CHOULO19

Was it him or Oscar that gave the ball away?

Don't know about Jose's "reluctance" to play Mikel, he's played more than KDB so far and if the past two games indicate anything is that maybe Jose is starting to realize that we need him, especially against teams with a decent midfield. For me Ramires-Mikel has to be our first choice pair for the pivot.

That's not true. We were lucky that we had one of the most lenient refs in Europe yesterday because he made 3-4 bookable challenges and the one he was actually booked for I've seen players sent off for because his studs were up.

@Barbara, here are a few stats and facts for the Fulham game from the Football App if you want to use some of them: -Chelsea have won 7 and lost none of the last 14 PL derbies with Fulham. - Fulham have conceded more corners so far in the PL than any other side (32). - If goals from strikers were excluded, Chelsea would be top of the table. - Jose Mourinho has never lost a PL home match. - The last non-British manager Jose faced in the PL was Martin Jol back in April 2007 when Chelsea beat Tottenham 1-0. - Jol has lost both his PL matches at the Bridge as Tottenham manager but has drawn both the two matches as Fulham manager. - Fulham have managed only 11 shots from inside the box so far this season; a divisional low. - Fernando Torres is yet to record a shot on target in the PL in 126 minutes of action. - Fulham won only one of their London away derbies in the 2012-13 PL season. - Samuel Eto'o could become the ninth Africa player to score for Chelsea in the PL after Weah, Babayaro, Geremi, Drogba, Essien, Kalou, Moses and Ba.

Of course. That's what makes it funny. Just like the JT infidelity jokes, or the jokes with him on all the finish lines and celebrations, or the ones about Mikel scoring..etc It's just childish banter that is part of football.

Wait, you have a bullet-proof car? EDIT: Sorry, didn't see the bigger picture there Glad you'e alright, mate.

Term must be sooo pissed right now!

Agreed. I'd sooner rotate keepers than CBs. The understanding and communication between the two is just so important to how well a team defends.

Moaning about Lukaku won't change anything. And he'd probably been lost in the Basel defense yesterday.

If the problem is that we can't win the midfield and dominate teams, then the ideal solution is hardly to play an attacking midfielder deeper and give him more defensive duties than he is used to.

I'd trade you for that anytime. I hate hot weather. In the cold, you can just wear more clothes, but what do you do when it's 35-40 degrees?

You alright?

I mostly agree, but let's be fair, if at 1-0, while we're having our best spell of the game and missing chances for fun, Jose brings on JT for Cahill, it would have been called a "Benitez-substitution". MVG is better defensively (well usually he is, although he wasn't yesterday), but Josh is better on the ball and in his reading of the game. I think the "deal-breaker" is MVG's strength and physical ability as compared to Josh.

I love those. But of course, here, we only wear them in winter. Our autumn is mostly sunny with about 25 degrees

Hey, it was an Android vs other stuff debate!!

No idea where the criticism is coming from, he was probably our best player yesterday after Oscar. He read the game brilliantly well and defended brilliantly, especially in the first half. I think I remember he made one mistake in the second half but Iva made amends. That's about everything you could criticize him for yesterday. But on the other hand his will to actually do something with the ball is what brought about the first goal. His dribbling forward forced Basel out of shape. This why he could be so effective for our attacks when playing at CB. That was kind of the whole joke!

I said this elsewhere, and I'll say it again: I find it completely incomprehensible that Jose feels the need to Rotate JT and Oscar and not Cole and Iva. Should have really started yesterday instead of Cahill who could have done better for both goals.

Any player, regardless of how strong his personality is, needs to perform well to be able to trust his own ability and do things right. If you've played any kind of sport, you'd have experienced that first hand. He's 20 years old, and his first start for the club, which coincided with his CL debut is a HUGE deal for him. The fact that he did badly will no doubt have a negative effect on his confidence. How he deals with that is an entirely different, character-based, story. Quit trying to pick a fight with your shadow.

If he's annoying you, then just put him on ignore for a few days.

Brilliantly put. Completely agree.

Alright lads, let's tone this down before it turns into a fight, please.

I agree with @Special Juan, this was not the game to start him. If Jose wants to give him minutes then let him come off the bench in games like this and start him against Hull and Swindon. This game won't do much good to his confidence, I'm afraid, or the manager's confidence in him. Only positive was his passing which was excellent, to be fair. But of course we all have the gift of hind-sight and I could totally see why Jose started him before the game.

Yes, but they couldn't just wait, they had to defend and defend well. I thought tactically they were incredible. Never lost their shape in the opening 45 mins except when Luiz came dribble forward and forced them to at the end of the game. Honestly I'm more upset about Hazard's miss. Oscar's shot was unlucky, but Hazard should have scored. So should have Iva with a couple of great chances from headers. The first was straight at the keeper and the second was cleared off the line by a defender. Like I said in the match thread, it's a game of tiny margins.

Was expecting both him and Azpi to start yesterday. Still don't understand why they didn't. We could have really used the extra energy and width they provide. I find it mind-numbing that Jose feels the need to rotate JT and Oscar but not Iva and Cole!

English players are always hyped beyond belief. I mean 2 of three English player playing getting the highest rating in the team even though they were both bad is nothing new. He made a few of his usual positioning mistakes (and a couple of his last-ditch tackle to be fair). I have no idea why Jose feels JT needs to be rotated.