He scored twenty two goals last season in a poor Chelsea side. He does seem to have regressed this year though.

Only 8 of those 22 were in the league though. If only his PL goals per game ratio mirrored his more credible European one we'd all be happier.

Once again you are talking about results, while all along i'm talking about style of play.

Maybe 99.9% of Chelsea don't give a toss about boring football and do only care about winning, but i will only ever be honest and say what i think about what i want to see.
I've seen many fans of other clubs say they'd NEVER want their team to play like that, and that include the vast majority of Real Madrid fans who couldn't wait to see the back of Jose. Were all those Real fans loyality put into question?
Managers who'd never send their team out to play like that.

I'm not going to support a manager who slags off a manager for parking a bus then go and do that himself.
Indeed, West Ham had more posseison at the Bridge than we had at Anfield.

^ It's only boring football in your opinion, Dixon. Just because you might find some people that agree with you doesn't make it a fact. Personally I don't enjoy watching Guardiola's style of football, but I accept some people do. Horses for courses.

You're entitled to your opinion, but once you've repeated the same one as much as you have, it becomes very tedious in itself. We all get that you don't like Mourinho, but he's staying for the foreseeable future, so if you don't like it then take a break from watching us.

Yep, People like different things, Last season for me was the worse ever as a Chelsea fan, The rel/ship between Chelsea fans and the board was a far as it ever had been the atmosphere was so bad at times I was thinking do I really want to renew my season ticket, I was getting into the ground just in time for kick off which has not been the case since I was a kid, It was everything I hated about modern football. It was a chore to go football but this season has been totally different, I have only just noticed we are approaching our final home game for the season when last season I was happy.

The result tonight will not bother me really, I am just really looking forward to it, Even with the tube strike and the hassle its going to cause me, I am heading off soon even though it prob only take me a hour where as last season if we had a game tonight and there was a tube strike I more then likely would not have gone

I value hard work from my players over everything else and this season you can really see the players from the first team to the bench players have really worked hard, The performance against Liverpool at the weekend with only a few days prep was a what other fans think about Chelsea, perfect example of that, Kalias who had minutes of football this season was a major part of keeping the best player in the league to half chances.

What other fans expect from their teams means jack sh*te to me, That's them and their business.

We more then likely wont win anything this season and that's fine, While we did not come first we was close, I rather finish 2nd/3rd in a race and minutes behind the winner then a hour like we did last. We tried our very best this season and that's all I can ask

Looking forward to tonight. Don't care how we play, all about the result.
This is why we wanted Jose back. To get us competing for the big trophies.

Why do you care so much what ex-players, radio presenters and fans of other clubs think ? Thats just bizarre mate. I love the fact they hate how we play.
Chelsea is a far happier place now than last season. We don't managers that divide and rule.
As someone else suggested, take a break from Chelsea cos Jose is going nowhere.

I was there when we were really shit, playing in front of 10,000 and nearly going into the 3rd division.
I was making 200 mile round trips in mid week to watch us play a load of crap against a load of crap, then getting home and having a couple of hours sleep before getting up for work.
How dare you say to me i should take a break just because i don't kiss the ass of Jose!

If i hate what i seeing on the pitch then i will say so!

The-don1.
Re your comment that you value hard work above everything else from players.

You see, this is where i again different from you and others.
Hard work from players is something i expect and demand! It should be taken for granted!
I certainly don't want to see 'fancy dans' standing there with their hands on hips waiting for someone to pass them the ball. There is no room for lazy SOB's in modern day football!

Yeah yeah yeah, weren't we all mate.

Say what YOU think then, but don't bore us with everyone else's opinion that you have heard on the radio.

If you don't want to take a break then why not move into the Liverpool thread.
They will LOVE you there

I don't think you can take the amount of preparation and effort and time a performance like we saw at the weekend needed.

It seems to me people think nowadays defensive football is "easy" when its actually not. Looking at the game I think the Chelsea players worked harder preparing for that game in the 3 or so days we had then Liverpool had in the weeks they had to prepare for it.

When people compare West Ham's display to Chelsea its taking a very simplistic view, If one of our players made a mistake like the two Liverpool's players did for the first goal West Ham would not have scored. Ours is more about a balanced team and I think its the right way to go, I think any top team that lets in over 35 goals is very unbalanced (more so if goals scored is double what they have let in).

We created some very good chances against Liverpool (the header from the corner for example and Ash's early effort) yet while at the same time ensuring Liverpool made as few as possible. We kept Liverpool from playing their game (if you look at the efforts they made though out the game they was very unLiverpool like) while sticking to our plan, while yes that is not "modern football" since that is all about "moments" in a game which they can show after the game and in highlight packages in the evening, Jose's way is to produce 90 minutes all being at the very same high level.

