Jase

But conclusively saying Bakayoko would be no improvement on Matic after a few games is silly. Is it really beneficial to have a player who's slow in passing the ball and capable of using only one foot? Matic may have more technical ability than Bakayoko at this point but the latter is better at beating the pressing game. As we have seen lots of time last season, especially against Spurs, Matic doesn't fare well when being pressed and even struggles physically. Bakayoko, on the other hand, has shown on numerous occasions that he can take the ball and bulldozes his way past people, which is incredibly in driving the opposition back. It is funny that Matic's flaws in this team seem to have been forgotten now that he's no longer playing for us.

Either one could have but that would have meant we play a 2-man midfield and risk getting overrun in midfield. Okay, the 3-5-2 didn't work out in the end for various reasons but Conte had to make a tactical choice, he went for it and it so happened that it didn't work out the way we wanted. Well, that I don't disagree. We had a plan from the start but god knows why Conte decided to change things completely after Morata went off.

Really? We tried to make things happen throughout the game and Conte even switched things up at HT but we just didn't have enough to break Arsenal down on that day. It can happen and it will happen again. We were able to impose ourselves against Atletico because they are not a team capable of passing the opposition off the park. If they were, do you think we would have taken the game to them? You might have read too much into Conte's subs. Replacing Morata, Hazard and Fabregas with Batshuayi, Willian and Christensen respectively hardly screamed ambition. Two of them were like-for-like changes and the other a defensive one. We barely attacked in the last 10 minutes or so and seemed content to sit back and take the point. The winner just happened to have come from a free kick we won late on.

When on earth did we play the same way against Arsenal like we did at the weekend? Yes, we were passive and negative against City but against Arsenal, we certainly tried to take more initiative. But the main issue was, we came up against an inspired Arsenal (can't believe that actually happened) and we just couldn't break them down. We didn't play well enough to win on that day and we were by no means negative against Arsenal like we were against City.

What is that based off - the game against Man City or the few games he has played so far? He's by no means the finished article and as you alluded to, he's still young. He still has plenty of room for improvement compared to a 29-year-old. We've already seen Kante improve a lot on the ball under Conte and you can bet Bakayoko will follow the same route. How so? Seems like you have forgotten his flaws because he's now no longer with us. Go read his thread and you'll see plenty of valid points on why Matic was by no means perfect.

Yes, I get the difference in playing style but why wait till one loss to vent all these frustrations? It's hardly a secret that we've been playing pragmatic football with the occasional brilliance for the last decade or so. So why are people acting all surprise by the lack of quality shown in games like yesterday? If you believe the latest rumours, he's set to sign a 300k p/w contract and become the highest paid player in the Premier League after the international break.

Gotta wonder what Conte makes of Batshuayi's Twitter shenanigans.

One bad result and of course Duncan Castles comes out with BS.

One bad loss and suddenly people are losing their mind over Hazard.

And not to mention, our tendency to make poor teams look good.

After 7 league games 2016/17 - W4 D1 L2 - scored 12, conceded 9 2017/18 - W4 D1 L2 - scored 12, conceded 6

THAT free kick where he hit a one man wall sums him up and his form right now.

Arsenal aside, City won't play any of the other top sides until December and if their form is anything to go by, you'll expect them to steamroll the lesser sides. They are scoring goals and barely conceding any. As for United, they have Liverpool (a), Tottenham (h) and Chelsea (a) in 3 of their next 4 league games after the international break. Then it's straightforward till December.

Are we debating about the game plan or the execution here because we seem to be going on about 2 different things? Conte certainly made a few wrong player selections today - that I don't disagree. Thought the game plan was right but the execution was wrong. Not putting Batshuayi (or even Pedro) on for Morata was certainly a baffling one when we looked a tad better after he came on.

Odds on Palace getting their first goal and points against us?

Crystal Palace 2-1 Chelsea PRE/POST-MATCH DISCUSSION, LIVE CHAT AND ANALYSIS 2017/18 Premier League Match 8 14th October, Saturday, 2017 Selhurst Park 15:00 Kick Off (UK time)

Then you expected to play an open attacking game against City? Only a fool would do that especially with the players and playing style we got. We set up to play on the break, something we have done countless of times over the years, but we were certainly forced to sit back a lot more than we like because we couldn't keep possession to save our lives, even after Morata went off. City just ended up passing the ball and tiring us out knowing we just played days ago in Madrid. Were you complaining when we pretty much played the same way last season against City? How did he give Arsenal too much respect when we tried to go for the win but just happened to come against a useful Arsenal for once?

We didn't play well against Arsenal but why can't people just take those arrogant glasses off and accept that they played well on that day to stop us? We were a lot more offensive on that day than today but just couldn't create anything to break them down.

Thank god for our away form! Our home results have been rubbish.

Are you really expecting Conte to suddenly turn into a possession based coach? Was never one and will never be one. We will dominate matches where possible but he's a pragmatic manager first and foremost.