MrExcalibur100

Insane from Hazard.

Wow, what a goal!! Pedro has that long range curler. Kind of like the SPURS golazo!!

Willian - Hazard - Pedro up front. How many bodies will we actually have in the opposition box? Hopefully, this front 3 can provide more of a reference point in a 3-4-3 but all of a sudden I'm not so confident.

I'll be willing to eat my words but playing Hazard as a striker never works. He drifts too much and it means we won't have a reference point in the box. This seems like a dubious decision but I hope to be proven wrong.

From the 3:00 minute mark is when he starts his latest moan. He's such a weird individual and maybe he doesn't realize that literally no one, besides Man United fans and Duncan Castles takes him seriously anymore..... or even likes him. What he's trying to do is to project his own insecurities and short-comings on us. Don't forget that this is the same guy who promised an "evolution" in the playing style of the team but failed woefully. Only half a season of good football (partly down to the novelty of having Fabregas in midfield) in 3 years. He was already trying to paint this narrative of Chelsea as looking to play on the counter when we beat his team 4-0 and even made the ridiculous statement that our 3rd and 4th goals were counter-attacks. I can go deeper and completely dismantle his weak attempts to paint us as a defensive team, using his own words but it will be a waste of my time. Jose is a clown, simple as.

If we can sign James with the Oscar money in January, that will be football manager levels of fuckery. We will have to tweak our system a bit. From a 3-4-3 to primarily a 3-4-2-1. That way, James and Hazard are two advanced playmakers behind Costa. It puts slightly more strain on our wingbacks but the attacking potential more than makes up for that. I like him. I rate James as a player. He will also be able to solve our current set-piece problem if Fabregas isn't playing. And also long range shooting.

For me the "false 9" is one of the most retarded concepts in football.

What do you guys think, has Fabregas earned his starting spot? I think so.

I agree. Don't think for a second this is a moan. It's only stating the obvious we aren't playing as well than say, a month ago. I think Fabregas will eventually end up gaining a spot back in the first XI. The problem I see is we have no control of the midfield. Obviously Conte sees it to. Palace dominating us is kinda sad to watch.

Standard. Always. Season after season. The lesser team plays very defensively, against the better, more expensively assembled team. What's the novelty here I'm missing? The reason it seems teams are "defending" better against us is because we aren't playing anywhere near as well since the international break.

I think we're becoming overly concerned with maintaining this winning streak and it's making us play less freely than we can. As for managers trying to block the players you mentioned. Wait, haven't smaller teams always played defensively against us? It's standard football. We had no problems with Everton and Leiciester. Why do you think we can express ourselves against bigger teams? Maybe a month ago, but not at the level we're playing at. City battered us and we couldn't express ourselves. Same with Spurs. Let's just admit we're not playing as well anymore.

I'm not unhappy, but I can't say I'm deriving the same amount of joy from the matches, only the results and the bragging rights here in the UK. The quality has obviously gone down. Matic isn't playing anywhere near as well and we aren't moving the ball well.

We're on an incredible run now but i'm starting to get concerned about some of our recent performances. I don't think it's sustainable. The quality of our play has gone down considerably since the international break. I'll like to see Conte give Fabregas a chance, even after the Bournemouth game. Alonso, Matic, Kante, Costa. We seriously lack some technical quality in this side (in comparison to many other top European sides) and our wins are becoming more of a war of attrition than us actually playing well. Maybe the run is playing on the players' minds and they're just doing whatever it takes to get a result. Maybe some dropped points somewhere will wake us up. Not that I wish for that but we aren't playing well in my opinion.

The Matic / Kante midfield tandem is looking less impressive by the day. The technique of some of our players and our inability to dictate the tempo of games is shocking in comparison to other European sides. I watched the Dortmund vs Hoffenheim game the other day and both teams were miles ahead of us in possession. No reason why trash like Palace should be dominating us. I admit I severly overestimated the ability of Matic. If you only have a dozen good games in you a season, you're not a very good player.

We're on an incredible run now but i'm starting to get concerned about some of our recent performances. I don't think it's sustainable. The quality of our play has gone down considerably since the international break. I'll like to see Conte give Fabregas a chance, even after the Bournemouth game. Alonso, Matic, Kante, Costa. We seriously lack some technical quality in this side (in comparison to many other top European sides) and our wins are becoming more of a war of attrition than us actually playing well. Maybe the run is playing on the players' minds and they're just doing whatever it takes to get a result. Maybe some dropped points somewhere will wake us up. Not that I wish for that but we aren't playing well in my opinion.

We've been struggling to control games in midfield and he's a big part of the problem. Maybe it's time he drops to the bench and Fabregas gets a run in the side. His touch, passing an inability to deal with any sort of pressing or pressure have all gone to shit again. He's just not a player you can depend on in the long run it seems.

At least with Fabregas playing, we can hope for an entertaining game were we actually have players that can dictate the tempo. Our last few wins have been a struggle to watch.

I dunno about that. Matic has been an abomination in this game. Can't make simple passes. Hopeless under any sort of pressure. Fabregas should be starting against teams like Palace. And in the summer we need to get rid of Matic.

3-5-2 yeah maybe. Willian is a completely redundant player at this point.

We can't control the game in midfield. We're relying on Alonso to generate our attacks. That's the main problem I've seen in this game. Their keeper hasn't even made a save yet. Worrying.

Matic out Fabregas in please. Even Man United did a better job against Palace of controlling the game. We've had serious problems controlling games after the international break. Get Fabregas in.

Matic has resorted back to 2015/16 mediocrity. He's been appalling in this game.

Hazard the only one doing anything. Please feed him the ball

Fabregas deserves a run of games right now.

I can't believe quite a solid amount of posters here were questioning Thibaut's quality after last season. He's in my eyes the best keeper in the world these days. I just don't say that as a CFC fan. De Gea has declined considerably this season and is sort of living off of reputation. I think it's between Oblak and Courtois right now.