Jase

You can say he's giving everyone a chance but on the other hand, think the selection Mourinho has made is down to the fact that he's reacting towards the kind of opponents that we've been facing.

If he's giving everyone their chance, think Bertrand and Azpi would have gotten it. But for whatever reasons, they've been kept in the dark..

Watch this! :lol: :lol:

Think what we want to see is Mourinho picking his best XI and then making subtle changes here and there. Right now, he's playing different pivot combo from game to game and is doing the same with the attacking 4 ahead of the two. There's no consistency, cohesion or understanding between the players right now. All look rather lost.

Joy. A London derby and against a team that notoriously seem to turn up whenever they play us and get a draw. If we don't beat Fulham here, can't imagine what the reaction would be like. Suspect hell would break loose, at least some of it...

After the game yesterday, I was feeling rather dejected, restless and disappointed about the result and performance. But now, am feeling pissed off about it as well. It's a mess. It's simply a freaking mess everywhere! We have quite a number of players being overplayed and some being underplayed, for whatever reason, and then constant changes to the midfield and striker. As Henrique mentioned in the Mourinho thread, one game we suddenly see Ramires-Lampard in the pivot, the next Mikel-Ramires, Mikel-Lampard and then suddenly Lampard-MvG. Further forward, we have had five different attacking trio combo been used in the 6 games played so far and then the striker, we've gone from Torres to Ba to Schurrle to Torres and finally Eto'o. There's just no consistency in the lineup! It feels as though Mourinho has picked those teams based on the oppositions that we have faced. He's reacting to them which then result in different approaches being taken from one game to another. With the exception of the first half against Hull, we haven't had any sort of consistency or fluidity in our play. It has looked disjointed and with players looking clueless with what they are supposed to do. It's probably time that Mourinho settles on a consistent starting XI and then making subtle changes here and there to the lineup rather constantly chopping and changing things around. It's not helping the team's performance and it's not helping the players' performances at all! Moreover, it's an absolute joke that we keep on spending to buy so many attacking midfielders, even though they are talented and quality, in the team but turning a blind eye on the more fundamental flaws in the team like our midfield and striker. Can understand the purchase Schurrle to begin with earlier in the summer. Was bought to bolster the squad depth and by that time, we already had 6 AMs in Mata, Oscar, Hazard, De Bruyne, Schurrle and Moses which was good enough. But instead, we decided to waste another 30m for another AM that we don't need and not spending it on areas that really needed to be fixed like the midfield or striker! The more I look and think about it, don't think the club had any intention of getting Willian this summer. The club may have been keeping an eye on him but probably Spurs were close to signing him, we decided to just suddenly go out and sign him. It's almost like a similar situation with Oscar last season though his addition was welcomed then due to our lack of quality in the team. Going back to the point, it's absolutely pointless to have all these bright attacking midfielders if the midfield duo or pivot behind them is being dysfunctional and then having an average striker upfront. There's just nobody in that midfield that can help keep possession, dictate the tempo and orchestrate our attack from deep areas without having to rely so much on our attacking trio and then not having a striker that can put away those chances created. Instead, we have to over-rely on those trio to drop deep and help the midfield out and even score the goals! And also, for all these attacking players we have, it's really hilarious that we are still struggling to break down teams that sit deep after all these years. Basel did that tonight and we looked absolutely clueless and hopeless in breaking them down and ended up having to pass sideways and backwards partly because of their pressing and also the lack of movement from our players to pull them apart, get them out of shape etc. This problem has been apparent since the 2010/11 season and yet every manager that comes in after that can never seem to get it right and they seem to make it even worse everytime! There are just so many issues that need to be ironed out right now. It's absolutely frustrating!

Like Amels has mentioned, how do you even expect Mata to force out Oscar if he only plays a game here, a game there? Oscar has been in decent form because he's been playing more regularly and had the situation been the reverse, Oscar too would be struggling for form and getting any rhythm to his performance.

Erm, Luiz didn't even play in that Arsenal game. Terry and Ivanovic played at CB with Bosingwa at RB.

A probably with that is probably because Mourinho has been reacting, perhaps a tad too much, to the opponents that we've been facing and in the process, constantly changing the midfield and striker. Against Hull, started like a house on fire and absolutely pummeled them with our quick attacking movement and passing. Against Villa, probably because of the threat from counter attacks, we took a more conservative and controlled approach and only narrowly won. At Old Trafford, because it's Man United away from home, we setup to play on the counter and the same thing goes against Bayern. Against Everton, there was like a bit of both and with Basel, we looked to dominate the game but were absolutely clueless and hopeless in breaking them down.

And not to mention, the attacking trio behind the ST have been constantly changing. vs Hull - Hazard/Oscar/De Bruyne vs Villa - Hazard/Oscar/Mata vs Man Utd - Hazard/Oscar/De Bruyne vs Bayern - Hazard/Oscar/Schurrle vs Everton - Hazard/Mata/Schurrle vs Basel - Hazard/Oscar/Willian

Only Van Ginkel was the new one in the Champions League tonight. The others have played in it before. It's not that they don't know how to handle the Champions League atmosphere but there was no reaction or drive or full commitment when we really needed it to win the game in the second half.

6400?! Guess either me or Choulo would have look through the whole thing and edit where necessary..

Chelsea vs Fulham PRE-MATCH DISCUSSION AND LIVE CHAT English Premier League 21st September, Saturday, 2013 Stamford Bridge 17:30 Kick Off (UK time)

Chelsea 2-0 Fulham POST-MATCH DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS English Premier League 21st September, Saturday, 2013 Stamford Bridge 17:30 Kick Off (UK time)

The crosses are rather useless when we usually don't have anyone attacking it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEE2POb5Qbk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5d1IYkDe5i0

Absolutely hate it how he always takes 2-3 touches before crossing the ball from the right flank. Gives the opposition time to get back to their defensive shape and even putting pressure on his cross!

Yeah but who cares? Gets the message across anyway, loud and clear.

Mata to come off the bench and score the winner and then swear to Jose in Spanish...

Final call. Chelsea v Basel Match Preview

Can always respond to the overreaction lately, situation on players etc.

@Stingray and @Rmpr, great to have you two back. Stick around please. Don't ditch us all like last time!

@, it's been more than a month since you last wrote your 2 1/2 cents piece. Lazy bastard!