lionsden

Wow that's a very big statement. in recent times alone I can think of Scholes and Rooney as being technically superior and then the older generation you have technical wizzards like Gascoigne,Hoddle,Waddle et al.

Selling Luiz was the right move and keeping cahill (No one has the power of hindsight) was the right decision given he had just came off a season in which he made the list of the EPL's best 11. Not even his biggest critics could have foreseen his drastic loss of form this season. But I do however agree that he doesn't suit the highline system and Jose should be blamed for leaving us extremely thin at the back by not replacing Luiz with an established defender and not recognising Cahill's strenghts and weaknesses which would have revealed he's unsuited to the system he's tried to implement this season.

I'm I the onlyone that actually believe Willian is better than him or at worst, they are on the same level? from a technical and tactical standpoint. Even stats wise, last season was the only abnormally. My policy is very simple, if it doesn't improve us, don't buy unless it's for squad purposes and you don't spend £25 odd million on a squad player. Either get a player that's clearly superior to what we already have or don't bother.

Is anyone else guilty of showing little to no interest at all in the progress/loan moves of players whose chances of making it here is close to nil i.e players like Feruz, Mceacheran and unfortunately Chalobah has been added to that list AFAIC

I love Zouma now and think he's shown continuous growth and improvement in his game but if his departure will guarantee the signing of one of the best defender in europe with his best years still ahead of him then I will drive him to madrid myself but since the rumour is clearly bullshit, it's a mute point.

If he loves the scousers and their atmosphere so much he should tell his agent to put him up for the anfield post to replace rodgers. If he's going to keep disrespecting our fans and atmosphere at the bridge while kissing Liverpool's asses then he can feck off for all I care. You want your manager to defendand support you publicly and not the otherway round

Malouda,kalou and Mikel do not belong on that list. they contributed greatly to our success. malouda was arguably our 2nd best player behind Drogba in 09/10 double winning season. His form from Nov to may that year was absolutely stunning. kalou was the ultimate squad player who scored some important goals for us and was very reliable for a squad player, performance and impact wise. Mikel for all his critics, has been a permanent and regular feature in all of our major success since 06. It's ridiculous the level of disrespect always shown towards these 3 players in particular which only further proves that football fans are very fickle and have short memories.

If we continue this way there's no way we are ever going to win the UCL and compete with the big biys unless we have another run of luck of historical proportions ala 2012. Play like that against better teams like bayern, Madrid, Barca,Atleti and they will fecking batter us. I cannot recall a single game we have managed to control under Jose when the opposition have pressed us aggressively and higher up the pitch. We get shell shocked and panick whenever this happens and automatically turn to defensive tactics and completely surrender posession as a way of dealing with our inability to keep the ball well which more often than not ususally backfires against quality teams. based on my observation our problem is largely due to our tendency to never build from the back against high pressing teams. Its extremely difficult to control the game and maintain posession when the GK excessively pumps long balls and your defenders hoof it all the time, all it does is give the ball back to the opposition. But I do understand why we don't because our GK's are not confident in their own ability and JT is the only ball playing CB we have and even his first instinct is to play it safe by hoofing it and such tactics will be suicidal with players like cahill and Zouma. So how do we solve this problem without buying players?

I had rather we buy a competent defender that Jose can trust (as evidently he doesn't trust Zouma, not yet anyway) Upgrading on Cahill is more important than upgrading on Willian as a matter of urgent need.

His worst game for us after the spurs one. Our midfield was completly overran and dominated.

Insanity : Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Einstein was speaking directly to cahill when he made this quote. How can you concede so many goals doing exactly the same thing and not learn from it? If he continues to retain his place then Jose has to take the blame for persisting with him.

I will say this. What I saw tonight isn't so much about coward tactics (yes we were very cautious at times) but more about our inability to keep the ball and create chances when put under heavy pressure. We kept losing posession. It's no surprise that we have been incredibly shit everytime we have faced a team that pressed us aggressively for 90 mins and this is partly down to the manager and the players as well to an extent. . . .Cahill kept hoofing it, JT was uncharacteristically poor in posession tonight, Matic and Mikel were taking turns to see who gives it away the quickest and so on. Liverpool were so much comfortable than us at retaining posession under pressure, it's a joke. Back to the drawing board. we need to learn how to control the game better especially against high energy pressing teams and away from home. You control the game and the talk of cowardly tactics wouldn't exist.

It's been coming. very poor defending. got what we deserve

Does Cahill realise he's actually allowed to pass the ball to a man 5 yards in front of him instead of hoofing it everytime

We have been lucky and the scoreline does flatter us massively. We have just been unable to cope with pool's pressing.

I agree. Remy shouldn't have been dropped imo. he's scored in virtually every cup game this season.

There's a big difference between having the team built around a player and giving a player freedom and license with limited to no tactical responsibility. the former is a big myth that has gone unbusted for way too long. Can you explain to me how the team was built around Mata? In my understanding to build a team around a player means, supplying the player with the right supporting cast and personnel to get the very best out of them and limit or cover their flaws. for one, Torres was the main striker who he was expected to assist (enough said). to put it simply, He's every attacking midfielders worst night mare. secondly throughout mata's time here, he played in front of disjointed and subpar double pivot that was totally incapable of finding him in the right areas of the picth i.e the little pocket between the opposition CM and defence where AM are at their most effective best which forced him to drop back deep to collect the ball most of the time out of frustration. And thirdly our extremely weak wing play during his time here which resulted in lack of width meant his options in attack was limited and he had limited movement and unreliable fullbacks and wingers to deliver diagonal passes to, to unlock opposition defence and coupled with the team's general slow ball movement . . . . if anything it's remarkable how mata was able to record such impressive figures in a highly flawed and inbalanced team. The latter statement might be true regarding freedom and license to roam but the former is far from reality. The team wasn't built to get the best out of Mata at all.

What wrong is that posters are basing MOTM voting and rating which for the most part is heavily influenced by overall performance ( in any sport) on result. Oscar scored two goals but his overall performance was anything but good/decent/great. I lost count on the amount of easy passes he messed up. It's called performance rating for a reason.

This is a big misconception. No our team has been improved because we have a better manager than AVB, Di matteo and Rafa in charge now and secondly because we have a significantly better team than the one mata had. i,e Matic, Costa, Fabregas,Azpi (he's greater than the washed up version of Cole), A Much matured , more consistent and much improved Hazard and so on. Oscar was a regular fixture during the mata days when we sucked too, we are not better because we replaced Oscar with mata, we are better now because we have one of the best manager in the world and a better team.

This is talkchelsea. Result is greater than performance around here apparently plus posters are too desperate to stick it to those that dare criticise Oscar they will see such a game as a great performace deserving MOTM. It's hilarious.

This is the ruthless Chelsea that Jose has been asking for

Great play by willian, finished off superbly by oscar.

WOW

Costaaaaaaaaaa

Honestly it's true. It tops the westham one