Barbara

Willian should have passed to Eden who was all by his awesome self in the right wing, when he passed to Torres (the play that got us the corner)

I have no doubt we'll split possession with them at most 60/40. Arsenal link up quickly. It's his slowness (combined with Terry's) that worries me the most.

Here's hoping Cahill won't compromise. I feel completely on the edge (in a bad way) when he plays those big matches... especially against such quick and creative players as Arsenal have.

all cool kids coming and the legends... and then... he takes the ball, and marches... he approaches the camera and says 'Henrique Hilario - goalkeeper' *bursts out laughing* then he takes the shot *dies laughing* WHAT'S AIR?

I want Arsenal and Liverpool to sink just like the next fan and be non-contenders for the rest of football history, but dammit, those kind of matches against rivals, with a lot at stake like today's and a week from now against Liverpool are the kind of match I wait the whole season for. This is bloody exciting. I want them to fail, but I also like to face them when they're in form, it makes up for great matches! The big matches are what we look forward to the most. Come on, Chels!!!!! Keep The Blue Flag Flying High!!!!

Mata filled his shoes (as much as it could be filled anyway). He always scores against Arsenal

Th guy is 19 why are questioning if he's going to have space in the team? I'd be amazing for Chelsea to keep all among Oscar, Willian, Mata, Hazard and Schürrle for the next five years, but it's also very unlikely (I'm already counting Kev out). I know we have other players from youth, but Lucas is showing he can be a good addition to our squad 2-3 years from now. I've caught up with his latest matches and yeah, I'd like to see him tested as a second striker when he's back with us... maybe he can make it even as a striker. Those young players who show skill can be molded into a bit of different positions from their original position. For a guy playing second striker well, I think maybe molding him into a striker. It's not like we have many of those around here (although as I cover Chelsea's u-21 and u-18 teams I can see a good guys coming up, and hopefully they'll develop nicely as well)

The Match Arsenal will receive Chelsea at the Emirates to close Premier League 17th round, on Monday at 8pm and the top of the table is at stake. The teams have played earlier this season for League Cup also at North London, with Chelsea winning 2x0, but neither team played with their first squad and the context is completely differently for the Premiership match. With the top of the table at stake, the Blues could reach the top position alongside Liverpool (but second in goals deficit to the Reds) whereas Arsenal need to win to keep the highest position. Currently Chelsea stand at 5th making the win all more important to keep the team in the Champions League zone and also to have a close gap to the leaders. After the anticlimactic elimination in the League Cup to Sunderland, last Tuesday, José Mourinho signalized that he may adopt a more defensive posture seeing as the attack hasn’t been scoring enough and the defense has been leaky. The last time Chelsea had a clean sheet in the Premier League was at November 23rd when the team won the London derby against West Ham, 3x0. Ever since the team has played four times for the national league and conceded eight times. Arsenal have also struggled in the last couple of weeks. In addition to the 1x1 draw against Everton, the team was smashed by Manchester City last weekend, 6x3 for the Citizens and also faced a defeat in Champions League to Napoli, missing the top position in their group. The match is redeeming for both sides after such disappointment results, in such a critical time of the season with matches pilling up as the holidays approach. Teams News Arsenal Starting with the home team, Arsenal will miss defender Laurent Koscielny due to injury and Jack Wilshere for misconduct after the central midfielder flashed his middle finger to Manchester City’s supporters last in the embarrassing defeat. On the brighter side, the French manager can count with Polish striker Lukas Podolski who’s recovered from a hamstring injury. The scouting report for Arsenal can be found here. Form (latest first): LDWWWL Key-player: Mesut Ozil. Possible lineup: Szczesny; Sagna, Mertesacker, Vermaelen, Monreal; Flamini, Arteta; Ramsey, Wallcott, Özil; Giroud (4-2-3-1). Chelsea Mourinho has Branislav Ivanovic back to the squad after the defender missed the League Cup match for collecting a 5th yellow card against Palace. The Portuguese already confirmed most of the defenders – the Serbian himself, John Terry and Cesar Azpilicueta. The only doubt is who to play by the Blues’ skipper, the manager said he hadn’t made a decision between David Luiz and Gary Cahill. Midfielder Michael Essien can’t be selected, after also being suspended for reaching yellow card’s limit. Form (latest first): WLWWWD Key-player: Eden Hazard Even a provisional squad for Mourinho’s side has been difficult to predict this season, and while the manager confirmed 80% of his defense (supposing Petr Cech also plays), the attacking midfielders’ and striker’s are anyone’s guesses. Possible lineups: Cech; Ivanovic, David Luiz, Terry, Azpilicueta; Ramires, Lampard; Schürrle, Oscar, Hazard; Torres (4-2-3-1). Stats and Facts § Head to head: 183 matches - 71 Arsenal wins, 58 Chelsea wins and 54 draws. § Chelsea have won the three most recent matches. § Chelsea have kept just one clean sheet in their last 11 Premier League matches. § Wenger has never won against Mourinho as an opposition manager, with four draws and five losses in all competitions. § Juan Mata has scored in each of his four starts against Arsenal in all competitions for Chelsea. § Last time Arsenal went three Premier League matches without a win was in January, the third match then being against Chelsea. § Chelsea have scored at least twice in each of their last six matches – 16 goals total. Match Odds by SkyBet Arsenal – 11/8 Draw - 12/5 Chelsea – 15/8 TV coverage United Kingdom: Sky Sports 1/HD Belgium: Sporting 1 Brazil: FoxSports (HD) Canada: Sportsnet India: Star Sports 2 (HD), Star Sports 4 Middle East: Al Jazeera Sports HD1, HD6 United States: NBCSN For additional regions, you can check out the TV schedule for the match here. There should be many match streams that can be found online if your local sports channels are not broadcasting the game or if you happen to be busy and cannot catch the game live, follow TalkChelsea on Twitter as it would provide live match commentary on the action. Click Here To View Article.

