OhForAGreavsie

Again, I disagree. That performance against Bacelona was one of our better displays against them and we certainly deserved a second goal before they equalised. Even so the high quality nature of our play that night was based on a solid, shape holding, defensive set up. Trying to mix it with that Barca side was not the way to go for anybody. They were extremely fortunate to put us out, but what happened when AF deployed a less pragmatic approach against them in the final? The scoreline was decisive but nevertheless extremely flattering to a United side who were comprehensively outplayed. The notion that when a side lines up in the 'low-block' it means that they are not trying to win is one of the great myths of the game. Sometimes doing that is exactly the right way to try to win. JM knows this and he is not alone. I want to see us able to beat more sides on the front foot, dominating possession and confidently able to challenge them to outscore us if they can. Not with this collection of players we can't however. We are closer now to being able to adopt that approach but we aren't there yet. Not quite sure what you meant in reference to the United game, after all we did have a hard time when they scored against us.

Not, in my opinion, as many as it has gained. Perhaps this differing view might be traced to my thoughts about the prowess of our team. It is widely believed that we have an outstanding team capable of beating almost anybody by pressing high and playing through teams. Not me however. I think that our generally great results this season have caused people to overlook some of the flaws in our squad and to overrate the quality we can put on the pitch. Clearly we do have some outstanding footballers but, as controversial as my opinion might be, I also think we have rather too many who are short of the quality required if our play is to justify the rave reviews we've been getting. For example, I don't think any of Oscar, Schurrle or Willian are as good as needed. Even Costa, who is a big improvement on what we have had previously, has clear weaknesses that restrict our flow. Believing all of this allows me to support a pragmatic approach more often than some others seem to. I am delighted that we have a manager who will go the pragmatic route whenever he does not feel that we can win by going on to/staying on the front foot. I am convinced that we have gained much, much more from Jose doing that, than we have lost.

Ake played 60 minutes at left back for the 21s tonight. His substitution on the hour looked pre-planned.

Is this your reading of the runes or have you got some inside info?

Never, ever going to happen. Whatever it is Torres had that made him successful at Liverpool it wasn't talent. The man does not have elite level touch, hold-up, passing or dribbling. In terms of pure talent Torres is, and always has been, ordinary. His success at Liverpool must therefore have been built on a combination physical and mental readiness along with the right team tactics. Those are all things which can be lost/changed. Eden's success on the other hand, is based on talent and, as we know, class is permanent. Like all players, Eden's powers will eventually wane but it won't be the off the edge of a cliff type fall suffered by Torres.

Chelsea denied there was any buy-back agreement in the Romeu deal. Not everyone will believe the club, but they did deny it.

Thanks again.

Thank you. I don't follow these things closely but I understood that for a number of years Roman's share of Sibneft was owned through Millhouse and that, when he decided to move out of that industry, Millhouse sold its Sibneft shares to Gazprom leaving our owner out of the oil business. I was not aware that Roman owned any part of Gazprom, through Millhouse or any other vehicle.

Does Roman even have any investment in oil any longer? I thought he had divested.

Edit: petre.ispirescu has already made the point about the FA Cup in the post above.

Oscar's passing is not good enough to compensate for the loss of Fabregas's fluidity in the CM role. If Fab moves to play the 'ten', Oscar will move out of the side, not into CM. Just a personal opinion of course.

Having played 90 minutes for the U21s on Sunday, Ruben was never going to be involved last night.

I also remember Eddie McCreadie deciding to go with the kids... and getting relegated.

Thank you DR a really interesting briefing about your side. One thing - I don't think there will be any real inexperience in our side bar the young CB Zouma who we know will start. He'll probably be partnered by John Terry, while Remy or Drogba might get a game instead of Costa up top. Other than that I'm expecting all of our regular starters to feature. This is not least because most of the youngsters who people were hoping might get a game, played for the U21s on Sunday afternoon. I doubt they'd have been involved in that fixture if Jose had plans for them tonight. The only ones who didn't feature were Ake & Baker so, if fit, I'm guessing they'll be on the bench.

Why can we not tell ourselves that? This idea has become received wisdom but is it in fact so? Is there any actual evidence which suggests that the clubs who rotate most are those which are most successful? I'm not sure there is.

Understand your point of course but surely one of the things of which we are all rightly proud is that our club is in it to win it, no matter what it is. We are not Arsenal. I'll be very surprised if this is not the strongest line up possible. By the way my understanding of Jose's comments, during his Hull press conference on Friday, is that Cesc will definitely start.

Thank you for the correction. Interesting that the original from which I did a cut & paste has also been changed. What's more the original said not just Boga, but Jeremie Boga which would make it seem less like a misquote. Still, at least this does away with the potential double edged sword.

Josh started for Vitesse yesterday, as did Bertrand Traore who scored their goal in a 1-1 draw.

Boga played over an hour for the U21s today so it seems less likely than ever that he'll be involved on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Jose referred to Boga when talking about the decision to release SFL. He said: - "My view is that when you want to look forward, look for the future and have people like Fabregas, Matic and Jeremie Boga, which are the next 10 years of the club, not the next year, that we made the right decision. [To release Frank.]" I wonder if this might be seen as something of a double edged sword? On the one hand, it's got to be encouraging for Boga to read stuff like that but, on the other, might the comment encourage unrealistic expectations in the young man's mind as to how soon his chance will come?

Christensen, Loftus-Cheek, Boga & Solanke all started today's U21s victory over Sunderland. Izzy Brown played nearly 30 minutes as a second half substitute. This probably rules all of them out of contention for Tuesday. Probably.

I agree that it won't happen. We know Cahill is out and Cesc is in. Beyond these, I hope Remy will start and there might be a toss up between Willian & Schurle but, other than that, I can see Jose going first choice wherever possible.

It's a long standing tradition that the Stamford Bridge crowd shouts, "shoot! ", every time Mikel gains possession within 35 yards of the goal. The boos which were heard were not really boos and they were not aimed at any individual player. On several occasions we managed to turn promising possession on the edge of Hull's box, into a back pass and kick out by Petr Cech. It was frustrating and the frustration was audible around the ground.

First, I thought Brana's performance was also very watchable. Indeed I marked him down as man of the match not least because I did not think Eden had an especially good game. Fortunately he did what a difference-maker is supposed to do and produced a devastating piece of play that killed the game. Overall though, I thought Eden was quiet. Second, during the last week, someone here said that we urgently need to add quality backups for the AM roles. I couldn't disagree more. My view is that in; Schurrle, Wilian and, most controversially perhaps, Oscar, we already have quality backups. What we need are quality starters. In my opinion, we have a young man coming through the academy who could start in the 'Jose 10' role but he is at least 3½ seasons short of being ready. Jose will have to judge both if I am right about this youngster's prospects and, whether we can wait that long for him to prove it.

I'd bet a lot of money that this rumour is nonsense. Who should have a better understanding of what Torres has become than a man who watched it happen then was saddled with him a second time?

No, it could not work out. How can we be sure of this? We've seen Torres play. Make a list of all the attributes required to be a successful wide man, then scratch off the ones Torres possesses. Any guesses as to how many items will remain on the list when you've done that? My feeling is that it would be exactly the same number you started with.