Barbara

we clearly had the advantage there. Bad officiating imo

all this shit we've been in started with a game in White Hart Lane - it might end there too. Come on Chels!

he's been up and down. He's set up a couple of counter attacks with very difficult passes, but have been missing standard ones

If Hazard and Willian were at the top of their games (they aren't) we'd already have a lead. Willian is misplacing a couple, and Hazard hasn't reached his better form yet this season, but I like how we're dominating the game now. We do need to capitalize though

we're playing more compact and it's showing. Although Tottenham has a lot more possession and had a couple of good chances, we're limiting their space and we look way more dangerous than they do imo. It's almost exciting... don't know when was the last time Chelsea excited me

what a cross! We look better than last month, that's comforting although months delayed.

And that's why I said in my original post that has been deleted I feel the great job you, Steve, Alex and other previous admin seems to be sent to waste. Whether you agree or not, whether it makes sense or not, I felt you've always listened seeking the best to the whole community. As I voiced I just gave a feedback, despite what been said, I just wanted to voice a feedback. There are a couple of posters that are involved in 90% of dragged discussions, that get personal, call names and just derail threads. Both have been here for years, and they've been like this ever since I'm here. That's my problem with banning people like Pacquiao and lionsden. They certainly did no worse and haven't done nearly as long. Also the negativity isn't a moderation matter imo - I'm sorry if my post talking about both made it sound like I think that needs intervention from moderation, it doesn't. The same way I have a right to be positive people have to be negative. I was replying to another subject that strayed from my original subject which is the level of moderation is going downhill and I've always felt you, Alex, Steve and Jason set the model, behaved really well. Now it isn't like that. Little power syndrome and all that shit. Raphael, definitely don't mean you or skipper or Fulham or Spiegel, but I understand if you guys feel offended or bothered by it. My point is ban whoever you want just don't have double standards and use the positions (I think who needs a reality check isn't people complaining about banned people but the ones that that think being an admin in an internet forum means shit, which also doesn't refer to any of you) to get away with breaking the post etiquette rules now and then. Btw I brought the discussion here by posting here my answer instead of kdb thread... Thought made sense, but maybe I was wrong

in my other post that has been edited I said that I feel this is similar to the FA - we have a couple of Wengers who get away with everything they do. Name calling, stirring the pot, controversies, offensive posts, dragging arguments. While others are just banned. I also mentioned that despite rarely agreeing with lionsden, I think if the Wengers are kept, so should he. The management here has double standards lately, and it only contributes to the already heavy environment, but as LDN Blue said, it's only internet and at this pace it won't last too long.

@Essien19 answered you in what I think is a more appropriate thread, but yeah, I agree I'm the anti-moaning moaner.

more appropriate thread to answer, after all, this has nothing to do with KdB you might have a point. There's a reason why I had nearly 6k posts in my first year here and not even 2 in the next one. I used to be a lot more active and I don't feel like being anymore. I'm not moaning about the moderating though. I'm criticizing the double standards. For all I care they can ban the whole forum, starting with me. It's their prerogative. Like I said, I don't agree with them, but I'm not an adm (I don't think mods such as rprm, The Skipper or Spike have anything to do with the banning, but I could be wrong) so it's not really my business who they send away. The fact they keep people who do much worse and contribute to the awful environment is what bothers me. I do agree I'm negative about the negativeness, that I moan about it. That's my poor attempt to see if it gets better. Many great posters aren't active anymore these days. The forum has been changing quickly and I complain because I look at its lifespan and it doesn't look like it could be, but that doesn't mean what I do deserves a different word. When I came around there were many great posters and back then people were already sighing about the old times. Most of those posters left or stopped posting mostly or altogether - although sometimes you see them lurking. People who were active, isn't anymore - who were cool people, regardless of their extensive football posting or not. I think it's possible to change it - but at the same time I won't do it, I turned down the possibility of being a mod here for a reason, I've got no patience for that. So while you're right and I'm the anti-moaning moaner, just look at those threads after wins. What keeps this forum a hit currently is our bad shape, Mourinho's permanence and some players for them to complain. While a new bad manager will come (they're never good anyway) and terrible players will also come and go, the posts seem to be decreasing (could be a wrong impression). So much for a fan forum that has its peak when this are awful. Sorry if I don't feel reassured it'll last as much as it could if it continues like that. And while banning the people who drag the convos on and on and on like Pacquiao did could do a favor to keep the environment better in their opinion - although they insist on keeping the worst ones - it also means less posts. Keep the enablers and take away their feeders and when things get slightly better or even for real what happened will continue... people won't bother to post. Also, as someone said, this must be the first place in the world where defending one of your players get you in trouble or advocating to keep their negative at bay (they don't need to post the same thing every 2 secs) to promote insightful discussion - even if you don't agree - is a negative thing in general. As I said, it's moaning the same like you did, but with all freedom everybody has to state their opinions and they should be respect, the ganging up, the egos and the constant repeating of the same things repel people more than attract. After all, it's always the same culprits - the ones being kept here for years. That's only my feedback though, nothing beyond that.

