Bad run over? Hope so. Swansea important now and some our players looked tired last night at the end (not surprising). So hope to see progressive selection and hopefully lamps will be fit to give defensive cover, shows how things change. Robbie must be aware our playing from the back ain't working so need to vary that and go long sometimes, and also get more cover on our left as ash exposed on sun.

Having said that, we have best set attacking options I can remember so we can score plenty to

Oscar gonna be legend, mata sublime skills and vision, and so on.

It's bumpy ride but enjoyable

I don't see it as such a bad run really. We lost to Shakhtar who are extremely strong at home and they hadn't lost in 11 months. Also, english teams have had a tough time against them. I don't think we played well, but we also faced a very good team.

Then we played really well against ManU (apart from the beginning when we conceded the first two goals). Unfortunately we had to play against a referee who had decided to give Ovrebo a run for his money.

Could and perhaps should have won, but the ref stopped us.

So it's not like we've had a really bad run of games lately. Now we've knocked out ManU of the Carling Cup and hopefully we can get the three points in our next game as well. But even if we lose I would not panic.

Hardly a bad run. The performance against Shakhtar was rubbish, but we were by far the better team against united before Twattenburg took over, and then knocked them out of the cup last night. Knee-jerk reaction to say the least...

Only thing that concerns me is that Mata played 120 mins last night. Must be bloody knackered.

But yeah, calling it a bad run is a massive exaggeration.

It's critical we win IMO. Especially with Liverpool at home and WBA away our next 2 fixtures. We lost both of those last season. Bear in mind barring a mini-miracle United will be top before we kick off with a very straight forward run-in (on paper) from now till December. Last season I would have taken a point but if we're serious about contending for the title we need to be winning games like this. November is very tough on us fixture-wise.

What bad run? As far as I can tell we only really lost to Shakhtar. We totally outplayed United until Torres got sent off and yesterday we were clearly the better team.

I think it's an important game to win and I think a clean sheet could be vital

I think it's an important game to win and I think a clean sheet could be vital

I agree, a win is a must for me and clean sheet would be perfect. I would take 2-0 to us right now if i could, i'd even take 1-0 to us.

It's critical we win IMO. Especially with Liverpool at home and WBA away our next 2 fixtures. We lost both of those last season. Bear in mind barring a mini-miracle United will be top before we kick off with a very straight forward run-in (on paper) from now till December. Last season I would have taken a point but if we're serious about contending for the title we need to be winning games like this. November is very tough on us fixture-wise.

October was no breeze you know. But i do agree this is a hard month for us and a win against Swansea is a must.

Robbie must be aware our playing from the back ain't working so need to vary that and go long sometimes,

We're struggling defensively from counter attacks so I don't think the solution is to play a tactic which makes concede more possession and counterattacks to the opposition.

Our playing out from the back isn't working becuase our playing out from the back isn't very good.

Our players are excellent but tactically our squad is still evolving.

Edited November 2, 201213 yr by SydneyChelsea

Football is about taking the highs and lows. Without the lows we wouldn't appreciate the highs.

I think we will cane Swansea. I would rest Mata and start Marin for this game, even if he just plays 45 minutes. Sad that he's been cast aside due to the brilliance of Mata, Oscar and Hazard playing together. He's got goals in him and must be itching to get on the pitch. Hopefully Lampard is fit enough to start as I would also rest Ramires. Ramires and Mata have been our best players this season so far, in my opinion. I also think if things are going well at half time, we should take off Oscar or Hazard as a precaution and put Moses on - not exactly a bad thing! I think the defence has been poor recently and it's not entirely Cech's fault that he's conceded so many lately - I actually think he's looking sharper this season than in previous years. I don't see why we should stop playing from the back - it's exciting and mostly works and our guys will only get better at it as the season progresses. CFC website says that we're scoring 2.6 goals per game on average this season, with 14 different scorers. So I think as long as we keep a clean sheet (and with all due respect to Swansea, that shouldn't be too hard) and maintain focus a win will come. And it is a must-win game, because Man City have a dead-cert against West Ham and I think Van Persie is going to single-handedly annihilate Arsenal, so we need to keep setting the pace.

Edited November 2, 201213 yr by It_Dont_Mata

What bad run ????

ONE league loss against one of the favourites playing with 9 men, and a group game in the CL doesn't count as a bad run fella..

Now, being thumped week in week out, then being knocked out of the cups by minnows, THAT'S a bad run !!

At the moment. all things considered, the team are doing better than could have been expected.

They are entertaining, and showing a level of character that has really surprised and impressed me.

In fact at the moment IMO we are currently on a high, there's nothing low about being top of the league, second in the CL group, and into the last 8 of the League cup !

Alan

Edited November 2, 201213 yr by chelseablueboy