Superblue

27 goals in first 11 games of the season where we went undefeated. 11 goals in our last 10 games.

That was dreadful. There's no excuse for that.

United winning now, we have to win this game

Morata onside there, the sort of luck we need in these games against us. Fabregas ball though....

We're looking far more purposeful with the ball in this half. Just hope Southampton tire without the ball and we take a chance that comes our way.

It seems we move the ball forward, get into the final third and then whoever has the ball immediately looks for Hazard. It makes us so one dimensional and predictable.

Loftus Cheek doesn't even look fit. This should be the opportunity where CHO would get games, real pity he's injured.

Hazard has to bury them

Even with Willian and Morata starting, we should still be comfortably beating a Southampton team at home which have had their initial new manager positivity and made wholesale changes to what is, already on paper, a weak team.

Two fairly general points on this move which are hopefully indicative of the club learning from their mistakes in 2017 summer: 1. Buying young. In a market that has gone completely insane in the last 18 months the club have brought Kepa and Pulisic who are two players very young with bags of potential to become amongst the best in their respective positions in the future, and Jorginho who at 26 and in his position we should also get the best years of his career. Bringing in a younger element to our squad to help refresh it has been needed for quite some time. 2. Less is more. Rather than buying more players and beefing up the squad depth, it looks like we may be moving back to perhaps a couple of players each summer/window but paying that bit more money for better quality and to look to improve the first XI, not the squad. This in turn would force us to start seriously considering players coming from our academy (via some loan experience) to fill the gaps in our squad.

He helped change our style and offered a completely different alternative to soften the blow of losing the midfield goals of Lampard. He was hugely influential in Jose's title winning season, and despite a significant reduction in minutes also had a very good season in Conte's title winning season which flew under the radar somewhat. I was also extremely impressed with his attitude since at Chelsea. At Arsenal and Barcelona he came across as petulant, but he's a competitive winner. He could have had far easier moves than coming to Chelsea given his Arsenal history. He also had the option to take the easy route out when Conte didn't fancy him but he battled his way into his plans, and the length and success of his Chelsea time seems to have come from making tough decisions and putting in a lot of hard work which wouldn't necessarily be associated with a player of his natural talents. A club prepared to build around his ability on the ball and offer legs around him will still get some very good mileage out of him even entering the twilight of his career. I have a huge amount of respect for him and if he leaves this month or this summer, I wish him the best of luck with the rest of his career.

Yes agree with this, trying to dribble the ball out. He was supposed to be holding his position at left back, Drogba happily played there for a whole half!

Bosingwa gets a pass for having his best game in a Chelsea shirt playing centre back in our 5-4-0 formation against Barca in Champs League semi, and then concentrating just about enough to win the final!

You'd like to think that last season was an experience for Tammy to improve him, and to get him used to getting through periods of droughts and struggling. You're right, Swansea were so poor last year and devoid of any creativity. I think what he has at least shown in the Championship is if he's supplied, he'll score goals. He has to prove this at the next level in the Prem next but in the position we're currently in, surely its worth giving him a shot in the second half of this season. If he struggles, he can go back out on loan to a mid-lower Prem team next season and carry on developing. But if he proves a success then we may only need one striker in the summer, not two.

Crespo shouldn't be in that list. Along with Hasselbaink he's probably the best finisher during my lifetime supporting the club. He chipped in with some very good and important goals in 2005/06. It was his inability to settle in England, not his performances like the rest of the players mentioned.

This should be seriously considered now by Chelsea. A striker bang in form, scoring goals for fun, no outlay, no long term consequences for a short term punt. I don't see a more realistic, sensible striker option at present in January.

It's obvious we need a striker but far less obvious how we're going to sort it out in January. Big targets just won't come in January, especially those we may be able to tempt hopefully with Champions League football next season. That essentially leaves us in the same position as last January, scratching around for a short term option to plug the gap. A 6 month loan would be a possibility but who? And we don't want a similar deal to the one we did with Giroud last year because we'll be stuck this summer trying to offload 3 strikers (4 if you include Bats) who we seemingly have no long term plans for. Unless there is an option for a top target without getting fleeced, and we have a long term plan with moving forward then I would prefer us to take a punt on Abraham. He is far from the finished article, but at the moment he is flying for Villa and if we could get him up and running and get an early goal or two for us he could very easily ride some momentum. At the very least he would offer far more enthusiasm and effort than Morata at present.

Agree, at best we might get a couple of million for selling Fabregas six months early. We can get far more use out of him sat in our squad as an extra option. Especially as Sarri views him as the only alternative to Jorginho in that role. The likes of Moses and Zappacosta are clearly unsuitable for Sarri and not favoured but at the moment they provide us with experienced options to call upon at a key stage of the season when every game is vitally important at present. These sort of players should be the ones sold in the summer, beef up our transfer budget, slash the wage bill and replaced with players coming back from loan spells. In particular Reece James or Ola Aina could easily replace Zappacosta as backup to Azpi. I think there will only be outgoings combined with incomings, with the exception perhaps of Drinkwater.

He took the goal extremely well too. A lot of strikers on a bit of a barren spell would snatch at that chance with a defender diving in and players on the goal line. He was calm and composed, and is a great example of him as a great finisher. There are cons to such a deal and there is a huge risk hoping he'll hit the ground running, but we do create chances and he is the sort of player who will find himself on the end of chances and put them away.

Really don't want to see someone of his potential leaving. Perhaps the club can come to a compromise if he signs a new long term deal, they'll agree to loan him out to a club for 18 months and get some serious game time, whether that's a Bundesliga or lower Prem team. We dropped the ball with Loftus-Cheek with regards to taking so long before we loaned him out and we'll be lucky if it all works out and he forces his way in as a first team regular. You have to believe that another season or two of first team experience for RLC, he'd be such a far more polished and tactically solid player for us. CHO still has time on his side but there are similarities where he is on the cusp of the first team but not playing. And being involved in the first team squad is meaning he isn't getting games from any of the other groups at the club. The idea of 1 step back for 2 steps forward may need considering in the club's benefit of CHO's development.

Great stuff from Hazard. Pedro offers us such an underrated and invaluable goal threat.

Morata is the perfect example of how important the mental aspect of top level football is. He's technically very good, big, quick, excellent in the air...but I'm not sure if I've ever seen a player with such a strong lack of belief in himself. Just to compare him with Giroud. Morata is a far more well rounded player and potentially much more to his game, but Giroud cops a lot of flak just like Morata for not scoring enough, etc. However you would never see Giroud's head drop. He'll continue to back himself, fight for the cause and never hides or shirks his responsibilities. It's why a manager will always take a player like Giroud in their squad than a player like Morata.

From dog shit to the dogs bollocks... What a difference 90 minutes makes.

I've watched him a couple of times for Bournemouth this season and we could do far worse.

90% still isn't every game like you said. I'm not going to get into a petty squabble because I do understand what you mean but I think the difference between us and Liverpool is their starting attack is head and shoulders above their reserves. Besides Hazard (who himself has gone off the boil recently), it's not like any of the other players in our attack do enough consistently. We'll get a good game from Pedro or Willian and then a couple of poor games where the other will then come in. Same with Morata and Giroud scoring goals. None of it is consistent enough and when our one top player in that area of the pitch is playing way below what they're capable of, the inadequacies of the rest show up even more.