CurlyHairLikeLuiz

I think he is; when JT does not play he plays LCB so that's where I'm basing it. I could be wrong.

How do you know RLC didn't get a training injury after his presser? And lol if Baba had played those we would still have conceded as many - he is just as bad a defender as Ivanovic. As for Cesc, I'd imagine he's been warned he needs to perform. If he is crap tonight I reckon he will be dropped.

He's left footed so I'd imagine he is at LB.

Happy with the starting lineup; RLC must be injured

Haha if you thought Ivanovic-Willian was bad then welcome to the seventh circle of Hell

I'd say that's a last warning from Jose to pull his finger out because we have been options than him out on loan at the moment.

If Mourinho starts with Baba and Hazard on the same wing I will eat my hat. I reckon RLC will play a key role tonight imo.

Cesc is the only survivor of last year's team to to be dropped at some point - I think you're being too hard on Jose, honestly. With the exception of Fabregas everything you have asked of him has happened - playing more kids, playing Ramires, giving RLC his chances, he's since revived JT, dropped Cahill again, and Baba is playing too. Tonight I don't expect Cesc to play, Oscar will replace him and Hazard will start on the right wing so that Dave is behind him instead of Baba.

Only if we brought in the right replacements. And that only stems from this season's defensive crisis, if we were to say that we had the same defensive record as last season (not needing Varane) then I'd say there was no merit in selling Hazard at all (Because there's not a chance in hell of Real selling us Varane unless they want Hazard). But if those two conditions are not satisfied then absolutely not. I have no doubt he will come back on form eventually,

Yes but that's surely the time for rotation! I get your point though, obviously.

Playing as a second striker is not leading the line... Diego would. And who's to say Mourinho would not play a 4-4-2? Just last season he said that he would certainly consider it. And @Simon that's not the case if we play 4-4-2. It's a different system with different requirements.

He's rotated out most of the stars after giving them a fair chance?

Which is why rotation exists. So out of form players rest and step up in training while another player plays in matches who is in form.

Kenedy has been very good this season when he's played, and Solanke at 17 years of age is taking Vitesse by storm. I have every reason to believe that in 2 years they will be Chelsea quality. If we get Varane out of the Hazard deal as well as Hazard that's a good deal. Reus has been terrible, sure, but then surely it makes no difference and getting the best defender in Europe is worth it.

But my point is that once Hazard stops attacking he is useless. He's been given more than enough chances to get back into form.

Well yeah haha If I were Jose I would ask Zola to come back and do attacking coaching - he could teach our whole front 5 many, many things.

Maybe. But when have we ever given a fuck about what the media say about us? The best situation would be Reus being in form for us while Hazard struggles at RM, the fans turn on him and then we buy him back a year later for £50m In all seriousness though, maybe we could use that to work in our favour. With Hazard out, maybe Reus would like the idea of being THE man at Chelsea, who makes it tick in midfield, etc etc But if our team in 16/17 is Courtois Azpi Varane Zouma Baba Kenedy Matic RLC Reus Solanke Costa (and all players like to their potential) with a bench including players like Oscar, Willian, Terry (player/coach) etc etc then we will win many, many things

I remember once that Robben got a hard tackle, broke his shoulder or something like that. He seemed to be afraid after that when he came back. Jumping out and stopping the attack instead of riding the challenge - I partly blame it for the reason he chose to leave the premier league for the less aggressive Spanish league.

Willian has been our best attacker this season. Hazard has been shit for 2 months and counting. Where do we draw the line and decide when it's no longer worth trying to play him into form? I'd rather Kenedy be afforded a chance now.

Well if we got Varane + £30m for Hazard (I make that circa £120m is overall) and then spend £50m and bag Reus I'd say overall it is a massive improvement to our total squad. If we then sold Fabregas and got, say, Gundogan or Isco or whoever, and replaced Ivanovic if Baba does not make the jump, I'd make us favourites for a treble season.

I'm not turning back on him - but Varane is what we need and Reus is nearly as good as Hazard. If he wants to leave all I'm saying is that it won't be the end of the world.

Could be a blessing in disguise. Do not back down unless they give us Varane. Splash out for Reus - Chelsea Champions League winners 16/17.

Yeah I was being too harsh on him - it's just frustrating that we have no real solution to our defensive crisis - and no, I don't blame Jose. No manager can predict that so many of his stars would lose form so much. The first thing he tried was trying to play his players into form. Obviously that has not worked. Then he's dropped most of his stars and some have bounced back (see Terry, to a certain extent Matic) and new players have emerged such as RLC and Kenedy (where's he gone btw? he is the best candidate atm for that right wing spot, our most direct winger - if only we knew before we brought Pedro). And now since Hazard has been so shit for so long he has decided to drop him as he might as well play his in form players who can do a job and eliminate that free role to reduce the defensive workload. I don't know whether that's the right plan but we'll see in time. Playing Azpi-Cahill-Terry-Zouma creates whole new problems and it will probably mean that we return to playing a deep block to allow Cahill and Terry to excel. Playing Azpi-Zouma-Terry-Baba is yet to be truly tested but it gives enough pace compensation (only one slow player) to allow us to continue to play high line. And JT covered Baba and marshalled his defence wonderfully - who knows, maybe it can work. Perhaps a formation change would benefit us better now that Hazard is out of the team. Traditional 4-4-2 is in vogue again and I think it could be the best thing to do. Begovic Azpi Zouma Terry Baba Kenedy RLC Rami* Willian *rotating with Matic Oscar Diego Allow me to explain starting from the back. On the right side Azpi can cross and provides the width to supplement the direct winger that Kenedy is. Baba-Willian on the left means that they can overlap, and no, that does not make Willian a Brana style RB again - Baba has pace and they can both use it and switch. Zouma-Terry allows JT to lead like he does and for Zouma to cover him with pace. RLC imo is a Mourinho style CM. Powerful and bursts of pace as opposed to stationary and vulnerable to pressure. Ramires is pacey and further supplements that high line with JT in it. Plus he seems to have found himself again. Diego is a magnificent striker but he is a one touch in the box finisher and he is not cut out to dribble etc so with Oscar next to him as a second striker I think it would alleviate that problem, and Oscar can shoot too so if Diego goes out the the wing to draw players out then we still have a finisher in the box. Willian has found his shooting boots, too, he could alternate with Oscar between LW and ST. Matic can obviously slot in there in bigger matches to shield the back line more. Come to think of it, there's a lot of parallels in there with Jose's 2004/5/6 team. Zouma-JT = Riccy-JT (obviously with a grain of salt), Kenedy = Robben, Diego = Drogs, RLC = a Frank (pun not intended) enstein between Essien and Lamps. Willian = J Cole, etc etc . Obviously it's a young team. So all those comparisons take a little imagination to realise Sorry about the random tactical ramble. Sorta got a brainwave after I started writing.

That's also true. If Baba bulks himself up a little I think that many of his troubles defending ie being muscled off the ball will disappear, obviously possible at his age. And he will improve match fitness. Sadly there's no quick fix so I have to accept that, if we played Cahill-Terry-Zouma we would have merely a different set of problems.However if Zouma's next to him without Terry telling him what to do then I do worry for him. It's why we simply can't get rid of him for probably 2 more seasons - so many young players rely on his leadership. Iva on the other hand has no such saving grace, it's a problem for us now Lamps, Cech, Drogs are gone - if it were last season he would have played Cech for sure to fill the hole when JT is awol. Also when Courtois comes back I reckon we will concede less - it's what seperates a world class keeper like him from and very good keeper like Begovic.

Hardly. People like you spend your time winding up people that don't hate Mourinho and then cry when those people bite back.