dee25

It was hard for him in the first half but I thought he got better in the 2nd. Cesc is the sort of player that will improve under Mourinho though.

We were very close to losing that match against City. Against a 10 man City. There's a fine line between opening up and sitting back....

People get so fixated on what he can improve on and how he doesn't yet have that 'killer instinct' that they forget just how special he is already.

I'll never understand Jose's insistence with having his team sit back when only a goal up. It's a tactic that's based on 'hope' - hoping that the opposition can't work out an opening, hoping that the defenders don't make a mistake, hoping that the ref doesn't make a wrong call. You're not controlling the game that way. 4 points now lost from wining positions against City and Utd. Shame.

I just don't think Schurrle will be a threat to Jones and Rojo in that centre forward position. Utd's CBs might be mistake-prone but they also have bounds of pace, so Schurrle making runs in behind might not be the best way to expose them. I think he needs to play, because he's a goal threat but I wouldn't have him be the focal point of the attack. Infact Schurrle is a lot more effective when he isn't the focal point. I think you need a target man that's a handful and that will keep Rojo and Jones busy so that Schurrle is then able to drop into pockets of space.

Wouldn't it make more sense to just play Drogba upfront especially with Luis playing in LB? Drogba is past it but he still has some degree of aerial dominance and that paired with Luis' crossing ability can surely be an asset no? Who to select for the two positions behind the striker is more of a dilemma to me. Schurrle gives us a goal threat, provide runs off the ball, takes up good positions and tends to be a big game player. With Cesc being very adapt at picking out runners, it just makes sense to play Schurrle. Between Willian and Oscar I would probably opt for Willian simply because we'll be playing on a large surface and you need pace in front of Cesc and Matic. But Willian's performance against City was so excruciatingly poor and that's not even an exaggeration......

The number of crosses that comes in from our right side is frightening.

http://streamsp.com/hd/index2.html This stream someone posted is working pretty well. Password is underneath: ForzaJules!

Loved this.... His defensive work and positioning has improved significantly in these past few games and I'm not sure if it's a coincidence that as Cesc has gotten better in this aspect we've looked more and more solid defensively. Needs to keep on at it.

Barcelona has now scored 17 goals scored and conceded 0. Mind blowing.

Was it a straight red? He'll be missing the game against us then.

Costa is something else and I think Ivanovic has been possessed by the spirits of Maldini and cafu.

Just checked to see what his turnover stat against City was like - he only turned over possession twice but was dispossessed 9 times! How does one manage to get a player sent off, play a key role in the build to the only goal scored and still manage to hit the post in a match where he was dispossessed 9 freaking times! This guy is straight up gangsta. Sick player.

Hang on. Since when is it pointless to comparatively quantify player's importance to a team? Football fandom is built on rating players. That’s why we select a man of the match after every game, something I’m sure you yourself have done on countless occasions. So in the same way you see no problem in identifying who the standout player of a match was, why then would it be pointless for one to argue that Hazard's impact in our games has exceeded that of the others? Is it debatable? Hell yeah. Pointless? Sorry, not having any of that. We can preach about how the trio of Cesc, Costa and Hazard (I would add Iva to that list as well) should be equally praised, and how it’s about the team and the collective but once the season nears to a close, we’ll all flock to cast our votes on who has been the best Chelsea player and I’m pretty sure that you Daniel, will be among the voters. Will you still be arguing then that " it's pointless trying to determine who is the best and most important player in our team"?

I think Hazard is still our best player IMO (just my opinion guys so for the love of sweet god don't flame me). He now has better support in attack which has made it easier for him to have more of an effect but I completely agree that he's been the driving force behind most of our attacks. The thing with him though is that his impact has mostly come in bursts.

This is reminding me so much of our 12/13 performances against City where we were basically bullied to oblivion. Would be nice to see us match City's aggressiveness and physicality.

He's got pace, couldn't he have just ran alongside Draxler? Matched him stride for stride? That would have blocked off a passing lane making it difficult for Draxler to pick such a pin point pass to Huntelaar.

