Chelsea Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2016

GavRedKing

Lukker- wrote: »

I'd have Mikel ahead of Matic by a country mile this season.

We need to play one CDM at least, the defense is too weak to play with none. We only have the 2 in the squad.

We've only won 2 but nearly every single player is performing at a higher level, I don't think you can doubt that.

We couldn't win under Jose either, at least we are not losing.

Jose would've needed about £300m to rebuild that team from the ground up, which isn't going to happen.

Jose would have turned it around regardless which is the worse part.

At this point weve no jose and still need to spend money and the ne manager wont be as good as him so weve made a terrible decision.

Also, Guus was last decent when he was in charge of us almost 7years ago since then theres been less than spectacular tenures with national squads.

I like him, hes a nice man but hes not good enough.

GavRedKing

Every time we drop ppints I look at the what could have been.

Win and we could have been 3pts behind 7th as it stands were 5ptd behind 7th.

We wont get anywhere in the league without back to back wins and apart from Villa id say were the only team not to do it and its February.

We should have beat Watford twice and WBA but we drew those 3 so instead of 9pts we got 3pts. Also should have beat Everton but were just s**t and it has hardly changed.

The MK dons game is pointless too a good win showing how bad they are.

grumpymunster

Guus does seem a decent sort but is out of touch. Watford back 4 were spent with 10 or 15 minutes to go. Kenedy and Traore on the bench.

Feeble effort all round I just wish this season to end.

Lukker-

GavRedKing wrote: »

Jose would have turned it around regardless which is the worse part.

At this point weve no jose and still need to spend money and the ne manager wont be as good as him so weve made a terrible decision.

Also, Guus was last decent when he was in charge of us almost 7years ago since then theres been less than spectacular tenures with national squads.

I like him, hes a nice man but hes not good enough.

What's eventually though? Do you actually think Jose is suited to long term management? Do you think he would've ever brought youth through?

I was as optimistic as every other fan when he came back that he had changed and was ready to think long term. Nothing he did this season showed that to me and he seemed more poisonous then ever.

I love the man and always will and he's still the greatest manager we've had but until he tweaks his style he'll never be at a club longer then 3 years and I can guarantee that. Even Drogba someone you'd consider a loyalist said his way of motivating players stops working after 2 or 3 seasons.

The only way it would realistically work is if we signed a new team every 2 years. Jose would probably do that if he had the funds.

Lukker-

I wouldn't get worried about the league. To have a realistic chance of making top 4 we needed 12 wins from 15 and 3 draws. Not. Gonna. Happen.

StringerBell

cowboyBuilder wrote: »

Desperate stuff, really is a bad time to be a Chelsea fan - the club's finished .

and next year with Pep here !!!

HA !!!

Ill start watching Rugby

Are you Danny Dyer?

Seriously though, playing the part of the stereotypical "plastic" Chelsea fan very well here!

Lukker-

He's a hyperbolic monkey and he can't stop coming back win draw or lose

GavRedKing

Lukker- wrote: »

I wouldn't get worried about the league. To have a realistic chance of making top 4 we needed 12 wins from 15 and 3 draws. Not. Gonna. Happen.

We needed serious wins when we had about 18 games to go and weve not won games that we should have. The players were s**t under Jose and theyre barely better under Guus.

GavRedKing

The only saving grace is some of these frauds will be gone next year. Hopefully drag Emenalo with them.

Lukker-

GavRedKing wrote: »

The only saving grace is some of these frauds will be gone next year. Hopefully drag Emenalo with them.

Some players definitely need to be moved on.

Who would you get rid of?

StringerBell

Lukker- wrote: »

He's a hyperbolic monkey and he can't stop coming back win draw or lose

There was another one of them here too wasn't there, very amusing also. The Monkey I think he was/is called?

Sorry I just wandered in here this evening since ye are our next opponents, not wanting to cause any trouble or anything just the post made me laugh and I couldn't help myself!

Do ye think Hiddink will want the team to attack Sunday or will it be safety first?

