Jase

eDdIe HoWe ShOuLd Be ChElSeA mAnAgEr

I'm sure the board placed objectives for Lampard to achieve this season but at the same time, I believe the club are taking a long term view to things now rather than just focus on short term winning. Results are results but progression is also key here.

Regarding Di Matteo, people keep on forgetting Roman never wanted him as permanent manager to begin with but was forced to hire him because of fans' pressure after winning the Champions League and FA Cup.

Oh my...

Looked fine today and he was only left out last weekend as a precaution. Said it himself that he's 100% now.

Fair play to Southampton, by the way. Could have sacked Hasenhuttl after that 9-0 loss (plus all the bad form prior to that) but stuck with him and they have won 5 of their 11 league games since then - or 5 of their last 8. Moved out of the bottom 3 to now sit in 11th.

On the subject of Pochettino, worth remembering his results in his first season at Spurs hardly looked 'serene'... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014–15_Tottenham_Hotspur_F.C._season

You're not wrong but we have 3 days between today and Sunday and then a week off for the next league game. I guess what I was trying to say is, I don't get why you picked Pedro over Pulisic, for example.

But Telles hasn't been mentioned, only Chilwell for the LB spot. As for the ST spot, god knows at this point...

The real Mourinho is back!

Is playing Arsenal still a big match?

Still got United at Arsenal later... I know we will have our nightmare run of games starting at the end of this month but I just noticed in the weeks we play Burnley (h) and Newcastle (a), Spurs and United will be playing Liverpool. It won't happen but by hook or by crook, we need to get the fucking 6 points in those 2 games!

Since when has the process of improving a squad been straightforward though? It took Pochettino time to turn Spurs into what they eventually became under him and I'm sure he made mistakes along the way as well (or right till the very end). I know you are frustrated, just like every other Chelsea fan right now but let's face it, we have a squad of mishmash players. Some are good, some are bad. Some are experienced. Some are inexperienced. It's gonna take at least a summer transfer window to reshape the squad (hopefully we get it right this time) into what we want. Personally, I think it's OTT to say Lampard hasn't improved a single player or hasn't made us attack better. Okay, defensively we still have issues but Kovacic, for example, has improved greatly from last season and we played some great stuff during our winning earlier this season. It hasn't been a season of no hope (we had it worse in 2010/11 or 2015/16), even though Lampard has made mistakes. If this kind of inconsistency still happens next season, then by all means, fire away at Lampard but until he gets the transfer windows and chance to reshape the squad, I think he deserves some benefit of the doubt (if that's the right phrase to use).

As much as this game is in a few days' time, I'm not sure we should rotate that much given it's our only realistic shot at a trophy this season and Nottingham Forest seem to be doing well at the moment.

Nottingham Forest are sitting 4th in the Championship (at the time of writing) by the way...

What has been clear and obvious for weeks now is that Lampard has been indirectly telling the board......"I NEED A NEW STRIKER AND A LEFT BACK ASAP!".

Won't change the fact that people would still find things to criticize the manager after every bad result.

I think he may have been put off by that midfield trio after that 4-4 Ajax game, similar to when Mourinho went into full lock-down mode after losing 4-2 to Bradford and 5-3 at Spurs in 2014/15.

Go after Alexandra then.

Chelsea 2-0 Nottingham Forest PRE/POST-MATCH DISCUSSION, LIVE CHAT AND ANALYSIS 2019/20 FA Cup 3rd Round 5th January, Sunday 2020 Stamford Bridge 14:01 Kick Off (UK time)

So if he continues to perform badly in January, we can criticize him after that? Good to know.

3 wins, 1 draw and 4 losses in last 8 league games.

A better comparison would have been De Bruyne. But seriously though, how many times must I say this? My point isn't about giving up on CHO now but rather how long we should be patient for him to return to some kind of form before asking questions? Because every time when someone criticizes his performance, his age and injury get blurted out. The two factors aren't wrong but they can't keep be used every single time!

Using hindsight to justify that is not the most convincing answer. Patience is needed yes but the player in question must also make things happen to justify it. In this case, CHO needs to reevaluate, think, decide what he can do or should do to at least rediscover the kind of form he showed last season, because if he doesn't do that, no one is gonna do it for him and patience is not unlimited.