Styles

Didn't tempt Guardiola. Now it's seemingly back to Mourinho who doesn't quite fit the criteria for what has been assembled. The board are just making it up as they go along. We're a very different club to the one Mourinho took over in 2004. Football has changed a great deal.

Because we have sacked so many we now find ourselves in a position where we can no longer attract the top names. Guardiola was by far the number one choice, the club would have moved heaven and earth to sign him and he turned us down. We now have to pick managers who want to make that next step up like AVB in Martinez, perhaps Moyes or the unemployed like Benitez. Mourinho is rare in that he will only manage a select few clubs. He has said he wants to return to England. Man Utd have Ferguson so that isn't available, City have Mancini sitting on a five-year contract so that only leaves us. This deal only makes sense because he's desperate to leave Madrid and we're out of options. It would be a marriage of convenience more than anything else and that can only last so long.

AVB was all talk. The man was a complete charlatan. His Porto team still won when he left and this Tottenham team are no better than they were under Harry. You can argue the only thing he was good at was his use of technical jargon and that is probably what did it for the club when they hired him. I too was intrigued by his technical talk at first but you saw very little of it put into practise. I'm going to say David Moyes or Roberto Martinez. Those two are my ideal candidates.

That's the thing...I don't know! But maybe if we had enough football people who can do a satisfactory amount of keepy-uppies at board level we could go about identifying a manager that is competent with developing and integrating young players and is able to produce an organised and skilful football team. We're just going for the easy option here when there are numerous factors that indicate it's not a good move. This might sound drastic but this is equivalent to 50m on Torres. Sounds great in theory but look a little deeper and it's not that good at all. I'm almost certain that Mourinho isn't interested in guys like De Bruyne when these are the guys we are supposedly building our future around.

But can you imagine Mourinho coming back and trying to integrate even 2 or 3 of them next season? I can't. Kalas? Chalobah? McEachran? Piazon? Lukaku? Maybe even Feruz? You can forget all about them while Mourinho is in charge. This is a manager who has proven he has no desire or eye for academy players. You are placing a lot of stock in something that Mourinho has proven throughout his career that he has very little time for.

The league is the true test of you good you are and how well managed the club is. We have effectively conceded the last two league titles by early winter. We are so off the pace it's shocking. The Champions League is a cup competition and not a barometer of how good you are. Anything can happen as was proven last year when we are arguably one of the worst luckiest teams to ever win the competition. We finished nearly 30 points behind the two Manchester clubs. How many young players have we had out on loan before only for them to never get a look-in? It's just we now have more of them out on loan. That doesn't indicate any sort of plan but points towards more waste of resources. I'm not sure who is out there but I'm just saying Mourinho is a gamble and his history shows it will end in tears sooner rather than later. To expect him and Roman + his yes man to magically work well together all of a sudden doesn't take into account the trends of both. Nothing has changed both personally and professionally. Mourinho still has a massive ego and personality issues as proven by his Madrid stint and Roman is still a rash owner as proven by his last 2-3 years.

Haha good one. I'm surprised you can be unsure about whether we have underachieved or not. I'm almost inclined to say you of all posters here should know better. One league title in the last 7 seasons, when you take into account the money we spend on transfers and wages, is nothing short of a disaster. Look at the state of the squad and the numbers out on loan. That is the very definition of mismanagement and you can only point the finger in Roman's direction. He is after all allowing this to happen by keeping the people who create this mess and keep it going every year and instead firing managers for not being miracle workers. Do you think if we had some football people on the board who understand the game and are knowledgeable of current events that the 50m for Torres would have been sanctioned? Ancelotti would have been reprimanded for being an idiot and warned of his future conduct. As for Jose what you're essentially saying is that he is the best out of a bad bunch. This is our chance for things to seriously change. If Jose comes back it'll be one or two years before we find ourselves in this mess again and I'm certain of that.

Not so sure about that. Look at the way Roman has run Chelsea for the last 10 years. We have underachieved immensely when you take into account the players we've had, the big coaches and money that has been spent. Look at the people he surrounds himself with on the football side. The 'football board' is an absolute joke and consists of lawyers, business men and his friends. He might not be stupid in his own private life and businesses but on the football side he has been an extremely stupid owner. Things are going from bad to worse year in year out. Mourinho keeps getting into silly battles with his own clubs and now it seems his own players. At Chelsea the club had enough of him and what's happening at Madrid right now is alarming. Isn't that a warning sign? What I find most depressing is that the club were gearing up for Guardiola to take charge. They wanted the club to move towards his style of play and the acquisition of new players has been in-line with that philosophy. Why not try to stick with your own plans? Guardiola isn't the only manager capable of producing high-intensity technical football. Why blow it up and go back to square one in Mourinho which is exactly what that would represent.

Wouldn't agree entirely with your assessment of the two squads. Ronaldo for instance scores 50 a season. Hazard has about 8 for the year. You're right in that we're missing the technical ball-playing midfielders. As for Varane he isn't Chalobah from the youth team. He cost 10m. He's like Mikel or Robben when they came to Chelsea; gifted teenagers who cost relatively big money. Mourinho should use him, if he didn't he would be worthy of criticism. I doubt Mourinho would feel that level of pressure to use Chalobah if he wasn't interested. We need somebody with different ideas and principles.

I found it extremely hard to let go of Drogba. I would have kept him on again for another year. When we move on Cech prematurely to keep Courtois I will be heartbroken. I have my favourites just as a lot of people have Terry and Lampard as favourites. I don't think beyond this season that there is a role for Frank Lampard. Our central midfield is a disaster and needs to be compeltely revamped. Behind the striker we have Mata, Oscar and Hazard who are all more than capable of playing that role. Is Lampard really worth another 8m a year in wages for not being guaranteed football? I don't see how we can keep him if we are serious about improving the squad.

