pitch rather than on it.

I know this is slightly off-topic, but how come Man City are getting so many home fixtures in these cup competitions? And also, so many non-Premier league opponents. Apart from Derby, we've got nothing but Premier league teams, and all of them have been away from home, in both the FA cup and Capital One cup. We've been terribly unlucky with the pairings, while teams like City and Arsenal have had all the luck. Not like I'm that upset we're out of the bloody FA cup. I mean, we've only won it 4 times in the last 7 years....

HAHAHAHA!! That was hilarious . Fair play to you, Barbara. :blue scalf:

It's private though

What? Malouda had his best season in 2010 under Ancelotti. Also, Kalou wasn't exactly Garrincha, but the kid had some talent and all in all was certainly worth the little sum we paid for him.

I agree with your general point, but I disagree on Matic. Matic, unlike Mikel has already proven himself to be a top quality midfielder and he has many attributes this team has been crying out for. I'm certain he will be a success at this club. Mikel on the other hand has always been overrated and average.

I think some of you need to get a grip. W e lose one game for the first time since Dec 17 and we start blaming anything and everything for a loss? I know I only speak for myself, but this season, I could care less about the FA cup, a trophy we've won 4 times in the last 7 years. Not since the Victorian era has any team dominated the FA cup in such a manner. Plus we lost it in arguably the toughest fixture we could have played. Just look at the progress we've made as a team under Mourinho this season. It's incredible. We can't afford to become petulant children just because we don't win a couple of matches. Things could be better. We can do with a prolific striker, we can do with more support from full-backs for Eden, we can do with a more consistent, creative partner to Matic in the pivot and so on. But the fact that we've more than matched a team with a strike-force of: Aguero, Dzeko, Negredo and Jovetic, all season is enough for me to be content till we get our marquee striker. After two years of Premier League mediocrity under some really clueless managers, we now boast have of the best talent in Europe, we have a special player like Eden who brings joy to the fans with his outrageous skill, we have The Special One back to the club he belongs.

Arsenal party thing is bullshit. Mourinho only plays the best players and hardly ever rotates, especially since we haven't LOST A GAME SINCE december 7th! Schurrle has been incredibly underwhelming since he joined us. Certainly doesn't look like he's worth anything near 18 million. Sometimes he doesn't even look like a footballer. I think the change he made earlier in his career from CF to winger has left him under-developed with some of the qualities required of wingers. i.e crossing, wide-play and so on. His technique is also sometimes poor. He just needs to step it up a little. He was shocking in the last game he started; against Southampton.