GhostOfDembaPast

He has a visibly protruding belly.

Costa needs to shoot and not care what happens.

Not too bad. This is the lineup that will get the team out of this mess if there is it's meant to be. Baba doing well. Good to see.

Honestly, outside of a match, that analysis by the three of them was probably the most absorbing football related thing I've seen. Lampard very well spoken. Carragher making some good points and Gary Neville very good as usual. Very, very interesting.

For all his 'good' qualities, he has you breathing in relief every time he manages to find a Blue shirt. That kind of player should not be in a Chelsea starting lineup.

Some powerful, energetic ball winning midfielders who actually know how to pass more than 6 yards (Yes, Blue Kenyan, that is a reference to you) would be good, like a Sissokho. Honestly, a midfield of Matic, RLC, Sissokho and Hazard/Oscar/Willian would be give the team a grip in midfield. Would be nice to go back to a bulldozering midfield style of previous years. Overpowering and outfighting teams with just the right amount of quality as well.

I think it might be a good idea to let him play just off the striker and leave up there for the most part. He isn't around the danger areas often enough. Probably his best attribute is his shooting, but he's too busy 'knitting' the play sonewhere miles away most of the time.

You may be right. Very, very tough time for him personally and professionally. He could do with a break tbh.

I've had enough of the overplaying around the area. Is it too much to ask to have a midfield of Matic, RLC and Oscar/Hazard, with Costa, Remy and Falcao/Kennedy up front. 3 strikers. Get it up there Direct and long if needs be.

Well, Coco, I feel he really has to do something drastic to give the players some belief - and I don't mean a player here or there being replaced. If he keeps doing as he is, blaming referees, bad luck, etc, I really don't see him coming out of this. Why not go with a new system, maybe even a 3-5-2. He has to try something different to give the players some hope. At the moment, all this, 'we are just getting really bad luck' has to stop because the players are starting to trot out the same lines, feeling sorry for themselves and resigning themselves to this 'bad luck' nonsense.Costa is not doing well on his own. He needs another body around him to take some of the attention.

I don't think it would matter much who comes into this ability-sapping smog that is around right now.

Baba Cahill Zouma Azpi Matic RLC Willian Hazard Remy Costa He went with a diamond the last time he was here. Two strikers and a compact midfield. Why doesn't he give that a shot now. Matic at the base RLC/Fabregas left centre Willian right centre Hazard/Oscar/Pedro at the tip And two strikers in Costa and Remy. At least there is more of a threat in the opposition box.

Was hoping Oscar would grab his chance to dislodge Cesc by putting in a strong second half. Frustratingly poor. Just seems to lack quality too often.

I thought it was a combination of Ramires letting his man slip past too easily in midfield (not impressed at all by him today) and Cahill/+Zouma not being close enough to close the space. It happened pretty fast though, and who would have thought Walters could pull off a finish like that? Defence was good for the most part. Performance was also good but lacked bite in and around the box. One man vs five or six stoke shirts a lot of the time. Just tossing it in with two men in there and other feeding off would have been nice to see more often this season. Speaking of Stoke shirts. They only do L or XL I think. Pretty much every one is a great big lump in that squad. Too bad for Shaqiri - looked like he was wearing a shirt at least two sizes too big.

There were a few moments where he did well today. Better than of late at least. Just the finish was lacking once or twice and we would have been talking about Hazard being back again. BTW. Wasn't his last miss also one where smashed it?

That's what you get with Remy. Has a goal in him more often than not.

Baba's doing okay. Let him finish the game I say.

Tbh, it's usual one blue shirt swamped by about 5 in the box

Not too bad. Some smooth play at times. Energetic, Hazard looking sharp, Oscar too and Mikel. Only Ramires, despite his energy his Fellaini like ability on the ball just has you waiting for things to go wrong. All in all, not too bad. Azpi and RLC would be nice, but it won't happen.

Ramires is sadly not good enough. There needs to be an upgrade soon.

Matic needs to be sent for a visit to the boss's office. I mean Abramovic's.

Alright... Not to cause offence, but some of these nicknames for the man were a little funny to begin with, now they're getting a bit much, tbh. Starting to come across as distasteful and disrespectful.

Agree with it or not. Nicked off wagnh, this was funny:

Too slow on counters. Always has been. Need to be ruthless and direct. always seems to allow defenders to get back. Well out if sorts. Him and and pretty much everyone else. Except Willian, Begovic, Azpi, everyone has been disappointing. (Willian set pieces BTW, look deadly everytime. Well done to him for the improvement.) Terrible from Matic. Stupid and costly.

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