I will seriously lol if by the end of the season Mikel has more goals in the PL than our strikers combined.


It was interesting listening to Mou's post match comments. He talked about Hazard always having his back to the goal when he receives the ball and how Ivan is always looking to cross the ball when we only have Torres to score in the air. He also said we don't have Drogba anymore so we need to stop the long diagonal passes and start playing the ball on the floor with short movements. He shares the same problems that we see and it's good to know that it's being worked on.

Mata and Luiz still have a future here. If you don't want a low block and you want attacking football; Luiz should be a nailed on starter. His range of passing is needed if we want to open up teams who just sit deep. As for Mata, well he needs to 'adapt' to Mou's style first. The big issue with Mata is that he doesn't recover the ball quick enough if we lose posession. We now want to play at a higher tempo. Can he improve this aspect of his game? Mata is a professional and I'm sure he will try to prove Mou wrong. Once Mata can build on this aspect of his game, I wouldn't be surprised to see Hazard/Oscar/Mata as our attacking trio just like under RDM but this time, we won't be conceding as much.

Result over in manchester today isnt surprising to me. Man Utd havent been that convincing this season and i still dont think they have the best squad in the league, if you look beyond RVP and Rooney there isnt much else there part from a set of "good" but not "great" players.

Man City on the other hand have a brilliant squad(best in the league IMO), and while they havent kicked off with a bang i think it was only ever going to take one big game to show that they are real challengers, even favorites for the title. Us and Man Utd have a long way to go yet. Arsenal are the outsiders but i cant see them lasting the whole season on their current form.

Good score for us at the Etihad right now. City will drop more points against lower teams than United will IMO.

Who was in a crisis again? LOL.

I wonder if the media will be on at Moyes this week like Jose last ?

^
Yes, Man City have been a joy to watch today. If only we could find a player like Yaya Toure, he has given a master class in the central midfield role.

Doubt it.

Leaving Hernandez and Kagawa on the bench and bringing on Cleverley is just plain stupid.

So many average players surviving at the top clubs nowadays. A decade ago the likes of Young, Cleverley and Welbeck wouldn't get anywhere near the United team.

Looks like the engineer has got his calculations right at last.

It doesn't look like we missed much by not getting Fellaini either, I can't make out what position he's supposed to be playing. Surely he should have been picking up Toure, but he's been allowed the freedom of the park.
Great game to watch though.

Absolutely cracking game today. This is the future for united under Moyes.

After yesterday, if we still had rafa we'd have lost. Under Jose we still won by 2 playing poorly.

A good weekend all in all.

It just goes to show how fickle fans/media are really, when you are winning everything is fine and everyone thinks we are doing well. Lose a game or two and suddenly there is acrisis and the manager is under big pressure. We had a blip there but hopefully thats all it was.

Moyes will have a lot of pressure on him now, he needs to win the next game or the fans will be on his back

The fans are already on his back.

Still no wins against any of the top sides.
Down in 8th place.
Only taken 47% of the points available.

I think there is an opportunity for that team to fall apart. Its going to be a real dog fight for them, they now look very beatable indeed.

Instead of "lesser" teams resting players and rolling over (like they did in the fergie era), i can see every team giving them a real go now.

Befoe todays games we were top of the table, but i couldn't be more unimpressed with everything i'm seeing and hearing from our manager, and winning yesterday doesn't change a thing for me either!

He's talking absolute shite!
He's talking about us playing better football with a higher tempo, yet under him the football is boring, the tempo has dropped and he's ruining Mata and Hazzard before our very eyes and Luiz has gone backwards bigtime.
It's significant he prefers mediocre rubbish like Schurrle and Mikel over flair like Mata and Luiz.
I'll bet my house he'll go to Spurs with his anti- football shit and park the Bus hoping to scramble a point.

The bored to tears look on RA face says it all.
It was a mistake to bring back Jose and i want him out asp!!!

