robsblubot

Let me just quote this for people in general to know exactly who and what comments you are referring to.Stay classy!

Wow who would have thought all players have to defend?! And that our problems are not just in D! W have players in poor form, but their mistakes are made worse by the lack of teamwork. Or their collective lack of form is hurting teamwork - goes both ways. We were in the same situation 2 seasons back. Luiz got replaced by Gary in D and nothing really changed until the protection got sorted eventually. Point being is that the selection is less important than the unity, tactics, and teamwork. Sort that and even ivanovic will perform better. Sometimes replacing a player in bad form hurts unity because the other players may think they are next... Sometimes that's a good thing sometimes it isn't - spec when confidence is low. I don't know if ppl around here are that naive to think that with a sub here and there, or by bringing Moses back, we'd be top of the league, but I suspect it's just wishful thinking. Thankfully football is bit more nuanced than that.

Wow hyperboles are running rampant around here. Moses had a good game against poor opposition... Great! From that to being a solution at Chelsea goes a long way. Now if the argument is Moses instead of cuadrado as a squad player, then no argument from me; besides, the counter attack he pulled would never happen when playing for Chelsea unless facing barca or buyers and at this time he's not good enough to play against them. But then again at that price point, cuadrado wasn't meant to be a squad player was he? Moses is at a place where he can play and shine, as opposed to sitting (if so) on the bench waiting for those scarce minutes that would never come.

The travesty isn't Ivanovic starting, but Jose making all that money while some members here are clearly better at picking the starting XI team.

Slight disagreement on the bolded part as I think that if Ronaldo had as much technique as messi does, Ronaldo would've been better than messi - he's got better physique and is more driven. Agree on Hazard being a bit on the laid back side, though I'd put Ronaldinho in the "wasted talent" category despite all the awards won. Jose actually helps Hazard develop in that area.

perfect time for a solid bid in jan...

When the team is losing the best players are always the ones who do not play... Remy is the best striker in Europe and Mikel would've solved all our defense frailty just a TC article ago. Next we will drop Ivanovic and the fabled RB (who doesn't really exist) will take his place and give world class performances... yes, it goes both ways.

Fair enough. First we must all agree he's in poor form - like a lot of our players Second we will disagree concerning characteristics. You are complaining about his characteristics as a rb and that hasn't changed. You may dislike him as a Rb but that's not up to us...Jose and managers before him do like him in that position even though some of us here don't value what he normally brings as a RB. Many here love azpi and would like another on of him on the other side, but I don't. Teams need players with different characteristics.

That (the signing of a new deal) was bizarre to say the least - didn't he have 2 more years left?

Mikel starting should have *allowed* him more freedom, or at least that was probably the idea and the instructions from the manager hence him playing in wider areas and scoring a great goal. For the little to nothing that Mikel brings to attacking, his defensive contribution isn't that impressive either. Matic was the best Chelsea player on the pitch for me - was the best one against City too. When the mechanics are wrong everything looks off, but I see him winning most of his tackles and moving the ball well. Honest question: is you think Matic did not play well, how would you rate Mikel? Just curious...

I still think he's not the quack in defense as people make him out to be, but I was wrong in thinking that he is a great defender; he is a great player IMO esp in midfield, and I don't even think he's a CDM but more like a ball-winning cm. However, like someone else wrote, he just doesn't have the brain to read the game as a defender - Thiago Silva is almost just as dumb btw. In moments like this I think the 50mil don't mean much if anything at all.

perhaps... it did not have that much pace and power and it was from afar... Of course it was a great shot, so not his fault in any way. Also, if i remember correctly, the shot came a bit from the left.

Great match, but I'd expect a top keeper to have stopped the shot for the second. He's a very good GK, but a level below Courtois.

Great player and performance - he's already better than our defenders because he's got both pace and technique something none of our defenders possesses. But Roman saved a few peanuts which makes us very savvy in the transfer market - strangely enough it seems important to some folks here.

