dee25

The thinking that City can lose 3 top players and still "put out a better XI than us" is a blatant example of fans overrating City's squad and a clear case of the grass is greener on the other side syndrome. Aside from Silva, who no doubt is world class, how many other top class players do City have in the positions behind the striker? Navas, Nasri or Milner are nothing special nor have they been in top form this season. They've frustrated City fans just as much as Schurrle, Willian and Oscar have frustrated us. I really hope you intentionally meant that as a hyperbolic comment, because that's exactly what it reads as.

Well yes there's political influence in football and I don't think anyone is saying that Mourinho is the Dalai Lama, but ultimately what is being suggested here is that Jose is knowingly and intentionally sacrificing the success of his own career to further the interests of his agent. I don't mind 'conspiracy theories' so long as they make sense and the idea that Jose is 'padding' the career of an agent at the expense of his own ambitions doesn't make sense in my opinion. Surely Mourinho has more to gain by Chelsea being successful?

His performance wasn't the least bit surprising to me, he's been poor all season and that isn't an exaggeration. What I've found surprising though is how weak he is mentally.

Wow that right side of our defence is getting ripped apart.

We're only setting ourselves for disappointment by hoping teams will take points off City. They know how to go on a run and they tend to be strong in the 2nd half of the season. Last season I think they only lost 2 games after the Christmas period - to us and Liverpool. We just need to take care of our business as we did today.

No word of exaggeration, that tackle was the best I've seen this season, certainly the best I've seen from a Chelsea player in a long while.

A bit unfair? You're being kind, it's madness that's what it is. "Anything less than 10 assists is unacceptable..." boy sit down.

I think it's a solid performance by us but we're just lacking some bite. Even with Costa, we're still too soft in attack. Hazard dribbles into the box but then slows down and eventually gets steered away from goal. We've gotten into good positions but we're just not decisive. Jose needs to act fast because Stoke will eventually nick a goal.

Jesus Christ. Can't be missing chances like that

Can I just like.....hug you? PLEASE?!

Was going to say that people are making a big deal out of it, but then I clicked on his sis instagram and saw this other pic: https://instagram.com/p/UbK9BoukdX/ Ermmm.... Also, are they twins? http://instagram.com/p/wCL3OhukZi/?modal=true

Honestly, I think the worst way to play against City is sitting back. Those tactics might work against Arsenal but City will pick you off if you back off on them and allow them time on the ball, especially in big matches where they're usually up for it. The games we beat them last season were games where we actually played aggressively and with high intensity. You can say we were lucky to beat them at home but in that game I remember them struggling to deal with out pressing and us creating good chances with even Torres hitting the bar.

But the thing with City is that they're surprising good playing with 10 men, don't know if anyone else has noticed. I think it's probably due to the fact that they tend to get a lot of red cards, so they know how to adjust when a man down. But still though, that game at the Etihad was a pretty poor performance by us, the worst we've played against them under Jose, in my opinion.

I don't think a draw away to those teams is a bad result. City also drew against Arsenal at the Emirates, but dropping 2 points when you're like 2 seconds away from claiming a win doesn't look good at all.

Just thinking about those 4 points dropped in Manchester, hell even the 5 points we dropped in a week.....ugh feel like breaking something or kicking a cat.

Out for about 2 months. Missed 8 matches There was also the injury he sustained against Real Madrid in the Copa Dey final that kept him out for about a month. Even as I type this, he's out injured. Honestly, the fact that you're using clips of Neymar and Messi, who both endured an injury ridden season last year, as some justification for your argument just signifies that you haven't the slightest clue what you're talking about. But from what I've seen, you tend to argue about topics that it's CLEAR as day to everyone that you're talking out of your ass. I'll never forget you so confidently declaring that Real Madrid are shit only for them to go and win the Champions League. Like seriously, who are you trying to kid? If you don't rate MVG then just come right out and say so rather than making nonsensical claims. We both know you're talking bullshit.

"Bad tackle? Nah son, he just injury prone that's all" - Didierforever.

I've only seen maybe one or two of Monaco's league games this season but I watched every one of their games in the CL group stages and in my opinion I don't think there was one match they were impressive. They have dynamic fullbacks and their midfield of Kondogbia, Moutinho and Toulalan is pretty good but I think Arsenal will go through. I actually think the team a lot people on here seem to be underestimating is Bayer Leverkusen.

Wait hang on, didn't didierforever tell you? He's our most used player which clearly makes him world class! In all seriousness when I read comments from people saying that criticisms about Cahill's performance are 'knee-jerk' I honestly begin questioning whether they've watched any of our last 20 or so games. Cahill has been playing poorly all season.

What happened to the rumors about him being offered a pay rise? He's already on something like 90-100k a week, the board should be careful not to put him on a higher salary than that. He's a squad player at best and I would hate to see a situation where his high wages is what gets him in the starting line-up and not performances.

Well firstly, in this system the no.10 in general has a limited impact in attack. Secondly. If I'm not mistaken, Cesc has played in the no. 10 role for us twice - yesterday against Sporting and in the 2nd half against City. That's a very small sample of performances to use as evidence that he offers less than Oscar and Willian who have played far more games in that position than Cesc. This whole argument is baseless in my opinion.

I don't blame Mourinho for deciding not to start him or for bringing him on so late or for even playing Cesc & Matic. Firstly, I think without the stability both Cesc & Matic provided, we probably wouldn't have played as cohesively as we did with the number of changes that was made to the starting lineup. Secondly, people keep saying that this was a nothing game so why not start RLC and some of the youth.....yes the result of the game meant nothing but it means something to the fringe players. If we're going to be successful this season then it's important that players like Mikel, Schurrle, Salah, Zouma, Cech, Luis etc are ready to step up when called upon. So I think when we get these sort of "nothing games" then it's important to use them to integrate fringe players and to try tactical changes like playing Luis and Azpi on the flanks or playing a midfield of Mikel, Matic and Cesc. If we can do these things while securing a win that's huge because it then allows these players to feel a sense of purpose and helps to boost team morale. City could not have gone away to Roma and won without Toure, Kompany, Augero and a half fit Silva if their squad players were under utilized. Honestly, I get the criticisms people are making but I think people are focusing on the wrong things. Even if RLC had come on with 20 mins to go, what difference would it have made? Even if he had started, so what? What would that have achieved? 10 mins, 20 mins, 30 mins....it makes no real difference. The kid at the very least came on, got a great welcome from the crowd, had some nice touches and hopefully this would make him thirsty for more and keep him motivated. The only thing I blame Mourinho for is allowing RLC debut to be turned into some kind of tokenistic, PR agenda.

Barbara basically summed it up. It's not playing him out of his usual position. Period. No one will say that Cesc was playing out of position yesterday. That's an incorrect statement to make. Now, if you're argument is that Cesc in this system offers more or is more of an asset in a deeper position than in an advanced position....that I get. But to argue that Cesc in the number 10 is a square peg in a round hole (which is basically what you're implying), that's wrong. It's not like there was a drastic drop in Cesc's performance yesterday when he played behind the striker compared to against Newcastle (as an example) when he played in central midfield.

It looks like whatever illness he had was very serious.... Hopefully he's seen the back of it. He's such a huge asset to the team, doubt we would have dropped points against Sunderland and Newcastle with an in-form Schurrle.

Cesc had the best season of his career playing as a no. 10 for Arsenal. He might not be perfectly suitable for that role in the system we play, but playing Cesc in the number 10 is hardly "playing him out of position". That's an absurdly hyperbolic statement to make.