The Rising Sun

3-1 atletico . dont know what to expect

Mourinho is surely going to play a 4-4-2 next season, or a 4-1-3-2. I think he has learnt that times have changed from his previous stint at Chelsea. The truth is that your midfield can only do their bit with goals, and that too only for a certain amount of time. Over the season they cant keep doing it. Having only one striker in the team also means that the other striker will not be top class, and is too much of a risk nowdays with injuries, suspensions etc., as the nature of the game has changed from before. Having two world class strikers in your team means one thing : GOALS! Even if one gets injured, the machine keeps moving forward. Add to that, the fact that the midfield will not be under pressure to score all the time, and that keeps them inclined to play for the team, rather than go for stupid solo efforts alot of times , as we have seen later in this season. I truly believe the game has moved forward, and specifically for us, it will benefit us tremendously. Rooney - Costa ? Costa - Lukaku ? Cavani - Costa ? The honest and exciting truth this transfer window will be : what exactly Jose decides to do. There are a good amount of options and a great chance to change our clubs philosophy to move in a different direction. I believe in a 2 striker system and formation will take us up so many notches, its too exciting to think about. 4-1-3-2 allows us to keep the 3 behind the striker the same as we have had, keeping the continuity. Matic owns the Pivot position. Defense is phenomenal already. Its just the 2 upfront. Jose, Please do this!!!!

All we want is a better brand of football. Jose is experienced enough and a great manager. It is not that he can not play such football, but simply whether he will want to play that brand of exciting footy vs an efficient style. I hope its the former next season. Who said we cant win the league playing some sexy stuff?

It doesn't matter if you don't agree. It doesn't change the deeper reality of the issue

ok

agree to disagree then. azpi pen was a ref blunder. Not ours IMO.

"We were better and unlucky this whole season" I think we havent been great this whole season, but have mostly managed the wins, and points. I dont think we lost because we got unlucky today, even at 1-1 we didnt do enough to win it.

Glorious opportunities missed - yes we had 2 penalties - not really. Those were mostly shouts in desperation rather than any proper foul being commited. Keep in mind Ramires should have been off early, so we got lucky

That was well deserved. If Mourinho plans to play such football in todays day and age and expect to win titles, glad he is being proved wrong this season rather than next. He must start coaching players on how to play quick, entertaining, creative football. Being solid at the back and scoring 1 goal a game, sometimes 2 is not sexy, its quite embarrassing for a club which spent 100's of millions, bought the best talent around for attacking. and then telling them to be solid and compact. Congratulations Sunderland. no matter how tough it gets, no matter how inferior your players are, you are trying to play good football under your new manager, and that does yield results. Well played. As for us. Players should be ashamed , manager too.

I hope we see good football next season. Have been saying this all along, but most fans only care about 3 points nowdays. This will be the biggest test for Mourinho in the summer, and i fear if he buys costa, we arent changing our boring style much, just getting a guy who can finish and bag 3 points, without really playing entertaining football. Please prove me wrong. Im really tired of this seasons boring performances, bar a few good games. We hardly even counter attack anymore. Hazard used to make the games interesting to watch because he is positive and takes on players. The rest of them most of the time seem lost for ideas unless an opponent makes a mistake, or we have a great curler finish. Last soooooo many games ive read the stats, all with 30 shots, 3 on target. This is not a striker problem alone, it is bigger than that. And this is not a transition season, it is just a season without a good striker. We have transitioned, and last season was the culmination of that change with hazard oscar azpi settling in. It would have been a tragedy for football if we won the PL this season playing the way we have, for the most part. There would have been no pride in winning, no boasting. Liverpool and BR deserve it. dont know why people cant appreciate good football and give them the respect and admiration they have earnt. Yes there will be a media wankfest when they win, so what, it will die down. Request for next season : Jose, please take a leaf from BR's book and lets actually play good football. rather than this efficient, we got the result, thats all that matters mode of football. Not this style next season please. It is embarassing. However, The CL is a different monster, and we have played tactically well and with more heart as the games are one offs.

I think the chances of a draw vs Liverpool are 50% loss vs Liverpool are 30% Win vs Liverpool are 20% Certainly going to be a tough game. Dont think City will win the title regardless of this result though. The will drop atleast 2 points.

wont courtois only have a year left on his contract if we loan him to atletico again next season. I remember there being some sort of ruling that if a player is not played by the parent club for a certain amount of time, certain amount of appearances, they can buy out their contract before its expiry. Not sure on that one, however. point being that if we loan him again, and he doesnt sign a contract extension, which is likely, we will lose out bigtime on his transfer fee. Unless, ofcourse we are selling him to atletico and getting costa.

