Barbara

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?

Although we should always take managers' word with a grain of salt, Mourinho said with all words he gave Remy minutes because he earned them...Falcao was available in the bench, wasn't he? As you said, for 8 minutes when we were more interested in keeping possession, Mourinho could easily pick Falcao for that too.

Good to read he had a decent match and hilarious to read that Arsenal wasn't set up to explore the biggest liability in the world of football. It doesn't mean Mourinho isn't held responsible for this situation. If we can't play the bench player because he isn't good enough, it's Mourinho's fault because we had a great replacement that has been underused. If we haven't signed someone who can cope with defending in England, still Mourinho's fault to an extent (but also the board) and if we have a capable replacement that just needs time and matches to prove his worth, this is even more Mourinho's fault. All that said I didn't expect - or even wanted Baba to play today. It wasn't the time for that. But if Mourinho doesn't give him more chances he won't ever develop to reach any potential he might have. So I hope we see him in COC and being given a few chances against certain kinds of opposition, especially playing at the Bridge.

Very happy he got a chance, although it shouldn't be something so rare that it makes me happy for happening. I just mentioned on Mourinho's thread that he's taking a couple of steps in the right direction and one of them is letting go of that Falcao obsession or whatever that was about and giving more chances to Remy. It isn't even about how well or bad he did today and Wednesday. He hadn't played one minute of football in over a month, not one minute of official football since the season started, so of course I don't expect him to set the world alight. It's about earning those chances and he's earned them last season. So I'm happy Mourinho is correcting some of his bad choices by playing Remy.

Watched some extended highlights, he didn't look impressive at all. But he lack of sharpness is expected after an injury following the first match of official matches. He should sharpen some, but I think it could be a big coincidence that ever since he came back our pivot players look better, no matter who they actually are? But we can't talk about balance. that's the forbid word because it's a big farce.

ESPN Brazil had exclusive cameras in the match today and caught most of both altercations. http://espn.uol.com.br/video/544319_veja-momento-em-que-gabriel-acerta-chute-em-diego-costa?target=ultimos Do I approve of this dirty ways? No, but I think people are way too moralist here anyways. This kind of thing - at least on my side of the globe - are somewhat common in a football match. Not the trying to rip another eye role, like he did with Kolschieny or whatever we spell his name. He shouldn't have done that. But if you think Gabriel hasn't said all kind of shit for him, you're mistaken. If you think players don't do it more subtly in basically every match, you're also mistaken. Diego takes it a bit too far imo, but he isn't the criminal some make him out to be. Just because others whisper their offenses instead of yelling them at the top of their lungs, it doesn't mean they're saints. He needs to cool down a little bit and I wish he would focus more on getting inside the box. I don't have much of a problem of him getting the ball out of the box sometimes, but that's not where he should be most of the time and as I team we need to force him to move there. Pass the ball around, to other people, to the real wingers (and now we have two of them in the team), force him to get inside the box, by not picking him out of it very often. I want him to tone down some of his dirty moves, but it doesn't mean there isn't a lot of dirty things being said there between players that we don't notice and the cameras don't catch. And there are a lot of hands, elbows, arms and fingers slipping there they shouldn't in a football match. He just needs to tone it down some, but let's not pretend football players are nuns out of habit.

