Davey Baby

This is the game that first alerted me to Taylor's bias against us, and it was 5 and a half years ago. We were playing Stoke away, under Conte ironically, and we were kicked off the park for 90 minutes, and the ref did nothing, I remember watching in incredulity. The ref just let them do what they want. As you'll see, right at the end, their player gets a second yellow and a red card, but this was with mere seconds remaining, we'd won the game, and as the commentator says, that was the fourth yellow card tackle the defender had committed. What really stuck out was Stoke's two goals, one disallowed and the other a pen which was awarded to them. We go 1-0 up and Stoke equalise but the linesman disallows it for an obvious push on Matic which Taylor "misses". Not content, Taylor runs over to the linesman to seek clarification, something you very rarely see. The linesman explains what happened and the goal's disallowed. Not content, minutes later, Taylor awards Stoke a pen, that none of their players claimed for. This time he sees a push. Watch it yourself. It's the merest of touches, and look at Taylor's position, he's miles away. I remember thinking at the time, this ref's a cheat. A couple of months later, in the FA Cup final, Taylor awarded Arsenal a goal when it was a clear handball in the build-up, right in front of him. Not only that however, they have a player in an offside position who's clearly interfering with play, so much so that Courtois runs towards him thinking he's going to touch the ball. The linesman disallows the goal. What happened? Taylor runs over to the linesman, speaks to him, and gives the goal. You very rarely see a ref run over to the linesman with a view to possibly overruling him but here we see it twice in the space of 10 weeks. For all I know, Taylor didn't officiate any Chelsea games between those two matches, so in all likelihood that's two consecutive matches where the linesman has disallowed a goal against us for clear infringements and Taylor has run over to him with a view of overruling his linesman. These are the things that get missed. People highlight the spectacular errors he makes against us, as they should, but the fact decisions in our favour are under far more scrutiny from him should also be highlighted. Yesterday was incredible. He saw the hair-pulling. It was right in front of him. He was looking straight at it. He was five yards away, if that. It's a straight red. It's an easy decision. Instead he consults his VAR official who happens to be Mike Dean. What could possibly go wrong? I know people might think this is paranoid or conspiratorial but in the case of Taylor it's open and shut. Since Liverpool away last season where he sent off Reece he's been much fairer in our games because he knows he's been called out, but yesterday he reverted to type and I think there's too much suspicion around him for him to be allowed to ref our games. He becomes the focus rather than the game, all trust has been eroded, and I think the authorities need to keep him well away from us from now on. Of course he can still influence our fate by refereeing our rivals and giving them favourable decisions but that's completely out of our hands. Liverpool and Utd particularly seem to do well out of him. It's in our hands to highlight his bias against us. Don't stop until something gets done. Videos like the below need to be shared far and wide and I applaud any campaign that seeks to get him banned from our games. Enough is enough. Unfortunately the video is vertical (it's easier to watch on your phone, as you can tilt it sideways) and I'm not very technical so I'd appreciate it if anyone can make it horizontal, or maybe there's a better video on youtube that I haven't seen. None of the incidents in the game against Stoke got any coverage, because we won the game in the late stages and their player was sent off, so it looks like nothing untoward happened. However the ref cheated us for 90 minutes. Their disallowed goal on 2mins 40secs, their pen on 4mins 20 secs, and their red card on 11mins 50 secs.

Frank has struggled to find his best XI. He seems to be stumbling upon it. Two clean sheets in a row. We might even see a settled back four, at least until the summer when we hopefully buy upgrades. Midfield, well injuries forced FRank's hand, and it worked in our favour. Billy instead of Jorgi. Far better in my opinion. Two number 8s, in Mason and Ross, and that gave us more creativity and attacking edge at home against a weaker side, and the forgotten man up front, brought in from the cold, been absolutely brilliant. Edit: Well done Frank, particularly for giving Gilmour his chance.

Well, Frank gave him a fair old run in the side, far too long for my liking, but I think that'll be the end of him now. Two clean sheets in two games without him. We're not keeping those clean sheets with him in the side. He's had enough chances for me. He'd be the first one I ship out this summer.

Towards the end of the game Mane got a yellow for striking Dave in the face, but there was no VAR review and the BBC chose not to replay the incident. Strange. Yellow cards always get replayed on television.

There is a lot of traffic and the roads get closed off as you approach the ground. You can get pretty near the ground but the problem you've got is traffic and the crowds. A cab from Victoria will take about half an hour believe it or not, if you want to get as close as possible to the ground, but the person with the broken leg will still need to do some walking. Fulham Broadway station is a short walk from the ground and there are lifts on the platforms, taking you to ground level. If you take that option, leave in good time to avoid a crush.

Been excellent since he's come back in. Gone from being our forgotten man to being our front line striker. I'm really pleased for him. I really like him. We all know his limitations but crucially, so does he, and he's very good at what he does. No doubt he'd have left if we'd have brought somebody else in, but it may prove to be a real stroke of luck.

Well done Frank, rode our luck a bit early doors, but we were the better team, and we kept a clean sheet. Massive win for us tonight.

Would be truly bizarre if he doesn't keep his spot. He's flawed, but he's big, strong, fast and good in the air, and poses a threat at set pieces. His biggest asset is the fact he's not Christensen for me.

You can't fault his work rate but there's precious little quality, in my opinion.

Looks like Jorginho's got competition.

I pray he keeps his spot. As you say, fully deserved to be dropped, he's had an awful season, but he's a talent. Today he showed good character. We couldn't have asked for more. Our first clean sheet in about 60 years. This will give him confidence. He can still be a big player for us this season. He's fighting for his Chelsea career. Tonight he looked up for the fight.

Well, Frank went with this today and I hope he sticks with it going forward. Whatever we do we're not great defensively, in which case you have to play your strongest two in the air, in my opinion.

For me, there is no comparison in terms of talent and ability, Kepa pisses all over Willy. For me, with Willy in goal, we have zero chance of winning anything or finishing top four. Kepa's had a poor season and deserved to be dropped. He's not being made a scapegoat as @Zeta claims. He just got dropped, same as every other player (except one or two who Frank deems untouchable). But, as @Zeta rightly observes, we're still conceding just as many goals, and that's partly because Willy is not an able deputy. I hope Kepa plays tomorrow night and plays well, keeps his spot and helps us for the remainder of the season, but it depends on him, he has to prove tomorrow night that he's worth a spot, he has to come out fighting and show us what he's all about, he has to prove his character. He could still have a lot to offer us this season. He was good last season, made a ton of fine saves, for a first season in English football, with the spotlight on him because of the fee he was very good, although there was clearly an issue with crosses and that issue isn't going to go away in a hurry, partly because he's so small. We take stock in the summer, until then I hope he gets the nod, but that all depends on how he does tomorrow, if he's picked.

We're definitely missing Cahill at set pieces, but bear in mind he didn't play at all last season, so his departure doesn't account for the fact we're conceding more goals.

If your stats are correct, that is surprising, the fact we've scored more than at this stage last season. It really highlights the fact that our major issue is defending. We've conceded 10 more according to your stats, but it's worth remembering that at this stage last season, we had just come off the back of two big thumpings, at Bournemouth and City, in which we conceded a combined total of 10 goals, at a point in the season where we were struggling and just before we went on a decent run. We're not really getting beat 5 and 6 this season, we're conceding 1s and 2s, every game, so we're consistently putting in poor defensive displays. Saturday was a case in point. 2 goals should be enough to beat Bournemouth, a team that are really struggling, but we're just so bloody easy to score against.