Barbara

Are you serious? I mean transition doesn't mean lack of titles, just a phase between two places. This is not an excuse for the lack of titles (why we're talking about titles in November is beyond me, but okay). Of course we have a shot this year, so does Arsenal, ManCity and who knows maybe even ManUtd and Liverpool. And so does Bayern, Barcelona, RM, Dortmund among others in Europe. Transition isn't an excuse for not winning, it's just addressing the obvious no matter how in denial people can be. Mourinho was hired to deliver a job: create a football identity to this club, not only this team. He's been saying he'll chase titles the best he can while he does that, but his boss asked him something very clear, something his boss thinks the club can now work with: a style of football that will be a legacy. Of course there will be pressure to win, but I'm sure when Roman looks to the last few years when we won nearly randomly and he knows it can't get worse than that. He looks back and to when we don't win the national league or even fight for it since 2010, when we were underdogs winning UCL and struggled with weak sides to win a second tier european title and he thinks, if we're going to win things without ever being real contenders, I better at least invest into making Chelsea a powerhouse in football. It's not like we've been top dogs in England or Europe lately... Are they any doubts Roman is a smart man? You don't build an empire like he did if you aren't. He bought a club and the titles came, so he proved this team can be big in terms of title. Then he looked at teams like Bayern and Barcelona and studied their recent history to know or learn how they reached the level they're now. Barcelona isn't the biggest team in Spain and a few titles in the 2000's didn't turn them into that. RM is by a fair lead the biggest team in that country, but Barça are closing the gap. They were in a much inferior position and now they're fighting to prove they can the biggest team in history in Spain. Roman looked at how a team that while always had history never came close to be a powerhouse like Madrid, worked around and became the biggest team this century in that country. He saw a legacy being passed from manager to manager, as players came and left. Then he looked at Bayern and saw the same (except Bayern bought their way into greatness in the 70's, something very similar to what Chelsea did with Roman now in the 2000's). But he saw a philosophy that took years to be built. Last year I remember reading an interview from Bayern's president (forgot his name) where he said he looked at Barcelona and decided to copy their model (he didn't say it as straight as that, but he did say he looked at them and if I remember correctly he even said he went to Barcelona and talked to their president about the philosophy there). He decided to replicate it at Bayern and he paid the price. The team - even when facing lesser title contenders in Bundesliga - struggled and lost and I'll tell they're not done yet, they didn't reach their final goal yet. The fact that until Dortmund became a real contender, Bayern still struggled to win (and lost) titles in the Bundesliga when they had much more money should be taken into consideration. They paid a price and now they're collecting the results of a long term project. I assume based on everything we read Roman decided to do the same. We already won every title (of importance) that was there to win, we don't have to prove anything to anyone, but we could take it to the next level and that's what they're trying. Mourinho won't be fired because of results and lack of titles, he will be fired if he shows Roman he's the wrong man to create an identity, to deal with those still young eggs and their limitations and fragility. Maybe Mourinho is the wrong man to the job, I'm not saying he's the right man, but then he's wrong for creating an identity and that can only be measured a couple of years down the road, not a couple of months. He'll be fired and proved the wrong man to the job when it's possible to evaluate his job and the message is clear, the job is to create a legacy, not to win titles off the bat as we did for years now, struggling a lot, being completely inconsistent (such as winning UCL and ending 6th in the national league) and unpredictable. When was the last time we were considered favorite to win EPL and real contenders to win UCL? We won the former as contenders (not favorite and there's a difference) and the latter as underdogs. That's not what Roman wants, and as he's smart and also not deluded, he knows you don't build a team like that in a couple of seasons (let alone 4 months) because he knows he didn't become a millionaire within a couple of years. He's a business man, a very successful one, so he won't make rookie mistakes with football, now that he's familiar with the hurdles and challenges of this specific business. It's long a term investment and process and he knows it. Denying that we'll go through a transition that will last a couple of years is refusing to see what's happening and reading between the lines. Also, people who became fans during the Roman era (nothing wrong with that) only know this Chelsea, they don't know the old Chelsea. That alone has been a transition... Just look to ManCity to see how difficult it is to make a transition in your status. One year you're a mid-table team, maybe fighting relegation (after being relegated too many times) and the next you have a squad that is worth half a billion. If anything I'm very surprised we've won so much in such a short time. We were in CL SF and finals in a matter of a few years. Again, the problem is we've got spoiled... and I wonder what will happen to this club's support if we ever go through what Liverpool and Arsenal have been through the last few years and fear not, we will, every team goes a period of time when they don't win. Just look at history. Also, let's talk about titles or the lack of them either when we don't have chances of winning any or when we've already won any. No one could predict Chelsea to win the UCL in 2012 and we haven't been contenders to EPL since we won it. Not to say last year we didn't even make UCL round of 16. So I'd say the expectations about titles for Chelsea are very low for years now, and the people who need to be realistic about it, are, so I'm not worried at all and I'm sure Mourinho is much less.

