Barbara

He's finally finding his ground. I've been critical of some of his decisions, but most time made a point that he is new and is experimenting, which is normal. I don't think he's a very top manager, he's good - average, but maybe he turns out to be better than I think... He made good decisions, when we didn't have a lot of experience in the bench. I like the 3-4-3 and it's working well. I wonder if he will bring Terry when he's certain he can play or if he will stick with Cahill. I hope for the former although none is ideal. We completely dominated Leicester for most of the match and when they had possession they weren't that threatening. But we should take into account they rested some players. All in all, it was a great one, a convincing one, even if Leicester wasn't that dangerous, but I think we made them look worse than they really were.

@Jason Jay, how can I not remember of you seeing this PERFECTION?

how convenient life prevented me from LOGGING into the site for some days and when I do I have to come across your post in my notification tray. My post was just after the Arsenal game, I don't know what you are doing, but keep going, lol

Am I due to another dance? I was so frigging happy for not having Ivanovic starting. I totally believe the reports that Cahill and Ivanovic are being dismissed by Conte, the only reason Cahill started is because both Terry and Zouma are injured. For that alone I'm wiling to overlook every other bad choice done by Conte in the 9 games we played (just to mention, the late subs, the insistence with Iva, starting Cesc when he shouldn't and leaving him out when he should start, I think the 3-4-3 could work if we stick to that and drill it well. The first half was painful, really bad. Not one single shot on goal tells you everything you need to know about those 45 minutes. Whatever hairdrier convo Conte had with the players in the break worked pretty well. I think Alonso has a long way to go, but I also believe he's better than Baba although Luis should have had that positioned nailed down if Mourinho wasn't so protective of his own reputation and given him proper time to get used to the league. We could work with both Azpili and Alonso working as wing backs in the midfield alongside Kante and Matic (or Cesc depending on the match). The three upfront could be any combination involving Costa, Eden and one more. That one more should be Willian most times, but it can be Moses too (although I wouldn't start Moses again, I'd rather play him 30 minutes than 75). Oscar and Pedro could be time wasting subs on mark 85' (that's what they've been reduced too by their own making). It was far from brilliant and Hull really is a poor side, but we now have two weeks to work again (grrr, I still hate those international breaks with passion) and hopefully Terry can come back (although he's not the answer, but anyone is an improvement over Cahill) and hopefully soon Zouma will be back playing. I was happy for the result, happy with Conte's choices and with time I hope to be happy with the performance too. KTBFFH

Dude, I don't know if you're lazy, can't understand properly basic English or if it's down to not using the gray part of your brain. I've NEVER said Cesc should start all matches, let alone play the entire 90 minutes. I've always been very clear that he suits some kind of games - like Burnley home, so I will restate my opinion again just for you. Cesc should always start against teams that will sit back and wait for us, having a defensive approach, against those we'll need to have creative players trying to stretch their defense. Cesc is the only player that can do that consistently in our team, so he should always start those matches. Any match that we need to win the midfield battle, be more solid defensively or rely on pace Cesc should NOT start. We can afford Cesc if the other team is more interested in defending than attacking us. There's a bunch of those in the league, anyone from 12th and lower and in those matches Cesc should start, do his thing, hopefully help us get ahead by 2-3 and then he can be shipped back to the dressing room. I stand by my point. I did it against Burnley, I did it against Arsenal and while I think Cesc could start against Hull at home, but the three-man defense worked well (in the second half), so I don't think that was a bad choice at all leaving him out, Cesc should have played had he opted for the 4-1-4-1, 4-4-2 or 4-2-3-1 - all of which he already featured this season in addition to the aforementioned 3-man system (that's a lot of tactical approaches in less than 10 games, but I guess he has to try until he finds the one that works best). I don't mind the discussion, I don't mind someone challenging my opinion, but I don't need to be notified about things I've never said... so be my guest for good arguments, but for stupidity, please, I pass.

You gotta be really special to leave Cesc in the bench against Burnley at home and play him against arsenal away. The more I look at it the more I am convinced that Mourinho overachieved two seasons ago and that Conte won't get anything from this squad. A poor team managed by an average coach can't fight for more than 6th at the table. Starting Cesc today was clueless, but nothing in football is more clueless than Cahill defending Sent from my SM-J700M using Tapatalk

Marriner made mistakes Conte made mistakes Costa made mistakes Eden made mistakes Cahill made mistakes Courtois made a (forced?) mistake We can't help the referee robbing us - as usual. Diego is a striker, missing goals is part of the job. Hazard is already much better this season than he's been at any point last season and I like where his evolution is going. The only things we can change is Conte stubbornness on not playing Cesc and taking way too long to change the team and our terrible defenders. Cahill or Terry must leave the first team (in an ideal world, both should be bench warmers, but we don't have good defenders at all). We should have won and I think these are the kind of points we shouldn't lose. We've only played terrible, terrible teams so far, I can only imagine when we get to face decent opposition. Conte needs to take a few more risks. It almost looks like we don't have a big ambition, as if the title was City's already. We should be more incisive especially because being in the top 4 alone is a hard task. Moving on from the lost points, but Conte has to start changing things either in the lineup or much earlier in the match than near the 80th minute.