now this is something I agree with. I just don't think three SF in a row is a bad result, especially for a team just as Galactico as this one that had a streak of 8 R16 eliminations. We have a scrappy team now imo because of age, deficiency in some zones in the pitch and Mourinho's mistakes too. But I guess the system is alright, it's been only a few months, Bayern and Barcelona took nearly a decade to start getting the fruits of their philosophy. Chances of them meeting each other aren't that great and it doesn't happen very often. But I do have a priority list: Chelsea >> Real Madrid >> Inter (although for as long as Perez is there, it's Inter >> RM because I don't approve of what he does to RM, he's destroying our club!). And Flamengo (Brazil side) ahead of all of those. Most Chelsea European fans also have a team they support in their country. I don't see a problem, but I respect those who see it and can't imagine themselves supporting more than one team. I've started supporting Flamengo at age 2 when 1982 Brazil NT came to play in my hometown and Zico held me, my mother took me to watch football since early age, when he held me and I said I'd want to support his team. My passion for football started after it, ofc, two years is too young, but about 7 I was a full-time Flamengo fan. At age 8 I started watching Italian football with my uncle. I started supporting Inter although he wanted me to be a Juventus fan. It was about 25 years ago. Then when I was around 13 I started watching La Liga... and around 10-11 years ago I started supporting Chelsea. Thing is I like Chelsea and English football much more, despite being the most recent passion. There's no league in the world as EPL. So it's a life of loving a sport and getting interest in new leagues. I can't help myself.

I'm not taking away your right to have an opinion, I just think there's too much stuff I consider crazy in this thread, and for my own benefit I'll stop reading it. People will jump all sharks and while your post isn't crazy, as a Real Madrid fan I'll tell you it's completely inaccurate and I have many RM friends who agree with me and who are missing Mourinho there dearly. So why keep reading a thread only to be annoyed by most things said here? It's a personal problem I have, I'm not saying people should stop posting, I'll just stop reading because most I read here is overreaction... but for others it's not so to each their own. But back to your post... so winning the UCL is that easy right? You just have to sign a manager and a couple of new guys and plim, the title is yours for the take? Then why it took Bayern three finals to win it again? Why Barcelona was humiliated by Bayern, why ManU was kicked out in Rof16 and groups stage in the last two years? Those were teams that entered the competition to win it, why didn't they? Why did Barcelona and Bayern lose to us two seasons ago? Oh that's right, because knock-out competitions can be unpredictable and there are a few top clubs other than RM playing it every year and clubs that have a great tradition on winning it and making finals. Mourinho improved the team, his system worked as long as he had the players with him him. Only when there was a split in the group between pro-Mourinho (not even pro, but players who weren't against him, and just wanted to keep winning) and against-Mourinho players shit hit the fan and there was no way that team would win anything. It was divided and it was their fall. Mourinho's RM played much better than Carlo's RM does, and the squad was only improved since José left (although I'm not sure Bale + Isco makes up for Ozil leaving). RM is already 5 points behind a struggling Barcelona in La Liga, why is that? We completely dominated Spain in the 2011/12 season, we handed Barcelona their ass that season and they struggled last season against us again. I'm not saying Mourinho was (or is) flawless or the manager he used to be in the past, and while saying he failed at RM is arguable, saying his system didn't work is completely unfair and untrue. RM played amazing football for two years under him, it was a pleasure to watch that team and on occasion and very specific matches we had oppositions that either played better than us or we were unlucky. I can talk about RM because I've watched around 90% of their matches in Mourinho's first two seasons and early last season before I was disgusted by Sergio Ramos, Casillas among others fuckers in the group that thought they were bigger than everything, including Real Madrid. To make a comparison, I rate Mourinho's RM a 8,5/9 team. I rate Mourinho's Chelsea a scrappy 6.