I'll skip commentating in the biggest lie known in football stats which is called 'chances created' stats. Anyone should really bother to go to Squawka and check the time of the chances created (all you have to do is click on the little circle to show the minute the chance created happened to see that there isn't any bigger lie or BS than this stat, it's ridic that no matter where or who the pass is done, whoever touched the ball before someone decided to shoot on goal is counted as a chance created, even if both things - the assist and the pass - happened in the midway line). But well, people won't look at that, will they? Now on Oscar though... if Mourinho really wants him to tackle and nothing more he has two things to do. Play him as the most advanced guy in the pivot (something I'd hate) or play him like Felipão in Brazil did a few times as the third midfielder in the 4-3-3 We can't afford Oscar in the wing (I think playing there too much to accommodate other AMs or to rotate with them during the matches destroyed his momentum), we can't afford to have a CAM that has one splitting pass per game like Oscar now because most of our games are against good defenses or teams parking the bus. So Mourinho has to start to reinforce a few aspects of his AMs if he wants this team to start having consistency. We can't play in a 4-2-3-1 when our AMs are ineffective and don't do any service to our strikers - especially now that we finally have strikers in form. If Mourinho doesn't fix that, sooner or later Torres and Eto'o will be affected by it, the same way I think Oscar was affected by going to the wings. It breaks momentum, it's very simple logic imo. If you have one player playing really well (Oscar back then, Eto'o now) you have to make sure those guys receive service and you don't change what you have them doing. So Oscar is shy, he does play with his head down a lot and he isn't as nearly creative as Mata. So if Mourinho wants to keep Oscar as an untouchable in the squad, he has to move him to a midfield position instead of an attacking midfield position. The difference though is that when playing 4-3-3 he has different kind of guys ahead of him (I do think playing Oscar as a CM in 4-2-3-1 is a waste, but I'm sure he can execute Lamps' ridiculous role better than him as he defends better, and has a good long pass, so if we want to keep the bad pivot with that style of player, at least use someone that will fill the midfield better. I still think Oscar will be only slightly less counter-productive than Lamps there because none of them are DLPs, just my opinion though). So Mourinho has to make choices about Oscar because right now his choices are actually un-building what was built when the season started. Of course other factors must have influenced Oscar's lack of form, but I don't want my CAM to be the guy with more tackles than the rest all midfielders (pivot and attack) combined. replace Lamps with him and improve those stats, but don't waste him in a position with clear directions for him to defend and go deep instead of trying to improve his vision, creative and do stuff in the front as he should. Oscar can help make a brilliant line of 3 men behind the striker if he has two wingers by his side playing very well. He can't carry an AM line like Mata did (but neither can Mata if he isn't 100% free to roam as he pleases, which means, Mata wouldn't under Mourinho either. Now if the problem is the tactics, it's another discussion), and he won't do that right now, so either benches him for Mata (which imo is the same difference as instead of Mata growing and equalizing his level to Oscar by improving, they were equalized by Oscar worsening) and takes a risk defensively, and wait until Mata starts delivering again, or moves Oscar and the system in a way it's Oscar role to play deeper instead of having Oscar playing as a CAM in theory, but being too deep to impact anything. Also Oscar isn't ready to be the CAM that will solve all our problems. He can be excellent like he was earlier this season, but it was more a collective thing than him shining on his own. He - like Hazard - isn't on his peak and while I think Hazard is (or should be) a step or two ahead of him in the development curve, Oscar alone can't be the guy to lead us now. So Mourinho has a choice to make by either changing Oscar's position or bringing Mata to the team - unless the two wingers, whoever they are, start playing well again and Oscar can form with them a good line of three. edit: rewriting the last part because I guess it was confusing, . What I mean Oscar can be brilliant, but not carry a team, he needs others to help him. Right now he isn't brilliant and therefore we'd need both wingers playing better than him, so he can be a third guy with one or two good passes a match. As none of those seem attainable now, I'd change the system to 4-3-3 or I'd play in the role Mourinho insists on Lamps playing - only to improve the team slightly collectively because Oscar isn't a DLP and he won't be much better there, but I guess he'll be better than Lamps at least or I'd just give Mata a chance.

