Lord

I am fairly convinced that Sarri needs to be given time unless we're out of Europa League and have no real chance of finishing top-four. There's no reason to believe that any other manager will do any better with the core of players we have.

Whatever Kepa thought about his injuries or whatever else is irrelevant. If the manager makes the call of substitution, at whatever point of the game, for whatever reason, whether you like it or not, you follow his lead. Simple. That's elementary school football.

The most embarrassing on-field moment by our keeper in all my years of watching Chelsea. I don't care if he couldn't stop the Aguero penalty, but whatever transpired before that was shambolic of the highest order. Should be binned for 10 matches.

He has been our best player alongside Hazard for half a decade now, but this season he has been uncharacteristically poor. He will be 30 years in a few months time and although that's not too big a deal for defenders, he may be showing signs of ageing to me this season.

The scoreline looks miserable. Alonso is a joke of a left back. Azpi is ageing. We need a major shakeup in the summer. Top four looks very very unlikely. The only bright side is we are probably playing the best side in Europe.

United played a joke of a match and yet got three points. Don't know what to say. Imperative that City thrash Arsenal.

I would tolerate the gloom of Pool winning the title if we secured top four. Important we win. We have some very tough matches coming up.

Kovacic has been terrible for the little time he's been on the pitch - hasn't done one thing right.

I can't stand the amount of pessimism around here. We are playing good football; Hazard has been absolutely superb and with a little bit of luck, we could have had a few goals more. We have a new striker who has barely been with us for a week. Cut down on so much negativity.

Even if what you say about his downed tools is correct, he’s still Chelsea’s best player by miles, and the only one capable of creating magic. How we rebuild after he’s gone in the summer will decide where we intend to be as a Premiership club. Everyone around him in the current squad look pretty average to me right now.

The reactions are too knee jerk. Yes, we shouldn’t be losing 4-0 to silly Bournemouth, but give the manager at least one full season before jumping to conclusions. People are calling for Sarri’s head already. We are probably the most “knee-jerk” set of fans in the Premiership. We can still win a cup or two (who knows all three!) and finish in Champions league places. That’s a very good season for me considering how gloomy everything was at the end of last season.

Pedro just had a terrible half of football - I can count at least half a dozen instances of lost possession and wayward passing. Jorginho has been better in tackling today and made some really neat interceptions. Hazard has been sleek but there is no real penetration. Kante has been decent, so have Azpi and Luiz. Higuain hasn't received any service. Both Kovacic and Pedro need to be substituted.

Should have had this wrapped up 3 or 4 goals to one with a half decent striker. Much the better side throughout. Cant blame Sarri for anything tonight irrespective of the penalty outcome. Hazard was class when back to his usual position. Emerson should replace Alonso for good.

We lose to Spuds again, this time with three of their best players unavailable, then I'd question Sarri's tactics for the first time.

We just mugged poor Atletico. Reminds me of the Oscar deal to China for a whopping 60 million (approx) a few years back.

We have been plagued by the same problem that has hit Manchester United in the last few years - one club has been run by an English investment banker who has very little footballing brains and the other by a perplexing Russian lady who probably has equally little footballing sense. Both clubs desperately need sensible directors of football. The magical chair of changing managers will never stop otherwise. The problem isn't Sarri or his brand of football.

We might be okay against Fulham next week, but will get absolutely spanked by City if we start with the exact same personnel in the same formation the following week. The problem is that fixing this problem isn’t easy. Fabregas may fare even worse against City.

I have been saying this for two months now that both Jorginho and Kante should NOT be in the same team, when we have such average level of creativity (except Hazard) and finishing qualities in the squad. Jorginho doesn’t have a lot of pace (neither built) and seems to struggle with distribution when the game is fast or the opposition presses high. In trying to accommodate him, Kante is out of his usual position and is only half the player he once was. I just wrote something similar in the matchday thread too.

It is ironic, injury or whatever, Hazard hasn’t been the same player, ever since Sarri said Hazard is almost as good as Messi in one of his press conferences. (can’t recall it verbatim). I have been saying this for two months now that Kante and Jorginho can’t function as a central midfield duo, when we have so little creativity going forward (bar Hazard), and even worse finishing ability in front of goal. After tonight’s disappointment, I would love it if Sarri can find a way to start Barkley instead of Kovacic, Pedro for Willian and Fabregas instead of Jorginho against Fulham next week, before the really big one against the Champions.

Jorginho hasn’t impressed at all after the first few matches. Reality is slowly sinking in. If we don’t get a striker in January, we wont deserve to be in the top five.

I don’t remember being so pumped-up for this derby in a long while. The punters have either side winning at almost equal odds, and a 1-1 draw as the most likely result.

Will probably be that lineup . I hope Hazard is not too tired to play a full match after the useless couple of international matches. That is my only worry. It has been a few weeks since we last saw Hazard dazzle for us - the little injury, the international break - I hope he runs those useless buffoons ragged, smashes a few past Lloris and deflates some of the unmerited hype surrounding this pack of bottlers in our final Premier League match at Wembley.

Without realising how rubbish most of your general comments are while pretending to be witty...

In essence, I agree with what you say, but my original arguments still stand.

Your argument would have been perfectly valid if there was no Jorginho in the side. The lack of creativity with Jorginho in the back and Kante in the more advanced role has been glaring for the last several weeks now. The question is not how good Kante is/was, but one of whether both Jorginho and Kante can fit together in the starting eleven. I have serious doubts. We are too reliant on Hazard's magic for any sort of creativity for goal or the usual Alonso crosses.