OhForAGreavsie

I don't watch as much Bundesliga as I used to when KDB was at Bremen but I have seen a few Dortmund games this season, including yesterday's. Reus's performances in those matches have been scratchy. Last night, for example, he began in a strange sort of second-striker role and struggled to get meaningful touches for a long while. The service to him was appalling; much of it coming from ricochets, deflections or poor passes. On those occasions when he did manage to get a second touch however you could see his quality of pass and speed of thought. From about the 30th minute, Reus seemed to me to drop a little deeper and a little wider, to the left, from where his impact increased. Overall he still wasn't achieving a lot though.

Taking the full figure reported for Bertrand (£10m) but the most conservative number now calculated for Luiz (£33m) looks to be around £150m. On the other hand, using the more aggressive figures from Transfermarkt.co.uk; plus including BA, PVA & Torres it comes to £185m!

The real idiots are the ones who pay Parker, and so many other know-nothings like him, for uninformed and utterly inexpert opinions. If I had the power to hire or fire at ESPN.Com someone would be facing the sack in the morning, and I don't mean Parker. (He's probably not on the full time payroll anyway.)

When I heard £10m reported my reaction was surprise that it might be so high. After all, there was talk of an £8m price tag for a move to Villa last winter and there is now one year less remaining on his contract. Given that Southampton knew we were willing to sell and that Ryan made it crystal clear he wanted to move, if we really got as much as £10m that's good work by the club.

From The Telegraph "...the Premier League [is] in the unusual position of potentially acting against one of its competition’s highest profile characters. It will write to Mourinho to seek his explanation and a fine or warning are among the sanctions. The final decision will be made by the Premier League’s board, comprising chief executive Richard Scudamore and acting chairman Peter McCormick..."

It's not an FA matter. The rule requiring managers to speak to the press, is a Premier League regulation. If anyone was going to have anything to say about this it would be them. While I haven't seen it reported that they've said anything official in public they may well have issued a private warning. Certainly it's clear from the stories in the media that they have been briefing the press about their unhappiness with the situation.

Martinez is in trouble so he must be pretty desperate. If, despite that, and despite the struggles of the players you listed, he still won't select Atsu, it can only mean that Martinez simply does not rate our man. The Everton boss must initially have seen something he liked about Atsu but obviously he's changed his mind now that he's had a closer look. We need a new plan for Atsu.

Following the summer 2013 window my view was that we needed to further upgrade the squad by adding eight players of competitive Champions' League quality. So appallingly had our squad been allowed to deteriorate that this number might actually have been optimistic. My view was that it would not be possible to make those upgrades in one, or even two, windows. Finding the right players, persuading them to join and convincing their clubs to sell at prices which could be afforded under FFP, puts a limit on how quickly progress can be made. Costa, Fabregas, Luis, Matic, Zouma and now Cuadrado, if he arrives and proves a good buy, makes six steps in the right direction. That's good work in my book but we now need a starting quality AM, a CM who Jose can confidently use for rotation, a striker with outstanding technical quality to offer both an alternative to Costa as well as a genuine 4-4-2 option. By summer 2016 we also need a top young CB. I don't rule out the possibility that our development players could fill some of these slots but it's not certain. Far from criticising Jose, I'd say that our jigsaw is taking shape. Taking shape is not complete however which is why I say that it would be ahead of schedule if our squad achieves anything this season.

Very fair point.

Jose did drop Oscar last season and try this, no doubt from shear desperation. It didn't work especially well.

I've posted my thoughts on Oscar earlier in the thread. The answers you've asked for might be in those although you and I both suspect that you won't agree with them. Meanwhile something with which I disagree is the claim that Oscar has had a good season. In my opinion, he has not. I know the statistics of course but they do not persuade me to disregard what I see with my own eyes. I am persuaded however that if we upgrade Oscar, his replacement will also complete a few passes, put in some tackles, set up chances and score the odd goal. I know I keep repeating The Matic/Mikel comparison but I truly believe it's appropriate... The argument used to rage about Mikel and various stats were paraded in his defence. Those of us who were dissatisfied with him were patronised mercilessly and told that we didn't know enough about football to understand what it was that made Mikel the right solution for Chelsea. Eventually Mikel was replaced of course and that argument died almost immediately. Sooner or later Oscar will be replaced too and this argument will die just as quickly. I have never said, and I'm not saying now, that Oscar is a poor player. What I am saying is that Chelsea's ambitions require exceptional footballers. Oscar is not one.

I think a rational fan would have been calling for them both to be replaced, and would have been doing it for a long time.

Yes there definitely were although a bloke who had been sitting less than 15 yards away from me swore he never heard any.

This has been clear for two years now. Beyond Oscar's initial honeymoon period the situation has become harder and harder to avoid. He's a terrific lad but he isn't good enough to be Chelsea's number ten. I've said before though that this fact is not the problem we have. Our problem is that, despite his not being of the required level, Oscar remains the best number ten we have. This simply must be fixed as soon as possible. We can dance around this issue, say optimistic things in defence of Oscar, reel out comforting statistics and bury our heads in the sand, but none of this is going to hide the truth. Not even from those who prefer to stay hopeful about the lad's future. We will eventually find a good ten and he will blaze a light on Oscar's shortcomings in the same way that Matic has done to Mikel.

Interesting but there is the, what else would he say factor.

I know as little about Douglas Costa & Juan Cuadrado as most people, less probably. Based on their highlight videos however (yes, I know) I'd say Costa looks the more interesting player. If the club pulled a surprise and also announced him during this window, then I'd be at least as pleased about that as I am about the Cuadrado deal. That said, my main enthusiasm for the JC deal comes from the fact that he seems to be Jose's choice and that he isn't Salah, Schurrle or Willian. Least I hope not.

You're right to say it would be crazy of course. You are also right to say that the players you've named are ahead of Charlie in terms of experience and perhaps also in the unspecified things you have in mind. Where I'd offer a different opinion to yours is that, when it comes to ability in the 'Fabregas' role, I put Charlie ahead of all of those. If push came to shove I wouldn't throw Charlie into this game any more than you would. My post above was really just a long winded way of saying that I think he's a terrific player. I'm certain he'll prove it somewhere. I hope very much that it will be here.

Very unlikely that Jose will allow any genuine fitness news about Cesc to escape from the camp.

Costa didn't stamp on anybody.

The rest of the world can lie to themselves if they want to but we shouldn't. Neither incident was a stamp.

It's often easy to shoot your mouth off from the sidelines when you have not the slightest level of responsibility for what is actually going to happen, so here goes... If Cesc can't play I'd replace him with Charlie Colkett!! Charlie is the second best passer we have in the club, after Cesc. In time perhaps he'll be the best and he's already better defensively than the ex-barca man. Now, if I were really picking the side, I don't suppose I'd be any more likely to Pick Charlie than Jose is but, sitting at the keyboard, it sounds like an idea worth considering. :)

I've got a feeling that Jose might actually prefer Douglas Costa. I only say this because TSO has spoken about his preference for inverted wingers. Costa would be exactly that.

Lol!

I do not agree with the action being described as a stamp. Calling it a stamp makes a juicier headline and is more likely to create a stir than would be the case if a more accurate description was used. Costa stepped on Can. Other than that, I agree with everything you say. Costa should be punished and there are few who doubt it. Our unhappiness is with the lack of consistency.

His infraction was intentional, it just wasn't a stamp. He trod on Can. It was a foul and, in my opinion, a bookable offence but it was not a stamp.