OneMoSalah

Nobody gave us a chance last season either though particularly after the first half. Also vs Barca nobody gave us a chance and we should have won the game. These things are possible but it will be tough and a week after that second half performance vs United, the team needs to stand up and be counted. Would be good but like you said we need to be clinical and City need to play a bit poorer.

Out with a hamstring injury, which is a shame because I think he could have been useful against United. For an attacking midfield player hes quite a physical player, takes the ball well on the half turn, would of opened up a bit more room for us in the final third imo, only criticism I'd have of our first half is we only got behind United twice, I think somebody like Barkley taking the ball on the half turn in certain areas could of allowed us to break through them a bit quicker and get in behind more.

Tbf its easy to say that and in some ways I agree but at 24, a year or two in China, makings shed loads of money, he could go and do what Paulinho did for instance... from what I could see he wasn't playing as often at Atletico and when he did play was quite poor in comparison to what he had showed beforehand for them, also he had fallen out with certain members of their training staff as well (or so I thought I read?). Its an odd one but it could rebuild his career if its a short term solution. He won't be first or last guy to do this either, to move to China at a younger age, I mean Oscar did it too... although I am glad we found somebody who was willing to pay what they did for him because he was beyond average.

To be honest, if we finish inside the top 4 (its still possible), tie Hazard and Courtois down on new deals in the summer and make some good purchases will we still be in crisis? I think its inevitable regardless of who's in charge, we will sign at least 4 or 5 players in the summer, purely because I doubt that whatever manager and the club is so blind to see that we desperately need to rejuvenate parts of the squad, particularly wing backs/full backs and attack, after the whole I need new players talk from Conte and also the fact we've signed some second rate footballers recently. I think if we get Hazard and Courtois on new deals for the summer it will set a good precedent and the club will hopefully try to build on that because they along with Kante and Azpi are crucial to our team. I don't think we are that much off many of the other teams, certainly the likes of United, Liverpool and Spurs. City maybe we are a bit off but who isn't? Lets say a new right wing back, another winger, a better CM to play with Kante... think the likes of Morata (first half of season was good, second half so far not so good), Barkley, Emerson and (despite my reluctance to say this as he has been a disaster for us so far) Bakayoko will all be better next season (well surely he can't be any worse?). Also if we change manager, like we seen with Conte last year, it could also rejuvenate players who have under performed (although I don't think we should be looking to change manager as the first resort, its hardly like Conte has said the players betrayed him or anything like Jose did) but who knows? Any manager who comes in has got a much better platform than we all think at this moment in time if last season is anything to go on (considering how shockingly poor Hazard, Costa, Azpi, Courtois and the rest of the squad was in comparison to their usual standards), even more so if Hazard and Courtois stay and sign new deals. If they don't, its a bit more difficult but they will still have guys like Azpi, Christensen (will be a key player for sure in our future) and Kante to build around and a bit more money to spend.

A repeat of last seasons result would be nice. Think this game will actually be quite close, I know we've had dodgy results and performances lately but can see us upping it for this game.

I think last season he looked good because the amount of times he actually faced up against opponents 1 v 1 was very minimal because full backs weren't sure to pick up Willian or Pedro or the actual wing back themselves, we could always overload centrally or have Willian/Pedro come out wide to create 2 v 1s in wider positions. When hes got space to run into from diagonals or whatever hes a different player because he doesn't have to do anything particularly spectacular except be there. His ability to take players on, for a former winger, is shocking. His end product is even worse. I thought last season he'd turned a corner and looked like he could of been a more than decent player here but this season, backwards steps.

He’s still arguably one of the top 5 CFs on the planet. If we have a chance and don’t take it because of his age we are stupid.

Honestly thought he was good in the football or first half too. Always seemed to be in right place. Obviously second half he went up another level as they did but

Tbf we all thought the same thing prior to the Barca game and in all fairness we did pretty well. Only thing is its almost impossible which Chelsea will turn up now a days.

There's still so many aspects of Morata's game that trump Lukaku's, I think scoring 20 plus a season consistently might take a while for Morata but I reckon he'll get there eventually but again as a CF when you've got Willians, Pedros, Hazards, Cescs all playing you've got to be able to do more than just get on the end of things. I think despite the lack of goals Morata is better suited to our team than Lukaku would be. I think we'll see a difference next season, Morata has got a good level of ability and I think a years experience of ups and downs in the PL will go a long way in his progression.

Selling him was incredibly stupid. Regardless of who we replaced him with, he has a good balance of technical and physical attributes and in certain games (like today) they would of been very useful. Today for them he was pretty fucking good. Like arguably the best player on the pitch.

100% but even then the club has to compete financially with the bigger clubs again in order to really progress, regardless of the coach or style. The transfer markets so inflated now a days 40m gets you Bakayoko, 5 years ago 40m got you Ozil or Sanchez etc so we cannot afford to dilly dally about penny pinching for the more established players if they are what we need or the coach wants. I generally hope Conte gets another summer and season to try and fix the problems we have and try another title challenge because he has shown that he can build a team like he did at Juventus. More technically proficient players would be a bonus as well, although Id still like to see us get another one or two bigger athletic players who have a pretty good technical skill set as well, Matic's been a huge loss and today showed that big time.

