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You seem to back the manager on everything and say because he is the manager he knows best but yet you are claiming he is being forced to play Cahill because he is English? Please tell me you don't believe that.

Forgot to type Drogba's name. Sorry.

That is a load of rubbish. Come on. Cahill is in the team because Mourinho wants him in the team. Can't believe some of the suggestions I am reading on here. We all know that is not true. That is just something looking to have a dig at him. You said after the Spurs game that Mourinho Drogba wanted for football reasons and he has proven that and you criticized people for questioning him IIRC.. So how you can also state Cahill is only in the team because he is English is quite contradictory and ridiculous imo.

No way should Hazard play. He is our best player who has been playing every game for us. We got ourselves the fortunate position of finishing top before the last group game so why would we go out and play Hazard for. Give him a week off to be completely ready for Hull. I will be livid if I see Hazard in that line up. We have got priorities now. It is evident that he looks tired in some latter moments of the game. A week's rest is hopefully good for him.

That is just scapegoating him imo. When he has made these last-ditch tackles, please provide me the evidence where they were specifically his fault for being 'out of position'. If you are saying he is the sole reason, I completely disagree. Also I think many are just looking at his bad games and ignoring the many quality games he has had for us. It is not because he is English or the PFA being blindised that he was in the team of the season last year.

Can't wait for him to rediscover his form later on with us just to shove it in the face of some of the shocking criticism he recieves on here. I have no problem with the comments stating he needs to be rotated, playing poor etc but the ones calling him an average defender and labelling him 'shit' just Even Vincent Kompany had his fair share of errors last season. It happens. I have no doubt Cahill prove his doubters wrong once again

From being in the team of the year to making a few mistakes and suddenly there is a meltdown. WOW. People really just ignore all the good games he has had. It was the same with Oscar when he was playing poor. Some were saying he was saving his form for Brazil and should be sold to PSG if they make an offer. Just beyong belief sometimes. He was poor today but do I reckon he will learn and come good? Of course. No such thing as faith on these forums sometimes.

If we were like United without no Europe or cup competitions then maybe I could understand but when we are involved on all fronts, it is ridiculous why he is not given more starts. On balance of things, he has done really well in a Chelsea shirt.

What an utterly stupid comment. It is one thing having a bad game and giving constructive criticism but it is another thing writing BS like this. Ridiculous!

He plays. He scores Scoring for fun now. Would be great if he can get promoted with them. Middlesbrough starting to look the part now.

When we play really good teams in the UCL, I really would prefer to see him in the no.10 role as I believe we will be caught out defensively. Especially away from home. Let him do what he does best but playing against teams who will counter us at pace, we don't really need him in the double pivot.

Hate going to Newcastle. Absolutely hate it. They know how to match us phsyically and Pardew always does his homework against us. To the match, you know what the problem is? Mourinho does not rotate. I would have preferred to see Fabregas or even Willian in the no.10 role. Oscar did not contribute anything today and was physically bullied out of the game. Costa was poor to. I am not just talking about his inability to get the better out of Coloccini but even when we had several crosses he was not showing that predatory instinct. Was very frustrating. We all get it. Azpi and Ivanovic are undroppable but like so much people have been saying.... why the hell did we buy Luis for a near £20m and he has not started our last 6 games. We bloody can afford to rotate Azpi out from LB. Right now it just looks a pointless buy. Luis has not done anything poor in a Chelsea shirt bar that Palace game so don't understand why we have not given one of the best LB in Europe a chance to play. Fabregas misses his first league game for us next week against Hull which is annoying. Was hoping he could avoid the yellow today so he could play against Hull. Hopefully we can win that game without no problems. Watching our games against Newcastle at SJP, the same problem seems to be that we can't handle the power and pace at which they attack us. Next game against Hull, I would really like to see Willian moved to the no.10 and Schurrle pushed out wide just to give Oscar a rest. I don't want him to get burned out and start to underperform like we saw last season. Well first loss of the season but like Mourinho says winning the title is so important and it is vital that we keep our heads focused. We were looking like we were running away with the league a few weeks ago and now it could be down to 3 points and on paper City have much easier near fixtures than us. We move on. Is Choulo having a complete change in opinion of Mikel now btw? Seems to be liking every post that slates him.

