Pizy

Yeah, we definitely want City to win this one. Will mean that yesterday's result can be slightly forgiven.

Yep. All 3 big money summer strikers struggling at the moment. Fans of other leagues laugh when PL followers say its more difficult in England but it's true.

Sanchez is way more aggressive around the box than Eden is, tbf. Also take more risks which is why I think Hazard is the better player. He's smarter with the ball. While Hazard's first instinct is to facilitate for his teammates, Sanchez's has always been to be as forceful as possible and to score. He often dribbles in to blind alleys and loses the ball trying to do too much. Hate to say it, but I think Sanchez will be far more effective and a much better fit for Mourinho's style than he would be at City. He wouldn't have improved City in any noticeable way other than just a bit more depth. I think he dramatically improves United. Perfect Mourinho player. Hard working, runs himself into the ground, basically a warrior on the pitch. The same traits that would make him perfect for Conte as well. Oh well. Not overly devastated only because he's 30 and probably won't be in Manchester long. I've been saying all along that Mahrez is who I really want. He is a player I'd absolutely dread seeing at a rival.

He does indeed give the ball away a shit load. But that's what happens when he was playing in a soft Arsenal side. He had to try to do it all himself most of the time.

United and Mourinho know they now have no shot at the title but are pushing hard for Sanchez so they can make a real run at the CL which they do have a good chance of advancing far in. Actual ambition. It's what we should be doing.

Keep them both and make the better signing - Mahrez.

Mourinho all but confirming they'll get him.

Settling for average players is one thing and it is indeed frustrating. What's wayyyyy more frustrating is knowing that we could have top players but not even making a serious effort to get them. We know Alexis can be had but don't try. We know that Mahrez is desperate to move to a top club but don't try. This is why I feel bad for Conte. He looks to his rival Pep whose club have bought him literally every single player he's asked for so far. Likewise José. I know they sold their best player for crazy money, but even bloody Liverpool have spent £75m on VVD who is a player Klopp simply had to have regardless of price. If Conte goes to the board and says he really, really wants Mahrez who would cost £50-60m I bet you they'd say no unless we sold someone for that same amount.

Plus let's face it, unlike Bayern who are the undisputed bullies and big dogs of their league, Chelsea is just one of many very attractive clubs in this league. Super talented players go to Bayern because they're guaranteed silverware and CL football every season. When Bayern declare their interest in a player and move for them they have basically no competition and almost always get their man. Whereas when Chelsea is after a top player we have to compete with 3-4 other English clubs and are unwilling to pay what at least 2 of the others are. We end up losing out on actual top players to our rivals and have to settle for mediocre ones over and over again.

Very true. No one can tell me he wanted Zappacosta as his top choice. Or Drinkwater. Or Barkley. Or Batshuayi. Like I mentioned, even players who have been solid like Alonso and Rüdiger weren't his first choices. Alonso was a last minute panic buy after we couldn't get whoever else we were after that summer. Rüdiger was who we settled for when we couldn't get Bonucci, Koulibaly, etc. Zappacosta was a last minute panic buy who was probably our 6th choice fullback. Drinkwater the same. Barkley was the clearest club purchase yet. Our shiny new #9 wasn't even Conte's top choice, FFS! I mean come on, at least give him the #1 choice every once in a while! Mourinho and Pep have gotten just about every single player they've asked for since they've arrived in Manchester. United would've gotten Griezmann for sure had Atleti not been given that transfer ban. Conte isn't given that luxury.

It wasn't like our supporters were booing him or going over the top. Just the usual "awws" after the constant misplaced passes. Tony Gale made it and like the fans were throwing beer and popcorn at the players or something.

You can be 100% sure that Conte hands the club a list with targets he wants in the transfer windows and they sure as hell aren't the players we end up with. Even ones who have worked out well have clearly not been his top choices. The club just goes "Nope. Here's someone who plays the position of the target you wanted but is much cheaper." Yeah, much cheaper and not close to as good.

Yep. Can't stand him. He's always so obviously biased when he does our matches and drools over players who do well against us.

Like, you can watch our team for just one match and pick out the obvious 2-3 areas that need reinforcement/upgrades. It's so obvious to us fans and I'm sure to the manager, but the club do nothing about it. Makes me want to pull my hair out. It's like you know you have some holes in your boat and notice yourself slowly sinking but doing nothing about it.

I don't know if you had the same match co-commentator as I did (Tony something) but he was having a go over and over at our fans for getting frustrated with Hazard and Cesc today. It was infuriating. He made it sound like our supporters were ungrateful assholes for having the audacity to be frustrated by Hazard.

Lots and lots of Chelse fans on Twitter calling for Conte to be sacked. Don't think it's got nearly to that level yet. I feel for him that in every press conference where he receives question after question about signings and he has to reiterate that he's only the coach and doesn't deal with transfers. He has been hamstrung by the club since arriving. Perfect aligning of the stars to win the league last season has papered over the cracks in a big way. Just like winning it the last time under José clouded the judgement of our board into thinking we could go again with the same squad, they thought that we didn't need top quality additions to defend this last title.

If I were Conte I'd be begging the board to get him a quality LWB and a forward of top quality this month to help ensure a CL place. Qualification through a top 4 finish looked like a sure thing just weeks ago but it now may turn into a massive struggle. If we go out and get Mahrez and say Telles who actually offers pace, ability to beat his man, and can cross a bloody football while on the run I think we'd solidify our place. Surely the higher ups at the club realize that we're really struggling? They must feel as anxious as we do? Actually, they clearly don't as there aren't even any links to these players.

Yep. I don't think City or United would even be interested in the sort of player we sign regularly these days. Our level on and off the pitch has dropped to probably the third tier now. Alongside the likes of Spurs, Liverpool, and Arsenal who can't and won't compete with the other big boys.

I was one of the biggest voices early on saying his inconsistency would iron out and to be patient with him. He showed plenty of promise in some games. He has actually regressed significantly since his already average level early on. His confidence is at rock bottom and you can tell as much every single time he receives the ball. He doesn't want it. He gets it and wants rid of it immedietly because he knows he'll likely fuck up a pass. Needs a spell out of the team. Extremely depressing that two of our expensive recent signings that were bought to play a significant role in the side (Baka & Batshauyi) have turned out to be total donkeys. That's around £70m down the drain.

Starting to fear for him that the players may pull another "we're not liking these tactics so we'll down tools." Persisting with what hasn't been working is costing us big time and the two main threats behind us in the table have been steadily growing in confidence and reeling us in.

If we are going to continue with 3-5-2 Bakayoko cannot continue to play. Barkley has to come in ASAP. He's a passenger in all phases of the game. Clueless defensively, awful on the ball, and has no idea where he should be. We need a signing in attack desperately.

We're just a painfully average side filled with many painfully average players. Now that all of our best attacking players have gone completely off the boil we see the true quality of everyone else. We'll be very fortunate to finish 4th this season. Nearly 30 minutes against 10 men and we barely threatened them. Utterly pathetic. Hope the club are happy with this. Don't back the manager with quality signings, add in fatigue due to small squad during fixture congestion and this is what you get. We will be hammered by whatever score Barca want when we play them.

This is the worst I've seen us since 15/16. Literally clueless.

Even after halftime were being fucking DOMINATED at home by a midtable side! Our players don't even look bothered!

We should be putting in a bid for Mahrez tomorrow. Would add so much quality to our right side. Unlike Sanchez, our board wouldn't have to scoff at absurd wages or his age. He'd be perfect for us.