are you kidding? I'm not sure if you can be serious when he owned their asses in the last two seasons (had one defeat if I'm not wrong - if we don't consider the match after La Liga was lost by far last season) and we've beat the record of points and goals in the history of Spanish football (dominating Barcelona at Camp Nou and Bernabeu, winning Copa del Rey over them). He had 3 SFs in UCL consecutively after the team had a spell of 8 seasons losing in round of 16. We are the team that broke Barcelona's confidence if anything (although some of their players losing form and getting a bit old also influenced). So can you tell me exactly how his system didn't work there? He had a bad season in 2012/13 because he had a lot of opposition from a group of Spanish players in the group. If the players are against their manager, there's no way a team can win, and still they made it to UCL SF. I'm going to do myself a big favor and stop coming to this thread (if not the whole forum) because I'm tired of reading all kind of shit written here. I didn't read the rest of your post and I have absolutely nothing against you and I even like a lot of your opinions, but that bold part right there is a completely ridiculous statement in my opinion.

I can accept that. The same way imo Zouma our Cahill aren't any better or any closer and cost matches as much (or goals, or whatever). Cahill has made more mistakes than Luiz this season imo. The thing is his mistakes are way more subtle, many times Cech saved his ass with good defenses or the strikers from opposition screwed the chances he gave them; still all blame is on Luiz. That's my point. Luiz is Mourinho's second CB in the team, the thing is he was in shocking form a couple of months ago. Then he was injured and now he's not in form. Wait a couple of weeks until he's in form and come talk to me again about our defense. He'll continue to make mistakes (all CBs do), but in form (physically and with match rhythm) Luiz even when he isn't at the top of his game is much better than the current Cahill we have. Cahill had a very solid start of season, but he's been collecting mistakes for a while now. His specialty seems to be man-watch, be out of position and move at snail speed (which is reason enough for him to position himself better, but still he doesn't) but many here disregard those as a mistake. If he doesn't break someone's leg inside the box, make a pass to an opponent and miss a tackle then he's exempt from any responsibilities. Good thing for him he doesn't do any of those (he does miss the eventual tackle here and there, as any CB in the world) which was my point even before his post. He had a great season for us, many dismiss it as good and some even not good enough showcasing a couple of mistakes in a 60-match season.

I agree double standards are everywhere (not only here, not only about Luiz, not only about football). I swear I never read any of Luiz's critics here saying one of his mistakes it's just football. He had a hell of a season, and they say it wasn't that great. It's perception and it can't be changed, which is why I don't bother anymore. If I read someone blaming him for Sunderland's first goal (which wasn't a mistake btw, but he wasn't fortunate either), then I suppose calling Kompany mess something that's part of football is okay. When was the last time Luiz did cost us a match though? I mean when one of his mistakes led to a goal and that goal took away our win? This is a serious question.

