OhForAGreavsie

Followed up his debut last Wednesday with his second cap, and his first international goal, for Brazil in last night's game against Austria. Again I didn't watch it so only know what I've read.

I know Mikel divides opinion so I tread lightly when I say that, for me, Mikel's regular inclusion in the starting line up would only be a backward step. Having realised that we needed an upgrade in Mikel's position, I really doubt that Jose will reverse his thinking now. Even if Jose wanted to switch to a new base shape, and even if he felt Mikel had a place in that shape, it wouldn't last. Jose would soon decide that we needed to upgrade from Mikel once again. A sizeable percentage of Chelsea fans believe that Mikel is not good enough to start for Chelsea and it seems clear that Jose agrees with them.

Agreed. On both points.

Controversial I accept but, yes, I do.

Well you did say that Essien had technique and I simply do not agree with that. He is, and was, technically very limited in my view. I do however agree that Yaya would have been a better option than Lamps but few around here would share our opinion. They would argue, among other things, that Toure would not have matched SFL's goal output but my response would be to ask, so what. Yaya, despite probably scoring fewer goals, would have made us a better team in the same way Jose recognises that Oscar makes us better than Juan Mata did, even with a much lower return in personal goals and assists. On the point of Yaya playing alongside Essien; I doubt it. Paired with a proper version of the player he was supposed to be, Essien's limitations would have been horribly exposed and no Chelsea manager could have tolerated it.

Can't agree with this. Ess's technique was never great in my opinion. People talk about him as if he used to be Yaya Toure but, and again this is only my opinion of course, ME was behind Yaya in every aspect of the game. For me, once injury had robbed Essien of his physicality he had nothing left to offer. People might point to the trophies won with Ess in the squad, but I'd bet a hell of a lot of money that we'd have won more if we had signed Yaya instead during the summer of 2005.

Not sure that the amortisation is calculated on a monthly basis rather than a simple annual one. I'm not sure of any of it really.

Interestingly, wasn't the Fabregas deal also arranged in June? If it was then perhaps that too could have been included in these figures.

Although statistics can be used to support the argument one way or the other, in the end the judgement that a player is one of the best in the world is a matter of opinion. With some players opinions are pretty much unanimous, but with others there's more room for debate. For me that is the situation with Drogba. Obviously he did some great things but this, in my view, is not the same as being great. Like Torres, Drogba had a couple of exceptional seasons but the rest of the time, when he wasn't poor, he did indeed verge on the average.

Did you put them straight or did you leave them to marinade in their own bile?

I'm afraid I can't tell you, I've given up watching international football as a protest against the disruptive breaks. All I know is that he came off the bench to play the last 15 minutes.

Firmino made his international debut last night. About time too, what on Earth have Brazil been waiting for?

Charly says he likes to play the ten (don't they all) but I'd like to see him get some time in the Fabregas position. I like this kid a lot. (Don't we all.)

Yes this is a valid concern. As I said, Schurrle is valuable but I still think the swap, if it happened in January, would make sense. Loosing Hazard, even with Schurrle in our squad, would be a hammer blow to our chances but having to replace any of our other AMs with Salah, Rami or Fabregas (someone else slots next to Matic) is more manageable in my opinion. When we bear in mind that Jose would quite probably select Rami ahead of other players for a few of the possible knock-out ties anyway, I still believe that weakening our group of AMs for the CL squad is a risk worth taking. To get Marco Reus, I'd take that risk all day. I know that not everyone shares my priorities but, if I'm offered a trade where we improve our chance of winning the PL in exchange for giving up on the CL, I would do it. Without hesitation. The honour of claiming the domestic title dwarfs that of regaining the European prize in my eyes. I can't convince myself to believe that BVB might part with Reus in January but if they would then I say yes please. Even if it meant losing Andre Schurrle.

Only if we think that Andre Schurrle's role in the CL squad can't be covered by a combination of our existing players. I think Andre is valuable but I'm not sure that his loss would deal a death blow to our CL chances. I'd say that with Andre we are in the second tier of CL teams behind the mega sides of Munich, and Madrid. Without him, I'd guess that we'd be in pretty much the same tier.

Yes.

In any case, sounds to me like an absolutely compelling argument for why we should want to sign Reus.

I'm not sure that's Jose's style, I think he'll review his opinions when required. For example, he all but promised Chalobah a place in the squad this season but had the good sense not to be trapped by those injudicious comments and sent the young man back out on loan instead. In any case, Jose only rubber-stamped the deal for Schurrle, he didn't initiate it, so maybe he isn't all that invested in Andre anyway. I like Andre. If the role of squad player would satisfy him he'd be a great man to have around, but I suspect it wouldn't satisfy him and I also suspect that Jose cannot offer him more than that. Therefore, if this swap really does interest BVB, I'd expect it to interest Schurrle also.

Last Wednesday. To be fair, he hasn't been great since his return Understandably rusty I'd say.

It wasn't really that much. Jake Humphrey mentions that the fans were chanting Franco's name, something the great man already knew judging from the grin on his face. Legend 25 acknowledged the fans in that shy, slightly embarrassed way he does, the pundit panel at pitchside had a giggle at him and they moved on. Six seconds screen time tops.

And let's not forget The Boys From Tott-En-Am. Now that's what I call really happy. He-he.

And what about the penalty we should have had for Lovren on Costa? He pulls him down and away from the ball so he can't execute the overhead kick as he would have liked to. No fuss but it was a pen. Also, if Moreno was wearing blue and Willian red when the full back shoved the wide man over, Phill Neville would have been highlighting another missed spot kick decision.

Good shout. The player I have in mind is maybe more of a long shot than Nathan.