DYC.

Why don't people ever learn? Don't listen to the promises. He should go out on loan. His game time at first team level is embarrassing. His peers are leaving him well behind.

I didn't say anything about execution but I'm sure that's the reasoning behind it.

For those wondering why he picks Zouma at fullback, the answer is aerial duels and defending and attacking set-pieces. Chelsea would've struggled to win two games this season if it wasn't for set-piece goals.

I don't care about the line-up but what defending does Zouma do on the right? Not good defending if you ask me.

Lampard is as much a midfielder as Totti is a striker, Cristiano Ronaldo is a winger and Dani Alves is a defender. They define in-between. Neuer is trying to hard to in-between GK and defender.

I respectfully disagree. Hazard would find a way into that team. Bayern never have a completely fit team for a more than one or two matchdays, even that's a stretch. Hazard's excellent fitness alone would make him play almost every week and I'm convinced he'd impress enough to claim a spot in the first XI. He hasn't even reached his ceiling yet. Gotze has never impressed consistently and Robben is ageing. Ribery is broken. Costa is playing brilliant football but it remains to be seen how long he'll keep this up. You think so? Hazard is always so busy with starting up attacks rather looking to finish them. He's nothing like a Neymar or Robben. Zidane was more of a playmaker for sure but I see Hazard heading into a similar direction when he reaches that age. Zidane more comfortable as a CM, I'd agree. But he was never a CM. And a midfielder - whether your name is Riquelme, Figo, Xavi or Makelele- is a midfielder regardless, wouldn't you agree?

What makes Hazard a forward? What's the difference between Hazard's role and Zidane's role at Real (4-4-2/4-2-2-2, whichever you prefer, on the left)?

My goodness, why so serious? It wasn't a team to play a full season with. Guardiola has played some completely crazy line-ups in his time at Bayern. I can't be arsed to actually look for the teams but this is a team he recently played. http://www.whoscored.com/Matches/969648/Live Switch Hazard with Coman and that team comes awfully close to the one I posted (again, it's not that serious). Hazard is perfect for Bayern. I watch that team almost every week, he'd fit them like a glove.

I don't want Hazard to ever leave. Gudjohnsen leaving hurt me pretty bad (blonde Icelandic god) but this would be so much worse. A team needs to be build a team where he fulfill could his full potential in Chelsea blue. But if he does leave, I hope it's Bayern and not Real.

That made me tingle. People always talk about Real but Bayern is the team for Hazard in terms of suitability. Neuer Lahm Boateng Alaba Vidal Thiago Robben Hazard Costa Muller Lewandowski Guardiola is actually crazy enough to play a team like that. I'd wish any team luck defending against that.

You're right. Different players. Willian is more Mr. Possession and he's been doing better than ever lately in that job, with the added bonus of his excellent work rate. Costa is a big attacking threat, very direct and always looking for a way to goal. The thing about Douglas is the fact that he is doing everything right now and it's quite scary. Taking on players with a huge variety in his dribbling (coming inside, going around, one-on-one in a tight space, bursting past his opponent and leaving them for dead), drawing a lot of fouls, quality crossing (either low or aerial crosses), creating chances and assisting with incive passes, finding space in central positions to take shots and score goals, linking up beautifully with the centre midfielders like he's been playing there for years. His work rate both offensively and defensively is good and dude is strong. You can't push him off the ball and he's quite tenacious. It's ridiculous. What more could you ask of a winger? Douglas is probably the most exciting new name in top football in quite a while. I've been extremely impressed by him. I don't think he can keep up this form for years to come because he's playing like Ballon d'Or contender. It's not impossible but improbable. But if he can keep up a level close to this, Bayern have hit the jackpot again, a worthy successor of Ribery.

Pressing was good, aerial duels were mostly won I think, high energy level all over the pitch. Everyone looked in control of the ball (even Ramires), passing was positive and good, the players were moving intelligently causing Stoke all kinds of problems. Costa was particularly good, he wasn't fighting with the ball. In fact, he looked as in control as he ever will. Mikel was surprisingly good as well. Hazard and Willian were leading the troops. The final pass was lacking though and you can't ignore that. But then again, creating clear-cut chances was always an issue. Ramires wasted a brilliant opportunity after a Baba through pass (Baba was offside when he received the ball but don't tell the conspiracy theorists). I have a hard time remembering another golden opportunity. The rest were more half chances. Stoke was poor but you could argue Chelsea made them look weak. They created a great chance after some beautiful play right before half-time but I think they only slightly threatened at times before that.

You're thinking a win? You don't think this is the perfect occasion for Klopp to get his (league) win. Nothing is working at the moment. Their large amount of absentees helps, that's a good thing.

That's not true. Two losses, which includes an away game against Real, and two draws in the league before the turn of the year, and just one loss against PSG away in the CL group stage. I'll even give you the loss vs Sociedad on Jan 4th and that still does not begin to compare to Chelsea's current predicament. Not close. That's 4 losses and two draws in 17 league games, 6 CL games and two cup matches. You can't even mention the two situations in the same sentence really. And Hazard is no Messi. Playing alongside Suarez and Neymar helps a lot btw.

I've been dreading this game and the Stoke game didn't change things. Tomo, what do you think?

People really need to stop with the Real Madrid paranoia. If this was all part of some diabolical plot to join Real, he would be a complete idiot. Real don't buy players on the back off poor/average/decent seasons. They buy you when the whole world is at your feet. If anything, he's trying his hardest to fend off any kind of Galactico interest.

He's right but it works both ways. When he wins, perfomances aren't important. That's football.

Chelsea can't win without Mourinho though.

What game did you watch?

Inter XI vs Bologna 1.93 m - GK Handanovic 1.87 m - DF Santon 1.96 m - DF Ranocchia 1.86 m - DF Miranda 1.85 m - DF Jesus 1.80 m - MF Brozovic 1.88 m - MF Kondogbia 1.83 m - MF Melo 1.87 m - MF Perisic 1.81 m - FW Icardi 1.82 m - FW Ljajic

Chelsea can't beat 10 men. Red cards freaks this lot out. But this was the best performance against 10 men.

Improvement but actually winning... Oi. Dreading the Liverpool game.

Oh dear. His status is crumbling. He'll bounce back. I still love you, Eddie.

That's my point though. This one good game doesn't mean much. He needs to do this more to prove he's good enough. He can't prove himself on the bench. And I don't know about you, but if my manager expressed doubts about me publicly before playing it would have an effect on my performances. Nervosity, worry more about not making a mistake than actually playing my game, trying too hard. Things like that.