Barbara

his main problem imo is bad decision making, especially about when dribbling, passing and holding the ball. If he fixes this, I think he has enough talent to be a very good player, nothing exceptional, but something like Pedro. But the main thing is if he improves his decision making which can be terrible.

found this on tumblr today while checking the Chelsea FC tag. I really enjoyed that tackle. Top quality

Thank you! Jose was absolutely wrong for the way he acted, but she reacted in an even worse way. John came back to work, took it like a man (and I don't mean it in a sexist way) and life continued. Now she had to take it to social media, pose as poor little doctor for being yelled by someone simply because she was doing her job. As if nobody has never had a boss or a co-worker to behave like this. It doesn't make them (Jose in this case) any more right or less wrong about it, but she should have handled it professionally, as a situation, and get over it. IF she believes she has a case, good luck. I'm sure Chelsea will have the best lawyers defending the club and tell you what... they'll have precedents to justify their decision to demote her. As I said back then, no other doctor has made the headlines as much as her in the last 15 months or so, and always with her decisions being questioned. She's a woman in a sports that 99,99% of people involved in the matches are men. So whether we like it or not, she made the headlines for people questioning her work and that's questioning Chelsea. So maybe that also weighted in their decision to remove her AND John from the bench, after all even the entity they have to check if the decisions taken by doctors in concussions or suspected concussions questioned her decision with Thibaut and Oscar. So Chelsea can say a lot of things and the only thing she can get is a personal suit against Mourinho for talking what he did - which suits him right, maybe he'll learn to keep that big mouth of his shut - but even then 1) it will hardly be astronomical money 2) is it worthy? Aren't doctors - or at least the good ones - supposed to be passionate about saving lives or making their better? It looks like a bruised ego and someone wanting to make more money than they'd do working in a lifetime. She may get some money from Mourinho, but I doubt she'll get any from Chelsea.

she was the first team doctor to sit on the bench, she didn't carry or lead the medical department, that's another doctor and Chelsea have a lot of doctors under him - his name escaped me. She was one of them, but her alone is far from the reason of our record.

Guys, we have a thread for KdB and one for Bundesliga, suit yourselves, please.

discussing Hulk and Costa on Oscar's thread. At least those are players I don't think have been discussed here as they aren't even AMs

if they also did the same to other teams' player who did much, much worse and got nothing. I don't have a problem with a ban I disagree with, but I have a huge problem with the lack of standards.

dude, we agree on both - Oscar and Coutinho, but let it go... people who don't like either will continue not to and people who like either will continue to. This sort of discussion is moot. Although just like you I find it hilarious and obnoxious that people don't see how inconsistent Coutinho is, let's try to focus on Oscar

If most don't bite than it really isn't that bad. As I said players are physically bothering others everywhere. Costa is blatant about his moves, but he doesn't necessarily cross the line. I think he should tone down because the FA will eventually punish him for his handbags (thanks @pHaRaOn, and @Muzchap for explaining what that means). Compare those childish provocations that stupid opposition player fall for to what Suarez do to the people, is really overboard imo. Costa plays barely within the rules, but still within them. People are entitled to think the sport shouldn't have this and all the sportsmanship thing they want. The reality though is that football is much closer to rugby than to golf. I don't think putting his hands on Koscielny's face is on the same level as biting someone or a dirty tackle that could jeopardize a players' career. I don't even compare it to actually punches and slaps. He didn't slap Koscielny, he just slipped his hands on his face. Is it nice? No, that's why the referee can call fouls. Call it a foul and move on. Some people are reacting as if Diego has physically assaulted the Arsenal players in a way that put their physical integrity at stake. Actually they call him a criminal, a thug and other words similar and that's an exaggeration imo. So let's start using the same words - sportsmanship, morality, limits - to the tactical foul that stops a counter-attack? OR to players drawing fouls, begging the opponents to touch them and succeeding on that. I don't get this high horse morality some here have when the dirty moves Costa makes are within the rules after all. They can be punished with fouls being called and the eventual yellow card. I also think some are mixing the cause and consequence of his behavior. He doesn't start playing dirt - as you name it - because he doesn't want to focus on scoring. More often than not he resorts to provoking opponents when things aren't going his way. It's the way he deals with the frustration of not playing well. That's the real problem here. He hasn't been at the top of his game, his linkup, dribbling and movement have been bad and some aspects of them aren't even that great to start with. He uses those things to mask or make up for the lack of quality on his part. I don't even think he does it purposefully, he's just a hot fuse and when things don't go his way he's a bomb about to explode, but still he finds within himself the strength to prevent him from going too far. Let the press and the opposition fans hate him all they want. As long as he tones down a bit so FA - who doesn't punish actually punches, ill kicks, elbows and other stuff other teams' players do - won't punish him for just putting his hand on a CB's face. It's not nice, but football has never been about being nice. That's what tennis is about, not football and the purists and moralists have a field day with this behavior, but it doesn't change the fact football has always been like that. There's dirty contact to affect your opponent, there's a lot of dirty words being said to provoke opponents, there's malice in drawing fouls from unexperienced, limited or nervous players. None of those things are nice, but they are part of the sport just the same. I draw the line when players are violent or divers. Diego isn't either.

