I can see what you're saying, as I was sceptical of Mourinho returning, but what choice did we really have? We've exhausted a lot of the options and found that the grass usually wasn't greener. Who would you have brought in (realistically)?

You could have just stuck with Ancelotti. the best manager you've had.

That's with hindsight (and is debatable in any case). The question was what options were available to us at the time we re-appointed Mourinho?

I'm happy with Mourinho. Look at his post-match interview tonight, the guy actually addresses things the fans have seen on the pitch. He doesn't come out with the usual "rent-a-quote", he tries to explain his thinking. He clearly thought we should have done better, and told everyone why.
I've said I'm not happy to see Mata sidelined, but Mourinho must have his reasons. Jose sees him on a daily basis, perhaps he's not 100% fit ? Let's see how things work out.

Apparently Jose has given Rooney 48 hours to make his decision.

He should forget about Rooney and move on to other targets, be it Eto'o or whoever. If Rooney really wanted to leave he'd have made that clear by now surely.

Early last season you complained about Mata and Hazard not tracking back even though Hazard was doing so in every match.

Have you ever seen either de Bruyne or Schurrle play before the past week? I'll admit I haven;t seen much of Schurrle, but de Bruyne is a quality player who has more talent in one foot than Kalou has in his entire body.

As for the last bit, I really wish people in here would stop telling me to focus on other teams/supporters. I don't give a flying f**k what other people say about us, I care what I think about us and right now - despite the 7 points - I have the same concerns as others. I've hardly been shy about airing them so its not as if I'm some blinkered fool who thinks everything is perfect...I just don't see why you're so quick to write everyone off all the time. You don't like Jose, that's fine, but at least give the players a chance.

We have played three games, including the champions, and we are unbeaten.

The way the team was set up with 6 in midfield was designed to get us at least a draw. I dont like it, but i understand it. This is only Jose's 3rd game and he needed to make sure we didnt lose.

Now we are top of the league, we can build that confidence in the players and push on. Hopefully we can get a striker.

Indeed. Rooney's had all summer to think about it, so it's beyond me why he's being afforded more time.

Just had to get past this game - there was no way united could let rooney play against them so soon.

i hope we put in a sensible bid.

Mourhino is made for Chelsea full stop..........That said I thought Chelsea looked a bit tired last night,or not quite fit enough yet,or Praps needs freshening up with some new players.Chelsea didn't look quite good enough for me but sure Mourhino will sort it.

Its a sport, Entertainment is going to the Cinema or playing a board game or what ever shoot them up is popular at the moment with people who rather talk to people over the internet then go and met people. Its about getting the most points possible.

While yes Hazzard looked better under Jose the defending part of our game looked as awful as stuff from the 2nd divison. Jose has come in and started where all top teams are built from the back. We already are a vast improvement in that regards from last season, Once the defence is sorted he then can move on to the attacking side of play. He has the deal with the what ever manager that follows Rafa has had to deal with and thats going to take time.

Last season in the last 10 minutes I would have been walking around the pub nervous as hell and knowing Utd was going to score 2 goals in the last 5 minutes. This season I was sitting chatting to he barmaid as calm as anything, With 3 games played thats a good improvement in such a short space of time. Now if we talking about the same thing come Xmas I will be critisizing the team as much as anyone. But this early in the season? Have some concerns but am more relaxed about them as I have been in the past

Your Mourinho is absolutely off his Rocker leaving out Mata

One of the best players in the PL last season and he's warming up your bench

Oh we'll

Yep 7 points from 3 games, Its clearly not working, Am sure we would be top of the league if we played him

We were playing United at Old Trafford, I would happily have taken a point at five to eight last night. Draw away, win at home, that's title winning form against our main rivals.

It's nice to have that fixture out of the way so early in the season to be honest. Shame we've got such a long wait to play again after our Super Cup game.

Didn't say you wasn't doing well, but benching your best player is just.....strange, you could have done with him last night and who knows maybe had 9 pts, makes a difference

Was he fully fit?....we don't know....

What a bizaare game, but I must be weird, I don't mind watching the odd tactical game, 2 teams cancelling themselves out.

Mata isn't fully fit, though I would have liked to have seen him on for longer.

JT was immense, RVP was fairly invisible and seeing we had no strikers on the pitch, we had one more shot on target than Utd did.

Glad that fixture is out of the way and I cannot wait til transfer deadline day, all this speculation about Rooney and Mata is really getting on my t*ts.

It could have made a difference in that we dropped all 3 points just as easy.


Mata does not fit into the Chelsea team at the moment, Yes he a great player but our bench is full of great players. Jose has a system in mind and at the moment it excludes Mata. At the moment its very sucessful

Draw away was a good result for us. Not very exciting, but good. The clean sheet was a bonus and JT/Cahill looked solid together. I watched the match in the pub and the last 10mins at 0 - 0 were the most relaxed I've had in a while.
I'm a bit detached/ambivalent about who stays and goes with us now just as long as the team keeps clicking, including Mata, Luiz, Moses, Torres (please). Building up any one player as the best or a must start just makes you weak when that player has an inevitable drop in form, gets tired or has his head turned by rumours of his own brilliance. That's not a dig at Mata, who seems a genuinely nice guy and amazing talent, but just we shouldn't be relying on a moment of brilliance from any one player to win a match and star players just give the other 10 an excuse for failure.

Yep its about THE TEAM for me, We are not Liverpool or Spurs where its all about one player. The TEAM needs a certain type of player at the moment, If that means we lose a type of player we have more then one off then so be it. I not bothered what it does for the team that player goes to, I more concerned what the player coming to us brings to my team. Fans spend more time worrying about what other teams are doing then their own team at the moment

this "being scared to lose" thing is one of the most irritating things in football

I dont think anyone has meantion "scared to lose" but you sometimes have to look at the situation with a long term view. If Utd had lost that game with Jose being back,us after Rooney and it being Moyes first game at OT it could have created a massive storm that might have had a massive say in the rest of Utd's season. For Chelsea with where we are at currently going for a draw made sense from a tacical point for view. Yes we should go out wanting to win but its not a cup final where the W is the most important thing, We have showed we are a very different team defense wise last season and we have shown it is possible to stop Utd and RVP from scoring. In 5 or 6 games time the point might be very important

A fan in another thread spoke of Rooney being worth £50m cash PLUS Mata.

As Mata is currently valued at £39.5 million, it would make Rooney the worlds most expensive player.

Do all fans over-rate their best players in this way - possibly treble what is his correct real world value.

After 3 games, and Jose getting a point at OT and keeping a clean sheet, i am ok with our start. We were leaking goals last season by the bucketful. 1 in 3 conceded is acceptable at the moment.

A player is worth what someone is willing to accept and to pay.

Is Bale worth nearly 100m? Nope of course not but thats the money Real are willing to pay and Spurs are willing to accept.

Saureaz is Liverpools MVP and vitial for them to get as high up the table as possible so it will take maybe 50M to buy him.

IF Chelsea/Jose have come to the conclusion that Rooney is the type of player we need and the best player in that role available then we have to look at what value we put on that and what value Utd also put on that, If both parties agree that its a certain amount of money plus a player then thats the correct value.

Like in any business something is only worth what the person who selling and what the buyer is willing to accept,

A handbag to me is worth the coins in my pocket but to Victoria Beckham it might be worth a few grand