You've missed out Pedro ?
I would go for..
Courtois
Azpil, Zouma, Terry, Baba.
Oscar, Matic, Fabregas.
Pedro, Costa, Hazard.

Yes, a return to the old 4-3-3. I'm still not happy with it, we needed another midfield presence who was also a ball winner. But I just don't want to sacrifice a more skillful player to bring in Mikel. I want another Michael Essien !

I'm not going to argue about Pedro. Fantastic first game, and very quiet second. Not a player to play every game imo, and remember he was never a regular at Barca'. Still a very good player to have though. Oscar is too light weight to trust near the back imo, and I would try and develop Loftus Cheek.

Yes, I agree. I just didn't want to risk RLC with Baba having his first game. Oscar (and Willian) can be very responsible playing defensively, more reliable than Fabregas in my opinion. Ramires is another option, but is he any better defensively these days ?
I would certainly be looking to give RLC more time, same with Kenedy. I'm just not so sure about throwing them in at the deep end. In our current position there's going to be a lot of pressure on whatever team we put out. Even drawing the next two games would leave us with only 6 points from a possible 18. The media vultures would be circling.

Long term I think those players need to be given a real chance, and not just the odd game, and then loaned out the way Christensen was for example. He didn't put a foot wrong when he played. Playing Baba, Loftus Cheek and Kennedy from the start is probably not going to happen for the ultra cautious Jose, but they could at least play a part in games coming up which would at least set the right tone. My guess though is that Jose won't do what he needs to do. We'll see.

Sorry but you can't just keep making the feeble excuse of it was a poor league.
Chelsea won it fair and square. It's a trophy that's eluded Liverpool for over a quarter of a century. thats an appalling statistic for the 2nd biggest club in England.
It ain't easy to win.
Jose's first season saw us help stopping Liverpool win the league. Surely you as a true Chelsea fan celebrated that win at Anfield. A great day right ?
Bottom line. Jose produced a team capable of winning the league. The fact you struggled to celebrate it says it all.

Not true. He was never accepted by the majority. He was tolerated.
He didn't like us, most didn't like him. He won us a trophy, we helped his CV.
Rafa did a great job resting JT right. Told us he couldn't play twice a week.

That's true. We were by no means a certainty to win the PL title last season. On paper Man City had the strongest squad, same as this season. Man United had spent big, but failed to add player's where they needed it most. Arsenal are always going to put up some kind of challenge, even if we know they'll never actually win it. Liverpool failed to invest the Suarez money wisely, otherwise they might have been in with a shout as well.
It's certainly harder to win it now than in the years when Man United totally dominated, year after year..with the odd interruption from Arsenal.

As for the CL, it's still a knock-out competition really. Barcelona rightfully won, they're the best team in the world. But I wouldn't say Juventus are the number 2 in Europe. We lost to PSG (on away goals) but that tie could have gone either way. In the end, I think it was probably down to our midfield weaknesses again. Verratti, Matuidi and Thiago Motta overrun Chelsea in the second leg even though PSG were down to 10 men. That was something we should have tried to fix in the summer window.

And let's not forget that we won it without spending anything, within ffp.

Our competition now has unlimited funds, city and United can spend 36 million on a Player scoring less than a dozen career goals and not lose sleep

Rotation was fine 10 years ago but today we have a shortage of top class talent a shortage of top class talent available and more clubs then ever that can afford to attract top class talent and keep them. Just 5 years ago we would have had Stone's after the first bid and Spurs would have had Berahino before they even made a bid.

There is no use rotating a top class player for a decent okish player. More so when even the lower mid-table clubs have some really good talent that can hurt your "first pick" players never mind the squad players

Football has changed from the days when Utd and SAE ruled, The things that worked then are impossible to do now unless you go down the City route (and the route we use to go down) and just buy players because we can. Even Utd who use to have a number of great strikers on the books nearly went left the window with one striker (and one in a poor run of league form) and the one they bought is unproven and was very very expensive

It's rare I agree with Wenger but he is right when he talks about a shortage of players available today to the very top clubs.

With the new TV deal this is not going to get any better.

I always use to think "what would SAF" do when it came to how we run the club from a on the pitch POV but the premiership has changed completely from those days and I think that's the main reason he left, He could see these changes coming and knew the rules was changing.

I hear what you're saying and I don't agree. Rafa proved the point. He saw that Ivanovic for example could not play two high intensity games in one week, and started to move him to cb. He played very well there, until Jose said, no he's a rb. Hang on, he was playing very well at cb.. no point arguing.