Just read there is no call back clause with Lukaku in January which puts added pressure on Eto'o. Torres and Ba to start scoring now. Baffling and annoying, but still keeping the faith that Jose knows what he's doing. Also the stuff about us no longer having Drogba so having to change our style of play, Lukaku is very Drogba-like in his overall play and excels at holding up balls and creating stuff so seemed a ready made solution. Think I would be happier if we had at least given him a game and he had been awful, but to not try him and then see his bravery for the winner for Everton this week is grating. Was at the match this week and it was very tense and uncertain, didn't really enjoy it till the Mikel goal even though we were winning. I have a feeling we're going to have a lot of that unless something clicks with the team.

Don't mean to butt in, but as a fan, hope it's ok.

I think Jose/Emanalo didn't want to put the amount of pressure on Lukaku this season that a striker gets just from being Chelsea's main striker.

He's still young and he needs to play ALL THE TIME with freedom. He's not going to get that at Chelsea and so I think the management just wanted to give him another season of playing with no pressure and building his confidence.

Also think we're never going to play by lumping it to the big man again. It's not what Roman wants, he wants Barcelona, he wants tiki taka and Jose is trying to provide that whilst still being utterly solid at the back.

I also think with Mata, Jose is trying to make him a better player. It will either work or we'll sell him. I know he's been our best player for 2 seasons, but we haven't won the EPL in that time and so I think Jose is trying to do the same thing he did with Joe Cole as in, prove to me you're brilliant and you'll become an integral part of a championship winning side. I hope so anyway.

Finally, it's really good to see Jose on tv talking tactics with Sky and giving really insightful interviews. Compare that with Moyes, who basically said United were second best. We know that, you lost' but why were you second best, what are you going to change, what were you trying to do?

Sorry for the ramble, as you were.

This is all getting rather boring now.

The press (and some fans) obession with Mata is just insane. Yes he was a great player for us but anyone watching him can see his game is all about counter attacking. Yes its very exciting to watch and makes for great highlights on MOTD and allows the (so called) expert pundits to get a hard on over, But he has massive gaps in game if you want a team that can compete for the title (but very good for cups). In 2013 and more so if you are a attacking player you need to be able to play in a number of different places across the pitch,

Mata reminds me so much of Joey Cole in that if you play HIS game then all is good and wonderful, If his game is not working then your screwed because everything is set up towards him.

From what i have seen so far is Oscar a all round better "number 10"? Yes he might not have the skills Mata has but he has things in his locker not that Mata does not have as I think a player of his standard has the abilty to do it all BUT things that he choses not to do. Thats my issue with him its not abilty its the attatuide that I think is the issue here, The refusel to take on board new ideas and methods etc, Something that has held Chelsea back for the last 6 or 7 years

Are we going to win the title? Nope, Are we going to win the Champions League? Nope does it matter? Not in the slightest, We have been living on luck for the last 2 or 3 season and that either was going to run out or Chelsea as a club would have to change, Now I would rather we had a spell like we are having now though our own plans then just our luck coming to a end. Can we improve on last years points total? Yep, Can we get futher into the Champions League? Yep (well we could not do much worse ha) and that's all I was ever hopeful for in the next season or so.

As for Lukaku? A number of factors came into it I think, One we entering a world cup year and his main rival Benteke is playing week in and week out and scoring goals for fun two we are trying to change alot of things at the club and during the bad results its going to get tough down at Chelsea with the attacks from the media and certain sections of fans, Having a "Drogba" (all hail the Drog king of the world ruler of the universe) like player around (although someone I think will in the future have more skill then Drogba) is not going to be that helpful, Also I dont think he ready yet, The Penalty to me showed complete lack of experence, If Torries,Eto,Ba was taking that penalty then the fans and the press would have been after him, He is at a better club then he was last season, Will get tough games, Will be pushed that little bit more and has a very very good manager and a really good set of fans behind him, A good season with Everton a decent World Cup and we have a nugget of gold on our hands, At the moment he is not that he needs a little bit more work and polishing and we just dont have time to do that at the moment.

