BlueLion.

I agree with your two examples, especially the Chelsea-Arsenal one, as that is something that has resulted in more than a decade of dominance... the Villa Park hoodoo has only been "dead" for five seasons (though let's not forget the 13/14 defeat, with Delph's worldie and Willian's red card), so let's not get carried away... even in their shittest of shit seasons, I expect Villa to go out all guns blazing against us, because, just like Newcastle, they are shitcunts of the highest order and like to raise their game against us.

I rewatched the game and especially the Carroll goal... you see him advance the first 4, 5 yards - brilliant. Then - shit. He just stops. Caught in two minds. If he carries on, Carroll probably hits the ball straight at him, or doesn't even get to the ball first. Courtois' confidence just seems a little low. Not the first time he changed his mind in that game, either.

Fucking Christ. We're due a horror set of kits after a pretty decent few years.

Precisely. Something for Conte to work with. We're scraping the very bottom of the barrel, I know, but something positive to cling onto over the summer is better than nothing. We're fortunate for the Euros this summer, otherwise it would be a very long and painful wait for the new season. 5 games doesn't consign something to the past... people ignore the importance of history in football. It often outweighs form by a considerable distance.

People saying his positioning when one-on-one is poor are gravely mistaken. Thibaut's issue is a psychological issue, of knowing WHAT to do, and WHEN. His position is excellent for the Carroll goal, but rather than being PROACTIVE and SWEEPING, ie. to come out and stay big in the archetypal "A-position", OR being REACTIVE and RESPONDING, ie. to stay on his line in the standard set position and try and make the save as per usual, he is getting caught in two minds. He is coming, then stopping, then coming, and that hesitation is ALL a striker needs to score a goal. When you saw Cech in a 1v1 (I maintain Cech is the single best goalkeeper I have ever seen in 1v1s), he would always come out early, and throw himself at the ball. 90% of the time it worked, though sometimes he would get nutmegged when he went for the lunge (example is Quaresma against us at the Bridge in the UCL in 06/07, this happened several times to my recollection). However, the point I'm making is that Cech always had this mentality of coming out and sweeping, and if he would get beaten, it had to be a good, early finish, such as the example above. Courtois can't decide what he wants to do, and this is something he needs to work on with Lollichon. Thibaut looks like he is more comfortable doing what de Gea does, and staying on his line, closing down the angle and making the finish as difficult as usual. This is the more conservative approach and is usually more pragmatic of the two approaches. But he will learn with experience, the main issue is timing - if you go too early, a simple shift by the attacker means you expose the goal, if you go too late then the striker has time and space to decide what to do.

The EL is actually a very entertaining competition (the quality is nowhere near as good, but the games are usually more fun to watch) - the only thing people have against it is the Thursday night aspect. Thursday-Sunday is a very difficult transition, especially with the long-distance travel. If it was played on the same days as the CL, people would be more into it.

One thing I've said is that, if we avoid defeat between now and the end of the season, we could end the season on a 22-game unbeaten streak. Looking at our fixtures, that is going to be very difficult, especially with Spurs, City, and Leicester all at the Bridge, and Liverpool away. Villa away is never easy for us (bogey ground) and Sunderland is going to be a tough game for us, too, given their predicament. In fact, Bournemouth and Swansea, though both safe, will be tough trips as well. Thinking about it, that's a fucking horrendous run-in But if we avoid defeat in that period, going 22 games unbeaten is a phenomenal achievement, even if (at our current rate) about 15 of them will be draws

Yes he is, which is what worries me.

The game changed when Traore came on. He should be starting whilst Costa is banned, simple. Fabregas is magic. A 2-2 draw against the fourth-placed team is not a bad result by any means. Six points from Villa and Swansea away and we'll be fucking laughing lads.

6 points off 6th place, which is Europa League. If United win the FA Cup, it also means 7th is a EL qualifier spot, which we're 5 points off. Too big a gap, and possibly that is a good thing for us...

Build the team around this bloke.

How he doesn't get time ahead of Remy speaks volumes. Guus clearly thinks he's shit.