He had a few shots, was always willing to take people on, maybe he overdone it at times, maybe not but he always was more likely to do something than Eden was in the second half, where we were quite poor in comparison to the first half. Eden took the easy option almost every time. "Hazard really wasn't as bad as you're making him out to be?" He vanished again in the second half of the second big match we've played in the space of maybe a week... he 'wasn't that bad', ok mate, if he played like he did in the first half in the second half I could see why you'd say that but he didn't, he was anonymous. Its a bit of a recurring theme in some matches, when we play good hes outstanding but when it gets a bit tougher he can fold, fair enough everyone can at times but his ability seems to buy him a lot of slack, when we play badly so many other players get criticised but when anybody tries to say anything about Hazard its too far or stupid or its not his fault its the managers fault etc. I'm just as much of a fan of him as anybody but nobody is immune to criticism, nobody is far too good that when they don't play well that they don't deserve to be criticised. Christensen has made 2 or 3 mistakes in the space of 2 games, although hes had a very good season but still people have said (myself included) that they were his errors. People pointing out Hazard disappearing/playing poorly or calling him a back heel merchant and it becomes fucking DEFCON 1. In contrast saying Gary Cahill or Marcos Alonso had a decent game and its "what the fuck are you on about?" Tbf the way that second half was going, if we could of gotten 1-1, fair enough. First half we should of scored more, Morata was unlucky with that chance that hit the bar and also in second half he wasn't offside but this issue has been affecting the team for a while, we never kill teams off or get that crucial second goal, 1-0 up we concede the equaliser but we were much better than United in the first half. United probably went in at the break lucky that they were still in the match but then they came out a different proposition all together. Even in the past in big games, we could play shit and still win because big personalities like Drogba, Terry, Lampard, these leaders on the pitch knew how to help the team and to grind out poor periods of matches. I don't see anyone in our team in that mould. If we got the 1-1 after that second half it would be that's actually not that bad, lets be honest because we didn't follow up our first half performance. Mourinho used to do it for years when he was here in PL and Europe. Conte isn't spectacular with his subs I'll agree and was surprised with Drinkwater inclusion today but thought that generally over his time here he has got the bigger calls right, maybe not as often this season but generally in his time as a whole, we've done alright in that regard to when to close up a game or when not to. Its a weird one though, 75 mins in at Old Trafford, 1-1, you've been outplayed since HT, I'd of preferred to see Giroud come on maybe and go a bit more direct but again Pedro's a good option on the counter too.He could of done any and if the result was the same, forum would meltdown.

Drogba played shit almost the whole season in 2011-12 but when it came to the big crunch, games against Napoli, Barca, Bayern, where we needed to do something, he did something. He was the ultimate big game player who had that mentality, ok I only need one chance, remember watching the CL final, some point after he scored that header we got a freekick about 40 yards out, he was like fuck it I'm having this, fair enough he punted it about 10 feet over the bar but he came alive in big moments in games. We've not got enough guys like that and it is frightening because you could always associate Chelsea with having that, big game players, maybe we'd be playing poorly but you knew we always had a chance because Drogba would dig you out of a hole, or Lampard would, or Terry would etc. Not going to lie Matic was huge for them today, he was everywhere, we could of done with a bit of that to help Kante out.

Big question, 3 in MF or 3 up front?

Would be a big upgrade on what we've got, although right wing back is a nightmare to buy for though because even then hes not really an excellent player, Azpilicueta is probably just as good an option for RWB. Like in terms of commitment and an enthusiastic approach, you'll 100% get that from Florenzi but technically still hes not amazing surely his crosses cant be any worse than Moses though? I think we'll go back to a back 4 if Conte goes.

So frustrating to watch. First half he was okay but there was several moments where he took Young on, beat him but then fucking went back to try skin him again. Second half every cross was hit at 100mph straight into the first man. His defensive work is pretty decent for a former winger but in big games being decisive in the final third is crucial and hes struggled with that big time in his whole career.

Well people keep banging on about subbing Morata instead of Hazard so for Pedro to come on for them it would of meant a false 9? Although I agree Giroud should of come on earlier yes and Cesc also should have come on a lot earlier but regardless of who should have come on and who shouldn't have the way I'm looking at it is, Willian in the last 2 games today and against Barca has looked better and much more decisive than Hazard. He looked tired too but I think it was the right move to keep him on as he was more lively and I'd imagine the chances of him scoring/assisting second half were higher than Eden and fair enough he lost the ball a lot more but he was our best player again and to be fair to him in the last wee while has been in better form. Would you honestly have taken Willian off if it was Willian or Hazard for Pedro? Not a chance. If Pedro came on and had a positive impact nobody would say anything. Hazard's disappearing act in a huge match wouldn't be mentioned either. Lets face it Hazard was anonymous, shit, whatever other word you want to put in, in the second half. Maybe Conte settled for a draw maybe not with the sub, my problem is as well people keep bringing up stupid stats about dribbles and key passes like they are vital to who gets subbed or who shouldn't get subbed (I reckon 75% of those stats he picked up in the first half too), regardless of performance, the only thing vital in terms of statistics is the score in the top left of the television screen and we lost today because we conceded two shit goals, played an overall poor second half after being more than good enough first half, not because we subbed our best player who was under performing while it was 1-1. United came out second half and were quicker all over the pitch than we were. People complaining about one little substitute, when in all fairness like I've said its not like Hazard was playing excellently or warranting not to be substituted. Not even surprised anymore that it is more Hazard FC than Chelsea FC. Conte thread as well, just would like to say that the manager always trumps players.

