Straight Outta Cobham: The Athletic FC's Chelsea show

It's Tottenham, lads... Matt Davies-Adams has got two of The Athletic's finest - Cerys Jones and Luke Bosher - alongside him for a look back on the absolutely inevitable but pretty unconvincing 2-1 victory over Tottenham at the Bridge on Tuesday night. Then - the end is (finally) here! The Blues make the trip to Sunderland on Sunday - with a place in either the Europa League, Conference League or...

Matt Davies-Adams has got The Athletic's Simon Johnson and Liam Twomey for company after a rather busy days for Chelsea Football Club... A seventh straight defeat in a final at Wembley? Bad. Xabi Alonso announced as the new Blues manager? Now, that's more like it! We've got all the latest on Alonso's appointment, plus a look back on the narrow 1-0 defeat by Manchester City in the FA Cup final AND...

Surely the Wembley curse has to come to an end eventually?! Matt Davies-Adams is joined by The Athletic's Liam Twomey and Luke Bosher for a mega look ahead to Saturday's FA Cup final against Manchester City at Wembley. Do the Blues have any hope of beating Pep's men given their 13-game winless streak against them? What are the key selection issues heading into the final? And just what an incredibl...

Seven straight defeats? Not in these parts... Matt Davies-Adams calls up Simon Johnson and Sam Parkin for a look back on the 1-1 draw with Liverpool at Anfield on Saturday lunchtime. We take the positives from a far better showing that the sorry Forest defeat, laud the return of Levi Colwill - starting his first game of the season - and ponder whether this will be the boost they need to go into a...

News just in... unfortunately we can't forfeit this game... Matt Davies-Adams is once again joined by two of The Athletic's finest - Simon Johnson and Liam Twomey - for a look ahead to the weekend trip to Merseyside to take on Liverpool. Will the players actually bother to try and put in some kind of performance on Saturday? What players are even available? And do they need to string a couple of r...

Can the season just end now? Matt Davies-Adams enlists The Athletic's Chelsea experts Liam Twomey and Simon Johnson for our latest doomcast after the horror show against an unrecognisable Nottingham Forest. What can you even say after that performance?! The lack of effort, the shortcomings all over the field, the terrible end to what should have been a special day for Jesse Derry, the magnificent...

MDA Derby pending... Matt Davies-Adams has got Sam Parkin and Liam Twomey for company - and a smorgasbord of Chelsea-related chatter to get stuck into ahead of a busy weekend of action. We look ahead to the visit of Nottingham Forest. We discuss any managerial developments and hear from Italian football expert James Horncastle on why it may be difficult to tempt Cesc Fabregas away from Como. We ch...

So, that's what effort looks like!? Matt Davies-Adams has got The Athletic's Simon Johnson and Luke Bosher alongside him for a look back on Sunday's trip to Wembley - where Chelsea set a date with Manchester City in the final after a 1-0 win over Leeds. We discuss the much-improved performance from the end of the Rosenior reign (although that's not saying much!), discuss the captain Enzo's goal, t...

106 days later... The SOC gang assembles under emergency measures after the news dropped late on Monday afternoon that Liam Rosenior has been sacked by Chelsea after less than four months as the club’s head coach. Appointed in January to succeed Enzo Maresca - he began by winning eight of his first 11 matches in charge. But Monday's defeat to Brighton was the seventh time they have lost in their l...

What were you doing in 1912? Matt Davies-Adams, Cerys Jones and Liam Twomey jump aboard the pretty downbeat party bus for a look back on the 3-0 defeat at Brighton which condemns Chelsea to their fifth straight Premier League defeat without scoring. We get into Liam Rosenior's pointed post-match comments, the bizarre formation, the totally inept performance across the board - and what this latest...

Gallows humour at the ready... Matt Davies-Adams has The Athletic's Simon Johnson and Luke Bosher for company to look back on the latest shambolic result for Chelsea Football Club - this time in the form of a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Manchester United. We touch upon the pre-match protests, before focusing on another day to forget at the Bridge to condemn the Blues to their fourth straight defeat...

Four Premier League defeats in a row for just the second time this century? Surely not?! Matt Davies-Adams is in the company of The Athletic's Cerys Jones and Liam Twomey for a look ahead to the visit of Manchester United under the lights at Stamford Bridge on Saturday night. We discuss what kind of team we're expecting to see face up against Michael Carrick's side with Enzo Fernandez in from the...

All downhill from here? Matt Davies-Adams has got Simon Johnson and Sam Parkin alongside him for a look back on the 3-0 defeat dished out to the Blues by a far superior Manchester City. Why was the second half showing so poor? Would Enzo Fernandez have made any difference if he wasn't on the naughty step? And does it feel like it's now only a matter of time before the club move on from Liam Roseni...

