ChelseasMessiah

Josh's loan is a year long if I'm not mistaken, and he should see it out. He didn't exactly excel at Middlesbrough in the Championship, so another move to a Premier League club wouldn't make much sense yet. And I don't see any reason to hate Swansea, there's no free lunch in life - and that goes for footballers as well, it's a meritocracy. If he didn't play, especially under Rodgers' possession based system, he probably did not show enough to be merited minutes on the pitch. Looking at Chalobah and Piazon, you see them making things happen for themselves. It's all down to him to perform, those minutes he played for our senior side won't last forever.

Never gonna happen. Ramires is one of a kind. As for Matic, very good player but not worth more than 15 mil. But then again Real Madrid paid 100 mil for someone who was worth 40 tops...

After how he played against Spurs I think he's earned about five starts for us. I think he'll do well and bang in a few.

I'd happily give him game time ahead of Cahill.

Some very good points raised. I think Willian will finally reach peak physical condition within these two weeks at Cobham, I can't wait to see him given a run of games.

There are some very encouraging rumours about us signing Marseille's 21 year old superstar Gianelli Imbula to parter Ramires as early as January. We were willing to pay more than double what Marseille paid to get him in the first place [around 7 mill Euros]. If Mikel nor Essien aren't gonna play then I think this is very good news indeed to finally have someone who actually fits in a double pivot.

A bit to early to make any meaningful comment on this game yet. I just want the three points though.

Ramires isn't really a DM he's more of box to box player. although you can play him there. I was going for a more defensive player to really solidify our defence to play alongside him. If we're going for a deep lying play-maker we could even use Oscar there who is great defensively also, but we then would have to go full possession mode as opposed to the mixed style we have playing.

As I alluded on the match thread, I get the feeling Jose will soon try Hazard - Oscar - Willian as our attacking mid, it seems very well balanced. Or, we could shore up our two pivots with someone more defensive which would then allow mata to play the number 10 role more freely so he could flourish again.

I feel like Alonso would leave us a bit exposed at the back as well. And I don't mean Luiz Gustavo per se, but someone in that mould, United signed Fellaini for top dollar and he so far isn't cutting it, it's tough finding these sort of players who can take top clubs like ours up a notch. Spurs and City have excellent options for their two pivots.

Kevin didn't make the bench again today and the other players are getting ahead of him - on merit - in the pecking order. It's gonna be tough for him but I hope we don't sell him as he has the tools to be great.

Decent game for us I thought, I get the feeling we'll see more of that "Hazard - Oscar - Willian" attacking midfield.

I wonder how he's training as I thought he would get a little bit more playing time than he has so far. It's always a great sight seeing him in a Chelsea shirt.

I think need we need someone tougher defensively than Cabaye, someone in the mould of a Luis Gustavo, who is strong, quick, two footed, great at tackling, positioning and anticipation as well as being able to do the business, on the rare occasions it has to be said, going forward, bonus for being tall as well, and being able to cover the centre half position in case we wanna go three at the back and still be able to use Iva (or preferably Aspi) as a wing back. Basically someone who is gonna bullet-proof the back four but still technically sound to play and participate in intricate passes.

It was more of a reference to the comments down the page, from mostly Chelsea fans giving their sincere take on the game, the actual article isn't really that relevant. You are sort of taking this the wrong way Phil, Lampard is and will always be a legend at the Bridge, what we are really discussing here is his selection and performances in a position he can't execute fully, leaving us exposed at the back and a little disjointed with our attacking lines, unless you play like we did in the first half, long balls into the tall, strong centre foward, even that only solves one problem and the defensive flaw would still remain.

Very proud of him today, he was up there among the man-of-the-match contenders when he got subbed.

Both had spells in the middle today, as the number 10, I still think in this system Oscar is performing better, but I still love seeing Mata on the pitch. Interchanging among the mid 3 is probably the solution.

I'm reading Dominic Fifield's article/ match summary on The Guardian and also the comments. Unsurprisingly, the great majority also see our great flaw in midfield in the way Lampard is being played. Here is the link Phil, it's not only a few who are seeing the problem with Frank starting all these games in the pivot. http://www.theguardian.com/football/2013/oct/06/norwich-city-chelsea-premier-league

My bad, it was such a sucker punch of a goal. The point still stands though.

No one has even mentioned Mikel's name but you Phil. We are talking about Lampard here.

That, ladies and gentlemen was pure hunger, by all of them, superb combo by Hazard, Willian and Oscar and a bit of luck as well. Great ingredients for a great goal, happy for the lad.

He looks very very quick. as Mourinho himself said he is not 100% fit yet, I for one cannot wait to see him all guns blazing for us, what an asset.

World-class. simple as that.

Any updates on Ash's injury yet? I hope he's aright as we need him.

He, like Luiz, had a very good game bar the one blip where lost their headers for Norwich's goal, as they say though, one swallow doesn't make a summer, and they are still very good players. On a side-note, it might not be a good idea to play our John as part of a back three again, as he is not the paciest, therefore not suited to it, Norwich exploited that for a few minutes until we got our goal.