OneMoSalah

Mikel, de Bruyne, whoever I don't necessarily care because I'd prefer to see someone else play there as Lampard is in really bad form right now and doesn't suit that position.

Bertrand is another good shout and for an attacking sense I agree that he should be playing at LB as he can support Hazard/Schurrle but so can Azpi, just against Schalke and West Brom I noticed that he was always tucking in at times so we were defending very narrow, probably tactical instructions more than anything though. He can get forward at times to, just he comes onto his right foot as he prefers it but I agree that Bertrand should get a chance at LB too.

We lacked his off the ball runs against West Brom. Hazard is a better dribbler but he still doesn't look to make penetrable runs in between the full back and center back like Schurrle does. I like how a lot of German players who play on the wings look to get into these positions, running between the full back and center back to try and get into scoring positions. Perhaps you don't think its much but its something that only Schurrle seems to do regularly in our team. Even if he doesn't get the ball if he makes the run he takes an opposition player with him or opens up space.

He can have as much as he wants, can't put a price on winning the CL. Even though thinking that Robbie was making £130k per week is crazy, I doubt Mourinho is even on something significantly more than that.

Does anyone think Azpi looks a bit bigger or bulkier in comparison to last year? Anyway, he's been excellent at LB and long may he continue there until Cole gets the finger out. Like Mata he seems to be using his weaker foot much more often too, see he has tried to improved himself a lot by the looks of it physically and technically. Hopefully he'll get a turn at RB at some point too, he's been excellent in the 2 games at LB though.

Surprised Phil Driver hasn't asked the BBC can he vote for Lampard yet.

Hes hardly wasting his career away, hes a young lad who still needs to work hard, adapt to a new system, a different philosophy, a new mentality and wait his chance. This isn't Belgium and no disrespect to the Belgian national team here but they don't have a better wide right sided player than Kevin de Bruyne. He will always be picked for Belgium, hes got to hit that next level to be a regular at Chelsea. Leaving Chelsea on a permanent basis just because hes not getting games despite not being the best here would show one thing I think, that he isn't up for fighting for a place in the team even though he has openly said he is willing to. Jose wouldn't have kept him if he felt he wasn't useful, there will be injuries and suspensions where he will end up featuring. He hasn't fully adapted to the Prem I think, hes looked off the pace ever in all games he has played against English opposition except for maybe 20 minutes against Hull but they weren't in the game at all. Sure its hard to build up momentum when you're playing once every while but still, this is a massive club with massive resources, take your chance when you get it and you'll be in the team. Hasn't happened for him yet. Bit premature to say he should be sold because he can't get ahead of Mata, Oscar, Schurrle, Hazard, Willian... hes done very little in his career but he still has plenty of time.

He was absolutely dreadful against West Brom, he gave the ball away SO MANY TIMES. Probably the worst game I've ever seen Lampard play for Chelsea. Hes been a passenger for us for ages now, it was hard enough for us to play with 11 men against Schalke but when we are struggling with 10 men and a passenger vs West Brom then well what does that tell you? If Lamps had the energy, distribution, positional and tactical knowledge that a certain player we have (whos name I won't mention because everyone seems to fucking go mental everytime is name is mentioned) then sure I wouldn't mind him playing every week but still he is 35 years old which naturally means he is lacking the fitness levels of someone who is 23-30 year old, he doesn't have those certain skills and it is costing us dearly in games. Also when your game was based on getting into goal scoring positions from midfield and you have to readjust to a holding player with much more discipline at such an older age then its easy to say that readapting can be difficult.

3-0 win, Schurrle Eto'o and Ramires with the goals.

Hazard needs to get his finger out of his arse. He cannot afford not to play well at this club given the attacking midfielders we have. Its nothing to do with Mourinho's style or formation or more defensive work as EVERYONE is having to do defensive work. Blaming Jose's tactics or the pivot or Jose wanting players to defend is wrong. Hazard has been exceptional in one game; the Bayern game, no more than that.

Lampard started and if he is so superior to Mikel how come he gave the ball away a lot and his distribution was always more or less sideways or backwards no matter what? You make Lampard out to be some sort of 'world class' player when he is quite limited in the role he plays. He has never truly excelled at passing a football in the way Mikel has or retaining possession under pressure like Mikel has or filling gaps like Mikel has. His game was based on playing a box to box role and scoring goals. Its harder to play between two banks of 4, but still a lack of movement from the offensive players can also cause a problem when you're playing against this sort of set up. Honestly its either your opinion or nobodies when your 110% in the wrong 9 out of 10 ten times. It wasn't neccessairly Lampards fault for the Newcastle game but him being sloppy in possession at times along with Rami and their set up and lack of movement at times was a major thorn in our sides.

