mullincfc

I agree in a sense that we seem to be only able to play in one way. To be fair to Antonio he made the subs early, it didn't work, sh*t happens, we move on. He made similar changes against Liverpool which worked brilliantly and he was given credit for this, maybe yesterday though wasnt the day to change it in this way. West Ham sucked the life out of us yesterday, it does happen when you are getting nowhere, it can deflate a team which sucks confidence making a team look like never getting a goal. It is so frustrating to watch and frustrating as fans, I just hope we can regain some confidence soon starting on Tuesday, Come on the Chels!

Just a few things to address while all of our fans are in complete meltdown, we all know that in recent years we work on a sell to buy basis, thats just how it is and will remain so we will go through periods of indfferent results. The comments by one of the users about Willian is absolutely disgusting and someone defending him saying his words were taken out of context are bizarre and so naive it borders on racism itself. With regards to this season we have had a few poor performances and results which has been very disappointing, in the majority of the games we have actually performed quite well in my opinion. Burnley at the start of the season killed us with the early red card and they are a hardworking half decent team. I think this laid the seeds for David Luiz's dropping, he let emotions get the better of him that day and if Christensen had played that day we might have won. Palace and West Ham were poor, early goal killed us yesterday giving West Ham something to protect, I dont rate Moyes as a manager but some of his best results have come from Parking the Bus so he is able to do that, I remember his best game as United manager was similar against Bayern. Also, people saying that they will not continue to follow this season as the league is gone, you are an embarassment to the club and I have no respect for taking that line, go off and support Man United in that case like all the other sheep out there. The dust has settled this morning and I hope some people get a grip. Calling for Conte's head is absolutely crazy and I know it is only a small minority, I was quite baffled in midweek playing a full strength team and I think that went against us and I did not agree with it at the time as we could get any of the big boys anyway, finishing second anyway just rubbed salt into the wounds but he is a fantastic manager, takes no crap and players are still playing for him. I dont get peoples obsession with Carlo, yes I loved him but that second season we were absolutely awful, that last game against Everton was so bad it was unreal. I thought players may take exception with Costa and Luiz situation but they havent , they are still trying hard, yesterday was just one of those days. Mark my words, we can get back into this title race, its unlikely but it is possible, We have some nice fixtures over Christmas which are all winnable so we need a good Christmas period. People need to relax a bit, calling a team overpaid mercenaries every time we lose a game is a joke, you do not win a premier league title without having bottle so have a bit of respect for these players, I'm hurting more than most after yesterday but get behind the team and Up the Chels! Just a note 5 of Contes 9 losses have been against London rivals, it just shows you we have it harder than most, playing away at Palace and West Ham is harder for us than most, its not acceptable both performances against them but WH played for their lives yesterday, they are a joke of a club who treat this as an FA Cup Final, we are bigger than them and always will be so f**k them, they are are joke of club with sh*t fans so f**k them, we move on to bigger and better things while they fight relegation, lets all hope they go down.

Really nervous about this one. Anything less than a win and our season is heading towards a battle for top 4. Our team doesnt seem like the type that will be up for the fight for a top 4 finish if out of the question for winning the league. Would certainly like to see Pedro from the start tomorrow anyway,its baffled me how he's been out of our team. I suspect that he's been carrying an injury for a number of weeks. I'm hoping that Conte doesn't start this same sh*t Jose did, playing players that are not producing, someone like Kenedy deserves more game time than he is getting, nobody has mentioned his name as a possible starter in CM, yes it may be a risk but looks like whoever we play in CM is going to be a risk anyway,Rudiger or Christensen in CM? Cannot see this working. One thing we know is that Kenedy has a decent engine, he may be a bit raw and tactically unware but lets be honest weve looked like that in midfield for most of the season. If DL and Bakayoko not fit then I would like to see: Tibo Dave Christensen Rudiger Zappa Alonso Kenedy Cesc Pedro Hazard Morata Not having that Ampadu or Scott,they are far too young to be considered starters here tomorrow when we have a pretty versatile player in Kenedy in our squad. Lets give him a chance and see what hes made of if DL and Baka arent fit. Just to point out above is not the team i want to see start but taking into consideration the worst case scenario regarding injuries.

