Van Butsen

Best game I've ever seen him play

Hopefully a sign that Guus won't leave him on the bench for the rest of the season

Not sure if anyone has touched on this point yet, but has there been mention or consideration into the official statement which read that it was by mutual consent?

Essentially that is the problem though. Yes I agree, teams should all work together supporting each other, but the opposition rarely attack Dave because he's much tougher to beat one on one. If we have a full back that needs constant support from midfielder it's going to create holes and is a weakness. Would be worth every penny. I think every post has alluded to him being a champion.

That video is damning, hope someone shows the refs. Atkinson hasn't given a red or a penalty all season. Herrera has just jumped to public enemy number 1 for me. Complete c word

Swansea wouldn't be the the worst move.. Gomis is so patchy and baring them signing two strikers after picking Bamford up, he would play a lot of games with some great players who still have the desire to stay up. I'd suggest Villa, but I think they have been a relegation waiting to happen for 3 years now and could give up any second. If Swansea picked up a new manager from the Championship in the coming weeks it may also work favourably, as chances are the manager would have seen first hand how dangerous he can be.

Not good enough to play consistently for a top 4 team any more. I'm conscious of treating our players with respect when it comes to their careers at the club, but I'm also conscious of being overly sentimental.

Cool your jets, it's been 1 1/2 weeks. Sh!t doesn't happen overnight, I could list countless reasons why Guus might have stuck with relatively the same team as his predecessor in the beginning. Let's give the guy a chance. In regards to be MOTM, Pedro for mine. Thought he looked the quickest player on the pitch and considering we were on the counter a lot, very dangerous. Made the right pass a few times, one extremely notable one!

I wrote and rewrote a post on this thread about 5 times before realising what I wanted just won't happen. Feeling a little disenchanted

How are they an issue for Roman?

Firstly, absolutely hate playing without a striker. Secondly, I think you have to take each game on it's own merit sometimes, and while ManU have been poor in the last few games, I thought we did really well to quell a team that looked red hot in the first 20. Ivanovic learned how to deal with Martial.. why he couldn't have used his wealth of experience to do that from the beginning I don't know, but anyway, he looked a certainty to score in the first half and didn't in the end. A lot more players look to have more intent, however one or two look the same. We looked spent by the end.. I'll take the point.

Matic.. the least explainable form/quality drop in the history of the game. We were much better today

Way more lively than usual.. even if not much 'came off'. First time he's done a one-two in just about forever.. he looks much better when he pulls his finger out.

Can't see Guus coming in and leaving the team totally unchanged.. not sure what those changes will be though, maybe a Mikel in the midfield? Either way we've got to stop a team in a very good run of form, but if we try and hold on for a result I don't think we'll get anything out of it. We're Chelsea, we're at home, let's have the ball and let's create chances.

David Luiz and Ashley Cole's penalties were positively and undisputedly out of the highest of top draws

I thought he was a striker? Could we perhaps play him/the team like this? o o o o o o o o o o Guus has already said he will play the team to their strengths, not his

Few articles floating about that one of Guus' conditions as Manager is to play more youth. To what extent I don't know, but the club and manager aren't stupid and I don't think anyone is suggesting to play 8 all at once... But who really knows. Wouldn't even surprise me if the same team went out and we had even less youth on display boxing day with Ake not being eligible. Hope RLC + Kenedy feature much more for the next few months

I just don't agree with that opening paragraph. Yes, we weren't at our best but we showed some serious character to keep the wolves at bay.. something we hadn't shown the previous year when we had lost those scrappy end of season away games to the likes of Palace.

It's likely the next manager will only be around for max 3 years, despite a lot of people looking for some long term stability, long term youth progression etc. So if that doesn't happen, we may as well have the best. I have no problem with how his teams play, they play like winners

Expunged has rattled me

Enlighten us?

For this match though.. honestly. I'll applaud Mourinho, hats off forever, welcome back if that's even a possibility.. but I'm not going to disrespect the team in the process. Similar line ups to recently I would feel until Hiddink walks in the door with Cescs hat.

Hummels would be ideal

With no examples to prove this, my feeling is that whil eyou may be right.. Cahill is responsible for more goals going in than Zouma is.. Zouma's mistakes are less costly becaus eof his physical attributes. Cahill a great Chelsea champion and valuable asset but you have to predict players dips before they come sometimes, well passed his best and we need our defence to dry up the goals.

This is absoloute rubbish. Seriously, the amount of BS on this forum... How anyone would consider not celebrating a goal from your own effing team... honestly. Switch clubs and follow where the manager goes. What will not celebrating that even prove, the players need all the support they can get. It's Chelsea FC people, you can't pick and choose your club, I don't have enough words to describe how sick I would feel if the crowd didn't celebrate a goal. We are better than that