BlueLion.

Looking at our fixtures, if we don't pick up 3/4/5 wins on the bounce over the next month or so, we will actually have to accept that we are, indeed, shit.

Silly decision to let him play when he quite clearly wasn't fit. I don't think you can blame Lampard for this one - the medical department will give him a yes or no, and they clearly didn't think about safeguarding the player's long-term wellbeing here.

I'm glad you have said this. I was concerned I'd come into this thread and see that nobody would recognise his good performance. Most people will focus on his braindead decision to shoot right-footed from 25 yards rather than focus on his relatively solid defensive performance. Yes, people will look at him and say he gets out of position, but you can't expect him to be the only bit of genuine width in our team and always be goalside in defensive scenarios. He couldn't even do that when we played 3-4-3 under Conte; we'd always shuffle at the back and Matic would slot in as an auxiliary centre-back to cover Alonso's side. People are a bit unrealistic when it comes to what they think a full-back can achieve, being truthful. We were spoilt with Ashley Cole and Ivanovic.

Anyone with the slightest bit of football knowledge knew this wouldn't work out. He ain't good enough for a CL team. Frustrating, isn't it? You could envisage him getting a fair few opportunities this season, especially with his versatility to play CB and CDM. I don't think it was a well-considered move, to be truthful.

It's been a rather shit start to the season, but Abraham, Mount and Tomori have all been "worth it", if you catch my meaning. We have a real gem here. He should be starting alongside Rudiger.

At the same time, in the past three games, Willian has been our best attacking player in my humble opinion (and this is coming from someone who absolutely does not rate Willian!).

I think there are two ways of looking at this, in honesty - Lampard doesn't think he's ready, or he simply thinks Mount and Pedro are better options (and right now, I'm inclined to agree). You also have to concede Lampard already has a great relationship with Mount. He will get his chance, but my biggest concern is he needs to work on his body strength and his ability to shield the ball. This isn't down to muscle mass or brute strength, as Messi and Hazard have proved in the modern era, but he certainly looks "lightweight". He was excellent in the UEFA Super Cup, but I have to be honest, every time we've seen him since, he's been pretty poor. I actually agree with Lampard's decision not to play him (and I have, in general, been extremely critical of a lot of what Frank has done so far).

Courtois was far better in the air that post-injury Cech, but I 100% accept your point. Kepa just isn't confident going to attack the ball, but this is a general "trend" for goalkeepers coming from the continent (and Spain in particular). I don't think it is so much to do with height as it is with confidence. De Gea was probably even more hopeless in the air than Kepa is; he then dedicated time to working on this and it became a strength of his game. It is naturally easier for taller goalkeepers, but you can look at the likes of Gregory Coupet in past years and Jan Oblak in the present as keepers who, despite not being the tallest, were supreme in the air. It's a weakness of his game but I do think it is exploited with the zonal marking system we play; it's almost as if he doesn't have the authority to go and attack the ball.

"Is your theory just flawed"... no, he's had a horrendous decline and anyone with even a microcosm of a footballing brain can quite clearly see that. People talk about "Kepa's recent mistakes" but I can count on one finger the number of goals this season I'd attribute his fault to...

De Gea defied that notion not too long ago. That's because, two years ago, he was head and shoulders above any player in the PL. He is a freak exception to the general trend.

I do think it is a personnel rather than tactical/formational problem - square pegs, round holes and all that... but we saw last season the effect of failing to compromise as a manager, and it is repeating itself this year. He is probably even more stubborn than Sarri.

You're only as good as the defence you have in front you, and the defence in front of him is as effective as a carrier bag with a fucking giant hole at the bottom of it.

He looks out of his depth tactically. I think he was very naive in the way he set up so deep, if that was indeed the intention.

I agree, he'll replace Giroud with that role within the squad.

Yeah I agree with that, I think Zouma was good today actually.

