MrExcalibur100

Whatsup with all these half-truths and lies about Costa's fitness before every game? I'm getting sick of it.

Belgium are a weird team the way they play. Zero team cohesion and the blame should go the manager. I don't see them accomplishing anything of note under Wilmots.

He plays the same way regardless of the quality of opposition. His coaches should have a word with him seriously

Hazard playing really well toying with the Bosnian defense. Pity his teammates are not on the same level as he is. Belgium marginally the better team, Bosnia score with their only real chance of the game.

Kompany really is tactically clueless isn't he?

I hope the toe injury is nothing serious.

Apart from the header which was difficult to direct at goal, he had no clear cut chances, only half chances. Spain were rubbish for 90 mins with their useless sideway passing and slow build-up play.

Miroslav Stoch scores the winner for Slovakia. Remember him?

The article itself seems a bit of a paradox. The author doesn't really explain what an "advanced defensive midfielder" is, instead the author just throws out various unrelated specialist roles out there. As for Oscar's role on Sunday, it's pretty simple what Mourinho told him to do. 1st half he was in an advanced role as a 10, 2nd half he dropped back to central midfield to bolster the centre and was even deeper than Matic on occasions. His role this season has been a hybrid of a 10 and 8 with interchanges between him and Cesc and not a 10 and 6 like vs Arsenal.

Fact is of the 9 games (excluding Bolton) we've played so far, Hazard has ranged from very good to excellent in 7/9 of them. The two where he was not good was : vs Everton were they bossed possession and were he had to track back a lot and deal with Coleman's incessant overlaps (fullbacks overlapping like mad, basically typical Everton ball), so he struggled to have an impact offensively but still managed to produce a moment of Hazard magic for the "own goal". vs Aston Villa which he was poor in. There can be no excuses as as just seemed he was void of any energy whatsoever and coasted through the game. Mourinho was right to sub him out early, probably the first time Mourinho has ever done that to Hazard. He's been brilliant so far, playing with a hunger and drive and desire to run at players anytime he receives the ball, certainly Mourinho's influence. Definitely a better player than he was 2 years ago. WhoScored (far from perfect but very useful, I know) have him as the 3rd best player in the division so far behind Diego Costa and Di Maria (played some easy opposition so far and 2 less games than Costa and Hazard) . It's probably the best start to a season in his career so far, but he's been slightly overshadowed by the Costa and Fabregas tandem and rightly so because goals win games. It's only a matter of time he starts to score regularly again to befit his performance level.

Papito has been banned, so at least the mods are taking care of the trolls swiftly. Trolls like Papito just lower the quality of what is otherwise a brilliant CFC forum, IMO the best out there among many. As for Hazard, one thing I've noticed while sifting through the internet is that fans of rival clubs, especially some fans of Man United, Barcelona, Liverpool and to a lesser extent, Arsenal seem to be very jealous of him. It' actually quite humorous. They say he's "overrated" (absurd, I know), the latest one is "he's had 1-2 good games this season". These idiots just keep coming up with more and more nonsense and Hazard continues to prove them wrong. CONTINUED ----------------------------------------- ------------------------------------- -----------------------------

Who is this Phil Driver character I keep hearing about?

The problem with Reus is the problem with Schurrle and to a lesser extent, the problem with Willian : All of them are more comfortable on the left and barely 2/3rd's as good on the right. I'm not impressed by Reus' level when he plays on the right. Even Hazard is better on the left, though because of his special ability, it doesn't affect his level too much. Salah is the only one truly comfortable there. It's a bit of a shame because Reus is obviously a great player, but we should be looking at a more natural right winger. Cuadrado is interesting but he's not world class. Besides, with the added balance and quality Costa and Fabregas have brought to the side, and the less reliance (and pressure) on midfielders for goals we should be looking at improving on what we already have. I do agree that eventually we should be thinking of improving the quality on that right side in the summer though, if Schurrle continues to put up inconsistent, irregular performances.

In descending order of dislike. (1) Liverpool. (Worst set of fans in England. Wankers.) (2) Arsenal. (Nuff said) (3) Barcelona.

Nothing wrong about people expressing disappointment in a player who's been terrible in the past few games. That's perfectly normal as football fans are generally fickle in their views. That's the point of a football forum, isn't it, so it's not "scapegoating". I'm yet to see anyone seriously calling for his head or anything of the sort.

Behind the Brazilians of course

They haven't been the same side with Pulis. If we at least turn up which I expect us to do, we should win without any serious problems.

Let me be the first to say Happy 26th birthday to Diego Costa!!

It also shows that Ozil spent most of the time playing as a CAM, despite some of their fans constantly making excuses for him.

Yeah not quite the same thing. A winger will be able to get tighter to him up the pitch before he receives the ball like an auxiliary winger should. Not once did Ozil track back. Regardless, it was an obvious tactical oversight from Wenger.

Interesting Player Positional Tracker for the game. Ozil tucked inside for majority giving Hazard room to wreck havoc all game against an inexperienced Chambers. Wenger really is tactically clueless. http://statsbomb.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/CHEvARS.gif

Disgusting bunch of shitheads. Always have been, always will be until proven otherwise. I know it's a minority but pathetic still.

Think of how many times opposition defenders slip and fall when Hazard twists and turns. Seems to happen everytime. Never seen a Chelsea player do that to the opposition before. Not even the likes of Zola or Robben.

No two ways about it and no bias involved, Schurrle was by far the worst player on the pitch and has been dreadful recently. He literally had a negative output every time he touched the ball. He makes everybody look worse and destroyed so many attacking opportunities. His best role right now is that of a super sub. Suits his qualities perfectly.

Still, she's a professional doctor. Of course the players are going to say they're okay.