Chippy

^^ I'd sooner have Costa than Lukaku any day and Lukaku didn't show too much while he was here, a few good performances since he left are certainly not making me all watery eyed thinking what could have been. Mata is a totally different story and we'll forever look at his ability and wish it was hapening in our team, that doesn't cover up that he wasn't the type of player our manager wanted and after trying to get him to play the way he wanted, he was sold for a very good sum of money and we went on to win a double, because he's looking good quite a time later at UTD and we are having a rough time doesn't make that a wrong decision unless we do end up with a change of manager to one who doesn't want his flair players to work too hard defensively.

I think this season we'll possibly be relegated, we'll fall out with our sponsers, Roman will get pissed off and leave, half our fanbase will be wearing City shirts and we'll be hoping for a play off place in 2017. Either that or we'll keep the best manager we ever had and get this sorted out.

Jack can you tell me what makes you think Jose has got control of the transfers? you say he needs to use players he buys but how do you know he bought them? I'm far from convinced he has put the squad together, Cuadrado and Salah you mentioned didn't look like Mourinho signing to me and the lack of playing time both got underlines that, can you imagine his relationship with Roman if he were to ask for Salah and Cuadrado specifically and then say he wants rid so soon after...in my opinion he wouldn't still be here now. Other players he let go (of much higher ability) he found either wouldn't or couldn't play the way he wanted them to, were let go because the money offered was tempting enough and helped with a couple of signings I think he actually did ask for or just plain wouldn't try hard enough to force their way into the team. If he came out tomorrow and said the transfer dealings, in and out have been down to him then I might be a lot more inclined to dig him out but if (and as I believe) they are not, I think we are all in his debt for the fact we have another title and cup to be proud of.

All the people mentioning how Jose has never brought young players through and is reliant on finished artical type players, have you looked back on our Roman years and seen how many managers have integrated the youth players while keeping us challnging and keeping their Jobs? And other arguments including the players that have been brought in that he has not given a lot of chances to and let go again, If he isn't picking them out as targets to play in the style and system he wants us to play, they are not likely to get game time, he looks at them, gives them a couple of chances while already knowing they're not the players he wanted and tries to get them to play his way, when they show signs they can't or wont he lets them know or doesn't play them. I still stand by my feeling that even with a limited transfer pot, If the club purely went after players Jose identified, we'd be in a far better position with players on the edge of the first team that Jose trusted to come in and do the job he asks if anyone is struggling with form or fitness. Leaders are in short supply in our squad as well and I'm sure Jose realises that (as proven by his bringing Drogba back last season). I hope he's had the discussion with Roman and feel sure he has) and hope Roman now sees what happens wen somebody else chooses our transfer targets.

Nice to see someone else looking at our problems from the angle I see them, I mentioned earlier the signings really don't seem to be in Jose's hands and I really don't understand how Roman can expect Jose to build a team to his vision with players Emanalo feels are what we need. Throwing good players at a coach might look good from the outside but integrating them into a team who play to a certain style means the man choosing them should be the man coaching them and dishing out the tactics. If as at least two of us are thinking, this is the case I'm hopeful that Roman will work it out and put it right. I'd love the next sacking or at least change of Job description be Emanalos.

I usually point to Fabregas as the player that should have been subbed but today was an exception, bring on another striker and take off the man put there to thread passes to them? not for me, Bar going three at the back (which I'd have done at ridiculous risk) Matic was the right choice.

I'd just add that although we suffered to day and our nerves were jelly once they equalised I'd give a hats off to the Saints as I think they were bang on it. They haven't had a good start after a being really good last season but it wouldn't surprise me if they put a few points on the table after todays performance.

Arrogant but spot on in his assessment.

