Nickcook26

I think we will see RLC and Ross play together in the future. Perhaps 2 or 3 seasons down the line but I don't think we signed him to sell RLC on in the summer

If we had a crystal ball in August and could see into the future to read this post, I would be fearful our position would be a lot worse than it currently is. So much doom and gloom in that post - you would think our season is over. Yes, City will take our title but I raise my hat to them. They will set all sorts of records this year and have played some of the best football ever seen in most of our lifetimes. But we are still in the FA Cup and Champions League. We didn't miss out on the League Cup final by a lot either. Lot's to play for in the rest of the season!

Wonderful post, very well said

I'm not sure the managerial merry go round is as laughable as you suggest. Real Madrid are on their 10th manager since Roman took over, but does anyone ever say they are a laughable club because of this? They also may be looking for another manager soon if Zidane carries on this poor run. The longevity of Wenger and Fergie make us look bad in comparison, but short managerial reigns really are mostly the new norm. I disagree Roman is "laughable" because he sacks managers. Also, laughable transfer windows? Most transfer windows, Roman has funded squad improvements and for that we should be grateful. This has resulted in the success we never thought we would have. You can count on one hand the amount of transfer windows Roman has perhaps failed to improve the squad. You could question how we spend it, but money has always been available. He must have been through around 30 transfer windows as owner now.

A shocking comment. Roman has done absolute wonders for our club from the moment he stepped through the door. As JT rightly pointed out in his leaving speech on the pitch last year, Roman cares for and loves this club. If you don't appreciate what he's done I would suggest going and supporting City for the time being, then if someone richer comes along after that, you should swap and support them!

Unfortunately we paid the price for a poor first leg. Let's be honest, tonight was a close game. Their 2 goals were very lucky and it could very easily have been 1-1. However, let's go back 2 weeks and look at the poor Arsenal side we played. With home advantage we did nothing and should have at least been one goal up. With no advantage from the first leg you run the risk of what happened tonight. We have to remember the tie is played over 2 legs. Our famous Anfield Champions League defeats were lost in a similar manner.

I think it makes complete sense. Fresh legs in Pedro, then Hazard and Willian the two form players. We will be set up to counter attack tonight and these 3 will be lightning on the break. This has to be Conte's thinking

A much better performance. Still improvements to be made though. Agree with a lot of the comments above - could have been down to a couple of reasons: - Suited better to a 2 man midfield? - Not playing at home (our fans are definitely on his back which has no doubt affected his confidence playing at the Bridge / groaning and booing etc...)

We have had a very tall goalkeeper for around 15 years now with either Cech or Courtois usually between the sticks. With their natural height we have got used to watching them claim crosses into the box with absolute ease. Willy isn't as tall so I would expect him to find it harder to claim the catches in those situations. Hence more punching etc (we just aren't used to watching that). Last two games though, he has shown he is definitely more than able to fill the number 2 goalkeeper spot (as he did at City last year too).

Thought he offered us a lot more today than Morata has done in recent weeks. Sure he has his frustrating moments, but so does Morata when I think of all the one on ones missed and amount of time he spends on the floor claiming fouls. He did well today considering he is going to be out the door any minute. We needed him too with all the suspensions. Well done Michy

Well he should be fresh for Arsenal after only playing 20 minutes tonight plus being suspended for Brighton after that fiasco tonight. Needs to do some work in the gym and toughen up a bit, rather than look at the referee all the time after the slightest touch. Big potential but obvious areas to develop too

A disgraceful comment, call yourself a fan? We have had some amazing moments in this competition. Di Matteo's goal, all of Drogba's goals in the finals. Brilliant memories. I would love to win it again. Well done to the team for converting all the penalties, after all that what happened it would have been easy to implode. I'm pleased to be in the next round.

While we may not have been much worse off with RLC, you have to look at the long term picture. They are at two completely different stages of their careers. Drinkwater is at the stage of his career where he has accepted less playing time for the challenge of playing for a top team. RLC needs as much playing time as possible. The loan deal is good for him (good senior playing time experience and even getting a call up for England). Would having started 4 games at this stage of the season have been any good for him? (Like DD has done). We have a very talented player in RLC but I back the club's decision that a loan move was right for his development this season. Let's hope he develops whilst on loan and can do what Christensen has done next year when he returns.