I'm still not convinced Pep wants a striker. Suarez isn't a false 9, his style differs considerably from Messi imo. Who in the world would sign the best striker in the world to play him as a false striker? That statement doesn't make much sense to be honest. If he went to Bayern (or any other team in the galaxy) he'd play as a striker... I do agree he fits their team. Suarez currently fits any team in the world though, so it's not only Bayern case.

but we used to play beautiful football, they say. And he's made Mata our main player. So those two things alone are enough to make his team look better than Mourinho, when the truth is Mourinho's system is much superior to Rafa's. The thing is while Rafa had a few players (at least half his team) playing their best level, Mourinho currently relies in Hazard killing one match out of 5... and that's it. We don't have ONE single player at the top of his game right now bar John Terry (but then seeing how much we've conceded lately, even when he was playing, I guess that's not that reassuring). Hazard is back to being okay after a spell of a few very good matches (I'm not blaming him, just stating what happened), our strikers suck, our defense is as leaky as it gets, we don't have a pivot (in that cause it isn't because of bad form, but simply because except Ramires, all our other options are at most squad members) and our AMs all fluctuate in form... that's Mourinho's main problem imo, but his system is far superior to Benitez's imo - hence his better results despite having a team that plays badly (or at least not good enough) consistently.

I don't care he's a cunt at all. I'd love to have him here.

guess who's just scored... and two minutes later assisted someone else

He's not the only one. Somewhere else (guess it was match's thread) I read that we'll finally move out of top4 on Monday when we lose to Arsenal. What the actual fuck is wrong with these people? Yes, we may lose to Arsenal and we may drop out of the top 4 and we may collect four consecutive losses. I may win the lottery, Chelsea may sign 6 players in the window transfer approaching, NASA may start selling houses in Jupiter. What else may happen that we may post here? It's not even about being optimistic or pessimist. It's about being damn annoying. If you don't have something good or relevant to say, shutting up may look like a great alternative. Sometimes you wonder if this is a Chelsea forum or if this is a ManU, ManCity, Arsenal, Liverpool forum. I may find less dramatic posts about our form in those places.

Freedom? Are you telling Oscar has freedom? Sorry, mate, I can't agree with that. He's the player with more responsibilities when he plays because he has to tackle, to transition, to defend, to press, to knit the team together, to go deeper to get the ball when the opposite defense is well posted waiting, he has to give passes for the strikers and others AM's in the final third. What freedom does he have? I'm not saying he executes all of those down to a T, but he has all those responsibilities. Which freedom are you talking about? The main point of my post was WHEN Mata is in THE ATTACKING THIRD with the ball on his feet he hasn't done the magic he normally does. Did he unlearn how to give an assist? Is that what you (and others) are trying to convince us of? If you tell me because of other responsibilities he has he doesn't find himself in that position as often as in the past, then I'll agree with you - because that's true. I'm not talking about how many minutes or which % of his playing time he spends there. I'm questioning what he's been doing when HE IS THERE. I'm not interested in giving a thousand excuses as why Mata doesn't play even 50% of his potential these days (I guess he's playing around 20-30%). I'm interested in finding real reasons for that so they can be worked around. We would spend the rest of our lives giving all excuses in the book for him; blaming Mourinho, Oscar, Willian or whoever. The lack of minutes, the lack of playing on his favorite position (despite being a winger all his life in Spain), the lack of motivation, the lack of happiness, exhaustion from previous seasons, injury during pre-season, lack of form. The list is endless. Still they are only excuses as they don't change anything. I'm also not interested in giving up on him so easily, you won't see me saying or liking posts saying he should leave in January or in the summer window because it's the best for him because he doesn't fit anymore. I don't want Mata gone. I'm convinced he won't be the player he used to be in this system, but we don't need him to be that player, we need him just to be more effective. If Ozil could work with Mourinho in a very similar 4-2-3-1 system (where he had very similar responsibilities to Mata - both defensive and offensive) and made him produce the stats he did for three seasons, then I'm convinced Mata can as well (although I think Ozil is a better player, which is subjective and anyone can think otherwise). So instead of giving 1000 reasons why he isn't producing, I think it should be addressed he needs to get his shit together - even if it got all over the place because of things he couldn't control (injury, missing pre-season, having too many matches under his belt in previous seasons, new manager, unfavorable system, etc...). No one, not even Mourinho himself will convince me that this system is so anti-Mata, that he can't provide a decent amount of assists. I don't need him to repeat his numbers, I just need him to create more (especially as he shoots even less now than in the past) when he has the ball on his feet in the attacking third. Stats also show me he has plenty of passes in the final third, so it's not like he didn't receive the ball in his favorite zone of the pitch enough times. He did, he just did nothing with that and your stats show me that - more than 50% of his key passes come from corners and horizontal passes yards out of the box when a player decided to go for a shot from a casual pass that was never intended to be an assist, but as Luiz, Ramires, Lampard, Hazard, Willian or whoever decided to shoot, then it counts as a key-pass. The only exception this entire season has been the Southampton match. Against Sunderland he had 3 KP (a short pass for Willian inside the box in a 2x1 play; a pass for Lampard who took a chance in a shot outside the box, and a pass for Hazard outside the box where he cut in, passed by a few opponents and shot). Against Palace he had 1KP - a ball outside the corner of the box for Ivanovic. Against Stoke only 1 KP (a very good through ball for Cahill at the edge of the box) and I could go on and on... Is that everything he can give us? Key passes that happen more often in zones that are unlike to become goals? What's so wrong in our current system that among all his many passes in the attacking third that's all he's produced in those matches? ***************************************************************************************************************************************** to another poster (don't remember who), I never said he was moody, I said IF he was moody (more like a psychological thing like, lack of motivation, being down, or whatever happens that the player CAN'T control, it has NOTHING to do with attitude) then it's a problem (I guess it's a poor choice of word anyway). If a player needs to feel like he's the cherry in the cake to produce (and some just need), it's a problem for the manager. I never said he has this problem, I said if that's the case then this is a problem. Maybe he needs to have such confidence, trust and appreciation from his manager to produce his best. Have seen tons of people (in all fields) that need this.