These days it seems that Ivan can't play one high intensity game in a week. A solid, decent squad player is better in the side than a tired, frustrated player who is being asked to do the same thing over and over again. That's what rotation gives you. A fresh player who should know exactly what to do and will have some moves that the opposition haven't worked out (yet).

Imo, Jose will continue with his rigid ways, and he will fail. Hopefully I'm wrong, but that's how I see it. Saying it as it is.

Rafa proved nothing apart from he a okish manager who can do a decent job as long as you set very low objectives.

He played Brana at CB because he thought JT could not play every game.

The next season proved exactly what the reality of his views on what players can and cannot do

Come on, some objectivity. He inherited a dire situation with the club out of the CL at the group stages for the first time. He turned that around, won a European trophy while managing 3rd in the PL, at a time when a top 4 finish was looking very unlikely.

He got the players on his side, he got most of the fans on his side, and the team where playing attacking, attractive football, with rotation. He could not have done more, and if he had been given the job for another year, who's to say he wouldn't have won the league AND challenged for the CL with his policy of keeping players fresh and challenged. Bias to one side.

Most of the fans onside? Oh yes, those who were singing "jose's name" when rafa was in the dug out.

No chelsea fans i know wanted him anywhere near the club, it was a great day when we sacked him.

Well it seemed that he was right in the end, as JT looks finished. And, no it wasn't that he thought that he couldn't play every game, he wanted pace at the back. He wanted the option of playing a higher line. That's what Jose was trying to do recently when JT looked very ordinary all of a sudden. The facts are that all objectives for the season were accomplished without JT, and Chelsea looked a far more attractive side in fulfilling those objectives. Again, bias to one side.

Utter rubbish. Check your facts.

http://www.theguardian.com/football/...t-chelsea-fans
http://www.101greatgoals.com/blog/ch...os-and-tweets/
http://talksport.com/football/why-it...ez-13111868552

How many Chelsea fans do you know? 2?

Are you a Chelsea fan, or just trying to wind people up?

He won the UEFA cup a trophy a side like Chelsea should win with its youth side (well really we should not bother with such a pointless trophy its more trouble then its worth). Top 3 again is the lowest objective possible. A top class manager can always DO more. A decent manager cannot.

Yes when he came it was not the best of times but that was mainly due to the previous manager being way out of his depth. Any manager with a decent track record more then likely would have done the same

He did not get most of the fans onside no matter how many times you say it.

He could have done all that if given another season or then again he might not have. With his track record in management(and since then)its more likely that he would not have.

If he went on to challenge for the title with Liverpool after they had a decent challenge then yes I could see your point but they went backwards

Those are not facts. Those are views of people there (and one of those i see are the idiots at TalkShi*t, Less said about their views the better)

I was there as well and it was more a mood that when your dotty aunt comes to stay for xmas and its her last day and she has given you a book token. The talk coming back from those games was "thank f*ck" he has gone plus everyone was more or less happy because they had a very good idea who was getting the job

JT looks finished? Err wasnt it last season that he was perhaps our best player? And the best defender in the league by far, and there were calls for him to get back into international football.

Boy those 6 weeks of summer must have been hellish for him.

Football must be so simple to you.

From the responses of other real chelsea fans to your post, every single one supporting my own view on rafa, i think we know the real answer to your final point.

Not interested in looking attractive, Its not important. The important thing is winning trophies. That's the long and short of it. We have seen many attractive sides and on the main they have failed.

The objectives for the season should have been able to be met with or without JT in the side. They was very very basic objectives that many managers who have achieved ( most of the managers in the league at the time would have met them). The difference between managers like Rafa and the very top managers is they don't meet objectives they smash them and go further.

Personally I think it's you on a wind up and not the first time.
As I said before, in the end Rafa was tolerated, there was a truce. He didn't like us and most didn't like him. He won us a trophy and we improved his CV.
Any support for Rafa too stay was an absolute minority.
As for saying he was right about JT shows that you really are a bit of a clown considering how he performed last season.
And you say you support Chelsea..........

Barcelona, the best side in the world, and they play very attractive football.. Have you lost it?!

I don't believe you are a genuine fan, and that's the end of it.. Genuine fans are not prejudiced, they do what's best for the club

The most important is they are successful. They win big trophies.

If they played just attractive football and won nothing then they would not be the "best side in the world".

Yes its very nice to play attractive football the most important thing is to play successful football.

There are many different ways to play successful football as long as we are playing successful football i am happy. Could we play another type of successful football? Yes we could but when is all said and done the only important thing is we are successful and under Jose we have been more successful then just about every manager we have had