Disappointed it looks like he won't be involved tonight v Norwich From the Chelsea Twitter feed: "On Callum Hudson-Odoi, Conte says he is a very interesting player who needs another step to be ready to play with his side." Just a bit disappointed in this with tiredness being blamed for our recent poor performances too. Unless I'm missing something, not sure there is another step for him after scoring a hat trick v Sunderland in the under 23s. Just put him in the team and see how he gets on

Still think we have to wait and see what actually develops before getting too carried away/concerned with these stories. Llorente was set to sign all summer according to various journalists but never happened.

I'm not sure I view it as mind boggling. Barkley - we all get this transfer. Wonderful price for a young English player with a lot of potential. Drinkwater - Before we signed him, Conte had gone on record saying he was a "big fan", so despite us maybe not getting all the players he wanted in the summer window, I believe this was one player he wanted and did get. A price we probably didn't want to pay and hence the transfer going to the final hours of the window. This transfer seems to make sense to me (adding to squad depth and giving the manager someone he wants despite being the club maybe being uncomfortable with the fee). Carroll - Remains to be seen but lots of unanswered questions on this one. Does Conte want him and are we supporting the manager? We will have to wait and see how it potentially plays out (loan/permanent transfer/the potential fee). Let's not forget we were long linked with Llorente all summer and it never happened so I feel a long way to go on this one. Think it's early to jump to conclusions he will be signing tomorrow for 35m

Shocking to see the bashing Danny Drinkwater is getting here. I think he had one poor performance against Arsenal alongside the rest of the team but has largely been effective in midfield when he has played this year. Our poorest performances of the year Drinkwater hasn't played in (West Ham, Palace, Roma, Leicester this weekend, Burnley). I think he deserves a run in the team ahead of Bakayoko who no doubt is struggling to settle and has confidence issues. Shocking to see him getting bashed on here basically because he isn't an overseas household name.

Next 4 PL games become crucial for us. I believe we can win v Brighton, West Brom, Bournemouth and Watford. Meanwhile Spurs will face Southampton, United, Arsenal and Liverpool. It's crucial with these fixtures to develop some breathing space over them. If we fail to I will start to get worried.

Can Michy really do any worse than Alvaro is doing at the moment? Very concerning and if this goes on finishing in the top 4 will start to become a real worry.

Agree on all points - my worry is that if we keep expecting him to work miracles by himself that he will get tired of this and could be a factor in him wanting to move to Madrid etc... Needs help around him and it starts with the manager getting Willian/Pedro more involved by changing the formation.

Completely agree. He should be playing every minute of every league game. He is our best player and we should make the most of him while we have him. You never see Messi and Ronaldo subbed off. They play pretty much every minute and inspire their team just by being on the pitch. It was a travesty he was subbed off on 57 minutes today with the score at 0-0

I agree it would be nice but playing with one striker seems the way for most of the top 6 right now (Kane / Lacazette / Firmino / Jesus or Aguero / Lukaku / Morata). Maybe an impact player could be good if the right one is out there for the final 15/20 minutes of games.

I believe we will continue to play 3 at the back. We have been very solid at the back recently with 5 clean sheets in 6 which has probably been overlooked a bit in this topic. We only conceded twice to Arsenal last week and both goals Thibaut could do nothing about. Let's remember all good teams start with a solid defence. Antonio just needs the team to find that spark in the final third again and I believe we can get on a good run. He will have to decide whether to revert back to two wingers more regularly like last season. I expect Pedro to get some more minutes this month, whilst Barkley could give us something new. Fresh legs in the wing back areas + a solution to the second striker situation would be ideal (I genuinely believe the club are working to address this in the transfer market). Will be interesting to see where we are by the end of January.

When we bought Morata, he was keen to emphasise the fact he needed to be the number one striker. Will be interesting to see how Morata responds to this bad period of form, as if he can't get out of it he may well find himself being the second choice striker again. I agree with the points that it is often left to him and Hazard to make things happen up top (probably unfairly) but despite this I feel he needs to show a bit more than he has in the last few weeks/months.

As someone has already posted a lot of performances were 5/6 out of 10 with the exception of the back 3 who were all excellent. I think Rudiger has been excellent recently and looks like he is really starting to settle despite some early criticism. Let's hope Bakayoko can follow him.