MrExcalibur100

I don't know how to feel about this one. If he's 75% of the player he was for Atletico, then yes. He will get chances to score at Chelsea. Hazard and Fabregas between them created almost 200 chances in the PL this season, which is almost as much as the entire United team combined. But from the games I've seen him play at United, he looked a yard off the pace which is a concern. He's lost some of the agility he once had.

Brilliance!

Hahahahahahaha , another Jose classic! Funny, lighthearted humour, yet very true. Absolutely boss speech from The Boss. I can't believe some were moaning on the Chelsea POTY thread. Get a grip.

On further examination, I'm not really sure if this Ben Fairthone guy is reliable at all though. He did call Depay to United was done like 2 months ago but still.

Very, very interesting indeed. I'm refusing to get too excited until another top journalist/media outlet report it.

(1) Hazard (2) Man mountain Matic (3) JT The first two are a lock for me. Number 3 could easily be interchangeable with either JT, Fab, Costa or Thibaut. All had very good seasons.

He is another one I forgot about. Coutinho is definitely a better player than Oscar this season and he has way more natural talent. He's the best player at Liverpool.

Yeah, I want us to reach the 90+ mark as well. It will be only the 6th time it has happened in PL history. Man United have done it 2x. We did it 2x back to back and Arsenal did it once with their Invincibles. It will be a PL record 3 times for us.

Ruthless relative to the chances created, yes. This team has scored more goals and creates more chances. That team didn't create nearly as many. More entertaining? Maybe more than what we've seen in the 2nd half of the season, but not in the 1st half. 1st half of the seaosn was better than anything that side produced. Also, you can't really compare that Barcelona to this current one. This current one is clearly stronger than Rijkaard's team.

And I think this has already been done before in the past. No point starting a new thread about it referencing the worthless words of Jamie "he has a brilliant football brain" Redknapp.

They are roughly the same level. If we were to pick a best XI, I'll take more players from this team than that one. That team gets overrated a tad too much. I just think no other manager at the time could understand Mourinho's tactics, especially the way his team's were organised without the ball. It's no surpise in Mourinho's second season, when other managers became more accustomed to his team, the 2005-2006 side as a whole slightly regressed, despite it being improved on with Essien. This team also has more individual quality and difference makers than that other team. I'm convinced this team would have beaten that 'Pool team that knocked us out of the CL. The 2004-2005 side lost 6 games in all competitions, this team has only lost 3 games all season in over 50 games. This team also has similar record breaking achievements to that team. Most days at the top (200+), least amount of minutes behind all season (171!), which is simply outrageous if you think about it. This current side is getting a bit to underrated probably because we got knocked out by PSG in the manner we did. In retrospect, it will be probably be rated higher some time in the future. For me it's right up there with that 2004-2005 as the best teams we've ever had.

Questionable? You're being very kind, Jason.

It's bizarre isn't it? Guy is not even in the top 5 in the league on any day. Silva, Cazorla, Ozil, Mata, Eriksen........ And then there's Spain. Why are Chelsea fans so blinded by Oscar? Even on other forums, it's the same. He barely did anything in Brazil. We signed a prospect, a talent and it shows. Is it just a case of grasping at straws, I wonder? Or the guy is foreign with a nice sounding name and scores the odd golazo? I will never understand.

He might be but Koke is better than him there. Fabregas is still a bit of a defensive liability in that deep role. He still leaves a lot of spaces behind the midfield and Matic is left having to do a 2 man job on his own. That's what happened against Spurs and Mourinho hasn't really played him next to Matic since then. Fabregas lacks the athletic ability and positional awareness to play that role properly against good teams. Add that to the fact he rarely plays well in big games anyway. We won't have these problems with Koke.

Koke is a more suitable partner to Matic than Pogba and Fabregas are. He is more positionally savvy than Pogba is in a 2 man midfield. Pogba is a little bit too attacking for my liking. Koke will be cheaper, has a set price, is more versatile and more adapted to partner Matic. He is a very good playmaker, not as good as Fabregas, but he is very powerfully built, way more athletic than Fabregas and better at protecting the ball than Fabregas is. His set piece delivery is amazing. At this moment in time, Koke is probably the better player than Fabregas. Koke has a set release clause of 60 million euros. I hope we act quickly like we did with Fabregas. Madrid and Barcelona can fight for Pogba and Verratti all they want. Atletico will probably also rather sell to him to us than to their rivals. I think we have the advantage here if we act decisively.

His goal scoring record over the last 3 seasons is 5 , 9, 9 and in that's in an average of 45+ games and most of those games, he's played in a 3 man midfield with Pirlo and Vidal, a luxury he won't have if he came here. Firepower and goal scoring ability indeed.

Greizmann has shown he's versatile enough to play different positions this season. He is playing as a second striker for the first time in his career this season and has already 25 goals. (though that tells you something about the quality of some teams in that league). He reminds me a bit of Sanchez. If we sign Koke, he will be partnered next to Matic. He is more suited to that role than Fabregas is.

0 goals and 0 assists, again.

Normally the left side is were we produce many of our chances/and our best football from, but absolutely nothing is coming from there. It's particularly glaring with the abscence of Costa and Oscar, because they tend to drift to the left on occasions. It's not helped by Azpilicueta's absolute dread of crossing the halfway line or producing anything of note when he does so. We're left to rely on the right, a much weaker side and the very congested centre. Time for Remy to come on to.

Our left flank = completely impotent. Hazard isn't even bothering playing there anymore. #nosupport.

The game is fucking boring, that's why. The team has given them nothing to shout about.

Mikel for Cuadrado

It's like Azpilicueta and Ivanovic are non-factors to our attacking play. Ivanovic gets the odd assist here and there and it gives off the feeling he's this amazing attacking fullback, when he isn't. Azpilicueta a non-factor in building any meaningful attack from the left. Everything is way too narrow. Palace were the better team.

Our fullbacks doing nothing in attack and when they do overlap, it's terrible deliveries. Zero width to our play. Is playing Azpilicueta and Ivanovic really worth paralyzing the team's attacking play? Azplicueta gets into a good shooting position, but skies it with his left foot. Get's into a great crossing position, but crosses it straight into their keeper's hands. Surely, I'm not the only one seeing this in almost every game vs team's we are expected to beat? We are relying again on Hazard doing something special. Same old Chelsea. Also, can Ivanovic please be subbed off so he doesn't get carded?

You guys are waiting for him to be a super hero when we're looking like a team that can't even play football.