I think Benitez provided with a 'style' that got some prompt results (not even that really) and proved to struggle at occasion (Europe and big matches). It's progress from what Robbie left (tactically nothing), but I don't think it was worth continuing that. Mourinho has a much better system in place getting 'outstanding' results if we take into consideration we don't have one single player at the top of their form while as said by @remains of the day Benitez had a few (and it wasn't only those). There's so much a system can work when we have ALL players playing average with eventual exceptions in some matches. So Hazard, Willian, JT, Oscar, Ramires had a few really good matches in the almost 30 we've played so far, whereas Benitez had at least half the team playing their best individual football at the end of last season. Still José's results overall are better (or feel better) with a team that can't play good football because individually they're all underwhelming. That's the only comparison I can have. The system is good, the high pressing combined with attack oriented system works really well imo. It did in October. What doesn't work at all is the players turning half-heartedly for matches, or being out of form, or being too inconsistent and inconstant. Mourinho needs to figure it out. His job as a manager includes people's skill to make those guys more consistent (and in some cases even motivated to play). That's one of his failures so far. He doesn't seem to have control over this squad... none whatsoever. In Portuguese we say a manager has the team on his hand and working for the manager. I feel only JT, Frank, Essien, Gary, Petr, Willian, Azpili, Oscar and maybe Ivanovic fit the description. The rest doesn't seem to be that much sold in Mourinho's ideas (Mourinho more than once said - and even Holland too in one of his conferences that players are now accepting his ideas. WTF? They should accept it promptly and see if it works and if doesn't then have an honest talk about the issues. Mourinho is their boss). So seeing how we have so many players not turning up and we still have issues with our strikers, I think our results are outstanding qualifying first in UCL (even if we had a very easy group) and being two points behind the leaders on EPL. If Mourinho had the players on top of their game like Benitez had the last 3-4 months of his tenure, we'd be leading EPL by half dozen points.

Those are some very valid points. I just can't find an answer for Mata producing so little for us this year from mid-October on - when he's started more games and had more chances. I may agree players like him need regular playing time more than others (although in theory should be the opposite. Pace and physical play should be affected by lack of playing more than vision), but can we say he hasn't had regular player time in the last two months? Since the international break in October, Chelsea had 14 matches. He's started 7 and played as a sub in another (missing 6). 8 matches (actually 10 as he's played twice for Spain in november) in 2 months don't seem like lack of regular playing time imo... it's basically playing once a week... That's why I said I don't buy it as a reason anymore, but as an excuse. Someone who's been playing every week for a team for the last two months can't really complain about lack of regular playing time. That's his breakdown (note that November also had an international break, which is why there's a big gap, but he's played for Spain both on the 19th and 16th of november, meaning he's missed a week of football after coming back to Chelsea in the 23rd and 26th, being back on Dec 1st. 19-Oct Off 58 min 22-Oct Unused Substitute 27-Oct Unused Substitute 29-Oct Off 90 min 02-Nov Off 61 min 06-Nov Unused Substitute 09-Nov On 72 23-Nov Unused Substitute 26-Nov Unused Substitute 01-Dec Started 04-Dec Off 80 min 07-Dec Started 11-Dec Unused Substitute 14-Dec Off 61 min