Lukker-

StringerBell wrote: »

There was another one of them here too wasn't there, very amusing also. The Monkey I think he was/is called?

Sorry I just wandered in here this evening since ye are our next opponents, not wanting to cause any trouble or anything just the post made me laugh and I couldn't help myself!

Do ye think Hiddink will want the team to attack Sunday or will it be safety first?

Safety first but I think Hazard will start so we'll have more of a threat. He'll set us up like against Arsenal.

GavRedKing

Lukker- wrote: »

Some players definitely need to be moved on.

Who would you get rid of?

Impossible to say but based on this season a loan, theres far more to get rid of than to keep. I'll pull the squad list that I posted earlier and reply to ya.

GavRedKing

Lukker- wrote: »

Some players definitely need to be moved on.

Who would you get rid of?

GavRedKing wrote: »

Full squad list until the end of the season including numbers

1. Asmir Begovic - keep
2. Branislav Ivanovic - get rid of asap
4. Cesc Fabregas - keep
8. Oscar - sell
9. Falcao - will be flogged anyway
10. Eden Hazard - if we get mental money, sell
11. Pato - cant judge
12. John Mikel Obi - sell asap
13. Thibaut Courtois - keep
17. Pedro - waste of money, wont find a buyer though
18. Loic Remy - to injury prone, sell
19. Diego Costa - keep, but he may want out
21. Nemanja Matic - keep, last chance
22. Willian - our best player this season, keep
24. Gary Cahill - sell and upgrade our promote Christensen
26. John Terry - give a new contract asap
27. Jamal Blackman - 3rd choice GK, may as well keep
28. Cesar Azpilicueta - Keep
32. Marco Amelia - think his contract is up anyway


Under-21 players

5. Kurt Zouma - keep and build the defence around
6. Baba Rahman - play him over Ivan
14. Bertrand Traore - handy option although he way want games
16. Kenedy - like Traore but marginally better player
20. Matt Miazga - cant judge
33. Mitchell Beeney - making up the numbers
34. Ola Aina - get him a new contract asap and give him 1st time
36. Ruben Loftus-Cheek - get him a new contract asap and start him
40. Bradley Collins - No idea, think hes a GK?

Thats probably over half the squad I want rid of, thats clearly not feasible and some people wont be sold as theres no market for them.

Whats worse is thers this much uncertainty with the squad and thats a problem, and thats before we even appoint a new manager.

In short, coupled with no European football whatsoever, we're seriously boned for the short term, yes we'll have more money than about 90% of the league but whos going to come to a side with no UCL especially if Arsenal, Utd or City also enter the market for the same player.

apart from the 2014/15 summer season when we bought big, we've dined of the scraps of other teams and even Cesc was cast off by Barca, short term is pretty bleak IMO and I cant see it getting much better, if we're in a similar situation, not in the hunt for titles we'll lose the better players we kept too.

MaroonAndGreen

GavRedKing wrote: »

Thats probably over half the squad I want rid of, thats clearly not feasible and some people wont be sold as theres no market for them.

Whats worse is thers this much uncertainty with the squad and thats a problem, and thats before we even appoint a new manager.

In short, coupled with no European football whatsoever, we're seriously boned for the short term, yes we'll have more money than about 90% of the league but whos going to come to a side with no UCL especially if Arsenal, Utd or City also enter the market for the same player.

apart from the 2014/15 summer season when we bought big, we've dined of the scraps of other teams and even Cesc was cast off by Barca, short term is pretty bleak IMO and I cant see it getting much better, if we're in a similar situation, not in the hunt for titles we'll lose the better players we kept too.

We really really need Kenedy, RLC a few more young boys to turn out to be absolutely brilliant

GavRedKing

MaroonAndGreen wrote: »

We really really need Kenedy, RLC a few more young boys to turn out to be absolutely brilliant

Yup, its a slow road back to the top. If we do a Utd on it, spend our bo**ocks in the summer and get back to top 4 it wont be so bad, but if we do spend our bo**ocks and miss Europe for a 2nd seasons, we're seriously in the mire.