That's exactly how I feel about Mikel. However mikel plays - when he happens to play - in a far more important area of the pitch, which is the reason I feel people are blaming ivanovic without reason. Even though I thought mikel was Terrible as usual I'd not blame him either. Ivanovic is exposed just like the rest of the defense. We have a single player in front of them playing well, Matic; the others are all well below their normal. Would azpi have been able to do a better job defending ? Probably, so? Would that have been enough? most certainly not. Have we been having poor performances or do we have a player (a RB nonetheless) costing us games? Can't have it both ways. But people do need their scapegoat so I guess ivanovic will do just fine.

Newspapers have been reporting that LVG has lost the dressing room but regardless of results I see his players running for him. Now, has Jose lost the dressing room? Was the Eva episode or the players, in a completely unprofessional fashion, all came back from vacation in terrible form.

No I think Mikel is a lousy player despite his back passing... Speaking of Jose he obviously did not like lukaku right? For the reasons you have just stated above. Concerning the personal comments - let's not go go there as you don't know me and I don't know you.

Please check your facts:David played in midfield against top teams - very successfully - BOTH before and after Matic was signed in January. He played alongside Matic often in big games. We had an amazing record when both played in midfield esp that win against city.

wow you can't be serious... You know he did not actually play for us right? At least not in any meaningful way. Are you trying to assess technique by cherry picking this random stat?

Before we get to see what Papy can do (... ) they will see what he can do in practice! They do hold practice sessions regularly where players are scrutinized by professionals... I'm sure everyone here is aware of that. Whoever mentioned traore: maybe he stunk in training and Jose thinks he's more of a bet than Kennedy at this time? Who knows?! There is a lot of intuition, esp conserning ounger players, but Jose gets a lot of help on that from top professionals Chelsea employs.

Falcao is much older than Kane - it is expected of kane to be inconsistent at this stage of his career. He is still a good player even when not scoring. Strikers need confidence, which is indeed true. However, they also need technique and legs... especially at this level. Without both they will not find the space and won't have time/competence to apply the finish. And won't build confidence. Torres had technique, but no legs. There was no way for him to build confidence as his streaks of good form were short-lived. The question mark concerning Falcao is his fitness. Another serious injury or a sequence of minor muscle injuries could be the end of his career at this level. Knees are never the same after serious injuries - from a players perspective it's usually worse than breaking a bone. At hist best, Falcao is better than Costa, so it does make sense for the club to hope for the best here.

Disclaimer: I'm not a fan of either. While Costa is the far better player now, Lukaku could reach that level, but not much further because of his poor technique. apples and oranges here... The only thing they have in common is their technique, or the lack thereof. One plays for a top team as as a striker is under constant pressure - never alone and has no time on the ball. The same cannot be said of Lukaku who often enjoys some nice counter attacking as his team is attacked far more often. That was only the most obvious point; intricate passing done at Chelsea (compared to everton) makes Costa even less likely to think and pick the right pass. Just an extreme example to illustrate my point: it'd be akin to say that Mikel is a better passer than [any attacking player here] based on his passing accuracy, even though Mikel is often under no pressure roaming in uncontested areas of the pitch.

Some are missing the point here in that perhaps Moses is the one who won't accept lower wages for more playing time - same case of Mikel. I'm sure these two players could've been playing regularly if they wanted to, but not for Chelsea.

eleven play - there is no one player costing us games. There is also no guarantees that the likes of Mikel or lesser players would actually improve upon the ones who have been starting and playing poorly. The bench warmers look especially good when the side is losing, but usually once you put them on the result is about the same if not worse. If Ivanovic (and Cesc) were the only problem, we'd be winning not losing games. they would be star players for both CP and Swansea.

Concerning RLC, I did not like his performance against Crystal palace, but liked what I saw from him. Goes back to potential vs current ability. How to use him, a fallible young player is Jose's problem, obviously. As poor as Mikel is, RLC is going to make more mistakes at this time. However, I liked the fact he came on as opposed to Mikel even though that might have costed us a point.