LDN Blue

Aside from the Luiz decision I think City have nothing to complain about lol. Chalobah pushing Aguero is not violent conduct at all, Fernandinho actually grabbed Fabregas' neck multiple times and it was right in front of all the officials - he only has himself to blame. Fabregas' cheeky slap on the face might get him in a bit of trouble after but otherwise the City lads lost their heads.

Yeah but at the same time they only have 38 games to play lol. Whatever is also of the FA Cup games plus international break also but that's about it. Injuries would be a problem, yes, but I wouldn't expect fatigue to be an issue.

Lol I don't suggest that at all. He's more than a competent player and has allowed us to play this formation because he's a capable defender and I give him credit for that. However the two things he lacks is a) finishing (which is irrelevant because he's not really there to finish) and b] he's not very quick. I find that a problem because when he's a wingback it's expected he can get back as quick as he can go forward lol. Moses does it very well. But also Moses has Azpilicueta on his wing, they're both quick. It's not much of a problem because again, we're outscoring teams. But it's an area we're weak, on the right we're more than okay (it's quite refreshing to longer have to worry about Ivanovic)

But it wasn't anything to do with Matic's absence. My point was to highlight the lack of pace between both Cahill and Alonso will be an issue once more teams begin to figure out that we are more exposed than anywhere else. It's nothing to do with City's quality because even Tottenham did well to exploit that but they couldn't exploit it effectively. The point again being, they shouldn't have to. My suggestion is one of simply, if Zouma is blooded into this team in place of Cahill then he can get to those wide players quicker and further away from our own goal than Alonso/Cahill inviting pressure,

Yeah it was reported he and Cesc were both booked for the alteration, as well as the 2 sending off City recieved.

Glad for him, been with Chelsea as long as anyone. Has pushed Loftus-Cheek out the picture for that midfield role and he's showing his passion to play for Chelsea! Don't think he's going to face any further, ref saw the push and booked as such. Unless he's done anything further, which I haven't seen, to aggravate that he should be okay. Cesc however will because I doubt that the slap to Fernandinho was seen.

Not good is how I remeber lol. Often looked uncomfortable with ball at feet and under pressure too, so yes there's a need for him to now show maturity on the ball - Working with Luiz, Azpi and Conte would help. But yeah, he'll need a run of games for sure before he can be considered to be a starter.

Pep yet to beat a Chelsea team in 90minutes

Yeah of course, for the short term that will hold. But once teams start to focus on that weakness of our team, Conte's hand will be forced.

Yeah and Alonso isn't blessed with much either. This is an apt time to start blooding Zouma on that side, he's quick enough to be able to get out to those wide areas before the problem develops. Cahill and Alonso painfully exposed today.

He does need to address these wide areas, we seem to be exposed in. Alonso properly caught out today, teams are going to have watched this and Tottenham and seen we can be scored against. We're lucky because we have enough attacking power to outscore the likes of Spurs and Citeh, but areas need to be reinforced.

Have we? Sounds like a change in management at Betis has hampered him, that's beyond our control.

Yeah, Seen on twitter/reddit suspension would be 4 game minimum - remembering his previous ban.

From what I hear now from Newcastle, he's anything but that. Most prefer their backup keeper, Darlow.

Loves a good dig, Aguero.

Didier Drogba's charity cleared of fraud, but criticised for undermining public's trust Cleared of Daily Mail's accusations of fraud, but shows how much money the foundation has wasted of 'lavish parties' instead of doing the work they actually promised to do. Hopefully Drogba will sort this out, but goes to show how 'charity' really works lol..

Pep's tinkered with 3 at the back recently, so wouldn't be too surprised if he deploys the same tactics again. Aguero will test this back 3 and I wouldn't be surprised if Yaya would come in to keep Kante occupied. But this is a good match where you do want Matic, Kante, Luiz, Cahill. Strong players that will be able to out strength a few of these City players. Equally Costa-Hazard v Stones, Otamendi/Kolarov will be exciting. That defensive unit is exposed for City as well so if these 2 link up well we'll have some fun. Sterling v Alonso, Moses v left-wing CAREFREE.

He is quite outlandish but I think it's something we've just got to be like 'meh' with it. The club have shown their desire to keep him though so it kind of just feeds into his ego. It was a massive thing for them to let Cech go at all, let alone for Arsenal, and they're not going to be in any rush to sell the one guy they had a sure-fire replacement in. The power-shift at Chelsea has been an interesting observation, our key players have shown desires/hints all hasn't been well and they could have jumped ship but the club has refused to entertain those - Costa for example. But now our 'key players' category has somewhat changed. Now it's players like Moses, Pedro, Kante who are in this bracket and less so Terry, Fabregas, Ivanovic.

Perhaps Van Gaal is more appropriate of a comparison? The players who played under him at Barca and Bayern only have good things to say. In his era Van Gaal dominated because of the way football was played and it's the same with Mourinho, in his prime football wasn't as attacking like this and high pressing was rarely a thing. The evolution of coaching was spearheaded by Pep and then you have Klopp, Conte, Pochettino and numerous others adopting that too. Van Gaal and Mourinho (even Wenger to an extent) are of previous eras of football and no-one could outdo them at the time. You can see why, they feel if they stick with their natural style which was so successful it will be the same. To Mou's credit he's been able to carry that since his last trophy win was all but 2 years back. These managers are rigid, they were used to strikers being the only attacking outlets and the rest were a defensive unit. Modern world class players now; the Pogbas, Hazards, Coutinhos, Ronaldos are midfield-attacking players His emphasis to make players defend first then attack is what holds him back, I joked that he would make Pogba like Mikel when United first signed him and that's looking true . We saw what went wrong with Hazard and himself too, at the time several members did make the point it would hinder Hazard long term if he was always asked to track back & low and behold Conte takes the shackles off and he's stepped up a new level entirely!

Just trying to make headlines, Rio . Typical. Remember once Mou said when he retires he'll be a pundit for Chelsea because there's lack of any others (doubt that'll be true now, but still). He hasn't been the worst, granted. But he's definitely one that's in more immediate danger of losing their place going forward. Zouma's return will put pressure but not anytime soon, Conte won't break a working formula just because Zouma's fit again. It'll take an injury in the team, and no-one's hoping for that.

Lmao yeah man. I remember when he was dropped under Rafa, the problem was we were also conceding a shit amount of goals so it gave him vindication to act up. In this situation he can't make any sort of argument, he already said his role was discussed with Conte prior to his extension anyway.

Agree to disagree on the former because that's matter of opinion, not fact. But precisely the second, in a results industry its the only thing that should matter. Not how humble or how much humility that person shows.

But it should be respected lol. Mourinho's been slated, not just by Chelsea fans, for his last 2 years. Whether he's acted out or not, those are the facts (not to sound like Rafa here). I often compare Mou to Kanye West . Both outlandish as hell, but their results speak volumes and can be overlooked. (not accusing you of this btw)

#Justice4AVB

Well I mean he was facing a development side u23 , you'd bloody hope he'd do something there.