Chippy

What Sydney said was a little bit cryptic for me so thanks for clarifying... I am not asking people to blindly agree with everything the manager or anyone else in any walk of life does, what I am pointing out is that in my opinion and with our history here I feel four games into a season is early to be doubting this manager, this manager whio has proved here and everywhere he's been that he is top top class. Where did I say I knew the magic fix for our form isn't just a switch of Azpi and Ivan and the introduction of Baba? What I said was it's likely more involved than that, I (and I may be only one of a few here) feel that while we are all busy with our every day lives/work etc, Jose and the boys are often on the training pitch trying different things, it isn't beyond the realms of possibilty that Jose has given the new twenty million pound LB a few run outs in that position, I'm also pretty confident he knows Azpi is a very competent right back. What I am trying to get across is that over the four games, with the suspensions etc meaning changes in our defensive unit already, I think Jose has possibly weighed up the situation including the form of the two sitting in front of the back four and decided to keep it as is up to now. Saying this has been the wrong decision while being privvy to the information Jose has in front of him everyday would be difficult, without that information I for one wouldn't be doubting that the manager is doing everything he can to get it right in the way he believes will pay dividends. He has seen everything we all have and much more, if he feels it wasn't or isn't the time to make changes in personel, I think he has earned the opportunity to do what he thinks with our full backing. It is only four games in, had City not started so well and we not had a couple of sending offs, I doubt it would be looking so bad.

I don't understand how you disagree strongly with my point that "hand on heart I don't know more about the game than Jose" and then add "after all who does"? so you don't agree that I don't know better but then you add who does? Pointing responsibility at Mourinho is fine by me, giving him the credit he deserves and admitting to yourself that he is the best man to solve it (as I'm not sure if you have or haven't after reading your post) would for me be the best option. The problem is likely a lot more difficult to correct than the obvious Baba to left back and Azpi to Right back argument that most are using, you have even posted yourself on Ivans form saying "The only difference between this year and last year is that for some reason his mistakes didn't cost us goals- probably because of Terry and Matic's form in the centre" doesn't this then include them as part of the problem? missing out Fabregas altogether for some reason... I'll stick to my belief that Mourinho knows best and will sort it quicker than any of us I think.

Strange as stim says, the fixation with Ivans deserved team of the year place, for me it's not the issue. The issue here for me is the Manager (this thread is Jose Mourinho manager thread after all) and if the supporters of the club after the absurd amount of managerial comings and goings at our club should as I believe give the best manager we've had, the best in the league, likely the world the benefit of the doubt that he can recognise problems in the squad as fast as they can? In my opinion to imagine he can't is just ridiculous, to imagine he has players who he will let stroll about out of form if he has a viable alternative that fits with his gameplan and his vision of how he wants the team to play and progress, again is ridiculous. Yes I've watched games and found myself loudly advising him who he should sub off, what he should change tactically and when he should leave it as is but usually in the heat of the game and hand on heart would I honestly think I know better than Jose? simple answer to that one and if the answer wasn't no I'd expect anyone bored enough to be reading this post to stop right there. Ivan is getting stick and deservedly so, he's not at anything like his best but as I said in my previous post, there are other factors involved, Mourinho is the man to weigh up those factors and decide if benching Ivan for a couple of weeks and looking at Azpi taking up his position would be the answer, he might think that he would suffer the same fate (although he is admittedly quicker) or he might think that fate will transfer to the new LB who he doesn't feel is quite as good, guesswork obviously but and here's the thing, whatever Jose decides it wont be out of guesswork but will be out of hands on experience at the top level and on the training pitch with the players we all know so well...he has quite a jump on us when it comes to the squad and a massive jump in tactical knowledge to go with it. Jose has a huge reputation and wouldn't be happy to ride that reputation on a bit of favouritism, we've seen him sub JT off already this season, he is not afraid of any player, this isn't AVB here and he'll do what he feels he needs to do to make Chelsea winners as really this is all he knows.