did you miss the match against Maccabi less than a week ago?

exactly my point, he could have played JT, but he still didn't. I see changes, a lot more chances to youngsters, even in the Premier League, I see him touching last season's untouchables, I see him changing the approach from his every day-system. It's early days and he could stop doing those things instead of carrying on. I hope it's the latter though.

can someone please explain to me what 'handbags' mean in the context? All I can think about when I read handbag is Channel. :blush:

We didn't desperately need the result against Maccabi as they aren't any prowess attacking. We could win even if we played JT. Nobody said he's changing his team into an attacking machine - although his RM side was an attacking machine, with little pragmatism to the side. I think he could be addressing some of our problems. We need a more pro-active defense, although I struggle to see it with Cahill, but anyway, those are the players we have and he knows that we can't play a high defense line with Terry as he's even slower than usual... I'm not saying he's changing for real the approach from last season, I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt and the support I think he's earned

Let's all favorite this page! 22 questions Chelsea fans have for Arsenal fans to answer http://www.buzzfeed.com/alexfinnis/questions-chelsea-fans-have-for-arsenal-fans#.yyo7xd46G

I've been called on my lack of gif posting... well, better late than never, right? @robdog and a couple of memes/pics for the laughs

Well, there was some comforting in the match today. I think we improved considerably, but still far from the level required and that we should be playing. But honestly, is it realistic to expect us to move from one extreme to the next in a couple of matches? It took vacation time, pre-season and a few matches for us to reach bottom rock after we kept worsening in the calendar year, so I suppose climbing the mountain back where we belong it'll take some time - but also some changes. We overachieved last season in the last few months with our easily exposed defense. We won't be able to do it again because once you get caught it's really hard to overachieve again. I think ever since the season started our problems were maximized by players being really crappy and showing no spirit and Mourinho insisting on the same old tricks. There have been some early changes on both instances and both still have a long way to go. But the signs to do the required changes are there imo. Cesc is my MOTM. For me to give it to Zouma it would mean Arsenal actually threatened us and we handled them, which I didn't feel was the case. Their best opportunities - if you can call them that - came after they were down to 10, so the problem wasn't playing with one less player, but Wenger, as usual. That doesn't mean Kurt wasn't very good, I'm a big fan of Mr. Happy and I think he's the future. José declarations that JT didn't play just because we desperately needed the victory is just him being smart and trying to take away ammunition from media to drag us in some negative reports again after a very positive week. He's smart, he knows they'll try to pick anything negative and blow it out of proportion and their only targets this week could have been Terry and Costa - which is why Mourinho said what he did on both players imo. He's trying to minimize their attempt to try to stretch our crisis beyond itself. That said, there's a lot to be fixed yet and I believe we'll be fine in a few weeks. Hazard, Cesc, Matic and Azpilicueta all played much better than they have been. Even Ivanovic was better and if he reacts positively to being really threatened by José, and actually cuts off the atrocities from his defensive game, I'll try to endure him another season. More than the slight quality improvement we showed, we needed this result, we need to start piling up wins not to aim the title (I really don't believe we'll compete for the title because City is just superior imo and are very suited to play EPL - the same way they're very much unsuited to play UCL, lol), but for us to boost our confidence enough to show our quality. Yes, we need quality boost as Henrique said, I just disagree that we don't need confidence. Confidence is the enabler to our quality improvement. We got caught in our tactical and technical limitations, but when all your players except your keepers are playing very badly, when you're making a lot more mistakes than you usually do and running without the luck we had on our side, we look as catastrophic as did until last week. I think it's a long way until we're at the top again, but several small steps were taken today. I was content with our linkup in general in the first half, and the only reason we looked uninspired is because although the players improved a lot, they're still sloppy.

the moment it's allowed to have six subs each team is not an official match in my book. A glorified friendly, but not official match.