~Rebel~

GavRedKing wrote: »

Yup, its a slow road back to the top. If we do a Utd on it, spend our bo**ocks in the summer and get back to top 4 it wont be so bad, but if we do spend our bo**ocks and miss Europe for a 2nd seasons, we're seriously in the mire.

Yee still have an unreal group of players - keep in mind where Spurs, Leicester and West Ham are right now - it won't take a monumental investment to be right back up there. A decent manager in the summer, and a few intelligent buys and you'll be grand.

The lack of European football will make it that much easier too - and if its only one season out, likely won't impact your player draw either.

grumpymunster

StringerBell wrote: »

There was another one of them here too wasn't there, very amusing also. The Monkey I think he was/is called?

Sorry I just wandered in here this evening since ye are our next opponents, not wanting to cause any trouble or anything just the post made me laugh and I couldn't help myself!

Do ye think Hiddink will want the team to attack Sunday or will it be safety first?

It will certainly be safety first with Guus, if he really wanted to attack last night was the perfect night to do it. Loads of pace on the bench and a team seriously tired, Watford had worked their socks off and were flagging. Hazard comes on starts to create mayhem Traore buoyed with confidence from his first goal at the weekend and Kenedy full of running and tricks sitting on the bench.

Those two changes would have had an already panicking but resolute Watford defence in serious trouble, but no at that stage they were never going to lose and Guus now has 10 games unbeaten. It is sad to think we have been better away from home than at home and that was the best we had to offer against Watford.

You can almost put your hat on a boring 0-0 on Sunday, unless you guys get a goal to make a game of it. We have been leaking goals at home and I assume Guus will want that to stop.

But you need not worry United will not lose this game.

cowboyBuilder

StringerBell wrote: »

There was another one of them here too wasn't there, very amusing also. The Monkey I think he was/is called?

Sorry I just wandered in here this evening since ye are our next opponents, not wanting to cause any trouble or anything just the post made me laugh and I couldn't help myself!

Do ye think Hiddink will want the team to attack Sunday or will it be safety first?

Oh, I think the monkey is around here somewhere ....

GavRedKing

~Rebel~ wrote: »

Yee still have an unreal group of players - keep in mind where Spurs, Leicester and West Ham are right now - it won't take a monumental investment to be right back up there. A decent manager in the summer, and a few intelligent buys and you'll be grand.

The lack of European football will make it that much easier too - and if its only one season out, likely won't impact your player draw either.

Lots of ifs and buts in there.

Take into account the updated TV money been handed out to clubs also.

The only place where Chelsea are doing anything of note is the transfer market where we can seemingly sell players like its nothing and make profit.

Every other aspect of the club has been a disaster since as far back as pre-season.

what a day

Roman sacked Mourinho so he thinks we have a quality squad. We aint gona see much changes to the squad but hopefully we will see at least 4 young players brought into the squad Christensen Kenedy Baba should all be part of the squad. Others like Traore Bamford RLC are all just about ready too for more game time. Our squad needs a serious cull especially half our loan army.

duploelabs

Whatever happens, whomever is appointed, I hope they get a deal in place asap. Don't want to be pr!cking around until july, and then a further knock on of not getting the correct transfers and squad assembly in place for the new season

GavRedKing

I dont mind the bad results as much as the consistency, thats the worse thing about it, the results have improved we're picking up points but its still inconsistent in the overall play an appliciation of the players.

I missed the game last night but seen the extended highlights and the first 45mins might as well not have happened it was that bad from us, Watford were better in that half.

We cam out of the blocks in the second half and like countless times before it, we tried to play football in the 2nd half, I've seen this team far too many times eventually try or make it look like theyre trying in the second half of games or when they eventually go a goal down. Theres no drive or desire in the team and its something Jose touched on before, theyve won the league but they assumed theyed p*ss the title again and truth be told had we been playing at 75% of last season we'd probably be about 6 pts clear right now thats how bad the rest of the leagye is.