Looking at the Ivan situation and the different opinions on how to rectify it, the reasons Jose has failed so far to and what should be done is obviously a debating point but as Moi has hinted at in her post a couple above, Jose has seen all we have seen, he will be weighig up his options and having his own doubts as to wether he has waited too long to make a change or if he should indeed wait even longer. I don't myself think it's because he has favourites, I would imagine he has players he has more belief in and feels he can rely on more but he knows an out of form player or a player whos legs are shot that isn't up to his role better than any of us on here. For me there are such fine lines when it comes to the way we are defending that four games doesn't seem an awful lot to be looking at with a view to ousting a player who has stepped up to the task of changing his favoured position and excelled at it even though he is every bit as good as the players that are playing in his preferred CB role, reasons being not only how good he has been in that position, his obvious ariel ability defending our area, his goal threat but also taking into account the lack of defensive cover he gets from Cesc, the different partnerships at CB causing a bit of uncertainty in our defensive unit, Terry and Courtois both getting suspended, Willian when playing on the right, industrious though he is, not the best at keeping the defensive line. All these things are excuses but things Jose must be throwing into the mix when he looks at the problems we have had in thee opening few games, when we see Ivan gunning forward, we all feel he'll struggle to get back and worry the covering players are not up to the job but Jose could easily tell him to stay back more...he hasn't done that so he must be happy to let him carry on with it. With Mikel for instance or an in better form Ramires I doubt we'd see Ivan caught out so much as they would be better suited to cover and/or double up on a pacy winger than Cesc is. I'm not blaming Cesc for Ivans poor showing to date but it is part of the problem and dropping Cesc is another difficult decision,even moving him forward is a decision that the manager will have weighed up and while Oscar is out injured one that I would have expected him to try. When push comes to shove we all have our gut feelings on whats wrong and how to correct it but the man in charge is better qualified to find the right answer, even if when he does it was as simple as a lot have said like one player swap it won't mean he has been wrong to let it go this far, it will mean he has just given his initial instinct a fair go (as we all feel we would) and decided the time has come to try another plan. Nobody can know if what ends up working in the next game or the one after that would have worked had he done it half way through the first game and for all we know he has been experimenting with a myriad of the ideas we have all talked about and still felt further disturbing the back four after the forced changes would be worse than the option he has used up to now and we'll never really know if he was right. All we can be sure of is he will get it right in the end.

Funny how peoples expectations differ, I'd consider top 3 finish, a domestic cup, and CL semi final a pretty good season and one where the players involved are not looking over their shoulder because a clear out is on the cards, more so if we achieve those things after a dodgy pre season and iffy start. Obviously age is catching up with some but I'd like to see how they all perform over a season before eagerly awaiting a mass exodus. There's still time for this group to pull together and show us some good football over the course of the season and we might all be crowing about the way we play once we hit a purple patch (I'm sure it's just a couple of little tweaks and a sharpening up away). People seem to read a lot into our tailing off last season and grinding out results to stumble across the line, I don't buy into that as much as I do that we done exactly what we needed in the circumstances, with Costa's hamstrings and little cover we played more defensively...good managing for me, this season we worry still about his hamstrings but if they hold up and if Falcao improves we have three decent options up front and have aquired a much more productive looking player on our right side. The new LB will likely play a part and Kenedy is sure to force his way into contention if his Debut is anything to go by. Could easily still be a brilliant season, Mourinho has slipped a bit of late, what with the miserable interviews, the medic thing and his unusual strange and late substitutions, he needs to show what he can do and I'm confident he will.

That's obviously a fear but as the trophy won't be on my mantlepiece if we do win it, I'll be happy to watch what the Manager can do to try to turn things around and I'll enjoy it almost as much playing catch up (and in my scenario) watching City try to hold their bottle while we get a string of good performances going. 8 points is a lot in December, in August and with a home game against them on the cards, it's not an impossible task...we are Champions and we can show belief in our squad because of that.

