Slojo

A rest would help him, that's why it would have been good if we had another LWB to play. Kennedy can't hurt.

It doesn't change the fact that you know absolutely nothing on the subject of Conte and player management. You're making large accusations there, the Costa situation was around before Conte, I doubt it was Conte's fault that Costa was wanting to leave the club. And I think it's pretty clear Costa was wanting to leave the club for other reasons, not Conte. Matic was poor for us last season, he was the weak link. United offered over 40 million, I creamed my pants at that offer, let them have him. If you're really doubting Conte's man management, how did he turn a player like Victor Moses into what he is now? Jose wanted him out of the club.

No, we were walking the league at least, United are all over the place as of now, I don't think we ever lost two games in a row in Jose's first two seasons if we lost we would shape up and get back in control. United looked very organised at the start of the season, but since Pogba got injured they went off the rails. When City signed their 400 million sponsorship deal with Etihad, UEFA said they'll be investigating the deal to make sure it's fair, so far nothing has come out. I mean I'm not being funny but UEFA is just a governing body of FIFA and FIFA are the most corrupt bar stewards in the world. I'm also pretty certain it's the Qatari's who fund PSG & City, the same Qatari's who managed to bribe themselves a World Cup. I seriously doubt they're ever going to punish City, not with their financial power and pull.

And what do you expect Conte to do if one of his players doesn't listen to him? How can a manager manage when his players won't listen to him, without management we wouldn't have a team. And plus you don't know anything that's going on behind the scenes at all to suggest Conte is bullying our players and disrupting them. If Luiz doesn't want to play for the club anymore or has problems with Conte then he can go, it's as simple as that.

Read up about their Etihad sponsor, which is practically their own sponsor that they can put money into every season.

Na it's complete bull sh*t, you can say a team like Liverpool is majority left wing, I mean they had a big Jeremy Corbyn display at the ground at the end of last season. And Liverpool is known for being a socialist town and a labour stronghold. As for elsewhere though not really, especially London which is incredibly diverse in almost every area. The majority Chelsea fans I've met are left wing, that doesn't mean Chelsea is a left-wing fanbase though because that's my complete anecdote. Obviously, I get where you're coming from, because of the racism tag we have they'll strictly think a lot of Chelsea fans are right-wing racists, that's the sad reality. As someone who isn't a white person I've never suffered any racism at the Bridge, a blue is a blue! But I know people who have, and that's a sad reality. But it's not like our club condones racism.

Honestly, I would hate seeing City win the league just as much as I would United and that's the honest truth. City are the dirtiest team in the league behind the scenes, them and PSG, I would hate City to cement dominance here on out. They don't abide by the rules of the game, other teams will be penalised if they had City's transactions over the years. Look how much we've had to sacrifice by balancing the books, the transition we've had to have in building a team, City can spend 200 million without selling a player and nothing would happen to them. Mourinho isn't really that relevant to me, he will win things, that's the reality, he's still a good coach. Plus we sacked him, he gets to go where he wants as far as I'm concerned. We've had bad blood with United because of our past, we'll be bound to hate City over the years when we have just as many battles with them for the title, it's just what happens. You don't just strictly enjoy each others company when competing against one another, that's how rivalries are usually created. The new breed of Chelsea fans will hate City just as much as we hate United in the following years, I for one just don't want City bypassing FFP regulations to completely monopolise the football market. It isn't the same with Chelsea years ago, we weren't the richest club, we could buy lots of players but so could all the other top teams, now teams are restricted, but City are not restricted. Just look at Cities net spend if you think I'm bullsh*tting, then explain to me how a team who's won nothing for the last few years can go out and spend that sort of money with barely any selling.

I've just been reading through this thread, looks like he's had pessimistic treatment from day one, which is understandable of course. Surprised so many Chelsea fans don't rate him so highly, they think he's an average player who is playing in a system that benefits him. I don't think there is anything average about him, for a wide player he is an extremely talented footballer. Look at his passing and link up play against United two weeks ago, he doesn't misplace a pass. For a guy who is slow he has fantastic skill to beat players, very quick with his feet also his final ball is good. And how many wing backs score as many goals as Alonso does? Defensively he's not the sharpest, everyone knows this, 1v1's he struggles, he's no Ashley Cole. But then again Ashley Cole was one of the most overrated fullbacks when going forward, I can't tell you how bad Ashley Cole's crosses were. I actually think this guy is the best LWB in the league, severely underrated on this forum. He looks tired though but he's still putting in good games, no idea why people aren't seeing it. The United game he was literally one of our best players, seriously watch his performance against United and look at how many times he got past players and got the ball to Hazard & Morata in dangerous positions, he was an absolute nightmare for them. I think he's definitely earned his price tag.

Exactly! No reason for why we can't go on a winning streak as of now. Shame about the Luiz injury though.

Spend some time on the politics thread on this forum and you'll learn that Chelsea fans are certainly not right wing by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, I think it was only me and @RIP Mourinho who were the only right-wingers.

We can't replace him, that's the thing.

Willian gets the Cahill treatment on Twitter, the scapegoat. What's odd is that United fans love him, so do Arsenal fans, other teams seem to think he's very underrated. I won't deny he can be very frustrating because of his inconsistency, but I don't know why some people are quick to forget what he's done at the club, I could give you a handful of games where he won us points on his own last season.

