Blue Armour

That is indeed one way of looking at it,..but the end result was that he left United with a lackluster squad and recommended Moyes to take charge. They ended up way outside the champions league spots. Thankfully for United, they had the revenue to repair the damage

Even Manchester United fans acknowledge that with disappointment..but hey ho, when you have to paint a one-sided picture you shouldn't look the other way.

We sold KDB, Mata and Lukaku , the likes of players who didn't want to stay and play second fiddle unlike the likes of Nasri at City. It was either KDB or Oscar, and while you could argue we let the better player go, you cannot group him with Lukaku and Mata. Lukaku was aiming for the no.1 striker role, a role which he could not be afforded without being thoroughly tested. Neither did he show the same potential as KDB. Mata is quality but he's a finished product at 27 years and not budding potential, judging from the way you grouped him together with KDB and Lukaku. And when you mention our current future, I see you have conveniently left out Courtois, Matic and Azpilicueta who were very much part of the core of the team last season. You don't need more than 4-5 players to realistically form a spine to a good team. We managed quite well with Drogba, Cech, Lampard and Terry over the years. All we needed was to surround them with quality and not necessarily budding potential to be called the 'future of Chelsea.'

Basically, at that time Drogba, Lampard and Terry were the old to-be-discarded toys, while AVB was the shiny new one. Now its Mourinho in the former role, and the current squad in the latter.

Exactly. With Baba only starting his first PL game, Hazard in bad form, and team morale in tatters starting both on the same flank would have been suicide. Only other option would have been Zouma on the right and Cesar on the left, which he might have still done if Cahill was fit.

No real surprise at all. I said in an earlier post that the only reason Mourinho kept using Azpilicueta on the left and not anyone else, was because of Hazard. Tbh, today I was expecting him to continue with Cesar on the left and keep Zouma on the right, but he opted to go for having 2 natural full-backs and was even willing to drop Hazard as well. I'm pretty sure he has no plans of playing BOTH Baba and Hazard on the left flank, and tbh we would get crushed on that wing right now. Baba is only settling in, and Hazard is not in the best form.

Exactly, I find it more likely for Zouma to displace Ivanovic than Baba and for good reason. I think many people overlook the fact that the main reason Azpilicueta is preferred on the left hand side, is because of Hazard. You need someone who can provide the defensive cover that Cesar provides, so that Hazard has a free reign. Plus he has a superior understanding with Hazard, compared to our other full backs.

Either that or it could be just the international break.

You missed my point about the squad being unseasoned as well. RDM had Drogba, Terry, Lampard and Cech. Hell, you even saw Terry spouting managerial instructions from behind RDM's back in one match. RDM didn't turn around the situation on his own. He had help from the players and their experience in cup competitions. A lot.

I think the article is stating more along the lines that player power is the risk you run from sacking the manager. Of course there is no player power in this squad. Yet. This squad is relatively young, and has essentially been through only one managerial sacking and that was RDM. Whether the players are intentionally under performing or not, no one can deny that they were hardly even doing the basics, especially in the last 20 mins against Southampton. They just collapsed like twigs on the pitch. It would set a bad precedence if the immediate response to that kind of performance is give the manager the boot.

A manager with no experience and an unseasoned squad in turmoil., that would be a ridiculously bad combination.

Sorry, but no way would the players' responsibility be down to just 6%. Neither Jose nor the board are going onto the pitch and playing like crap.

I know you were probably just joking, but we still had Drogba, Lampard, Cech and other stalwarts in the dressing room back then. And even then they failed to make top 4. Interim would most likely mean endgame for this squad.

I think its been quite clear the only real thing Chelsea is trying to achieve is results in terms of trophies, and expanding the fan-base. Which I think is fair for a club still trying to establish its stamp the way clubs like Barca and Bayern already have. Integrating youth and having a better style of play are secondary objectives. Some of the long-time supporters of the club may not think along these lines, but this is what football is these days. A business. You could argue that another manager could have come in 2013 and integrated the entire youth pool we had available then including DeBruyne and Lukaku, but it would have taken him a very long time to achieve immediate results. You may disagree, but it would have been a long time before we saw Chelsea's fifth league title if we had gone down that route.

Best not remind anyone that the same Arsenal failed to create squat a few weeks ago at the bridge. Or failed horribly in their first two games of the CL. Nope, we should just keep painting a one-sided picture as always

What is one supposed to say about Peace's post though? He says stability is established by the club having an identity in terms of playing style and then he goes on to use Barcelona as an example. In my opinion, the two worst examples to use in football are Barcelona and Alex Ferguson, because there's nothing like them.

They are playing like frauds. The whole lot of them in fact, with maybe exception to Azpilicueta and the GK. I can accept that they are lacking confidence upfront, and are not able to create a decent chance of that, but in the past three matches they have been going AWOL when it comes to pressing the opposition and closing down space. They don't cover for each other, they refuse to track back.., and put in limp tackles. These are the basics, and you can't forgive them for failing in this. When Mane from Southampton does 10 times of what Hazard has done in recent matches, you know that the team is just caving in for the opposition. No fight in the whole lot of them. I don't trust them to recover even if we bring in a new manager at this point.

Probably the one reason I would take for not sacking the manager right now...They don't look like they have the guts to turn things if we bring on an interim.

Captain John Terry's feeling right now:

I really hope someone else can convince Mourinho to drop Ivanovic, even if its only for alternate games. On current form and fitness he shouldn't start any match, let alone 2 matches in a week If he wants 'leadership' in the team, stick with Terry.

I honestly think that even if we just play all three Brazilians together, Oscar, Willian and Ramires together in the starting 11, the results will improve because of the work-rate and chemistry alone. Since we don't have an English core atm, might as well try a Brazilian one

Haha, tbh I'm also a bit surprised that you're so critical of late, Muzchap. Maybe, we should all just take a break and come back when things have 'cooled down'.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=90&v=XcDtIZcGw5I Vintage Drogba here. Montreal also have the same kind of 'Drogba legend' banner hanging in their stadium

Those expecting that sacking the manager will bring about a revival in our fortunes just like seasons past, better think twice. There is a serious lack of leadership on the pitch at this point, and is one of the main reasons why our team performed in a differently in the two halves of today's game. Lampard, Cole, left,followed by Drogba, Cech, and the only other leader remaining in the squad doesn't have a secure spot in the starting 11. Its not like 2012, when the squad could pretty much take care of itself regardless of who was managing it.

If you look at the video closely from 0:46 onward, you can see Michael Emenalo creep into the background