Yeah totally agree. I think at times too, in the other games, he just looked as if he oozes confidence and maybe got a bit overconfident or complacent at times, sometimes with his decisions to pass instead of maybe just clear it, although 99/100 times he is spot on with his decisions and maybe its only come to conceding a throw in or a corner but like we seen vs Barca, eventually against a bigger side something will happen. He doesn't take as many risks as Luiz and is 10 times the defender in my eyes but hes still got a bit to learn, game management, communication (although I think hes been pretty impressive in that regard a lot for somebody so young in a back 3 with guys who have maybe 200-300 more career games than he does). For me hes been one of our stand out players and will be captain here one day (unless we fuck that up) but few moments like this at his age, with a manager like Conte, who will do what he did after the Barcelona game, back him up and talk him up, wont hurt his development at all. John Stones at Man City, another guy who struggled big time last year under Pep but was always actively encouraging him to do what he was doing, talked him up at every chance, looks 10 times the player he was the season before. Still think Christensen will be a better player than him too and perhaps already is but thats another debate for another day. Its a shame though, because like when you play in goals, when you make a mistake as a CB it more than likely causes a goal.

That is all well and good but games aren't won by how many passes you complete or how many dribbles you complete. Games are won by goals and he looked less likely to score or create a goal than Willian and there was no way with Morata on and Giroud on the bench, Conte was going to play a false 9 system at 1-1. If you think that he was going to then I don't even know... If he did that he would of gotten criticised even more. Genuinely don't see what the massive fuss was, its not as if Hazard was playing amazing before he got subbed? If he was okay yeah fair enough but he wasn't. I could get it if he was playing great, looking likely to score or whatever but he wasn't so honestly not sure what the fuss is. Most of them stats, the dribbles, key passes, whatever I bet most of them were accumulated in the first half.

Defo agree. Personally I think it was the right move to swap him out because Willian was playing better (and although Morata was poor playing with a false 9 would of been daft) but the way United came out second half made it a different proposition all together. This is my only concern with Hazard he can brilliant in periods for the 45 minutes then disappears after HT or whatever. No player can play excellently for 90 minutes 40-50 times a season but these sort of games (United, Barca, City whoever) he needs to be a bit more than good for one half. I was disappointed with him in the Barca game because he started good for maybe 15 minutes after we really got into it then was pretty much forgotten about. He is the main guy here and obviously a level above a lot of our players but that alone seems to buy him immunity from criticism. In hindsight if that was Pedro who started and disappeared after HT then people would not hesitate to say na get him off hes doing fuck all. I think even with Eden on we'd still have lost because we were slowly getting deeper and deeper, losing second balls and letting United come onto us.

Seriously unsure if he'll last if City pump us and we go out against Barca in a similar manner. If he gets us past Barca, okay he'll probably get more of a chance to try take us as far as he can go in the CL but starting to think if he doesn't leave at the end of the season, then maybe he gets sacked. We've lost v Bournemouth, Watford, United in space of like 5 weeks, throw in maybe getting beat by City and Barca... not sure what the big man up top will be contemplating.

Yeah 100% agree, pity because I hoped Pedro's willingness to run in behind and try stretch United would of helped us big time but it never came. Willian looked pretty knackered near the end but was always more likely to conjure something up out of any of our attackers. Cesc should have played from the start today I think, first half he would of had all the space in the world and then hes a different element all together, United and in particular Matic, Pogba and McTominay got really involved in the second half, started picking up a lot of second balls, getting in the faces of our MF. Bakayoko for Matic has to be the worst replacement we've done in years.

Onside for that goal but anonymous second half. First half was a tiny bit better (if he scored that goal maybe different story all together) but still should be doing more in terms of his overall performance. His confidence looks quite shot, which is a shame because he was good at the start of the season. I think he'll be okay next season, needs to eat a few big meals over the summer and gain a bit of weight though because for all his skills ie holding the ball, linking with others he gets knocked down far too often. Contrast between his performance against United at the Bridge and today was scary. Lukaku's issue has always been goals in big fixtures, apparently this was his first goal for United against a top 6 team and that I'm not surprised about one bit. Wasn't really a game for CFs today, Lukaku got going in bursts but again not really consistent throughout the match.

Yes he can but in all fairness, like vs Barcelona, the chances didn't look highly probable that he was going to.And yeah maybe Conte's maybe thinking 1-1, take a draw fuck it as well but we've been poor second half in comparison to the first. Two basic goals to concede. I didn't think Morata was as bad in the first half but hes been pish second half. Giroud, Pedro, Cesc all subbed on 10 mins too late.