SAF became a expert of bringing changes into the Utd slowly and surely, Adding one or two players here, Taking one or two players away from somewhere else, We did not do that we tried to either make no changes or wholesale ones in one go and this is why we are where we are today, Bad management from the Board (and Roman), bringing in wrong players and managers, putting Champions League glory before the league etc, We tried to win the tour de france when we had only just taking the stablisers off our bike.

Will I moan and bitch about certain results? Aye, Will I call the players a bunch of usless C*nts? Aye but at the moment do I think in time (and I not talking next season) we will be back better then ever before and this time become the club we should have been 5 years years ago, At the moment (and I say that because after 30 years of following Chelsea I know at our club things can change by the time I finish work at 6pm) I really do think so

Wow, don't think this is the thread for me.

The thing is, Jose is looking at what's missing from Mata's game and punishing for him for it, yet overlooks the massive flaws in the games of Mikel, Ramieres, Schurrle and others.
He prefers Schurrle, simply because he's a but quicker and does a more running. In Jose's way of thinking that is bringing more to the table than scoring 20 goals, lots of assists, style, flair and entertainment.
He cannot say he wants to play a different, more stylish way, then pick players who simply do not have the technical ability to play that way over players who do have that kind of ability.
I'm finding his thinking muddled and downright bizzare!

I do not want a bunch of ball jiggling circus clowns playing for us. Indeed, the player we have been crying out for in the past few years is another Makalele or Essien type, who were far from stylish players.
Jose will not change his ways now. He will produce functional football and does not give a toss about anything else but winning a match. He was sacked for this first time around and will be again!!!

Always good to see new posters, even if I disagree with practically every word.

I don't understand the reasoning behind the decision to loan out Lukaku. He wouldn't have been our automatic choice as striker, same as he's not going to be at Everton, and wasn't last season at West Brom. He would have got games with us and been surrounded by better players.
Players develope at different ages, and Lukaku is an early developer. Anderlecht are not complete no-hopers and he made 98 first team appearances for them, scoring 41 goals and making 18 assists. That was at 17/18 years old !
Who knows ? Perhaps he would have gone on to establish himself as our first choice striker ( the opposition for that spot is not great) but I think he was ready to be given a chance.

Your comments about Mata leave me bewildered (same with The_Don in his post above)
Mata was clearly our best outfield player over the past two seasons. He's scored goals and he's created goals. He would walk into practically any other Premiership side (with the possible exception of Man City) tomorrow. I'm at a loss to know what exactly he has to "prove" to Mourinho ?
He may not be fully fit, he may be suffering a drop in form, but Mata is the finished article. He's recognised as one of the best attacking midfield players in Europe, it just so happens that at present he's just one of many, in Spain alone.
I'm sorry, I've got to say this..comparisons with Joe Cole are just nonsense. Technically, Joe Cole was a great little player, but there was rarely any end product. He was infuriating to watch sometimes, forever running up blind alleys. We were forever waiting for him to make that move to the next level, but it was never going to happen. Mata is already at that level, that's the difference.

Lastly, I've got to take you to task about the mistaken idea that we used to "lump the ball up to Drogba". Remind me of a game when we used those tactics, because I certainly can't remember any. Generally we played with a blend of power and skill combined, the players we had in our team under Mourinho previously are a testimony to this. It's become a kind of myth that we played dull, defensive football in that period..that's nonsense, check out our goal scoring record or watch a few of the games again.

But they are different players in different positions.

He can only work with what he has been given, If he was playing either of those two in Mata's place I would agree.

Its up to players to prove him wrong either on the pitch when given the chance or on the training pitch

He picking the best players out the players he has in what he feels is their best positions. He feels that even with Mikel,Ramires etc bad points that we dont have other players who offer more/different or better. We all know the manager is not in charge of buying players no matter what he or the club says.

To be honest all I care about is winning a match, Its a sport after all and we dont ask ask any other sports to be "entertaining" apart from WWE. Does it make for great football?

Not at all but its not just Chelsea have become so obessed with "the style" part of them the game alort of clubs have and for the last 2 seasons (maybe even 3) we have the poorest league since the premership has started. Chelsea (and most of the bigger teams) need to go back to basics. Its all very exciting and wonderful for Sky but from a purely sports POV some of the football has been downright poor, Defending and passing to a player anywhere even remotely near you have become a lost art.


