Phil Driver

Very strange comment ,yes the English premier league attracts the beat talent from the world over ,but will always be named the English Premier League,which should make it a very good place to sign players from and the English league was one of the best in Europe before it had foreign players ,the likes of Nottingham Forest,Aston Villa and Liverpool where champions of Europe ,long before the foreign influx prior to Heysel. Our right back is Ivanovic .

Red through the thread and you will see how the discussion developed.

Everton . Very impressed with this lad ,maybe a bit unfashionable and Emenalo seems obsessed with foreign markets (although last time I checked England was still one of the top leagues in the world) ,but this lad is a very good right back and great going forward ,I would be very happy to see Luke Shaw on the left and Coleman on the right for Chelsea it would give us fanatasic attacking play from the flanks with great posession as well as the speed to recover our shape.

wow!! It is a toss up between him and Cahill at the moment and I think Cahill will play on Monday with our world class defender John Terry as Kompany is.

Jose Mourinho believes if Chelsea had won the Champions League before 2012 then Frank Lampard would have won the Ballon d'Or. Lampard finished as runner-up to Barcelona's Ronaldinho in 2005, the year which Chelsea were controversially eliminated from the Champions League by Liverpool at the semi-final stage. Chelsea went on to reach another two semi-finals, losing to Liverpool and Barcelona in 2007 and 2009, and also lost on penalties to Manchester United in the 2008 final. In a serialisation of Mike Carson's book, The Manager, in the Telegraph, Mourinho reveals his belief that Lampard should have been crowned as Europe's best player. "That season [2004-05] was a season for them to say, 'We are the best in this country', and it was the season for me to say: 'I'm not just very good in Portugal, I'm also very good here.' So it was like an explosion of motivation on both sides," Mourinho said. "I remember saying clearly to Frank Lampard: 'You are one of the best players in the world, but nobody knows.' "In one of the seasons Frank was a finalist in what is now the Ballon d'Or, and I think he didn't win because he was not a European champion. "Between 2004 and 2007 he became, for sure, one of the best players in the world. So we motivate people also with individual challenges, and for him, for sure, that was a challenge we put there and he understood and he was ready for it. "If Frank's 2012 Champions League win had come before, he would have been voted the best." Read more at http://www.espn.co.uk/football/sport/story/229839.html#syOjGyLQe4dCSI8I.99

Well I think we can let Jose decide on that. The new contract will be signed soon . I never remember Zanetti finishing second in world footballer of the yearbut do remember him being beaten by England at the 2004 world cup ,when presumably his super human qualities never surfaced despite only being 28.

Yes Jose gets it right ,he judges the performance not the birth certificate ,Zanetti would have been too old before he won the Champions League .

Jose insisted on using a 37 year as first chice at Inter old at Inter and they won the Champions League ,was that wrong?

Nando would have a point about the team not being set up for him to score if he was not getting chances as a result of that , he is getting chances and some of them easy chances ,he needs to convert some of the chances that come his way as well as score goals out of nothing ,the hallmark of a top class striker.He must do better as time is running out for him to make his mark at Chelsea,he is the type of striker who should be judged on his goal record and that is poor for Chelsea. He is drinking in the last chance saloon.

Has the Mikel love in ceased then? You are all going to sadly miss that 90% successful pass rate when it is replaced ,the only issue is ,will he hang around a pick up his salary for the four years he was given on contract by Emenalo? and will any other club in the world be stupid enough to buy him ,I think he would fit in well at Spurs.

Yes Jose is famed for signing defenders who are not great defenders and Defensive midfielders who dont read and break up play,sure he wanted 10 no 10s ,did he want Schevchenko? and their is our problem at the moment, in two transfer windows time as long as Jose is choosing the players we are going to be fine with a balanced squad that defend properly and allow our flair players to flourish . He could easily have won 1-0 at Stoke and Sunderland and other matches but he is working to a long term plan on the way we play ,which is too keep posession and attack but no team can win anything if they do not know how to defend properly and as we stand especially without John Terry we can't defend . Some of our football is brilliant though,add a non scoring centre forward to our defensive weakness and Jose has worked miracles to keep us where we are,he will get this right. The home crowd will tear the place down if the board make another knee jerk decision and set the club back another two years just as Jose is seeing through the players who are surplus to requirement at Chelsea for different reasons. I think we are at the point where if there is any sign of the board not backing Jose it will be time to sack the board and I think they know that,thankfully.