Well the point is Mata had plenty of opportunities to be remotely close to what he was last year and he didn't. He's far from the guy he was last season and if he's 'moody' enough not to perform at that level because of preferences Mourinho may have had earlier the season (and even currently) then there's something wrong with his attitude... Some people defend that the defensive responsibilities is what affected his game. I agree to a certain extent... but a good assist when he had plenty of balls on his feet in the attacking third, around the opponent's box has nothing to do with his defensive responsibilities. Or a shot on goal (that he refuses to take). His numbers tell the story. 2 assists (one of which from a set-piece) and 1 goal. Bottom line imo is that Oscar started very well the season and Mata was injured. Then Mata came back from injury, but he was completely out of form and couldn't displace Oscar. Then he got many matches starting in September - even if he's missed many matches too. then it was Oscar's turn to get injured and Mata still didn't capitalize those many chances (and minutes) he's got. Mata didn't displace Oscar from the team, Oscar's low production since the injury did. If anything Willian (who had less matches and minutes than both and who's in a process of adapting to English football after coming from RUSSIAN league) is playing better than both right now and people are still giving all sort of excuses for Mata not playing even nearly what he's used to. Some of those excuses were valid reasons a few months ago, but right now they're nothing but excuses imo. He's got a confidence vote, he's played in the CAM position (I've posted a few heat maps here the other day to correct people on their wrong assumption he hasn't, although he does play in the wing too), he's got consecutive matches and plenty of minutes. The only thing he doesn't have now is a team built around him and if that's the only way he can produce what he did last season (or even marginally close, as there's an abyss right now between last season and this), then that's a huge limitation he's got imo. For a team to be built around a player they have to give the kind of return Cristiano and Messi give. Even this year's Balon D'Or contender, Ribery, doesn't have a team built around him... Mata is nowhere near those guys (and a few others), so it doesn't justify Benitez's choice - which at the end showed why. He's built a team around Mata and all Chelsea got in addition to being kicked out of domestic cups and increasing the gap to the eventual champions , was winning a far from brilliant Europa League. And before people think I'm blaming Mata, I'M NOT, I'm blaming the wrong system and also assessing that while very talented and good, Mata isn't a player good enough to have a system built around him because he doesn't produce enough to take this team to the competitiveness we can have.

FML

You didn't understand me. I think there's always overreaction. It's one thing to say we need a couple of key players - whether they come from the youth or we sign new - it's other thing to say Cole, Lamps, Iva, Cahill, Luiz, Mikel, Essien, Etoo, Cech, Torres, Ba are all trash. Some of them are needed. I think we have a chronic problem with strikers, but wanting to offload all those players? Check previous posts here and in the match thread and you'll see all those names mentioned there. Some added Mata and KdB too. All of which we should get rid of... I'm like Do people actually believe we can simply replace 7-8 players and it'll work? hence why I said it seems like a videogame thing... I also said there were a lot of relevant points in both 'sides' when it comes to Mourinho and the board. I'll mention a few to make it clear. We need an additional CM, if they want to loan a guy, promote someone from you or just sign someone, I don't care. The plan was to have van Ginkel to start taking responsibilities. It failed. our attack force is laughable. We need a reliable striker to pay off the amazing AMs we have. That's about it imo. We could use another squad member in defense, but it's not that alarming imo... Other relevant points: Mourinho seems to have lost control over some things. The team regresses and he says we played well, the players had the right attitude when it didn't happen. I don't know if he's in denial, if he's lost it or if he's telling a different story to the players. The players need to put their heart in the matches, otherwise it won't happen. I never meant it that we shouldn't get new players (from youth or market), but it's one thing to suggest a couple of players and it's another to think half of our squad is done, trash and should be showed the exit door. My comment about the youth isn't that it shouldn't be done, but how the poor kids will be exposed to this demanding behavior from Chelsea fans (on internet, the support that actually goes to the stadium seems much more patient). So thinking about the kids being called names when mistakes come, I think they better stay there to grow a thicker skin, not that they shouldn't be promoted. Sorry for the ambiguity, I guess now it's clarified? I've never trusted any of the previous managers since he's left except Carlo to some extent. Everyone else doesn't seem that good imo. It seems like Roman approached Mourinho with a different idea. It seems based on Mourinho's first interview that Roman is willing to build some legacy and he knows it comes with time. So I guess it's a new philosophy in the club? Anyway, I suppose he's one of the few I'd give chances. I like few managers to be honest, so maybe I'm not the best person to answer that question anyway

