LDN Blue

Perhaps, but I don't think we're going to crumble at the Etihad. It'll be an ugly match because our tactics will be more defensive to compensate for lack of transfer activity, but this will be a 1-goal match.. Just depends who's luckier.

I mean I get that, I even think Mourinho shouldn't have been so public about that. Especially if it is meant to act as a deflective tactic to take the spotlight off a pretty dimwitted performance. But I do think to call him toxic is jumping the gun a little bit. While he does rub people the wrong way, often on points of his own merits that hardly makes him toxic. If we look back on his career, he fell out with Abramovich because (and we can only go by speculation here of course) he had signings forced upon him as opposed to making his own decisions. He left Inter by mutual consent once he'd done it all and wanted a new challenge, which really just leaves Real & his first spell at Chelsea where he'd burned bridges. But then how much do you want to put on him? I'm not going to blindly say Mourinho was right and Eva was wrong (lord know how that conclusion is being met by people), but he's not near as bad as is being made out by those who have criticised him.

Who.. What.... Who?

All for this. Ramires in his time here hasn't seemed to improved. His inability to find a clear pass is more of hindrance to us than anything. As far as football intelligence goes, he's lacking. Lord knows he knows how to score worldies but that's not really enough to justify his place now. We'll always remember these gems however,

Yea, but no-one's going to care because he's not English

we're not that bad mate! If you look at these two teams, City haven't done as much in this transfer window. They've got Sterling who could be a threat, but they've got the same establishment that we've got. It's not like Matic, Hazard, Fabregas & co have regressed as much as it appears. It'll be an ugly match because Chelsea will go there with the intention to keep the match subdued and slow as possible, but we're hardly going to get demolished. These are still world-class players.

Costa, Fabregas, Hazard, Stones, Courtois... Terry won't ever have to slip again

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.