Wow, that is extremely harsh imo. Dave seems like one of the most modest guys I've seen play football, maybe he is struggling with the added responsibility and thinks that he has to be more proactive which could be affecting his game. But to suggest he is being a pre-madonna is crazy. The guy has had about 4 bad games in 4 years and is still our most consistent player the last 5 years.

Yes I've noticed Yeah I would imagine Morata will start the game, just hope he doesnt get injured again, we badly need him for the PL.

Hahaha, my god, I've had a mare

Going into this on a dampner, I'd swap the win here tonight for points in the PL. A win tonight and we can start looking towards our league games to try and make ground. I believe we will bounce back in the league. City game we were just well off it, midweek definitely cost us in Madrid but City look phenomenal. Palace, lets be fair not only were the players complacent the fans were too, I dont understand how people thought it would be an easy game when they had 2 weeks to prepare for the game with a basically full squad. They have good players,Zaha,Townsend,Cabaye,Sakho, Puncheon all more than capable on their day and they never give it to us easy in SP. Whats sickening the most lately being Chelsea fan is seeing all these players that Mourinho sold for us. De Bruyne, Lukaku(albeit I still prefer Morata) Salah. These players are ripping it up in the PL and he sold them on us. Tonight Im going to prioritise PL and take a chance. A draw tonight is ok,a loss and it leaves us with work to do but got to back ourselves, whats for sure is that we cannot lose any further ground in the PL. I dont care how good City are, they will hit a bad patch at some point like last season. I would like to see a Willianless team tonight and go with: Tibo Azpi Christensen Rudiger Zappacosta Kenedy Luiz Baka Pedro Cesc Hazard Batshuyi Dont want to risk Morata tonight, give Batman a chance, I know he has been poor in big games but he has to improve, lets give him another chance. Think we need to have 3 in midfield tonight, Palace killed us at the weekend and with Nangolain in CM for Roma I dont think we can afford to go with just 2 in CM.

Agreed considering the amount of stick Cahill gets on this thread, yet no one says leave the lad alone he's doing his best and has always done his best for Chelsea. I was also not overly fussed by his performance but glad that he's getting some game time, he must be impressing people in the club to be involved last night which is a great sign. A lad who is an academy youngster should not be excused so that people cannot make an opinion of him just because he's 17, certainly I think its way way way too early to be making judgement on him but he should not be an excused from his performance being judged.

Benzema only plays because he is happy to play Bridesmaid to Ronaldo, if Ronaldo was not there I guarantee you Morata would be starting for them

4-1 over Napoli, was at it and the atmosphere was just indredible. 4-2 over Barca was also incredible. Fa Cup comeback against Liverpool one of my earliest memories as a 6 year old. 1-2 win over Arsenal in the CL, Wayne Bridges goal so well taken.

My heart would love for us to go with Batman as our central striker but my head says we need a top class striker, we certainly need a striker anyway, I would love to see Batman do well, Aubameyang not gonna happen now it would appear, Aguero will never happen as no top team in the prem will sell to us, Morata looks like all speculation and Lewandowski will not be allowed to leave. This leaves us with very little option, maybe someone like Benteke would provide good competition for batshuayi whereby they can both battle it out for the place up front with healthy competition rather than having a striker that will keep Batshuayi on the bench due to the name. I am so unsure as to what to make of Bakayoko, I have not seen enough of him but I feel that we will only realise the importance of Matic when he goes, he covers a lot more ground than it looks like. I liked the look of Rudiger in the Confed cup and am hopeful he will give us real pace at the back. I would be most worried about United this season, Jose's second season and his own team starting to take shape.