why I'm not surprised the only thing discussed here is Oscar vs Mata when both have been useless for us in the last few games? Now it's the moment a lot of fans have been waiting and I dare say wishing for - Oscar isn't playing well enough, so their man can have a chance and take back his position. I do hope your plans included Mata killing the games for us because right now the only thing it warranted was both being useless. Mata had chances and never made good use of them and all sort of excuses have been given to him. Even Hazard is being brought to the conversation now because bring only Oscar isn't enough. Why don't you bring Willian too? I said it before the match, I'll say it again, right now our AM selection should be Willian + 2. All other guys deserve stick for their presentations and can we for the love of gosh stop with 'he needs to start matches' bullshit? Do you know how Willian guaranteed two consecutive starts? By doing something out of the 10-20 minutes he was getting in October and in matches like the one against Newcastle. And that's a guy who had no match rhythm, had to adapt to a very physical league and arrived way after everyone else in the group. He had much more reason to struggle than Mata does and still he made better use of those few minutes at the end of the matches to show he can be useful. He isn't close to his best, he isn't close to Mata's best, but he showed us that you can use those few minutes to turn around a situation. Mata didn't and I can't understand why he's given all sort of excuses in the world. Most matches he played with Oscar he spent around 60% of the time playing as the CAM while Oscar was in the LW (way to destroy our best player's momentum then, but no word is going to be said about it). I even did a measurement about that in one of their matches... it's there with all the data to back it up. So not only Mata did nothing as a CAM to regain his position, but Oscar was moved to the wing, lost his momentum and now we have two out of shape players. Well done. Now I'll go to Oscar's thread criticize him because that's where he should be criticized, not at the expense of Mata - who's got nothing on his corner except past glorious days, and reading all those posts that's all I can conclude from that. Because Bale - who I don't think is anywhere as good as Mata - just went throught the same thing at RM playing minutes, dealing with an injury (in addition to adapting to a new team and league) and he found a way to capitalize it, and is now winning matches for Madrid, assisting and scoring. But those normal situations in football teams don't apply to Mata when it comes to Chelsea fans because people think he should be assured starting at all matches because he's been POY twice, because he's creative and smart even if didn't deliver anything this season. The same example with Bale could be said about many others... just look at Arsenal, but Mata can't. He's special. He's the really Special One here... And before I get a bunch of posts about defending Oscar, etc... go to his thread in 10 minutes when I'm done talking about him.

that's actually a good point and it may be one of his flaws... he does help influential players peaking, but as none of AM except Willian and Mata are close to peaking (they're on their peaks imo), he's struggling and the players are struggling. I'm pissed, but I'm also patient, we all knew it would happen, we all knew it wouldn't be easy at first. WORD

and when was the last time Mata did it? Look man, I'm not defending Oscar, I think he's been terrible the last three games. But Mata didn't have ONE brilliant match this season and he played a streak of them in October. I even agree with you (had a post saying that in the first page of the pre-match thread) that this match (and others like this) are more suitable to Mata than Oscar imo. Still seeing how Mata has been playing it may win us a match (like Oscar and others won us matches this season with one saving goal or assist), but I don't think it's the answer to our problems. When the guy you claim is the answer to our assists and creativity can't create half a chance when he's in the pitch, regardless of who's behind him and what a mess behind him is, I don't expect him to come next match and solve our problems. That can be Mata, Oscar, Willian, Hazard, whoever you want to name. All of them haven't been good enough. For me bottom line is this.