Its a shocking indictment to our season that we're a week into February and we've yet to win back to back league games, had the players and staff not acted up and I include Jose in that, this could and should have been sorted out before we found ourselves in this mess. As it stands we're on a hiding to nothing in the UCL against a PSG who've yet to lose a game all season in any competition and we've the best side in the country in the 5th round of the cup, a side who've knocked us out in 2013 and 2014.

When Guus came in there was very little hope of top 4, anyone that wasnt mad wrote it off and just wanted improvement and IMO its not been enough, hes come in out his arm around the players and theyve gone unbeaten in 8 games and won 4, 2 of those were in the cup so hes got 4 league draws and 3 of them happened at home in games we should have won, hes not yet won a league game at Stamford Bridge after beating Arsenal and Palace away.

So is it his fault, not entirely, like Jose before him, the players are to blame but what I cant understand is his subs, he rarely makes 3 subs but felt compelled to send out 3 subs when we were 5-1 up against MK Dons, 0-0 struggling to create anything against Watford, a side who were out on their legs with 15/20mins to go he only sends on one player, the balance remained but we still persisted with players like Oscar who should have been whipped for Traore or Kenedy, its bloody baffling, hes got no grasp of how to change anything from the bench.

In a way it reminds of Ancelotti, if Plan A didnt work for Carlo, his use of the bench was never any good and resulted in plenty of wasted opportunities to wrap up a league well before the last game of the season. Guus is a safe pair of hands and theres no controversey but christ hes painful to watch.

grumpymunster

Indeed Gav, we could have been buried in the first half last night Watford were really up for this and played very well indeed.

But that effort certainly took its toll and they did look totally knackered by the end, relying on a few good saves by their keeper to keep them in the game. They had no threat at all in the last 25 minutes yet it was only with 15 minutes to go he sacrificed one of his defensive midfielders. I was left wondering why is Obi still on he actually wondered forward a few times and had a couple of pops at goal such was the lack of defensive work he had to do. Whatever you say about Obi that is not a strong point of his.

I have no idea why looking on RLC would consider signing a new contract, Baba II must be seriously fed up as well watching the blunderbus that is Ivan shuffling around continually out of position. All of the chances Watford created were down his side, a fact that will be of no surprise to any Chelsea supporter.

There is no joined up thinking at all at the Bridge these days, we should be in the midst of days of glory instead of stumbling from one disaster to another. It is as has often been said never boring being a Chelsea fan but is sure as hell is frustrating.

duploelabs

Allegri is ours, apparently
http://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/641056/Allegri-Chelsea-Manager-Transfer-News-Gossip

duploelabs

Allegri is ours, apparently
http://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/641056/Allegri-Chelsea-Manager-Transfer-News-Gossip

SureYWouldntYa

Any chance he can bring Pogba with him ? :pac:

GavRedKing

I dont doubt the express.....I do however flat out refuse to believe what they print.

I would hope that Raoman and the board have at least contacted other managers to sound them out about their availability as soon as the season ends to get them up to speed asap but the way the club has been run the past 6 or 7 months, I highly doubt that and theyre as wise as the man on the street as to who the next permanent manager is going to be.

GavRedKing

So ya remember Alex Teixeria, the Chelsea and Liverpool target? Ya, he looks like hes going to China.

So much for trying to get into the Brazilian squad. $$$$$$$$$ :pac:

Feeling confidant about Sunday Gav?

GavRedKing

M!Ck^ wrote: »

Feeling confidant about Sunday Gav?

If it was an away game ya, Guus only wins ae away from the Bridge in the league Palace and Arsenal, of all the places to pick up 2 wins theyed be low donw my list but digging a little deeper, Palace are in free fall and well the Arsenal result hinged on Mertersacker being pretty useless.

I've no idea what to expect other than both Mikel and Ivanovic will be played and both will be woefully exposed, Utd are doing much better in recent games and look like scoring more than 1 goal every other game.

Being optimistic, a score draw but that doesnt help either team for varying reasons.

I do hope he drops Oscar and Mikel for Cesc and RLC but I've a better chance of being invovled than that happening.