Azpi has like 3 assists to his name this season. If they said our FB are not as effective going forward as City's then that is another thing but to say they never go forward. That is rubbish.

Thought the exact same thing. What a load of rubbish. Our FB go forward a lot, they just don't have the pace like some others. Hate how these pundits come to these conclusions without actually watching the team.

I thought he was superb yesterday and I voted him MOTM. His defensive work and his sharpness is setting up counters was superb. Yes, we all want him to score more but if we have other players in the team scoring, that is fine by me. His pace, dribbling and stamina is amazing sometimes. I really think he is underrated and people just need to look at what else he does on the field. Hazard for instance, our best player is asked to do his defensive duties under Mourinho but he can not to it as well. Willian on the other hand can defend and counter excellently. When Drogba was played in some point in the second half yesterday, Willian ran all the way back from defence and set that counter up. It is a shame Drogba did not score that because then I reckon people would have given Willian more credit. While you can't take anything he says at 100% face value I am sure when Mourinho was asked about Reus, there was a reason he said he did not want him. Yes, he is better than Willian but Willian is playing very well and Mourinho sees no need to drop him out the team right now. Neither do I tbh.

Just realised. Edited now But if people are naive to think Newcastle will just sit back, they have another thing coming. How have Newcastle beaten us in the last 3 years? Ramires and Fabregas in a pivot for this type of game is asking for it defensively. Not looking forward to seeing Sissoko back. Beast of a player and seems to be getting better and better. As Muzchap pointed out, City have much easier fixtures than us in the next 6 however knowing the PL and unpredictability of it, would not be surprised to see them drop points against a team you least expect. Could even be Leicester away. But Newcastle have more injury problems than we have to worry about. We put our minds to it and we should win. Think Costa is going to give their defence a battering on Saturday.

Ramires and Fabregas in the middle is very risky going away to Newcastle. Defensively we could be easily exploited if we do that. I am sure Mikel will start. Newcastle will be a bit more attacking than Sunderland, I am sure of it. They are some of what of a bogey side in recent years at SJP. They will look to hit us on the counter.

Yes, I do back us to beat Spurs! I will be at the game as well :blue scalf:

But is anyone actually slating Eto'o? I am just saying that I understand that it is not necessary for people to praise him every time when he does well but is it necessary for people to keep jumping on his back when he does not perform? I wouldn't say Eto'o has been much better. He has done quite well when called upon but Lukaku has played more and just been inconsistent.

That is not my point. Costa is on another level to Lukaku. I am just pointing out that it only takes a couple games for him to hit a dry patch and people start slating him. For eg inevitable that Martinez drops Lukaku for Etoo and all this. Anyway I am happy to see him improving. Was excellent yesterday. Wouldn't be surprised if he made it 3 games in a row of scoring against Spurs.

When he hits a drab run of form again we will see about that.

How it seems is that many of his critics are waiting to bash him as soon as he hits a dry patch but when he is on form they don't want to praise him.

I see what you mean Choulo however it is not as if I am stating that his opinion was runnish or anything. I just think it is right that when you criticize someone a lot and they come back with exceptional form, I think it is fair to admit where you have been proven wrong etc. For instance what Lionsden done in the Oscar thread. He was a big critic of him but was big enough to accept that Oscar has stepped up a level and improved considerably. I am not sure if Henrique has been on the forum recently tbh but if he is I just would like to see him accept that Matic is a quality DM. However Henrique made a few comments about Matic stating he was not good enough etc however Matic has had several consistent excellent matches for us now and it is not as if when he wrote that I slated his opinion because everyone was entitled to one. However now Matic has improved leaps and bounds, I think it is fair to request his opinion on Matic now.

Baker definitely will not start imo. He has not started a game for us up to this date and could not even get any minutes against Shrewsbury in the cup. Yes, we have topped the group but I am sure Mourinho will want to finish this group with a win and he also will want to show respect as in that there are still teams fighting for 2nd spot so he still will field experienced players. Mikel will definitely start if fit. Then it is a matter of whether he is partnered with Ramires or Ake. Baker will most likely be a sub and come on later in the game if we have secured the win.