Jose looked visibly rattled in that interview and who can blame him? a lot of his words had a lot of honesty and truth in them in my opinion, OK the refereeing decisions in todays game were fairly evenly weighted but Jose was talking about on the whole and on the whole we have had a lot of those go against us...the players minds only see the ones that go against us and they did drop their heads today and lose belief after the equaliser and the penalty claim. The team is weak and the lack of big personalties is apparant for all to see, those complaining last season when Jose brought Drogba back can possibly see what a smart move that was for more than the few goals he chipped in with. We have a few talented players but they seem like young boys when the going gets tough, when the more experienced players are out of form then even they can't calm things down. Jose again getting abused for the team selection, bringing back Terry looked like the most important move to some of us, it didn't help though and dropping Matic looked risky until he came on and we looked just as nervy. The players should shoulder a lot of blame for this but the squad needs more steel, Roman rather than swinging his over used axe has really got to back Jose and do the best they can in January to bolster the squad while letting the manager know if he wants to take a long look at some of the fringe players and we fail to make top four, his Job will be safe. There is no looking around for a better manager, the best is already here regardless of this seasons absurdities.

I agree they are out of form, I though unlike the manager haven't seen enough of the other options to be a fair judge...that's why I put my faith in the opinion of the man who has.

I'm supportive of both of them as long as they wear Blue shirts, May not be the players I'd have chosen today but I'm not the manager.

I've got thirty quid on the win so if you want to bet that it'll cover my stake

Lucky Jose isn't with a lot of todays posters in the trenches...1-1 halftime and he's being slaughtered for every decision and every stray pass a player makes. I'm hoping the best manager in the business does enough in the next fifteen minutes to get us the three points rather than plotting his dismissal.

I thought we looked more up for it and pressed a bit better but Southampton have got hold of the game late on in that half. Sort it Jose, every Chelsea fan wants to see what you can do. Ramires might need to watch the second half as a Red card looks almost a certainty, Has Matic had the wake up call the bench was designed to give him or will RLC get the nod?

Some nice stuff today, lets hope we can keep improving

That bloody Willian...all end prduct

Will U are...quality goal

Matic hasn't been scapegoated here, he along with the most criticised players have been pretty woeful, If Jose thinks these changes will help then that'll do me for now. Come on boys lets get some pride back here.

Has it come to the point when we're doubting Mourinho because we no longer have Salah?, everybody knows some players struggle in the prem and it's never a massive surprise when they leave they look better. What is odd is that if we we're playing well I doubt many would be caring what the likes of Salah is getting up to, not many were calling out for him to get on the pitch when he was here. There have obviously been some good players that have been let go that Jose didn't feel he could get the best out of and when he's not getting the best out of the ones he kept hold of those departures are going to look like mistakes. I feel fairly confident he's kept the ones he feels fit the way he wants to play best even though up to now it hasn't been too evident.

How about if Ivan starts the game just hoping the bloke can find some form? it would mean a lot to our season if he could and it's not as if it was a long time ago he would have been a nailed on starter whoever picked the team and Jose obviously believes he's the best option still. Anyone thinking Mourinho would suffer losses out of some sentimental favouritism really doesn't have a lot of insight into the mans personality (in my opinion) he is a winner and will pick players and stratagies to that end, ok he'll not always get it right but I'm pretty sure he'll go with what he believes and not shy away from making any change because of some percieved bromance. We all can see Ivans been having a hard time, that should be enough to tell us that Jose likely saw it before we did, he really must have weighed up other options and tried them in training so if he hasn't yet decided to change it, it's likely we have a problem integrating Baba at the highest level, hopefully he'll get minutes here and there if we get comfortable in games or in the cup but Jose clearly doesn't think at this time he would be an improvement. I'm for trusting him to get the time right.