McDave

duploelabs wrote: »

Allegri is ours, apparently
http://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/641056/Allegri-Chelsea-Manager-Transfer-News-Gossip

Would obviously be an attractive option, and a manager potential signees would take seriously. Fresh EPL blood as well.

Jesus, we need a complete overhaul at all levels. Gav's list above makes for depressing reading. On the bright side, selling Hazard and Costa would help build up a massive war chest for the incumbent.

GavRedKing

GavRedKing wrote: »

If it was an away game ya, Guus only wins ae away from the Bridge in the league Palace and Arsenal, of all the places to pick up 2 wins theyed be low donw my list but digging a little deeper, Palace are in free fall and well the Arsenal result hinged on Mertersacker being pretty useless.

I've no idea what to expect other than both Mikel and Ivanovic will be played and both will be woefully exposed, Utd are doing much better in recent games and look like scoring more than 1 goal every other game.

Being optimistic, a score draw but that doesnt help either team for varying reasons.

I do hope he drops Oscar and Mikel for Cesc and RLC but I've a better chance of being invovled than that happening.

Can't say there's much stability in our form, bit too unpredictable however if Chelsea come out and attack and Martial / Mata / Rooney are up for it, Chelsea will be exposed on the counter. I'd be more worried if Chelsea decide to sit back and defend

GavRedKing

McDave wrote: »

Would obviously be an attractive option, and a manager potential signees would take seriously. Fresh EPL blood as well.

Jesus, we need a complete overhaul at all levels. Gav's list above makes for depressing reading. On the bright side, selling Hazard and Costa would help build up a massive war chest for the incumbent.

TBH, we should have enough money from the increased TV money and Yokohama deal and not spending massively in the summer just gone to fund a big spend without much hassle, anything in and aroun d100m without selling is possible IMO, if we sell OScar, Hazard or Costa we can probably spend a further 50m depending on the player sold.

We've also got about 40people on loan and good 10 of those should be sold, guys like Marin, Moses might add up a few million too bolster the kitty.

But then, does Roman pocket it and keep it for the stadium build or does he spend it on the squad? UEFA FFP, which is a joke anyway doesnt care if you spend on a stadium so that wont effect us there but Roman will clearly bawk it outlaying 3/4 of a billion on a new ground so the purse strings may have to be tightened along the line.

We need a trade off from spending on the right superstar and about 3 or 4 fillers instead of 4 or 5 ok players that cost 20m a pop.

GavRedKing

M!Ck^ wrote: »

Can't say there's much stability in our form, bit too unpredictable however if Chelsea come out and attack and Martial / Mata / Rooney are up for it, Chelsea will be exposed on the counter. I'd be more worried if Chelsea decide to sit back and defend

Thik we've shipped 7 in our last 3 home games, we may sit back but that doesnt mean we'll be able to defend.

Crann na Beatha

This post has been deleted.

Panthro

JT26 wrote: »

Yokohama tyres has cursed us:pac:

There's a Costa coming back after the summer with a spare tyre joke in there somewhere!:pac:

McDave

JT26 wrote: »

Yokohama tyres has cursed us:pac:

Well, this season has certainly tyred us all out. CFC has gone awful flat since Jose hit the road. Gotta tread carefully from hereon in. Although our track record would suggest the PSG match is a dead rubber.

*I'll get my hat*

GavRedKing

McDave wrote: »

Well, this season has certainly tyred us all out. CFC has gone awful flat since Jose hit the road. Gotta tread carefully from hereon in. Although our track record would suggest the PSG match is a dead rubber.

*I'll get my hat*

Your jokes are bad and you should feel bad.

GavRedKing

WEll Teixeria wont be playing for Liverppol, chelsea or Brazil it seems.

Just joined the same Chinese side as Ramires for about £35.

F**k me.

Edit : Its not the same side but theres some serious £££££ in China.

GavRedKing

Now lets hope and pray someone buys Falcao from Monaco.

GavRedKing

Someones run the numbers and come up with the average position we'll finish, accounting for win ratio, games left etc and it shows as us 9th-11th.

