Viper22

Best news i've had in a while WHS, cheers mate . We're getting more money so i'm pretty much ok with whichever company it is (within reason).

That was the straw that broke the camel's back. His legendary status is being further tarnished (if it isn't destroyed already) with a lot of Chelsea fans with every point won for City.

Have I missed something here or are you seriously accusing a player who has been notably injured twice in his 5 year career as injury prone and comparing him to the walking broken body that is Diaby? I really hope i've misinterpreted this...

----------------Tibo------------------ -Azpi-----JT-----Zouma-----Luis- ---------------Matic------------------ -----Ramires-------Fabregas----- -Willian--------------------Hazard- ---------------Costa----------------- Subs: Cech, Ivan, Ake, Mikel, Oscar, Schurrle, Remy. Is what i'd play. Jose won't though, his will be the exact same team as always (is that a bad thing though? Who knows). Ramires and Costa will get stuck into their players like they will get stuck into ours. Willian and Ramires' endless stamina will help big time too. Will be one of the hardest 5 games of the season for us, easily. If we get 3 points we should be chuffed to bits with the boys. Come on you blues!

Quick note for anyone viewing this thread, the prediction league thread for this game is now live, sorry it's so late!

It's just a snippet of the education (or lack thereof) in this country.

The calls for him to play at 10 will hopefully go away now then. Oscar does a fantastic job there which I think is underrated, and if he's out I'd rather play Willian at 10, Schurrle at RW and leave Fab where he's best, because he CAN play in the pivot.

Top player, unrealistic transfer. He only just signed for Roma and it's unlikely he'd want to come here to sit on the bench, and if we're going to switch formation and have a 3rd CM then there are far better/cheaper targets.

Surely we all knew that before though? . Most of his good work last night came from set pieces. Thought he was a bit swamped by their defence and midfield. I agree he's much more influential when playing from deep though.

Basel or Leverkusen would be a great draw, we'll spank them over 2 legs. Shakhtar wouldn't be too bad, we'll beat them over 2 legs too. Juve and PSG would be a bit harder. I would still back us to beat them over 2 legs but with Juve's midfield and PSG's attack we would have to be on top of our game.

You say this after you have ignored everything I said about the stats you posted up? I do not dislike Mikel, I don't mind him at all but you can play him as a victim if you like. But I agree we should stop because this is going nowhere.

Being in the top 20 in the league constantly would be good if we were a mid-table team. If we want to be going for titles I would have thought we would want midfielders who are at least as good as Fabrice Muamba, Michael Carrick, Barry Ferguson, Nigel De Jong, Steven N'Zonzi, Hendry Thomas, Ben Watson, Dickson Etuhu and Karl Henry. Being dispossessed more than those players is being dispossessed too much. How in the world can you look at what I have just stated (which are facts, from your data) and not see that. The excuse about people targeting him is a good try, but I don't buy it. "His ball retention is like no other player in the league". Actually, there are at least 10 players who have better ball retention than him season by season, but ok. But yes, i'll keep believing the facts I see in front of me .

That really doesn't help your point. So he's worse at ball retention than Fabrice Muamba and Michael Carrick for all 3 years you quoted. And he's worse than Karl Henry, Barry Ferguson, Nigel De Jong, Steven N'Zonzi, Hendry Thomas, Ben Watson, Dickson Etuhu and Karl Henry 2 of the 3 years you quoted. Most of them are average players at best. And with his main work being his defenisve duties and not losing the ball... well... Dear christ, that's even worse than I thought. He's the 14th (on average) best at ball retention in the league. Good god. Cheers for proving my point for me though xD.

It's more that he talked so much about playing him and is only giving him less than 10mins. It's frustrating is all.

Good job at cutting out the rest of comment btw. There's a reason there's not a full stop there. For all the shit you give the Daily Mail for misquoting etc..... Like you said though, we're not going to discuss it any more because you obviously won't have it.

One of Mou's staunchest defenders here... And may I say What the fuck is Ramires doing on the pitch before RLC?

His leap makes my knees hurt just watching him. The guy could outjump NBA players.

We have to win to get some momentum back though after losing at the weekend. If we lost 2 on the trot it would be terrible. A draw would be bearable but would much prefer a win for the team.

God damn it Filipe. That's not how you cement your place in the team....

I know. Just would like to see him get 30mins+

He has good passing accuracy when passing sideways and backwards. Well done! Anyone could do that. When he tries to pass the ball forwards he gives it away. It's really not that hard to understand what I said? .

Azpilicueta peerless in defence (that won't surprise you) and Luis v.good going forwards, decent at the back.

Matic/Mikel off for RLC at HT please. Then a Costa goal from a RLC assist in the 2nd half and i'll go to bed happy tonight.

I find that hard to believe. So he had the most passes in the league AND the highest accuracy? You'll have to back that up with stats i'm afraid. But even if that's nearly true it'll be because he only ever passes sideways or backwards. I know that in my life watching Chelsea there have been 3 players who I have had little to no faith in to be solid over a course of games. And Mikel even less than the other two because so damn often he'd make a mistake that would lead to us conceding. You obviously have your opinion of him but everyone else has theirs too. Just don't be crying witch-hunt when people criticise him because it's not a minority of Chelsea fans that don't rate him, it's the majority.

I've never said that. My main criticism of him is that he gives the ball away too much through poor passing/dwelling on the ball, he dives into tackles and he only ever passes sideways or backwards. This game being a notable exception. Matic has been fantastic this season. He's been our best player and i've been saying since last season that he's our most important. Write it off as coincidence that we lost the 1 game he was out if you want, that's your prerogative, but I know what i've seen. As for him being a squad player, yeah that's true, but if you can't trust your squad players then you're in trouble. We need to replace him, and soon.