We wouldn't know until they are played regular, sorry but I just don't think Jose trusts young players.

You look at Liverpool with Sterling and now Ibe, Spurs with Kane, Mason & Bentaleb. I don't buy the idea that our young players do better at youth level but don't cut it at the top.

 

Would you honestly be comfortable with risking a title challenge on players with limited top flight experience? 

 

You say look at Liverpool and Spurs but their both outside the top 4 and out nowhere near to competing for the title this season. 

 

I'm sure that Ake and RLC are extremely competent footballers but entrusting a them with our league and Champions League push? Not for me. 

Would you honestly be comfortable with risking a title challenge on players with limited top flight experience? 

 

You say look at Liverpool and Spurs but their both outside the top 4 and out nowhere near to competing for the title this season. 

 

I'm sure that Ake and RLC are extremely competent footballers but entrusting a them with our league and Champions League push? Not for me. 

 

We have run 11 players into the ground and now we'll be without Matic for three key games in all likelihood.

 

I think it's fair to say we've risked our title challenge by not giving Ake some time earlier in the season. Same goes for Chalobah who we f**ked up after his year at Watford. We have terrible squad depth now and one of the possible solutions was developing players from the Academy.

 

 

Do they get played in the first time then look good or do they look good then get played in the first team.

 

Although this trusting young players thing, does Zouma not count again? Can never tell when he counts as youth and when he doesn't.

 

He's a young player but he came to us as an established first-teamer in the French league so is different from the academy prospects like Ake and RLC.

 

Jose is a pragmatist but he's also overly cautious at times. That can work and it can also sometimes cost you.

 

Weirdly, Zouma has actually been dropped/rotated out of the side a couple of times in the last few weeks. Once after a great performance against City and then after a good performance against Everton. In each case there was a minimum of 5 days recovery. Odd.

The reason we have limited squad depth is because we don't use youth. RLC and ake sit on the bench weeks on end, so maybe we should start integrating them into the side. Look what zouma has done since coming, so I see no reason why the other youngsters can't do the same.

I think we definitely need a proper winger, that's a must in my opinion.

Another quality striker, CB and Midfielder are also needed.

Just signed cuadrado who is a proper winger, I think he will be a good player for us. There really isn't many wingers out there that would improve us imo. I like depay but he usually plays from the left and I'm not sure whether he has the all round game to be a success under Mourinho.

Blue Daze, I like benteke too, although I'm not sure whether he has enough quality to keep costa on his toes, he would be a great option to bring on.

Icardi looks a good player although there is question marks over his attitude. I haven't seen much of dybala live, but I've followed his progress for the last 3 seasons, and he is a really interesting prospect. He has great pace and a fantastic left foot, and he is very capable of playing from the right aswell. He isn't the most prolific, and physically he could struggle as a lone striker.

Interesting end of season coming up, and I think we are only 2/3 good signings away from having a squad that can dominate domestically.

The reason we have limited squad depth is because we don't use youth. RLC and ake sit on the bench weeks on end, so maybe we should start integrating them into the side. Look what zouma has done since coming, so I see no reason why the other youngsters can't do the same.

In the title run in there is next to no chance they will be used now.

The time for that was earlier in the season and it didn't happen.

In the title run in there is next to no chance they will be used now.

The time for that was earlier in the season and it didn't happen.

That's B.S because we are not playing that much better with the supposed top players in the side and the likes of ake won't make the team worse. Spurs, arsenal and Liverpool don't seem to suffer with form by using their youngsters, in fact it's made spurs better with the inclusion of harry kane. Ibe isn't too shabby for Liverpool either.

It isn't like we are playing against Barcelona every week is it; we play lower level teams with mediocre players and we're going to be worse by bringing in a couple of eager youngsters? I doubt it.

Just signed cuadrado who is a proper winger, I think he will be a good player for us. There really isn't many wingers out there that would improve us imo. I like depay but he usually plays from the left and I'm not sure whether he has the all round game to be a success under Mourinho.

Blue Daze, I like benteke too, although I'm not sure whether he has enough quality to keep costa on his toes, he would be a great option to bring on.

Icardi looks a good player although there is question marks over his attitude. I haven't seen much of dybala live, but I've followed his progress for the last 3 seasons, and he is a really interesting prospect. He has great pace and a fantastic left foot, and he is very capable of playing from the right aswell. He isn't the most prolific, and physically he could struggle as a lone striker.

Interesting end of season coming up, and I think we are only 2/3 good signings away from having a squad that can dominate domestically.

You know I totally forgot about him lol probably just need the others I said well unless we do start using some youth products and I think at CB we actually have a few decent youth options.

That's B.S because we are not playing that much better with the supposed top players in the side and the likes of ake won't make the team worse. Spurs, arsenal and Liverpool don't seem to suffer with form by using their youngsters, in fact it's made spurs better with the inclusion of harry kane. Ibe isn't too shabby for Liverpool either.

It isn't like we are playing against Barcelona every week is it; we play lower level teams with mediocre players and we're going to be worse by bringing in a couple of eager youngsters? I doubt it.