Actually what I meant is it wouldn't have changed. Maybe it would, maybe it wouldn't. I've seen players enter and play less than 15 minutes and change a match. He did absolutely nothing. I don't oppose to him starting next match. I said he should have started this one... but I don't see him making any difference if his attitude and performance is what he's shown. He played against Arsenal from the start and was far from brilliant - except the brilliant goal - and you totally missed my point. My point isn't about Oscar or Mata - I made it crystal clear, my point is this same lineup played amazingly well two weeks ago and for most of October... do what's the real problem here? That's what I'm asking, that's what I'm trying to find an answer to. If you think Mata is the answer to fix our problems I'll tell 3 things 1) God bless you 2) I hope you're right 3) Chances are you aren't right. Our problems can't be fixed by one single player imo, if they could whoever is that guy would have showed it in training sessions and then in matches - starting or coming as a sub, because Willian for example earned his place in the starting XI and right now in the front he seems to be the only one who did it. Hazard, Oscar, Schurrle and Mata did all of the same in the matches (minutes) they played and it wasn't just enough. at least now I can blame him on something!!!! Man is completely deluded if he things that. That was a shit performance through and through except the very end when they showed urgency. Mourinho is deluded indeed and if he doesn't wake up from the lalala land he's living, we won't stand a chance in this league...

I refuse to vote for anyone... Willian was the less bad imo simply because he at least tried to do something - although still short, but not worth a MOTM vote, not enough for that.

that's the bloody problem in my opinion. They don't show enough urgency, will or whatever until things are fucked up or we're gifted a goal (like against Schalke midweek). Those guys make a lot of money, can they put a little more effort (not to say heart) in their displays? Ofc not all of them have those problems, but really, we're lacking determination and hunger. We can have Messi and frigging Ronaldo in the team, if they don't show hunger, they're useless.

well this is the team that played Schalked midweek sans Mikel and Schürrle... Hazard had a good assist (I won't comment on the penalty they robbed WBA with), so I won't say Eden was a detractor (although not a contributor apart from the assist either) and Lamps was decent. So why does the team play their socks in one match and just walk the park the next? How much this is Mourinho's fault and how much those guys are playing like shit? I can't say. I don't see a problem with our lineup today. I would have played Mata instead of Oscar from start, but if anything Oscar played better than Mata did imo, so that would have accounted for nothing. I see more problem with the players having crappy moments (Ivanovic, midfielders (except Willian imo, who was decent), Cahill and today even Terry!) and I see them not being focused and determined enough. Mourinho has to do something about it, but I don't think team selection is the problem here, neither is the system. I guess we have a collective brainfart. I don't want to give any credit to the november shit, but the change from the team that played ManCity and Arsenal to the last two EPL games is palpable. The players that were working, the system that was working two weeks ago, look like shit now.

Mata who's done absolutely nothing since he's in the pitch? We need the players to show better attitude 90 minutes. It seemed we only decided to really press once they scored... I'm not blaming Mata, I'm not saying Oscar should play. But this is a collective terrible display again...

at least a goal, pls

here's the thing Mata... we need you to think this is last season. ktksby

@, @CHOULO19, @, lovelies, what are we waiting to get rid of this?

I don't see us getting a draw out of it, let alone a win

Ivanovic has been shit a lot of times today, but this goal is totally onhis account

Mourinho... of all players in the team he uses as example the guy that falls the most with less fouls called? I don't think he dives (only once in a very long while), but he falls way too easily. At the minimum contact sometimes he falls. In all seriously Hazard must fall at least 4 times per match when no foul happened. The difference is that he seems to think any minimum contact should be counted as foul (which makes him perfect to play in Brazil ), so that's not diving, it's being either naïve or not being adapted to England physicality. Now I agree that's completely different from diving - something Neymar (and all Barça players for that matter) has a mastering at. But the fact remains some people will call what Eden does diving (wrongly). Maybe Mourinho is playing with FA again, by hinting referees aren't calling fouls on Eden that they were supposed to call. Most times though I feel that the contact really wasn't enough for him to drop on the pitch as he does.