For me a good game is when you struggle to name a man of the match or where 10 people who all watched the same game with the same view all disagree who should get it, Modern football is more about it being very simple picking that guy.

I could not pick anyone from the players at the weekend who was head above everyone else, We produced a great performance without it being about one player. IMO Gerrard went on a one man war after the poor play that lead to our first goal and that is something I would hate to see a Chelsea player do, I would rather they stuck to their job in the TEAM. Its a team sport and I want to see a team performance

Match day nerves already. Half hoping we don't start JT as I worry he's pushing himself to make this game and won't be at his best. Would mean trusting David Luiz and Gary Cahill at CB, but it worked well 2 years ago. Also not sure if we should start Hazard or Eto'o. Ba has done a good job leading the line and Hazard might be better coming of the bench if we need something. No idea how we're going to set up, but buzzing and looking forward to it

I think it's because the majority of your posts appear to be motivated by your pathological hatred for Mourinho.
Were we playing shit football during his last spell with us ? I certainly don't remember it that way.
We were strong in defence, with probably the best back four in the Premiership. The Carvalho/Terry pairing was one of the best I've ever seen. We had a fantastic midfield that was a mixture of power and guile. Makelele turned the holding role into a work of art, and Michael Ballack is one of the greatest post-war players Germany has produced. Frank Lampard was regularly scoring 20+ goals a season and on his way to becoming a club legend. Up front we had the genius of Robben, the tenacity and quick feet of Duff, and the power and sheer willpower of the remarkable Drogba.
Was that all boring shit ?

Mourinho arrived back and needed to take a close look at the players already with the club. Obviously he knew some of them, but he probably wanted to see where they would fit in his future plans. I don't agree with everything he's done, I hated it when Mata left, I aso think we should have gone in for a striker and a DM player last summer.
But I repect Mourinho and what he achieved in the past, he's building his own team and from past experience, I trust him to get it right.

Extra time would be a problem if we start Hazard, Terry, and Eto'o. I don't trust Luiz at CB, so Terry has to start if he's up to it, but the other 2 should be on the bench.

Reports suggesting we're about to sign Paulinho from Spurs.

Strange move if it's true. He looked good at first, but I can't say I've been too impressed with him this season.

Yes, I'm more nervous than usual as well. I would dearly love to see us get to the final, a loss there would obviously be disappointing but it would remain a fantastic achievement.

If Mourinho decides not to risk Terry, I don't think we would play Luiz at CB, he will be needed in DM. Azpil will again move to RB with Ivanovic and Cahill as the CB pairing.
I'm not so sure about Hazard, if he brings him on later and he breaks down, he will have to "sub a sub"..not something any manager likes to contemplate. Same with Eto'o, he's better starting in my opinion. He won't get more than 60 minutes anyway, the legs aren't up to it any more. It's a very tricky situation, glad I'm not picking the team.

I forgot Ivanovic is available for tonight. No need to worry about Luiz at CB then (I hope).

If Ivanovic is back we're pretty much full strength squad wise. You'd imagine the guys who start would be Jose's first choice 11 then.

Yes, I was quite keen on him before he moved to Spurs. But he's had a very mixed season. I suppose you could say the same for the entire Spurs team though, but as a box-to-box player is he a vast Improvement over Ramires ?
Fernandino has proved a better buy, he was another on our radar for a while.

Not far short, but it depends how genuine these fitness reports are. Could we be playing mind games with Atletico ?

Not sure what the point would be. We need to win tonight. Other than Hazard, most of our personnel are interchangeable. Maybe Schurrle for Willian and Ramires/Mikel in midfield rather than David Luiz. I'm guessing the Cech injury wasn't as bad as initially thought, but you'd still think a dislocated shoulder would need more than a week to recover from. Eto'o or Ba? No real idea who we'll start with.

That is a weird one. Matic, van Ginkel, Mikel and Ramires are the closest we have to him and I can't see any of them leaving to make room. Maybe Spurs/his agent are touting for a buyer and we've been mentioned to increase interest.

Mikel is suspended (along with Lampard of course) and Cech is definitely out. It was a dislocation and he didn't really "train" as such. If Terry, Hazard and Eto'o really are fit, it's not far short of our first team line up. Lack of cover in central midfield would be a worry.

Cech's told reporters he's fit for tonight.

Somebody's messing with us

Really ? Yesterday's reports were completely different. They said he was doing nothing with his right arm, and holding it very "carefully".