Personally from what I have seen from him, he is not good enough, yes he pops up with the few goals here and there(in youth football) but its all too fancy Dan from him. He doesnt seem to have any grit in midfield which unfortunately you need at premier league level. I would love to see it work out for him but not quite sure of his attitude either. He should be demanding a loan move to a premier league club where he is going to get minutes. I'm disappointed we bowed to his demands of 50-60k a week(not sure if this is completely accurate) I hope so much that I am wrong about him but he just strikes me as a typical English youth player who had it too good too quick. I'm more disappointed with the loss of Ake as I think although he is not that young I think he has potential to be a great player. I can only hope we have a buy back on him and I presume we do. Really getting frustrated with the youth teams doing so well and not making the grade with the first team, some of these players need to show that they would kill someone to get in that first team. Unfortunately, it seems that they have too much too soon and are happy to play a bit part and collect their wages at the end of the week.

Personally, I think 40m is good business for a player who was so poor in our title defending seasons. I do rate him highly and his first 6 months back at the club was the best DM in the world in that period with the exception of possibly Veratti at that time, thats judging only by CL games which he could afford to get well up for. Judging by stats, Matic covers far more ground that people generally realise. Without being classy I feel he's an annoyance for opposition teams being there. 20/30/40 million, does it really matter anymore what the fee is in todays market. I think he looks a perfect fit for United and if they only get two years of his best out of him then it will be money well spent by them. I would rather sell to Juve as makeweight for Sandro possibly if it it was possible although this rarely happens in modern day football. We are getting a replacement(albeit I have my doubts about Bakayoko) who is 5 years younger for cheaper than the 40 million and it plays right into the ethos of our club the past 10 years where we only buy players who we can resell at same price or ever over. It is a good way to do it for the club and we have done very well with this(Lukaku,Shurrle,Salah,De Bruyne) albeit the wrong decision on De Bruyne, the list goes on. All in all, club will be looking to cash in regardless of which club if 40m is available. If Baka does not work out then he will be sold for 40 million in 2 years time.

And it will 100% be Ivanovic that starts aswell so whats the point in moaning any more. To be honest its a double edged sword who you play but I think Iva's aerial ability will definitely be used today,otherwise if Aina starts West Ham are gonna launch balls to our right back area and try and hit Carroll,even the most experience of defenders cant deal with Carroll so I'm ok for Ivanovic to start tonight regardless of how poor he is these days. The double edged sword is coming up against Payet but even with Aina there he could give him the runaround with his lack of experience. Ivanovic is also a threat from set pieces so I dont see why everyones moaning, the real issue is that we do not have fullbacks available,cant understand why we let Ake go on loan. We need a left back so Dave can play right back and we can drop Iva but I dont think its a good idea to start Aina tonight, anyway lets hope for a positive result, a win would be great but no need to panic if we get a draw or even lost, West Ham are a very good team and were starting under a new manager, get behind the team from the start, up the Chels!

Do you think the board don't know that we are weak in defence or something,after all they are probably going to proven right that Terrys days are numbered, not saying I wanted him to go but if he did then we would have definitely had to have gone for a defender and maybe might have splashed out but us fans got what we wanted and he stayed, problem is this board is stuck in 2010 and not going to spend money on players at todays prices. The board are well aware of our defence being poor but they just are not willing to splash the cash on players they dont feel are worth it, I think Koulibaly is in the last year of his contract,lets make sure we get him on a pre contract agreement in January instead of paying 47 million on him.We'll need him as this will more than likely be Terrys last year. I'm not in any way happy about not spending millions on players but none of us are in the position the board is in, and the reality is we are the ones being bullied in the transfer market these days

We are so short at the back it is just unreal. I really do not see the point in sending Nathan Ake out on loan,I think he could have done a job at left back so Dave can go back to right back. Any attacking intent that Dave had in the first place has been sucked out of him by playing left back, need to get him back at right back ASAP. I would like to see us try somethin like this : Tibo Branna Cahill Terry(I know no pace but what option have we got) Dave Willian Kante Cesc Oscar(judging on pre season alone) Hazard Costa Surely with the defensive options we have Conte will have to have been working on this. What I expect is: Tibo Branna Cahill Terry Dave Kante Willian Oscar Pedro Hazard Costa