ITA even a donkey knows the difference between playing in a big team and a small/medium team. The opposition when facing a team much better than them do what Norwich did playing against us: double their defensive efforts. The more defensive the opposition is, more technical your striker needs to be and while that's not Costa, that's even less Lukaku. .

shhhh don't let him know how many international MATCHES each of them have played. People seem to forget Costa wasn't called for Brazil for most of his career and only near the WC he was called for Spain. If you do the goal/minute ratio - which I won't bother - I don't doubt Costa wouldn't be that much lower than Lukaku's...

highlights anyone?

Good to know they talked, good to know Mourinho was flexible to give the kid's request a try and it worked. I don't feel that much reassured by the interview because he didn't openly deny any move, but it's better than the nonstop speculation we had so far. Hopefully he will stay for some more time.

I actually believe Mourinho has more chances of becoming their new manager than Zidane...

His name is Paulo Vinicius Coelho hence the uninspired nickname. I find it weird that a post talking about a Brazilian commentator that I'm sure Europeans never heard gets the thumb up. As you said, it was about polyvinyl chloride for all you know. PVC opinion wasn't even stated, just what kind of professional he is. That's like you guys describing a porn actress and I liking it [emoji12] [emoji87]

I think Mourinho got it right with Kenedy. He wasn't supposed to attack much, but he still offered something more offensive than Azpili would. Like others, I'd rather play Azpili in the right and bench Iva if we're using a winger in the LB, but I think he wanted to count with Iva physicality, height and the old story we know. This is Mourinho after all, expecting him to play a winger as a FB (an attacking choice imo) AND drop Iva isn't realistic from our part.

I agree with most of it. Coutinho has big consistency issues and he goes 10-15 matches without doing anything relevant. Which means he would need NTs to play as often as clubs for him to finally make an impact. Oscar is a big letdown for me though. I stopped believing he will flourish someday. He won't overcome his 'inconsistency' because he seems to have accepted it as part of who he is. He has a lot of potential, but he won't ever fulfill it not because of inconsistency, but because he consistently settles for mediocrity. Coutinho might though, especially working now under Klopp. Klopp does develop well attackers like him, but his inconsistency is bigger than Oscar's now. Although there also lies the difference. Coutinho is inconsistent, Oscar is consistent on fading away. There's a difference imo and for a long time I labeled Oscar inconsistent when I should haven't done it.

