BlueLion.

He had one stupid "Courtois moment", but other than that, very solid. Was like one of our typical performances at the start of the season... 1-0, but could have been 3/4-0 without Asmir.

Buffon is the GOAT, let's be fair. Bit unfair to compare a 23 year old to an absolute veteran.

SHODDY CHELSEA LOSE AT SWANSEA A poor Chelsea performance led to the club’s long-standing unbeaten run ending as Gylfi Sigurdsson’s volley gave Swansea a well-earned victory. The former Tottenham midfielder struck home from the edge of the box after Matt Miazga could only divert Jefferson Montero’s cross back into the danger zone, and but for several excellent saves from Asmir Begovic, it might have been worse for Guus Hiddink’s men. It is a first Premier League defeat of 2016 for Chelsea, who should have levelled on the brink of half-time but Alexandre Pato inexplicably shot wide from six yards, whilst the same player then missed with a back-heeled finish in the second half. But Chelsea failed to seriously test a stubborn Swansea City defence and Lukas Fabianski was virtually unemployed throughout as an experimental Blues eleven was soundly beaten. This is Hiddink’s first defeat in the Premier League in his second spell in charge, and only his second in total, but this was a lacklustre performance that ranks right up there with the most disappointing of Chelsea performances this season. In not only ending a four-month-long unbeaten run, this defeat is the first the Blues have experienced against Swansea in the Premier League in ten matches, and the loss here all but ends any remaining hopes of finishing in a Europa League position. That may well work out better in the long run for incoming manager Antonio Conte, who will take some solace from another good performance from Ruben Loftus-Cheek, but less so from seeing the Blues concede for the 42nd time this season – a total already ten more than in the entirety of last season – with six games still to play. Yet it is not so much Chelsea’s inability to defend that will worry the Italian as much as their insipid attacking options, and the return of both Diego Costa and Willian next week – by far and away Chelsea’s stand-out performers this season – will at least give the side more of a cutting edge up front. Despite mustering over 60% of the possession, Chelsea were able to produce only two tame efforts on target, and just eight shots overall in the absence of their star attackers, though the Blues can feel hard done by after Pato was incorrectly adjudged to have handled after showing great strength and composure to slot the ball home in the second half. But the game was largely played in the manner of a pre-season testimonial match, and Chelsea never looked like demonstrating the guile or intensity required to break down the stubborn Welsh club, who deservedly withstood late pressure to wrap up a memorable win that all but ensures their Premier League status.

I'm almost concerned that if we win this, we'll be taking an awful lot of momentum into the EL places chase...

Head Coach. Not manager. Delighted about the personnel choice, but the role isn't something I agree with. Fuck Emenalo off already.

He was quality today. FAR superior to Lord Offside and Failcow.

Player X for MOTM

Villa are shit, but a win and a clean sheet makes this a perfect result.

Would much rather we went out and scouted our own talent as opposed to pinching it from a team having a fluke season who will redefine the credential of "worst defending PL champion of all-time", a title we currently possess.

I have, and I've commented on it excessively, which leads me to question whether you've read anything posted before. He could have said the politically neutral response of saying "I love playing behind Gary Cahill and Branislav Ivanovic as much as I love playing in my country's backline where I've kept cleansheets in 12 of my last 23 internationals", but that would be both boring and untrue. A goalkeeper is as good as his defence, so it isn't surprising we're making him look like Ross Turnbull. You concede the number of shots and chances we do in a game and you're bound to be low on confidence and thus let in poor shots.

Imagine calling our one world-class player a "snake" or a "cunt". He's in a bad spell - but so is the entire club. Seems like the fans have moved on from booing Ivanovic, Cesc, and Diego, and chosen Courtois as the new punchbag,

It isn't an absolute. It's my opinion. I can't be bothered going through all the technical details, but to get back into a set position to make a second and then a third save is mightily impressive - to then actually make those saves is outstanding.

And a triple save against Bayern Munich is better than a hat-trick against MK Dons. What's your point?

And as a GK coach I'll tell you a triple save of any variety is a bigger achievement than a striker bagging a hat-trick...

Begovic is far better than most of you give him credit for. And on current form, it certainly would not be a step backwards to swap the two.

Admittedly I've only watched Bayern 5 or 6 times this season, but he hasn't looked particularly brilliant in any of the games he's played. He was totally outshined by Pogba and Khedira in the 4-2 versus Juventus, for instance - Bayern only showed up when Thiago was subbed in.

Why not? When we attack, we're basically playing that exact formation anyway: Courtois Cahill - Covering CDM,i.e. Mikel - Terry Ivanovic - the deeper of the AMs, i.e. Oscar - Fabregas - Azpilicueta Willian - Hazard Costa

I fucking hope so, but what can we offer monetarily that both Manchester clubs, Arsenal, and even Spurs, Everton, and Liverpool, can't? With the TV deal, even the Leicesters and Stokes of this world will be able to offer up to £120,000-a-week.

Club-wide epidemic.

We cant even offer him Europa League football. Why do you think we're going to be signing anything other than B-grade players for the next 12 months?

3-4-2-1 is just outrageously Italian, isn't it? Would turn us into defensive juggernauts again.

If he goes, it'll be for ridiculous amounts of money that we can reinvest in another outstanding goalkeeper = Handanovic, Oblak, etc. Or we could even give Begovic a shot, since he is a pretty darn good goalkeeper in his own right. Money can then be reinvested in areas that need a major upheaval, i.e. CM and CB.

If you watch that video it reaffirms everything I was saying about his decision making 1v1... in every situation here, he produced a decisive save by either rushing out and closing down, or standing his ground and narrowing his angles. It'll all return with confidence. The new, fresh slate that is a new season will help everyone in the team!

People making a mountain out of a molehill... first of all, English isn't his first language, and secondly, if you take offence from the fact he is quite rightly calling our defence shit, you're a numpty. A goalkeeper is as good as his/her defence, and only that good. Unless you're de Gea.

And how many of those are performing?