Pizy

Consistent run of games for Baba in order to sharpen up his passing and we'll have ourselves an actual, proper fullback to replace Ivanovic. After this result, 3 points against Arsenal at the weekend will be HUGE for morale and confidence. Would kickstart our season and get us back to where we should be.

RLC should play in place of Cesc if anything, not Matic. Matic has been one of our few good players thus far this season's for the most part.

Oscar has been out for ages yet looks miles sharper than Hazard. Never seen Eden this seemingly low on confidence.

This keeper is SHOCKING!

He'll play Saturday. May even captain the side if JT sits again.

Reading that it's belting down at the Bridge. Shit football incoming? Also, we better hope like hell that Baba doesn't make a single mistake today. God forbid that happens. We probably wouldn't see him again for a month if he does. Would bet my house that he's only playing today to let Ivanovic rest and he'll be back on the bench at the weekend.

Hmm. Hope our midfield doesn't get spanked and blitzed without Matic in there. God knows they'll target Cesc.

It's on Fox Sports for me.I see ESPN also has some CL broadcasting rights this season and I now get Bundesliga football on my TV from Fox which is nice.

it's a 100% certainty that he starts against Maccabi. Baba will still be "injured" I would think.

This is exactly what it is in my opinion as well. It's like the players came back after winning the title thinking that they can just show up on match days and win by default based on their superior talent.We heard all summer from many of our players that "every team will want to beat us even more now that we're champions." They knew what was coming and haven't been able to do anything about it. Every team in the league, even the small ones like Swansea, West Brom, and Palace aren't scared of Chelsea anymore. Our players are so soft that they know if they get at us we'll crumble like cake. To compare the situation to another sport, it's like if a champion boxer has a big fight against someone who is a huge underdog. The champion is arrogant and didn't feel he needed to prepare and improve and that he'd just stroll in and knock his opponent out. Meanwhile, the challenger had been putting in work, improving, and figuring out the champion and ends up winning the fight.

Another reason we have to stick it out with him for at least the remainder of this season is the makeup of the squad. There are several players who work in a Mourinho system but probably wouldn't be fancied by other managers. A top manager may think to himself "I want to play with two attacking fullbacks, a highly mobile CM of high quality, and a pure, creative #10." We don't really have any of that. A new manager would have so much work to do to "cleanse" the Mourinho out of the side. There's no way anyone could do that during the season. It's pointless sacking him during the season. If it happens it has to be at season's end when the new guy can scout players and make his own side. Unless there's a Moyes-like public player revolt where the dressing room is clearly lost and the team stops playing for him he has to stay until the season is over.

It's sad to say, but Barca may have been proved right in getting rid. Perhaps that first half he had for us was a purple patch? Maybe this is his true level now. He'll play a nice pass or two here and there but otherwise gets bossed or is anonymous. It's hard watching him trying to chase after other midfielders or defending a player receiving the ball because he's so painfully slow. It's just plain frustrating watching him misplace even simple passes. He gives the ball away constantly. He seriously looks like one of those mid-late 30 year old players like Gerrard or Lampard who simply cannot do the things he once did. By far the most worrying area in my opinion. At least we have Baba to replace Ivanovic. We have no one who can offer anything near what Cesc gave us last season. Ramires/Mikel/RLC probably won't COMBINE for 18 PL assists for the remainder of their careers, much less in a single season.

He's got all the physical tools. When he's battling with players and stuff like that he's great but as a footballer you saw today that he's MILES behind the elite young CB's like Varane, Stones, or Laporte. He's not really comfortable at all with the ball at his feet.

Who do you want to replace him?As much as I'd love Pep I doubt he'd ever come to Chelsea. After him, I just don't see an outstanding candidate. This is the problem. Klopp is truly the only choice.

He'll never go to City, but yeah. A box office manager with a huge personality at a club like United would be terrible news for Chelsea and the rest of the league.If we sack him we better have a DAMN good replacement.

If we got a suitable replacement maybe. Like Pep.I'd rather not see José Mourinho at another PL team. Couldn't imagine it honestly. He'd also have literally unlimited funds and a board that will buy him any players he'd ever want regardless of price. Would be bad for Chelsea. It's really the only move for him if we sack him. He can't really go back to Spain, there are no clubs in Italy that he'd go to, and France is far below his level.

Scenario: Mourinho is sacked, takes a one season sabbatical, waits out Van Gaal's final year of his contract, signs for United in 2017, makes John Stones his first signing.

We're all salty about this whole situation but I think people are being a bit harsh on José. Yes, some of this is his fault. His stubbornness and ego are huge issues. If I'm assigning blame I'd put 60% of it on the players and 40% of it on Mourinho. What excuse do players like Hazard, Fabregas, Costa, Terry, and Ivanovic have for just going to complete shit so suddenly? It's seriously mind boggling. These were all PL team of the season players just a few months ago and are now just shit? Come on. That's not all on José. These guys have to pull their fingers out and play to their true standard. I'm not sensing any animosity or getting the impression that players are unhappy with him or don't want to play for him. It just so happens that all of the players in terrible form are the most important ones in the XI. One more week like this one, though, and I'd fear for my job if I were José. If we get humiliated by Arsenal and all of our rivals pull even further away it could be curtains.

Not better than any of our CB's some people here said. Not worth anywhere near the money. Or the best one, not better than Cahill. He bossed us and made it look easy just as he has in every game he's played so far this season. He makes defending look simple and plays like he's been at this level for a decade. He's already one of the 3-4 best CB's in the PL at 21. We better hope we're in a position to trigger the release clause he's going to have in his new contract. Otherwise he'll wind up becoming world class at a rival. Hell, he may not even want to move here anymore if we carry on like this.

Even missing out on the top 4 will see a small exodus I think.We may see a few familiar names over on Blue Moon.

So sad watching all of our rivals playing with their expensive new toys. Like we did last season.

Will an interim manager really be the answer though? As I said earlier, which top manager is going to agree to come in and be under immediate pressure and have the weight of having to right a ship?

Depends where we finish of course. Going from champions to 7th was dreadful.I can't believe we'd allow that to happen. Far too much talent and class in our team. So far it's worse than Moyes' season for us.

Have to laugh now at people (myself included) who predicted City to struggle this season and had us retaining the title. "City's midfield and defense will be their Achilles heel," we said. They've won all of their matches, haven't conceded a single goal, signed £150m worth of players, and play fantastic football. The reigning champions have conceded nearly 15 goals, have 4 points from 15, signed a bunch of bench players, and play terrible football. We have the player of the year, league leader in assists, last years best CB, and a 20 goal scoring striker in our team and we've been this shocking. On top of all that, some super imprortant players are injured and we have a CL match and one against Arsenal this coming week. Haven't felt so low on this club since the whole AVB debacle. Feels like there isn't any quick solution that'll save us either. The title is fucking gone a month into the season. Even the absolute harshest of Chelsea haters couldn't have foreseen this. Won the league by EIGHT points and then THIS is what happens. Depressing stuff.

Completely out of sight after 5 matches. Even worse than Moyes' season with United because we have a MUCH better squad of players than he had. Embarrassing.