I am seriously starting to wonder whether the majority of the posters here are ESPN pundits in disguise.

Before tonights game we were apparently flying high and going to win the quadruple but after it seems like we are going to be lucky to make it past the 3rd round of the FA cup. We are changing our style of play to a more fluid, creative, passing style. How on earth some of you people haven't realised there is going to be some genuine teething problems with the influx of new players, change of tactics, change of dimension i seriously do not know. I wonder whether you are football fans, surely by now you know that transitions like the one this club is going through at the moment do not happen overnight ?

I have seen people questioning the groups desire, commitment, passion etc....... REALLY ! the majority of players who showed all this and more just over Three months ago against Sides in their own backyard, the odds stacked against us, penalties against us, Red cards against us, Injuries against us... Yes they were poor today but to see some suggestions of dismantling the whole backline based on that one game is f**king absurd.

I agree we need a DM like say Fellaini for example. especially for challenges in the air, and for a quicker tempo than mikel can offer us, but Mikel really does cop alot on this place purely because he isnt claude makelele, but who is !

i'll end this rant on the note that if u expected us to spend a few million and just Gel Instantly and steamroll so called lesser teams then u need be much more realistic, the defence also needs time to adjust to the lack of protection they are going to receive when you have the likes of hazard, mata, oscar on the pitch as well as having players so far up they struggle to get back in time, which is just another teething problem that RDM will just accordingly too.

it dosen't help when we have to play 3 games in the last 10 days compared to athletic's 1! yes mikel cops a lot and his performance today just highlighted his weakness! he just stood still when we had possesion and when we didn't he was nowhere near the danger areas! mikel needs to be a lot more active to give others more of an advantage but this is not his way of play!

People are prisoners of the moment. Look no-one likes getting a pasting but you can't put too much stock in one off results/performances. United lost 5-0 to Newcastle and us in 1996/97 and 1999/00 respectively and went on to win the title in both seasons. They have lost the Super Cup two of the three times they have played in it under Ferguson. FFS they failed to get out of an incredibly poor group in the Champions League last season and got beat 6-1 by City and still they came within seconds of winning the league title.

You are going to have bad days at the office - the measure of a team is how you respond. League form is the bread and butter of any football club, that is what is of greatest importance.

Falcao was supreme.and Luiz and Ivanovic were awful. The result was decided by those three performances.

It's always about reference point. The issue was as much the expectation built by the three performances beforehand.

The kneejerk reaction tonight was as much about the kneejerk reaction from the last three weeks.

I don't think that was a season defining loss by any means. I'm not going to say we'll crash and burn after that one result...but the performance was alarming.

Edited September 1, 201213 yr by Cam

I agree it was an awful performance, but i would most rather it be now then later on down the line. It is most probably the best think for this Team and RDM he will know exactly where are faults lie, and he has plenty of time to work on how to rectify these while the team is away on international duty

It was a bad day for it to happen. A dead transfer deadline day and getting a spanking with some players (notably Luiz, who was awful) showing no commitment whatsoever. It was bound to cause some dissension.

All it was was one bad game.Falcao was impressive, be nice to have him in the team.

there is always going to be knee jerk reactions when you watch the lads take hounestly a thrashing everyones gutted and angry so will type some stuff the heat of battle and all that

Anyone see Cahills interview after the game? He was shellshocked and fully admitted that the team were not good enough in all areas. Very honest assesment by him....

Or i suppose he may be accused of having a knee jerk reaction as well?

Anyone see Cahills interview after the game? He was shellshocked and fully admitted that the team were not good enough in all areas. Very honest assesment by him....

Or i suppose he may be accused of having a knee jerk reaction as well?

No, thats fair comment mate. Tbh (and I'm trying to spin this as positively as possible - glass half full and all that) a performance like that might do them the world of good. They won't be getting delusions of grandeur, they will be back at the drawing board trying to figure out where it all went wrong. It could be a good reality check.

Also, Im not trying to downplay the quality of our performance - it was rank rotten in every conceivable way, terrible. Honestly it could have been 7.

But once we went behind they just picked us apart clinically on the break - we were always playing catchup from early in the game and they just parked the bus and countered. Had we got to 30 mins at 0-0 (yeah I know "if my aunt had .......") who knows we could have been well in the game.

