The only place to be

He was playing because he was assessed as being fit. Honestly I'm not sure what the injury has to do with anything though. Could he not track Juanfran's run because of his injury? The fact that he was so vibrant and full of running at the end of the match suggests he wasn't suffering any after-effects of his injury Mourinho's decision was to set up his team accordingly. Against a better team we were 1-0 up in the semi-final of the Champions League. Atletico Madrid had to attack us, and we had to defend and possibly look to hit them on the counter, something Jose had done EXPERTLY just a few days earlier with a much weaker team. In that position you want one thing - 100% commitment to the cause from every player on the pitch. Our midfield is shit, but we were 1-0 up and had arguably the best defensive manager in the world in charge. His instruction to Hazard would've been to track overlapping runners (JT also says it to him). Some people want to argue about the instruction and some people recognise that the order wasn't followed. Everything that comes after that is the result of us conceding that goal.

If you want to talk about it then you have to start at the beginning - why was Eto'o on the pitch? Because we had to chase the game. Put simply we had to chase the game against la liga leaders with a midfield of Luiz and Ramires and no top-class striker. If Jose wanted to do that then he'd have done that from the first minute, not the 55th. We might not have lost the game because of Eden, but we lost our best chance of winning it because of him.

I think if we do what we did against Liverpool and win 1-0 against a better team then a few people call it a 'tactical masterclass'. But tactics don't just exist on the whiteboard at Cobham - they have to be executed by every member of the team. Hazard didn't, so the narrative becomes something else. In Madrid he set his team up and 11 men did their jobs - he got the result. In Liverpool he set his team up and 11 men did their jobs - he got the result. On Wednesday he set his team up and 10 men did their jobs. So you don't like him blaming the refs, don't like him criticising players and forget when he takes the blame. What you want is a mute manager - why don't you lead by example?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/24155092 Two seconds to prove you're a liar.

Ah, the Brendan Rodgers 'I only want us to win one way' type of football. Are we going to write letters to our opponents so they let us do that? Why do I get the feeling that you view 'tactical wins' in a negative light? Were the 12 points we got off of Man City and Liverpool not to your liking? Not only do you want a league and cup double, but you want it won in a certain way....unbelievable. I'd be happy with progression and us acquiring players in the positions we need them. I think if we do that then the league is very much in our reach. I'd like to see the squad reshaped to better reflect what Jose wants and get rid of some of the deadwood.

So we're going to sell Chalobah and Omeruo? Why? And we're going to loan out Davila and Delac? Can't we sell them for £10 million each to the same club we're apparently going to sell Marin and Kakuta for? It's interesting that you put their figures in pound sterling and not gumdrops or rainbows because honestly, I think that's kinda what they're worth at the moment. Piazon over Atsu I don't understand either. I've never seen anything special in Piazon, although there's a possibility I'm wrong. Wallace....how he goes from not playing football to being back-up for Azpi I don't know. That's where I'd be inclined to include Omeruo if we sold Ivanovic, which I wouldn't. I agree with most of the players being sold like Ramires and Luiz, but I simply don't see any reasoning for letting Chalobah go when he's got a long contract, no premier league experience and Mourinho has already hinted that he'll come back. Also I think you've maybe left out our highest goalscorer of all time, although maybe I'm misreading.

What the fuck are you on about? Do you know how many times Mourinho has shielded his players from criticism in his time at this club? I think he can occassionally be honest with a player as a teaching exercise when they make such a major mistake. 10 fucking players worked their bollocks off after we scored and one player stood still like a fucking statue so maybe he can take a bit of criticism and LEARN from it. It amazes me how fairweather fans like you don't hesitate in jumping on the manager's back though.

Mourinho is probably the perfect personality for us. We're always going to be hated for a variety of reasons and he OWNS that. He doesn't care about being popular or being loved by anyone but us fans. Looks like he's not just going to ignore Hazard's mistake for the first goal either. Whatever anyone thinks, conceding an away goal against a better team one minute before half-time completely changed the complexion of the match. Harsh to blame the loss on him, but if anyone wants to argue that it wasn't a turning point then they're clueless.

Under Benitez he improved dramatically when it came to defensive positioning. I think people are underestimating his ability to do a job defensively, or simply rewriting history to cover his arse. He made a mistake. People make mistakes, especially when they're young. I don't think anyone is saying he should be sacked or flogged for it, but simply that it should be acknowledged. I guarantee the coaching staff will make it very clear to him, because that's how people learn from mistakes. And I disagree that it was bound to happen - if it was bound to happen then he wouldn't have been trusted in that position. It was a one-off mistake, I don't think he's a brainfart machine like David Luiz. I don't really think a lack of match-sharpness is the cause either. He knows exactly where his man here but he simply doesn't track it for some reason. The discussion about it makes it seem like a far bigger deal that it is. It was a mistake so why people feel the need to defend it or the fact he was put in that position is bizarre to me.

