LDN Blue

Okay I know tensions are high at the moment, but lol what?! How can one of the most successful managers of this century be referred to as narcissistic and toxic? Sure, it remains to be seen how long he will stay with us [despite his claims he'll be here for a prolonged period of time], but that by in no means makes him a toxic. He's not like Fergie, for example, who leaves an aging bone-dry squad to the next coming manager. He lays down foundations for a manager to build upon if anything. Yea, his approach to the game is unorthodox at the best of times. But so was Clough.

True, I do get that. But I just think this has unnecessarily been blown up by everyone. I disagree with people who say Eva was at fault, she clearly wasn't, but I also disagree with the character assasination of both Eva and Jose. At the end of the day this shouldn't matter as much as it does, only Mourinho knows why he himself is unhappy at both Eva and the medical department in general. For all we know all will be forgotten if she's back on the bench after the City match.

'deserve' is a bit harsh. Ferguson used to have as many if not more public meltdowns with his own staff from what I remember and was barely reprimanded. http://www.theguardian.com/football/2006/may/24/newsstory.sport10 But no-one cared......

When did the Lollichon one happen?

Yeah for sure, I just wonder if Romeu knew that..

For the life of me, I'll never understand why we offered him a new contract anyway lmao! Guess it put up his sell-on price.

Oh man, can we reeopen the sabbatical thread? It was getting so damn funny, @We Hate Scouse you're a legend Well I'm sure no-one cared then, especially since Robben was made of fcking glass when he was with us

Meh, we had a similar thread a few years back. We're seen as the big bad wolf who came into football success with £billions. We got unprecedented hate because we weren't considered 'elite' despite being major players before Abramovich even knew the word Chelsea. The hypocrisy of United, Arsenal and Liverpool fans is amusing more than anything because they love to forget about their exploits in 90s and 80s which had them breaking transfer records annually. They hide behind the rhetoric of "we've got history" but often forget their "history" came about because they signed players like Cantona, Henry, Fowler, etc. To summarise, I'm glad they hate us. It means we're doing something right and being successful always breeds resentment and jealousy. It's okay for Louis Van Gaal, Brendan Rodgers and even Arsene Wenger to waste £100 million on deadweight talent in the name of progress. But when we do it and get unlucky with Torres for example, we're never to live it down.

Well I don't agree with that. Doctor's have an obligation to the well being of anyone who requires medical attention, they should have no regards to a tactical advantage or disadvantage of their actions. If the ref waves them on, they are to come on. That being said, I couldn't care less about the staff Mourinho chooses to have/not to have around, that's his call. But to say they did wrong by attempting to treat Hazard is a bit surprising to hear.

Yep. Even Bayern fans didn't make this much noise when Guardiola severed ties with their top medical staff and he'd been there for years.

Depends on the pace of the game. Though Mourinho will do his best to keep it slow, if City set a fast pace then the game is just going to fly past Fabregas' head. That's a lot of creativity we lose if Oscar comes out and Fabregas can't keep with the pace of the game.

True. I mean he'll probably be asked about the issue, but we know Mou is the type of guy to not really be concerned about perception on such matters. We'll wait and see, but this issue will be forgotten about sooner than later.

Tbh I don't think that makes a difference. Yeah he said he trusts Begovic, but if there's no harm in an appeal then even the Bosnian will realise Mou wants his best players available all the time - Hardly a discredit to Asmir.

Begovic Ivanovic - Cahill - Terry - Azpilicueta Matic - Zouma Oscar Willian - Costa - Hazard That would be my ideal lineup. Zouma and Matic in midfield like versus United, Zouma can be a bit asset with a City midfield comprising of Yaya, Fernando/dinho. Oscar needs to pick up where he left off against Swansea.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't the appeal committee have discretion to increase his ban should we fail the appeal?

What a tragedy if he's to come to play second fiddle for a prolonged period of time while Ivanovic continues to be exposed at right-back.

Meh, I'm sure they sorted it out behind closed doors anyway. Mourinho was definitely in the wrong, don't see how anyone can suggest otherwise, but I'd like to believe that once tension and emotion took a backseat, he was more than apologetic.

Yeah gotta agree with Weckerz. By coming out he challenges the striker to act quicker than he thought he would have had to, which put them under pressure. The play was good, but the execution wasn't. It's all part of the learning curve, he'll learn to time such actions better through this.

For £22m I can't use any other word than a 'steal'. It's an absolute steal to get Pedro for £22m in an age where wingers younger are going for £50m! Even if he's a squad player, what's £22m, when he's got enough experience to handle big game environments?! Baffling.

Yeah... I don't quite see that to be honest. -- He had no choice, both Willian and Ivanovic left him for dead. If he made contact he's a hero, but he was unfortunate with the timing. All part of the learning curve. Made enough efficient saves.

Really happy with Costa today. I was more worried than happy when I saw his name on the teamsheet, thought for sure within 20-30mins he'd pull up. But he looked fine and up for it, he's kept his anger in check but hasn't made him any less effective in getting into the opposition's head. Let's hope he can continue this run, because once he gets that opening goal, the floodgates can and will open!

You're right, if we're discussing Chelsea in Europe then it's something else. We've certainly been more of presence in European competitions as compared to our other national members. Only us and United (under Fergie) were consistent in progressing at least to the QF. Then we stood alone, Arsenal, Liverpool, Spurs & City have offered no significant threat ever. When teams come across Chelsea, they don't fear us, but they know they're in for a hard grind. We often have an Italian feel to our approach in Europe so teams know they have to work hard to breakthrough but don't fear we'll rout them.

Well I take the games on their merits in the league, from what I see we play our most dire football in terms of any attacking incentives but we also do well to shut down and not lose. That's why City don't worry me next week, not even that, even if we drop points its so early in the season that you'd really rather face them now than not. Do we play better? No we don't, not by any means. But we rarely lose.

sorry

If it was Falcao for Costa, I would've understood that. He wants to play a lone striker with more of a presence, fine. But he replaced him for Willian? Remy is the most ideal striker to replace a winger in terms of who's more adaptable. Remy is capable of playing in wide-ish role then coming into the box as a second striker with Falcao/Costa. I don't believe in this idea of Falcao AND Costa in the team. It should be Remy and then Falcao/Costa.