Davey Baby

Ruben has bene out for a year with a major injury. Major talent but will he ever be the same again? Does anybody on here have any knowledge about these injuries, and how likely you are to recover fully. Barkley has never been given a run of games. Some might say he hasn't deserved a run. Others might say he can't find his best form unless he gets a run. I think he has been hard done by at Chelsea, but others will disagree.

Triggered? Hah, I think you're clearly talking about yourself, Precious.

The fact that he hasn't scored one says rather a lot to me, given the number of games he's played, particularly about his aerial ability. Hopefully he's reading this and it stirs him to break his duck against Bayern.

I would rephrase as the best player in the whole league. Period.

You too are in the entertainment business Liam and I love your posts, and I largely agree with them, even this one, though I'm one of those who has criticised Lampard. Every manager should be scrutinised, even him. One or two precious souls on here object to the criticism but nobody is calling for Lampard's head, and indeed if the axe ever falls, that will be a dark day indeed. There's no manager I'd like to see succeed more, and there's no manager I'd like to see given more of a chance, and I think he's got a chance, partly because of some of the reasons you've given, although there's obviously been elements which have worried me. Having Lampard at the club, the good far exceeds any mistakes he may be making as a rookie coach. As player, what set him apart was his mentality. West Ham fans famously didn't rate him, and when he first arrived at Chelsea he was decent but nothing special, but he was a special character with a fierce determination and intelligence, and that more than anything makes me think he might have a chance. Even if we dropped down through the divisions, I'd be happy with him at the helm, as I've said before, but that wouldn't stop me coming on here every day picking holes in his management. Let's hope it never comes to that, for all your sakes. Saturday, he went for solidity, and he was right to do so, and we nearly kept a clean sheet, which we have hardly done. My fear is that he'll tinker on Tuesday night, as he's invariably done, when every player that started on Saturday deserves to start the next one. This is where a lot of my problems lie. Pick the team on merit. Kepa dropped, deservedly, but Barkley has been dropped despite playing well in all his recent performances, which isn't right. Kovacic inexplicably being dropped when he was having an exceptional season, Giroud being completely sidelined, Kante seemingly an untouchable despite scarcely deserving it, etc etc. This season Frank has fixed things that weren't broke, and when things were broke, he left it alone, and the gap has closed significantly as a result, and I don't think the football has been all that great, apart from a patch early on in the season. Regardless, I wouldn't swap him for anyone else, he's exceeded my expectations so far, and it's definitely been more pros than cons, though there's clearly a lot to learn. Happily I think the board are going to have a lot of trouble trying to sack this manager, even if they wanted to, but maybe I'm naive. Despite my gripes, Lampard is a class act and we're very lucky to have him. This is the manager thread though so if people don't like reading criticism maybe they should only come on here when we're playing well. That's the way it goes if you're a manager, even if you're called Frank Lampard.

Whoever wrote that needs a pay rise.

He's been very good whenever he's been given a chance recently, but he's invariably on the bench the next game. Frank needs to start picking the team on merit. If you do the business you keep your spot. Ross must start on Tuesday night. He's in very good form.

He's an awful awful LB and he went through a period in the second half where he got really sloppy but what a f**king goal. He also hit a volley with his right foot in the first half that nearly went in. The boy sure has got a sweet shot on him.

Today he was beating Lucas Moura in the air, which may be why he looked dominant. Has he ever got his nut on the end of a corner, when you have to be brave and risk cracking your skull against somebody else's? He's as bad in the air as I've ever seen in a CB. Today he looked good I'll grant you but again, has he ever looked good in a 2? This was a very impotent Tottenham side, without their two best players and best goalscorers. By any reasonable standard, it's been a very unimpressive season from him for me, and we haven't done well with him in the side, generally. That said, Frank obviously sees something in him so hopefully there's a player in there somewhere, but when you think of the CBs we've had in the past, this guy is a very poor relation for me.

He looks far better in a 3 when the opposition haven't got a CF on the pitch.

Easily our best player today, easily our best player this season. Lampard really f**ked up by taking him out of the team, and we've less points as a consequence. This time round hopefully Frank has learned and he doesn't immediately bring back Kante when he's fit. Interestingly today, Kovacic played much deeper than Jorginho.

I think he secretly wants to be a policeman.

This time last season we had a lot more points and I think we were outside the top four. Spurs, Utd and Arsenal all tailed off really badly in the last third of the season. This season, we're fourth, but on a remarkably low points tally, and our remaining fixtures look by far the hardest on paper. The way we've been playing for a long time now, it's very hard to see us getting top four, but we'll see. Yes, we've done better than I expected, but that's due to a winning streak early doors, when we were buoyed by a feel-good factor. Since then we've dipped alarmingly and you find out about a manager when things are going badly. As I say, I'm fully behind him, I'm just saying it as I see it. I'm not writing him off by any means and I don't think anybody is, I'm just saying I haven't seen evidence so far that he's going to be the real deal, but maybe it's too early to tell.