Oscar is a really intelligent player, no doubt. I really think at some time in his career he will become world class, but probably in the DP position, being the attacking element sitting along a Defensive DP like Matic. Then he can spread the game and control it, and score a few goals as well. The reason i make such an assumption is that i feel he isnt fast enough to be a world class offensive front midfielder. He is an intelligent player who sees a pass, and sees the move while it is beginning to make that final incisive pass. He can hustle and tackle. That all makes for a fantastic link up player for transition and control rather than an all out forward player like the hazards of this world. Not certain about this thought though, This was somewhat a breakout season for him, and next season should be the final indicator of where exactly he is going to play for the rest of his career. In the game against Swansea for instance, even when they had 10 men, we simply couldnt make a transition which felt fluid, until oscar came on, picked the ball deep and orchestrated. The moment that change happened, every one ahead of him seemed to know what to do, and how to play 1-2's, thereby creating a systematic approach to attack, rather than the haphazard rubbish we watched in the first half. I would personally love to watch a DP of Oscar Matic, with the front 3 ahead being Hazard Willian and Salah with Cavani Upfront. That would be devastating. Or a 4-4-2 with Hazard Oscar Matic Willian/salah with Cavani Lukaku upfront.

Well i hope one day comes where we win the league, and do so proudly, playing attractive football. Southampton have similar aged players, so do Everton, and to some extent Liverpool. We have been transitioning for too long now, and we still play the same football, the only difference is that with Mourinho, we eek out wins.

Liverpool deserve to win the title this season, but you dont always get what you deserve. We have had alot of those moments in the CL in the past few years, Barca, united come to mind. We need to appreciate them for what they have accomplished and respect them as title contenders from now on, favourites at this point of time. But if we can steal it then why not. We need to win it for Lampard, Ba, Cole and the rest who will be gone as a parting gift. Liverpool for Gerrard, and Brendan Rodgers. Should be quite a game. Hope we get our shit together before that game.

dont know where we are going as a team. what is our attacking philosophy? I hope buying a striker is not the only thing we do in the summer. We must learn how to pick teams apart and have some panache, not these ugly 1-0 wins, today against 10 men Whatever. 3 points in the bag. Nothing more.

It will be an incredible shame for Liverpool and City if we win the title this year, playing the way we have. The positive for us is that next season we will have strikers. I really hope we start playing good football next season. This season has been largely dull.

We have been stockpiling the top players for a few years now, apart from a striker. If we still dont have the players, after spending another 100 million or so this season, and about similar amounts the season before, then we are in trouble!

We have now failed to score in 4 HOURS of away football in the Premier League

People arent moaning even though we have created 3 chances in 45 minutes, its becuase it is only 3 chances while playing against 10 men for 30 minutes, and still being static in play rather than showing some drive. We SHOULD eventually get our goal, but nothing is certain. Even if we do, then we're just getting 3 points, and not feeling any better for it. We must do better while the game is in play.

Ramires is useless in most matches, not just this type of match

Swansea playing better football than us WITH 10 MEN. We need to play good football, not just compact football " we are compact at the back, everyone has defensive resposibilities, and we dont concede' type of football. I really hope for all the money we spend, we actually coach our players in attack transition and pace. This is Uninspiring to say the least.

We might win the title, but we need to play much better,faster and exciting football for us to really become a team which is enjoyable to watch. We are good at grinding out results for a while now, except that one kalouda season where we scored 103 goals. Watching liverpool play really gets me jealous, and deep inside, i know that i would give anything for chelsea to start playing good football again.

I honestly feel that David Luiz must be a part of Chelsea's DNA in the future, while on the other hand, another brazilian, Ramires, while he has done so much for us, should be the one we let go. Neither of them are our first choice pivots, and that being so, i would rather have luiz rather than ramires if i had to choose between them.

Selling Luiz will be a huge mistake and quite a joke for us really. He is fantastic in Midfield on most occasions, and has never really faltered in big games throughout the season. We have only lost like 5-6 games all season, and he does slot in with matic really well when tasked with that responsibility. On top of that, he is such a multi dimensional player, can fill in when needed in Defence, spread the game well, move it forward, and the odd free kick, tackling and bullying. On top of that, he oozes passion and PLAYS FOR THE SHIRT. If we fill our team with technical players and sell the ones with heart and spirit, it will truly be a tragedy. P.S. Just because he isnt a monster sometimes and makes mistakes here and there, Doesnt mean we NEED to sell him. He is improving and flourishing under Jose, can only get better, and is only getting better.