Bore off seriously,this is not about proving points, whats done is done, Jose lost his way last year, we are all pissed off about going back to this buying sh*t players for no money,signings like djolaboji and Hector remind me of the days we signed Tal Ben Haim and Steve Sidwell, but honestly just get behind the team, Jose is with United now and the only teams I worse than them winning it are Spurs and Liverpool. United winning the league does not prove a point to anyone, he's spent 150 million on players which if he would not have got if he was still our manager so winning the league after being allowed break the world transfer fee would not be proving that our board was wrong to sack him

I think Jose will bring United success in the short term like he has in most jobs but I think he is getting too big for his boots, he is far more brash nowadays with regards to his players than he was in the past. His first time at Chelsea he backed his players to the hilt albeit because they also backed him unlike the team we have now. In saying that,I think decisions like binning Mata at Chelsea did not do him any favours, he also questioned players in the media far more than he should and I think this lead to disharmony, Fergie never really did it to his players in the media, Jose just seems to be stepping on toes, tossing Shweinsteiger away without givin him a chance does not do any good for team morale in the long run imo, can also see him doing similar with Mata when he makes mistakes. On a side note,people suggesting that they would like Mourinho to win the league can f**k off personally, this is not about the board being proved wrong etc,it is about moving on trying to get back to being a successful team again.

Was lucky enough to be at that game, what an incredible night!

I agree but I just feel that the mentality will be keep it tight and we would actually be in a good position if we got to 60 mins still at 0-0, they would be the team under pressure and if this was to happen then I would back us to break down a team thats starting to get nervous and possibly start dropping deeper and deeper every minute, not an insurmountable task to keep them goaless I think if we set up this way,its not as easy for a manager to just say go out and attack them, personally I would attack with caution but none of us are managers here. We really need Willians delivery tonight from set pieces to be excellent, here's to hoping

So nervous about tonight already,need a huge game from Costa and Willian I think, Hazard got everything but just cant believe that he's going to produce tonight, I'm hoping that the fact that PSG have been resting players in the league is actually a hindrence to them, look at what happened Bayern in previous years under Pep when they have been resting players, players went in undercooked and not used to intensity of CL battle, Dont know whether Oscar will start tonight, he infuriates me but if he does he will be well up for this and give us some grit in the midfield, just dont know why he cant do that in other games, hoping Pedro is fit but feel it may be too soon after his injury, Anyway, Come on the Blues, would be great to get one over on these pricks

I just cant give it to Cahill, he kept giving the ball away to them and inviting pressure on us. His biggest problem is that he invites players to attack him and then makes very good last ditch tackles to be fair to him. Gave it to Willian, his speed and dribbling skills are just incredible, he could be one of the top players in the worlds if he added more goals from open play, love the man. Dave was magnificent aswell defensively. Pedro I thought was brilliant but should have been substituted soon after half time, he couldn't get back for 15 minutes in the second half and Maxwell had so many chances to create a goal down our right side because of this.

Interesting point about Hazard getting kicked about, that is true, Veratti kicked him around last year and got away with it. It wont happen but it will be important that we get in the ear of the ref for any of these instances but we wont because were too nice and we lack leaders on the pitch these days. Part of the reason PSG went through last year apart from being better than us was the fact the ref was allowing veratti 4/5 fouls before booking him. We have to get in the refs ear if this happens but Hazard gets fouled and gets straight back up, football is not a game for realists, we need to do everything to win. Hazard really pissed me off in the game against Kiev away I think, player leaves his leg out for Hazard to get a free penalty and he stays on his feet and tries to pull the ball back, so annoying, u can bet anything the likes of Ballack, Drogba etc would be doing anything to win

Will people stop talking about Mizaga, he is not going to play, you cannot come from MLS and play in a Champions league game, there is more chance of Mikel playing centre back ahead of him. Also just hearing breaking news that Simeone will be our next manager, a good appointment if true

I think they are right, I think we will try and park the bus tonight, I'm not sure what to think about it as we tried that last year and ok we got a draw but on another day it would have been 3/4-1, the only thing that would suggest that we might not try that is the fact that we do not have Matic tonight. I think he would have for sure played with Mikel tonight if he was available. I think much of this game depends on the fitness of Veratti, think he's a brilliant player and hes the engine of their midfield, he absolutely bossed us last year in midfield and he's arguably their most important player