Styles

Point is the manager at the time knew he was a busted flush and wanted somebody else but 'the board' in their infinite wisdom overruled his judgement. What supporters thought is irrelevant (and trust me there was plenty of supporters who wanted him gone in the summer let alone being our leading striker for the upcoming season). There are people who are making football decisions when they have no right to be doing so. AVB showed no willingness to integrate youth players. I remember how he treated Bertrand. We are investing a lot on youth but that's it. We just have more talented young players than we did a few years ago. Only when they are providing options for the senior squad will they be worth talking about, until then it's just a pipe dream.

It's unbelievable how such an 'experienced' player can show little understanding of what's needed. He just wants to score goals that's it. His goal record has come and well truly before the needs of his own team. Definition of selfish.

Agreed. The issue is the players that should be bridging the gap in the meantime aren't performing for a number of reasons and they have been short on numbers all year. To be fair that's good enough reason alone as to why the board should be sacked (failing to provide numerous managers with enough players to compete properly in a season). This is Ron Gourlay speaking after Munich: There were stories of Di Matteo wanting another striker in the summer and being rebuffed. The decision was clearly made that Torres would be given every chance to succeed fail. Five months later we're out the Champions League, no hope of the title and end up buying a striker in the January transfer window. Who is making these decisions if it isn't the manager? Quite clearly 'the board'. We have hoovered up a lot of young talent and it's promising but for a club that has for years failed to develop and integrate young players we have to see real progress before we go putting all our eggs into that basket.

I don't doubt Roman's passion for the game or the club. I saw his reaction when we lost in Moscow and again when we won in Munich. Whilst the article is too emotional there is a semblance of truth there. For every step we take forward we take three or four steps back. Fingers crossed the next ten years is better than the first.

Some people are so scared of Roman walking away they're afraid to criticise him when he fucks up.

Still can't believe people want to spend 50m on Falcao. We could buy 3 good central midfielders for that amount.

Yup, some more moronic than others. Mikel is a decent player and is unfairly criticised because a) he's an easier target than guys like Lampard and b ) people want him to be something he isn't. If I was a billionaire owner of a club then chances are Mikel wouldn't be in my team if I'm being honest.

They think we were bottom of the league and should be grateful that we aren't playing in the Ryman League right now.

Guess Mourinho isn't the man to nurture the young players we have then?

Just imagine there's no Champions League football and then next season descends into a farce just like this one. It won't be long before the better players in the squad start thinking about moving on to other clubs (if they aren't already).

If we don't pick up 12 points from the next four games then top 4 is definitely over. West Brom (home), Fulha (away), West Ham (home) and Sunderland (home). After that the run the tough fixtures start and as we all know we have little hope of winning many of those games.

Nobody demanding a new contract for Lampard today then?

Yep. We need much better ball-playing midfielders who control play, everybody knows that. But we're not going to get them now so until then Ramires' legs and energy in midfield is much needed.

Ramire is much better when he's facing up the play in the middle. When he plays wide he has to play on the half turn and is touch turns to shit. At the start of the season he was impressive playing next to Mikel in the box to box. I think Oscar playing ahead of them and linking up with them contributed well to that partnership.

And we're chasing the ball an awful lot because this team carries an awful lot of passengers. Of course our midfield play is terrible but for the rest of this season Ramires is one of the first names on teamsheet because he offers the athleticism that so many others in this team lack. We definitely need to address the midfield in the summer but for the rest of this Ramires is first 11 easily.

Point taken but that doesn't change how teams set up against us. They will deny him the space he thrives on whether or not Lampard holds his position or Ramires has a decent first touch. He is very easy to negate. Hazard plays better with his back to goal, is quicker and a much better dribbler. It's time he was given a proper chance in that position behind the forward. You don't have to defend Mata like I'm on a wind-up. Were just having a civilised debate fella, no need to get heated.

Ramires is who he is. He's a great athlete but technically he is more miss than hit. His first touch is not consistent enough but we have to accept that because he offers speed and energy in a midfield that lacks it.

He didn't. But if you think simply scoring a goal = playing well then I'm not going to argue with you. But I also remember you saying Lampard was poor against Everton this season despite scoring two goals. I'm not saying anything different to what you were saying then. Mata is a luxury player and when we're on top of games and have 60% possesion then he's a great player to have. But when we're playing good teams who compete well physically he disappears. When Hazard and Mata switched positions today Hazard was able to affect the game from central areas by going past people and carrying the ball. Mata cannot do that because he doesn't have the legs. He is also extremely weak and small. He offers nothing defensively and did practically nothing going forward, talented but in games like this he's a luxury we can't afford. He would have been good option to come off the bench today when the game opened up in the second half. Oscar and Moses would have competed better from the start.

Arsenal are awful and Spurs aren't much better. There are two very good teams in this league and then 18 others.

Don't worry mate you're going to come to the same realisation soon enough in that Mata is too small, too weak and too slow against the better teams. Lovely little player no doubt but far away from being the super duper world class player people think he is.

As suspected he went missing against a good team away from home.

Here's hoping he doesn't go missing today. These are the kind of games he needs to perform well in to justify all the praise he gets. It's great scoring against Brentford at home and looking great but City away from home is a different test.

To be fair we have relied on him to perform terribly and he hasn't let us down. Such a consistent player.

Yep. Time to stop masquerading as a midfielder and just play as a striker.

Chelsea's Oscar nominations - http://www.weaintgotnohistory.com/2013/2/23/4022272/oscar-nominations-chelsea-fc