Mceachran

If I saw Terry running back from half field as my best cover, I'd assume I had no cover too. He was left 1v1 with a quality player who took a big touch. I think the bigger issue is why Gilfi was so open.

I think he'll be more effective when he has a proper right back like azpi to play alongside with him.

If we were winning with shutouts I would say Conte might have a point. But we are giving up a lot of goals, so I don't think Cesc would be the reason for us getting scored on 3 times a game or anything like that. Why not bring him on, kill off teams, and sure sub him out when we're up 2-3. Hazard and Costa play with so much more joy when he's on the pitch.

I think our squad is good enough. Even the best squads only dominate when their top players are firing and everyone is putting in a top shift.

That picture in my head actually makes me quite happier; I don't know why I just can't imagine Azpi in a back 3. Generally when I think of Back 3 I imagine three versitale, tall, strong, defenders.

There's been a bit of talk of Conte moving to a 3-in-the-back system where some are looking eagerly towards a (Alonso)-Zouma-Luiz grouping or something even more exciting. The saddest part of this talk is that the one defender least criticized in our entire team has no place in this system if you allow for the likes of Willian to get up and down the right side of the midfield.

I think Oscar has shown where a slight frame-ed technical player can play in a mourinho squad if they are willing to get stuck in and work their socks off. I hope Josh sees this and it motivates him to become more of a beast while also taking responsibility to get into the attack as it's clear he can do when he is feeling it. Just saw this also: Vintage Mceachran pass to tie things up.

not sure if my post was clear, but exactly this ^

There were clear chances and I think one of them he looked frustrated, that's NOT what I'm talking about. One of the plays petered out towards the end and we lost the ball high up the field about 10 yards from him. Instead of him putting his head down and tracking back (which is what our newly defensive-minded-superstar eden does regularly nowadays) he just threw his hands up and looked the other way. Not a major thing, but I'll be looking forward to seeing a positive change in that respect.

You're right, I shouldn't have said his potential was visible... it was just one game. Thanks for pointing that out!

Class act giving the penalty to Hazard for the hat trick.

I didn't like when he threw his hands up after a play broke down. That needs to be cut out immediately. But his potential is obvious, he showed 90% of his highlights video content in about 10 minutes for us...sans finishing.

I love how he doesn't need to feel like a true number 9 at all times. He floats out wide, comes in and out of the game, but he just NEVER seems to get in the way of things, he is ALWAYS helping. Love that about him.

I didn't know where else to post this... So it's clear that our starting 11-13 squad is performing really well together, there is a ton of understanding and trust on the pitch; it's just brilliant to see as a fan. What was fascinating to me was when we had Schurrle, Salah, and Ba on, they were so eager to impress the manager that they made themselves stand out as being substitutes and not standing out as being potential starters. I'm not saying they're doomed, but it will be interesting if Mou can now get even the substitutes to come on and fit in nicely with the rest of the squad. If this happens, we can truly start imagining 3 crowns in one season. Although, to be fair, It's February and we are still in the running for all three!

My favorite part about his two goals against Newcastle was that they both came out of completely unselfish play. Can't get enough of that...

It was obvious we were missing his runs into the box against City; but it was just one game he sat. Our manager also decided to sit Oscar, the player given as the reason for why we were fine with letting go of Juan Mata. So I don't think these players really minded sitting out against city when they saw what the manager wanted. He's still a legend, and he's still a major player in Jose's plans.

I've been harsh on Cahill in the past, I think credit to him and the manager for figuring out how to make him fit into the defense and show his strengths.

I think Pat Nevin put it perfectly when he said Willian was buzzing around Yaya like a wasp. So crucial for us. Takes some strain off of ramires for us with guys like willian and oscar putting in so much energy; hazard more and more as well!

3 things in particular made me really proud to have him wearing our shirt on Monday: 1) His denying Navas the cross in the 1st half. 2) Watching every defensive player on Man City give him tons of respect and generally being afraid to get to close to him. 3) When he made that back-heel pass to no one, he saw he messed up, put his head down and sprinted that big 'ol butt of his back to defend.

Does anyone think we could get Eriksen for Mata? He fits the system more. Mata is one of my favorite players (replacing a hole in my heart left by Joe Cole), but if we ARE going to lose him, I feel like that would be a win win for us.

For me, this isn't an oscar vs mata deal. Oscar has proven he is an all around wonderful footballer. But mata has shown that he can CONSISTENTLY provide stats for chelsea. Hazard hasn't. Schurrle hasn't. Torres and eto'o haven't. You can talk about his defensive ability, but we all know that he is so lethal in attack that he makes up for it numbers-wise. Not to mention that even with this more athletic squad Mourinho wants to field, we haven't exactly been a model defensive team. All I can hope is that mata shows how useful he is every chance he gets.

Save that for a Semi!!

I can smell it already. Us fans think this group is a cake-walk. We will expect to crush the opposition and cruise into the knockout stages. Yet perhaps we have forgotton how Jose obtains results. I think (as a prediction) we will barely get out of group stage in terms of goals and close games, but we will have amazing rotation in the squad and also get results back in the PL. And many fans will complain, too blind to see the big picture orchestration that is happening. I hope I'm wrong. I hope we destroy everyone, but I have this feeling...

Now that we've got our squad, time for Jose to lead us into battle this season. So pumped. :blue scalf:

I thought signing Ba was brilliant. And that Lukaku coming back would surely solve everything. At the very least we have Schurrle to give us that striker option. Thankfully, we've signed Eto'o. :confused: