Still gutting to lose, but I'm not panicking.

Today's defeat hurt like any other, at the final whistle. Although many people (myself included) half expected us to lose, it still stung.

However, I'm not too bothered about it at the end of the day. Marshall's freak incident aside (which might not have made a difference to the result anyway), we had more than enough chances and spells of decent play against such a good team (probably better than Man City on paper) to potentially get a result here.

I don't think I'm exaggerating too much here; we looked very good going forward at times, and I think we'll stay competitive in this league even though we're looking at a bottom half finish. When I watch us play, I don't see another yo-yo club; we've got the potential to hurt teams if we use it - meaning, we have to take our chances.

Whitts was guilty of squandering a good 3 or 4 corners earlier, and I'm starting to feel we need another man up front, even when away. Half the chances we create end up doing nothing because the pass just evades our striker and gets cleared away by someone like John Terry, with bags of PL experience.

We've got players capable of moving the ball around - Kim, Medel, Whitts, etc; I feel if we had a big presence up front (or just behind the striker) like Cornelius, we could make the most of these chances. Personally, I'd try Gestede up there behind Odemwingie until Cornelius is fit.

Overall, Chelsea played the way most people expected them to and cut us to ribbons at times with their movement and passing.

Like I said though, there's no reason we should be fearful of our survival this season; I believe we can get the results where it matters, and I think Malky just needs to fine tune his tactics a bit so we make the most of these chances. I'm not saying I could do any better for one minute, but I really feel that extra man up front could make a difference.

I'd be tempted to try a diamond 4-1-2-1-2 in future games with the following lineup:

Marshall

KTC
Caulker
Turner
Taylor

Medel
Bellers (wide right)
Whitts (wide left)
Kim

Cornelius (when fit) or Gestede
Odemwingie

Kim in the middle of the park with defensive duties

Whitts for Gunnar, bellers on the left.

That is all I would change.

Marshall

Theo
Caulker
Turner
Taylor

Medel
Mutch (not playing a really defensive role)

Odemwingie
Kim
Whitts

Campbell/Cornelius (when fit)

Kim in the middle of the park with defensive duties

Whitts for Gunnar, bellers on the left.

That is all I would change.

I'd put Kim just behind the front men.

is noone injured? I think he deserves a start