Barbara

and somehow you have a screen name and avatar related to the guy. I don't get you, tbh

Eight minutes... I'm not happy City is winning it at all. 1) Don't want them to get more confidence 2) Don't want Bayern to be a possible cross with them ending in 2nd their group and we ending 1st (not sure we will though, although I guess we win tomorrow)

Mourinho definitely was in a good mood today re: Kevin. I think the fact that most of our AMs haven't been playing well lately only makes it worse for Kev (we can't consider the beginning because José heavily implied Kev had commitment issues with training sessions back then, something that nobody can say otherwise as they weren't there and Mourinho had no reason to lie about it. Again, nobody in England press gives a fuck if Kevin is playing or not, so Mourinho had no reason to justify his decisions any further by fabricating ideas that Kev hadn't been training well back then). It's hard to displace a player who's performing out of their mind, but if they've been average and still you can't displace them, then you're wasting your chances... I do think André, for example, who hasn't played for almost 50 days for us (unless you consider those subs at the 85-90-minute mark), starts again and simply kills it, did the best out of the chance he's got (never understood why he hasn't played in November at all and in december up until stoke). Mata, Oscar, Kevin and Willian (to name only the AMs) can take a page from the kid's book. This throws through the window the idea that you always need minutes to help you shine in a subsequent match. André put his effort and determination in the chance he had and he's made better than Mata did imo. Mata started three consecutive matches for us and he wasn't as pivotal as André has been in only one of them, nor did he bring as much energy and effort imo. For Kev it's all that harder because he spends much longer spells without playing, but he certainly didn't impress in his League Cup matches (iirc he was subbed in both of them) whereas Schurrle did more than enough in his and Willian and Mata were decent or good in theirs. Kevin will probably have another chance next week, and if he wants more minutes than he's been getting, he should use that match - against a side we've played only two weeks prior and we'll have some advantage - to at least match some of Willian's, Mata's and Oscar's presentations. André and Eden are out of his realm imo, as they've been outstanding.

different positions though, aren't they? Aren't Boga and Traore strikers or at least the kind of AM that Schurrle or Hazard are? I see Lucas more like a CAM...

I'm one of those that wouldn't mind a cunt playing for us - it wouldn't be the first and definitely not the last. I'm not looking for husband material or even role models for the young fans with our players (again, we've had plenty of players that aren't either), I need our players to be awesome doing whatever they're paid to do - be a striker, a CB, a MD, etc... With a manager that will make sure he doesn't go biting off other players (and probably the best shrink in the country help, whoever that may be), I'd have Suarez with my eyes closed. The thing is he's RM's for the take... he said he doesn't want to stay in England (although he's been showing in the pitch that he doesn't seem that affected by the country press), and I don't think London would be an improvement compared to Liverpool based on his complaints about England. I also think he's a better player than Aguero, although yeah, Aguero has better sportsmanship (who doesn't?)

Isn't he 19 though? There's plenty of time for him to make it here. I don't want him to be sold. I like him a lot - despite coming from Sao Paulo - and I think in 2-3 years from now when he's on the age I expect us to really use him, some of our AMs may not even be here...

why didn't they ask if André and David are still injured or ready to play? UGH

I don't think they have chances unfortunately... if we can't win it, I'd take City. Anything is better than Arsenal or Liverpool. Arsenal because their title-less days count is priceless and it should go on forever. Liverpool because they're already annoying living off of past history, if they start doing history again they'll be unbearable.

He may be the best - as in the one that nets more balls in between the four we had. He's also the less experienced, the rawest, the one Mourinho would be less willing to give big responsibilities. I don't like any comparison of what he would have done here (bad or good) because we'd never know. What I do know is that strikers that were successful in other clubs weren't here... and that has nothing to do with Mourinho because we had tons of managers in charge when it happened. That doesn't mean Lukaku wouldn't have worked, nor does it mean he would have. It just means we can spend 300 pages discussing it, at the end of the day it's still pointless. No one can say if he'd be able to score 10, 20 or 30 goals with us. Mourinho made a bet. He chose experience to be ahead of a very inexperienced AM (the oldest is Mata, as Willian is expected to struggle to adapt, especially coming from Russia). Hazard, Oscar, André and Kevin are great players but we've seen them fluctuating in form this season because they succumb to pressure, to lack of motivation, lack of ambition, or whatever is the problem. The fact remains they aren't consistently performing like Lampard is, for example. Lampard has had AWFUL matches because he was tired, but you could see the experience in each of them, sometimes his legs didn't answer to the command he sent them, but the experience is there. It's a big risk to rely in an entire attack made out of very young players, that oscillate in form unpredictably... But Mourinho's bet wasn't only on giving a bit of experience with our strikers. I think he looked at all teams and managers in EPL and he saw Everton and Martinez as a team that could be dangerous to the big 6 teams because of their good players and ambitious manager. So he decided to give this team a weapon to threaten other big teams, but not Chelsea. It's a chess move that while didn't work as well as he wished for the strikers he did keep, it's been working wonders for his opponents. How many points have Everton - especially because of Lukaku - led the big teams to drop? So while he may think that he could have better strikers atm I don't think he regrets sending Lukaku to a place where he could lead Everton to take points from Arsenal, Liverpool, City, United and Spurs. It could have been a win-win situation if Torres and Eto'o didn't have so many injuries and stopped their crescendo... now we have 2 and a half players off form - as Ba never really was in form to start with.

