nullabletype

The club seemed largely reluctant to open the wallet in the last window, so a free Falcao signing is about as good as we were going to get. He cost nothing and is reportedly on lower wages than previous clubs which makes him a low risk signing. Plus, we know now for a fact that José isn't in complete control of signings so whether or not Falcao was his call or not only he and the club know. Ivanovic has been grim and I would happily see him dropped. But I'll say what I believe, as I have said in other posts, it seems the squad are not playing for the manager and I suspect he's pick those who he trusts. As for integrating Baba, from what I've seen, which is very little, I think he looks good, but as I said before I'm not on the training ground every day so can't offer an opinion as to whether he's Chelsea caliber or not. Djilobodji or whatever he's called? Don't even know why we bought him, comes across as a panic buy and nothing more, he'll be off soon. "Us against them attitude", all for it. Why not? Calling out players? Good. He could call every one them out at the minute and they'd all deserve it. He wouldn't be the first great manager to do so either. I'll give you picking fights with staff, but that has been blown up beyond reason. The club can move on from that.

What are you on about in that first paragraph? The whole squad is currently playing horribly. What have that list of players got to do with anything? The current crop weren't rubbish last season, poor at times, but not like this. So it seems to me like his hands are somewhat tied given that the lot of them seem poor.I can't comment on Baba as I know nothing about him, it would be a sad state of affairs if he isn't good enough to get in to our defence, but I'm not on the training ground every day.

Who else does he pick? Virtually everyone of them is currently garbage. I can get down with the the argument of dropping Ivan and so on, but given José's very telling post match interview today I suspect he's trying to keep those who he trusts in the squad.Regardless, people seem all too keen to forget that this is a rare rough patch in the otherwise exceptional career of José Mourinho. He's proved he's capable more often than not, why sack him after a poor spell when history suggests he's likely to recover?

Would rather see the club side with the manager and let any player who has taken the hump know they are welcome to leave. Most people on here who want José out are the same who constantly talk about stability. Stability is not sacking your manager when the players take the hump. Stability is letting them know that you answer to the man in charge -- who also just happens to be one of the most highly decorated coaches in the games history. Set the precedent and finally try and curb the managerial merry go round once and for all.

Tim Sherwood will be delighted. Poor start to the season and questions being asked. Now he gets a wee break for internationals and a nailed on three points at the Birdge. Loving life.

I'm normally not one to call for more kids in the squad, I think the inherent inexperience is risky, but at this point there's nothing to lose. Players don't seem bothered and Mourinho's monologue on Sky Sports more than alluded to the fact that the players are not on his side. We can sack him or the club can take a stance and support the manager. Allow him to field the youth and let whoever isn't interested leave when the windows open. That said, it's up to José to actually play the kids and I don't know that he will. At this point he might as well though. I'd sooner accept results like today if they guys wearing the kit looked like they cared and put a bit of effort in.

Nice one, lads. That'll show him.

Inexcusable wank this. Fucking pathetic.

People love to push the José never takes the blame narrative, particularly the media, but it's not true. Yes, be blames his players, referees and the FA, you name it. And yes, often he's talking shite and looking for excuses. But recently, more than every, he has also been saying that he is to blame in his post match interviews. So it's not a fair criticism in my opinion.

Our own game? Since when have we closed down hassled opposition? This side has had zero intensity for the longest time now.

You are specifically talking about insulting a female and empathizing from the position as a son and a brother. None of that is relevant in this case because this whole issue revolves around her as a professional, not as a female.

What does being a brother and a son have to do with anything? Mourinho undermined her as a professional, not as a female.

Women In Football have now taken it upon themselves to lodge evidence with the FA. Claims of sexism. But the report indicates that they aren't entirely convinced that the sexism allegation will stand so they think José should face sanction for indecent language bringing the game in to disrepute. So going forward should we expect Women In Football to be issuing complaints about every manager or player who uses indecent language or are they just hanging their agenda out there for all to see? Also, they claim this has set females in such high sporting positions back. Not sure how they came to that conclusion. If Eva is as good as she is assumed to be then should walk in to a new club tomorrow and it will be business as usual for women in sport. There's no place for sexism, but I'm not sure how it does the cause any good when people insist on applying it to situations where it doesn't exist. Mourinho blasted two professionals and only one is making the headlines.

How is it that even against sides like this we still can't just take the game to them? We're doing our usual bollocks of passing it about the middle of the park with next to no end product.

Imagine a world where that non issue of a "kick" and a split second bit of grappling between players -- nicely exaggerated by super slow motion action replays -- was just par for the course and a bunch of grown men were allowed to go about the football game, perhaps with a caution, like the physical contest it is. Now that's a world I want to live in. You see worse during corners every game, every weekend. Have to laugh a the media pile on Costa finds himself forever involved in. He's too concerned with needling and it can be irritating, but lets not act like he's not often the focus of attention from other teams -- which goes unpunished, or that he's always the aggressor -- I believe it was Gabriel who forced himself in to Saturdays spat between Costa and Koscienly. The FA are a joke though and that's not news to anybody. They're consistently inconsistent but beholden to nobody and make the rules up as they go along.

