Styles

Mangala didn't look that good yesterday...

Same, but that means he really needs to step it up several levels. As it stands he could be the next 'big' name to be sold to fund future buys.

Why are people complaining about Schurrle shooting too much against Bolton? I thought that was what we all wanted Hazard to start doing.

I think Zouma can get up just as high if not higher than Ronaldo.

Giles Smith: He's right.

I thought Schurrle, Oscar and Salah too to some extent were all selfish. Remy just seemed to follow suit since he wasn't going to get much service. Thought Oscar, Schurrle and Salah pretty much confirmed last night that if Hazard is injured for any length of time we will be in serious trouble.

Solid performance. It's no surprise Ake played well with a such an experienced senior player by his side.

His jumping ability is insane. Never seen anything like it in football.

Nice to see him get on the score-sheet. Thought he was solid without really having much to do.

Starting to look like our squad isn't as strong as we think it is.

That Hazard has had to come on just confirms it's been a bad night. And it started so well with that Zouma goal.

Apparently this is the team:

Even if you were right aren't you getting bored of posting the same damn comment over and over and over and over again? Get a grip, man. Honestly, I think you have to be naive to believe all the 'proper Chels' stuff in the first place. John Terry is from east London and grew up supporting Man United. If the club wasn't taken over by Abramovich he'd no doubt have moved on to a club that would have given him a better salary/career prospects (he was linked with both Arsenal and Man Utd if I recall correctly). Oh, and didn't he flirt with Man City when they came in for him a few years ago? Pwopa Chels tho init Just appreciate the players for their talent and what them while playing for the club. Don't project stuff on them or expect them to take the club as seriously as we do. It really is just a job for most of these guys.

We have too much young talent at the club to still be having HG issues in 2-4 years time. There'll be some short-term pain (small'ish squad mainly) but hopefully Baker, Loftus-Cheek, Boga, Musonda, Solanke etc solve the issue once and for all.

Agreed. The Tiago signing would have given us a complete midfield in terms of numbers and perhaps even the right mix of qualities. Schwarzer taking up a foreign spot is really bizarre to be honest, especially when he almost certainly won't play a single minute in the league. If being a midfielder short opens up the path for Baker I'm all for it though.

Let's hope this doesn't go to extra time. Do you think we may be a midfielder short? Ramires' injury has kind of made me think that could be an issue as the games pile up. Guess it depends on how Oscar is used and whether Baker is deemed able to play serious minutes in the League if necessary.

Lewis Baker just retweeted this: Looks promising. Baker really should start though. We don't have many midfielders and Matic and Fabregas must be tired by now so Jose needs to rotate a little.

In previous games we played a little higher and the team pressed together. Against Man City we we sat deeper and only pressed them once they reached a certain point in our half so there was no need for Costa to press alone up-front.

I hope Boga makes the bench. There's more chance of an upset in that game.

Oh sure, definitely not comparable right now but in the long run Zouma could/should develop into a similar kind of player.

Mangala has 4 years on Zouma to be fair, hopefully when he's that age Zouma's game will have matured and he'll be a key player for us. Mangala may not be a bad comparison for Zouma by the way. I thought Mangala looked really strong and athletic, his passing wasn't great but it was good enough. No reason Zouma can't reach that level in a couple years time. He may even get there sooner rather than later.

I really doubt that to be honest, Mourinho is very loyal to his main players/his own methods so Zouma will have to wait. Even Luis hasn't been able to force his way into the side and he has a much stronger case than Zouma.

They did a job on him because he was starved of both service and support and was isolated until the sending off. We saw his quality in the build-up to the goal and the chance that hit the post.

Kompany and Mnagala had it incredibly easy on Sunday though, our tactics meant they had very little to deal with and just the one striker to cover between them. And even then the referee let them get away with a lot of repeated fouls on Costa...and that's on the rare occasion Man City didn't stop any counter-attacks with a foul in midfield in the first place. Favourable circumstances and Kompany and Mangala took advantage, fair play to them. We'll see how they do against Roma/Bayern in their Champions League group and in the later rounds of the Champions League against teams that will go at them hard. Anyway, really looking forward to seeing Zoom on Wednesday night. Hopefully we see a clear development from pre-season after several weeks in training.

Fair enough and last season that was true, we just weren't good enough to be more open. But I believe we'd go and do the same again this year unfortunately.