Not at all blaming him for the goal, but his attempted challenge on Draxler was such a poor effort. Ultimately it was Cahill's defending that cost us but Ramires could have done better to put Draxler off.

I really don't understand the thinking that since Cesc wasn't the only player that did something wrong, there isn't then a legitimate claim to criticize him. How does that work exactly? Do we now have to wait for the other 10 players to put in top performances before we can then feel justified in shinning the lens on Cesc? What I'm seeing are people being unnecessarily hypersensitive for reasons I really don't know why. For me personally, I certainly wasn't expecting him to be a defensive behemoth (I don't think anyone was) but I was expecting him to be a lot more controlled in midfield and a lot more assured in possession when under pressure. That wasn't the first time he was easily dispossessed in our own half and I don't trust him to retain possession when he's being pressed. The through balls and 6 assists are nice, but I just think that he'll go through a period where the assists will dry out and I hope he'll be able to show something more.

Ok I just have to get one thing off my chest - can we NOT turn every criticism Cesc gets into an accusation of people scapegoating him? There are a couple areas of his game that he's weak in and I think to cry 'scapegoating' when someone points out these weaknesses is just such a cheap attempt to silence a conflicting opinion. It's also a double standard because we only seem to see evidence of scapegoating when it's a player that we rate highly. It's fine to be protective or defensive of players that we like but to try to undermine genuine opinions by painting it as scapegoating....I'm sorry but that seems to me like playing favoritism. As for the result - we drew mainly to poor finishing, take it on the chin and move on people. Still a lot of football to be played and in the grande scheme of things, drawing at home to Schalke isn't the worst thing that could happen this season.

Thrilled that we equalized and love our attacking play, but that midfield two in front of the back four....something has to be done because they don't look solid at all and I don't think the blame lies only with Matic.

Don't think there's any need to apologize at all, we should be dissecting, analyzing and critiquing Matic's performances simply because the degree to which he and the other 2 in midfield are able to perform their tasks and work as a unit will determine how much balance the team is able to achieve between attack and defence. We know where Cesc's limitations lie, we know that Ramires' technical ability is inconsistent (to put it nicely) and there's only so much running Oscar can do. So naturally a lot is riding on Matic (as our DM) to be the one that holds it together. To be a rock in midfield. Anyway, definitely fascinated by the way Jose has been using Cesc, Matic and Oscar. It's such a progressive tactical step, which is what most on here have been wanting from Mourinho.

I rate this guy very highly. He's such a gifted football player and has the potential to be the best defensive midfielder - he's already one of the best in my opinion. But I agree that he's been generally poor. Maybe "poor" is an exaggeration, but it's clear that he's been struggling not only against Everton but also against Leicester and Burnley as well. However I think people need to realize that with Cesc in midfield now, it'll probably be hard for Matic to be as dominant as he was last season. I love the dimension Cesc gives us offensively but when the team isn't in possession he tends to be slow and passive in closing down players. The knock-on effect is that Cesc is easily bypassed, which then results in Matic having to leave his position to go and press the player with ball, which then throws off our shape completely. So while Matic has been poor, it seems slightly unfair to single him out particularly because he hasn't received much help from Cesc or even Ramires. It's only been 3 games, but the early signs are that Cesc and Matic need more work. Oscar really is the only one out of that trio that understands what's required of him in this midfield system. Also between Cesc and Matic, the both of them completed 78% and 74% of their passes, respectively. To put this into perspective, Hazard had about 89% and Willian 90%. It's one thing for Ramires to be sloppy on the ball, but Cesc and Matic simply have to do better.

Mikel wasn't an amazing attacking talent? At one point he and Messi were considered to be the most promising youngsters... He had clubs like Chelsea and Man Utd all chasing his signature. I get that we're not fans of Mikel, but let's not revision the past.

Rooney and Van Persie are just devoid of confidence, but we know what they're capable of when in form. Mata is in trouble though. Think he'll be benched once Herrera comes back.