dee25

Completely agree. There're missing Silva, Kompany, Toure and Augero. Winning this game without 4 of their best players will obviously have a huge impact on team morale.

Any header scored from a cross or a set piece should just basically be referred to as 'drogba-ing'.

I know a lot of match-going fans who really can't stand him and probably won't be overly fussed to see him gone, but I actually find Neil Barnett sort of endearing. I've watched a couple of the Famous Fans series that he's hosted on Chelsea TV and when he talks about the days of Pat Nevin, Kerry Dixon and David Speedie.....wow you can just tell that he's incredibly passionate about the club.

Completely agree with Tomo. People keep on talking about our inability to break down parked buses but that's doesn't give a full picture of the situation. We're fine when we play 'lesser' teams at home. We might struggle a bit but often times than not we find a way through. The issue is when we play these teams away. Like Tomo said, It's a problem that we've had even before Mourinho's return but last season our away record against mid/lower table teams completely fucked up our chances of winning the league. Stoke, Palace, Villa and Newcastle. Zero points in the away fixtures. 12 points in the home fixtures. Those away games is where we lost the league and in my opinion I haven't seen much evidence of that changing this season.

Going to be very hard now.

Honestly, Costa needs to pass the ball more. Why dribble when there's a counterattack on??

But Oscar creates far more chances and is more heavily involved in attacks than Willian is, so that has to be taken into consideration. For example against Spurs. Willian made 1 key pass and 1 successful dribble, but he was dispossess 3 times. Oscar was dispossess twice but made 3 key passes and 2 successful dribbles.... Forget about his decision making in front of goal, we all know that's a weak area in his game but what's been surprising (to me at least) is how lacking his technical ability has been this season.

I'm honestly as confused as you are because this season Willian to me has been very sloppy on the ball. I'm usually one of his biggest defenders but he's been so easy to dispossess even more so than Oscar. Last season Willian at least was an excellent dribbler, he could receive passes in tight spaces and keep possession. His passing was also very good. This season, he's been sloppy and can't beat defenders. I'm sorry I'm not going to sugar coat it but Oscar right now looks twice the player Willian does. Even his defensive contributions, how many times against Spurs did he make a tackle? Dispossess an opponent? It seems that all Willian does is run, run, and run without actually doing anything.

I'm liking the idea of playing a midfield of Mikel, Cesc and Ramires (assuming he's fit) and dropping one of Oscar or Willian. Whatever we'll miss from playing one less attacking mid can be made up by allowing Cesc more freedom to influence the game. It would also be helpful if Luis came in for Azpi to provide an attacking threat down the left flank but that probably won't happen. It's a shame because with Luis, Ramires and Cesc supporting Hazard and Costa - I think that would be our best bet at claiming 3 points.

Well "would work well" is dependent on the style of football we want the team to play. If the plan is to go to St James' Park, keep a low block and stay compact then sure a Mikel & Cesc pivot "would work well". But if the plan to play expansively, high intensity pressing, fluid movement, with Hazard, Oscar etc interchanging positions and Cesc joining in to support the attack then a Cesc and Mikel pivot wouldn't work in my opinion. When Costa or Hazard or Oscar turnover possession, Matic's first thought is to win the ball back, and get us attacking straight away. Mikel's first thought is to hold his position and make sure there aren't gaps. There're benefits to both styles, but the downside to Mikel's style is that the attacking midfielders have to cover more ground and the team won't be able to pin the opposition back and apply heavy pressure. As it is, Terry and Cahill are not exactly proactive defenders, and we've already seen how that at times limits the team's pressing. With Mikel in front of them, I think the team will lack intensity.

I'm so flipping tired of seeing the look of sheer and utter despair on Cahill's face every time a player so much as runs at him with the ball. Zouma is still very raw, but his proactiveness and the way he imposed himself on Harry Kane was such a breath of fresh air. I would drop Cahill and play Zouma on Saturday.... but then again this is probably why I don't have a career in football.

