Styles

Well, he was carrying an injury and their game-plan was to man-mark him. Hard to blame him really. If that's going to be a tactic that opposition teams are going to use this season then it's up to Mourinho to come up with something.

Neither am I but to be fair to Fabregas he is being man-marked: It's up to both Mourinho and Fabregas to come up with something to combat that.

What a liar. I'd never believe that and certainly not from an absolute clown like Suarez.

We can and will win whether or not Hazard ever explodes into a great goalscorer.

No injuries but I think the players will be pretty tired unfortunately. Still think we'll beat them.

I'd rather have Hazard and I mean that. Ronaldo also didn't score last night and he didn't play even remotely as well as Hazard did tonight.

His performance deserved 5 goals let alone just one. Thankfully Sporting won so we're still relatively comfortable in the group.

Also interesting to note that Liverpool supporters are planning a Rodgers Out plane banner for Saturday. Best supporters in England apparently.

That he said Chelsea get the least support of all the teams is just unforgivable really. I doubt he wanted an actual discussion, it really was nothing more than a hissy fit.

Hopefully there'll be enough rotation to give the players the best chance for Saturday.

No offence, but you're not making any sense. The away supporters are concentrated together and therefore able to generate a brilliant atmosphere. Unless there is a specific stand dedicated to the most vocal supporters at the Bridge it's not going to be the same. We have 41,000 supporters at home - most of who are not going to sing for the majority of the game for a number of reasons - and the vocal supporters are spread out amongst them so their presence is diluted. There are a lot of things the club can do to help improve the atmosphere but they don't; in fact they actively take steps that make the problem worse e.g. banning people for persistent standing. And ticket prices are absolutely a contributing factor.

More comments: So at best he's unwilling to discuss the factors involved and at worst he's just downright ignorant and criticising the supporters for the sake of it. Well done, Jose. The way he was scowling after the first goal was pretty fucking pathetic. I was wondering at the time what his problem was. Just embarrassing really.

No, the away support is much better because those who are willing to travel up and down the country/all over Europe are naturally the more hardcore supporters.

Tim Rolls also did a big piece about ticket prices a while ago if anybody is interested in reading it - http://weaintgotnohistory.sbnation.com/2014/9/19/6412279/chelsea-fc-the-changing-cost-of-football-at

Even U12 games have better atmospheres than we do!!!

Lewis Baker is pretty special...

I hate that, man. They're like damn robots no disrespect to our German posters of course

Those are Hilal fans literally climbing up the side of the stadium to watch a sold-out match today in KSA. And let's not even mention Turkey, Germany, South America...etc. By world I only really meant Europe, you know, being a Euro-centric football supporter and all and we all know Turkey is in Asia But seriously speaking, obviously that was an exageration on my part but it isn't far from the truth. The big game atmosphere at the Bridge is very good. Oh, and I think the Germans fans are mechanical and there is very little spontaneity with them. Their atmospheres are too manufactured and I'd hate for Stamford Bridge to be like that.

Honestly, I don't remember it being bad at all in that game. I watch quite a few Liverpool games as they're always on TV for some reason and the vast majority of their games are just as bad if not worse than ours. And this is the club that supposedly has the best fans/atmosphere in the country. This is a football issue and not specific to just Chelsea but we will be hammered for the next few days in the press for it. Football has changed a lot, you're not going to get people singing for entire games. Our home fans almost always do well in the big games and the away fans are simply brilliant.

I said big games, not routine wins.

Our best player making things happen when we need him to.

I have no problem admitting that it was a stunning goal from Dirkinho Oscar today

The atmosphere for the big games is excellent, it's one of the best in the world imo. It may sound silly but QPR at home doesn't exactly get the juices flowing, local derby or not. And in any case, I didn't think it was particularly bad; there have been far worse atmospheres than there was today. I honestly think it's a case of Mourinho just deflecting/saying things out of frustration after what was a relatively poor performance against a side we really should be smashing at home. There was no need for the comment as all it does is give the press/opposition fans ammunition against us - was there really no better way to make that point? - but then I've come to expect Mourinho to say/do something silly every now and again so meh.

Tonight's game did have some significance though, there were no top-class players blocking Baker, and certainly not to the extent he couldn't feature at all. There was no Fabregas, Hazard or Matic. Salah, Schurrle and Oscar aren't top-class by any stretch.