Pizy

This has all the hallmarks of one of those matches where we dominate play but Hull get a flukey screamer to win 1-0.

Same story as our first 3 matches here. Attacking build up is okay but the final touch or ball is off. Diego also isn't getting any service at all.

I swear it feels like we've committed about 16 fouls so far. Unbelievably frustrating.

Jesus Christ, we can't string 2 passes together!

Let's see if that "Matic as an advanced midfielder" experiment is over. I pray it is.

What other choice is there? Ivanovic at CB was the only one and this isn't the time to experiment. Would like to have seen Bats start.

Nah, if it's a straight choice between Cahill or Ivanovic starting I'm choosing Cahill every time. Unlike Ivanovic who is simply old, slow, and played out of position, Cahill has the physical tools and ability to play his position effectively. He just has to focus and regain confidence which an opponent like Hull should help with. Teams will always target Ivanovic from minute 1 and he can't really do anything about it. He hurts not only the right side of our defense but also takes Willian out of the game completely since he constantly has to go back and help. Having 2 actual fullbacks should help Cahill.

I think if we can just keep pace in weeks like this we have a chance to get 4th. Weekend where our rivals have tough games and we have (on paper) weak opponents. We're still only 3 points behind Liverpool and Arsenal who everyone is jizzing about so we're not quite in crisis yet.

Like last season, after these shit 3 results we've just had the small teams of the league like Hull will have a simple game plan for us. All their manager will need to tell them is that if you press Chelsea and get physical with them they'll get rattled. We've shown time and time again that we're soft. I expect us to struggle mightily tomorrow in a match we should be blowing them off the pitch. This season would become another write off within the first month if we lose.

This is the sad truth. Put Hazard on City or Madrid/Bayern/Barca and he'd be a world beater. We simply don't have anyone with technical ability near his level around him. He'd be surrounded by top class footballers at those clubs rather than just athletes who are only good for running like we have here. It's going to be very hard not only watching him leave next summer but also watching him blossom into the player we've hoped to see for years. And no chance we can replace him with someone else at his level. It would be hard enough with CL football. Without it, the best we can hope for is to get a Mané type deal. A player from a small club coming off a great season.

Like someone mentioned earlier in this thread, we probably had a solid game plan and plenty of confidence and then Cahill puts a goal on a plate for Alexis and we (exactly like last season) just imploded and gave up after conceding. Arsenal, from a quality of personnel perspective, aren't that much better than us. We have the players that should be good enough for 4th but so many of them simply go missing. All of our supposed top class players bar Costa is performing. Hazard and Willian should be embarrased with themselves. They've been unbelievably poor.

I just never could've imagined we'd be so poor again after last season. There are legitimately 5-6 sides in the PL that are better than us right now. That's unacceptable for a club like Chelsea. Even on paper you'd expect us to be competitive but Diego is the only player who's at it. Hazard has gone totally missing after all that talk about putting last season behind him and a great start to this campaign. Willian looks absolutely terrible. Hasn't had a single good game this season. Matic is woeful anywhere other than as a sitting midfielder. Just stop playing him further forward. There is zero link and cohesion between our midfield and Costa. We either have to hope Cesc pulls off some magic or we can forget about any creativity. Cahill and Ivanovic...no words can describe my disgust. They're Championship or lower standard. They wouldn't start for a relegation battling side. Conte has to play Alonso and Azpi as the fullbacks, move Matic back, Kante forward, and give Cesc a run of games to get up to speed. It's just so depressing to think about the hope we all had entering the season and seeing now how it's likely to turn out. With is finishing around midtable again. From league winners 2 seasons ago to a laughing stock.

I just figured we'd only have up to go from there. Nope, we were indeed lucky to escape from them.

Can't believe I was ever actually excited after those first 3 matches. Looks like Chelsea are going to pull a Liverpool and drift away into the wilderness for a few years. Hazard, Costa, and Courtois are all gone this next summer. Zero chance we can replace any of them with equal quality.

Cahill and Ivanovic should never wear our shirt again. They're fucking humiliating us!

We aren't finishing in the top 4 this season. We're terrible.

3rd straight game he's done that! WHAT THE FUCK IS HE DOING?

Just go on YouTube and search for live feeds.

Hope our players are well aware of this. Huge uphill climb even this early in the season.

Not having that. Just think that he must be a huge influence in the dressing room and he probably does very well in training. A good leader and all that. It fools Conte (and the previous two managers over the last couple seasons) into believing he's good enough. Then he actually plays and costs us goals. I think if he fails spectacularly here he'll finally be dropped. Two poor showings against our two toughest opponents back to back will have the fans screaming.

Palace now level with us on points

Looks like we'll have the numbers advantage in the middle of the park. Hopefully we play aggressively and on the front foot and don't allow Özil and Cazorla to run the game. Is hoping we don't start like zombies from the start like we did against Liverpool asking too much?

Ivanovic was awful against Liverpool and now has to go against Sanchez. Have to hope he can summon a performance from a couple of years ago or this could be a looooong day.

Ivanovic straight back in according to Cundy... great...

Not worried about the title as I think we aren't good enough to win it. I'm going to start worrying about just scraping 4th if we don't kick in to gear soon.