Tomo

Im not convinced by the Terry and Ivan partnership in all honesty, although tbf most of the time they played together Bosingwa was almost always the right back on the pitch.

I disagree. Desailly got the armband not long after arrival, they should give it to the best man for the job, not whos been here the longest.

If Salah came on instead of Solanke the whinging from the youth fan club would have been unbearable.

We did look for the goal, got it and nearly got a second. Yes we were defensive in that game but being defensive doesn't mean not looking for a goal, even in The Nou Camp second half in 2012 we were looking for a goal. Mou plays the big away games spot on in my opinion, try to win but also be mindful that a draw away to a competitive rival isn't the end of the world. Fergie was the same, and it's why they win titles for fun and the purists who think the team should play "there way" regardless of oppo win fuck all.

Agreed but hopefully they go down the Galactico route, that way with Jose and a solid team unit will make up for the financial disadvantage to them, like Pep at Barca, Real went on a ridiculous binge in 2009 yet were a level below Barca (yes they spent a lot but not compared to Madrid).

United and Arsenal fans losing is nothing compared to Liverpool fans premature title parades backfiring last season, apart from Chelsea's sucess that was the most satisfying moment of my life as a football fan, Arsenal or even Spurs could have been the benefactors of Liverpools collapse and it would still have been hilarious.

My biggest worry from United side is LVG, he shown in the WC semi that he will be happy to go as dirty/defensive/park the bus as nessecery to get a positive result. If United go all out attack against us it could be a massacre, but unfortunately LVG isn't Wenger. I wouldn't be surprised if this game is even more dull than the reverse fixture last season. 1-0 Chelsea, last minute goal from Filipe Luis backside when he's not looking

Liked what I saw from both him and Ake. We have a amazing future aswell as present.

Ten year contract please.

Chelsea, forever parking the bus. "The statistics suggest our domination of the ball on Saturday paved the way for a seventh league win of the season. We made 751 passes on Saturday with an 89% completion rate and that is a Premier League record. No team has made more passes away from home since the leagues inception in 1992. It is no surprise then we had 72% possession, by some distance the highest share of the ball we have enjoyed this season. Cesc Fabregas completed 110 of those passes, with his midfield partner Nemanja Matic not far behind with 103. The duo were involved in the highest and equal second-highest pass combinations, too. Oscar and Eden Hazard were next with regards to successful passes completing 85 and 69 respectively and it was that quartet that were also above anyone else on the pitch when it came to passes in the attacking third. Fabregass goal made him the 10th different Chelsea player to score in the Premier League this season, more than any other club. Alongside his second goal for the Blues Fabregas also created three chances on Saturday and made 14 ball recoveries both game-high figures. Fabregas spoke after the game about being man-marked prior to Palace being reduced to 10 men - something Jose Mourinho also commented on - and he made nearly 30 more passes in the second half when both sides were a man short. Elsewhere we succeeded in 15 of our 21 take-ons Hazard had the most with five while half of our six crosses picked out a team-mate, in contrast to 20% of Palaces 15 balls into the box." http://www.chelseafc.com/news/latest-news/2014/Oct%2014/the-data-day--crystal-palace-v-chelsea.html?WT.mc_id=social_20141020_34060767&adbid=524243700159758336&adbpl=tw&adbpr=22910295 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Yep that's right our anti football park the bus tactics led to us having 72 percent possession and making the most passes for an away team in a game in PL history. That's what I love about this side, we are so adaptable and flexible it's untrue, is there a tactic this team can't do? need to defend deep and absorb pressure? no problem, need to bomb forward because the oppo are parking the bus? no problem, need to press high because the oppo defence are error phone? no problem, need to retreat then counter? no problem. How any one prefers purists managers to this ill never know. So many team's in the world have a plan A then nothing, we have a plan A right down to plan ZZ, and the funny thing is this is just the start, next year we add a CB, another CM and maybe another ST and our team get even better, add Hazard, Oscar being a year older, Costa hopefully his hammy problems behind him, bodes well, doesn't it? We are so lucky to have Jose, while our rivals managers have failed to adress key issues in there side Mou went out immediately and sorted the issue's we faced last season. It's early days but the people that said Mourinho was washed up, finished, you name it, look set to have boiled egg on there face come May, and beyond............

I don't get this Mou loves this player Mou loves that player. When he returned the myth was he would play the old guard and chase former glory, fast forward a year and all apart from Terry have been dropped or let go. He supposedly loved Ramires and would never drop him, this season he has seen the bench as often as he has started. Azpi may get straight back in the team when his suspension expires at Anfield, but if he does it will be because Mourinho believes it's best for the team.

I think every one deep down were aware of his flaws but because of how reliant we were on him no one wanted to admit it, especially in his first season. If we admitted our best player had massive flaws that would mean he would struggle to get in the best teams, that would mean having to admit just what a mess we were in. The meltdown and anti Jose comments on here when he left are getting even more funnier with every passing week.

There will be a few times this season youngsters make the last bench spot, our squad is relitevely thin so we are only a few injuries from having no choice in the matter, like on Saturday when Solanke made it.Whether they get minutes depends on whether our seniors can build a 2-3 goal lead.

Exactly that, people should be happy we have such a tactically astute manager who does what he needs to do, instead of moaning about the lack of stopovers in some games. When I see managers like Wenger, Rodgers fail to adress problem areas and even think back to how frustrating Carlo was in his second season it makes me even more grateful we have Mou.

I agree with most of what you said originally, im not convinced with Remy in the long run, I think he will only ever be back up and not competition for Diego, however Remy is light years ahead of Torres, Fernando is absolute dog shit, Loic has his uses as a squad player atleast.

This isn't just based on his comments yesterday but there's something about Gary Monk I really don't like.

He was unlucky in a sense, Rafa liked heavy rotation in the side, which meant there was enough games for Bertrand (especially with Europa). Jose however builds stability on his back line, he has a core set of 4 or 5 defenders and any in behind literally only have capital one games or when there's injury's to the first choice player's.If Mourinho rotated defence like he does attacking midfield, Bertrand would probably still be here, but he doesn't.

It would be just typical if Mata follows Lamps lead and gets a late equaliser, I can't see him having much impact in general play against Matic but it only takes one free kick.

For sure, it's quite surreal how things change so quickly. 2 years back or even last year if I was offered 2 points at Old Trafford and Anfield coming up I would have took it and ran, with this team I genuinely believe we can take 6, infact I would be hugely disappointed with less than 4 purely because our system is tailor made to beat both.

Will be interesting to see what the team is at Old Trafford, the Matic and Cesc pivot (defensively) has improved a lot, however I think 4 3 3 might be the order of the day at the swamp.

Kind of what I expected really, good enough to fill in when and where but I can't see him giving Costa many sleepless nights worrying about his place. Personally I would have preferred we kept Eto'o as number two, however cant complain given it looked for a while that Torres would have still been here.

Even if there isn't a feeling of concession coming, it only takes one moment. West Brom last season we looked relitevely comfortable then up popped Anchiebbe.

We are reliant on Matic, Cesc, Hazard and Costa but in a good way. With those 4 I feel we can win any game, take one out and theres s little bit of doubt. Compared to 2 years ago when we needed both Hazard and Mata playing else it meant almost certain dropped points it's definitely a good luxury.

Id rest Ivan and play Azpi, also tempting to rest JT for Zouma, we only have 5 senior defenders, we need to take some calculated risks with rotation and this is a good a game as any.

Yep