Terrace Talk: Chelsea - Our castle is built on sand and tide is coming in

Chelsea’s poor form since Christmas has gone almost under the radar. It has seen us fall from third on the coattails of United to fifth and the ignominy of following another league-winning season by failing to qualify for the Champions League.

It’s pretty depressing. Not going to bother churning out our transfer activity again — it’s well documented. The squad we have needs to come under scrutiny though. Many of them seem to be going through the motions. The majority are probably already looking beyond Conte, but you’d think a little self-respect would fire them up. But Conte needs to look at himself too as he finds it difficult to change formation if the game dictates.

The thing I found most difficult to comprehend against United was his decision to replace Hazard yet keep Morata on the pitch. Hazard was being closely marked but he is the type of player (the only player we have) that could produce a moment to turn the game.