Blue Armour

Won't criticize the starting lineup because he's only been 2 matches in charge and he had limited options due to injury. But looking at this from a neutral perspective, the football on display was truly horrendous. A side like United has nearly 70% possession against us..and plus, if the game plan was to simply sit back and soak up pressure, that wasn't great either. They still managed to get past the defense and were only prevented by the crossbar from taking the lead. There were a few bright moments after the interval, but removing Willian instead of Oscar for Ramires was seemed pointless. In the end, we were just playing for a draw and the players clearly accepted that after the Ramires sub. In fact, a draw was probably the only thing on their mind from the start of the game, which was probably why Matic was surprised to see himself through on goal and skied that shot of his. I'll accept the draw, although I feel it was a better point for United who needed damage control, whereas for us it's only going to help us limp away from the relegation zone.

Haven't you figured it out? It's Emanalo choosing the lineups. Jose obediently followed for the first few months and Emanalo was fine with it. Jose one day got fed up and said he had it with the team and that's when Emanalo told him to get the f out. Crappy joke I know, but fitting for a crappy season

I don't care what he does in Europe, but in the league at least I hope he eventually starts games with 2 strikers in the lineup. Our number 10s are too slow in decision making to make any useful contribution to our attack

. Hmm, I think the last time he was here he deployed Iva at RB against Liverpool in the CL? That was the time when Ivanovic showed potential to become a first team member

Hit the nail on the head FB. I was okay with the JM chants, and the taunt against the overall team, but booing specific players makes no sense because no one really knows what goes behind the scenes. The real snakes are in the press, who probably are looking gleefully towards Mourinho joining United.

Since we are in the season of change, would like to see something interesting and have 2 strikers in the starting lineup

A bit pointless bring up an old post right now, but what's laughable is that you completely misinterpreted the fact that I was in agreement with what you said earlier on in your post...in other words, I was implying: "Yes just like one stat alone doesn't define greatness., in this case...Mourinho's win record does not make him a better manager than Ferguson...but his win record is something to consider before you just toss him out without a second thought'

Wanted to highlight something at the 1:52/1:53 mark, which is not really about Oscar, but about our attacking mids in general including Hazard... That run from Costa, and the fact that Oscar didn't quickly slide the pass through to his feet...seems our mids miss these sort of quick runs from our strikers. (happened a lot when Torres was here)...of course in this particular example Costa dragged the defender away to create more room for Willian and Oscar,...but probably would be best to make these passes and create more clear-cut opportunities.

Yes, as is with anything you can't judge quality by one factor alone, but what it does highlight is Mourinho's strong point. Basically what it should teach is that you shouldn't be so quick to get rid one of the strongest assets you possess. Anyway, the one thing I really liked about that video anyway was seeing how many Chelsea and ex-Chelsea managers made up the list...

I think he's probably getting back to his level towards the end of last season...nothing spectacular but at least solid. We definitely need a replacement for him sooner, but for the time being he seems to have put his early season form (where he would crumble on sight of a running winger) behind him.

When is he expected to return?

That explains our starting line-up's. He must definitely be doing it to get under the skin of some of the members here.

Agreed, the sad truth is there's probably no perfect coach for the brand of football everyone hopes to play at a consistent level. We can definitely do a lot better than we are doing right now, but even someone like Klopp cannot maintain the level of consistency needed in this league. Liverpool are play absolutely scintillating stuff in some games, and still come undone in others such as against Crystal Palace and Newcastle (granted they are missing their best player in Coutinho atm.)

Still low on confidence...players like him and Willian are the ones we are relying on up front atm, and their decision making is too slow to genuinely pose a threat to a well drilled defense. Willian was always slow in his decision making, but Hazard is playing well below his normal level.

I don't know what's worse...the fact that he failed to put the right cross when there was a good chance, or the fact that when he finally put in a good cross today every attacking player near it failed to connect with it.

Shows how not getting the right CM in the summer is costing us big time. For a couple of matches there was a mini resurgence, with Fabregas and Matic some resemblance of form. Then when we play teams like Tottenham and Bournemouth that press...Fabregas disappears. Also, dropping Costa for a match to send him a message is one thing, but opting to leave the only other recognized striker in Remy on the bench for this match is another.

Definitely not great...but horrible and no end product? I distinctly remember the cross he gave to Hazard (which he headed over the bar), which was one of the best chances in the first half, as well the half chance he created for himself where he shot at their keeper.

Honestly with all the shit that's happened this season, I think fans should just let this one blow over and let it sort itself on its own. Just when things seem to be on the way up, we don't need another thing to bog it down again. Even though his attitude may have been nowhere near as bad, Drogba himself has done stuff that did more damage on the pitch than this would have. Stuff that is rightfully not given much importance these days, in comparison to his great acheivements. I feel that Costa's antics should also fall under that category

Well he got rid of his beard today. So maybe that's a start for change?

Probably needs to get rid of his Captain Haddock beard. For some strikers its their golden hair, for him I think its his beard.

Begovic is a really good keeper, but yeah, I agree that Courtois is one incredible get-out-of jail card that the Chelsea defense really needs these days...something that only keepers like Cech and Courtois can provide

What did it say? It seemed logical at the time because Baba was, and still is, adapting to the pace of the PL, so he continued with Azpilicueta on the left when Hazard was playing. Granted, Zouma turned out to be a flop in RB, but there's a reason why Baba did not immediately slot in. Baba performed well in a couple of games and finally earned his chance with a start against Stoke. And then what happened? Lost his man for their goal, and did almost nothing to support the attack in that match.

Sad, with confidence low, we did need that little bit of luck, and after Pedro's shot hitting the post, the writing was on the wall. Still happy how the lads kept going till the end. The biggest plus for me was seeing Hazard playing with such great tempo and finesse today. We really need him at his best to make this team tick.

I think there is a very good chance that board will invest heavily this Jan, one reason to mend the squad, and with the other reason being that its a fail-safe.

The words from Gary Neville were of more interest to me. He actually sounds like the 'supporter' in our forum, especially from 7:40 onwards Doesn't really say it explicitly, but he sounds more pained about Chelsea's current situation