JM1

Player - irreplaceable Person - genius Professionalism - perfect Stats - legendary Lampard is the once in a generation type that the club will never be able to replace. You can try to find players with the same attributes, you can try to find people with the same characteristics, you can never match Lampard's consistency and overall contribution. Hopefully he's interested in coaching and joins Mourinho similar to Giggs and Van Gaal because I think he has everything to be a brilliant manager.

They let him down and in my view got carried away with the praise over the recent deals and forgot that you need to pay big in today's market. Not talking about Cech, not ideal but he deserves to be number 1 and wanted to stay here, the moment we replaced him, we lost the ability to dictate his future imo. According to Jose, he sent his report to the club in April, they had months to prepare, months to find different options. Instead we started negotiations in the last few weeks and put in last minute bids. The ridiculous attempt to get Marquinhos pretty much covers the story. Since he came back, we sold big to buy big, if after a fantastic season like we had they fail to back him and in the process fail to strengthen the team, that's solely on them. I don't consider Begovic, Baba and Falcao as they were a response to forced departures, and we lost a better and more influential player on every one of the three.

The only issue I have with Mourinho is Terry and Fabregas. It's only a matter of time before Terry comes back i believe but Fabregas is a mystery. Yes, Ivan needs a rest but we have no one else and lack leaders on the pitch, Baba for me is still not an option to be first choice. I'm trying to think of a similar midfielder who played constantly for Jose, the only one close is probably Ozil and he only played him as a number 10 with two of Khedira/Diarra/Alonso behind him, even that in a much slower and less physical league. And we're not getting the numbers for this to be worth the sacrifice. Mourinho would (usually) never allow such a soft and limited player play a holding role in his midfield, for some reason it changed and we're paying for it. "Lost dressing room", "lost the plot", lost whatever is pure media hype with no basis. The board let him down in the summer, the players are making unusual mistakes with half the first team out of form at the same time, the manager is giving them all the support to fix it by showing them loyalty, eventually one of two things happens, they fix it or Jose changes approach.

Begovic Azpi Terry Cahill/Zouma Ivan Matic Mikel/Loftus-Cheek Ramires Hazard Costa Willian Strong, physical midfield to play on the counter. Stop us from getting pushed off the ball by any energetic pressing and stop trying to play pointless tight passing combinations around the box, basically bench Fabregas (not that I expect this to happen). Mikel as the holding mid, with Matic and Ramires pushing forward.

Any person on the planet would be a downgrade, not happening. Learn to love it because he's here for a long, long time. JOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSSSSSSSSSSEEEEEEE You know his name, the best in the game, the world's number 1. Give him a "until retirement" contract.

We miss the king, not just on the pitch but for the huge character he is, the charisma, the motivation he gave to players to raise their game, the mental strength. We were lucky that the big man was here for so long, one of a kind. Love to see him doing the business there and hope to see him back soon.

Fabregas and Oscar should never play together away. Fabregas can't play CM in a fast paced PL match anyway but that combination with Oscar makes us look even weaker and more vulnerable. At points in the game it looked like we couldn't reach their box because of how slow and weak some of the players were. I don't get Jose's reasoning, Fabregas is almost the complete opposite of his typical midfield player, the guy is the heart of all the problems in the team right now and he continues to play him no matter what. IMO, he brings Matic down with him, I can't put too much blame on Matic when he covers for his two midfield partners lack of physicality/energy. Hopefully that Ramires performance gets him a starting spot alongside him, with Mikel and RLC in discussion. Let Fabregas fight for a place with Oscar. For some reason our fully fit captain and best CB is still on the bench, that should change from Tuesday as well. No idea who that Newcastle left back is but surely that was the best football he has ever played. Absolutely dominated Pedro all game.

Took over and did it with a superior team that smashed almost every record they thought was going to last for years. Besides the key first team players that Jose added, it's not like Cech and Robben were Ranieri signings, more like club signings imo. He elevated great players like Lampard, JT and Cech to world's best status in his first season so even if they were part of Ranieri's team, Jose got much more out of everyone and deserves full credit. No reason to take the second part seriously as it mostly comes from bitter groups who are irrelevant in the modern game or serial underachievers. Both cases are oblivious to their own failures and that's the way we should want it. We don't actually want a competitor who goes out and fix the obvious problems in his side, we want deluded managers and fan bases pretending they have a chance to compete, easy points every season and bigger chance to win trophies.

Jose's comments were a response to Wenger hinting that Ranieri built his Chelsea team and should get credit for Jose's success. If he gets a fine for that he should just say whatever he wants against this corrupt organization.