The bad choices made by the club made Jose the only person the job could have been given to. We had painted ourselfs into a corner and there was only one way out.


Will he be sacked? More then likely but thats down to (and so is where we are now) how badly we as a club has been run. We have taken Romans money and enjoyed the stuff its bought us we can not say we only want the good stuff and not the bad stuff that goes along with it,

This is the price we have paid for league titles etc, Has it been worth it? If I honest and look back to what we was doing before Roman and if Bates could have found a way of balancing the books then I dont know, Sometimes I think it was and sometimes I think not BUT if Bates could not have balanced the books (more then likely due to the mess moneywise we was in) then for me any Chelsea is better then no Chelsea.

We are at a crossroads (again) and at least this time we are trying to make changes (no matter how small they are) as in the past we have not made any attempt, Is it going to work? Who knows but we got to dance to the pipers music

Thank you for the nice welcome and I don't think I made myself very clear. I was looking at the situation how I think Jose sees it and has commented on, I don't necessarily agree but I'm a fan so I'm going to support him.

I think Mata is amazing and would be first on my team sheet every time. But how close have we got to winning the Premiership in the last few years with him as the main attacking force? There's obviously something that Jose thinks his missing from his game and until he does whatever it is that Jose wants him to do then he's not getting in the team. Do I think it's fair? No. Do I know why or what it is? Not really. But do I think Jose knows more than me? Yes. But he thinks Oscar is a better no 10 and to be fair the guy has been outstanding this season.

Jose is going to live or die by the results and I think he's earned the right to play the team he wants.

Do I think he's being fair to Mata? Hell no, not when Hazard doesn't seem to be doing much more than Mata

In regards of Joe Cole, I just meant that back then Jose did the stuff he's doing to Mata now to inspire him and make him a much better player, to add to his game and to show him what he could be. Do I think Mata is the same? No, mata is not a fancy Dan, he's a great team player who works hard for the team, but it's the only reason I can see for treating him this way.

I hope Jose has a plan and I hope it's a good one but I do think he's being forced between a rock and a hard place by Emanalo and Abramovich.

As regards Lukaku, when Jose first came to Chelsea, we had Robben and Duff, they were crazy quick wingers who whipped the ball in for Didier. We don't have those players now and we don't have the players to play that way, although I think maybe Schurrle, Moses and Willian could. We drive at teams centrally more often than not. We don't really cross the ball in much, the full backs don't seem to be getting forward to deliver crosses all that often, all of which could help Lukaku.

I love Lukaku, he would be second name on my team sheet after Mata, but Jose gets paid to make these huge decisions (although I think a lot of the decisions to do with loans and transfers are Emanalo's) and I just have to hope and pray he he gets them right.

Yes Mata is the finished article for a player in last seasons style, He is not a finished article in the style our number 10 is requested to play in. If he changes his way of playing to fit into the current plans then he will play. IMO its not because he can not play that way but does not want to, If that is so and I would say this about any player then sorry he dont play.

He has to prove himself by playing the role given to him by the manager, He did that last season in the role given to him and now is being asked to play a different role.

That's fair enough. Like you, I'm perfectly willing to sit back and let Jose do the job.
But it still puzzles me. It's not as if Mata was a Berbatov "type" of player, strolling around and playing a bit when he feels like it.
Mata hasn't got the energy of a Ramires or even an ageing Lampard, but he's far from lazy. He puts a hell of a lot of work in, but just doesn't cover the ground some other more athletic players do.
I've actually always agreed with the Mourinho philosophy, teams should defend from the front. Both Hazard and Mata (and whoever is our striker) should be closing down the opposition as soon as we lose possession. It's one of the great strengths of Barcelona's game. Mind you, having Busquets and Alex Song in DM is rather a bonus as well.

Hardly a good score, if Kompany stays fit it means the best we can get is second.!

You really thought we would win the league this season?