The only patern that is somewhat worrisome is that of our defence, on the other hand this team came out like an exhibition game so lets not draw conclusions there yet either. By early December we should have an idea of where this team is at.

I dont understand how some comments are deemed knee-jerk?

We have all questioned whether Mikel is good enough or if Lamps is past it since last season, in mf we still have tha same problems we had last year.

I dont think i have read any post asking for RDM to get the chop.

I think if we had lost 2:1 we would have accepted it, but losing 4:1 just shows that we have some serious problems

Ashley Coleâ€@TheRealAC3

Wellll that was a lesson, absolute joke no fight, desire, passion, and a big reality check

kneejerk?

As far as I'm concerned we've played 3 games and bunch of friendlies. We have 3 wins from the 3 games that matter.

As far as I'm concerned we've played 3 games and bunch of friendlies. We have 3 wins from the 3 games that matter.

True,but you can only cover over the cracks for so long.

As far as I'm concerned we've played 3 games and bunch of friendlies. We have 3 wins from the 3 games that matter.

LoL you should have been around earlier when everyone jumped me for no caring about this silly game.

QPR next then Juve,

Unfortunately a Chelsea defeat really does bring out the worst in some clowns on here.

Gonna always be that kind of reaction from some people, if we didnt play last night everything is rosy,the reliance on ivan to be a supplier was naieve, to say the least, torres and hazzard had zero to feed on,they had players as good as Oscar all over the pitch, just quicker and more composed, and afaster midfieldis the way to go, mereilles against newcastle hey,but Ffs lay off robbie after one horror show.

I think last night exposed Ivanovic for what he is when he faces a quick winger, and it was no surprise to see them target his side of the pitch time and time again. His lack of pace against a quick defender will always give us a problem and I think thats why RDM plays Ramires there to give him cover and aid. He has his plus sides obviously, he can swing a decent ball in and is obviously excellent at set pieces, both in attack and defence. But he does go in too tight to the centre backs when pushed back and can be exposed far too easily, I expect this is why we have signed the new guy (not even gonna attempt to type that second name) for games where we will be expected to defend against pace.

The thing with Ivan is that if he can't deal with a wide player with pace (which must surely be most wide players) there seems no point throwing Cesar whathisname in there now and again as that is unfair on him. It's like saying to him, "you only play on the occasion we're up against a sh*t hot winger - best of luck having not played for the previous 5 matches!!". Ivan is either our best right full back or he isn't. I like Ivan just like I liked Joey Jones and Doug Rougvie. Say no more.

I don't think Ivanovic is bad against "pacey" wingers, he is still exceptionally hard to beat 1 v 1, but he has a frustrating habit of getting caught upfield this season, which pacey players can more readily exploit. In each of our games, he has pushed on in an attacking sense only to have the space exploited behind him. I'm not quite sure if it's an ability or experience thing, maybe a little of both, but Cole for example rarely gets caught upfield and if robbed of the ball, is usually back within seconds to recover. Ivanovic on the other hand seems to have two modes, attack and defense, and is still working on moving between the two.

It's a good point to look at if you want to see how synergy works in teams. A top quality team cannot make concessions in attack for the sake of defense, and vice versa. Both need to work together. In our case, our lack of an orthodox wide player in possession necessitates Ivanovic to come forward to help our attack, leaving a gap behind. That gap, in theory, should be covered by the central midfield if the opposition win the ball, but neither Mikel nor Lampard seem willing nor able to do so. Another option is that the forwards and midfield can close down the attackers in their own half, as soon as they are getting on the ball, not giving their defenders/midfielders enough time to pick an accurate pass into the gap. The third option is to keep possession better and not let the opposition get the ball on the field- our aim should be such that the only way the opposition team get the ball back is from a goal kick or throw in.

Lots of talk about Ivanovic. "He's no RB!", "Should not play" etc.

Now, I admit that he's been weak so far (despite scoring twice), but this is actually the same Ivanovic who was voted best RB the season before last and who was top three in the votes of best Chelsea player last season.

I doubt he turned to s*it just over a summer.