Jase

Bamford or not, that other striker is unlikely to do as bad as Falcao (or worse). Even a 36/37-year-old Drogba wasn't as bad as him last season.

Nothing new apart from Mourinho being given the dreaded vote of confidence by the club.

That's easy to say. After Aston Villa, we have Dynamo Kiev, West Ham and Stoke and all those 3 are away from home.

@bluephoenix, thank you for the donation.

I don't really disagree with you because Mourinho has always played with 3 tall defenders in the back 4 wherever he goes throughout his career. That approach is not necessarily wrong. It's just that at this point, he's practically coming up with excuses (and some really silly ones) to play Ivanovic, even after making like millions of mistakes and this is a manager who is renowned for not tolerating defensive errors and yet, he's been turning a blind eye on Ivanovic. If Mourinho is concerned so much about height, we might as well try playing Zouma at LB and have Azpi at RB. The LB is not Zouma's natural position but he can't possibly do any worse than Ivanovic at RB.

If I remember correctly, Terry got the captain's armband at 25. Not much difference with Courtois' age and if he were to get it, he would be, at least, 24 years old.

It's obviously an excuse to play Ivanovic. Cole didn't even get this much love 2 seasons ago despite making way less mistakes than Ivanovic!

But that's only for 6 months. Come January, everything will be back to normal and then what? Pedro was clearly thinking about long term when he decided to leave Barcelona. Of course I know which Vidal you're talking about - Aleix Vidal (the Chilean Vidal doesn't even play on the flanks). He can play both as a right winger and right back. Whether that will be the case remains to be seen but Turan is an option in the wide area for Barcelona.

There's also Costa and/or Remy. The former's height is 188cm while the latter is 185cm. Hardly short players.

Well, hindsight is wonderful, isn't it? No one would have expected the Barcelona players to drop like flies all of a sudden and you talked about playing time this season, what about when everyone is fit again? What about when Turan, Vidal etc are finally registered in the squad? Pedro's playing time would still be limited, if not even more so from January onward. And you also talked as if Pedro hasn't been playing for us. We have played 9 games in all competitions since Pedro signed for us and he's played 8 of them with 6 from the start.

Seriously people, if you want to make a point about something, just make it. Don't need to go around calling other fans 'haters', 'fanboys', 'plastics' etc. Like I said yesterday, such posts only serve to create a toxic atmosphere, which we do not want to see on TalkChelsea. If you don't agree with the opinion of others, then argue, debate, discuss in a polite manner. Otherwise, agree to disagree and/or learn to ignore them!

Not when it comes to post-season tours. No manager in their right mind would agree to having the players travel abroad and play against some random teams after a long season. It's because the club care so much about $$$$$ that we have had post-season games twice in 3 years. Well, if Mourinho wants to get more power, then he needs to earn it. He needs to show the willingness to change, adapt and be flexible because right now, his stubbornness and management style are not convincing many people.

I get what you're saying but if these players - who are currently the English champions - can't even motivate themselves to compete and achieve victory (which is the basic target of every professional sportsman) at the very least, then what's the point of them being footballers? Might as well just pick 11 random Chelsea fans and they'll likely show more hunger, desire and passion to fight for the club and the shirt they're wearing.

Uh oh. It's the dreaded vote of confidence. Don't see what's the big deal with the club releasing a statement to back Mourinho. Yes, it's the first time we've done that under Roman but it's the same as the Director of Football, Chairman etc coming out to support the manager in public. A few more bad results this month and he'll likely get the sack.

We should go with Rui Faria. After all, Mourinho said he's ready to become a manager.

The options are pretty limited, especially if Klopp goes to Liverpool. And Ancelotti seems determined to stick with his sabbatical plan. No other good options apart from those two, even if we're going to hire an interim manager only.

http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11669/10018296/jamie-carragher-reacts-to-liverpool-sacking-brendan-rodgers Damning but spot on.

If Jose is so concerned about height, we might as well just put Zouma at left back and have Azpi replace Ivanovic at right back. The LB is not Zouma's natural position but he can't do any worse than what Ivanovic is doing at RB.

Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't we used to have a whole bunch of small players and only a few big ones in the starting XI under Benitez/RDM? The 2 center backs, 2 midfielders in the pivot (especially if they were Mikel, Luiz and/or Lampard) and 1 striker (either Torres or Ba). Five tall players there (sometimes 4 if Ramires was part of the pivot) and I don't think we conceded many goals from set pieces!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3259864/Chelsea-manager-Jose-Mourinho-insists-leave-Stamford-Bridge-lost-trust-players-surviving-axe.html That is just .

Jose Mourinho will carry on as Chelsea manager - but club’s hierarchy have discussed his future Under-pressure Jose Mourinho will walk away if he loses the support of his Chelsea players Jose Mourinho is right - Chelsea would be mad to sack their manager now

Well done to the Ladies team. Have done the double.

I'll just post the same reply here. Just to add - you describe Simeone like some sort of perfect manager there but if you watch or follow Atletico Madrid closely, you know that is not the case. He has his flaws too.

Put it this way - if you want to see us play the free-flowing, attacking football, then Simeone is not the manager to implement that style of play. His management style is very similar to Mourinho's - they are both aggressive, they can be proactive in matches and also reactive when they want to (sometimes shutting down the game, sitting back and keeping it tight etc). Let's not forget that when Mourinho's sides are at their best, they press too, can defend from the front, defend properly as a unit, hit teams on the counter by transitioning from back to front in a quick manner etc. We showed many of those qualities last season (and in previous years under Mourinho), especially from August till December, and there's an identity to that. It's just a matter of whether that can be sustained and/or it appeals to the fans.