LMAO Happy Chelsea Christmas by tumblr fan There's the nice The fitting The funny and then, there's the priceless I can't breathe laughing on these last two. OMG Iva and David! tumblr is a happy place

it's the second interview for the official site in a row that he annoys me with his lack of ambition and being conformed with things that are UNACCEPTABLE in a club of Chelsea's caliber given the investment we have. Small club player can leave the small club, but the small club mentality sometimes doesn't leave the player. I'm not sure if Gary doesn't fit the description. We need our players to have ambition! In the previous interview in the website he said he 'didn't worry too much about our away form'. I think he said it meaning that we were good and as much shouldn't be worried, now he says we've had a lot of CS when it were 4 in 15 rounds in EPL. If you don't consider the League Cup matches, we had 21 matches in EPL, UCL and against Bayern and we were able to keep a CS in 7 of those. 33% is awfully low for a team like Chelsea... if he thinks that great, well, maybe for him it is. I consider it terrible - and I'm not blaming it on him, but I don't like this kind of conformism about something that clearly needs improvement.

I agree, but what I mean is that this hammering can help us. We look quite helpless right now defensively, so any improvement will take a bit of the confidence off sides have been showing to attack us. We shouldn't need it, doesn't mean it doesn't help us given how things are which is why I said once things are stable again, we can rotate Oscar again.

Race for Premier League title

Oscar is missed. I know we conceded goals in set-pieces and then mistakes in defense, but he gives such a consistency and stability that it completely takes away the opponent's illusions that they can get something from the match. It's a psychological thing that comes with everything being held well together because of this one player. It's like a hammer on the opponent's confidence, every time he tackles, he holds the ball slowing down things (annoying and tiring the opponent), his distribution is many times obvious and predictable, but it's normally of good quality and once in a while in a match he provides the unexpected splitting pass. He has to play centered though because he's a waste in the wing. I'd start him, Willian and Hazard now, give Schürrle a rest, so we can have Schurrle, Oscar and Hazard on the weekend against Crystal. IMO Mata did absolutely nothing to displace Oscar from the team creatively wise - which is the biggest advantage Mata has over Oscar, I'm not saying he was bad, he wasn't, but I still feel our pivot is less overwhelmed when Oscar plays and even the defenders feel the impact of him in the team... He presses high in the wing and in the middle, so maybe he could be near Azpili in that play that got Stoke a goal (although it seems to have been a foul not called by the clueless referee). He covers the pivot AND the FBs depending on the side he's closer to. Ofc he's no superman and he can't be everywhere and he isn't perfect, but if there's one thing I think we need now and stability and calm, and imo he brings both. I think Oscar holds the team together better and with both Hazard and Schürrle in such good moments, I'd give them more freedom (especially Eden) and count on their pace, takes-on and dribbles, using Oscar to organize and distribute the ball, in addition to his undeniable work-rate. Then once we're feeling confident again (hopefully before Arse and Pool) Mourinho could think of a way to rotate Mata into the team.

I feel it didn't work because of the way we approached the game. I guess with a different approach, without respecting so much the opposition, even if it's one of teams at the top of the table, with a more forward approach it could work. I've asking the lad in the team for a while now. Although suddenly our problem is the leaky and shaky defense...

It's sort of saddening we could now be only 2 pts behind them

Why would Mourinho have to change his speech only because of window transfer approaching? Wasn't his words about Lukaku enough to prove that without his nod no player under contract leaves the club on loan or sold? He didn't need to say anything and he could still have said no to every proposal as well as to Kevin. Mourinho's in a position where he doesn't need to play those mind games. Those players are his for the take or to release. If he wants to loan Kevin he will and if he doesn't he won't, he doesn't need to praise the kid publicly for it to affect that. It's his decision alone, and in case Kevin asks to leave, Mourinho will decide releasing him or not based on what he believes works the best for Chelsea. Those words seem honest imo, and he didn't need to tell them to soften Kevin (it's indifferent, and he's probably talked much more to the kid than to the media about him) or to calm down the press who seemed to have even forgotten Kevin exists. Ever since the Steaua away game when Mourinho refused to keep talking about not selected players, no one else brought the Kevin de Bruyne subject up. There are only rumors about transfers. The same way there are about Mata, Luiz, Courtois, Lukaku, etc...

THANK YOU, MOURINHO For a moment I thought you were insane.

I think the team's performance again proved my point. This defense needs rotating and Ivanovic isn't the answer to that. We have a good depth, but another squad player (same level as Cahill or plus), around age 25 CB wouldn't hurt at all because one of our CB's gets injured and we are where we found ourselves now: helpless with tired players, counting on a squad player to do world class defending when it's beyond him. David Luiz is severely missed and I know Mourinho feels the same.

well people kept saying our defense was weak with Luiz on... Too bad he isn't there these days to take the credit for conceding six goals to the two worst offensive sides in the league. It's Christmas time, Chelsea are being generous and distributing gifts.

We've won a few matches this season because of Mourinho's smart subs and tactical changes. Well today we lost because of his nonsensical sub taking off the only player that was really creating something in the attack and keeping an useless Mata in the pitch. Well deserved loss when Stoke capitalized their few chances while we kept wasting ours in the first half. I can't wait to have Oscar back in the team and I wonder what Schürrle did to Mourinho. After he played awesome for us in October and scored his first goal for us, he wasn't used at all in November and today clearly the MOTM, he was subbed off. I don't get it. I'm too pissed to think properly, but even if I blame Mourinho... he has credit with us, but he was unwise - not to say stupid - today.

which is why taking him off was the most stupid decision he could have made. That's exactly the point I was doing saying he took the best player in the match

It pays you right, to take off the best player of the match and lose any momentum and chances created... well done, Mourinho.

we have to capitalize City's draw!!!! Come on, Blues!!!!!!