320 pages, probably in 3 chapters Page 1-20, How to win with George Graham's team. Page 21-40, How to win a title by drawing for half a season. Page 41-320, Specialist in failure.

We already know a lot of details, she showed lack of loyalty with public messages against her employers and left the club. Whatever happens now in terms of a lawsuit or quiet departure is another story. As for "PR disaster" and "worst publicity", no. This is just an overreaction to an extreme overreaction of groups with clear agendas. It has no effect on us as a brand or as a football team. We lived through it for many years now, people in the media masking their bullsh*t by blowing things out of proportion to create the imaginary image they want to present this club as. We're getting bigger deals and growing globally every year. The success of this club depends on the on pitch success and the marketing and popularity of players and manager. No worthless article or interview is going to change that. Carneiro will be forgotten in a few months.

She has done a great job for us, that's not the point. I didn't need more than her "thanks for the support" message, that's a clear stance against your boss that shows lack of loyalty to the working environment. You go out with a message in public that portray your employer as some evil boss. Now, she left the club. I didn't see Fearn shouting back at Jose, I didn't see Fearn putting himself above his colleagues with public messages and I didn't see him quitting his job at the first sign of disagreement. We don't need people like that at the club. Moving on to better things.

Good riddance. We don't need staff members who think they're above their colleagues, we don't need a doctor who show lack of loyalty to the club the moment there's some disagreement. Clearly she had an attitude and all the compliments about being an influential woman in a man's world made her think she was bigger than her job. We'll get a better doctor and move on. And please, don't fall for the media garbage, "Jose's greatest mistake", "dark day for football" Comical. She was nothing more than another staff member, easily replaceable.

Someone check the rules, I thought City weren't allowed to drop points...8 points now, easy.

I didn't see it but you know how it is with Arsenal, we win leagues and big cup competitions, they win internet polls and likes competitions. Let them burn some frustration, poor guys forgot what it is to see a PL goal against the Blues. :laugh2:

Hopefully he got the reception he deserves. Still feel he should be here, still the world's best for me. LEGEND Big Pete.

At least Sanchez didn't try to punch his way out of Ivan's pocket this time...

Claude is reasonable when talking about better teams, but hope that rat face clown "Moh" was there to watch (as usual) his soft side get destroyed at the Bridge. Next time aim to score please, how many years since they scored a goal against us in the league? it's getting boring now.

Yes we can. People forget that we have 32 games to play, aim for 5-6 points from the top by January and we'll get there.

JT played against Walcott countless times, if I'm not mistaken he started for them in the CS and didn't get a kick. Cahill struggles a lot more anyway so I don't see this as justification. Looks like a terrible decision now, hopefully it looks better in two hours.

JT wasn't even on the pitch for half the goals we conceded this season, he was directly at fault for one at most and was the better CB in every game he played. Madness.

I'm a lot less confident than I was 10 minutes ago. JT on the bench is a ridiculous decision, Fabregas in midfield is craziness.

I don't get the changes people want Jose to make based on the CL game, Fabregas and RLC is a midfield that Jose wouldn't play in a random carling cup game and rightfully so. Baba wasn't convincing enough to get a start in such a huge game which is understandable as he's young and still getting used to the side. The only realistic change is for RLC to start alongside Matic and Jose doesn't want to throw him to the deep water too soon (can work both ways in this case). The most urgent change to make is to get Fabregas as far as possible from a midfield two. Our key players, JT, Matic and Hazard didn't even start the season yet, now is a great time to do it. We're winning this.

Since we changed our approach after the Arsenal game in Jose's first season and he was asked to defend, he was fantastic. Last season when he was asked to defend, especially in the big games when we were more organized, he was excellent, one of the examples the Arsenal game at the Bridge. He's a top defender, much better defender than going forward imo, it just that Jose was willing to sacrifice some of his game because he was so effective on the right. Let's not forget that for years now we start the game with the goalkeeper aiming for him to bring the ball down over the halfway line. The solution here in my view is just to balance his positioning to match his current physical abilities. He still has a lot to offer, he's a leader and he's Chelsea, two things we need.

Begovic Ivan - Cahill - Terry - Azpi Ramires - Matic Pedro - Oscar - Hazard Costa If Willian was fit I would go with him for Pedro. Baba was decent in the CL but I'm not convinced that's a performance that buys him a starting spot, let alone against probably the weakest team we're going to play this season. I would go Ivan and tell him not to push forward. RLC was great but Jose basically confirmed that he's not starting. Mikel or Ramires alongside Matic, one to be calm and disciplined, the other to be full of energy and disciplined. It's Arsenal, we need the win. 2-0.