Ahh the old "he couldn't do it with XYZ" nonsense.

Yes he should lower his standards when taking jobs just because people who have not a clue how to manage at a high level say he should.

Utter nonsense

R'mond, you have a very poor memory.. Stay off the gin lad!

I quote: 'I'd rather have Rafa back..' Richmond Blue, Chelsea thread.

Ramires? You wanted to sell him! We need another player in that position basically. RLC likes to attack, and he needs to defend first, and then attack. As long as the attacking mf are tracking back when needed, Fabregas should be OK along side Matic, although not in every game, agreed. Ramires is very good in spurts, but like Oscar is not a player for every game. Wouldn't sell him though.

Luiz and Mata back as said. Mata's defensive work for Man Utd was OK when we played them. Better than Fabregas. If he came back, the link up play with Hazard, Oscar when he plays and Costa would take off. We'd be like a different team. It's something Willian is not good enough at. His free kicks and corners have dropped off as well now, after looking good. Mata was just more consistent there.

Doom, I'm not getting into any childish spats lad. If you can't handle the truth and the facts that's up to you. The fans have moved on.

If that was me I would report that post to the Mods. Totally abusive for a Liverpool fan to say such a thing about you.

Gus steadying the ship:

http://www.pressreader.com/uk/daily-...23188/TextView

Daily Star, 2nd January 2016

I do not and never have condoned the use of drugs.

Why should he have to build a team from scratch ?
He's above going to go to clubs like Liverpool who have no idea how to win the league.
Jose has earned the right to be offered top jobs.

Yes, I did say I would sooner have Rafa back than see Pellegrini as our manager. Context old chap, context.

Yes, I also said Ramires and Mikel could go, but only if we find replacements. I would take Verratti or Koke in place of Ramires all day, and either would be a better option alongside Matic than Fabregas.
I really liked David Luiz in a defensive midfield role, but every coach appears to believe that he's a centre back, and so does the player himself..so what do I know ? Basically, we got such an amazing offer for Luiz that we just couldn't turn it down, and I can't see him wanting to come back anyway.
Same with Mata really, why would he want to return to Chelsea ? He's doing ok at United, but I've not seen anything from him to get too excited about. I think there's players around for the same kind of money that would improve Chelsea more than bringing back Mata and Luiz.
Fabregas reminds me of when we had Deco. I think you could use him in a 4-3-3 as the creative midfielder playing just behind the front three. But It doesnt work with him playing in the pivot in a 4-2-3-1.

ps.At United, Mata is playing with Schneiderin and Schweinsteiger or Carrick in DM. Put him in our attacking midfield trio with Fabregas in the deeper role and we'd be cut to pieces.

Yep

You perform at the top level in any field and you will be offered jobs at the top level.

Its crazy to expect someone to lower their expectation levels just to justify their proven abilities to those who have not got a clue what they are taking about.

Totally and utterly devoid of living in the real world.

You have certain expectations in life and those are the ones you live in. Be it work or home life or anything else.

Mata is doing OK at Utd, but not playing the way he did at Chelsea. At Chelsea most play went through him, because his passing and distribution were so good. At Utd, some of it goes through him, but not enough. He also doesn't take corners, and their corners are poor. He's not used enough there although plays every week.

Back here, he'd be utilised more, and with Matic behind him would do very well again.

Nonsense. Many clubs will be very wary of taking him again. He has just failed, and very badly.

You wanted him to stay at a time when the club were heading for relegation. And you're a fan? Crazy.

Exactly, once you reach the top you don't look to start again and lower your expectations. You don't win all those trophies and be expected to start from scratch.
As you say, the poster just doesn't have a clue.

At the end of it all, the fans who support attacking football won, and that's all that matters / mata's (!)

The Man Utd fan, .. lost..

Jose stopped Liverpool winning the league and for that we are all truly thankful.
Right my son ? You must of celebrated that at least
Of course, we all know you won't answer that eh lad.

