The Mak

Palace fans:

Yep! I always wondered why he was continued to be deployed as an AM when running from deep was one of his biggest traits...I remember that friendly against City, he was out-Yaya'ing Yaya with those types of runs... It's actually quite frustrating when I think about it. He could have been getting this experience well over a year ago. I hope his development has not been stunted because of the wish to fulfill homegrown rules.

I know I've been away for some time, but I can't help but notice how the UI quality of the forum has gone down. I tried to post something a good few months ago and I couldn't even correctly cycle through the pages; the UI kept on bringing me to a blank thread. Some of those bugs appear to have been resolved now though, so I'm back. However, one thing I can't seem to get my head around is why the forum is not present on the home talkchelsea.net home page anymore? There's not even a single mention of a forum whatsoever, never mind a dedicated tab to click to. I know the site may being trying to orientate towards a Chelsea 'news' site in order to increase traffic from ad revenue, but I find this absence of the forum slightly disconcerting. I know for many, this site will always be associated with the forum and I think should be represented on the home page. I would also imagine that most ad revenue comes from the forum pages, which makes it more peculiar why it is not represented on the home page...do we not want new members to sign up or the forum to grow anymore? Growing the forum grows the site, which grows ad revenue. However, I know there are other considerations to growth, such as server bandwidth. It's been my job in the past to notice UI elements, so perhaps it does not bother others as much as me. Just something I wanted to mention.

FYI, it looks like he had a good game. Really grew into it as it went on.

Exactly. Quite rightly, it does not excuse the first half performance. However, I am willing to give the lads the benefit of the doubt and say our defence was rattled with the loss of Chaill. I know he has his faults, but he is one of the most vocal on the pitch and that sense of organisation was lost a bit. Conte fixed it at half time though. The only way that he could fix it is if the players did exactly what they were told and believed in the manager and that's what they did, so I'm happy. Yes, let's focus on the positives!

I don't mind losing, once I can see some fight. I saw that all through the second half, so I'm happy enough. Lots of positive performances out there considering the circumstances. And Morata, wow. What an impact. He is better with his head than Digeo was or ever will be. On a personal note, I am glad to be back venting with all of you.

Same. It tells me the lads have not actually packed it in for Conte.

Yeah, for almost 40m no doubt. Making the 'great deal' for Matic completely irrelevant.

lol, so who will be playing in midfield against Spurs??? Hope the board are happy now, bunch of fucking idiots.

Ahhhh Morata pal! Leave it!

At least this shit could has a silver lining: Alvaro Morata. He really isn't shying away is he? Not as delicate as some 'pundits' thought he would be...such a shame for them.

Wow, hard luck Alonso. More effective than Batshuayi.

Bringing Morata on is likely to do more damage to his confidence than anything else.

Lol, it's the same fucking goal. Cross from deep to Vokes. The same one that was offside. The same as the second. And still practically unmarked. Glad I didn't travel over to watch this shit. I knew the board wouldn't get the squad in order. Conte should have been given whatever he wanted weeks ago.

Braced for the panic buys. Why couldn't we have just bought players earlier? Do we really need it to go to shit on the pitch before the board buys? Did we have to sell Matic before Bakoyoko was even fit? Could we not have waited until late August? Did we have to sell Chalobah before signing a replacement? Now we'll pay over the odds for average players, or worse.

God, you are annoying. Reminds me why I've been away.

Hopefully Fabregas will help us actually pass the ball.

And then they celebrate like they've won the league. God I hate Liverpool.

Alonso is atrocious today. Both full-backs really. And no one in the team can make a pass right now. We will lose this if we don't get our act together for the last 20mins.

Brana, Mikel and Oscar all going in the same window? Someone pinch me.

I was actually just thinking today that Kennedy would do really well a LWB for some depth. Be good if we could get him back in Jan.

Played really well, even though I felt Boro would get a lucky goal at some point, I would have been happy with the performance nonetheless. A hard-fought game like this is the type of game we would have lost last season. And I just want to say, Gaston Ramirez is the biggest poser in the league. Looks the business when running with the ball, but my word, he is absolutely atrocious. One of the worst players I've seen this season. Not sure how he didn't get booked and often kicked it closer to row Z than the goal. Costa also made a fool of him for his goal. Him and Adama. A miracle if they get the ball on target more than once in a game. Shocking, shocking players.

All I ask is that we stick to a game plan and don't do stupid shit, like give the ball away in needless situations.

Alonso is a bit of a donkey, has to be said. Very wasteful for the amount of space he is getting. Still not as bad as Ivanovic though, no one is.

I think it would be cheaper for Roman to invest in a time machine to take Conte back to 2013, pre-Mourinho.