Matt Davies-Adams has got Luke Bosher and Liam Twomey for company for a look ahead to the visit of Manchester City to Stamford Bridge on Sunday afternoon. Who the heck is going to be in the starting XI?! What chance do Liam Rosenior's side have of frustrating Pep's men like they did at the Etihad back in January? And can they avoid losing 3 successive league games without scoring for the first tim...

How can you come away from a 7-0 victory... still kind of unconvinced?! Matt Davies-Adams has got his Easter bunnies Sam Parkin and Liam Twomey alongside him for a look back on the thrashing of Port Vale in the FA Cup. Who were the big winners and losers from the game? Why didn't Josh Acheampong get more minutes? And what does it say about Liam Delap's future that he was left out - and then still...

Anyone else want to speak out in the press? Matt Davies-Adams has got Cerys Jones and Luke Bosher for company as we return from a short international break of our own to look ahead to the return to action of the men's team. But we begin with disappointment in the UWCL for CFCW - 1-0 winners on the night against Arsenal but knocked out of the competition at the quarter-final stage 3-2 on aggregate....

Losing isn't exclusive to the men's team at the moment... Matt Davies-Adams has a new-look starting line-up - with The Athletic's Charlotte Harpur and Michael Cox joining forces with SOC's own Cerys Jones for a closer look at all things CFCW hot off the back of Chelsea's 3-1 defeat by Arsenal in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final. We look at the big talking points from the match...

We're going to need more than Good Luck, Babe! Matt Davies-Adams has got two Chappell Roan enthusiasts - Cerys Jones and Simon Johnson - alongside him for a look back at another miserable trip to Merseyside. There's the fallout from the abject 3-0 defeat to Everton. Have the players downed tools? Have they lost respect for Liam Rosenior's methods? And are we in danger of seeing the Blues tumble do...

You 8-2 see it... Matt Davies-Adams enlists Cerys Jones and Liam Twomey for a gory-post mortem of Chelsea's 8-2 aggregate defeat by PSG in the Champions League last 16. Simon Johnson beams in from the Stamford Bridge press box with a pretty damning assessment of what he saw in front of him on a 'horrific night' for everyone associated with the club. Was this result breaking point for Liam Rosenior...

Respectfully... Matt Davies-Adams is joined by the SOC OG's Simon Johnson and Liam Twomey for a look back at events at Stamford Bridge on Saturday as Chelsea's top five hopes were dealt another blow. But we begin with a double dose of bad breaking news to come out of the club on Monday - with Reece James injured and the club handed a suspended one-year ban from signing first-team players and given...

It was all going (kinda) well for 73 minutes... Matt Davies-Adams has got Cerys Jones and Sam Parkin for company for a look back on the 5-2 defeat by PSG on Wednesday night. Liam Twomey was on the ground at the Parc des Princes - and he sends his thoughts on the calamitous end to an otherwise positive performance in Paris. While PSG can put their feet up for the weekend, the Blues have to navigate...

It was certainly a welcome... Matt Davies-Adams has got The Athletic's Simon Johnson and Liam Twomey in tow to look back on the 4-2 (AET) victory over Wrexham in the 5th round of the FA Cup. It certainly wasn't pretty - but we take a closer look at how Rosenior's side eventually got over the line, the silver linings from the laboured performance - and how Garnacho is taking his chance with options...

You can't stay mad at them for long... Matt Davies-Adams has got The Athletic's Liam Twomey and Luke Bosher with him for a look back on Wednesday night's 4-1 win at Aston Villa - to take Chelsea back to 5th in the Premier League table. Simon Johnson sends us his post-match dispatch from the press box - before we discuss the bold decision to drop Robert Sánchez, the continuation of João Pedro's sen...

We've seen this movie far too many times now... Matt Davies-Adams has got Luke Bosher and Simon Johnson in tow to look back on the hugely frustrating and in many ways avoidable 2-1 defeat by Arsenal at The Emirates. We begin with a pretty dismayed Liam Twomey and his thoughts from the press box - before reflecting on Robert Sanchez's disastrous afternoon, the unfortunate gulf in class between Arse...

Ninth time lucky in the Premier League against Arsenal?! Matt Davies-Adams has got Luke Bosher and Sam Parkin for company as we look ahead to the trip across London to take on the league leaders of Sunday afternoon. We discuss the remaining fixture list which the infamous Opta Supercomputer has deemed the hardest in the league - but could it actually work to their advantage? Plus, who's going to c...