The only place to be

Mourinho: 'We were too soft with the ball and too soft without the ball. We were not aggressive enough in possession.' #CFC Mourinho: 'We gave them 45 minutes of a friendly in the first half and we only had a reaction after they scored the first goal.' #CFCLive Yup.

He probably wasn't as bad as everyone suggested, but doesn't this put an end to the discussion about him being captain material for us?

Fine. I think we'll win the league. You think this is the end. We disagree.

No it doesn't. It just requires something beyond a knee-jerk reaction to a player's performance.

So we can't lose to Newcastle because Man City (who lost to Cardiff...and us) and United (who lost to West Brom at home) will overtake us? Teams drop points. I'm still confident.

Schurrle gets dropped because we have Willian and Mata on the bench (although I didn't agree with him being dropped). Lamps doesn't get dropped because we don't have Alonso or Witsel on the bench. So you can blame Rami's poor game on Lamps, but Lamps gets judged in isolation? Personally I think the whole team looked like last year's team because we went with Mata and Oscar in last year's positions. Right now, Oscar simply can't be dropped because he's too important to EVERYTHING we do as a team.

Pass completion was averaging above 90% Defensively he was usually one of the highest when it came to interceptions and tackles (although less consistent than his passing) Of the few long balls he tries, they are usually accurate. I'm watching the same matches you are and as far as I'm aware the football is the same. Mata came off because Mourinho tried to revert to the same tactics we're used this season with Oscar in the whole and a wide player out wide. Unfortunately it came too late, Newcastle were in the ascendency and we rightly lost. It won't happen again though. Spot fucking on. Champions lose games but they rebound from them and that's exactly what I expect us to do. Today was a learning experience for a team in transition.

He played well against City, but even that was a step-down on the performances he'd put in before that. Again it's very easy for some people to get a little excitable and become prisoners of the moment. It's a long season and we'll bounce back from this.

I agree with the second bit that the attacking midfielders were often far too distant from the pivot and that even Rami was nowhere near his imperious best. Your first point is a little bit unnecessary too be honest, and a tad rude.

What? No reason we can't have a bit of fun even on an off-day.

Because we've been winning week in and week out, and he's put in good performances in those games. I don't think that theory has any substance, but you were against Jose coming back so I can understand why you'd look to besmirch him.

Actually current form dictated that he should. I'm talking in terms of results, performances, pass completion, defensive workrate, accurate long balls etc.

Actually that isn't backed up in the matches I've seen him play or the stats. This was very much an off day for him, but he wasn't the only one. Either way, you'll get likes from Choulo, The Skipper, Amels, ChelseasMessiah and a couple of others so well done.

Didn't see it but if that's true it's disgusting unless the other players were going to get their wallets and refund the supporters. I can't believe Mourinho would allow them to do that either....very strange day.

He was actually very poor compared to his recent games. Now the question is whether that was the result of the system or an off-day. Considering the number of players who put in sub-par performances one might suspect it might be due to either Mourinho's changes in the team he played, or Pardew's tactics to combat them.

He's been our player of the season and we put him on the wing. He's too important to drop from that number 10 spot and he does nothing out wide, especially compared to Schurrle or Willian.

Last season's selection, last season's performance. Too many players had an off-day today and I think that's down to the decision to move Oscar to the wing and bring Mata back. All the problems of last season (pivot not linking up play with the AMs who don't drop deep enough) came flooding back, bringing with them a Torres performance of old and a reliance on a piece of magic from one of the three amigos. Needs to be a turning point in our season because this performance basically undid a lot of the good work we've done in improving on last season. Schurrle and Willian were missed today but I don't think this will be anything but a footnote in a successful season. Great passion from the fans but a shit performance from almost every player.

Jose Mourinho got tactically raped by Pardew, unfortunately. Seriously? Come on Talk Chelsea. Let Alex do these match commentaries because that is embarrassing.

Jose might have seen videos of last season's performances - well now he's got a front-row fucking view. A shit performance and the club need to refund the fans their travel money for this because they've been fantastic, but this might be the making of our season. Oscar, Hazard and Mata doesn't work. It didn't work last season, it won't work this season.

We allowed Newcastle to grow in confidence by not effectively using our possession in the first-half. But please, stick me on ignore and I'll do the same.

Well that's what happens when you move Oscar to the right wing. It's what happened all last season, it's what happened today when we picked last season's team. But those flicks between Mata and Hazard in the first-half...better than three points.

Fuck. Was coming.

Right now all we're missing is a Rafa Out chant.

You're talking about one incident, I'm talking about 45 minutes of possession, passing and movement. Again, if that's all you're going to base your opinion on then that's fine but I'm more interested in a different type of opinion.

I think the pessimism is because we haven't created much but have been in total control bar 10 mins or so. Honestly, this looks a lot like some of the performances last season. Thank fuck Newcastle are complete dogshit.