Fair enough. How do you think Jose would work with the current squad that we have? I don't see too many Mourinho type players in it. It's as if we've been building the antithesis of a Mourinho team in the last few years.

I don't see how you can edge out slowly somebody who earns that much and has a big reputation. The club has tried to edge Lampard out slowly and look at the circus that has ensued. If you move on players like that then it has to be a quick divorce. I can't imagine going through another year of this Lampard rubbish with Terry. "Sign him up Roman, he's not asking for much. Just another 3 years on 150k a week! That too much to ask is it??!?!?! YOURE KILLING THE CLUB ROMAN, GET OUT!!!"

I was all for Mourinho coming back but seeing Madrid this year, the trouble that always seems to surround him and his relationship with Jorge Mendes then I have my doubts. It will only end in tears. For Real Madrid to be third and that far behind Barcelona is an absolute joke. It's practically a two team league. There's no way Mourinho can justify being that far behind. Besides they say you should never go back. I tried to get back together once with an ex-girlfriend and it was a total disaster. So I'm in the no camp when it comes to Jose.

I have nothing personal agaisnt JT. I just think he's a liability and adds very little to the team at present. And I'm not saying this because of his injury, he was making mistakes long before that. Remember Juventus at home? His error cost us then too and he was supposedly 100% fit then. His lack of speed and agility is a detriment to how we play and set-up. We can't push up against teams because if we do he will get exposed, so we're already on the back foot before the game has even begun. I have seen him drop back when he is favourite to win balls because he doesn't trust his legs. That happens about 5-6 times a game. He regularly gives up 5 yard head-starts and still comes off second best in a chase for the ball. Look at the penalty he gave away against Stoke. He was so stiff and unable to turn he just stuck a leg out and gave away a pen. His lateral movement is non-existent, he can only run in straight lines and very slowly at that. The only time he looks comfortable is when we're defending with 10 players and our defenders are within arms-reach of each other. What's worse is that we're supposed to overlook all of this because of his 'leadership'. Is it really worth carrying somebody who literally cannot move for a bit of yelling and screaming that doesn't seem to actually be having any impact? Look at this video from 5 years ago. Look at how he gets caught for speed here and look at his recovery pace That is FIVE years ago and it looks terrible. But guess what? He has got even worse. And we don't have Carvalho in his prime covering for him now either. We have lesser players in Ivanovic, Luiz and Cahill.

It wasn't a mistake buying Oscar. Players that young and talented don't pop up every year. It isn't as if we've spent 50m on a rubbish out form player that we didn't need like Torres. We signed a 21 year old Brazilian international footballer with massive potential. To say we didn't need him is also rubbish. We don't have that many midfielders/attacking midfielders. The squad is thin and lacks numbers everywhere.

I have long thought this but consider this. Last year we finished 6th and were way off the pace yet we fluked the Champions League and found ourselves in Europe once again. We were very close to having potentially lost millions and no longer having top players wanting to come to the club. Wouldn't that have forced the club into realising they can't allow that to happen again? Wouldn't they have smartened up and ensured that we wouldn't find ourselves in that position again? You would have thought so but here we are yet again. I'm afraid to think what will happen if we do miss out now.

His lack of mobility and agility is becoming even more of an issue as he ages. We had better players in Carvalho, Makelele, younger Ashley Cole etc that would mask his problems. Is his 'leadership' really worth having somebody who literally cannot run any longer? I don't think it is. Luiz would have been absolutely slaughtered for flying in like that yesterday but for Terry it's chalked up as his 'only mistake of the game other than that he was fine' which makes no sense. He can't run any more and Benitez even alluded to that fact when he said he couldn't play Terry in another game because we wanted to play a high-line and squeeze up. How can you do that when you have a defender who simply can't move and looks as stiff as he does? He was a liability off the pitch and now he's one on it. Time to get rid.

Second game actually and he has played for the u21s too. People can argue he's still unfit but even when fit he is just as slow and immobile. He turns like an oil tanker.

After the weekend games we are 1 point ahead of Spurs, 4 ahead of Everton and 5 ahead of Arsenal. Had Liverpool held on today I would have put them back in the race for the top 4. Next round of fixtures: Chelsea vs Wigan Tottenham vs Newcastle Sunderland vs Arsenal Man Utd vs Everton

He just looked like a great athlete and nothing more. There's nothing impressive about outplaying our current midfield because it's rubbish. Maybe if he put in this kind of performance against top quality midfielders it would have been impressive but against Lampard and Ramires? Ehh, good game but nothing more. We'll see how he does for the next year or two.

It has very little to do with the manager although he clearly isn't helping. The squad is not good enough for top four. Just imagine where we'd be now if we didn't start the season on fire? We would be hovering about in mid-table. We at least have the platform for a top 7-8 position.

Knowing our luck Nigeria will beat Ivory Coast today.

No he wasn't. He was absolute rubbish yesterday. He is so slow and takes forever to turn. He literally cannot move any more. I can't wait until we get rid of this liability.

The only way we can get top 4 is if the others capitulate as well.

Anybody changing their minds just yet? Or are we still nailed on for third and even in with a shout for second as some are deluding themselves into believing? 4 points ahead of Spurs (who are still to play this weekend) and Everton and 5 points ahead of Arsenal. Let's hope City beat Liverpool tomorrow so we don't have to start worrying about finishing behind them.