In that case, we'll just have to hope that the attacking football you seem to crave is also winning football. Lose tomorrow and we can probably say we're in a relegation battle.
Who would have thought that we'd be below West Brom, Norwich and Bournemouth at the beginning of 2016..what a bloody crazy season.

As one sensible poster said, we were heading in the right direction under Rafa, but the board thought otherwise. We were also doing extremely well under Ancelotti / Wilkins, but the board thought not..

And the board decided to give the last manager a four year contract to ensure he was better paid than any player.. Everyone apart from the board thought that was a stupid move.

Just saying it as it is, and I don't 'crave' anything. Just saying what most people think, although I'm aware that there are 1 or 2 on this thread who are here to attack anyone who disagrees with them, and spend most of their life baiting and goading on the i.net. Some people eh? You'd think they'd give up..

Back to the match today, C P have got a lot of injuries, and it should be a win..

Come on the Chels'!

Agree, should hopefully be an easy win!

Just in case you haven't seen this that I posted on the football betting pages, Coral are doing another one of their daft promotions for this game, they are giving away £25 if there is a goal scored! Only available to new customers but I though it was worth posting on here if anyone hasn't already got an account and wants to take part.
http://promotions.coral.co.uk/landing-pages/crazy-prices-online2-3112/

Come off it, you and your alter ego (Dixon) are the posters most out of line with the majority of Chelsea fans. Even with Chelsea languishing down in the bottom five of the PL, most supporters would have been happier to see Mourinho stay on with us.
I don't mind, everyone is entitled to their opinion, but at least give credit where it's due. Jose was the most successful manager in the club's history and all this business about boring football is really just a load of old tosh.
I have some agreement with both you and the board, in that I'm not totally convinced that Mourinho wanted to stay anyway, so perhaps a parting of the ways was inevitable. But it's still sad in my opinion, for all his faults Jose will be a hard act to follow. He was a larger than life character who would still have attracted players to the club, even if they regretted it later.

I guess you will never answer my questions so that says it all as far as I'm concerned.

I wonder if we can keep this thread on the actual football for a while.

Awful weather in London, not going to be easy playing in the conditions.
Whatever is being said we are at the moment in a tough battle at the bottom. Points are needed to build confidence and get us up the table.
Any sort of win would be most welcome. Some players looked a bit jaded so I would shuffle the pack a bit where possible.

After the results yesterday, I think it could be our most important game of the season so far. Newcastle lost but looked desperately unlucky. Swansea were also probably unlucky not to get a point. Bournemouth got a good away point playing with 10 men for much of the time. West Brom and Norwich both had good wins. Sunderland won as expected, leaving Villa doomed. All these teams look up for a fight to stay in the PL as you would expect.
In short, we've got to get a grip on the situation. On paper, the idea that we could be relegated seems absurd. But we appear to be sleepwalking into a very dangerous position, and other teams may be better equipped for a end of season battle if it comes down to it. That's my biggest worry, most of our our "elite" players will be entering unfamiliar territory when it comes to scrapping for points.

It had everything to do with it!

They were the only team left for us to overtake to win the title. We couldn't beat them no matter what. Even at home when 2-0 up with 20 mins to go, they bring on Kanu and he scores a hat-trick in 15 mins for them to win the game.
When we finally beat them in the CL, we went on to dominate them for years to come.
Turning two defeats a season in to two wins instantly wipes out that 11 point gap.

More football romantic nonsense.

We finished 11 points behind them because too many times throughout the season we lacked that extra little bit.

Too many times we made the same mistakes

Plus Arsenal has been irrelevant to the title for many years now

Shaky start, but since the goal we've looked a different team. Mikel having one of the best games I can remember him playing for a long time !

Great first half. If anyone says that Chelsea don't look any better, they're living in a fantasy land. Great pace from Zouma, and great work rate throughout the team. Brilliantly worked goal, and just when you thought that Fabregas was a passenger.

It's not over yet, and we need another goal, but it's looking good.