Tomo

Its nothing against you, i just see this notion every time we play a lesser side and youre post was the straw that broke the camels back.

When? Apart from Newcastle away what lesser fixture do we have a considerably worse record on compared to the other top 6? Everton and Saints got draws at The Ethiad and "rolled over" for us weeks later. When you are a midtable or relegation threatened team playing one of the big boys you have to be on you're game and tactically good to compete,sometimes that happens and they run the top side close or get a result, other times it doesn't and they get comfortably beaten by scorelines ranging from 2-0 to 6- 0. If Stoke run us close or even get a result after the Anfield game it won't be because theres some massive conspiracy against us, we have benefitted from that in reverse as many times as been the victims, including as recently as October/November with the above example i gave.

Im don't think Bertrand has enough in his locker attacking wise for wingback, LCB would have been his best bet in Contes system.

Newcastle, and thats only away, so in other words one team, one fixture. Since Stoke have been promoted we have won 8 drew 1 at home and up there we have won 4 drew 2 and lost 2, only United out of the big teams have a better record at Stoke's stadium in the same period and only Arsenal out of the teams have a better home record vs them. The notion that Stoke save there best game for us while rolling over for our rivals is laughable.

Re the defensive comments i think its a cry for help to the board more than a dig at us, something like "its working for them let me do similar" he knows LVG was sacked due to his style of play so is trying to adapt his methods to the 'United way ' problem is trying to make Jose play that way is akin to putting Terry and Ivanovic on the wing.

Chalobah is never going to be more than a O Shea style squad player, abandoning signing's because of Nate would be insane. We already have four players who are the best in the league in their position and another who's 2nd to an world class player, and another who you could argue is the best on current form. Unfortunately we can't have Hazard and Bale on the wings with Neymar as supersub so we need to get some good players in to make a competitive squad.

Yeah, and Jermaine Beckford would have been an upgrade on Torres, doesn't mean we should have got him when Fernando left. Im not saying Rodriquez is that level just saying two wrong's don't make a right.

One of this season’s many joys for Chelsea fans – aside from the six point lead atop the Premier League – is the sincere happiness and friendship among the players and staff. Every time Diego Costa hugs Antonio Conte or a goal-scorer kisses the badge, Jose Mourinho’s drama and the Blues’ hang-dog faces fall farther into the past. Charismatic youngsters like Michy Batshuayi and Nathaniel Chalobah are sharing laughs with the veteran players. For the first time in years, Chelsea players are happy to be together and happy to wear Blue. James Rodriguez could undermine this hard-won cohesion and the club’s new ethos of earning your way spot. Chelsea has established stars like Cesc Fabregas and a legend like John Terry fighting for any playing time they can get. James, as a £50 million+ transfer, could circumvent that path. But that would be no guarantee of improving his attitude. Chelsea and Antonio Conte have come too far in all areas of the game to let one player jeopardize their success. James has plenty of talent, but lacks the maturity Conte demands and Chelsea deserves. http://theprideoflondon.com/2016/12/22/james-rodriguez-attitude/

Ill give you the benefit of the doubt for now, the last person who came in and kept banging on about the board was a member who called himself Gullit, who turned out to be a super troll.

Troll alert ^^^^^^^^^^

Does he will not be replaced mean we are promoting from within (ie Adi Viveash) or Antonio believes he has enough staff in place already to fill the void?

Harry Kane, Ashley Cole, Ryan Bertrand, Henrik Mikhtyryan and Didier Drogba grew up supporting Arsenal, just saying.

I think he used 3 at the back most of the time but did tinker if the situation required it. Re fix that aren't broken we should definitely keep evolving to keep one step ahead of opposition, be it formation personnel. We only need to look at our previous two title defenses to see what happens when you stand still

352 would be three CMs with Hazard and Costa up front, 3412 would be Costa with a new striker and Hazard in behind. Reckon long term we will shuffle between both.

We slowly are changing to a 3-5-2/3-4-1-2.

To be fair that's a lot better than i thought it was. They have a decent record at Anfield which inflates those stats somewhat. Take Anfield away P28 W3 D9 L16

No, we don't need the money with the new TV deals and anyone who we can get in won't be fit to lace Hazard's boots.

Unless he kicks off and demands a move to the point it's affecting the team spirit, i wouldn't sell Hazard even for that.

The point is it can easily happen, it was suppose to be settle for top four till they pay the stadium off then compete again for Arsenal, but they can't shake of that mindset, similar at United, 4th season in a row now they are praying for top four and thats Englands most successful club, it doesn't take much to be stuck in that rut. Ofcourse let's be cautious, last thing im suggesting is going all Liverpool circa 2014 but i think its gone well past the point were we can be delighted with a mere top 4 finish, a 6 point lead after 17 games doesn't mean we are Champions elect but its certainly a very handy advantage that's for sure.

If someone offered me a CL spot after Arsenal i would have asked what's the catch? But that's the thing, over the course of the season expectations change, if we fail to win it now after being 6 clear at Christmas it will be a huge disapointment in my opinion fair enough accepting top 4 when it looked like it was the best we could hope for but in the last few months we have passed almost every test a Champion gets confronted with and as i already alluded too the odds of Pep and Jose giving us a 7 and 13 point headstart next time round are slim. Also its very easy to get caught into the habit of top four is fine and hide behind transition for years, its happened with Arsenal for the last decade and United since Fergie has left. As for those games, we should be aiming to win both home games and get atleast 4 points away, which would be an acceptable return.

They have to start somewhere, its a similar but more extreme case as City but with a whole league. Right now they have nothing to offer but obscene wages and as overrated as those players are most are marketable and will promote the league. Eventually if it makes the progress they hope thety will, then they won't have to offer as obscene salarys (reletive to future inflation) to attract players.

Also to add Pep and Jose have been caught with their pants down which has let us build this lead, Klopp is struggling at the back and Wenger is Wenger. We need to cash in on that because next year Klopp will surely invest on defense, Pep will get more players to suit him all be it with probably a 200m net spend but that's neither here nor there and as much as Jose can't do long term he has got a 100 % title success rate in season 2 for a reason. Add to that the potential possibility of Wenger leaving and replacing him with a tactically astute manager ( almost certain they will atleast try for Simeone) and it could be a whole lot harder next time round, not that its going to be easy now but still a massive chance.

It maybe was the aim at the start of the season but no way can that be the aim now, we have to win the title, this is a huge,huge, huge chance.

Im a bit Arsenal fan like bi polar when it comes to Liverpool under Klopp, some games they look really good and think he will take them far, others he repeats the exact same mistakes Brendan did, no more so than Bournemouth.

Claude and Ty are it again, someone on twitter uploaded a preview