Give or take the odd result. Disgraceful but its probably where we'll end up, we've no consistency what so ever.

We could beat Utd this weekend and draw the next 3 games.

McDave

GavRedKing wrote: »

Your jokes are bad and you should feel bad.

Maybe a little tyred and emotional.

Panthro

McDave wrote: »

Well, this season has certainly tyred us all out. CFC has gone awful flat since Jose hit the road. Gotta tread carefully from hereon in. Although our track record would suggest the PSG match is a dead rubber.

*I'll get my hat*

You mean You'll get your cap....hub cap...
Ba dum tish!

Rayne Wooney

Do Chelsea fans believe Mourinho got a raw deal?

I thought it was a lot down to him but looking at some of the players performing now it would seem not as clear cut as before, Costa looks a completely different players likewise Hazard, Fabregas hasn't been doing it either. If Mourinho had been backed last summer would it have made a difference?

Lukker-

Rayne Wooney wrote: »

Do Chelsea fans believe Mourinho got a raw deal?

I thought it was a lot down to him but looking at some of the players performing now it would seem not as clear cut as before, Costa looks a completely different players likewise Hazard, Fabregas hasn't been doing it either. If Mourinho had been backed last summer would it have made a difference?

I think he would have done better if backed definitely. His style of confrontational motivation works very well at first. He creates conflict with players trying to motivate them to be better. The problem is after 2 years, those methods don't work as well as they used to, especially with the ego of a modern footballer.

I think even most players were actually trying to play for him, his methods generally stop working the more you are exposed to him. He's the best short term manager going, give him £200m and he'll win you the league, probably within a season. The problem is he'd need another £200m in 2 years. You can forget about any youths coming through either, he doesn't rate anyone who doesn't have a price tag attached to them.

I don't know if he got a raw deal or not. He was at fault as much as the club and the players I think. It's easier to replace a manager though. In the end all the controversies was probably the tipping point. I think it affects him mentally when he doesn't have total control and players don't react to him how he wants, he looked very mentally fragile at times.

grumpymunster

Rayne Wooney wrote: »

Do Chelsea fans believe Mourinho got a raw deal?

I thought it was a lot down to him but looking at some of the players performing now it would seem not as clear cut as before, Costa looks a completely different players likewise Hazard, Fabregas hasn't been doing it either. If Mourinho had been backed last summer would it have made a difference?

Difficult question to answer that. Did he get a raw deal well yes and no I think he certainly made mistakes and an awful lot of his problems would have disappeared if he simply apologised now and then. There is no point really getting into the whole was he right or wrong regarding the medical staff thing, you simply do not wash your dirty linen in public, and workers deserve much better than that so he got his just desserts there I think.

Our whole pre season was a disaster from which we simply have not recovered. He was not as you say backed in the transfer market Pedro was a panic buy and really not a Jose type player, the lesser spotted Papy well what can you say - he may be a decent player but obviously not a choice of Jose. Hector good Lord give us a break. We came back very late to pre-season and had absolutely no form going into the season and we simply have not recovered being a step behind everyone else all the way along. I dont know who schedules these things but I would imagine the manager must have a big say.

Then there is his confrontational style, apparently two on the board wanted him kept (including Roman) but it was not to be, I think the marketing arm got their way. They say all publicity is good publicity but there comes a point it really is not and I think at least the bean counters effectively got rid.

Did we make a mistake yes a massive one, the club had a chance to make a clear statement - our manager manages the club not the players. But we flunked that - it was only a few months since we won our first league in 5 seasons he deserved a chance to sort it all out next summer. It was clear our defence was a busted flush last season only Jose could have won the league with that team (well maybe Fergie as well) he certainly was given a raw deal from that aspect.

Not sure that inane rambling answers your questions but I will be as sick as a dog when he takes over at United, sick and mad jealous.

GavRedKing

Well we apparently turned down 75m for Oscar from some Chinese club.

Which makes us probably the most brain dead club around, the season is done and dusted and having Oscar isnt going to improve it, we should have cashed in and kept the money for the summer.