We don't press. Our build up is played at just above walking pace. By the time we've made our way to the opposition's box their defence is in good shape and we pass it from flank to flank ad nauseam eventually laying it off for somebody, usually a defender, to send a shot over the bar from 30 yards out. Our opponents do the exact opposite of all the aforementioned. Been this way since December. Only difference now is we can't defend.

The attitudes you're referring to are so typical of this site. Ever error is put under the microscope and over analysed. I personally thought he looked much better suited to the number 10 role he filled today and thought he contributed well. Terrible goal attempt notwithstanding.

Don't think Ivan was nearly as bad as people in here are making out. He's not had a great start to the season but other than one very poor moment before their first goal I can't remember too many instances of him being overly bad. *shrug*

Slow start but happy enough at the half. Pedro has brought exactly what we were missing on the right side.

"West Ham has only contributed £15m towards the £272m conversion costs of the Olympic Stadium, with the taxpayer footing the rest of the bill." Would the tax payer prefer if the stadium they've already paid for was basically left to rot instead? At least now it has life beyond the Olympics and the area might further benefit from the increased traffic.

FFP has been relaxed to the point of near irrelevancy. It's not really an issue.

I'm not suggesting it's easy at all, but how many kids have we sent on loan and to how many different clubs? Still, virtually none have made it. Are all those loan destinations not good enough? Wouldn't you expect even a few of those players to flourish if they had the requisite quality? This club constantly comes under scrutiny for not giving our youth a chance, and of course, the manager has the finger pointed at him. But if these kids are supposedly good enough to be pushing in to our first team squad over the next few years then they should be able to stake a claim in the starting XI at the lower end of the Premier League or in the Championship. Yet, year after year, we loan them out and very few can hold down a place. Now when that happens, it's not just Mourinho who seemingly doesn't fancy them, it's also their loan club managers who are supposed to directly benefit form having a Chelsea quality youngster. So if they aren't good enough for them, how are they good enough for us? We play or have bought plenty of young guys. Hazard, Oscar, Zouma and just recently this guy Baba. It's a myth that Jose doesn't trust the young. He doesn't trust the low quality. It would be excellent if our academy produced more players, but we can only train them and give them the best facilities. The rest is up to them. If they were the quality of the young guys I listed above they would get a shot. It just happens to be that most of the time they're not, and their careers after us usually prove that to be correct.

How's it a cop out? Nobody is moving goalposts in order to mount a defence, they're being realistic. Carlo gave a few opportunities, where are they now? Even at that, he had a short spell and no real time to set anything in motion. AvB and Bobby D didn't have time. You're expecting guys coming in to a job knowing they could be out in a year -- who as fate would have it were! -- to start worrying about which academy kids they can bring through. It would be different if this were a club where every manager was at least guaranteed a few seasons, but it's not. So what do you genuinely expect them to do? Rafa knew he was out in a year, he took the job to pad out his CV. Why would he be worrying about kids? Mourinho comes back and is only now our longest serving manager since eh... Mourinho. This is why plenty on here are saying to wait until he's actually spent a reasonably long time -- in Chelsea terms -- at the helm. Then, if nobody has come through, whine all you want. But your nuts to expect anybody to come through during what is effectively, at this club, the bedding in period. As for persisting with duds. Sorry, but these players have usually been proven elsewhere. Some don't make it, but they are the exception not the rule. Plus, they've usually been purchased with the expectation on the manager that they will play, particularly when the club has spent good money on them. Even at that, 2 of the 4 players you mention met the fate of the youth players you speak of and a 3rd is looking likely to go that way too. Precisely, you don't know where he is. So what does that tell you? Is it Mourinho's fault, or could it be that he hasn't performed well enough in his loan spells to warrant a place in a top premier league club? This is the point. As soon as a youth player doesn't make it, manager X is to blame. But these are kids supposedly on the verge of pushing in to Chelsea's first team and yet on loans they struggle to hold places down at Championship level. Could it be that they just aren't good enough?

But the criticism now, and in this thread, is on the current manager. In the last five or so years we've had five different managers. Carlo was binned after two years. Both AvB and Di Matteo barely got their foot in the door. Rafa was interim from day one and now we have José. It's a high pressure appointment that doesn't lend itself well to the nurturing of youth. Most have barely been given time to put together the first team never mind usher in a new generation of players. Despite that, Chelsea have given many a youth player a punt. Take yourself off to Wikipedia and search each seasons article and you'll see a whole heap of U21 names in our squad lists who were given game time. There's quite a lot. Most of them never made it, but is that Chelsea's fault? I doubt it since the majority couldn't force themselves into or hold down a places during their various loan spells. Even the players who have went on to reasonable success wouldn't get in to our first team now. Coaches aren't stupid, if these guys are good enough they will play. José bringing scrutiny on himself? He says he'll bring them through if they can cut it. There you go. Complain if he doesn't and in three years time these young guys are superstars in some other team, not two games in to his third season. People are getting down his throat now, third season back after a double, because we've had a few bad results. Common fan logic is "throw the kids on, at least they'll be up for it". Which would be fine, only enthusiasm and effort don't necessarily equal good results. Edit: meant third season. Changed it.

Of which José, the guy getting the flack, was only in charge of one. Doing the double in the second.