Cech; Ivanovic, Cahill, JT, Azpi; Ramires, Lampard; Hazard, Oscar, Willian; Eto'o

Schwarzer, Cole, Luiz, Mikel, Mata, De Bruyne, Ba


I'd agree that Mourinho has messed up Mata, but I wouldn't say Hazard is any different to last year. He has some good games mixed with some not-so-good. He needs to step it up. As for Lamaprd, no difference at all. Maybe you're just noticing it more now?

No Mata again? Sigh….

No problem with Willian starting, he had a decent game the other night so deserves the opportunity. I'd have left Hazard on the bench.

Any idea of how long Bertrand is out for?

Dunno what the injury is, but I'm sure he's out for a few weeks.
Can't say I mind too much....he's OK, but I want Azpiliqueta to remain with us, so he needs to play as much as possible.

Yes, Luiz has definitely taken a step backwards, I'm beginning to wonder if he's really suited to the Premiership. Perhaps it would be in his own interest to go ? I could see him leaving and becoming a legend in Spain.
It appears Mata has drawn the short straw. When he plays I don't see much difference to last season. He's always looking for that killer ball to open up defences, given a chance he will score goals and he works hard (but tackling was never his strong point ) There are so many clubs who would love a player like that, I can't see him staying if he's so obviously out of favour.
I don't think Hazard has been so effective so far this season. He wasn't entirely consistent last season, but I've seen fewer of those bits of sheer genius up to now..but it's still early days.
I think Lampard has been about the same. Mourinho has got him playing a more conservative game, but that's no bad thing in my opinion. Those two pivotal positions remain a problem but we're making the best of the players we have for now.

Hazard will become one of the very best players in the world. He is just learning, and looks like having a few bits of tough love from jose.

Impressed with fans who sat through the silence without disruption this time, previous years have made us look bad.

Whenever I see us playing in the poppy kit I am reminded of when we smashed United, makes me

Willian seems to like dropping deep, picking the ball up and advancing us right up the pitch.

edit

WBA are hacking our players down, ref doing nothing about it. Its another "park the bus" performance.

This is seriously shit.

Liverpool and Southampton both 3-0 up. Both going ahead of us at this rate.

Indeed.

Typical chelsea at the moment. Have plenty of the ball, look ok at the back and yet we just cannot offer anything up front whatsoever.

WBA are clearly playing for a draw. We play better against teams who want to play.

Finally quality from Hazard.

Eto'o robs the defender again - thats three now.

Why did he get a yellow card for the celebration though?

Dunno about the yellow.

Nice work from Hazard and Eto'o. Terrible match, but we go in with a lead. Have to hope it forces WBA to come at us in the second half.

Well that goal was a relief! Drab game till then.

Curtains for jol?

Was just going to post we all know whats coming next

Yeh, that was inevitable. Suddenly, our defenders are terrible in the air.

Awful defending in the 2nd half.

Why are they not bothering to jump?

Ba on for lampard. we are going 2 up front to try and get the win.

OscaR MOVING DEEPER and Ba goes up-front. We're going for it...

Oh FFS...

what a complete and utter mess!

mistake by cech, bad keeping there

WAKE THE **** UP! Come on Chelsea we can still win this.

Mikkel coming on for chelsea? oh noes!

I'm sure Ba came on..??

When I said about West Brom 'hopefully' coming at us I was thinking we'd take advantage and kill the game off. No idea what's happened to us in recent season with this kind of fixture....we drop points against average teams so frequently now

Its been a terrible performance so far!

If we played with this kind of urgency from the start we wouldn't find ourselves in this position. Yet, next match you can guarantee it'll be first-half zombies again.

Penalty!