Henrique

Good article: http://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/thematch/id/678?cc=3888 "I made 11 mistakes is my feeling when my team play so bad," Mourinho stated afterward, tongue embedded against his cheek. His suggestion that he should have picked his other 11 gave a nod to the strength in depth at Stamford Bridge. Beginning with Oscar, Mata and Eden Hazard, it was that last one who proved the most dangerous of the trio as he constantly tried to go past his former Lille teammate Mathieu Debuchy. When he succeeded, the inclination was to bring him down, placing the ball in dangerous positions for Chelsea. With Pardew choosing to remain deep and compact, the gap between Chelsea's back four and their midfield magicians only grew -- with David Luiz chosen as conductor of the Blues orchestra from defence. Seeking to bypass Newcastle's midfield with fast, precise balls into feet, at times his efforts skirted the border of success, but overall it proved a wasteful avenue for the Blues. PA PhotosJose Mourinho vents his frustration on the touchline at Newcastle.With John Terry unwilling to attempt the same approach, hitting it into the final third just twice, the pair would end the day top of the pass combinations list with 47 exchanges. It also meant the burden fell to Luiz to lead, with just four of his 14 attempted passes into the same area connecting to their target -- creating one chance. ----------------------------- I think this is really a huge problem. In a squad with such talent its really worrying that a CB is the one responsible to make the connection between defense and attack. More worrying is that Luiz and Terry end up the day top of the pass combination (47 !!!), when you should expect that from Mata+Oscar, Mata+Hazard, Oscar+Hazard. Perhaps Mourinhos was trying something new and really intriguing: choosing a CB as his n.10 player...in fact the problem is another one: our double pivot is not as good as it should be, and we always have the same problem playing Mata, Hazard and Oscar together: we have a big gap between defense and attack. It makes the creation more difficult and the team rely on long balls, but with a mid full of flair players, long balls are really a waste. Mourinho must find a solution.

There is a good striker called Lukaku around. We should try him.

I have to admit I admire your kind of nationalism. The way you worship the english players are really poignant. Nowadays, when its getting harder and harder to find a english player good enough to play in a top PL team, it seems this is the thing to do. You spend your time trying to convince everyone (or at least yourself) that Cahill is one of the best CB in the world, even tough despite all his horrendous mistakes, Luiz is the 1st choice over Cahill, no matter if the manager is AVB, RDM, Benitez or Mourinho, and believe me, if Mourinho come to conclusion that Luiz is hopeless, he will buy another CB to replace, because he knows Cahill is not enough for top football (perhaps he is good enough for english football). Other day you said Lampard should be playing in a more attacking role, even tough the team have Mata, Oscar, Willian, Hazard and Schurlle, but unfortunately all of them are outsiders. I can't criticize you at all, it seems you are a fan since 1968, you are from England and all that kind of stuff. With the football globalization, and teams like Arsenal that have a french manager and sometimes no english players at all, I really appreciate your efforts. Most of english forum members are really negative towards their countrymen players. You give the forum a good balance, and you are such a character. Easily one of my favorite forum members.

In games like this one against Newcastle we do miss a full back that really can attack or even cross. Time for him to play as a CB again and give Azi a chance.

Mourinho should try something different. The team is not playing well but he just does not change the structure of the team. I would try something like this: Cech; Azi, Ivanovic, Terry, Cole; Ramires, Luiz; Hazard, Oscar, Willian (Schurle); Torres.

I beat you for 1 minute. I'm amazing.

We have so many players that are proven "at the likes of Werder Bremen" but are not good enough for PL to clubs.

When the team is not winning everyone should be dropped right? Every time the team concede points someone in this topic will say KDB is the answer.

There is a guy that I really respect that usually say: "a bad team can destroy a CB career, while a good team can make a poor defender look good". One of the biggest myths if that David Luiz playing for Brazil NT is another player. Thats not true at all, he is the same one, he do the same mistakes he do at Chelsea (every player does). The difference is: Brazil is having better results than Chelsea. When Luiz started playing for Brazil, and the results were far from good, there were a lot of people here saying: "This David Luiz is not a NT material. Dedé should be playing." After Confederations Cup, when Brazil did really well, everything changed. The same thing happens in Chelsea. People are just saying: "last season he was really good". Thats 100% lie. Luiz played against Newcastle in the same level he did most part of the last season, as a CB. Was an overall decent performance for a CB in a team that played like shit. The difference is very simple: Chelsea ended the season playing really well and getting really good results: just won Europa League. We also can't forget that he played most part of the 2nd leg of the season as a DM. I always said that Luiz is more a DM than a CB. Only Lampard die hard fans would say that Luiz won't do any better than the living legend (no sarcasm here) playing alongside Ramires in the mid at this moment. Football is a game of results, and right now who should be playing (Luiz or Cahill) is the last of our concerns. With the kind of players we have, we are not a ultra defensive team, those teams that just can't win a match if they do concede a goal. We should more concerned with Hazard, Oscar, Lampard, Mata... If you want a solid CB combo it should be Ivanovic and Terry. Luiz should be playing in the mid instead of Lampard, but I unfortunately I don't see that happening, so b between Luiz and Cahill, the #4 is a better option in my opinion and will always be. Every time Cahill play instead of Luiz, he shows that he is far from this "solid defender" that some of you think he is, just like in the game against City when their players were passing through Cahill just like knife through hot butter.