Someone at the club should be thrown from a rather large building over that decision.

GavRedKing

Rayne Wooney wrote: »

Do Chelsea fans believe Mourinho got a raw deal?

I thought it was a lot down to him but looking at some of the players performing now it would seem not as clear cut as before, Costa looks a completely different players likewise Hazard, Fabregas hasn't been doing it either. If Mourinho had been backed last summer would it have made a difference?

Hard to say but my take on it is 2 fold, yes he got a raw deal but a lot of it was his doing but he was also either not backed in the transfer market or the players werent available.

I could dig up old posts of mine but I said as far back as June/July that retaining the league was a near impossibility unless we improved and added the right players and that only 3 managers in the last 3 decades have done it, Jose, Fergie and Shankley, thats since the early 80s.

The club backed him further than any manager previously, most guys would have been sacked back in October and I think the club was willing to at least give him until the summer to sort it out but the player issues surfaced, Hazard and Costa publicily acting like spoilt kids didnt help his case either and pointed at a split and rift in the camp, you only have to listen to Mikel talk s**t about Jose any chance he gets since his departure to get an insight into a split in the camp as JT backed him publicily during a press conference only a few weeks before he was sacked.

You mentioned Costa scoring more and playig better, this is true, however Hazard looks like a player that wants to be elsewhere and to be honest, I couldnt give a toss if he leaves, is he our best player, ya, when he wants to be but he'll never be in the same bracket as guys like Ronaldo or Messi, hell he even fails to get into the bracket under them with Bale, Neymar, Suarez, Aguero, Ibra, James etc etc. I do think Cesc got a raw deal, he was trying to play and got outted as a potential rat like Hazard and Costa but I think that tag was wrongly applied.

But for me, it all goes back to pre season, we came back about 2 weeks later than anyone for a rest and we were clearly miles behind and playing sh*te and looking very over weight, namely Costa and Hazard, the pre season pics show them sporting pretty noticable guts and it went down hill from there, you had the Eva and Fearn incident, the first loss of the season to Palace shortly followed and this all took place when we apparently chased a number of players that either werent available or the club werent prepared to meet the valuation of said players.

It was a perfect storm of what could go wrong did, Hazard only scored last week for the first time this season after mising penalties and one on ones a plenty, Costa only had 4 goals before Jose was sacked, Matic looks like a guy thats never played football before, Ivan is well Ivan and his decline has been shown for at least 2 years now, we lost our #1 GK for 3 months of the season, Pedro was a panic buy after we stopped chasing him in the summer we went back for him after Douglas Costa ended up at Bayern and Griezmann was a no go.

So raw deal yes, by the board and the players but he was a pretty big player in his own downfall by picking the same players over and over and over again. We'd look good home or away in Europe but we'd play Bournemouth then and lose the game, at one stage it looked like every shot we faced was going to go in.

What I would have done was sold the players that didnt want to be there, Costa and Hazard being two, Hazard could be sold to PSG and Costa back to Ateltico and that deals with the two biggest problems in the squad while retaining one of the greatest mangers around but what the club done was a pretty short sighted approach, they sacked the manager, kept the players, pplayers that could still leave in the summer and now we're down Jose.

It still baffles and annoys me to this day that it happened but going back to when Jose was hired again in 2013, the biggest mistake the board made was not accepting Emenalos resignation, a guy jose didnt trust in his first spell as apparently, a lot of what Emenalo used to talk to and ask the players went back to the board, Ive no doubt he was stikcing his oar in this time around too and probably got stories from those like Costa and Hazard, couple that with the s**t results and Joe was always going to end up out on his arse.

Panthro

Hazard and Costa were blatantly not playing for Jose, that much we do know.
Why then did Jose continue to pick them? Surely putting out two lads willing to work their socks off (Kenedy and Remy for example) would reap more rewards compared to two Sunday strollers in Hazard and Costa.
We were out of the race by October, Jose could have been more ballsy in his selections IMO, RLC, Kenedy, Remy should all have featured more, but then again we all know the youths rarely get a look when Jose is at the helm.