BlueLion.

Still better than Ivanovic.

The same can be said of Jan-May of last season. Thankfully you don't get points deducted for bad performances. A win is a win. Enjoy it.

Villa were utterly atrocious - but take nothing away from us. We defended well, limited them to absolutely no chances, and thoroughly deserved three points. Onwards and upwards, and onto the next one.

k

Baba isn't ready. José is right.

Doesn't matter what he does with Belgium though, Tom. He hasn't cut the mustard for the Chels. Yes, we can accept the same applies to the majority of the squad, but José is clearly just giving Eden some tough love.

I'd like to point out that I have today banned Lionsden. This is not a decision that has been made lightly. After a review in the staff section, we agreed that his posts - which are largely very critical and demeaning towards others - are not conducive to the positive environment of enlightened debate which we are trying to maintain. If you would like to discuss this, please contact me directly.

Relegation six pointer

Wow. I believe we were in for Pogba, but ended up getting priced out.

RLC - incredibly lazy. Needs to up his work-rate. LB - the complete opposite. Industrious, tenacious, disciplined. He's come on leaps and bounds. Chalobah played for 10 minutes with us 2-0, then 3-0 up, so I can't offer a fair judgement.

These certainly are by no means the most comprehensive notes I've ever made, but you may be interested reading my notes on Loftus Cheek and Baker from Tuesday's England U21s fixture. Apologies for the shocking handwriting:

There were two instances when he decided to track back and he won the ball back almost effortlessly, other than that his defensive workload and work rate was minimal, which disappointed me, As I said to zolayes, the amount of times he decided to track back is dwarfed by the instances when he simply allowed the opposition to steal a march on him. He is only young, but if he wants to play as a midfielder for Jose Mourinho's Chelsea, he needs to up the intensity of his performances big style. Totally agreed with you. I went yesterday with the club where I coach, as we were given free tickets by the FA. I took my notepad and took notes on his performance and Lewis Baker's. I'll scan in what I wrote as the game progressed. Totally agree. But he definitely has the potential. These certainly are by no means the most comprehensive notes I've ever made, but you may be interested reading my notes on Loftus Cheek and Baker from Tuesday's England U21s fixture. Apologies for the shocking handwriting:

I was at the U21s international last night and whilst Ruben had a good game, he was by no means outstanding. He took his goal well, but he was lazy and frequently couldn't be bothered tracking back to help his team. On top of that, his finishing was poor and realistically should have at least doubled his goal tally. The people calling him "our best midfielder" are, I'm afraid, well wide of the mark. He has a talent for sure, but let's not overhype him. At the minute, he is a decent young player, but lightyears behind the Luke Shaws, Ross Barkleys, etc. of this world in terms of his development.

Neither do I. Like I say, not my article, and I disagree vehemently with several of the points.

People expect him to be a miracle worker. Just one start (where he had two shots cleared off the line) isn't much to judge him by. Playing in front of this clueless midfield, he's done well to even get a goal.

I'd like to point out this is a guest article that I've posted on behalf of the authors, so credit goes to them.

Currently two places above the relegation zone with eight points after the same number of matches, things couldn’t be much worse for the defending Premier League champions. Before the season began, it was widely believed that we would at least be up there fighting. The title appears to be all but blown, with Chelsea out at 16/1 in the Premier League odds at the time of writing, and we face a struggle to get back amongst the clubs vying for European qualification. To make matters even worse, the Champions League isn't exactly providing any respite, and we're not looking capable of mounting a serious challenge for Europe's top prize. Here are three reasons why we think The Blues are having such a bad time of it… 1) Defensive decline by Ben Sutherland Jose Mourinho has built a career on solid defensive tactics. But with the ageing John Terry not performing at his best, and Branislav Ivanovic in simply terrible form, we look vulnerable at the back. Given that Mourinho isn’t exactly short of options in the position, it’s a miracle that the Serb continues to keep his place. What's even more remarkable is that he has played every minute of every game for Chelsea in the Premier League this season. 2) Eden Hazard by Ben Sutherland Hazard is undoubtedly a great player. He was a key man for us last season and was rightly named Premier League Player of the Year in 2014-15. Yet this season he’s just not doing it, with no goals in eight EPL games and a . Despite this, Mourinho defended the Belgian in a recent press conference, saying that Hazard is "the best penalty taker in this country". He has now been dropped from the side, which his father seems to think is a good thing for the Belgium national team. Maybe it will be a good thing for us as well and a rest will do him good. In an interview in the summer, Hazard said that he wanted to score even more goals this term, but given his awful form, this looks unlikely. However, Hazard is just too good a player to be down for long. 3) Jose Mourinho by Ronnie Macdonald The Special One is quite rightly proclaimed as one of the best managers of all time. He is in fact the most successful Chelsea manager ever and it was through his guidance that we won the league again after a five-year gap in 2014-15. Yet he is widely believed to be in the midst of a crisis of judgement. He’s never been in this situation before and time will tell whether he is the right man to turn things around. John Terry and Cesc Fabregas have both publicly declared their support for the forlorn manager. The board at Stamford Bridge has made similar declarations, with a spokesperson for Abramovich stating that Mourinho has the owner’s full support. The way he handled the situation with club doctor, Eva Carneiro, has also drawn huge criticism. Is it a coincidence that the Blues took an even bigger turn for the worse after the manager banned her from the dugout on match days? Never has Mourinho looked so flustered and out of his depth. He looks a broken man. Let’s hope he does get things back on track for all of our sakes. Click here to view the article

Both, to be totally honest.

We're the defending Premier League champions. And we're 16th in the table having let in 21 goals this season already. "Shambles" is complimentary of our efforts thus far.

I'm not dictating what the community should be seriously discussing, I'm not a member of the Gestapo. I am questioning it, as I'm amazed it has come to this, I really am. Time for me to take a break from this place, I think.

I accept your point, which is well-made. Indeed, where do we draw the line? If we're talking of the extremes you mention (20 points off the top four), then he'd be gone, obviously, as that would be frankly unacceptable. Thankfully the damage is repairable as far as UCL football next season is concerned. However, if things don't improve my Christmas, I'd be surprised. Mourinho has the capacity to turn things around (of course he does, to suggest otherwise would be ignorant, IMO), BUT if things stay as they are over the next couple of months I'd say that is a fair amount of time for him to try and change things. I'm starting to lose faith that he can turn things around, as looking at the body language of the players it suggests he has totally lost the dressing room, bar for one or two. A massive shame.

Iago eat your heart out...

It seems, in your black and white perspective of things, that you've painted me with the "Mourinho fanboy" brush. If that's the case, you're greatly mistaken in identifying support for a highly successful manager as blind devotion towards him. The last thing this shambles of a club needs right now is for the headman's axe to be swung. Give him the season and make changes in the summer if necessary.

This.

Unrecognisable.