Haven't watched any football today except City's last ten minutes and their highlights, but I'll say what really matters now without watching it. We won midweek, we carried on, two clean sheets in a row, the players are getting back their confidence, the pressure if lifting from the manager's shoulders (whether he addresses it or not, it is there) and we can start the path to the right direction. I don't think Mourinho is going to play the untouchable thing this season. The fact he's sticking with Iva is more about Baba not offering much of an improvement in defense than anything else imo. Still his mistake because he should have threatened Iva's position last season with a very capable Luís - who although had trouble adapting could now be much more important for us. Had Luís had more chances he would have stayed, but he felt like no matter how well he played or how bad Iva played, the latter would still play, so I understand why he wanted to leave and that's on Mourinho. Do I want to continue to see Iva? Of course not, but there's no point in throwing Baba - unready as he seems to be - in a derby, against our most bitter rivals while we're in terrible form. Iva must have been schooled harshly by Mourinho and his actions (as anyone's) speak louder than any words. He was benched on UCL - even if against a horrible team, Terry has been benched in important matches for us. So the message is clear for all players: they either earn their positions in the pitch or they can forget about playing. I think Mourinho will play Baba in the Cup and in a couple more of UCL matches and we'll see how fast he adapts and can handle it, but Iva knows there's a threat now and if he continues his shit show, he's going down. I made a joke about a picture of him looking really unhappy, but he probably really is. The threat isn't comfortable, he doesn't like it and that could be enough to make him play better or fasten up the process of replacing him (the latter all more likely than the former). But the writing is in the wall, as you guys like to say, and Mourinho has been sending the messages loud and clear. While he's still in fault for making Iva an untouchable last season, let's be calm about how he'll be displaced from the team. The players needed this. A comfortable and big (scoreline wise) win midweek, a derby won in the weekend, both with clean sheets after a defensive nightmare start (that has also been written in the all, we were overachieving big time with our defense). The players need confidence and the manager to feel the pressure off at this moment. It doesn't mean there aren't problems beyond that. There are. Even Ivanovic x Baba x Luís is a problem that needs to be solved. There's no way Iva can continue to be a regular starter in our team for much longer and if Baba doesn't fit the bill (which I'm not saying he doesn't, but I think it's a bit delusional, wishful thinking and passionate to think José will just throw the guy in the team right now). We need to renew our defense. Old legs, slow legs, too dependable and protection-needed players. We need more Azpilicuetas (even though he's also taking some time to get sharp). We're too big for a defense with such liabilities. We need new blood, we need quality, but we also may need a bit of time to make it happen. Even keeping Luís would have been a short time solution as he's 30 already and would start showing the same things we see with JT, for example, sooner or later. Hazard needed a good match and confidence, even if his goal is deflected (he shot enough times today and the one in the second half was decent). Cesc needed to start assisting again and he did in both games of the week, our defense as unreliable as it is, managed to get the week without conceding and that's how you build confidence and that's what we need the most now. We need Mourinho to get over some of his old ideas, we need the players to play better, but more than anything else, we need confidence to win, otherwise we won't turn it around. We took several steps in the right direction this week and I think Mourinho is starting to take a couple of steps too. Everything will be alright if things continue to be like this. And just because I am me and I can't resist, the amount and the tone in this thread compared to when we were losing is predictable and disappointing. Nobody has to like Mourinho, but as supposedly Chelsea fans is our job to support the manager and the players, even if we disagree about their choices, address their problems, etc. What bothers me a lot around here these days is that there's a disproportional emphasis when we do bad or don't get results and a shy reaction when we do well or get the results. I don't have problems with people questioning Mourinho's choices, but I can't help but feel many here are happier with being 'right' than seeing the team regroup and do well. They prefer Chelsea to do bad, just they're right, than Chelsea to do well and make them endure Mourinho and certain players. You don't need to come here and say everything is glorious now. It isn't and the sane people won't say it, even if they like Mourinho, but a little bit of relief, recognition for important steps being taken could (and maybe even should) be found here too. But I suppose some people are just eager for us to lose points again or for things to go wrong. At least they will be able to say they told us so. I'm not sure any team in the world needs this kind of fans, but all teams in the world have them anyway. But it's really predictable that now that we won a derby, that we didn't concede goals, that Mourinho and the players found a way to win that people are just silent or nitpicking about other stuff. They seem completely incapable of acknowledging the important and good result, and rejoice about it is probably a crime in their personal rules for living.

Just saw City's highlights on TV. Great efforts from Adrian, but the way West Ham watched Kevin take that shot without NO ONE in front of him, at the edge of the box reminded of how Chelsea have been defending. Very poor defending there and a very nice shot by Kevin. the second half was all City and West Ham held them back brilliantly. and biggest lol in the world on City and Arsenal. Both predictable in Europe and Arsenal also playing us. Crisis averted we'll gain the confidence we need to start clicking, but there are problems that will need José's intervention to be fixed. Some things just aren't tolerable anymore and we can't afford another sacrificial season and honestly might not even be lucky enough to draw so many results without actually earning them in a way.

Arrived home. Chelsea won, clean sheet against the one that really mattera-Arsenal and City lost. I can't wait to read the posts in the threads all around here today Haven't seen any matches though. I'll comment later on other threads things I think without watching it. I'll find a replay later today

Actually I misread his post. I understood something completely different. But thanks for answering I know coutinho really well to predict which kind of game/season to expect from him 90% of times...

What happened?

This picture is hilarious he looks like one of my kids after I tell them they'll miss 5 minutes of playground time because they misbehaved. It looks like someone took all his toys away, he looks funny. He should get used to the feeling of being benched, but from what I've watched, Baba didn't give me confidence he'll displace Iva any time soon. This is a nightmare.

Pat is such a fanboy... At least someone on TV says some of the things the most delusional people in TC say here too, that Oscar is a key player for us The interview was prior to the game I suppose?

Two quiet threads today... post match and this one. I read people saying we would barely scrap a result today prior to the match. He does many changes, we win comfortably and the posts still deviate. What matters is Arsenal and Macabbi was awful. I have doubts Iva will be left out of the team though. Baba didn't look comfortable enough defending against such awful team. I think we'll have to endure Iva simply because now we lack someone decent enough to replace him *sighs* if he knew what TC is, he'd say they don't read papers or TC

Smart and ridiculously beautiful. All I could do was drool watching that video. [emoji7] [emoji7] [emoji7] [emoji7] [emoji7] [emoji7] Azpilicueta who?

and it does look like a lot of dressing room problems there, doesn't it? Seriously, I don't believe we have dressing room issues or players turning against him. Unhappy players is normal in football, if you don't play you're unhappy, if you play bad and lose, you're unhappy. that's not a big deal. I hope things are fine within the squad and we just have to solve the tactical and technical problems.