The only place to be

It says something when an average performance where Mikel does the bare minimum is lauded as 'very good' by a very tiny minority. I imagine his performance last night will be trumpeted by this tiny minority in much the same way Hazard's performance against Sunderland a few weeks was. When Mikel does leave, it would be mighty nice of him to take this minority with him.

I've said it before and I'll say it again - Eto'o represents everything wrong with this club over the last decade, and the terrifying thing is that he might be a Jose signing and not an Emenalo one. Our acquisitions seem to be either young players who need time to grow in the side or over the hill succubi.

Summed up his Chelsea career last night. Unplayable against Sunderland one week, completely ineffectual the next. This kid (and I'll call him that despite him being a man) has everything to be one of the best players in the world but he needs to find some consistency. He's been given every chance by Jose so far.

Because all that extraneous shit is about building a brand. The hair, the thumbs-up, the stupid Miley Cyrus tongue thing he does.....it's all bullshit that needs to come after the football, yet it helps because people like his 'character'. The guy needs to start being a fucking rock in defence and a leader on the pitch. Yes he's a laugh but we don't need that. We need a no-nonsense shit-kicker like Kompany or Vidic who we can rely on not to make boneheaded mistakes.

I don't particularly like De Bruyne. He plays with his head down a lot, whereas Willian, Schurrle, Hazard and Oscar are positively barrel-chested in comparison. I don't think he rates his character that highly. People say he needs confidence but he really seems to struggle when the pressure is on. Maybe I'm being unfair, but I can see why Jose has left him out. What's the point in playing expressive football if you can't rely on your strikers to score? He's got a point, although he is part of the problem's making.

Loaning him out was the dumbest decision. Some might say they he'll come back a better player, but we needed him this season. He'd be getting starts in this team.

But that's the thing - he doesn't. We're bemoaned the lack of a midfielder for years now, yet we go and buy Willian. We need a striker, so we loan our best one and sign a guy out of the Russian leagues. I think Jose should be using the academy players more than he has been but we have 6 players for 3 spots in midfield. That's absurd squad building and a waste of resources.

It felt like a Benitez game, where you could see we were going to concede a goal in the last few minutes of the game. No urgency, no passion, no cutting edge.

This just isn't a Jose team. These aren't Jose players. We've got so many average players running through the spine of the team that this transition is going to take a while to complete. We've spent £70 million on a striker who can't score goals, and David Luiz. We spent another £20 million on De Bruyne who can't really help this team and Lukaku who we chose to loan out. We spent £30 million on Willian who doesn't address a single need that our £18 million Schurrle couldn't probably cover alongside Hazard. There's just no spine to this team at the moment. That means there's no structure to anything that happens on the pitch and it won't be solved overnight. There is something rotten at the heart of this club and it's the reason we're struggling now. People like Emenalo are failing to build a proper team and the results are for everyone to see.

Cahill and Luiz in defence together is a recipe for disaster. At this level, they both need a proper defender like John Terry to keep them in check.

We signed this guy, and then loaned out Romelu Lukaku a couple of days later. We're fucking ridiculous.

Our strikers are utter shit. Eto'o is a 32 year old who was playing in Russia and Demba Ba is just so weak. Loaning Lukaku was a stupid fucking decision.

We're in transition remember.

Great work by Lampard, unlucky by KDB.

Is it unlucky for a striker to not be able to place a ball in the corner of the goal? Isn't that just called not being very good?

Ssssssshhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!

Whereas you're just direspectful, hateful and ignorant towards Chelsea supporters, and you do it all the time. You're a nasty piece of work. Buck up your ideas.

Not really his fault. No midfield protection because Mikel was 30 yards upfield.

If you read the forum you'll see a wide range of views about him. The strongest feeling seems to be that he's inconsistent. Although I think you're overlooking the opinion of Choulo's friend who is the biggest Inter fan in Lebanon (akin to being the tallest guy in a dwarf talent show).

So your Turkish team doesn't provide your recommended daily dose of football supporting? You need to find another team to top up the levels? That's the beauty of Chelsea Football Club - they provide all you need in a football club so you don't have to go looking for another abroad. It's very convenient.

Choulo doesn't rate him, but constantly bigs up Mikel. Should be a definite purchase then.

You can't compare the two. It's an utterly pointless discussion to be having. When Lamps was Luiz's age, he was already a legend at this club. He's the most dedicated professional we've ever had at this club and Luiz could do well to get off Instagram and maybe start taking lessons from Lamps. 1. Oh well. 2. Because that's what I think brainfarts are...a mental thing. 3. Because I've seen him on the pitch looking like he couldn't give a shit. I've seen him shirk challenges. What more do you want? At the end of the day it's just my opinion.

Interesting line-up. Rests key players, gives KDB a shot and will be very interesting to see how they set up. Schurrle on the left and KDB and Willian to rotate?

How many? Come on, how many of the 40 games AVB coached (amongst Lampard's 630 appearances....that's SIX HUNDRED AND THIRTY) how many did Lamps dial in? The fact that you're even comparing the two is fucking ludicrous. This is a guy who took to the pitch after his mother died, and took a penalty in a decisive game. Seriously, what the fuck are you doing even bringing this up in this discussion?

This doesn't resemble the player we're talking about. Are you sure you've got the right guy?