Jase

From a defensive point of view, him missing the City game might not be such a bad thing..

Spoke like a father who found his lost child... Ramires tends to score when you least expect him to. Next time, we all should just have low expectations and allow ourselves to be amazed by him.

Credit to Ivanovic for popping up with another big goal when we really needed it. But that shouldn't take away another poor defensive showing from him though. Went AWOL for that Moreno opportunity and had Courtois not denied him, we would probably be having a different topic of conversation right now.

Had another good game against Liverpool and he deserves all the praise. His save on Lallana is the best one over the two legs. On the other hand, in typical TalkChelsea fashion, this thread has been fairly quiet. When Cech was playing recently, people were clamouring all over him to start ahead of Courtois because of the clean sheets and saves he made against Newcastle (one could easily argue Courtois can save those too). Now, there's hardly been a word from those fellas.

If there's one thing counting against Zouma right now, it's obviously his lack of experience. But if you do not give him the games, the challenges for him to face, then he won't improve, would he? He will make mistakes (he's only 20 after all) and we may pay the price from time to time but it can only be a good thing in the long term as Mourinho seems certain he'll be a permanent starter in the first XI in the future. Moreover, compared to Cahill, you would think Zouma is one who'll learn from his mistakes, evaluate and get better. Cahill doesn't seem to learn from his mistakes and consistently make the same errors over and over again, this despite having played over hundreds of games since 2004.

http://www.espnfcasia.com/capital-one-cup/story/2269046/diego-costa-fate-hinges-on-chelsea-vs-liverpool-match-report According to PA Sport, it is unlikely Costa will face two violent conduct charges...

The story came out yesterday. I kinda doubt Dortmund have the money to buy Schurrle, unless of course they are going to sell Reus. But regardless, I don't think they'll do any transfer business this month. Likely to be in the summer. That being said, it might just be a ploy from the club's or player's camp to force Wolfsburg's hands.

It's incredible to think we have gone from having a pussy in Torres (as one of the main strikers) to the highly aggressive player in Costa, who is a great wind up merchant. Single-handedly pissed off the entire Liverpool team. Don't think I have ever seen the opposing team becoming so involved and agitated with one of our players, not even when Drogba was in his prime. I love it. As for the stamps on Can and Skrtel, I don't think they were deliberate at all. He just happened to land on them accidentally. If one pushes it, then you might argue that the Can one was maybe done on purpose but the stamp on Skrtel was definitely accidental.

*bump*

Chelsea vs Manchester City PRE-MATCH DISCUSSION AND LIVE CHAT 2014/15 Premier League Match 23 31st January, Saturday, 2014 Stamford Bridge 17:30 Kick Off (UK time)

Chelsea 1-1 Manchester City POST-MATCH DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS 2014/15 Premier League Match 23 31st January, Saturday, 2014 Stamford Bridge 17:30 Kick Off (UK time)

Our last ACTUAL good performance was arguably one month ago against West Ham on Boxing Day. We've been awful in general since the turn of the year.

Salah sat behind the bench in the first half. No sight of Schurrle.

I know. Not disagreeing with you. Just saying. All those misses helped to start the rumours/transfer stories anyway.

To be fair, the two of them have been left out of the matchday squads pretty often this season anyway, never mind just this month.

They're both gone. In fact, maybe I should just move their threads to the Ex-Blues section now.....

More like the definition of 'Defensive Error' is a bit dodgy...

0? ZERO defensive errors in 2013/14?? I refuse to believe that!

Well, the Telegraph and Guardian have reported that Schurrle won't make the squad tonight while Rob Beasley said Salah is likely to leave after the game tonight (not immediately of course). Yeah so, take your pick.

It's all speculation (when has it never been?) but when you have so many media outlets reporting the same thing, then the current situation probably has some truth to it.

Just like Daily Express, who claimed we have agreed a deal for Cuadrado the other day... #JumpingIntoBandwagon

So, we are playing hardball with Wolfsburg over Schurrle and this cat and mouse game with Fiorentina for Cuadrado? I know there's the FFP rules but couldn't we just fork out a few million ourselves rather than wanting to use the sale of Schurrle to cover everything of Cuadrado's purchase?

There's more chance of Arsenal winning the Premier League than promoting Boga...