It's clearly not B.S.....

If you think Ake and co will get games in the title run in then fair enough but you will be proven very wrong.

Like it or not Jose goes with the same 11 more often than not and during the final push toward the title he's not going to use players that have not been getting games all season.

We might not agree on it but this is what will happen.

It's clearly not B.S.....

If you think Ake and co will get games in the title run in then fair enough but you will be proven very wrong.

Like it or not Jose goes with the same 11 more often than not and during the final push toward the title he's not going to use players that have not been getting games all season.

We might not agree on it but this is what will happen.

 

agreed. can't see youth suddenly being given a chance in the title run in. there is absolutely no way jose will start messing with his first XI now. When fit, the regulars all play, regardless of how absolutely knackered they all obviously are. 

 

i am pleased that finally people are starting to accept the fact that we havent looked ourselves for a while now, instead of just dismissing it as "one of those days". I cant remember the last time a league winning team conceded 5 goals in a premier league fixture - that for me was the nadir. 

 

we seem happy to invite pressure on to us and 9 times out of 10 you can see it coming. it is either a result of direct instruction, or simply that our players look like they are about to disintegrate into dust due to sheer lack of squad rotation. regardless, i would be surprised if we start seeing ake and RLC getting a chance at this stage in our season. 

More likely to be Ramires and Mikel than those boys.

I have not been following Van Ginkel's progress but it doesnt seem like he's had many games at Milan, I hope he can stay fit and is here next season. We desperately need an able replacement for Matic/Cesc who won't go a full season without injury and/or suspensions.

bas dost might be worth looking at. He's banging them in for wolfsburg atm and has scored 106 in 225 games

^ I reckon we just need 2 top forwards who "compete" for one spot with no preferential treatment (Bamford is better off on loan), so either one of Lacazette/Icardi would do to challenge Costa for a starting spot.

We have bigger problems in our band of 3 behind the forward; Hazard is brilliant, Oscar too inconsistent, Willian is not good enough and as things stand Cuadrado "needs time". I would argue City, Arsenal, maybe Liverpool and Utd if LVG got his act together have more productive options than us.

Bamford has proved himself with clubs in Championship with Derby and is leading goalscorer with Middlesboro he has nothing more to prove in that div.

It is time to come home to prove he can become a leading Premier goalsccorer, loans will no longer benifit him..

A worrying sign is that we have only scored one goal in each of the last seven games apart from Villa.

Bamford has proved himself with clubs in Championship with Derby and is leading goalscorer with Middlesboro he has nothing more to prove in that div.

It is time to come home to prove he can become a leading Premier goalsccorer, loans will no longer benifit him..

This is a good point, I mean what exactly are we waiting to see from these players on loan to say they are ready to be squad players. I know it's easier to break into Liverpools 1st team than ours, but jordan ibe impressed at Derby, but not any more than bamford has done, or even chalobah at Watford, but he looks at home in the premier league playing with and against better players.

I think we need to strike while the iron is hot with these youngsters, bamford needs his chance with us next season, and he needs to be given a decent amount of minutes. If he goes on loan to a premier league team and struggles to get minutes, then this time next year we will be saying he isn't good enough.

If we are serious about bringing through players from the youth teams, we need to stop expecting championship teams to develop players good enough for one of the best teams in the world.

I have faith that stability with Mourinho will bring 2/3 players up to 1st team level, and il be disappointed if we don't see some heavier involvement from the likes of ake next season, now they have had 2 years working with Mourinho and the 1st team.

Cesc is going through a bit of down form, injury and sickness. When he's not on, we are short in the creativity ( under statement of the year I know), can't start quick counter, and can't defend the space in the middle of the park. Costa is not scoring for fun anymore, but that's to be expected at some stage of the season. Willian/Remy/Curado etc just haven't stepped up when needed, and we are short in numbers.

In all honesty this has a feel of last season too it due to the loss of form of both Costa and Cesc.

 

Right now it feels like if Hazard does not do it all on his own we won't win. Just like last season.

 

Cesc, Costa, Oscar, Willian et al need to step it up because Hazard was not good enough, as great as he is, to win it all by himself last season and he will not be good enough on his own this season either.

I can't help but feel that this Sunday is going to be vital for the rest of our season. With all the upheaval of the last few weeks and the patchy form, we need some tonic to kick us on for the rest of the season in both the League and the CL. Winning this cup would help massively, I think.

Edited February 25, 201511 yr by Celery1989

I can't help but feel that this Sunday is going to be vital for the rest of our season. With all the upheaval of the last few weeks and the patchy form, we need some tonic to kick us on for the rest of the season in both the League and the CL. Winning this cup would help massively, I think.