Todays news ,tommorows fish and chip paper. The boy is class ,I wonder why Ashton is not so interested in whether Mikel stays on for extra training? he was stupid to miss training when he went to France ,but class players deserve a bit of slack and Hazard is quality.

I challenged anyone to watch the goals again and come up with their version of what went wrong,this means nothing as does most of the rubbish spouted on Cahill's involvement on the two goals Sunderland scored. 1.Mikel 2.Luiz , What are your versions?

2nd goal and you aint gonna like this , Cahill is marking Altidore again ,Luiz is marking Borini ,Luiz is ball watching and Borini runs in behind Luiz and beyond Cahill who is still marking Altidore ,the cross goes over Cahill's and Altidore to the unmarked Borini who passes to Ki who scores ,neither goal is primarily Cahills fault,the first is primarily down to Mikel for ball watching and losing his man and the second is primarily down to Luiz who is guilty of the same ball watching and losing Borini . Cahill is forced to leave the man he is marking (Altidore) for both goals to try to make up for others mistakes. Anyone who watches the goals again and knows anything about football will come to the same conclusion ,I challenge anyone to watch the goals again and not arrive at the same verdict ,what a load of crap has been written on this thread.

Right just seen the first goal again on Chelsea T V and anyone who does not agree it is Mikel's fault is either thick or a liar ,because he is ball watching and loses his man who runs in behind him ,Cahill is forced to confront the man Mikel lets go and he passes to Altidore the man Cahill was marking,Schwarzer makes a ggod save but it rebounds to Borini who squeezes it past Luiz . Cahill was totally blameless and was let down by Mikel ,I defy anyone to watch it again and not come up with the same conclusion. The Sunderland 1st goal came primarily because Mikel lost his man . And Mikel lost his man again for the chance a minute later when Cahill recovered and made a great saving tackle ,if we are to dig players out lets get the facts right on here.

In 18 months time there will not be one bad comment on Jose on this forum ,because he is the best and he will get it right and we will win the big trophies in the next few years,I hope he is still here at the end of this contract and a new one. We made the mistake of getting rid of him last time and Ferguson ruled the roost,

I blame the line backers the kicker and the quarter back what a load of nonsense i cant blame Cahill for any of the goals and I will say it he did ok and him and Luiz played well together

His midfield partner always seems to suffer when paired with Mikel ,Frank was not at his best last night and Rammy was awful at Stoke and against Fulham when paired with Mikel ,the theory is while Mikel is sitting back not running,tackling and playing sideways/backwards passes his partner in midfield is isolated and without help in the midfield battle,the defence is forced to sit far too deep due to Mikel's starting position and there is plenty of space for the opposition to work in,instead of our two DM's working together and engaging the opposition higher up the pitch, Makelele was superb at winning the ball as high up the pitch as possible remember Lampard's goal v Bayern Munich in London when Makelele won posession deep in Bayern's half before playing the ball to Lampard who scored that brilliant goal? has Mikel ever done this?, this is what we need from our DM at the same time as being able to defend and win tackles when we are forced to defend.

When you see JT play for the first time you will realise ,as you obviously missed the Palace game ,he would not have turned his head away from the ball and most likely stopped the goal ,it is a minor point though because on the whole Luiz was excellent and those long passes where great and he played the percentages when defending.

These are not Jose's problems he inherited them ,come next summer and after the transfer window our team will be a proper team and not a football manger team,with players brought in to enable you to win matches and trophies,at the moment we are a playstation team with a collection of no. 10s and no balance. He will put this right because he understands football .

Crystal Palace and hundreds of times over the years.

Jose did try and get him pressing and running more ,sadly his stamina gave up and in the second half and especially in extra time he was shot, when he plays we do give games away in the second half,the quick one ,two touch passing and the ability to defend and read a game will never be there which a true DM needs,no doubt there was a 90% pass completion again though,but where does that take us?

John Terry was on Saturday and Ashley Cole is as well sometimes a defender can be on the line and the last man able to make a goal line clearance ,the way you do it is to keep watching the ball and to close your legs and block it,listen Luiz played very well dont be so precious about your hero,but John Terry blocks that shot .

No comment ,already got three point on licence.