BlueLion.

I must have been watching a different game to a lot of people. He did nothing of significance besides the shot that hit the post.

Fed up of giving him second chances. He needs to deliver, and he just simply is not. The supposed "player of the year" has been subpar at best this season. Seems disinterested. Mourinho was fully justified in benching him on Saturday and he can have no complaints if the same occurs against the Hammers.

He should have scored - but that's the Matic we're talking about.

Would take a draw going by current form.

Chelsea's nightmare start to the season continued with two further points being dropped in a game they dominated against Dynamo Kiev. Eden Hazard hit the base of the post early on with a curling effort before Cesc Fabregas was incredulously denied a stonewall penalty as Chelsea had the better of the opening exchanges. Nemanja Matic almost capped off a brilliant surging run but poked his effort wide, whilst Willian then rattled the woodwork with a swerving free-kick just two minutes after the restart as the Blues were frustrated on a cold evening in the Ukrainian capital. But that dead-ball effort from the Brazilian signalled the last moment of serious Chelsea intent, with Jose Mourinho clearly instructing his charges to hold out for a draw, as opposed to pressing for three points which would have made qualification to the knockout rounds a more attainable target. Instead, a paltry return of four points from their first three Champions League fixtures means the Blues sit three points behind group leaders Porto, and now face the possibility of failing to progress from a group that should have been a formality. With Dynamo and Porto both to visit Stamford Bridge, Chelsea's European fate remains - just about - in their own hands, but Mourinho will be left ruing what might have been had his side showed more desire in the final third. Eden Hazard - restored to the team after being deservedly dropped for the weekend defeat of Aston Villa - was average at best, with his early effort that was fingertipped onto the post by veteran goalkeeper Olexandr Shovkovskiy his only significant impact on proceedings. Instead, it was the in-form Willian who was Dynamo's chief tormentor following yet another dynamic performance, and he played a vital role in turning over possession as Fabregas drove forwards and was blatantly floored in the box by a Serhiy Rybalka challenge in plain view of the referee. Once more, Chelsea penalty claims were turned down, but it seemed that the Blues would not be left too aggrieved by that decision considering their early attacking intent. It seemed as if a goal could come at any moment, and first Matic, showing impeccable football, poked wide before Diego Costa came a stud's length away from toeing a Willian set piece beyond Shovkovskiy. Gary Cahill then had a header collected by the Kiev captain as Chelsea looked by far the better side in the first half. The dominance the Blue exerted prior to the interval was almost rewarded just two minutes into the second period as Willian's glorious free-kick shook the woodwork with the goalkeeper stranded, but that represented the last significant goalmouth action from a Chelsea point-of-view, and the Blues began to sit deeper so as to not risk losing the game. The hosts duly grew more confident, with Andriy Yarmolenko their creator-in-chief, and Asmir Begovic had to be smart to make a strong parry at his near post after Derlis Gonzalis has escaped the attentions of makeshift full-back Kurt Zouma. And though the Chelsea goalkeeper was rarely called into significant action, the Bosnian, who will no doubt play a pivotal role in deciding both Chelsea's Champions League fortunes as well as those of his country, after they were drawn to face the Republic of Ireland in the UEFA Euro 2016 play-off round, had to be alert to push away a devilish Gonzalis cross. Mourinho introduced Oscar for Fabregas as the Blues pushed for a goal that their first half display in particular had warranted, but that change killed almost all of the Blues' remaining attacking panache, with Willian's late effort from the edge of the box that faded wide summed up the Blues evening - close, but not close enough. It was certainly a better defensive performance from Chelsea in comparison to their 2-1 reverse in the Dragao last time round, but one cannot help but feel that this is two points dropped in the grand scheme of things.

Two points dropped. A draw is a draw and it doesn't kill our hopes, but we've made things harder for ourselves. Dynamo are utterly shite and we made them look like PSG.

Exactly. Talk about slagging someone off for the sake of it.

Scenes if Zouma plays RB and Dave stays on the left.

Would be content with a draw, but a win would obviously take a lot of pressure off of us. We'll win in Tel Aviv, I'm sure, and we'd take a minimum of four points from Dynamo and Porto at home. That would give us 11 points from the group which would almost definitely see us through.

I wouldn't say Bale is a better player or someone with a better ability than Hazard to decide big games - but I think his playing style and physical characteristics are some of the more desirable traits that Mourinho typically looks fore. Both are terrific players.

Swap him for Bale, who I'd rather have, truth being told.

Going retro mate

There's no need to be so abrupt - any idiot can see his head is clearly not in the right place from his abject performances alone.

Mourinho at PSG... one shudders at the thought. They're no threat under current management, but with a top coach... Wow. They could break the Bayern-Barca-Real dominance of European football.

Can he play RB?

You may recall that I had considered stepping down in May - personal circumstances dictate that I need to be more careful online, hence the return to the BlueLion pseudonym. I had a good run and enjoyed the majority of my seven years, but time for the forum to take a new direction under fresh leadership, and now I can enjoy coming on here to share my views as a Chelsea fan, which I look forward to, as opposed to logging on to police the place.

I see your point, but then again, I think we were the only serious title contender of the past 2-3 years to take FFP seriously. UEFA have given City a slap on the wrist in terms of a small fine and a capped squad of 21 as opposed to the full 25 for European competition. But what have we gained out of it? Okay, some pretty good business and a couple of trophies, but I feel that if we'd have shown the same financial commitment that United and City did in the transfer window, we'd be in the top four at present without too many concerns. Instead, we did exactly what City did last summer and have been spectacularly overtaken. We are fortunate that, despite our shortcomings, the gap is "only" 10 points, and with 29 games remaining that is not an insurmountable divide*. * I'd like to point out we have no realistic chance of winning the title at this stage (though, let's be positive, put a run together, and who knows?), but my point is that if we can regroup we can at least attain a top four finish and close the gap to a more respectable distance.

I ripped the shit out of him for his first-half performance on Twitter, but the positional shift meant that in the second half, he was far better. Let's not jump to any conclusions, however; I'm fairly certain my local pub team could at least draw against Villa at the minute.

Now now, don't get swearing at members, Jason, you'll get ridiculed for it

If they do a "Financial Fair Play Award" akin to the one for player discipline, it might earn us a 19th qualifying round Europa League draw against a team from Outer Mongolia.

Somewhat belated advice, I would say, and no longer my problem, either

His body language is very poor - clearly not in the right place mentally and is being scrutinised for every little misstep. The irony is delicious considering Ivanovic has been even worse. The thing is, even in a poor performance, Hazard can do something in a second, a flash of brilliance to change a game. As you say, it'll be one or the other. Mourinho prefers functional players over stylish ones, though I suppose there have been one or two exceptions.

I can see him leaving at the end of the season - if Mourinho doesn't.

Agreed, something abundantly clear from his short stint in the PL. It isn't a "natural" position for him - but experience in any position is preferable to a place on the bench.

I quite explicitly recall stating in the warnings thread that if anyone wanted to discuss it that they should PM me, rather than making a big commotion about it. The posts were deleted under that premise.