Barbara

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.

most of those players left because they wanted, not because we asked them to (the list in the post you quoted). Some of them didn't fit the plan, as much as people love Mata, we had huge issues playing with him, just like we have huge issues in our midfield right now. The KdB saga have been well reported throughout the whole thing and even Wolfsburg manager - when Kevin was at his best in the club - said that Kevin is the kind of player that works well when things work the way he wants them to work, when he's got the power. Sorry, I don't want a player like that in my team, even if he's Messi or Ronaldo. All others left because they were rightfully benched for better players - except Luís. I continue to believe that's been the only mistake Mourinho's done with players leading them to leave the team and I think he's very close to lead Remy to do the same, which would account as another mistake. The 'I told so' party looks happy now - some of them - which is obnoxious as hell. Sorry, but they haven't told anything so. The team is completely off track right now, there might be some dressing room problem but fact remains all of those players except the keepers haven't showed up. They aren't performing and they don't look like trying hard to change it. did they predict Hazard to play shit? Cesc to play shit? Azpilicueta to lose his solidness? Matic to look shaky? It's so easy to say 'We've been saying since January how bad the team is' and since the end of January - when City had the same amount of points as us we won a EPL title. Things look terrible now, it's a really bad moment and I think our EPL season is already compromised and we may not play UCL the following season, but am I to suppose the 'I told so' party also predicted Azpilicueta, Matic, Hazard, JT - which were our most solid players to be playing so bad now? Or will they say that when the rest is so bad there's nothing they can do? If I were to mention their individual mistakes in just five matches this post would be much longer. Yes, Cesc had a bad patch, but wasn't the 'I told so' party convinced it was because he can't perform in second halves of seasons? When some people pointed other things around they came barking this half-arsed excused as if it was gospel. Well, why aren't they saying it now? Oh because it's now the first half of the season, so they decided to point out what few had refused to acknowledge: he's slow and doesn't offer the physicality in the midfield. It worked for many months, it could work again just like that. The thing is the system isn't working, no player is working, the manager isn't working, even the computer isn't working. It's a collective things (people) gone wrong thing and then we're in this form. But let's replace Cesc doesn't play in the second half for a new more fitting one: José Mourinho doesn't stand longer than 2 seasons, it's a 3-season curse (or inability, you decide the term). Sorry, many points are valid, but there's no much self-entitlement, and big egos going on (which is SOOOOOO amusing when said people are slamming mourinho for having a big ego) that is hard to take some people seriously. Also, if we're out of UCL for a season, if we don't win bullocks this season, it won't be the first, second or even tenth time in the history of this club. It's not the end of the world. We rose to the world's football elite very quickly and even if we momentarily fall off of it, it won't be the end of the world either. We can just easily climbed it up again. Ask anyone 12 years ago if they believed our rising to football elite would be as fast as it had been and they would laugh hard in your face and call you delusional. If we did it once, I don't see why we couldn't do it again from a much better 'starting' point right now, have things gone to the worst. The overreaction is still overboard by how far some people are taking this. And if by losing the football elite badge would mean losing some sort of fans, I'm all for it and I'll embrace it with all my heart. With quantity there's always a drop in quality, so I wouldn't mind that at all. Jose is making a lot of mistakes, he still has my support and it's his mess to fix. If he notices he can't fix it, he should be the one to step down. The players are so poor right now, that's almost second hand embarrassment, it's also their mess to fix and if they can't find it within themselves the right motivation to play and defend this shirt as they should (and as they have been doing) they can also write down their transfer request. All of them will go away at some point, but Chelsea will stay, even if it's not at the top and while I won't be too happy about it, I won't love the club any less. But I don't believe what's happening right now jeopardizes what we've accomplished at all. We may take a setback, but we'll be at the top again soon after it, if it even happens in the first place. So, the overreaction is really unnecessary. It has happened with the biggest historical teams in the world, what made people believe we were to be immune to that? And most of them came to the top again...