"Of course, of course I am worried, and I read in previous years, it happened the same. "They (Chelsea) were successful in cup competitions, they were not successful in the Premier League. They finished 20 points behind, they finished 15 points behind. "They qualified for the Champions League because they won the Champions League, but they finished fifth or sixth in the league. "Last year in December, they were not in the race for the title because they were already 20 points behind. This season, we have played five matches away in the Premier League - I know at difficult places to play difficult matches - but we have one victory and we have two defeats. "Of course it concerns me." Really interesting how he uses 'They" instead of "We" to describe the poor performances of past 2 seasons. In his first interview he said " When WE won the UCL...". Well...

Mourinho: 'We gave them 45 minutes of a friendly in the first half and we only had a reaction after they scored the first goal To be fair it seems he realizes the problem. I hope he will fix this. I can see Mata playing less and less from now...

Don't you think he should be blamed for that? Lack of urgency has been really common under Mourinho this season (until the team concede a goal in 2nd half).

Mourinho has been poor this season (by his standards). Not the first time this season that the team have a slow start, and after conceding a goal the team try like crazy to score the winner or the equalizer. The performance was far from good in the game against City, and the team were lucky to get that result. This was not a game for Juan Mata, at least not a game for Hazard-Mata-Oscar. He is also doing a mistake playing Lampard game after game, he has been no more than ineffective in that position. I must admit that letting Lukaku leave in favor of Eto'o was a HUGE mistake, mas he just can't fix that right now. Right now I'm pretty sure that Benitez would be doing a (way) better job.

He was playing in his natural position today, while Oscar was playing in the right.

A good performance today, but definitely should have scored that one in the 2nd half, in a game like that you just can't miss that kind of chance. Hope he will create a killer instinct that work 100% of the time.

People claiming Lampard is doing a great job playing as a DM this season don't have a clue about football, love Lampard too much or are concerned about the lack of english players in the squad. Perhaps all 3 together.

The topic has become embarrassing. David Luiz has nothing to do with the result today. People just need to find a scapegoat for their frustration...actually Luiz was the one making the link between defense and attack. In a boring game, where the team created few chances and when he did missed incredible chances (Willian and specially Hazard) the CB end up as the scapegoat. Laughable. It has been like that since he joined. As soon as the results are bad the idiots appear in this this topic.

The problem is not the month. What happen is in general is this part of the season that the teams reveal their weaknesses. After november-january period is easy to say who is really fighting for the title, who's is only trying for the top 4 or Europa League. I really thought we would not lose any points until Arsenals game in december, but it seems we are not that good yet.

Pass completion: poor. Defensive workrate: poor. Acurate long balls: he is trying only a few this season. You must be watching a different league, or your football is way different from mine.

We had this kind of performance before. This was not a game for Juan Mata, definitely our worst player today. I find it worrying that game after game, David is one making the link between defense and attack. Where is our pivot? Game after game Mourinho insists with Lampard. For anyone who have a clue about football, Lampard just can't do that role. The best thing is that Arsenal is facing Liverpool tomorrow, so one of them will drop points: I waiting for a draw or for a Liverpool win. In worst scenario we will be only 5 points behind Arsenal.

Mata was way worse.

Im losing my patience with Mata, always trying a Barcelona like pass with no success.

One of the biggest surprises has been Lukaku record. In his first season at Chelsea he was a pain to watch, back in 11/12 season. Yeah, he only played few minutes, but when he did he made me wonder "This kid is really bad". In Brazil we call this kind of player "grosso": a guy that does not have a lot of skills but can't stop scoring. Must part of his PL goals are ugly ones but his record is there and it speaks for itself. He scored for WB and is scoring for Everton, so scoring for Chelsea is just a natural thing to happen.

???

Dude, one of the biggest myths in this forum is that Mata carried the team for 2 years. In his first season Mata was good, but he did not deserve the 'Player of The Season Award". Ramires was so more consistent in 11/12 season, playing superb game after game. Even during AVB dark days, Ramires was the only player who kept playing really well. Mata received the Award because he was the new face in town, and at that moment he was the only flair player in a squad full of old guys. The fans love new players, specially if they are attacking ones. I remember the FA Cup Final against Liverpool, when Mata barely touched the ball (he had the same performance in UCL final) and people in this forum voted him as MOTM. The two big names of that season were Ramires + Drogba. I never remember of that season as the one that Mata carried the team. Last season the was the man. Easily our best player, but thats not fair to say he carried the team. Actually he was really good last season because of Hazard and Oscar influence. Juan Mata contribution in past two season sometimes is VASTLY overrated in this forum.