Strike

Well fuck this. Everything has gone to hell now

Good half from the defence. Kept up the concentration. Apart from a Aguero shot from a tight angle and a few pot-shots from distance, Cech has had nothing to do

Sit deep and counter (if possible) at home? This is not Barcelona we are facing. Should be controlling the game

Looks like City are more scared of us than we are of them

No David Luiz. I hope Cahill has a stormer

Lampard starts

weird City team. Demichelis making debut

Tyne-Wear derby today. Poyet needs a miracle

Eden v Zabaleta direct battle today. Wouldn't be surprised if he scores, he's in form atm

68 points without Suarez in the team Yaya, Zabaleta, Michu yet to play

Hahaha Brilliant

There is a big(ish) game every weekend now. Arsenal to face Liverpool and United back to back early next month. I think Chelsea or City will be leading once the dust settles. Huge game this weekend

The team hasn't fired yet. Apart from the first half vs Hull, I don't think Chelsea have dominated a game for a good amount of time. It is a good sign that the team is winning games but note that we're only scraping wins. There is so much room to improve atm. That is an ideal scenario which I think will never happen.

Against Norwich, it did help turn the tide a bit. Norwich were all over us at the start of the second half. It was also used against Everton. We were doing well before the switch then and not so well after the switch was made in that game. Still did not lose control of the game at any point with the 3 at the back Atleast there is a real backup plan now rather than just minor tweaks to the system. Under the last few managers, I don't remember a major change in the way we played to chase results

The fascinating thing so far this season is the back up plan. the team is completely re-shuffled if things aren't working. 3-5-2 or 3-6-1 or whatever you call it has worked well for the last 2 games now. Opposition is getting flooded in midfield and the defence has yet to concede a goal with 3 at the back

I'm not a fan of this much rotation. In some cases like using Azpi, Bertrand more often or to manage injuries, rotation is good but when the front 4 are changing for every game, it's hard to develop chemistry/fluidity in attack. We haven't really kicked into gear in terms of creating chances. I haven't looked it up but I sense atleast 2 of the front 4 are changing every game. The striker has been Torres (Spurs), Eto'o (Steaua), then Demba vs Norwich, Eto'o vs Cardiff and then Torres vs Schalke.

Cech Ivanovic Luiz Terry Bertrand Mikel Ramires Schurrle Oscar Hazard Torres

Very good last season. Probably PSG's most reliable player. He's available for free in the summer, can play in the pivot.

About time really. He's okay at Right-back but I really wished he would close down wingers more. Seems to have improved on that now

He's turning it on now. Completely opposite to last season when he had a wild start and then faded

He's a good defender. I would fancy David Luiz to stop any attacker 1 on 1. More than I'd fancy Gary Cahill or John Terry up against a good attacker I remember when these casual mistakes used to happen a lot more often. He has buckled down and improved now but there are still casual mistakes in his game. More than you would find in a defender generally. His issues are down to concentration and awareness more than anything else He should Stop dribbling his way out of trouble - Being a good ball-playing defender, he does this kind of thing often but it is very different from a midfielder trying to play his way out of a difficult situation. The risk is far greater. A forward with good anticipation can pick off the ball. And once this happens, the team is in danger.

Ivanovic can play Centre-back. So, Jose can easily switch to a back-3 by swapping the Left-back for an attacker. Maybe that's another reason why he's starting Ivan over Azpilicueta. Has happened 3 times so far

I can do Newcastle away.

Can see clubs circling around de Bruyne by January. Will be a great addition to most PL sides - even Man United. Even Demba Ba is a good addition to the midtable clubs. i do. it's the curse. Only Drogba has come good

There is the issue of needing to switch to 3 at the back every game to get results though. Especially against the likes of Cardiff, Norwich etc, should be able to break teams down