The way he defends his near post is utterly abysmal.

The difference being that Barcelona's full-backs are effectively second strikers.

Might as well keep him. Lightweight, yes, but a decent squad option who can provide cover across the three attacking midfield positions, and at RB at a push. Deserves a shot, a proper shot, at least. 336 minutes under Mourinho isn't enough to judge him fairly by.

Bayern have first option to sign him at the end of his loan deal.

I'd move to Barcelona if I was being made to play LB for this shower of shit team.

Another pointless stop-gap signing for 1-2 years whilst we should be looking at young strikers.

Because we are in danger of seriously falling away... ergo, the difference we are talking about is between finishing 6/7/8 as opposed to 14/15/16. A fair point, however my concern is that we'll just drop away unless Guus keeps the confidence going and keeps trying to get the players to fight for an unbeaten league record under him. That would at least be something to be proud of... if we can negotiate the final 9 games of the season without defeat (even if we only win two or three of them), to end the season with a 22-game unbeaten streak would be one small thing to be proud of. We really, really, really have to scrap for small things to be proud of right now, because, as champions, it is our obligation to fight for the final nine matches. If things go our way, especially as we have them both to play at the Bridge, we have a 10% chance of catching City/West Ham - especially since City will have all their eggs in the Champions League basket. There is still something to fight for. We are already the worst defending champions in Premier League history, but if we could at least get Europa League football, it is a start for Conte.

Think we could do with taking a leaf from Juve's book and going 4-4-2... would help get the best out of the players we have, and Dybala-Costa would be a stunning combination. The only issue is he would cost £50m+ after this season.

He was a dick for acting the way he did, but to overly criticise the only player who showed any sort of hunger or fight (literally) in a fucking QUARTER FINAL is ridiculous.

We need a number 10. Do it.

We didn't learn from Man City, when, in 2014, after winning the PL, they didn't spend anything. We repeated that this year. I hope we can learn from them and wait until the end of the season before appointing the new manager. The team's confidence is already hanging by a thread... to completely undermine any rescue operation Hiddink is heading up would be counter-productive.

In all honesty, Guus' superman image has now dissolved. I was one of those in the Shed back in 2009 (vs Blackburn when Malouda scored one of the best headers I've ever seen...) when we were singing "Guus Hiddink, we want you to stay" and "You can stick your Ancelotti up your arse". Guus' short reign in 2009 was a near-perfect period for the club. We went through a stage of being the most-feared team in Europe. We secured third place in style (that 4-1 win at the Emirates was the single best Chelsea away performance in the Abramovich era until City away in 2013/14), won the FA Cup, and only a cunt of a referee prevented us from getting revenge on United in the Champions League. We would have won that final in Rome. We'd have fucking smashed them, because we were unbeatable with an inspired coach. I remember him bringing Kalou off after half an hour in the 4-4 draw with Liverpool. He was having a shocker - so Guus brings on Anelka who ends up having the game of his life and sets up three goals for us to knock the Scouse cunts out. Even José didn't have the bollocks to pull stunts like that in a Champions League quarter-final! We all desperately wanted him to stay, because he got the best out of an outstanding squad. We played some very exciting football and we just would not fucking give up. This time round, it's almost as if he's realised this is an impossible job, trying to sort out a bunch of spineless tossers. He's done an incredible job - to get 25 points from 39 since he came in (especially since we only took 15 out of the first 48) is a massive, massive turn-around. But his team selection, his substitutions, and his approach to games in general have left an awful lot to be desired. We looked hopeless in both games vs PSG, and the Everton game on Saturday is the lowest I've felt in an unbelievably shit season. I can't blame him for not really giving a shit, especially considering the poverty options available to him, but when he came in, I think we all had serious hopes and ambitions that he'd genuinely inspire us on to win a piece of silverware of maybe even get us into the top 4 - another miracle job - in order to help plaster over the cracks of this campaign. But there just haven't been any signs that would indicate that, and now our season is over by mid-March. His biggest challenge, now, is motivating this bunch of bottlers for the final push in the Premier League.