Here is hoping Eden will do a Rafael Nadal thing and will be super riled up this weekend and will have the performance of the year. Here is praying it carries on after that

I don't remember your old posts except you giving him stick for not playing Mata, so I'm not sure what else I mixed. It's one thing to say you're going to do something and circumstances change - like it did with both Lukaku's and Kevin's situations - and you end up doing something else (something that happened with people around the world every second as we can't predict the future) and it's another completely different to lie about a fact widely known by too many people (every employee in Cobham, all players, people in France, etc) that already happened. How can Mourinho have lied about Eden missing training and get away with it? Do you really think if he lied Hazard and his agent wouldn't deny the story? Or are you so deep in your theory that you think Mourinho blackmailed Hazard and his agent to deny the truth? Did you know the club's PR guy is in all those conferences and Chelsea is bigger than Mourinho and wouldn't allow something like you're suggesting to happen? I'm sorry for being so rude, but dude, this whole thing you're suggesting is a bit nuts... sorry for my reaction, but I'm actually shocked you're implying something like this could happen. Eden Hazard missed a training session, there are more witnesses about it in Cobham than people posting in this forum. There's no way Mourinho would get away with a lie like that, and there's no way if he was lying that Eden and his team wouldn't defend him... please tell me you don't really think that's actually possible.

wth did I just read?

further offtopic: share that pic with me!

somehow I've missed this comment the first time answering to you... I can't believe you're suggesting Mourinho is lying and the press is creating something that doesn't exist when there were reports even in Belgium - where no press would be interested in staining his image - about his passport loss. Did you see pics of him in France? I did... not sure if those were manipulations though as you seem so convinced Eden didn't miss training. If you did some research before saying nonsense you'd see that Mourinho tried to avoid saying what really happened as much as he could. He wasn't looking for an excuse... but well, it seems like kellzfresh just said... you're looking something bad to say about Mourinho here, so now you're even bending the truth... I guess this discussion is officially done.

dude, totally not the point... Hazard missed a training session, it shouldn't go unpunished. Everyone agrees on that but you... That's the only reason he missed the match as far as we know and that's reason enough. And please, are you now comparing Messi and Ribery to Hazard, who you said yourself, is too young to be consistent? As I said, we disagree. Hazard missed a match as he should, so he'll think twice before accepting commitments abroad after a terrible (collective) match and ahead of a very important match. I'm sure he will, as accidents like the one that happened to him, happen and he may not want to risk it in the future.

Based on what he said on his interview about how happy he was with the three players behind the striker I wonder if Mourinho won't keep the three intact. He may get Hazard to replace Schürrle just to prove to Eden everything is dealt with for his training session missed (I agree that nothing more than a game should be done, although in Brazil sometimes the player is fined by the club as well, which I think is appropriate, if I miss a day of work the school may discount it from may payroll). Schürrle had a good match, but nothing spectacular imo, so dropping him for Eden is okay. If he decides to keep Schürrle, I think it's okay too as Hazard didn't play particularly well against Newcastle (who did?). The other possible change could be Mata for Oscar, simply because this is one of those games that suits Mata imo. Oscar did nothing to be dropped imo, as he still offers more collectively to the team than Mata does (creatively neither has been impressive in their last two matches, so any edge Mata has in that department is based on potential, not recent performances). I doubt Mourinho will do it, but I'd be okay if he did. I'm pretty sure he'll start both Oscar and Willian and I guess it's 50/50 between André and Eden. As for the changes in the back... I wish he didn't change. One match before an international break will do nothing to Luiz's form. Azpilicueta was miles better than Cole (Bertrand if recovered is a valid option though) and I think Mikel worked well with Ramires. I can see him rewarding Lamps' assist with another start. I wouldn't mind in this particular match either as I think this is the kind of match Lamps can play well for us, basically for the same reasons I think Mata could. So I'd say Cahill is a given, Cole has about 30% chances of starting and Lamps 60%. Personally I don't care much about most players starting. With the exception of Cech, Terry, Cahill, Ramires, Willian and Eto'o (as Torres is injured), anyone else he decides to play is okay (although I'd love Cole to warm the bench again). Our problem against Newcastle was attitude and I don't see this team making the same mistake twice in a row. They don't want to piss Mourinho off with bad attitude in such short term and that's why I think they won't. Hazard, Mata, Schürrle, Oscar, Mikel, Lamps are all playing good enough to justify their selections if they play, and except a few combinations that are bad (such as Mazacar and Mata + Lamps), whoever play has all conditions to make a good match and get us the result.