Indeed I think it will either make or break our season

Fortunately it's not only Chelsea but all the top clubs are not playing well, or at least not consistently, with the exception of Liverpool (at least their PL run). There was an interesting article on Fabregas's loss of form in the Guardian and I think that may also be a factor in the goal drought, although it wouldn't be fair to put all the blame on his shoulders. I liked seeing Jose upbeat after the LC win, maybe it will ease the sense of anxiety that seems to be around. Hard to put a finger on it but the players do not seem to be playing with a sense of freedom at the moment. There was some brilliant stuff earlier in the season and Swansea was the last match where we expressed ourselves, and they're no bad team.

Tiredness, loss of confidence, individual dips in form, pressure, all part of it I think.

Can see it getting better, though. Matic, Fabregas, Oscar should all be more rested and slot back into their early season roles.

Only player who needs a rest is Iva. Looked out of sorts against Westham.

Other than that, I think it's all looking quite good.

Managing a squad that's involved in a hand full of competitions/leagues is difficult to do as you can see now with the current lapse in form (tiredness as mentioned). I feel Jose could've rotated the squad a bit more over the course of the season but he's the man being paid the big bucks so you can only trust him to do what's best for the club. Players like Zouma, Salah and Remy should've been granted more playing time. I know Zouma's minutes have been up as of late but I can't understand why Salah wasn't given more of an opportunity, even if it was only 10-15 minutes off the bench. Remy may be given more time next season IF Drogba decides to call it day.

 

Overall, we're top of the table with a game in hand and in a great position with the current CL tie. Can't be complaning too much now #carefree

Concerns over our recent form aren't anything new. Yes we've been grinding out results but anyone who watched our matches wouldn't have been surprised by the PSG result.

 

It's very easy to point to our league position and say there's nothing to worry about, but we really need to start putting together some decent performances because this is the crunch time of the season and so far our players have shown a worrying lack of character when out in front.

 

The league isn't something we're entitled to or something that we should just have handed to us (despite City's best efforts to do so) but it's also something we shouldn't be throwing away. Got a whole week to get ourselves together and start again.  

I honestly feel like we need 9 points from the next 3 games. I don't think anybody wants to be going into the Arsenal game with them having a chance to cut the lead to 1 or 2 points (albeit with us having a game in hand).

The advantage we have is that City and Arsenal can only drop 3-4 more points before physiologically they feel out of it.

Yesterday just seems like a missed opportunity to shut the door on our rivals. But given how rigid and lacking in innovation we've been recently, if I were in City's or Arsenal's squad (especially Arsenal), I would feel like it's very much alive.

Concerns over our recent form aren't anything new. Yes we've been grinding out results but anyone who watched our matches wouldn't have been surprised by the PSG result.

 

It's very easy to point to our league position and say there's nothing to worry about, but we really need to start putting together some decent performances because this is the crunch time of the season and so far our players have shown a worrying lack of character when out in front.

 

The league isn't something we're entitled to or something that we should just have handed to us (despite City's best efforts to do so) but it's also something we shouldn't be throwing away. Got a whole week to get ourselves together and start again.  

 

Hull away, I can't think of a better start we will get than that. If we can't turn things around by then I just don't know.

I honestly feel like we need 9 points from the next 3 games. I don't think anybody wants to be going into the Arsenal game with them having a chance to cut the lead to 1 or 2 points (albeit with us having a game in hand).

The advantage we have is that City and Arsenal can only drop 3-4 more points before physiologically they feel out of it.

Yesterday just seems like a missed opportunity to shut the door on our rivals. But given how rigid and lacking in innovation we've been recently, if I were in City's or Arsenal's squad (especially Arsenal), I would feel like it's very much alive.

 

I called Arsenal at the start of the season on here and got torn to shreds for it - although on their early season form it did look like they were going to be wayyyyyyyyyy out at the back and my prediction seemed a nonsense. I'm sure some will still say it's a nonsense, and I dont know how realistic a threat they are at this stage, but they always tend to go on a strong run of form in the second half of the season. Jose bigging them up in his post match interview saying they are rivals - perhaps thats just to put some extra pressure on them and fingers crossed they will slip up a few times along the way. I do not like us with this "game in hand" advantage though - it counts for f**k all until you have the points on the board and as Mac says the last thing we need is to be facing a trip to the Emirates with them flying and having the opportunity to cut the advantage to a couple of points. That's a f**king nightmare scenario IMO with our recent performances in mind. 

 

I am with you that we reallly do need to take maximum points before facing arsenal. We still have some tricky fixtures (arsenal themselves, united and liverpool) and while two of those fixtures are at home I see nothing from our current form which indicates that playing at home represents a true advantage for us. 

 

Arsenal aside (at the moment they just represent a bit of a distraction, if anything) we desperately need to start taking advantage when city slip up and we really need a run of good results and performances. We have had so many opportunities to do so this season yet it's all still open. It just feels like last year when the dippers crept up with that amazing run of results after Christmas, I think it is obviously unlikely that Arsenal will replicate that run (something like 12 wins on the trot), but If by some extremely unfortunate twist of fate they did manage to go on and finish above us then in truth we deserve absolutely nothing. 

 

Highs with the lows folks. Trust me, following Chelsea and my hometown club Rangers - nothing is ever simple.