BlueLion.

The admins weren't neutral, no, because of the tender situation. You have people calling a Chelsea legend; that is only going to provoke arguments and incite a flame war. I think we did the right thing in closing the thread. I decided to re-open it because Lampard discussions had invaded every other thread; at least in here we can contain it. The people who want to avoid this thread can no do so without it spilling into other topics. I was always disappointed by Frank's move but I refused to overreact at the time as many people were doing, but his extension to his contract is the straw to break the camel's back and now I am equally fed up as anyone else. I just want him to piss off to New York asap because every goal for City kills his legacy that little bit more.

This will be "Academy Day Pt. 2", he'll play his first team with Cech in goal plus one, maybe two changes at most.

No matter how much this hurts, I'll be singing "Super Frank" from the Shed End when we play the fuckers, and I know I won't be the only one. At least can show the world that Chelsea treats its legends with respect unlike so many other clubs.

It has come to my attention that now we have blown an eight point lead that we are no longer title favourites. The consensus amongst some on this forum now suggests we never were "favourites". So: were we too bold to think we could win the title; or have we just surrendered our lead simply to a combination of bottle-jobbing in performances at Spurs, Newcastle, etc. and through having a tougher festive fixture list than City?

I don't think you need to eat any humble pie at all, Ron. Like me, you simply don't have a cynical view of the world. The sad thing is the cynical views of some members on this forum have proven to be true. Lamps has showed his true colours and he isn't "one of us", it would seem.

I have to say no. Call it naivety, but I though Frank had principles and loyalty. Guess I can be wrong sometimes

Haha glad someone noticed

A bit of an unfair point, that's basically an excuse for Cahill's performances. Ivanovic plays wide on the right because he is our rightside outlet. Our outlet on the left is Hazard because he has all the cover from Azpilicueta, the league's best one-on-one defender. Ivanovic bombs forward because he has Willian on his side of the pitch, who does an unbelievable defensive job. I'm not saying Ivanovic is not at fault, I'm just saying that Cahill can't be excused based on that.

I'm just as fed up as anyone else by the situation, now, I need somewhere to vent as well...

You're basically saying that Lampard won us all those medals. He didn't, he was a composite part of a whole that won us many major honours. No-one is denying what he has done for the club. Our issue is that his legacy has been tarnished by his actions. He'll now be remembered as a "hero" rather than a "legend", at least in the short term.In 30 years his exploits at City will be a minor footnote, but for now people will always remember him as ex-Man City player Frank Lampard.

People are upset because this decision to extend his loan deal essentially proves he knew he was going to sign for City. That doesn't mean people are forgetting what Lampard has done for this club, but it means his image is tarnished because he has purposefully chosen to move to City. It isn't a case of him being forced to stay at City, at the expiration of his loan deal he could have moved to New York - or he could even have done the loyal thing and gone there in the summer. But he signed for them knowing he'd be sent somewhere for training and match purposes, and he signed for a club owned by Man City. Where did he think they'd send him, Rubin Kazan? He knew exactly what he was doing, and that's what hurts.

Well Boga favourited a Tweet by Chadli celebrating the Spurs result, so frankly he deserves a slap rather than a first team call up.

I feel sorry for the bloke. But for his slip Liverpool would have won the league. Actually, I don't feel sorry for him. That's fucking hilarious.

Glad it's not just me who's seen this. Last year he was absolutely class. I've been critical of him nearly all season, but people were practically calling me insane for saying so. The penny seems to have dropped, though the most disappointing thing is I was advocating Luiz's sale based on Cahill's form last season....

If people want to abuse someone that is their choice, ultimately. But that's what incites arguments, which is one of the major reasons why threads like this are locked. There is no black and white, there is a huge grey area where and it makes these forums horrible to moderate consistently. But anyway, let's not derail this topic, PM me if you want to continue this conversation mate

I still love Lampard, let me get that clear. But this decision of his has tarnished his image in my eyes. If he'd have returned to America in January it would have been less painful, but his decision to stay at City until the end of the season is disrespectful of Chelsea and our fellow supporters. For this reason, his image is tarnished in my eyes. He will now always be second to Terry, Cech, Cole and Drogba in my eyes, or at least for the foreseeable until we move on and forget this ever happened.

Very fair point, just the thought of Cahill picking up Cavani, Lavezzi and Zlatan....

You think of the horrible chances we spurned yesterday - Dave's shot saved by Lloris, Salah's air shot, Ramires' woeful miss, Cesc hitting the post - we could have won 7-5.

Nah thanks.

Ah, my bad, I thought you were criticising the staff We have to deal with a lot of petulance sadly. There's no rule about criticising players, everyone is entitled to their own opinions, provided they aren't overly zealous. As far as I'm concerned, after the squad's performance yesterday, everyone except Diego and Hazard (and Thibaut who can't really have done much more) deserves everything they get.

I would love for us to address the issue this month - however - if we go and buy Varane (the only CB we're "linked" with), he's obviously UCL cup-tied.

My point is we have six days before our next game against Newcastle. He can rest then. We need a confidence inducing win, and the best way of doing that is putting 3+ past Watford.

Captaincy material, IMO. He didn't have a great game but it showed his character.

I was just pissed off yesterday, but Cahill deserves the majority of the blame. If he had a bit more awareness about him then we'd have got into the break 2-1 down and would probably have come back and got a point. Instead he killed the game for us, so he deserves a bit of stick. Agreed, and he will make mistakes - but you expect that from a 20 year old, not from a 28 year old England international.

People are criticising Matic, but Cahill and Terry should be able to deal with Nacer Chadli and Harry Kane without help from the midfield. They weren't marking Lewandowski and Goetze.