Jase

Don't be so pessimistic. Either one of them will hit a shot in the dying seconds that deflects of Stones and into the net for our winner.

C'mon now. Let's not act as if Ivanovic is the greatest RB on earth and no one else can do a goob job as him or if not, better. We all know Ivanovic is Mourinho's love child and he is only playing because of the manager's preference to have 3 CBs in the back 4. Chop Ivanovic's legs by 10cm and he would probably have been sold by now for making all those disasters in defence. Ivanovic is arguably the only player managed by Mourinho in his career that can make plenty of mistakes and still get away scot-free. Don't there's any other player who has enjoyed such luxury.

Don't you mean Steve? Hazard does tend to start the season slowly but if he truly wants to become one of the greats, he can't afford that. He needs to start campaigns on a high note and maintain that consistency throughout the season. It's not easy to achieve that but he can certainly contribute/play well more on a regular basis than what he's been doing.

Cue goals from Ivanovic and Fabregas in a 2-0 win for Chelsea.

Has finally done something useful for Belgium.

John Stones Chelsea transfer saga to begin again in January with FIFTH offer to Everton

In the Spain v Slovakia match...

This video is a bit old now but Carragher, Henry and Neville analyzed and talked about Pedro's performance at West Brom, no.10s, wide players and building relationships with the full backs (from 5 mins 32 secs onwards). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fp1Z8biNMA

But clearly, Djilo wasn't high on the transfer target list considering we only got him after failing to get others. In other words, the club probably knows he's just an average CB. If he impresses, then fair enough and he will likely be included when we next submit the squad. Until then though, it's best to see how Djilo does and the likes of Traore, Kenedy etc fare before you keep on banging about how Mourinho left him out of the squad. The main concern right now is getting the players back to form and if/when that happens, the defenders we have are/should be enough to deal with Porto, Dynamo Kiev and Maccabi Tel-Aviv. Mind you, the squad we registered is only for the group stage and can be changed later. And no disrespect to Porto, Dynamo and Maccabi but if this current lot (not just the back 4, but the entire team) can't get their act together to deal with those teams, then we don't deserve to progress from the group stage.

And you do? If yes, please do tell us his qualities. You said I was making assumption about you earlier and here you are, making assumption about our defence. Yes, the defence hasn't been great but it won't/can't stay as hopeless it has been (surely we'll improve because we can't get any worse!). Yes, we wanted a CB but unfortunately, we didn't get one who's quality. If Djilo is as good as you're making him out to be, then why not many have heard of him before last week? Why was he snubbed by several of the lesser teams? Why did we only purchase him on the final day of the transfer window after failing to get Varane, Stones, Marquinhos etc? Having a top class CB (and Djilo isn't one regardless how you want to spin it) won't solve our defensive problems. The more important issue right now is making sure the all the players get back to form and drilling them into ensure our defensive organization is a solid and tight as a unit.

That's your view then. Either way, making a fuss of Djilo - who is only a squad player at best - being left out of the CL squad is silly.

The timing of that is rather strange, giving him those awards (not that he doesn't deserve them) after a bad start to the season.

No, we didn't - http://www.chelseafc.com/news/latest-news/2015/08/romeu-moves-to-southampton.html

Like I mentioned in the previous page - one week, people moan about signing some nobody from Ligue 1, the following week, people moan about why that signing wasn't included in the Champions League squad. I really don't get all the drama about the exclusion of Djilo here. Last season, we also registered only 6 defenders at this stage of the competition and we only have 6 games to contend with (4 or 5 if we manage to seal qualification early). If Djilo manage to impress Mourinho in the next 5 months, then he will likely be included in the squad for the KO stages. If we need extra defenders in the squad, the club can always add 1-2 youngsters into 'B List' before each matchday. People want Mourinho to use/integrate youth players and then the same fellas moan about why he excluded an experienced player for youngsters. You can't have it both ways.

Maybe not you but there are others. Well, if Michael Hector can have an image of him holding the jersey at Cobham, then pretty sure Djilo will have one too or some other form of presentation at least.

We have a 'David Luiz' thread here. Don't need to create a new one just to post an interview involving him.

Pedro: Van Gaal unfair at Man United, but did not influence Chelsea decision

This thread is seriously getting funny it has to be said. Last week, everyone was moaning how we are signing some average defender from one of the lesser Ligue 1 clubs and now, people are complaining about him being left out of the Champions League squad.

Isn't he on international duty right now? Maybe that's why there hasn't been any presentation or interview with him yet.

Djilo gets the No.15 shirt - http://www.chelseafc.com/news/latest-news/2015/09/djilobodji-takes--15.html

Mourinho has, more often than not, gone with 4-3-3 whenever we play one of the top 7 sides away from home and one suspects he will do so again at Everton. He did it last season and the season before IIRC.

He scored a goal for us too. Remember this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3N6wlteo_ek

Either that or they will wake up from their slumber and realize there are areas that need improvement in the squad!