I don't know if the club has the philosophy it does because of the fans or if the fans react like this because of the philosophy the club has... No patience whatsoever, everything is solved with money, no immediate success = permanent failure, no trust in the manager to actually give him time to work, money, money, money, money. All we see around this forum is about money. If Roman leaves will half of the fans that post here too? If the players don't turn up, money is the key, buy new ones. If the manager doesn't give you immediate success, money is the key, hire a new one. What if the support is crap? Can we buy new ones too? There's a lot of good things said in criticizing and defending posts, I'm not generalizing all of you and your ideas, but it's just so weird to have everything revolving about money. I do agree we have pivot and striker issues that should have been addressed better, I do agree another CB squad member wouldn't hurt us. And I do agree Mourinho and the board could have done better in the transfer window... but teams in the league, around the world, work around deficiencies and we should do the same. I don't know if I should blame this FM game instead (never played, don't know how it works, but many posts here talking about it gives me the idea). All teams have problems, but when things are working, those problems are sort of covered. I'll once again talk about October. I don't know what happened ever since then, and I do hold Mourinho accountable for part of the problem. It's his players!!! If they don't do what he expects them to do, it's part of his job to find a way to fix it. @The only place to be and others defend we use more youth - but young players are unstable and if people are treating Lamps so disrespectfully I can only imagine what they (not the ones defending it) would say about Chalobah, Ake, or whoever (in addition about Mourinho) when one of them makes a capital mistake that leads to a defeat or a draw. They'll be burned alive even more vehemently which is why I'm thankful they're in the youth. They don't need to be exposed to this... Others believe we need to offload ALL experienced players (bar JT, I don't remember reading his name among the many lists I've come across since yesterday). Then who will provide the much needed experience to them? Who will lead them? Juan Mata, who can't be shier about leadership? Other shy kids like Oscar? Or quiet blokes like Willian? There needs to be some balance, this isn't a game you play on playstation... Mourinho has started sparing Lampard more often, but issue remains he had a plan: to have Marco learn from Lamps, and I'm sure he'd rotate them and have Mikel only for certain kind of matches. The kid got a season long injury... I do think he's made a mistake with the strikers. I'm not even saying he should have kept Lukaku (it's a plan though), but we should have got someone else. Eto'o really can't help. I was willing to give him a chance, but he blew said chance. Or we should have gotten someone else. But now, the shit is done, the players we have at least until January (and there's a chance we won't get any fix in the winter window) and we have to suck it up and try to support the team through the thin and thick. Yes, we should vent about things when they don't go well, but I feel a bit of overreaction, defending Mourinho and some players, as well as dismissing Mourinho and many players. I do think the generation that got to play so much FM gets a bit carried away about having a perfect team. Newsflash, that only exists in your console. Way before the season started I said I didn't expect titles (or at least major ones), before we touched the ball in the first pre-season game, I said we'd be transitioning based on Mourinho's first press conference and also in the overall situation. I haven't changed my stand, obviously, but I won't deny I expected things to be better. Again, I don't get why we stopped the progress and regressed. We started shaky and unsure in August, Mourinho approached ManU and Spurs game way too cautiously, but around October the team had progressed compared to August, then November happened and we had some bad results... but December seems to be worse because of the defensive issues we didn't have until then. We keep missing a lot chances (I had to write the post-match report for Chelsea Brasil and we did create at least 3 clear chances of goal, 1 with Eto'o and two with Ba, we dominated the first minutes of extra time, we just didn't try hard enough, again the problem is attitude imo), our defense leaks more goals than relegation zone teams. Instead of progressing we're now regressing and I don't have a clue of why. I do know it's Mourinho's job to fix it, even if the problem is players not being interested, invested enough. They have to turn up and play with heart and clutch. And we need to get rid of all our strikers. I may have offended some of you with the FM thing, but all those problems we do have don't justify this idea of building a perfect team because in real life said thing doesn't exist.