I've seen Arsenal grind out games when they're at the top of the table, every big side is capable of doing it. Liverpool did it under Brendan Rogers, it's something you simply have to do when you're at the top.

Very true, like I said. I really hope he does prove me wrong, I wrote Hazard off when he first came (Yes really!) Because I didn't like what I saw of him in the friendly games prior, I also thought he was overrated at Lillie, yet now I'll happily say Hazard is the greatest Chelsea player to ever wear the shirt. But I think his only true potential is the box to box, something that Conte likes actually, (Vidal style of player) but Baka is way off that, he needs to really sharpen up his game and study because he's looking very clueless at the moment. Maybe sitting out for a bit might do the job.

He's been one of our best players for the last 3 years, I have no idea why he gets so much hate and negativity. I mean don't get me wrong he's had some awful games, the City game this season for example. But all in all, he's been top notch, look at his record and the points he's won us.

I think he's levels behind Essien, we signed Essien when he was like 22 and although his technical ability was never world class he was definitely a much better footballer.

Mate it's been 13 games, plenty of times for things to happen. City are now just starting to grind out games, their performance is declining, I think they'll win it but walking it is another story. We are certainly capable of chasing them.

I thought Gerrard was spot on in his analysis also, Baka doesn't seem to know what his role is on the team, he looks lost at times. Maybe it's an injury but whatever it is he needs to be off the pitch for some time, he will become a liability if we keep playing him in this situation. At the moment I haven't heard one pundit praise Bakayoko, not that it matters but keep in mind majority of pundits were w**king over Kante, and that's because of what he does, he's a beast, 49 times out of 50 he will impress. All I've heard about Bakayoko is criticism, and I can see why.

I do agree with an extent, I'm guilty of writing players off, I'm an emotional guy and sometimes it's hard to not be fickle. I've been complaining at people who written KDB & Salah off when I myself have written off players in the past because I didn't like the look of them. Bakayoko for me is the same, I didn't want the signing to begin with, I would say look at my older posts but my posts aren't on this forum I've just recently joined. For me Bakayoko has shown exactly what I thought he would, he doesn't look good enough with the pace and pressuring of the Premier League, he needs to take more touches than everyone else, he has poor technique, doesn't know what to do in difficult situations. His football IQ is very bad in my eyes and I saw that at Monaco, out of all the talent at Monaco last season, Lemar, Fabinho, M'Bappe, Marcos Silva, Mendy, I feel we signed the worst one out of the bunch. I really hope he proves me wrong, and he might over time but I can't see it, everything is off with his technique and control, he reminds me a lot of Ramires and Ramires's playing style wasn't suited for a top level team. I think we should have gone after someone else in the market. Although I wish these Matic comparisons would stop, Matic is irrelevant, he needed to go anyway. RLC, however, is doing what we want Bakayoko to do, although he is shining in a very bad team, could he do that at Chelsea? Who knows, we should give him a chance next season.

Even if he didn't mean the goal it doesn't bother me, the guy kept going forward and forward, I love it when he's ambitious and likes to prove a point, he's unplayable. That's the Willian we like to see, that's the Willian who we need.

You are right in this case, the referee was far too lenient. Even the sh*te referee we had for the United match was more strict. Liverpool got away with fouling Hazard a lot. And it keeps happening because no one brings it up, Mourinho would, Conte should also, we need to protect our players. Like someone said, Ronaldo was untouchable (literally) when Ferguson was managing him. I also remember AVB protecting Gareth Bale and it was a highlight on MOTD and Bale went on to have the best season of his life.

The guy looks very impressive and has to get his chance next season if he keeps it up. But he still needs to prove himself, I know it's difficult for him to get assists & goals at a team like Palace, but it's also not difficult for him to stand out in a bad team. That's something Steven Gerrard did for years. I would like to see how he fares with being next to Kante in midfield, that has to be his future position, CM.

Courtois Azpi-Christensen-Rudiger Moses-Drinkwater-Kante-Alonso Pedro-Morata-Hazard Time to start benching Bakayoko for me, he's done nothing to warrant starts and I have no idea how he wasn't taken off after the first half against Liverpool. Drinkwater has shown better display in a short time, time to start playing Danny instead. Also if the result is going our way it would be good to bring on Fabregas & Willian.

Mourinho hit the nail on the head years ago in 2015, MOTD and Sky don't have any Chelsea pundits, every other big team has pundits to protect them. Look at the way Shearer was getting emotional about Newcastle being bad (giving them media spotlight above other teams) last night. Would he have gotten that emotional about other teams? Of course not, he wouldn't have analysed it like that. He's a Newcastle supporter, that's what every pundit will do for their team. Where are ours? We have don't have any protection. I'll completely agree with you though, there is a reason we don't get penalties as much as other teams, and that's the largest factor. But I don't buy into conspiracy theories about paid refs, if that were true we would be paying them as well, we have a Russian owner who lobbies for Wladimir Putin for f**k sake.

Gary Cahill was getting murdered on that left side, he got skinned a few times by Salah, it shows how good Christensen is really. Christensen was solid all game, can't remember him putting a foot wrong, him and Azpilcueta very impressive.