Perhaps I shouldn't have done that and should have just blocked him but seriously he is reminding me of that Madrid guy when he first came on here.

What? He is starting to annoy fuck out of me, if you don't have his opinion you are automatically wrong, despite what you've done Choulo backing up what you've said with videos and quotes from Jose's press conferences after the game. Not just in this thread but its nearly every fucking thread.

you are such a cunt you know that?

Goal has two mistakes in it. Firstly Cahill isn't aware of Aguero's positioning even though he should be. Secondly Cech made an arse of attempting to save it. Still if Cahill manages to catch him offside there is no goal or if Cech saves it there is no goal. Both mistakes are equally as bad I feel because if one of them doesn't make the mistake then its not a goal. Simple as that.

Half the team will be dropped after that shambolic second half performance against Newcastle, not just Luiz. I hope Lampard and Cole are also dropped, along with Luiz and Hazard.

Best CB in the Premier League right now based on his performances in the first 9 or 10 games.

Distin mate, its called good center forward play. Its called getting your body in between the ball and marker to draw fouls/hold it up/bring others into the game. Drogba was exceptional at that.

I think he could be benched for a few games and we could use him with 30 minutes to go or something when more spaces are likely to appear. He hasn't been anywhere near as good as I expected him to have come along under Robbie, Rafa and Jose. Schurrle's industrious and direct performances are improving and they are interesting, they could be vital to breaking teams down. Schurrle is perhaps not as good a player but unlike Hazard he doesn't stop to think about passing it back to the pivot or Cole, he just runs and runs and runs and runs even if he doesn't beat his man he keeps trying to. It seems instinctive, like what I'd expect it to be from Hazard but he doesn't seem to try and take his man on every or most opportunity that arises. Maybe some bench time would do him good, to be honest he doesn't actually look like he's in the greatest physical shape. He looks a bit tubby or he does in comparison to last year but maybe hes put a bit of body mass on to try improve his physical strength.

He can still do much more though. He is by far one of the most talented players in the world but when he's facing two or three players at a time then he can't create as much, as many players who have a similar playing style based on explosive speed and close control can't as their game is better when they are in 1 v 1 positions when there is space to exploit if they beat their man. Newcastle stopped him from being directly 1v1 with the fullback and restricted the space he could move into, when this sort of thing happens you want your supporting fullback or even a midfield runner to make a run to try and distract one of his markers to open up a pocket of space for a pass or a dribble or a shot or whatever. I was watching the Arsenal-Liverpool game and I seen a great example of this for Ramsey's goal, Ozil has the ball with two markers and Lucas Leiva was marking the space Ramsey got into, Rosicky made a clever run coming towards Ozil to ask for the ball and Lucas followed him, that opened up space and Ramsey exploited it to get the shot off after Ozil played it to him in that space. It can be the same out wide, if Cole makes a run off the ball into space he can take away a marker opening up space for a midfield runner to be found by Eden or space he can dribble into. I suppose though if teams are playing with 2 or 3 players marking one then players can also exploit that, didn't happen against Newcastle, nobody took a gamble to get into the spaces left occupied.

Say in 10 games, 7 or 8 games you'll get Luiz playing very well and 2 or 3 games you'll get him playing ok but with the odd fuck up. Hes not a liability as much, hes just unpredictable and can lack concentration. He has genuine world class ability.He can be one of the best ball playing center backs in the world. He has certain leadership qualities but being a leader you have to set an example, if he is going to do what he did vs Cardiff or something similar a few times every season then really is he a perfect candidate for captain? I don't know. His decision making has to improve, if he sorts that out along with some positioning issues he can have then he will become one of the most talented defenders Chelsea will have ever had. Its one thing doing it for Brazil but its another doing it for Chelsea. Also Cahill for captain, that's just laughable. Good back up, solid at times, typical English CB, passion and determination makes up for lack of genuine ability. I wouldn't let him be captain, hes English yes but that doesn't mean he deserves to be the next captain.

I am not completely sold on Coentrao defensively but he is one hell of an attacking fullback. Can't think of many better at going forward than him, he is also brilliant at crossing. Him and Ronaldo's link up on the left for Portugal and Madrid is class at times. I think he'd suit Juventus or someone who plays with wing backs more though, same with Marcelo. He'd be a great buy for us if he could work on his defensive side, sure its not too shoddy but against Bayern, Dortmund and Barca especially he has looked very suspect.

That is true but you look at how easily Cole has been exploited this season and even last season. His lack of support for Hazard when we go up the pitch as well limits the space Hazard has to work in. He has 2 or 3 players on him usually, if Coles there as an option or making a run he can take one away giving Eden more room to go past someone in a one on one or one on two situation. His attacking play has suffered due to his lack of mobility and his defending is also suffering. Bertrand was very good in both phases of the game for me, offensively and defensively.