two seasons ago he went on and on in every Chelsea game he commentated that Mourinho was the new Luxemburgo, an expensive brand that wouldn't bring relevant titles anymore. He went as far saying it was a mistake to appoint him and that his work at RM was a testament to that. It was annoying to listen to him because he kept drawing comparisons between both managers. And while I think he's right in many of the things he said, he was repetitive and was wrong about his main claim, which was Mourinho didn't have it in him anymore to win a league title. That was his main comparison to Luxemburgo - the many years he went without winning a league title and how the same would happen to Mourinho. Then a season later he had his mouth shut. I never said he fabricated a story, just that he may be exaggerating. He understands a lot about football - I agree - but what does it have to do with anything he said? He said the players complained to him about how Mourinho talks about them to the media (something that Filipe Luís said to the whole media, so I do believe he's fishing) and tells them different things. He said the environment is bad, players don't train well because they aren't happy and that's the reason why they don't play well in the games, but said a couple of times no one is sabotaging Mourinho. What does this kind of comment have anything to do with him understanding a lot about football? I didn't agree with the few tactical inputs he had during the game. When the first half was about to finish and he went on his summary - as normally commentators do - he praised the team, said we deserved a lead, said Hazard and Willian were doing great (Hazard was, Willian was nothing special), pointed how Pedro had a supporting role in that and failed to mention Fabregas (although previously he had said the problem was the ball wasn't going through Fabregas anymore and that's one of our biggest problems currently). He made a mistake even interpreting the facts. Fabregas and not Willian was up there with Hazard changing the face of the team. Willian was the supporting role and Pedro didn't do anything worth mentioning to qualify him as a supporting role. Then in the same breath, talking about the three AMs he said Mourinho got it wrong, Willian and not Hazard should be centered and it was Mourinho's mistake. Not only I disagree with him (and he does too, as some minutes before that comment he said the players were interchanging) because there was a lot of interchanging I find it amusing and mind bogging that after complimenting the team's approach, saying the team deserved a lead, he concludes his reasoning saying the manager got it wrong The feeling I got from his comment was that he did his homework and got everything he was going to say about Mourinho ready before the match and then it turned out to be different from the usual shitty presentations and he ended up contradicting himself. And you wonder where I take the idea he doesn't like Mourinho anymore (as if repeating like a parrot that he wouldn't win a league title anymore wasn't proof enough). He doesn't have to like Mourinho, he doesn't have to be impartial. He's a pundit, his main prerogative is to have an opinion and that opinion can be that Mourinho is a bad manager and who won't win anything anymore. I watched PVC a lot - every Monday on Linha de Passe - and every time someone corrects him or shows what he said isn't like that he reacts negatively. I've seen him snapping in the live show more than a handful times. I didn't see him talk about Chelsea's title though to know if he admitted to make a mistake, but that's because ever since he left ESPN and went to Fox I didn't watch him anymore, only when he's commentating a game. And what is even more amusing is zolayes - who probably never even heard PVC likes your post. That's how blind people can be on their so called opinions.

The commentator is very reliable and has a great relationship with the NT players so I don't doubt they talked about it. But he doesn't like Mourinho, he made predictions about him and they didn't become true, so he still wants to prove he was right. So maybe he's exaggerating? His exact words were that the players weren't happy with Mourinho who talks different things about them in the media than he does to them. He said the training sessions aren't good because they're unhappy and that shows in the matches in the weekend, but he also said no one is trying to get Mourinho out of the club, they're unhappy with him (some sort of relationship crisis) and aren't enjoying the training and therefore aren't training well and thus far not playing well. He then said everyone is working hard to turn it around, but they don't know how (all those comments were peppered throughout the whole game). I think it's not wise to say those things, we live in world where word spreads quickly, when Mourinho hears his players are talking this kind of things to media people it might get even worse.

most of all, he has had so little rest in those seasons here (can't say about his time at Lille), there's only so much lack of proper rest one can get away with. Also, he's still developing, he's young (although not that much yet, but I feel we lost the referential when so many kids break so early - Neymar already has 250 goals for club and NT and that's insane when you're 23), so I think the slump is even more normal. I have no doubt he might dream in playing in one of the very top teams. That's normal for any ambitious player. As good and big as Chelsea have become, we aren't on the same level as Real, Barça and Bayern in terms of size and appeal. So while I won't be surprised if he leaves to RM someday, I hope he stays for as long as possible.