I don't want to come out as a bitter fan who let go of a great player, but Kevin had a couple of good moments there - the goal included - and that was it, nothing worth mentioning. It's early days in a new team, but he already knows the league, his adaptation should be really fast. I have no doubts he's a great player and will improve even more, he just has a lot to prove in the big stage imo. Also, teams let go of players all the time and sometimes it's for the best, sometimes for the worst. The problem isn't letting him go, the problem is not having someone to take us to the level we need. If you let go of a player, but your team has exactly what it needs, then it's okay. I don't know if we have and he'd probably improve us, it's just his attitude I have issues with, but he's young and could have improved that too. The goal was definitely a nice shot, but it was a one vs. one with the keeper as West Ham just opened for him to shoot. He's always had a very nice shot on him...

now that we have Pedro it means we have two proper wingers, if Oscar doesn't shine like KdB for example, it's okay as long as he makes room for those guys to shine and as you said, brings the assists and goals he normally has on him. But he needs to be consistent doing that and the only way he can assist and make room for others to shine is by picking his best passing. He will never be a flashy, dribbler guy, but he's very intelligent and I say it's about time he releases some of the things I know he has in his locker. It always seemed to me he was shy of trying the long pass, the ball inversion, the through balls we've seen he deliver before. I don't get why he can't keep trying them and just resort to passing backwards. I hope he gets some confidence on him, I'm sure that will improve his consistency, but yeah, I agree 100% with you.

definitely, I said so in most of my posts. We took some important steps but we are far from solving all our problems and some of them are on José. It's just for someone who's been criticized exhaustively and sometimes beyond what he really deserves, one could expect some small positive reaction after the week we had. He's sending important messages imo about who gets to play and who doesn't. He's been using the youngsters more often now than in the past, he's trying to react and that counts. He still needs to fix the mess he created by himself in our RB, we still need to be better drilled - or look like we are drilled at all, but there have been insistent complaints about certain actions by him and he showed some response on a few of them, but the ones who criticize him to hell don't seem to be able to say it's a small step in the right direction. I know some want him out of the club - it's their prerogative, but a bit of recognition for actually doing some rights wouldn't hurt.

Finally watched it and I sort of I stand by my previous words, he wasn't impressive at all going forward. I mean, he was pressing and he tackled the heck out of Arsenal, but he had a Ramires performance with his passing, it was very sloppy and most times he tackled successfully and recovered the possession, he gave it back following the tackle with bad passing. In the second he was neater and he actually improved his passing considerably, but he still has a long way to go in terms of passing and going forward to his own standards. And I also feel the same way I did before about his impact in the team - although I was just being a smartass and now I can say from knowing, he does improve our midfield and we look way more solid with him there. He played with Matic and Fabregas, with RLC and all of them had an easier match to play helped by how Oscar plays. He's a facilitator for them and he makes us more compact and solid in the midfield and that's a wonder in itself as our main problem in midfield is lack of physicality and speed and Oscar as small as he is, makes a difference. I really hope he improves the sharpness - as I said it's expected to look like that when he got injured just after the season started, it'll take him a couple of weeks - and then there's another international break - for my complete dismay... but I think he brings a very positive impact to our midfield. He might not be the answer many people would like or prefer to have, but we play better with him, even when he's been sloppy as he's been today. I just hope he can improve his consistency levels this season...

no, being much quieter than recent weeks has.

thank you for the vid, he looked lively and consequently we looked far better than we did so far this season. People just can't expect us to move from crappy level to world class level, so it's step by step and Hazard seems to have taken several today

and that's what I meant when I said there are no saints in football. Gabriel was stupid to react, but normally the guys reacting are the guys who resort to the same kind of thing. Diego has to tone down, he will cost us eventually, maybe even now because we all know how much the FA loves us, but let's no pretend he's a criminal playing amongst nice, kind gentlemen.

well, I couldn't watch the match yet, but the very little I saw from here in those, he wasn't impressive at all. I read he was good defensively, offered space and cover for pivot players, and that's all he normally does well anyway. How did he play overall in your opinion?