Jase

Hmmmmm...

5pm GMT? But what about this..? http://www.espnfc.us/story/2277992/wolfsburg-pursuit-of-chelseas-andre-schurrle-to-go-down-to-wire

And yet one could easily point to the Liverpool game at Anfield recently where playing Fabregas in the No.10 role didn't exactly work.

Now now, logic doesn't prevail here you know. It's easier to put the blame on others rather than looking what went wrong with ourselves. #CampaignAgainstChelsea

We could just fill the space on the bench with someone from the academy. No need to recall one of them and let him rot on the bench, when he's not going to play much.

You could have 8-9 players pressing the opposition together but if someone switches off like Schurrle and Ivanovic did in the City, then the pressing would become useless, the opposition can just play around us and we would probably concede because of that. What we did then against City was nothing wrong. They thrive on spaces and we denied them. We minimized their chances of scoring. They only scored because two players went AWOL. Defensively diligent or not, it was Hazard's job to mark his man and he didn't, regardless of whether it was in our own penalty box or outside of it on the left flank.

How is it void? That 'covers the most distance' stat can be pretty misleading - like he has that stat because he goes forward a lot, stays in defensive position a lot OR both? Even if it's the latter two, it doesn't mean he has good workrate defensively or high stamina. Not saying Fabregas is one but you could have a headless chicken running up and down the pitch in the entire game, doing nothing, and say 'oh he has strong workrate etc...' even when that is not the case. I doubt that'll be the case as long as Mourinho is still our manager. Granted the partnership of Mikel and Matic might not be the best but we have played Fabregas in front of those two before and he's still required to press, even if it has been slightly non-existent.

Surprised by what?

Just because they have 10 man, doesn't mean we should just go press them. It's Man City, not some team from the Conference. Mistakes can also happen by opening yourself up to the opponent. Doesn't mean we won't have conceded had we pressed City. Had Schurrle and Ivanovic done their jobs right, this wouldn't even be part of the discussion. You run risks regardless of whichever approach is taken in matches.

True but think the chances of Hull getting something from the Etihad are extremely low, like as low as you can get. Hull under Steve Bruce have been absolutely hopeless. He doesn't have a clue what's he doing, constantly finding excuses for everything, and they have won only 8 league matches out of 42(!) since the start of 2014.

Aston Villa have gone 612 minutes without a Premier League. Expect them to end that run by scoring 2-3 goals next week and earn a fluky 3-1 win or something..

We were hardly sitting deep at City when they scored their goal - it happened because two players just went AWOL for a few seconds. At United, their goal came from a set piece (no thanks to Phil Dowd!) and we failed to mark Fellaini and Van Persie. Against Tottenham, it was just one of those days where everything went completely wrong - individual errors, team mistakes which were partly caused the management of Mourinho in the bigger scheme of things.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2935583/Chelsea-frontman-Andre-Schurrle-edges-closer-Wolfsburg-switch.html?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed

Was told that Jake Cohen said we could actually buy Cuadrado without having to let Schurrle and Salah leave as we are not anywhere near to breaching the FFP rules. It's just that we seem to be operating in a pragmatic manner with the 'Buy 1 Sell 1' policy. Oh well though, this hardly matters come tomorrow.

Yeah but it happens. Just because we're Chelsea, doesn't mean we have the right not to lose leads, regardless of who we face. Moreover, the leads we lost against QPR, Strawberry, Bolton are the same with the City, Tottenham, Liverpool ones - they all happened because of individual mistakes.

But those games weren't about overturning 1-0 deficits...

Yeah...but we have also won games after throwing away a 1-0 lead - 2-1 vs Bolton, 2-1 vs Shrewsbury and 2-1 vs QPR. They might not be big teams but the victories were important in getting to where we are right now.

Jose Mourinho was tactically astute in Chelsea's draw vs. Man City

Not too sure about that. Can Fabregas really do what Mourinho wants with his No.10 in that position? He doesn't have the stamina, workrate and mobility to be moving around the pitch for 90 minutes, like Oscar and Willian. That is why those two are often played in the No.10 position more often than not. Mourinho has played Fabregas in that role a few times this season but has never really convinced and our pressing game tends to suffer from it. Sometimes, one can see Costa going a bit mad when he's doing the all the pressing from the front and no one else really helping him.

You failed to remember #Lampard203???

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/southampton/11382203/Southampton-striker-Graziano-Pelle-says-in-the-Premier-League-its-a-case-of-kick-or-be-kicked.html Graziano Pelle on Costa...

Had the same thought but one might argue that we didn't want to risk having the deal with Wolfsburg fall through if Schurrle suddenly picks up an injury. We are still playing hardball and they still don't want to pay that 1-2 million. Somebody would eventually crack and give in..

Only two weeks ago? OMG! I seriously don't remember it all!!

When are we going to announce the transfer deals? They have become like the worst kept secrets at this point!

Shooting opportunities but were any of them really dangerous (apart from the Gerrard one)? Controlling the game is more than just keeping the ball. It can also come without having the ball.