BlueLion.

Should Schurrle be the man to lead the line up until January? He's proved he can finish, he can put in a good shift for the team, he's fairly quick at accelerating and he is quite a strong lad considering he has a somewhat languid frame. He can't be any worse than Torres or Eto'o are at present, can he?

I unequivocally agree. Cech needs to have a good, long think over his performances. I'm one of his biggest fans - he is the reason I am a goalkeeper after all - and the man nearly died putting his own life on the line for the club. He is our greatest-ever goalkeeper and one of the best players ever to wear a Chelsea jersey - he is a Chelsea legend. He has had dips in his form before, let us not forget - and each time he has arguably come back stronger. A spell on the bench is what he needs to realize his position is not guaranteed, and he will come back stronger than ever. I also totally agree it is 100% premature for people to be calling for his head. He is still one of the world's best goalkeepers. There seems to be an endemic of goalkeeping brainfarts in the Premier League at the minute - Cech and Lloris are, arguably, the two best stoppers in the division and they've been utterly abysmal the last few weeks. Joe Hart is another top keeper who is having a bad time of things, and Mignolet can't keep a clean sheet for love nor money at the minute. Maybe there's something in the water. I am 100% behind Petr, but replacing him for a short while with Mark will do him well - it will give him the competition he needs to up his performances, and it will give him a bit of a rest. People say goalkeepers shouldn't need a rest, but trust me, having a busy afternoon in goal can be quite exhausting. Every athlete needs time for recovery, and I think Big Pete needs to knuckle down in training to earn his place in the side, because at the moment he isn't doing so. José has a big call to make, but I would personally say the correct one right now would be to play Schwarzer and remind Petr that his position is certainly not infallible.

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AFAIC, he is the only lad who can emerge from the ruin of yesterday with any credit, and certainly should be the only one who can be even close to "pleased" in regards to his performance.

I think it would remind him that his position is certainly not infallible - not just in the future with the return of Courtois in the summer, but right now, with an exceptionally good goalkeeper on the bench that deserves his chance.

Schalke. That, and the games against Hull & Fulham right at the start of the season, are the only three clean sheets we've kept at home this season. That's three clean sheets in 9 matches (33% of matches), compared to 6 clean sheets in 14 away matches (43% of matches).

José Mourinho's Chelsea will travel to Derby County in the third round of the FA Cup. The draw is one of the stand-out fixtures of the third round ties, and the Blues will be hoping to emulate their performance the last time the two teams met - a 6-1 demolition of the Rams at Stamford Bridge back in 2008, with Frank Lampard bagging four on the night. Elsewhere, cup holders Wigan Athletic begin their defence of the trophy at home to Milton Keynes Dons; Manchester United have been given a tough tie against Swansea at Old Trafford; Cardiff make the long trip to face Newcastle United; Manchester City travel to Ewood Park to face Blackburn Rovers; whilst in what is the indisputable highlight of the draw, Arsenal host Tottenham. The Blues' recent record in the FA Cup is one to make even the most successful of managers envious - Chelsea have lifted the trophy an impressive four times (2007, 2009, 2010, 2012) in the last seven seasons. Considering how strong recent performances by their second XI in cup wins over Swindon Town and Arsenal in the League Cup, the Blues have the chance of repeating the feat once more. In Mourinho's last FA Cup fixture in charge of the Blues he saw his side overcome Manchester United in the 2007 showpiece final - and Chelsea's latest road to Wembley will begin at Pride Park over the weekend of January 4th-5th. You can discuss the draw in full here. Click here to view the article

Essien sadly can't play in the UCL - we named in the sqaud MvG instead of him.

I'm pretty sure José said Ossy would be fit to play for this match, so we'll see how he is. As for Luiz, again I'm not sure - but if he's fit, he needs to play. JT looks like he's going to fall down and collapse every game he plays now.

Can I say a HUGE thank-you to everyone who has donated - but an especially big thanks to Ron for his incredible donation. Absolute legend, thank you sir!

People are blaming Mourinho the same way they are blaming Cahill/Cech - it is a convenient, and lazy excuse. Can't attach any fault to José, the XI he picked were killing Stoke, but for some poor finishing. Then one individual disaster and the whole team implodes. It is that reaction that made us lose, not Mourinho.

Schwarzer Azpi - Cahill - Luiz - Cole Mikel - Lampard © Willian - Oscar - Schurrle Ba

Time to sell him, for the betterment of his career. Sad, since he has a great deal of potential, but if you're not one of Mourinho's favourites then you don't stand a chance.

I honestly think he should play the next match. Statistics speak for themselves - Cech hasn't made a save for us in 276 minutes, and the last eight shots he's faced, he's let in. Don't get me wrong, he couldn't do anything about probably six of those, but there are those that are preventable, and it is those ones that look the worst when they nestle in the back of the net. He needs some time on the sidelines. It's not as if we're replacing him with an Hilario or a Turnbull; Schwarzer is still a class keeper.

People suddenly slagging off Eto'o and I'm not sure why. Like Lukaku being here would have made such a difference He's on loan because he isn't good enough to start every week for us. Instead, he's doing us a favour by playing every week at Everton, and helping our title bid by derailing those of others. If he scores against Arsenal tomorrow and Everton win the game, it'll be hailed as a masterstroke to let him leave. Obscene to blame Eto'o for today or for any results this season, IMO.

One thing we can agree on is how competitive the Premier League is this season. I honestly believe 75 points could win the title. I think that's something we have to take into consideration - this league is ridiculously unpredictable.

Well Palace have won three of their last five games with four clean sheets to boot (I believe), so they'll probably nick a draw against us!

It's not an excuse. Don't be so butt-hurt about your countryman not being in the starting XI and just accept that, today, the whole team were awful. If you cared to read my posts you'd see I'm as critical of Cahill as most people - he tries his best but I don't think his best is of a title-winning standard for a centre-back. Choosing between him and Luiz, to me, is like choosing between suffocation or amputation.

Hopefully we can have a solid win against Steaua - with a clean-sheet to boot - to top the group, and then follow that up with three points against Palace. Onwards and upwards!

Hmm, Cahill is capable of some magnificent performances (Munich being the best example), but those matches are few and far between. He gives everything, which is all I can ask of a player, but I, sadly, don't think his best is quite good enough for us.

Yup, I think we just have to accept we played a terrible, terrible game today. I don't think we need to analyse the game so much for that simple reason, we were simply beaten by a team that quite clearly wanted it more.

He had a bad game, but so did 12 others. The only person beyond criticism and chastisement today is Schurrle. Everyone else deserves all they get in terms of the criticism coming their way - but to solely blame Cahill and/or Cech is a lazy excuse. The whole team - after a brilliant first 40 minutes - were awful from the moment Stoke equalised.

Totally agreed. People are being premature if they're saying we're out of the title race, as some of the Twitter-trolls seem to think. We definitely need to reinforce the team defensively in January, though.

If Schwarzer isn't given a chance to stake a claim for the number one jersey after Cech's monumental fuck-up today, he never will. Even I'm struggling to justify his performances.