1. What are you expecting from Chelsea? Will you win the league? Winning the league is possible for us, unsure though because if we put out shit performances like against Newcastle then we will drop more points. I'd like to say we could win the league but City look the best team by a mile, they will beat the bigger teams like Arsenal and United too I feel especially since Pellegrini is very very tactically astute. I think we only did so well because our set up was perfect because Jose outdone him tactically and we got a gift from that clown Joe Hart. 2. What do you expect from WBA this season? I'd think Clarkey will be wanting a mid table finish, aiming for as high as possible but still last season was probably a one off. I think if Nico starts getting in among the goals and Sessegnon does too then you will definitely finish somewhere between 9th and 14th which is a respectable finish for you guys. Could yous go higher? Hmm depends if players like Nico Anelka, Shane Long, James Morrison, Sessegnon and Vydra (when hes fit) score a lot of goals 3. Jose Mourinho rejoined Chelsea in the summer. What have you made of his second stint so far at the Bridge? Average so far. Not played any scintillating football but we've ultimately played winning football, somewhat disgusting at times but it does the trick. He has got more out of certain players like JT, Oscar, Torres and Ivanovic too so hopefully he can keep getting more and more from them. As he said he feels his teams best in his second season, so if he doesn't win the league I won't blame him as he has that many players to find his prefered eleven. 4. His former assistant, Steve Clarke is currently at Albion. What did you make of his first season in management? First season was superb for Steve Clarke. Saying anything less than that would be not giving credit where credit was due. He set the bar ridiculously high, I don't think he'll get that again at WBA. He done extremely well with some of the players individually, especially Romelu Lukaku who he helped a whole lot, also the likes of James Morrison seemed to come up to another level last season. 5. You signed Izzy Brown from us in the summer. Have you seen him? How is his progression coming along? Not seem too much of him but I've heard hes very talented. Seen he's scored goals for our u21s and the England u19s (think thats his age group) but perhaps getting first team football under Steve Clarke would perhaps have been better. Still hes one for the future, not going to judge him much as hes got time on his side. 6. What did you make of your clubs summer recruitment? It was pretty good, not going to really complain except for the lack of a striker perhaps since Jose isn't keen on Ba and Torres as well as he'd done in the last few games still doesn't cut it 38 games a season. Willian was really a surprise, that money could have been invested on a central midfielder which we desperately need still but hey having 6 options in attacking midfield that are all very good, why the hell not? Also we recalled the likes of Tomas Kalas and Kevin de Bruyne back from loan spells after good progress was made and signed Marco van Ginkel for 11 million who looked good in pre-season and decent in some games he played before he picked up that ACL injury. Lukaku could have stayed but I think footballing wise, he still has learning to do so a loan was probably a good idea. Eto'o on a free was also decent business as he has a wealth of experience at many top clubs, know Jose well and does what our system requires of him; runs the channels, drops deep, makes good runs of the ball etc. Hes got the one goal so far but he is going to score more this season, anything over 10 or 15 goals and his signing is a good free transfer in my eyes. 7. What did you make of our summer recruitment? The additions of Anelka, Lugano, Sessegnon, Vydra, Anichebe, Amalfitano etc. It was a good window for yous after rumblings that nobody else was going to be coming in after Anelka and Lugano. Anelka has got to start scoring chances but hes a very experienced player with class and ability. Sessegnon is also a big coupe (with undoubted ability I am very surprised Sunderland let him go), as is Amalfitano who has looked great so far. Anichebe is a handful at times but doesn't do it often enough for me and Vydra is new to the PL but he was excellent in the championship and could surprise a lot of people. Lugano brings a whole lot of experience to quite a good defense already so in general another good window for you guys. 8. What are your best/worst memories of games against West Bromwich Albion? Worst memories, Gareth McAuley scoring that goal that got AVB sacked in March 2012. Also Di Matteo basically getting sacked after yous beat us 2-1. Best memories, we beat yous 6-0 after yous got promoted a few years ago, we played very well then under Carlo, Drogba scored a hattrick. 9. What side is JM likely to choose for Saturday's encounter? I can't exactly be sure about after the Newcastle game and with the Schalke game coming up I'm expecting a few different faces to start haha. I'll guess he'll go with Cech - Ivanovic Cahill Terry Bertrand - Mikel Ramires - Schurrle Willian Mata - Eto'o but only if he uses Oscar, Torres, Cole, Hazard and Lampard in midweek. 10. And finally, score predictions. I want to say 3-1 Chelsea but it could be 2-1 to you guys, depending on what Chelsea shows up. Especially after the last few times we've played yous, not done too well.

If Luiz is gonna be captain hes got to cut errors out of his game. What good is a captain if he doesn't set an example? It might be difficult because Luiz is his own worst enemy.