robsblubot

I hear you but I am comparing Hazard to Hazard... and he looked out of shape by the start of the season and to me that's not acceptable. Honestly, I daresay that people who blame the team, and other players, to justify Hazard's lackluster performances are truly not fans of his. I expect great things from Hazard - a lot more than he's done in the past - so his current form is something that should never happen again.

Difficult game against a good team, but at home so it's a must win. Ivanovic starting or not makes no difference to me - he's not the only player struggling with the higher defense line, but he's certainly the fav around here. Like Victor Wanyama and he's a difficult player to control in midfield - and can score too from outside the box. Time to rally around and win at home... don't play pretty just get the result!

Swear I am not trying to be a contrarian here, but I think he's been good, but not great or fantastic. I just can't help but think Courtois, perhaps, would have been able to save that extra one that went in and we wouldn't be as deep as we are right now. Again, not criticizing Begovic, but praising a sure top5 GK in Courtois. As a second GK we couldn't possibly done any better.

Based on his current shape I'd say lack of hunger hasn't been a problem for him.

Very rare for ANY manager to replace a misfiring senior with an unknown young player in a time like this when the team is performing poorly. Unless the young player is showing signs in training that he is more than ready - we can give the benefit of the doubt and assume he hasn't been showing signs of being ready: looking for a house... is shy... difficult communicating... etc we don't know but have to assume our coaches are not quacks. Now if we start talking about the squad and our quiet transfer window, then I'm with most here. The squad makes no sense and is nowhere near the level to compete against the top teams in Europe regardless of form - wrote that before the start of the season. We just have too many average and "projects" at the moment.

The problem is that with that you've just describe all our strikers...

nothing pertinent at the time you said, but it was a very funny interview. It doesn't matter though - Im sure Roman has plenty to spare for Eva and his lawyer - peanuts in football.

I don't know a single person on this forum who wanted Lukaku gone. He'd be the absolute perfect player for second half once having the lead or a tough away match... My understanding is that he wanted to go, so there is only so much you can do. Now to claim that he was or even now is ready to start for chelsea is being delusional or disingenuous.

One of the easiest skill in the game... Honestly it was obviously nice, but if you play the game at all you do that once a game and once in a while you find another player with it. We don't really now mata's contractual situation as he was negotiating with the club at the time. I think he asked high and the club did not think he deserved it. I did not think selling him was crazy, but I was expecting the club to then bet on KDB or get a proper replacement. The squad is way too small and at times like these, it shows.

Agree with almost everything you wrote, but she will win the litigation. I mean the official outcome will be that both parties reached an agreement, but the reality is tha she is going to make a lot of money off of Jose's stupidity. I actually think he did that on purpose so ppl wouldn't talk about players and performance, but she will claim she's been publicly humiliated and she will get what she wants - my guess at least.

Isn't hazard the highest pay on the roaster? If so, the 'slack' and the additional expectations have already been priced in. I'm disappointed with his form and his overall fitness after vacation. I also expect him to get better but it's something to keep an eye on.

Fair enough but we disagree on how good a ball winning mid Mikel is.Also there are other ways to win the ball back - pushing your def line up (zouma is used to play ball winning) of with other type of players like Ramires etc I just did not find the attempt, the strategy change wrong. He had to try and incur into risk because of the little time left.

The latter

It's truly amazing that you keep on thinking people misunderstand or don't understand your very simple points - we are discussing football here not physics. We simply disagree on this.

Mikel was subbed off when we were already losing the game so what grave mistake do you speak of? mikel slows down play - we needed to speed it up to attack them. Possession meant nothing once we were losing.

Yes yes Mikel is now a world class player Whatever... Lol Like I said, regardless how you rate him, his attacking stats speak for themselves. So from a strategy standpoint it's the same as adding attsckers - yes something always gotta give.

Regardless how you rate him, why would you keep a player with his feeble attacking numbers on the pitch when chasing a result with few minutes left.

RLC may or may not be ready to play and I am sure that any of top rated professional coaches at Chelsea is better at making that assessment than anyone around here, including myself. I know you like Mikel as a player and you know I dislike Mikel as a player, but removing the strict footballing aspects, this passive mentality that he shows is very strange to me. And I suspect is actually one of the reasons I dislike him as a player. Like I said before, I don't think (for one reason or other) that many people around here actually play any organized football. I've played in amateur leagues and when 15-17 players show up in a weekend and only 11 play, there is ALWAYS competition which is encouraged at all levels - have heard/read many times that clubs do the same. Now, perhaps it's just too soon for RLC, and he is still merely looking to learn as much as he can from the likes of Fabregas and Matic, and that's be fine. Again, that's an assessment the coaching staff needs to make: does he already have the ambition to go out there and compete? Compete being the keyword here. It's a competition because the opponent wants to hurt you and humiliate you if you let him do it; because doing that makes him a better player and makes him earn more money (as a professional). Some youngsters are ready for that, while others could be hurt by the experience when done too soon.

Matic, like many of our players, looks physically weak. Short or poor pre-season? Celebrations went too far? Whatever the reason is I think it's unfair to say they are not trying - they just aren't as fit as they were last season. Hazard for example, is no longer clearing his marker: he dribbles past him, but remains within reach for a tackle. His movement is also lacking which limits the passing options of the other players - it's all linked. The older players, Iva and Terry, make it more obvious (esp with the higher block this season), because they already lack pace, but I see all players suffering physically. Possible exception to Azpi and Ramires because of their build. Very difficult situation and I disagree with most here in that replacing them will only accomplish more loses and delay their inevitable recovery. The substitutes are not of the same caliber - not good enough or too young. Besides you employ youngsters when the team is well and playing as a unit not the other way around.

It's not just the defense - our attacking and possession stats are down too. No doubt about our terrible form which is another reason to play a bit more defensive. Newcastle are bad but they were playing at home.

ah I did not mean to say taking pedro off would do it... just that the manage must be cognizant of the fact he's got another attacker on the pitch. If Pedro deserves his starting positon ( so far he hasn't) then adapt in other areas - formation for example. I was shocked by our starting XI today. Too open too attacking for an away fixture.

I too think kane should be dropped or rotated, which would make Jan a perfect time for a strong bid...

worsens the problem IMO. Before Pedro we already had 3 poor markers (guys who can't tackle to save their lives): Hazard, Diego, and Fabregas. Then we have OK tacklers, like Oscar and William. Pedro who doesn't even know what a tackle is (he will foul on every attempt) has lowered the number of defensive minded players in our starting XI. That in addition to Hazard poor fitness, Oscar Injuries, and William's poor form IMO exacerbated the problem you mentioned. To make things worse, we are no longer employing a low block so we need to press more up front, not less. I am not surprised the defenders, esp the slower ones are suffering. Cahill will suffer too (because he's not that quick) if things don't improve soon.

Less worried about his performances - which have been poor. Far more worried about the imbalance that his constant presence in the starting XI has created.

hmmm Wenger is great at developing the young....