We'll probably manage without Matic only because Jose is probably one of the best managers when it comes to adapting to circumstances. But don't get it twisted, the defensive contributions of Matic vs that of Mikel is not even comparable in the slightest....in the slightest. Yeah Mikel will come in and do a decent enough job of staying in position and keeping the shape, but in terms of athleticism, physicality, tackling abilities - Mikel is a big drop off from Matic.

Yes you're right that those teams are capable of defending as well as Sunderland did yesterday, but I think @The Chels makes a good point that in home games against these teams, we tend to do alright. Last season we breezed past Newcastle and Stoke at the Bridge and against West Ham, we actually created a good number of chances but our finishing was just hilariously poor. Our problem is when we play these teams away from home. That's where we struggled massively last season. Villa away, Crystal Palace away, Stoke away, Newcastle away - those were all fixtures we lost and we would have lost away to Sunderland last season were it not for an inspired performance by Hazard. Whether it's the tactics, the lack of recovery pace in central defence, maybe the mentality - I don't know what it is but there's something about the way the team is setup that isn't conducive to breaking down those sort of teams away from home.

Exactly this! The board made a decision that they thought best serves the club's interests and though it was sad, most supporters accepted that decision because we felt it was time that Frank moved on. So how is it fair (or even logical) that Frank's loyalty is being called into question? Sure it sucks to see him score goals for city and hear the city fans chant his name, but a decision was made and the player moved on. People are just being so dramatic over this. And it's an early kick off too. Oh lord...

Last season many on here were routinely giving Frank stick. Complaining about how slow he is, how he always miss-times his tackles, that the money the club is using to pay him would be better served on a younger player. People were constantly saying how we need to "put sentimentality aside and hand over the reigns to the younger generation"and that Frank's time is over. There's nothing wrong with these comments but it never ceases to amaze me how some fans demand loyalty from players when they themselves show none and on top of that the same people who were ready to cast Frank aside for someone younger are the same people who now have the temerity to call him selfish. I'm I missing something? In football, all parties are motivated by their own self interests - the clubs, the players, and yes even the fans. So don't give me that nonsense about loyalty. Where was your own loyalty to the player? Fans have such a false sense of entitlement and they hold players to ridiculous rules that are so devoid of reality. It's really quite laughable.

Definitely worth a read considering it's written by Duncan Castles. He's been pretty much sport on with most of what he's reported about Mourinho since his return.

This where we need Cesc to take control of the ball and help us string passes together.

Wow. Just keep possession. Is it so hard?

HUGE recipe for disaster. The amount of space between Matic and Cesc is not even funny.

The way he's been commanding that midfield has impressed me a great deal especially when you consider that he's playing beside Cesc and in front of two slow centre backs that (as we all know) aren't comfortable when playing high up the pitch. Some pace in one of those CB positions would do wonders for Matic's game and for our system in general.

Oh my. What a chance.

Schurrle might be poor at times but he's dangerous. Willian....is literally toothless. He can have 100 touches of the ball and not pose any threat.

So close. Why didn't he keep running?!

I much prefer these 'mind games' when there're directed towards rival managers....and Wenger. Honestly, Chelsea supporters (particularly match going fans) are already such a vilified group in the press and these comments by Mourinho only gives ammunition to that negativity. Next game, opposition fans will be singing "even Mourinho thinks your shit". There're other ways he could have gotten his message across. The comments were out of order plain and simple. And seriously if he's so bothered by the atmosphere at the Bride to the point that he finds it so unbearable then maybe he should be helping the Chelsea supporters trust to champion safe standing. Maybe he should be working with the club to introduce less stern ban policies - when I was in Uni in London, I knew many fans that were issued lengthly bans for standing. How can you moan about the home support when the stadium regulations in place are so restrictive? When stadium regulations aren't fan oriented?

Regardless of if he's right, why shame your own fans like that when you obviously know that it's more a systemic problem than just a simple matter of "the home support is shit"? If the atmosphere bothers him so much to the point that it's so torturous for the team to play at home then there's a whole lot he and the club can do about it. Don't dump all the blame on the fans. His comments were borderline disrespectful. The away fans are generally fantastic and I've never heard him sing them any praises.