I'm having some work carried out at home, which is where I was watching the match.
I was going back and forth so I had the radio 5 live commentry as well as the tv. At one point the radio commentator mentioned the new stand and bigger capacity of the stadium, adding that it looked full, except for empty seats where the Chelsea fans were.

This is what happens when you gain your information from useless sources instead of actually using facts.

Not sure how you gain "a few empty seats" to returning tickets quite a massive leap some might say

This thread is full of people believing media bs and having knee jerk reactions from 2 games into the season.

We have played a good swansea team and away at our biggest rivals. There were a couple of bad decisions from the manager (bringing cuadrado on) but its not that bad.

I blame the terrible timing of our travels over summer, and well, a lack of hunger when currently basking in being the PL champions.

United have benefitted from two own goals, arsenal another own goal when playing average teams, to keep the media spotlight on them. Lets see how the table looks in 8 games time.

Frenandinho should have gone for that elbow on costa though. He did well as the city players were desperate to get him sent off.

Ivan has been on the way down for the last 12 months, the new LB signing should allow Dave to get back to his best position.

Perhaps Zouma should play more too - if he is good enough, lets get him in the team.

Is there a behind the scenes issue with money at Chelsea?

Obviously I would have thought that there is plenty there if needed but it seems really odd to me that there wasn't at least one "big" signing made this summer. Its always seen as a good idea to freshen up with a new face even when on top just to give the squad a wee shot in the arm.

The signing of Falcao was a really strange one - even if he does come good, because he looked absolutely shot to pieces at Man Utd and whilst it was fine for United to take the initial chance on him to see how his fitness was, once it was established how much he struggled there seemed little reason for Chelsea to think they could make him better.

Will there be a major outlay before the window closes do you think?

Who do you suggest?

It been said on here a few times but we yet to see any real suggestions of anyone who we could realistic get

You guys should try and get Pedro, he's an ideal Jose Mourinho type player. It'd take the pressure off Hazard as well.

Agree but Utd are meant to be after him as well and if so then it would be silly to get into a bidding war with them when they are a much better attraction then we are

The big signing jose identified was stones. It looks like it was the right area, and we will see if he han pull off the deal.

Perhaps the subbing of terry was a signal to stones that no one is guarenteed a game.

I would say Chelsea would be a better attraction. Jose as manager over LVG, current champions over 4th place finish and I don't think it matters to Pedro, but London over Manchester.

But we are looking to strengthen our squad while Utd are shopping for first team players.

He is more likely to get a lot more playing time for Utd then Chelsea.

If he leaving his current club for game time then Utd are the much better option.

should we have blown 65 million on pogba?

Could spin the argument the other way and make United the more attractive prospect. As The Don suggest though, I'd imagine the playing time issue will be the deciding factor. United desperately need Pedro in their starting XI.

I'll give you London over Manchester though

I'd have him in ahead of Willian and Oscar in that wide position every day of the week, whether or not Jose sees it that way might be the stumbling block. Like I said previously, he is a Jose type player, quick, two footed, very good attacking as well as defensive and can finish, I really don't see why Jose isn't in for him unless Pedro has made it clear he won't play for him.

Also wages come into to play and transfer fee.

Chelsea have been operating under a very sensible budget.

Utd can afford to pay over the top from a transfer point of view and wage wise. They have no worries from a FFP POV.

While Chelsea can afford to do that, I don't think its a road we should go down again.

We should look at a player set a value and a importance level and stick to it, Going head to head for a player who would be squad player for us and a important player for them would be a very good way of flushing money (and time spent trying to get other targets or looking for them) down the drain

Do you not think Pedro is good enough to get into your first team? He's played at a high standard at Barcelona all his career and won it all, same for the national team. You won't be blowing your budget on a proven player (I know every transfer has it's risks).

He wouldn't just be a squad player for us. We're crying out for more creativity and goals in the team. Hazard is the only nailed on starter in those attacking positions behind Costa, the rest definitely need improving upon. Our problems are much more than just defensive issues.

Also if reports are to be believed he has a buy-out clause of around £22m so if that is the case there'd be no bidding war with United on the transfer fee at least, it would just be a case of triggering it. Of course it may well come down to wages but we won't know until we at least meet the release clause first and then see whether he's interested in a move to us and what personal terms he's looking for.

I wouldn't call it that sensible a budget either that we're operating under. Not when a sizeable chunk of the wage budget is being wasted on the likes of Falcao.

What i think has no importance.

Even if Jose rates him its still more logical that he would be a more high value target for Utd then us.

He could get into our team over time but "could" is a very difficult sell when the other option is as a near on cert then you could get

He's better than Willian, Oscar, Ramires, Cuadrado and Moses. He's also played in more big games than any of your front men including Hazard. I'd say he is a certain starter if bought.

He would not be first name on the team sheet for us as much as he would be for Utd's. For Utd he is a high-profile target (prob their number one target at the moment) and for us it would be less so. If he signed today he would be on the bench for the next few games where as with Utd he would more then likely start their next game.

I would rather us spend time looking around then rush into to any transfer because other teams are after him. If that means we miss out on targets then so be it.

Falcao mets the criteria of being our 3rd choice striker. I not sure there are that many better options for that role unless we went down a youth route and just don't see the point of having a youth player in that role when we can loan him out to be either first or second choice where he will get more games which will be better for his development down the road

I disagree about Pedro, he'd be straight in the team if we signed him today. If he really was that important a target for United I'm sure we would have heard of the release clause being triggered by now.

The problem with Falcao apart from the glaringly obvious fact that he's a spent force is that he's not just 3rd choice is he? The fact he was brought off the bench in our first two league games and not Remy suggests that it's actually Remy who is considered 3rd choice at the moment, which is something some of us expressed concerns about when Falcao was signed. We would have been better off keeping Drogba on for another year, if that was the best option they could come up with.

I think Falcao was bought on more for his experience then his ability during the last two games. Both games called for a more experienced head due to what was happening on the pitch (being a man down in one and chasing a game where we had played badly in the other), If Costa got a red card or suffered from a injury I think Remy would start the majority of games that Costa missed.

I doubt that was the case. Remy's nearly as old as Falcao, he's not exactly some wet behind the ears youngster.

Age wise yes but if you look at the level of the games etc Falcao is a much more experienced player. Even being on the bench at Chelsea this is the the highest level Remy has played at.

What good is another centre foward (even a world class one) if we can't get the ball to him in good, goal scoring posistions?
Yes, we have been dreadful at the back, but it is our woeful midfield that is really killing us!
The opposistion can run through it like a hot knife through butter, while in the final third of the pitch only one of them does his job and even he's not doing much atm.

Remy's got over 30 caps for France, has played in the Champions League for both Lyon and Marseille (aside from us) and has a good couple of seasons more actual Premier League experience than Falcao. I don't think that would have been a factor in the thinking. I suspect it's more to do with Falcao's reputation pre-injury and Mourinho hoping that he can get back to being even 50% of the player he was, instead of focusing on who the better player right now is. We saw a similar thing with Torres (but not just with Mourinho specifically).