Jase

EVERTON HOW SLOW WAS ROBLES FOR THAT GOAL?!

I know we like to play down expectations (me included ) but can't blame people for doing that though. Who would have thought we would be sitting 6-7 points clear at the top at Christmas after what happened last season and the Arsenal debacle in September (remember how pessimistic everyone was?)? Many would have gladly taken a Champions League spot at the start of the season. On the subject of our next 2 games, by hook or by crook, we MUST win those 2 because our fixtures from Jan till early Feb are horrendous - Spurs (a), Leicester (a), Hull (h), Liverpool (a) and Arsenal (h) and there's also the slight complication of the FA Cup too.

Apples and oranges? One was approaching his 30s, had his injury issues and the performance level was already dropping. The other is only in mid 20s, yet to approach his peak and already shown what he can do under the right manager. This whole 'He's a Real Madrid reject! We shouldn't buy him!' argument is a bit silly really. The likes of Real, Barcelona and Bayern Munich always have a squad filled with many quality players and some are bound to get underused more than others. Just because some aren't playing much for those 3, that doesn't mean they are useless and aren't any good. Have people forgotten what happened with Makelele? Undervalued, under-appreciated at Real but we bought him and he ended up being a world class player for us. Sanchez is another example and hell, we should know ourselves too after what happened with De Bruyne and Mourinho.

TBF, Torres was already starting to go downhill before we bought him and why we did that even though it was rather obvious, I'll never know. With Rodriguez, he's in his mid 20s and hasn't even peaked yet. If Conte believes he's the guy to help improve us, then so be it.

Having Ake and Azpi in the back 3 is so suicidal.

Putting the excitement aside, I am skeptical about signing Rodriguez too but after seeing what Conte has done with the team this season, I'm not ruling out the possibility of him making Rodriguez successful at the club. That's not to say we should just simply sign any player and have Conte turn them into star players, mind you. Regarding the criticism of Rodriguez's weak mentality, him being lazy etc, I can understand where those are coming from but I also think they may be harsh and even off the mark. If Rodriguez has a weak mentality or is lazy as he's been made out to be, then I don't think he would bothered about leaving Real, would he? I mean, he could just choose to sit on the bench, earn big wages every week and win trophies year in year without playing much. He could choose to have that easy life but by wanting to leave Real and stating the desire to play week in week out, I see a player who is determined to succeed and want to contribute massively to winning things. Let's not also forget that with the right coaching and man-management, Rodriguez can be an excellent player - as seen in Ancelotti's first reason at Real. He contributed tons of goals and assists and actually even worked hard - something that he's been accused of not doing enough - in their 4-3-3. He can be a star for the team under the right manager.

Hopefully Liverpool v Man City will end in a draw. Maybe this was just a one off but something in the second half of that City v Arsenal game has gotten me concerned. After City went ahead, they were actually sitting back and looking to break on Arsenal rather than pressing them and making their superiority count. It's almost as if Guardiola has finally realized the need to be pragmatic at times in the Premier League. We all know City are dangerous going forward and if Guardiola can make them pragmatic and defensively sound, be it by sitting back and defending compact when they have to or pressing the opposition relentlessly without losing that balance, then it's going to be one big problem for us. I did actually. I certainly acknowledged the fact that Arsenal will always crumble under pressure in the title race but part of me was just rather being cautious because at some point, they will end their title drought and have that mental strength to go the distance in the title race. And certainly before the back-to-back losses this week, they have been winning games when not at their best and showing slightly better consistency in picking up results compared to previous seasons.

Maybe a loan deal with an option to buy would suit everyone?

If ever there's a time to put in a cheeky bid for someone, it's now. Do it, Chelsea! Bid 40m for Sanchez!

Can't be slower than Alonso

MOURINHO SHOULD HAVE BEEN THROWN INTO JAIL FOR SELLING DE BRUYNE!

City beating Arsenal isn't exactly ideal. Still the likeliest to rival us for the title. A draw would have been better for us.

High praise from Pardew on our defensive display today

Should have bet on you replying to that!

Oh god. Stop tempting fate!

I learned the pessimism from the best Maybe because it's Mourinho and title experience (Tomo will probably point out again that he's not good at chasing leads) that has gotten me worried a little. Seems to have found his best XI, has them playing well and they appear to be on the roll now.

United definitely still in the title race.

To be fair, I can see where they are coming from and I don't think you can deny it either. Our performance level - mainly going forward - has dropped in the last 3 games and we did just enough - especially against West Brom - to win those 3 games. That being said, playing well and battering opponents week in week out aren't realistic, not in the Premier League. On top of that, I don't think we're at the level and/or have the team to be able to do that against every team, even more so when you consider the nationality of our manager. Certain amount of games - particularly away from home - are bound to be somewhat of a war of attrition. What has impressed me the most in the last 3 games, when we weren't effective offensively, is that we were always in control of the game. Didn't do anything silly, didn't give any chances away, played and probed for the right chance to score (part of me is curious over what we would have done had we not scored against WBA when we did. If it was still 0-0 after 85 mins, would we have done something drastic?). There wasn't anything panicky to what we do, even in the latter stages of matches. Always calm and composed. Obviously we should be looking to kill teams long before the end but that 'keeping your cool under pressure' and the 'know-how' mentality/trait that Conte has instilled in the squad will serve us well going forward.

Most underrated defender in Europe? A brilliant player who doesn't often get the credit he deserves. Had to deal with Benteke a lot today and won plenty of headers!

He'll make the odd defensive error or two especially against quicker players (my god, he's so so so slow!) but otherwise, he's pretty decent going forward and is a neat set piece taker, as seen by that free kick today (so unlucky!). That said, think we could definitely do with an upgrade and provide competition in the squad and while Alonso has coped alright for us in the league, we still don't know how he will fare against the better teams in Europe.

Chelsea 3-0 Bournemouth PRE/POST-MATCH DISCUSSION, LIVE CHAT AND ANALYSIS 2016/17 Premier League Match 18 26th December, Monday, 2016 Stamford Bridge 15:00 Kick Off (UK time)

Hoffenheim have been playing with a back 3 and Sule plays as the RCB. And his defending for Aubameyang's goal against Dortmund earlier was rubbish.

The entire mess yes but not too sure about results wise. We could have possibly finished in the Europa League spot but drew way too many games under Hiddink. On hindsight, it's a good thing that we didn't.

Yeah. But it's still ironic though. He talked about us not having issues over fatigue because we aren't in Europe, when part of that was his fault. In some ways, he's helped Conte with the mess he created last season.