the same Klopp who lost their last game, at home, against Palace, drew against Southampton also at home? I mean, I believe Klopp is a huuuuuuuuuuuuge improvement on Rodgers (who isn't?), but he came here from a season as terrible as our current, he didn't have that immediate impact most teams have with new managers (that doesn't usually last much anyway), but most of all, he never wanted to come here, he's always wanted to go there - regardless of our interest or not on him. But I find it particularly interesting he's praised for his good things whereas the bad ones are ignored. He's got two draws, one loss and two wins for the league since he arrived. Average at best, but also unfair to label him anything. I'm a huge fan of Jurgen, but he never wanted to come here and he hasn't fixed anything in Liverpool yet (not enough time tbh, but he didn't even get that immediate impact some managers have), so I don't get this kind of post, especially the chance part. We never had a chance.

haven't read the last 50 pages or so of this thread, but really, have people been speculating he's on this slump on purpose, sabotaging the club and not giving a fuck? So now it makes sense why this thread is also very quiet. I give up on this place. It's just hopeless.

problem with Kev is that he isn't a big stage player. He's going to shine like a supernova in small-medium importance games, but will completely hide or just not be effective when there's more at stake or against big teams. I've always said Coutinho is one of the most inconsistent players around, but there's no doubt he's talented. As he's Brazilian in one hand I want him to overcome his inconsistency issues - which are huge - but as a Chelsea fan I just hope he never changes. can't deny the kid has some amazing goals on him though. But on both players' account, they're very young and they can overcome both things at any moment. Confidence and consistency are something that can be reached all of sudden, so no verdict about them can be final at this point (regarding their limitation that is).

sorry to disagree, Peace., but I think we improved the actual play. How many times we played awful football this season when the opposition showed nothing? Nearly every time we were in a pitch. I saw improvements that give me hope we could maybe get on track. I'm not stating anywhere that I saw enough to convince me we'll start an outstanding recovery now or that we are last season's team again (first half). What I mean is that there's enough to analyze about how OUR playing improved, regardless of what the other team offered and most people are very quiet about it. I think you guys are the ones getting the wrong idea here. I've never said with this display we set the universe right, I just said many of our complaints (clueless attack, soft midfield, uninspired players and play, poor tactics and system) seemed to have been addressed and progress made. I've never said anything about the kind of football we've been playing since January, I've never said it isn't negative. This is a match thread and as such I expected it to be analyzed, discussed, but as there isn't much negatives to say except say 'it was against poor, poor, Norwich, no analysis has been made, no long posts about how everything is so gloomy, horrible, terrible. I've stated my opinion many times - enough of them btw, reason why I don't keep restating it like a broken record - I think Mourinho needs to reinvent himself, far away from Chelsea (as we shouldn't be paying for the upgrade and updating he needs to do in his view of the game) and should be fired at the end of the season (I see no point of doing it now). I'm not happy with his general approach, I think he needs to improve many things, from tactics and approach to communication and people skills. I won't state the same old every single time. Today we had a match, we played well, we won. That's what I'm talking about, but most of people here seem interested in talking about only one topic and if the latest facts won't fuel their discussion, there's no discussion at all. Where are people discussing how Hazard came back from ashes and had his best match in at least 8 months? Where are people talking about how Kenedy in the LB actually worked, or how Willian was good and Fabregas' passing was setting our attack alright? Our off the ball movement was great. There was more discipline in our defense as a whole, although they weren't as solid as I would like (but it also comes as a consequence of the attacking approach we adopted). Actually speaking of which - we had a positive approach today, looked very attack oriented. No, basically no comment. Just silence. Sorry if I think you guys have double standards. Let's all complain about things that happened now and at the club's foundation date, let's put it all on the manager's account, let's say everything we think over and over and over and over and over again (not your case). But if something nice actually happens, let's ignore it. We all support Chelsea, I'm happy for the win and even happier for the way we approached the game. It might not be enough to regroup and get our shit together, but it was enough for today. Very good work by Jose and the players. The silence is everyone's prerogative. Mocking it also is. like during every other international break. Match days aren't normally this quiet.