disagree with every single word. First, Hazard didn't play because he missed a training session, not because he was all of the same as the rest of the team against Newcastle. We don't know if Mourinho would have started or benched him otherwise, and he already assured he's back on Saturday, either starting or in the bench. if there's one player no one can complain about receiving chances is Eden. When he was playing really bad he still started every match. He only missed matches when he was injured, in League Cup matches and now yesterday for the reason I just said. Luiz has been playing bad, what do you expect the manager to do? Cahill is playing better, I don't care about what's going on in Luiz's head when Mourinho has been giving chances for him and he has improving only slightly. Against the teams we played lately, having a CB in bad shape could have led to a loss, and it certainly led to conceding goals. So why is he supposed to play Luiz based on his form last season if his form this season can compromise? No one (or very few) questions that Luiz in form is better than Cahill, but he's not in form and Cahill is... Now I guess your post was really about Mata (given many others you've written in the subject) and you added two very bad examples to make it 'general', but the problem is Mata. Mata played enough in October imo and while he was good in some matches, he wasn't great in any. So wasn't Oscar imo - who dropped his level from the start of the season - which could have worked for Mata, but he didn't capitalize imo. Thing is when neither are creating plenty of chances, and they haven't in their last few matches, (although Oscar did create a couple against City, and two real/clear chances in the match against Newcastle, and Mata created a couple against Arsenal) Oscar gives more stability to the midfield than Mata does. So it's yet another case where the player (Mata) hasn't performed that amazingly and someone more useful (not necessarily better) has been chosen. Then one could say it's the lack of matches. Look at Willian and give me that argument. Guy hasn't played for months before joining us, has barely featured in September (I only remember the Swindon match) and then he played very well for us in October, although he isn't the shadow of who he was for Shakhtar yet... So I don't get why professional players will behave so unprofessionally (especially Luiz and Hazard in your example) and leave the club when they have been given plenty of chances (Luiz) or even been selected when others were playing better (Hazard). As for Mata, I think he's been playing fairly enough and I think Saturday's match is perfect for him... he's the only one that would have something to complain about, but even then, not that much if you ask me, as he didn't capitalize any of his chances - especially when Oscar dropped his initial level - with outstanding performances. Another primary mistake in your post is questioning why Bertrand - who was injured - didn't play. I guess you didn't get your facts right through and through. And question Mourinho about those three, especially the first two, seems out of place imo. There's no tactical reason or change in the system that justifies Luiz's dip in form, so how can you blame Mourinho for him making the same kind of mistakes he's always done? Or how is Mourinho responsible for his dig in form? Hazard is widely known as someone who takes a while to build form (slow starter), so how come Mourinho is the one detracting his performances? Mata was injured and missed pre-season and struggled to recover his best form ever since, which can't be blamed on Mourinho. Instead I see Terry, Torres, Ramires, Oscar, Mikel playing better since Mourinho is here. Terry, Oscar, Mikel and Schürrle went out there and credited Mourinho on their improvements. So I really can't agree with your post when I see players in bad shape because of reasons that aren't related to Mourinho and also see Mourinho recovering players that some have already even written out partially or completely. So we can agree to disagree.

are you kidding me? Azpili's smile in that picture is doing things to me! Rafa always smiles like a 3yo kid in pics, poor thing.