I love that we'll get warnings to stay off the pitch or else the players won't do their lap of 'appreciation'. When's the last time we rushed a pitch? Adams can set up a team to hit us on the break if his management of the youth team in last year's final was any indication, so we've got to respect them. One of the things I do enjoy about Jose's management is that the team selection isn't always predictable so apart from Schwarzer, Cahill, Terry, Matic and probably Hazard, I'm not 100% on anyone. He's not averse to throwing in some curve balls after a defeat though so I've got a slight hope that Van Ginkel might get a start. Need a fast start though. Then we can worry about putting on a show.

Schurrle, Salah and Willian aren't natural defenders either. They aren't being asked to stand in the six yard box and clear crosses for 90 minutes, just to track runs from full-backs like he has done many times this season. He fucked up. That doesn't mean he's a bad player and it doesn't require people to leap to his defence for the most bizarre of reasons, but when you're assessing why we conceded then it's an obvious error. Atletico did very well to spread the play and move us around, but you simply can't make mistakes at the top level like he did and not expect to be punished.

No, you're saying that a player like Hazard shouldn't be asked to track runs into the box from a full-back in the 44th minute of a second-leg when we're looking to go into the half-time break with a lead.

It's not ridiculous in the slightest, especially a few minutes before half-time when the emphasis has to be on maintaining a lead going into the break. Col got caught out of position tracking a run, but JT actually shifted along the line because in a TEAM you cover one another. Hazard knew Juanfran was his man because he looks at him at least twice. He fucked up and it cost us a goal. That doesn't mean the loss was his fault but people who are trying to excuse him don't know the first fucking thing about sport in my opinion. Oh, so he should track players runs but only up to about 20 yards from goal....and then stop?? Juanfran was his man. He should've tracked the run as far as he needed to. JT even points to him and tells Eden to watch him. But maybe JT is wrong about this.

On here there's a small number of 'fans' who regurgitate the same shit over and over and over again. I wouldn't read too much into that though.

Starting for the under-21s in the premier league semi-final. It's halfway through on sky sports 1.

So banned for 1 less game than what Pardew got for headbutting a player? Pardew's was 3 stadium and 4 touchline....meh. At this point I'm past caring what the FA does in regards to us.

Matic had a better performance this week.

Because since they appointed Simeone, we're had four different managers. It's why I don't get the constant moaning about the playing style of our team. People seem to want to criticise Mourinho for being conservative and saying that's his 'nature', so what do these people want? Do they want Mourinho gone and us to bring in someone else or is it just whining for the sake of it?

"We still have two very important games in the Premier League because Chelsea can still be champions, but it is important I rest because the World Cup is here." No, it's important that we do all we can to win the league.

It's not scapegoating. The truth is that Atletico are a better team than us right now, and they're at a different stage in their development. They're peaking, two and a half years into Simeone's tenure whilst we're probably one transfer window away from being a 'Mourinho side'. That means we can't beat them in a level game, and have to out-manoeuvre them just like we did against Liverpool at the weekend. We won that game because every player did their job. Every player marked their man, tracked the run and was in exactly the right place at almost every time. What yesterday highlighted is just how much bs Rodgers was spouting when he said it was easy to coach - it isn't. It requires intense focus and no mistakes, and unfortunately Eden dropped a massive clanger. It's unfair to say he cost us the game because there are factors that go back years that contributed to us not winning (signing Torres, not signing midfielders, suspensions etc.) but he was at fault for that goal, and it turned the entire tie on it's head.

He wasn't though. Fair enough Ashley gets dragged across but it's still essentially a back 6 with the wingers as auxiliary full-backs. He doesn't have to tackle the guy he simply has to get in Juanfran's eyeline, just like he did for the third goal. Maybe it's a lack of match practice but it's just horrible to watch back because he knows the run is going to be made but he simply doesn't move. There were obviously other problems in the team that contributed to us losing, but we're not bad at getting one goal and then putting up a brick wall. Unfortunately it is a pretty big mistake to make.

Looks like Kia Jaroobchian in the top left too. And is that Clive Owen next to Lukaku???

Salah, Schurrle and Willian managed it against Liverpool. What makes Eden so special that he can't be asked to do dirty work as well? We were in a situation where we needed 11 men to work together and stay focused on keeping their shape. This is just a perfect example of what happens when one person doesn't do their job. It undoes the good work done by the other 10.

Integral in the build-up to their first goal and wins a penalty (and scores under immense pressure) for the second. Did more against us than Zlatan, Cavani and Suarez have this season and has done something Messi has never done #justsaying

First season in England under two different but equally incompetent managers. At the right price he's a nice squad option.