Maybe Conte doesn't think he can play the 90 minutes or that he could compromise our midfield and worsen an already bad defense. But Conte himself said the best defense is attacking, so why doesn't he act like talks and bring the most creative player we have? It's not like we have plenty of them and Cesc is the best but also the more compromising. We don't have creative players AT ALL other than him and we're struggling watching Oscar, Willian and even Matic create for us. It's a miracle Diego has rescued us three times already as he did with the terrible service he's been receiving. I reckon we would have had 4 wins if we had played Cesc. Let him start and take him off during the break or bring him at the break. What makes no sense is not to use him in the matches unless we desperately need a goal to win. If Conte brings him up every time we were down in the scoreline, why wait til it happen to bring him? Makes no sense to me and the media should be making more noise about it and maybe Conte would have a wake up call and some pressure on him to make the most obvious decision.

He did a very good match imo. I didn't feel it was the war some of you are mentioning. Yes, he missed a goal, but Eden's missed chance was worse, as the ball was too close to Diego in his attempt and he had to touch anyway he could while Hazard simply failed to control the ball. So if we are going to talk about missed goals, Eden was more a sitter than Diego's to me although Diego was in the box and Eden outside. He fights, he runs, he gives his all and he still doesn't get proper service (while Cesc is rotting on the bench in favor of Matic and whatever defensive and offensive contributions Conte thinks he has better than Cesc). When he does get service, he's a threat. He misses goals here and there, but that's what strikers are about. He's got their defense booked and it was the crowd that made it look like a war because except for ONE SINGLE situation with Amat in the second half where they looked deep in the eye, touched foreheads but didn't kiss, Diego did nothing worth mentioning to rile up the opposition. I don't know what people could possibly be talking about in that sense. At the end of the day he scored our two goals. I'll stick to that He assisted one of the goals... the first one if I'm not wrong

He's shit, nothing new. We were robbed by Mariner nothing new either, but he was rooted to receive the ball and then too slow to get rid of it. Shit, nothing else to be added

We are improving, even if the only effective change in the team is Kanté for Cesc. Which means the credit goes to the manager - although getting rid of the horrible environment Mourinho built also weights in. I still don't get why we have Matic as the midfielder supporting our attack. Maybe he's under the same illusion as Mourinho about height? I believe today was yet another match for at least bring Fabregas much earlier. The defense is as bad as it has always been, we've been getting away with it because we've faced (including today) terrible opponents so far. I hope Luiz is incorporated soon because even with his ups and downs, it doesn't get worse than Cahill + Terry (as much as I dislike Ivanovic, I must admit he hasn't been compromising as of late). While Mariner stole a goal do Swansea as Fer fouled Cahill twice and never touched the ball, why was Cahill so rooted while asking Terry to pass him the ball? Why so slow (both legs and brain)? It was infuriating, I can't wait to get rid of him for good. Conte continues to take too long to change the team, but I am giving him this calendar year to get used to things (because unfortunately we have fucking international breaks in October and November too). Let's see if he starts being more daring and bolder. I have complaints about some of his choices - starting lineup and subs - but all in all he's been changing the attitude and the approach, even if he's been using the same players as Mourinho and Hiddink did last season, bar Kanté. Speaking of whom, we must acknowledge what piece of business we've made getting him. Maybe Conte is getting some of the credit because of Kanté, but definitely both deserve credit so far. Making mistakes is part of the game and the job. We should have left with three points today - easily btw because Swansea - as Burnley - was shit, but shit happens on results too and it happened today.

I'm going with Diego for the goals, drama and all things considered

I want 20 more minutes of this madness not only 5 Sent from my SM-J700M using Tapatalk

Now that's a sub I approve Sent from my SM-J700M using Tapatalk

We have all been there Now let's get the three points

To shut you up even more properly

We aren't. He had nothing to do with the stupid things the defense did. Don't stretch the truth...

Fabregas already showing his worth... Not for Conte though Sent from my SM-J700M using Tapatalk

And no reaction from Conte... Sent from my SM-J700M using Tapatalk

Can't we take fucking corners like normal teams? This kind of short corner is ridiculous Sent from my SM-J700M using Tapatalk

The rule changed, if there's a penalty there's no red unless the foul itself is a red card offense

And that wasn't one foul on Cahill, it wad two... Still, he's terrible Sent from my SM-J700M using Tapatalk

Good for conte see how ridiculous Cahill is Sent from my SM-J700M using Tapatalk

Nobody hates this kind of corner more than I do. The ball went from the corner to the defense Ugh Will Amat have free reign to do all kind of fouls and now our defense again and Courtois messing up Sent from my SM-J700M using Tapatalk

Our defense is starting to show its true colors with those clearances Sent from my SM-J700M using Tapatalk