It is. Oscar is a phenomenon... every average player and their mother are discussed in his thread and he's discussed in every other player's thread as well. If they aren't hating on him, they're praising some third level player... There are some posters that are fair, but in general, it's all just petty discussion here and everywhere.

I feel like such a bad fan now... How could I forget the Happy One is happy after every match. It feels like I don't even know my manager... that should be the second of the list - after he blames someone.

I didn't even bother to read them, I know he'll blame someone, say we deserved better and that his players were amazing. Did I miss anything or got anything wrong?

The best match we played so far he's featured - which was against the Swans. but seriously, we can't hope Oscar is going to solve it. First he isn't a fantastic player, he's very, very good imo (clearly) when in form, but he isn't the kind of player that turns a team around. Also we don't have a clue which form he will be when he comes back. But as said above, it's hard to be any worse than the ones playing now...

yep. I'm disappointed with his choices, but it seems like he works hard, but not what should be worked. We look like a team that hasn't been drilled in anything. We look poor in all three zones of the pitch. We have no unit, organization, style, anything. Blaming him for playing Ivanovic is the easy way to show how poor he's been. We look exactly the opposite of what we were last season around this time. We were still organizing our defense, but those were individual mistakes, not the lack of everything we see now. It seems he's been worrying too much about too many things - many of them which aren't even his problem - and not focusing in the one that is his problem alone: train the team properly. Why do we look so insipid? because the players are poor? That's just one aspect. Even poor players show through their poor playing they have drilled something in training sessions. We look completely lost. Like a bunch of players put together. If one tried to use a word to define our defense, midfield and attack what word (other than mess) could they come up with? Teams have philosophies, and whether they're bad or good is up to discussion, but we look like nothing. Every time we defend in defense or midfield, we make transition from defense to midfield and midfield to attack and every time we attack we look a different way. Sometimes we press, sometimes we don't, sometimes we play a low block, sometimes we don't, sometimes we transition exchanging passes, sometimes we move the ball quickly forward. Sometimes our striker is out of the box, sometimes he's inside, sometimes our wingers infiltrate, sometimes they don't. We never shoot outside the box (today was the exception). Actually this season we barely shot. We look clueless in all sort of set piece, but especially lost in our corners. This is a team that hasn't been drilled and that's much worse than playing Ivanovic. For that José should be held responsible more than anything else and for that he should consider resigning if he doesn't come up with answers, that's his main job after all.

too many players badmouth him and say he's a completely classless manager. I'd stick with Klopp, but I haven't given up on José yet. I'm deeply disappointed though

Ancelotti is a poor manager... simple as that. He's a gentleman, polite, nice, but horrible tactician, he stopped in time and he would actually be a downgrade in terms of tactics although I'm sure he'd make the atmosphere good again. But those atmosphere changes are just for very, very, very short time (months) and then the shortcomings start popping up. I know playing Iva is ridiculous, but we have no idea how Baba is going to fit in - or if he will. Not using Luís properly last season - which led him to want to go, is José biggest mistake regarding our FBs. All Chelsea fans thinking Baba is the answer or salvation, show how desperate we are. I agree, it's hard to be worse than Iva, it doesn't mean there will be real improvement with Baba. Mourinho made an assessment mistake with Luís AND a bigger one with Iva.

that's the thing... the problems from last season aren't this big. There has been problems, many people pointed them out. Let's not pretend we played this bad last season. The players look disinterested. It's like they're resting in their laurels (winning the league) and won't bother. Further proof of that is if they all sudden show up in the UCL. Mourinho made mistakes then and now, but he isn't the only problem. That's an ignorant statement and giving the players any excuse for their behavior is a bigger one. They're very well paid by the club, they SHOULD at least show up.

no, thank you. All that said, Jose has been performing worse than our players... and that's saying a lot. He needs to figure things out. I don't believe we should sack him, but if he fails to solve it, he should resign. It's the right thing to do. You support the manager, the club will look like idiots firing someone they just gave a contract renew. The only noble thing to do is resignation, although I'm not saying right now. He needs to figure his shit out as much as the players do. We don't have anyone in form in the team, starting from our manager.