He has my total backing and I wouldn't swap him for anyone else. That's not the point. I'm judging his managerial ability on what I see, not on who he is or how I feel about him. If he were any other manager he'd be being judged a lot harsher by a lot of posters here, despite the mitigating factors. Let's look at those mitigating factors. Zouma, Pulisic, Kovacic. That's not a bad summer for a club with a transfer ban. James, Tammy, Mount, Tomori, Callum. All very worthy of being in our squad, and all more or less new players. Yes we lost Hazard, yes Frank hasn't been able to bring his own players in, yes expectations were low as a consequence, particularly as Frank is new to all this. I actually expected us to finish in the bottom half. I don't see these difficult circumstances you describe. The Chelsea boss is usually under intense pressure to deliver instantly. Not this time. The Chelsea boss usually has the press on his back from day one. The press absolutely love Frank. I'd say this was the best possible time for him to take over and get his feet under the table, and let's face it, were it not for these circumstances, he might not have got the job in the first place. He's here precisely because the pressure's off, at least in the short term. I look at teams like Sheffield Utd, Wolves, Leicester, and I see teams that play well, that are clearly coached well. Teams with a method, with a strategy. Teams that make the best of what they've got. Teams that look like a cohesive, well-drilled unit. I don't see that with us. I see our midfielders pick up the ball in our own half and struggle to make a progressive pass, because they lack options, because we have no pattern. Team selections are puzzling too. Barkley was given a chance, played really well in a couple of games, consigned to the bench, even though Mount is really struggling. Christensen continually being picked is another strange one. Kante being picked on reputation solely, etc etc. Our form over the last 15 games is really poor, relegation form. We're better than that. 15 games can't be considered a slump. He has to arrest the decline. We had an amazing chance of finishing top four, but we started dropping points, and Frank's been powerless to change that. He thinks it's all about finishing. It ain't. It's about something far more structural, in my opinion, but Frank can't seem to see it, or remedy it in my opinion, and that makes me worry for his chances of ever becoming a top coach. I want him to do well, I want him to be given time, I'd love us to stick with him and give him a proper chance, even if we're really floundering, but ultimately he has to prove he's the real deal, and judging on the little evidence we have so far, I don't think there's any evidence of that. I hope that he learns and develops into one, obviously.

Lots of people saying Frank can't be expected to do any better with this squad. Wrong. Our squad is a lot better than 1 point per game, which is what it's been for the last 15 games. We're just not being coached well. That's evident from every display, bar the odd one like Tottenham away, where we actually played controlled, intelligent, disciplined football. We're just a ramshackle usually. Movement is so poor, that's the most glaring thing for me. There is no structure or pattern to our play, and our players don't seem to know what they're supposed to be doing. Set-pieces again, we're not being coached properly. Yes belief has ebbed away but this is more about coaching than motivation and psychology. I believe the motivation is there. I don't believe the work on the training ground is any good. We can talk about the ref but ultimately we scored one and they scored two, and they've beaten us three times, and they are sh*t. I want Frank to be given time but thus far I'm not very impressed with what I've seen. Yes there are mitigating factors but some of you lot are overstating this. We should be a lot better than we are, but I'm afraid we have a very, very inexperienced coach and it shows.

Evans on Torres. Second yellow. Instead Torres was booked for diving.

Frank is becoming a real worry. Christensen was diabolical at Leicester but stays in the team. Sipping a bottle of mineral water on the touchline while the game goes on. Which self-respecting CB would ever do that? He's soft. I've said it all along, and he's terrible in the air, and he lacks personality. Zouma came on and immediately scored a good goal, despite the fact he may not be the greatest. When have you ever seen Christensen do that? He shouldn't be anywhere near our team and the fact Frank keeps picking him has to make you question his judgement. I'm afraid the fault doesn't lie with the player, the fault lies with the manager for picking him.

Willian, for all his faults, is a much better player.

I find it really interesting that this guy's Moroccan, or his parents are Moroccan, and Mahrez is from neighbouring Algeria, and they're so similar in style. I remember watching Queresma and thinking it must be a Portuguese thing, as many of the things he does are so reminiscent of Ronaldo, even if he's a far inferior player. It's just interesting how you can often tell a player's nationality by their style. Could Messi be anything other than Argentine? I don't think so. Ronaldinho. Had to be Brazilian. Mahrez and Ziyech also have incredibly similar physiques. I know Mahrez is more of a dribbler and may be faster but they're just so unerringly similar.

No idea who you're talking about.

Most of those goals are against really poor sides who are already being beaten 10-0. When he scores against Real Madrid and Tottenham his celebrations are a lot more raucous

He looks like a real quality signing but I'm wondering why he's still in Holland when he's nearly 27. If anyone can think of a real top quality player who was playing in Holland at 27 let me know. It just seems odd. One thing's for sure, coming to the PL from the Dutch league at 27 will be a huge test for him, not just in terms of quality but also pace and physicality. Ajax could play their B team and still steamroller most of the teams they face. I know he's produced in the CL and he looks a real quality signing, but playing in the PL week-in week-out poses its own, and very different challenges. Having watched a vid or two of him since yesterday he really reminds me of Mahrez. His shots, his free-kicks, his passes, his dummies, his feints, his skills, all remind me of Mahrez, plus the fact of course he's a left-footer which we really need. Mahrez has produced in the toughest league in the world however. Excited by this signing. Genuine skill, vision, ability, creativity and an attacking edge that we sorely lack. Let's just hope he can produce all that in England.

It's a bit late mate. The game's already finished.

Ask yourselves this: What Evans did to Andreas at that corner, brushed him aside to win a free header, could you ever imagine Andreas doing that to Evans at a corner in a million years? If the answer is no (and the answer is no) that alone is reason enough to get him out of our club.

If Tottenham had signed Giroud he would be their first choice striker for every remaining game this season.