Barrettinator

Iniesta hasn't been in his prime since at least 2013. But yes, we need to add more.

He did win the treble with Barca though. Treble in his first year, double in his second year. So he had a bad third year. Big deal. He has proven to be a very good coach. Might be just the kind of coach Hazard needs too. But I worry about Marina and our recent spending, especially considering how we've been penny pinching for even the average players we're targeting (just look at the Dzeko negotiations). I want to believe this is just Marina trying to go over and beyond to show Roman she can save him some money, in which case she needs to be booted out. Pity we don't have the likes of Drogba and Lampard around to march straight to Roman for a word. However, if this is Roman himself trying not to spend, then I think it's time for him to sell to a new owner. He has been fantastic for us but considering the state of the market these days, the moves we're making means we might be stuck in the "average but still top club" bracket. Once upon a time we were REALLY close in quality on the pitch to the Barcas and Bayerns of the world and looked primed to break into that bracket. We've regressed now. I wonder if this penny pinching would have continued if Roman got his once-upon-a-time wish of hiring Pep.

Seems like Conte might be walking away at the end of the season. Is Enrique a good fit or is this just more nonsense? http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-5320631/Former-Barcelona-boss-Luis-Enrique-line-Chelsea-job.html

Is this a f**king joke? What has gone wrong at this club? First Andy Carroll now Peter f**king Crouch while our rivals are going after the likes of Sanchez. It's almost like winning the league has become a curse for us in some ways. One step forward, 5 giant steps backwards ffs! Does Marina expect that Conte (or whatever manager she has in mind when she forces Conte out with horrific transfers) will continue to work magic with the absolutely bang average players she brings in while our rivals go for top quality? Does she expect him to continue to turn dust into gold? Or is this Conte sh*tting the bed asking for absolute dross to be brought in? Quite frankly, I'm not sure what situation is worse. Should have stayed away from football news like I've done over the past 2-3 months and stuck to matchdays alone. It was better for my sanity. What a bloody mess!

So what happens to RLC? That's my main concern in all of this. Pretty underwhelming signing imo. But if he can pop up with the occasional vital goal/assist/performance like Alonso then I'll be fine with it. Not even sure what to expect of him or why we even signed him. Not sure what to expect from our transfers anymore these days tbh.

Bit of a throwback. I actually like it.

I'm actually shocked that Big Sam has never managed WBA. I know it's going to happen at some point.

What's amusing to me about clubs outside of the top 6 is that they fire a manager and then hire from the same pool of 5-10 old c**ts who have nothing new to offer. But then you see the media whinging about top 6 clubs "not giving British managers a chance". There are lots of young British managers that could have done well with that WBA job but they've only gone and given it to Gary f**king Megson. f**k me!

It only took 5 years but I'm glad we were finally able to return the favour.

It's always shocking to me to see posts like this. Even more shocking that majority of Chelsea fans seem to share this opinion that he somehow scammed his way to the position of Technical Director of one of the top football clubs in the world with zero prior qualifications or track record. Doesn't that sound ridiculous to you? How is it that majority of Chelsea fans (at least online) don't seem to know what Emenalo's background was? Didn't even know his basic role at the club either when all that information is readily available online? He has gotten blame for things that aren't his duty and been denied credit for things that were his duty. Amazing.

Finally put in a fantastic performance on Sunday. I hope it's clear to Conte now that he just can't play in a midfield 2 anymore. His legs are gone.

Never appreciated by fans, which is a massive shame. Always the subject of abuse for things that weren't even his role. He'll do well wherever he goes.

Even bottom of the table midfields school him. He literally jugs about the pitch like it's a training session even when he's just given the ball away. Not even going to say anything else. I'm staying off here until the United game. Hopefully we don't sh*t the bed.

After a few underwhelming performances, he's definitely back to his best. I guess he was due a bad patch of form after being so consistently good for so long. Absolute rock at the back today. Imo, our best back 3 is Azpi-Christensen-Rudiger.

Fantastic performance today. Wish Conte would play him more often over Cahill but you just know Cahill will be back against Roma. I guess I can't complain much about having more options but I'd love to see Rudiger feature more often in the league for us.

Good win today. Probably deserved to win that by 3 or 4 goals. The most comfortable we've looked since Atletico away. Hopefully we can put in a great performance against Roma next week.

Needs to do better. Plays well 90% of the time but then gives the ball away in dangerous positions. Some of his fouls have led to goals conceded for us too and they were needless fouls. He's a young player though so that's not entirely surprising.

Genuinely embarrassed at the state of journalism in this country

Luiz in a back four is a disaster. Midfield is far too defensive. Zappacosta at LB? Got any proof he can play there? Pedro should be starting ahead of Willian all day.

Cesc is definitely the one getting replaced. Drinkwater-Cesc would be far worse.

Quietly, that's 8 goals this season for Batshuayi. I hope he works on his weaknesses.

You're right. We can't seem to hold on to possession. I hope we get Drinkwater back before the United game because we actually could use him in that department. Fabregas has been w**k for most of the season. Morata also needs to be stronger. He falls down at the slightest touch by a defender behind him and it really breaks down our play. That's one area where Costa was really good. Conte needs to wean Morata off that natural instinct to go down immediately. He's obviously picked that up from La Liga. Needs to learn proper hold up play. You almost can't survive in this league as a striker if you don't have that.

That's an interesting observation. Could well be the case but what I saw was that he was doing the basics. His bad form has been because he couldn't even make 5 yard passes, couldn't close down players, always ruined counter attacks, held the ball too long sometimes and lost it, ran into opposition players like a headless chicken when another teammate was open and ready to receive the dangerous pass, etc. He did all of that correctly today and I don't think the inability to do that is down to the formation but I could be wrong. He was important for us today.

Great cameo today. Gotten a lot of stick from fans this season (including myself) and rightly so but he put in imo his best performance this season in the 20 odd minutes he was on the pitch. Only gave 1 stray pass that I can recall as opposed to 95% of his passes in the past few games. Perhaps indicating to Conte he should be coming off the bench? He was a great sub last season and Pedro's gone and gotten 1 goal and 1 assist starting so I don't see why Conte should mess with that dynamic. Hopefully he can kick on from here.