Costa is a different one. Even if he's been poor recently, you know he has it in him to get a goal.

 

The likes of Willian though. I can count on the fingers of one hand the amount of games he's actually looked worth his price tag. Playing him through a poor run of form won't make him get any better.

i still think willian has to play as a 10 rather than out wide. id love to see him put there. if cuadrado could find some form/ability it would be nice to see hazard willian cuadrado as our 3. but as cuadrado has done nothing yet, i can see why jose has to play oscar and push willian wider

i still think willian has to play as a 10 rather than out wide. id love to see him put there. if cuadrado could find some form/ability it would be nice to see hazard willian cuadrado as our 3. but as cuadrado has done nothing yet, i can see why jose has to play oscar and push willian wider

Because Oscar offers a goal threat. Despite being poor today he still almost got a winner with some fantastic movement.

Willian offers very little offensively. Never has done.

Hes a carthorse.

Matic looks like he needs a holiday, oscar doesnt seem to be contributing much, however , we would have to go some distance to find a more abject 10 or 15 mins than cuadrado showed...must be his useless twin we bought..

Ssh, don't mention twins we had a spate of twin, multi account posters and it's only just settled down!

We shouldn't ever let Cuadrado take corners btw, he can barely get the ball off the ground. 

I think so too but then you lose that set piece danger and he has scored a few from open play too.

His bombing up the park leaves Cahill in all sorts of trouble though and with Azpi you wouldn't have that.

True, maybe Jose needs to reflect on who the opponents are and how they play to decided who should play.

Lethargic, sloppy first half. Very lucky to be level at h/t.

Much better second half. Showed desire, everyone seemed to be awake and full of running. Even Oscar. Unlucky not to get a second.

So we're not that tired then. Just playing poorly and without belief.

Now hope we can build on that second half performance for the run in.

Because if we play like we did first half then we'll be lucky to scrape over the line.

Yeah I don't think we looked tired today (apart from Fabregas) but you could sense the belief wasn't there

Lethargic, sloppy first half. Very lucky to be level at h/t.

Much better second half. Showed desire, everyone seemed to be awake and full of running. Even Oscar. Unlucky not to get a second.

So we're not that tired then. Just playing poorly and without belief.

Now hope we can build on that second half performance for the run in.

Because if we play like we did first half then we'll be lucky to scrape over the line.

 

I don't think we are tired either, we have just lost confidence. I want to see Mourinho rotate, not because the players are tired, but because a handful of them are massively out of form.

Chill! would we all be so negative if we slotted one in on 94 minutes to win 2-1?

We win our game in hand 9 points clear what a great position to be in with 10 games to go.

We get nervous, the players get nervous just keep the faith people.

Just keep the faith.

City and arsenal ain't gonna win there last 10 games, stand on me that ain't happeing.

We've stumbled along since Swansea away ... if this current form continues and I fear it will points will be dropped ... 1-1 home draw for me. Hope I'm wrong.

blimey, it's not often I get it right ...

blimey, it's not often I get it right ...

Who ain't stumbled along in the league since we played Swansea?

Cesc and Matic looked very poor today, so glad Costa found the net again, hopefully that will inspire him and lead to many more in the remaining games.

I don't usually get nervous about future results but we really cant drop anymore points, several team now in the title race not just us and city.

I would've taken 1-1 at ht but in the end was disappointed we didn't win it. Tibo was motm in the first half and Forster motm in the second which says it all.

So much better in the second half, Swansea apart that was the best we have played in 2015, which bodes well for the weeks ahead. Thought the introduction of Ramires was key and fair play to him, he certainly made a difference. Few people starting to get on Fabregas back but he picked up as the game went on. The next weeks rest will be good for us I think.

We gained a point on our nearest rivals after a tough game against a good team and we nearly won it too. There's been worst weekends to be a Chelsea fan, but yet still some cretins decided to boo which I find abhorrent. No wonder the team look jittery with these 'fans' in the house.

Edited March 15, 201511 yr by bjd

Double post!

Edited March 15, 201511 yr by bjd

If we now consider Arsenal as title contenders then we must do the same for United, who are only 1 point behind them.

 

A case could also be made for Liverpool as well since a win in their next match would leave them 10 points behind us.

 

If we and City continue to trip up, we could soon go from a 2 horse race to a 5 one. 

The first half was really really dreadful, hard to watch. In the second half we improved dramatically but really should have won the game. We seem to be constantly obsessed with trying to walk the ball into the net and scoring the perfect goal, instead of letting one rip and putting more pressure on the opposition by forcing a save. We will still go on and win the league and that's important, the nerves in this team are showing in the late stage as they did last year and once we get that first title everything will settle and we'll become that major force

Didn't understand why Cuadrado replaced Willian only in the minute 80. 

These are are remaining games:

 

Hull away

Stoke at home

QPR away

Man utd at home

Arsenal away

Leicester away

Crystal palace at home

Liverpool at home

West Brom away

Sunderland at home

 

I can only see about 3 of those I would feel confident going into.

 

Hull away we should win.

Stoke are the kind of side we struggle against.

QPR always seem to get points of us away

Man utd are better than they were when we drew at the start of the season and will punish our defence a lot more than Southampton did

Arsenal away we are f**ked

Leicester we should win

Crystal Palace we should win

Liverpool will outplay us most likely, but we might get a draw

West Brom love beating us 1-0 away

Sunderland will be playing their cup final

 

even the 16 or so points you're reckoning would give us is likely to be enough - everyone else will drop points too

First half was sh*t like others have said just didn't get going after the goal, second half was much better Rami played very well and stopped their counter attacks well. We just struggled so much to create chances and the blame has to be with the creative players. Cuadrado.. Sorry but he looks shockingly bad 10 minutes or not everytime he has played he has looked poor he has to get his arse in gear or he won't be here long. 6 points clear with a game in hand anyway can't complain too much get a win against Hull with a good performance and that could really give us the confidence for the rest of the games coming up, Keep the faith.

Other than being unhappy with how we have played of late i guess what we can say, especially after City got rid of the gap once before is that we would have all taken this situation now if we were offered it back then. 6 clear with a game in hand against the bottom place side, after winning the League Cup.

Zeta you don't need to be so negative all the time.

You are such a mind reader lol

Other than being unhappy with how we have played of late i guess what we can say, especially after City got rid of the gap once before is that we would have all taken this situation now if we were offered it back then. 6 clear with a game in hand against the bottom place side, after winning the League Cup.

Very true

Didn't understand why Cuadrado replaced Willian only in the minute 80.

Cuadrado was only on the pitch for 13 minutes but in that time he was probably Southampton's best player.

Don't think he is going to displace Willian anytime soon.

Ignoring the performance and having calmed down, it's been a good weekend. We've extended the lead against a good team,albeit one whose form has declined.

But I think I'm right in saying that arsenal are on peoples minds now. Obviously they're a bigger concern for city but they seem able to turn over the teams lower down the league that we struggle with.