Chelsea190512

That was my first thought but we all know he's not going anywhere near the right side of defence.

You've took the confessions thread to new heights. Haha admittedly I did try to get tickets for United vs Liverpool, disgusting I know.

This sounds crazy I'm aware. But could Willian play right back??? He certainly has the workrate to do so.

All the rubbish about we need to win games so kids can't play is boring me. I'd rather draw 2-2 at Newcastle with Bamford and such in the team because it's a learning curve for them. But to see what is our best 11 out there look like they can't be bothered is a p*sstake. The 'kids' would put in twice the effort some of our so called untouchables have been putting in recently.

Just causes unrest in the team. The siege mentality works when they're against Chelsea not when it's within the team.

Jose Mourinho has hit out at ‘the rats’ who are destabilising Chelsea’s season as they prepare for the clash with Southampton at Stamford Bridge on Saturday. The Chelsea manager refused to name his team ahead of the fixture against Ronald Koeman’s side as they search for the winning formula again. Mourinho said: 'I don't tell you the team. Maybe you have some sources who can give you some tips. We trained tactically yesterday and today, so I'm sure you have some rats who can tell you what is going on. Oh come on not this bs just shut up Jose. That's just going to create suspicions in the squad.

Everytime I put Chelsea in a bet I lose

I have to say that season will alway be remembered for Liverpool choking but we shouldn't forget we choked too. All that little horse rubbish we were good enough to win the league and we probably should have. Games at Palace and villa were the undoing. Villa was the most damaging to the team though.

To be fair, we wouldn't score three. We'd get one and then soak up pressure till they inevitably score and it goes to extra time in which Ivanovic would turn up with a header that makes us all forget his horrific performances up to then.

Agreed. The chance he missed against Newcastle was bad by his standards but the majority of our team wouldn't have made that run anyway. And his a good presser of the ball which seems to be the key to us playing well.

I don't think he'd get in the Barcelona team, Neymar gets a lot of goals for that front three. Don't see him displacing any of them.

He came back as the happy one. Was something of a media darling for a short period of time. But how long could it have lasted he let his true colours show eventually. I respect the man infinitely but he needs to understand sometimes it's better to just bite your lip. He needs to go back to doing what he does best and that's winning games. At least when he opens his mouth after we beat arsenal 6-0 he can have no repercussions but when f*cking Naismith is scoring hat tricks against us and Newcastle who look like a league one outfit are putting us under the kosh you know there's some serious work that needs to be done on the training ground.

You build teams around players like that, surely leaving him at no.10 and instead of buying Fabregas invest in a real box to box midfield general could have got us the same result. I understand why Oscar plays but from what I see his pressing only works when the rest team does so in tandem. And that only happens in the first 10 minutes if we're up for it or straight after we concede a goal. So I have to ask the question is it worth it?

Let's not talk about Mata this thread could become very emotional for some of us. I quite like the laugh at other teams undertone we've got going on. On a side note I was really impressed with Martial, deceptively strong. Can play with his back to goal. I thought he was a Delay type player cut in and shoot. But he is an actual striker and a pretty good one at that from what I saw today. Hold up play was very good.

Costa hitting the crossbar last night gave me great hope. Signs of his confidence returning shooting from there?. But unlike the media would have you believe I felt Chelsea put in a good performance and created quite a few opportunities that could and probably should have led to goals. I'm against diving in the game but did anyone else feel Hazard could have gone down? He's normally great at winning free kicks in good positions so I was surprised at his desire to avoid the tackle yesterday. Fair play to him. I think this game could be a turning point too. But I thought that after Maccabi. And after Arsenal.

I'm sure he was captained under Ranieri too.

That's to be expected though the Spanish speaking players will always bond together. Same as the Brazilian players. That's why I was happy a few seasons ago when he had Hazard, Lukaku and KDB on the books I thought it would create a positive chemistry on the field having a lot of players of the same nationality.

JT was captain before Mourinho came back. But it's just a suggestion not necessarily correct.

I think it's an ego thing too. Jose saying Ivanovic is his vice captain and must start. And Fabregas starting because Mourinho bought him and feels like he owes him one for his efforts in winning the league. Preposterous I know. But is it impossible?

Ok JT gets done for pace every now and then but we've seen because of his superior intellect on the pitch he doesn't let it happen as often as it could. What we need is a powerful box to box player with technicality too. Who will close the spaces in midfield and stop our centre backs getting isolated one on one. The closest thing we have to that description is Ramires or RLC. Ramires's technical ability can be questioned at times but we need his workrate in the middle. I don't understand why we tried to buy pogba for 60/70/80 mil when the man to go for was clearly his teammate Vidal who snuck out the backdoor in to Bayern Munich. His sheer tenacity and mobility allowed Pogba the platform to roam around without fear and gave Pirlo the space to dictate play from deep.

Always positive, looks to attack at every opportunity.

Douglas Costa is doing pretty pretty well at Bayern. 12 appearances in which he has 3 goals and 6 assists.

I found myself watching the champions league highlights again last night. And you could just see how much it meant to him in the interview on the pitch after the game. The part where he says "Daddy told you Chelsea were the best team in the world and tonight we are" was amazing. Shame on anyone who suggests his Chelsea reputation has been affected.

Why the dig at Newcastle basically calling them sh*t and only turning it on against Chelsea? It's nothing we don't know but no need to make a thing about it. For the media just looks like Mourinho deflecting away from the situation again.

Ozil was deceptively pacey on the ball so he was able to get away with being a defensive liability. But like you said he was backed up by two enforcers always. And Di Maria's workrate was immense.