Blue Armour

And this is where you've interpreted it wrong...what Mourinho really said was that to marry good football with good results, you need good composure and ability to make the most of the chances the team creates, or else the team would get licked time and again...just Arsenal have against United and Chelsea from 2008-2012 (the current Arsenal can't even create quality chances against these sides). We played against Liverpool that way because we went behind and had no choice. Plus we had a better line-up for that day. He never said he was going to abandon good football permanently, just to get results

Maybe not lots, but regarding the first half of this season he does have a point,.. The first match against Hull which finished only 2-0, the loss against Stoke away and the loss against Everton away....good football, good chances, but lack of composure in front of goal produced disastrous/lackluster results.

There are two things here: 1. Mourinho's cricism of Hazard 2. Hazard's apparent criticism of Chelsea's style of play. Regarding the first,..I don't really recall Ronaldo coming under fire from Mourinho for his performances but in any case,. Ronaldo was already established, and doesn't have anything to prove to Mourinho..he had already won the Ballon d'Or before he even came under his management, so if he doesn't agree with his critcism its fair. Hazard cannot justify himself the same way. About the second,...those are sound-bytes the press got from a player who had a really frustrating match. There's bound to be negativity and its that negativity that's being blown out of proportion. Mourinho himself has disregarded those comments (publicly, at least) saying they were being taken out of context. Again, the Madrid thing is an exception, rather than a rule...In Inter, Chelsea and Porto, Mourinho had a left a core of players that were still grateful to him.

I never said you couldn't. I just said any complaint about his performance in the Athletico match is just a fallout from that poor result

While it is reminiscent of his criticism of Joe Cole....I don't see a big issue. Hazard is not an established player yet like Ronaldo, and this is the time when he should use every bit of criticism aimed at him for improving himself. Yes Mourinho has taken a gamble by putting comments out in public...But what of Hazard? Is he going to cry and throw his toys out of his pram, or is he going to come back stronger? If he's the player we hope he's going to become it should be the latter.

Yes...Torres can indeed be spoken about in a Torres thread..and your point is?

So please stop panicking

And this is Rob Beasley's latest: ROB ‏@1RobBeasley 4h Diego Costa will sign for #cfc in the summer Expand Reply Retweet Favorite More ROB ‏@1RobBeasley 4h Jose's done the deal!!!!!! Expand

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/27242327

Meh...anyone complaining about Torres of all players after last night is simply looking for a poor excuse for what went wrong.

True, and that was the case even when Essien was at CDM. The rules change when it comes to Mikel, and its probably because he doesn't have the energy to track back after going up the pitch.

Put in a real good shift today...stifling Sterling in the opening exchanges. A real hard worker, and an influence in our big games. Don't recall him getting dispossessed either..

I'm sure TX would have wished he was wearing his full suit as well...

True..but it would have been impossible for him to get much worse. With us, anyways.

Not with this man in charge

Beautiful.

Really? I too wouldn't go far as saying he's world class, but I think as far as CB's go he's pretty decent on the ball. Sure he can't pull a long pass like JT or Luiz but I've rarely seen him pressured into losing it.

True...he isn't suited to a holding midfield role. He's better off playing as wide midfielder, in a 4-3-3 or 4-4-2 like you said. In Chelsea's current set-up he does look out of place.

True...selling him for a big amount is one thing. But players who play with a machine-like tempo are a rare commodity in football. His technical ability can be cringeworthy at times, but I still feel people are reacting too harshly over his performances this latter part of the season. He's been in and out of the side in 2014, and hasn't had time to settle..thought he was better in the earlier part of the season.

Technically he never said anything insulting about them, so I'd like to see how the FA can prove otherwise. The mongs are probably just trying to ruffle Mourinho's feathers. And is this any surprise? With United on the wane (for now at least), the FA would no doubt want to promote their next biggest item (in terms of league titles and fan-base) Liverpool

Don't forget rest. Plenty of rest. The number of games played for Brazil and Chelsea played over the past several months have taken their toll, no doubt.

Should have been replaced at half-time. Mourinho was probably giving him game time thinking he wouldn't get any...but he's not the right person to have on the pitch when the opposition sits back. From his body-language in recent games, you can sense his frustration most likely borne from his poor form and that frustration isn't helping him at all.

Agree with that..and I think if he hadn't had those two injury layoffs this season, that form could have continued.. Still, not a good enough excuse for his current form and Ba fully deserves to move up the pecking order.

True the safest option is Eto'o for most games. Don't want to sound ungrateful, but the best thing about Ba is that he can make the most of half-chances. Take away that goal against Swansea (and Vorm nearly pulled a save from that one), and there's not much to talk about except maybe for that back-heel flick which helped put Salah through on goal.