The Mak

Can't complain considering the 2nd half effort. Costa looked very dangerous in the box, but a bit too eager to get on the ball, moving out wide etc. when there was already a lot of support. A bit more patience and he could've got a second, had the beating of Fonte and Anderwield in the air all game. Hazard was fantastic, really turned it on, everything good went through him and down the left. Fabregas played it too safe, didn't take enough chances. Had a habit of running into the congested middle a lot when there was always space down the right. Probably because him, Oscar and Willian all play too centrally. Mane and Long were just too quick for Matic to deal with, understand why he came off. And can someone tell me why Zouma has been dropped? Koeman was always going to play counter, he would've been perfect. Terry and Cahill is a very slow combination to play against Mane and Long; they caused a sorts of problems in the first half. Good thing City are shit!

Because the defence has been solid... Chelsea have lost the lead 10 times this season http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2993005/Chelsea-lost-leads-10-times-season-Jose-Mourinho-needs-fix-face-renewed-battle-title.html This is nothing new for me, I have always said that Ivanovic is a liability at RB; he doesn't even know how to close down a cross. Yes, he scores goals because he is allowed to roam, but it comes at a cost. As for him being a leader? Give me a break. A leader needs good communication and his is practically non-existent. Remember the absolute confusion whenever he was paired with Cahill or Luiz in the center of defence? Remember him and Cech going at it? I think you are confusing being a leader with having a good work ethic. Besides, a team with strong personalities like this creates new leaders naturally, e.g. Fabregas, Costa. You can't rely on old personalities forever... He's a 31 year old full-back for Christ sake, there's no real reason to refuse a big offer that could be used to buy a much younger replacement.

Paris Saint-Germain plotting £15m summer swoop for Branislav Ivanovic http://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/563849/PSG-Summer-Transfer-Target-Chelsea-Defender-Branislav-Ivanovic If PSG actually come in with another ridiculous offer, he should be sold on the spot. At 31 years of age, he won't be getting any better and, considering he can't really defend anyway, José should just buy a natural attacking full-back like Ricardo Rodriguez.

Mourinho can fuck off if he makes any excuses. Atrocious performance.

Sorry, was I speaking about the league? Nope.

Just imagine how thick we'll look if Cuadrado flops and Salah develops...let me rephrase that, 'how stupid José will look'. As much as I love the man, considering he has been given 32m+12m+26m= 70m to fix the RW, it doesn't look like he's doing a good job in that particular area...

So happy to see the man lift that cup today, you can easily see how much it meant to him. A trophy is a trophy to this man and he didn't lift one for nearly 3 years; it must've felt like an eternity to such a successful and hungry man. Here's to José lifting the big one in May! He'll go ballistic, can't wait!

Cahill in midfield basically throws a good performance out the window. Watch the midfield be overrun while we hope for a good break. I've stated in that thread that Matic is our most important player by far and this line-up proves it. It feels like we will degenerate into the Chelsea of 3 years ago.

Anyone else feel like that the thought of not losing to Spurs in a cup final is more motivating than winning the actual thing? Is that possible? Because that's exactly how I feel. My God how I hate Spurs.

He has a point, but it still does not explain the absolute lack of effort he put in when he was given a chance against the likes of Brentford. I think he had a similar attitude to Lukaku; praised at a very young age by the Belgian national team, part of their 'golden boys', and so, thought they deserved to start on talent alone. Mourinho doesn't like that one bit. Hazard, by contrast, has an amazing attitude. Though, Azpi was bought for only 7m, Ivanovic for 9m and are now indispensable squad members, so it doesn't always work the way he thinks (though they are defenders). However, I still think that the massive purchase of Willian and Mourinho's dogmatic attitude towards some players (him & Mata) played a big part. Probably a mixture of both sides to be honest. It wasn't meant to be.

LOL, Kompany being found out yet again. Beyond me why people rate him so much. So inconsistent and when he is bad, he is utter wank. Love seeing the annual slaughtering of City in Europe! Bunch of individuals with an arrogant manager who has won sweet F-A before he was handed the league last year.

And it will still be a shithole.

When we found out José would be on Goals on Sunday....

Despite his reaction being rather natural, we also have to think about the type of mentality José is putting the players in (particularly recently with all the decisions against us): 'battle mode', 'everyone against us', etc. Getting players psyched like that can reap the benefits but it can also cause situations like this. Think of Ramires in general last season; José and the rest of the backroom staff kept on hyping him up by referring to him as some sort of midfield 'enforcer' and in almost every game he would be the one most likely to be sent off. You can't take the good without the bad.

Good man! A full English will help with that now as well!

Yes, that does explain the initial collision, but the only way for Matic's leg to bend like that is if there is significant pressure put into it. If it was just his movement for a pass then he would just scraped up his leg with his studs and they both would've went down no problem. However, Barnes clearly wanted to leave a bit on Matic and he's done a lot more than that, whether he was fully aware of what he was doing or not.

Go wherever the alcohol is, always helps! (Warning: Help not guaranteed, may cause amnesia and a feeling of shame.)

Just another casualty of the F.A. FARCE.

We were in control until that. I'm more worried about the games without Matic because we look like shit without him. We've shown that we can get through without Fabregas and Costa, but not without Matic; he is the glue for the entire team. He shouldn't have reacted like that, yes, but the it was Barnes' third high tackle, he wasn't sent off and he won the corner that they scored from. We also had 2 clear pens turned down. Their agenda is clear: do not let Chelsea run away with it, make it a close race, make it live up to the PL hype; otherwise we might not get anymore increases in our 5 BILLION T.V. rights. Cunts.

Oh Jesus, CAN YOU IMAGINE IF THAT CUNT SCORES NOW.

Matic has every right to be pissed with that challenge, his season could've been over. Fucking cunt Barnes was at it all game and he doesn't even get a yellow; again, we're punished because a ref can't do his job and keep control of a fucking game. Still, the reaction was a bit of a brain fart from Matic. He knows how vital his presence is in the team. To the FA: will they ban Barnes retrospectively? WILL THEY FUCK.

It's the behaviour like that tonight from those fans on the tube that always makes me question why a club of this stature still associates itself with the likes of a bigoted club like Rangers. Chelsea is now an international club and it should disassociate itself with anything that opposes that fact. There are still those with archaic xenophobic ideals (such as TPTB repeatedly showed) and those ideals should be stamped out on sight; if they exhibit it like this, they should be banned for life. There is barely any English players in the team for Christ sake. I'm sure Zouma and Remy thought they were absolutely hilarious. Disgusting racist wankers.

I have to admit, it's frustrating seeing the players we now have play like it's 2012 all over again.

LOL, yeah, let's get £50m Torres back instead so he can score against shit teams in the CL group stages and score fuck all in the league.

Between Costa, Fabregas and Matic. But i'll go for Matic purely because we are so bad without him compared to Fab and Diego. As we've seen recently, we can manage somewhat without Fab & Diego; but without Matic, it's like we turn into the Chelsea from 3 seasons ago who were shipping goals at every opportunity. He brings so much to the midfield while also relieving the defence of a lot of stress.