We have regressed as you say but that's as much to do with players in bad form or looking unmotivated than anybody else improving to a point that the players we have can't reach, our squad at its best is still a match for anybody in the premiership and that's likely what Mourinho thought before the bad start made him feel reinforcements should have been made. Yes ideally a team would strengthen even after becoming champions but I'm of the belief that we hadn't yet seen the best of the players we have and a good season together could have been the key to bringing a lot more out of them this season, that and a few decent youngsters on the edge of the first team possibly gave Jose the feeling he could get more from the squad he started the season with. I'm obviously worried about the wway we've started especially defensively but there is no way after four games I'd be writing off any of our out of form players and believing they haven't got a major contribution to another good season in them. Mourinho can get this right with a few alterations or rotations on the training field and maybe a change of tactics/formation, I'll look forward to seeing him earn his crust.

I would imagine City will win it this year as what looks like one of their fans above has said, not sure it will be by a big margin although they have started well and I don't expect them to drop off from their early form I do expect other teams to find better form (us) over the season. City's spending has energised their team and made competition for places which has sparked them and they look hungry, that hunger is being fed by watching their main competiton flounder and the insentive that if they can snatch an early lead while we are not firing on all cylinders they will have a very good chance of staying in front when we are. I'm not worried about winning things every year, so long as we pull it round and show we are still a big force I'll be happy enough, getting the best out of the great players we have here would be great to see and make the season just as enjoyable especially after a bad start. There are some good teams who can have more than the odd day where they cause an upset though so all is not lost and it will be an interesting season, it will be hard to get a run going in what is a tighter division than maybe ever before so we definately need to get on our game quickly to try to turn things around, the International break has come at a good time for us and maybe will be the turn in fortunes we need.

No real stand outs and strangely the subs looked more up for it than the team, over the two halves though I'd give it for the second game running to Pedro, drifted in and out of the game but certainly looked to me the best of our attacking midfield and still getting used to the league.

I'm of the opinion Oscar is a hugely important player for us, he'd be on the team sheet before Willian or Fabregas for me and as has been said, I really am looking forward to seeing him play with Pedro and Hazard. He usually has a big workload under Jose and copes with it very well, sometimes it stunts his game a bit for me but the importance of his input is usually clear. His attitude is also spot on and though often the player chosen to make way even when others are having bad games, he never complains. I worry that if we do sign a Pogba that Jose willmove Fabregas into the no 10 spot and we'll ose out on Oscars well rounded game, I'd be gutted if that happened.

Confusing saga really imo, it's my belief that although young and without doubt potentially a very good player, the idea that Stones could be the next JT is a bit of a stretch...why because he happns to be English and quite good at his early age would that be a pointer to him becoming the best in the league by far because he plays the same position with the same colour shirt as the man a lot of people think he can emulate? For me Stones has lost out of this big time, the obvious higher wages, bigger profile and better experience with the likelyhood of CL football and longer runs in competitions and there's also the bigger picture in if he has really got what it takes to be any where near as good as JT the Manager he would be playing under. Mourinho is a fantastic coach as we all know, yes there's good and bad with the bloke but if I was as CFCCAN mentioned the parents of John stones I would want him to be coached by the best, Jose rekindled JT at his age after he'd been almost written off, got him focused after he suffered at the hands of the media and the fat waiter and is a the best at building a great team with a great defence. If the boy had a hope of being the next JT, he would have benefitted from Mourinho...can anyone even imagine he'll learn much from Martinez? I really feel nothing about if he did arrive here as I've got little confidence that he would be anything like as good as JT is now let alone has been for the best part of his playing time here, JT is not only a great defender but a great leader and I don't think replacing him with a good young english player will mean we have magically unearthed another such player. From what I've seen he wouldn't get in my team ahead of JT, Cahill or Ivan as a CB unless I though I could afford to risk points to try to bring him through, he'd be on the bench for me with games here and there when our defenders were playing like they have at the start of this season which is in no way guaranteed. Just my take on it and as I say, not bothered at all if he came here or not.