I realise people would ring in to a company with a complaint if a service was payed for that they weren't happy with and rightly so but for me supporting a club is a bit different, everybody wants the club to succeed and the reactions every time a slump in form comes along almost always call for a new manager, six months or maybe a season later after the grace that the new man is (sometimes) given to settle in and we are not sitting pretty the perpetual whining starts again. I am in it for entertainment as much as anything else but if the team can't get it together I will support the manager until I'm pretty sure he is not going to get it sorted, I judge how long that will take usually with gut instinct and a thought to his past achievements while trying to weigh up the mitigating circumstances that could be adding to his woes. We all have different levels of patience and expectancy but when I look at the manager we have in charge this time (not my favourite by far personality wise) I have to also try to weigh up who could be better qualified, be better prepared, have a better record, or in my opinion be more likely sort out the problems we have. For me Mourinho deserves to be given time to sort it, we are champions because of him and if we get top four this season after a sloppy start, if we win a domestic cup we will have had a decent season and Jose wil have learned a lot more about his players and likely his own approach to games. Next season could well see him with a group of players he has properly sifted through over the course of this season and a few more ideas for the assault on next. I'd much rather have a poor season with Jose and be contemplating him leading us into next than I would welcome another manager in here that I believe is not as good and watch his results go up and down while the Jose out brigade insist it's because he's just arrived then spend close season fully expecting next season to be arguments about him needing his own players, transitions and finding his feet in the prem. I've gone off on a tangent I know as I only meant to answer the part about people coming on to complain but not so much to celebrate...I can't liken it to a company complaints line, for me celebrating and enjoying the good times is more important than complaining and I'd sooner be writing posts about the way we are playing without ripping into certain players or the manager too much. I hope Mourinho doesn't end up at another Premiership club as the poor bloke that ends up here will be compared to him as soon as he loses a game and I can't imagine Jose not hitting the ground running if he leaves us.

We've been through this so many times, we've tried up and coming coaches who are the flavour of the month, old Coaches who have been there and done it all, Interims, directors of football, ex players, etc etc and most have been either unproven in the Premiership which had people casting doubts or forever compared unfavourably to the best coach we ever had. Even Roman who has little patience has gone full circle and swallowed his pride to get back the man he feels is best for the Job. We might have seen Jose being stubborn, we may be seeing him falling out with a few players and we might be seeing him make some mistakes but we've seen that with every manager we've had. If JT has fallen out with Jose (not that I think he has) it isn't a new thing and it could unsettle a few others but the fact is JT is not the future of the club, players have to do as the manager says and if that means being benched then that's his decision, JT is big enough and professional enough to get through it and if I'm any judge of his personality on field he'll come out better for it. I wouldn't start the players Jose is starting but we could have any manager here and they could play the same or different players and get the same results. Mourinho isn't a manager we've brought in because he was good in another league, becasue hes flavour of the month or because he was unemployed when we fancied a change, he is a manager proven everywhere hes been including the premier league and including this club. He if any deserve a lot more leeway than the other suspects have had or than he got the first time around.

The weird thing is with the people that join up when Chelsea have a few bad games is that they post a lot of critical stuff and find fault with everything the manager does or doesn't do but when Chelsea turn it round they don't seem to be around to celebrate. Anyone who signed up purely to point out the perils of having Benitez at our club is obviously totally justified and has proved that by being around to reap the benefits of his moving on. I think it's a mixture of people like to complain more than to congratulate (as we see the amount of posts on a losing match day compared with those when we win) and total wum that support other clubs masquerading as Chelsea fans.

I used to watch a lot of martial arts films, a lot of the Karate/Kung Fu experts used to use the word Ya...perhaps it's a way of bringing out his inner chi or he's typing from the dojo. Sorry I can't make any more sense of it than that but to be honest I can't make any sense of any of the other words in his posts. Mayosnoun would have a better description than I for how I see them. Nice to see some people taking a wind up merchant seriously on here though, passes the time between matches.

Agree with that, I think Ivan has gradually improved although not to the standard where he should be starting and not at a rate fast eneough to feel that playing him into form is the way to get him back to his best. You could see by the chance he had to score that even his normally reliable heading has deserted him and obviously his confidence has taken a beating. He got in a good block last night when he was close to the CB position and maybe with his pace seemingly gone and Jose making him vice captain he could be played there, the only thing with that is even though he was very good there, in this form I'm not sure he would be any better than Cahill or Zouma and would still expect JT to be the better option.