The last three games have, simply put, been a real reality check. In all three matches, we have started absolutely superbly, genuinely playing some of the best football I've seen Chelsea ever play. Yet in all three matches, a lack of composure and an inability to convert chances has meant we stand here with a draw and two defeats from three competitive matches. I think we need to be realistic and consider the pros and cons of the situation, which ultimately will determine our season's ambitions. I think there are plenty of positives right now. As I've mentioned, the brand of attacking football we are playing is making us an enjoyable watch (which is our fanbase's greatest criticism of the former manager), and the biggest plus point is the belief in youth players. Chelsea have needed a season like this for the past decade. We have never truly transition properly from one squad to the next. Our approach has also been so short-termist that, instead of bringing through youngsters (the odd exception aside), we've chosen to spend big and either invest in young foreign players, or go for players that can still function and perform well, but perhaps have already seen their better days - players such as Pedro, Giroud, David Luiz, for example. We have the propensity to make a negative situation (the transfer ban) a positive one by bringing through these young players and giving them considerable game time, which is something of a premium when it comes to our talented youngsters. We have a terrific academy and we are now in a position where we both have to, and need to, play these youngsters and give them the shot they deserve. Mason Mount is the biggest, most obvious evidence of this transition. We've been putting it off for years and years, but necessity dictates that this is the time to give these players the chance to shine. We also have to consider the fact that we are, realistically, missing three first XI players, meaning things will improve in terms of squad options and that we haven't yet seen our best team, playing our best football. Nobody can argue that Rudiger is our best defender; on recent evidence, whilst Pedro has had three promising games for us, CHO is probably more productive in the final third, and the player who I believe to be our best box-to-box midfielder, RLC, is yet to come into the team. We also have Reece James, who I will reserve judgement on, but Lampard seems to think he will play a considerable role this season, but we need to make sure we aren't doing the usual thing of putting too much pressure on the young man. That being said, he can't be any worse than Azpilicueta, but that's a separate debate... But there are some major problems inherent within the squad. There is a flipside to every situation - and playing kids is no exception. There's the famous quote - "You won't win anything with kids" - and to some extent this does ring true. The reason that we have gone out and invested frequently is because, at a club like Chelsea, there is such an expectation to win (- that expectation needs to be relaxed this season, which I'll come onto later). Then there are issues with Frank. I want to make this clear: this is not a post bashing Frank Lampard. I am 100% behind him, though I do believe his tenure has come at the wrong time, though only time will tell with regards to this. But we need to accept the obvious: this is Frank's second season as a manager. Look at today - I am furious with his decision to play ten of the eleven that started on Wednesday, and think it was incredibly naive to do so against a team like Leicester, who are one of those horrible teams that press you and push you and harass you for 90 minutes and would do for another 90 if they could. Whilst he's got us playing a good brand of attacking football, this is the worst we've been defensively in quite some time. Having Rudiger back in the team will add more balance (Andreas is good enough, but Kurt panics on the ball and doesn't have the composure that Rudiger has; with the style of football we're employing, that is a big disadvantage), but we need to especially look at the way that we are dealing with crosses and set pieces at the minute. There are then issues within the squad from an attacking point of view - we have a lot of players who are good around the box, but not necessarily with that final phase of play. We are not a crossing team and we don't necessarily have many players who can play killer through balls. More importantly, our striking options are poor. Let's be honest. Giroud is an honest striker and links the ball nicely; he'll get us 10-15 goals a season reliably, but who is replacing the Hazard x-factor and the ability to pull a rabbit out of the hat? Is it Mount? I'm not so sure, though he took his goal well today. The point I'm making is this: we have to relax our ambitions this season. I'm sorry guys, I really don't think we are going to finish in the top four. You can't write us off in the cup competitions, but I can realistically see us struggling in the UCL without a favourable group draw. I'll leave it up to you as to whether you think I'm being reactionary or otherwise (I don't much care either way), but I think we need to ease the pressure on the boys. Short-term pain could be of massive long-term gain. We need to consider youth development as being the priority this season, that is the target and playtime is the reward. A trophy or four would be nice, of course, but this is a case of building for the future. We also need to think about the expectation of Frank as our manager. He will learn so much from every minute. He is level-headed and I think we need to be about the current situation. There is no need for doom and gloom - I think we have been really unlucky so far - but we need to temper our expectations somewhat.

It was fantastic, I was half expecting him to miss the ball and get a red to compound our misery.

Are you sure? If you look at our finishing so far this season, I'm concerned we will continue to dominate games, not take chances, then get undone by shit defending...

Exactly, and Lampard chose ten of the eleven that started on Wednesday... just plain silly in my humble opinion. Yeah, I was extremely disappointed by how poor our second half was, but booing was extreme. We have some extremely shit fans, although regular match-goers like to jump on their high horse and defend their right to "express themselves"... but that's a debate for a different day. I'd like to think those booers were tourists wondering why Hazard and Luiz weren't playing.

Got to be honest, I'm kinda expecting something similar, with us finishing 6-8th. Absolutely no chance we'll finish in the top four this season (and I'd like to go on record as having said the same long before the season started). Got to give Lampard the benefit of the doubt, but one draw and two defeats is pretty shocking, let's be honest. Who is going to score our goals this season?

Mr Sweeper Keeper saved our lives in the last minute, to make amends for his poor clearance in the first half.

He is infuriating to watch. How can he hold the ball up so well, and link the play up quite beautifully, yet have such incredibly poor awareness? This season is going to be a sharp learning curve and I do think we should stick by him, but can someone explain to me any other reason as to why he's play over Michy other than youth development?

That was easily the worst substitute appearance I have ever seen. He will quite rightly be our fourth winger when CHO is back (and may that happen sooner rather than later).

Should have started, or at the very least come on as a substitute. Lampard got this wrong.

I really, really have to question his line-up today. The players looked dead on their feet from the half-hour onwards.