Here's a very ambitious prediction as I'm in a positive mood, 3-1 with goals from Costa, Pedro and the late sub...Falcao. Chelsea 3-1 @ 11/1 Stake: £3.00 Estimated Returns : £36.00 And Last Goal Scorecast Radamel Falcao / Chelsea 3-1 @ 55/1 Stake: £2.00 Estimated Returns : £112.00 And First goal scorecast Diego Costa / Chelsea 3-1 @ 50/1 Stake: £1.00 Estimated Returns : £51.00 And Anytime scorecast Pedro / Chelsea 3-1 @ 20/1 Stake: £2.00 Estimated Returns : £42.00 This is just a back up of my bpl prediction, any returns half gos to the site as usual. Lets get those pretenders looking over their shoulders with a decent performance.

a loan is the best thing all round in my opinion, looking at his minutes for us since his arrival wouldn't convince anyone to give decent money for him but should he find some form in italy (which is a possibility) his stock could go up. I'd feel happier if Moses was sold as it would help me to believe Oscars place here is safe, I'd like us to hang on to Oscar and Willian. If we we to bring in Pogba I'd be happy enough to see Ramires or Mikel leave, Ramires seems to have gone backwards and Mikel although a reliable option is too one dimentional to be a regular starter.

Easy one today and I can imagine it's the first of many for the new boy. Pedro.

It's a strange one, I can see Jose doesn't want to drop Ivan and understand it to an extent, bringing him in to his natural position could be good for the team and the player, I'd certainly do that if I thought the new LB was worth what the club gave for him, Azpi has the legs to handle most quick wingers and it would be nice to see if Ivan can still cut it at CB. I'd be happy to see him next to Zouma or Cahill, for me we need to know if the lack of pace at our RB position is why Cesc is struggling for form, he has a bigger load that he just can't carry and we are wasting him as a player, the number ten role is the only other option for him but I can't help prefering Oscar there.

Some positives to be drawn from this, Pedro was class and looks like he'll work hard with it, 3 points and worse scenario is we're only five off top spot. Defense needs sorting and with Matic not quite on it the Fabregas/Matic pairing exagerates the defensive woes. Will we see the new LB come in while JT is suspended and a move for Ivan to CB? still leaves the CB pairing a bit short on pace but with a quick wingback either side...

Hazards been good for the last ten minutes, even out of form I think he's won the game for us :-)

I just put three quid on Costa to score next and he manages to sky an easy chance, lets see some of the old Falcao then now

very harsh sending off for me

Quite happy so far, open game but we are blooding a very important player and still nobody properly covering the right side with Ivan, get that sorted and Fabregas back to some form and we'll be looking good again. Myself I can't wait to see Oscar back with Hazard and Pedro, I'm sure Costa will be banging them in again once they all gel. Also people calling for Baba and Oscar to come on at HT...they would need to be on the bench to do that.

We need Oscar in the no 10 position, he would have buried that. Edit: sorry Alex Tommo, never noticed you'd already said that. Go on Dave...

Surprised to see Willian on the right, was hoping Pedro would be on the right and more likely to be doing the attacking over there so Ivan retained his position better, expect to see him rampaging up the wing as usual then, lets hope Willian keeps his wits about him when he's tracking back.

Exactly the team I'd have liked to see being as Oscar is still injured, I wouldn't have dropped Cahill as I think if Pedro is on the right then Ivan won't be pulled out of position so much and we could see last seasons Ivan soon enough, meaning Cahill won't be wondering where he is so much, no problems with Zouma starting though and rotation of our CBs could be a good idea. Lets get the season up and running today boys.

Time to start our season today, I'd like to see Pedro start this as he will be hungry to show what he can do and his hunger could well rub off on the rest of the team. 0-3 with Goals from Hazard, Costa and the new boy. 23 Aug 2015 - West Brom v Chelsea - Correct Score Chelsea 3-0 @ 11/1 Stake : £5.00 Estimated Returns : £60.00 Any returns half gos to the site as usual.

My dream team is struggling, so are my weekend bets. early season is a difficult time to pick form players, I'm hoping to get it sorted out around October. Probably be to far behind then and skint though :-)