The only place to be

I thought he stood out more in the second, when we were pretty woeful.

Did you read the rest of my post? If I had just said the line you quoted then I'd probably agree with you, but taken as a whole I think it's less ridiculous no?

Are you one of Rafa's loved ones? Are you his brother? Are you his wife? Do you own his local Dominos?

The biggest prize this year is a top-four finish and Rafa leaving.

Great post, very informative. My problem with Moyes is not that he's done great things despite having to sell his best player and work with comparative peanuts, but that at Chelsea he'd have to do essentially the complete opposite. He'd be under no pressure to sell his best youngsters, he'd have maybe treble the budget and he'd be on a bigger stage (with all respect to Everton). He's done amazing work but the types of challenges he'd face would be completely different. I like him, but it would be a gamble.

It's statistically unlikely. There's no easy answer to this dilemma.

If this guy is the real deal, then he could conceivably be the answer in goal for us for the next 10-12 years. How many years does Cech have left? How much would we get for him in the market? Personally, I'd rather not sell this guy when he has so much potential.

They have to be in the discussion. You dismissed them and offered up a fictional character instead. Unfortunately whilst we may not be constrained by financial binds, we do have to limit ourselves to characters who exist in the real world. If we're going to invent people, I'd like Frank Lampard aged 42 coming off back-to-back-to-back doubles with Real Madrid please. And he's got a cracking set of knockers too.

The problem I have with Moyes is that I'm not sure what I'd end up watching on the pitch. The guy has always worked with his back against the wall, surviving rather than thriving. Look at Fellaini for example. Bought as a DM, started his Everton career there but moved forward because it's what's best for Everton in the short-term. That's not the type of problem he'd face at Chelsea. There's a massive difference between the job you're required to do when you're living off scraps and feeding the masses to the job you need to do when you're working with the finest ingredients. I'm not saying he couldn't do it, but that I don't know if he could do it. If we're honestly looking at the Premier League for a guy from (let's be honest) the level below then surely Martinez should be in the discussion too. Works wonders at a club who have no business being in the Premier League and still manages to get them play bright, inventive, attacking football. I also think he's responsible for a lot of the good stuff at Swansea that Rodgers and now Laudrup benefitted from.

Somewhere warm. Somewhere they can recharge their batteries for the run-in. The league is all-important - the cups have to be secondary.

I doubt it that's much, but even if it is who cares what Baines earns? We don't own him so we'd have to pay at least £15 million to get him. The truth is that Bertrand simply hasn't kicked on and may never be good enough. Cole is still one of the best in the world at what he does and the cost of retaining him (even at this wage) is still cheaper than replacing him. Personally, I'd love us to get Luke Shaw from Southampton as his understudy.

Need David Luiz for this because you'd expect us to have a lot of the ball. Wouldn't mind it if we sent players like Mata, Hazard, Azpi, Cole and a few others on holiday for a few days though if I'm honest. With this game and the Brentford game there's no important matches for over a week.

Absolutely agree with this. Ramires always seems to play best when we're under pressure, yet you could make a case that it was the midfield's fault we were under so much pressure yesterday. There was a lack of composure in the double pivot, a lack of leadership which is why I almost didn't vote for him, but he worked very hard. My problem is what we do with him going forward. Unless we plan to put ourselves under almost contant pressure in games then I think we have to look at other options. It may sound harsh, but if he's the best player in the team then there's something wrong.

When he's the best player on the team, something's wrong. I love the guy, but he's at his best when the pressure is on and your back is against the wall, but we shouldn't be in that position. We should be dominating teams and with him and Lamps in midfield, we simply don't. I hate to criticise the guy because he always puts in a shift, but he simply doesn't fit into the team we want to be going forward.

Exactly.

I disagree. He's perfectly spherical.

Sacked, let go, made redundant, a parting of the ways, an amicable divorce.....whatever you want to call it, the fat cunt will be gone. The evil spirit will be exorcised, the tumour will have been removed and nearby restaurants will likely go into recession.

It's amazing that you claim to be a Chelsea supporter but don't seem to like anything about the club, including their supporters. When Rafa gets sacked in the summer (a happy day that will be), maybe you're be more comfortable following him. We'll try and get by without the pair of you - in fact as a parting gift, why not take our most expensive player ever. You know, because we love you both.

Missed him today. Could have done with his presence in midfield, especially in the second-half. It's amazing how well regarded he is as a midfielder by the supporters after less than 10 games there. Hopefully he isn't out for long.

Am I right in thinking that you're not a Chelsea fan, but a Rafa fan?

Can't wait until we sack Rafa too. If he's playing a weaker team in the league so he can have a better shot at winning some tin pot cup, he's a bigger cunt than we thought.

Big result for us today #greatresult #greatfans #greatclub #cfc✌✌✌ Legend.

Great penalty, decent in the first-half but simply wasn't the player we needed in the second-half.

I respect him because he's a good player. In fact I also think Luiz is playing much better this season but he needs to earn our trust that he won't make another brain fart. I think you're being overly critical of Ivanovic though.

10 MAN CHELSEA SOMEHOW BEAT SHIT ARSENAL TEAM. Well that should be the headline. Amazing in the first-half, but felt for sure this was another Southampton. Didn't want to be there when I saw Torres was in the starting line-up, but his presence wasn't a distraction when we were in control. When we were under pressure though, he was completely useless most of the time. A couple of nice runs and skinning Vermaelen mean his fans finally have something to beat off to that wasn't pre-Obama but leaving Ba on the bench almost cost us 3 points. Hard for me to vote for anyone in that midfield as MOTM because again, that's where we very nearly lost the game but Ramires didn't stop running all day. Lots of unfocussed energy but he gets it for working hard.