Muzchap

No chance - he was looking lively in the warm up and looked up for it You have your opinion - I have mine - but calling the player of the season last year a bottler when he walked us to the league - not cool.

Get in

Seriously people slagging off Hazard? Players always get injured shooting - Remy did it even Drogba and Lamps Yea there are lots of problems but blaming an injured players is not cool

Hazard off - leg is gone

Ouch Azpi Early signs looking good

Oh well - not a lineup I would have liked, but I'm not the manager and don't see what happens in training 3-1 to us

Exactly - feed Lukaku with Ivanovics crosses or Azpi's crosses and he won't score as many! This is a massive problem for us, we lack creative attacking full backs that can cross a fucking ball. If we fix that - Emile fucking Heskey would be a prolific striker for us...

4-4-2 with Costa and Remy needs a good testing out Hazard, Matic, ???, Willian as the midfield 4 The ??? Marks are for one of: MIKEL, Ramires or Cesc - none are particularly impressive IMHO and we need a nailed on starter for that position. I haven't included RLC as he's unlikely to get any games

Sad ?

This! Absolutely spot on. I think the topic should have been 'desire' - you have a bunch of players with enough 'desire' to succeed and 'Leaders' will emerge.

Thank fuck - that will reduce the premiums He shouldn't come back - it never works out - we had him, we lost him, all move on

True definition of a 'guilty wank'

Fans to give Guus at least 5-6 games to find a team he likes? And then a dash for mid-table mediocrity

Ahh good old context My point about wand waving (oooer) was specifically aimed at those calling for Guus's head immediately. I like Guus and am confident he can do something to turn this around, but he needs at least a few weeks first. I thought Mourinho would be here until the summer, so it was a surprise. Although I wasn't a fan towards the end, he did deliver in the past. At what price is now the question. I do think it will take time for any manager (Pep included) to take an ultra defensive (which is what we had become) team, into a free flowing attacking team. It actually IMHO needs much more than just a manager, as Ossie has repeatedly stated, it needs a philosophy throughout the club. I am, again, confident, that with the limited time and current philosophy, that Guus can get us performing to a higher level than we were. Yes, the players, Board and everyone in a decision making capacity are to blame, but we need to live in the now and plan the future carefully. I do truly hope this is Ivanovics last game for a while, we do need to get the proper defensive balance in place and a natural RB AND LB would be a great start. I think Oscar needs to sit out the remaining games and move in Jan with Willian firmly in the number 10. Pedro on the right and Hazard on the left with either Costa or Remy up front. Until the Jan window we need Mikel and Matic in the pivot - then in the window Mikel needs to be replaced with anybody competent It is going to be a tough slog against Palace, but I also hope Traore and RLC get some game time, it would be good to have RLC as a backup to Matic and A.N. Other. Musonda probably deserves 45 mins as well at some point. I guess we need to get to 40 points or mathematically safe ASAP, THEN look to blood the youngsters to see what we have in the squad come the summer transfer window.

Let's hope he steps it up against Palace Unless, like Mourinho, he is also confused at the players giving 100% in training and then shutting the bed come matchday. Probably sat there stunned and unable to grasp what was happening Maybe we need a team of sports psychologists

Sadly I missed the game - but it doesn't sound good and yes, Subs change games - but maybe Guus was concerned he might change it and make it worse I will have to watch the match However, it is way too early to start thinking Guus can wave the miracle wand I hope to see some big changes after Palace - only then with the hectic schedule gone will we find out whether Mr Hiddink has a little, big or dead horse ?

If true that's really sad ? I don't look at members on here and see Pro-Mou / Anti-Mou - just see fans... We need to stick together now, more than ever. We need to back Hiddink to the rafters, the wheels are already off the season, now is about hitting 40 points as quickly as possible and seeing what other bonuses we can pick up. I do expect the same team against Palace, then I'm hoping for some serious changes moving forward.

Jesus - can we please have some perspective and patience here! 2nd game, Yes 2nd game in charge and already the hatchets are out? Seriously? Of course he's going to play the team that has been previously playing - he needs time to evaluate the players following his instructions, you cannot compare previous VT of players as the coach would have been using different tactics I do seriously question some of the anger on here. I took over a poorly performing team in my previous job, I instantly identified the weaknesses, but it took me over a month to implement the changes. I'm sure Guus will get to it quicker, but I would expect more of the same against Palace and then a different approach. To me that's fair and reasonable. Please let's not resort to craziness already - give the guy a chance. If come end of Jan, Ivanovic is still a starter and things haven't improved, I will gladly eat my hat! At least we have a point more than we did prior to the game.

Lmao Fake Taxi is awesome

Luckily I didn't see the game But just chill out people - it will take a good 3-4 weeks for Hiddink to start making changes. If our points position was better he could perhaps expirement more, but the key now is to get points on the board - which he is doing. I have no qualms that he will definitely change the team and for the better. But I expect this to happen mid/end Jan. We have more points than we had previously and we are halfway to 40! Let's look at the positives

Link? PM me if you don't wanna post publicly

Lol - the more you defend yourself, the more convinced people will be - it's a no win game Im sure come 7:15 tonight, there will be much more to talk about

So true Whoever gave him a 4 year contract is basically admitting we are shit and will continue to be shit He needs to be moved on

This is the real problem in football - it's bigger than anything else. Agents are absolute wankers and it's getting worse, they don't care about their clients or the club, they just want their commission and if that means dripping poison into the players ear, so be it. I can easily imagine calls like "Well you definitely deserve to be playing, it's scandalous that you are not blah blah" "I have heard that Everton really like you and would give you 100% game time, what they are doing there is really special blah blah" So the manager is pretty fucked, every team selection will lead to a call with the dropped player's agent etc, This is why 'loyalty' is now a misnomer in football Yes, Jose could and probably should have handled Lukaku better, but for me the agents have a lot to answer for...

100% agree again I noticed this a couple of years back and made endless posts about it We just cannot transition as a team Instead of a nice fluid approach to defending and then transitioning to attack we look as elegant as a camel standing up and sitting down!!! Oh well - past midnight and said I wouldn't moan the day after, helps with sanity, bury what happened in the past