Blue Tony

It looks very likely that our starting back four to open the season will be the same back four that started last season.............. Oh Dear.

Who's that player tackling and pressing? Looks like Oscar, but surely not!

No doubt he will change formation/tactics based on personnel available to him, but right now barring improvement from last season, and/or new players coming in he will see a physical weakness in midfield. Hopefully the Naingolan rumours are true.

If you watch RLC it's obvious that he's a great player with a boatload of talent, but he can be lazy at times, especially when the opposition has the ball. If he doesn't address this in some way he will not live up to his potential.

Bit of a joke when we are dominating the England youth setup but the players are hardly getting a sniff at club level...

Anyone who thinks Hazard can operate as a wing-back in a 352 is deluded. This is why its all but certain Cuadrado will be heavily featured next season. In all honesty, I can see Conte having problems finding where Hazard fits in his system.

Some of these players would be owing Mr A!!

Missing the bigger picture. How many of these players will want to come to a club with no European exposure? Their agents will advise heavily against it for commercial reasons. We will be in a situation not unlike Liverpool and Spurs in recent years who have to troll through the second tier of stars and hope a gem shows up, which in turn means a dogfight for Europe the following season (a catch 22). Add to that your existing stars who need to leave to enhance their "Brand" and you have additional problems. Buckle your seatbelts guys and gals!

Everyone here talking about "top four" if England lose the CL spot (looking likely right now!) Do we lose it for next year? If so it's top three we're after.

Anyone who thinks any team in the PL is a "Win" for us at the moment is just dreaming. Any one of the other 19 teams can give us a thorough going over, (and some of them are!) That 16th place isn't Unlucky, or due to Injuries or fitness , or any other excuse you can come up with; We really are that bad At The Moment. It's when that changes is the only question.

Well said sir, I have loved and supported Chelsea for 45 years through a good few managers. I appreciate what JM has done for us (and may do again) but given the choice it's always Chelsea over any single person. Maybe someone else should start a Mourinho forum where the worship could continue unabated regardless of performance or even his team.

I agree, this isn't a simple problem, just dropping Ivan is not going to solve it by itself, (although that might be a part of it). There's underperformers all over the pitch. I don't know the answer (neither do any of you!) but I'll leave it to Jose to fix.

Letting Remy go would be a mistake. His record speaks for itself.

If you look at the pundits it's fairly easy to see what's going on. The Huge majority wore red shirts when they played, Liverpool Man Utd and Arsenal. They have won the lions share of trophies going back 40 years or more. English football "Royalty" if you like, vying with each other for their share. Football writers, at least those who write for major newspapers/publications have finished journalism school, paid their dues and are now around the same age as the retired players spouting their opinions on our screens week after week. When they were impressionable young 'uns guess who were the big teams? Yep those red ones. They remember the glory Liverpool teams of the Eighties, the Ferguson UTD revival and the Arsenal "invincibles. That's who these journos are, that's who they love, and those who don't (yes you Neil Ashton!) long ago accepted their place in this system. Fast forward to what can only be descibed as a football revolution. Not only has an upstart Chelsea team come in and started to win trophies year after year, not only has their manager done it with no deference to "past red glories", (indeed done it with a little arrogance!), but it has coincided with a definite downturn in red fortunes. If you could tell someone in the mid-eighties that Liverpool would not win an English Championship for 25 years (and counting!) they would have laughed at you. If you had told an Arsenal fan in 2004 that they would not win a single trophy for 9 years you would have got a similar response. All the time while watching blue ribbons being tied to trophy after trophy, while their manager gleefully plays in the red misfortune. That's where the "Campaign" stems from, no organised conspiracy, no grand scheme, just a bunch of sour, bitter old men dismayed by English football being turned on it's head. Pure and Simple. Or, as someone else put it, jealousy. Bitter sour jealousy. Personally, I Love IT!!!

Why are some people hoping for an 8 point gap on City when they're at home to Leicester the same night? If we beat West Ham the gap is still likely to be 5 points, albeit with a game in hand.