MrExcalibur100

He's actually in the preliminary 30 man Croatia squad which is pretty impressive for an 18 year old playing in the national league. A young Ballack they say.

9 is jinked for at least 3 years. 19 will do.

Everything seems pretty spot on really, so good effort! I do however think the rating for Oscar is too harsh though. He faded badly at a crucial part of the season but he's still managed 14 goals and is our 2nd highest goalscorer.

"Hachim Mastour has been moved up to the Milan first team squad even though he doesn't turn 16 until June" Hmm, 15 year old already drafted to Milan's first team. Ok, Milan aren't Milan like before, but still. This kid is going to be a monster if handled well.

He's like a number 9/number 10 hybrid. A bit like Rooney for example. He has so many goals and assists this season and has the potential of a really world class player. Funny video, this and what an insane goal! van Persie-esque.

They're the ones that got us into this problem in the first place if you think about it! It's simply unacceptable that one of the richest clubs in the world goes into two back to back season with (1) Torres as its only recognized striker then panic buy of average Ba in January (in 2012/13) (2) Torres, Ba and past it Eto'o (2013/14) Simply unacceptable. What were we expecting? To win the league and CL with that lot? Only if you have Jesus as your manager! No wonder we only have 1 measly Europa league in the last 2 seasons.

I'll like to say that even though the likes of Ibrahimovic, Suarez, Aguero and van Persie are more technically gifted than Diego Costa, no striker in the world combines height, brute strength and lightening pace as Diego Costa does. Strikers are world class in different ways and those three things are essential for a target man in a counter-attacking team like Atletico and us even more so than technique. And is not like Costa is shit technically. He is more than good enough but not exceptional like those guys. If I could get a pick of all WC strikers in the world, the only one I might consider picking ahead of Costa is Kun Aguero. But I'm not sure even he will like to play upfront on his own regularly in a league as physical as the PL.

Lukaku hasn't had two great seasons? And then you contradict yourself to downplay Costa's goalscoring record. Everton fans view his season as mediocre? These Everton fans? http://www.grandoldteam.com/forum/threads/lukaku-to-spurs.66225/ They are desperate for him to stay. Anyway, I don't want to turn it into a back and forth. You are a mod nowadays and I'm sure you have other things to do. I respect your opinions even though I completely disagree with almost all of it.

(1) You seemed to be making parallels to the Torres signing when there's none, but I'll give you that one. (2) Are you sure you weren't watching the "other" Diego by any chance? Diego Costa has scored a fair share of his goals from 1 vs 1 situations and even 2 vs 1 situations. His lightening pace and power makes him impossible to stop when he's running at players on the break. He's perhaps the fastest WC striker in Europe today.

Some Brazilians are very biased against Costa and I think I know why It's understandable though.

The thing is that your arguments are ridiculously weak, I'm sorry. The bolded part has already been disproven by some of the earlier posts in the last 3-4 pages. Diego Costa's goal-scoring record in the last 3 seasons is one of the best in Europe. This "one good season" crap is a myth.

Costa is a better player than Cavani in my eyes and he's more of a well rounded player than Falcao, though Falcao is the most lethal striker in the world. Costa in reality should cost about 50M, but I can't help thinking that the Gestifute connection and the (potential?) Courtois one-year loan extension have played a major part in that price. Especially the former.

Torres was finished when we signed him to begin with. His record in the season we signed him from the bin-dippers? 9 in 22 games. He was gone after a major knee surgery prior to the World Cup. I remember saying to myself, "I hope we don't sign this guy, he's done for" after I saw him limp out with a hamstring injury in the World Cup final vs Holland. Roman was in the crowd that day to watch the game. I remember begging him in my head, "please don't sign this guy". I actually wanted us to sign Suarez instead. He was younger and looked like an absolute monster. Anytime Roman gets involved, we fuck it up. Same with Sheva. Signing a 30 year old for 30 million, past his prime with little else to prove in the game makes no sense at all. As for the bolded part, you haven't watched him play a lot have you? He drifts a lot to the left wing to cut in and his power and incredible pace makes him almost unstoppable in 1 vs 1 or even 2 v 1 situations. He is almost unplayable in these situations.

I'm not really surprised Oscar complained (if quotes are accurate) to Parreira. Oscar is the player who suffers most from our rigid system since he is the number 10 and plays through a lot of bodies. He hardly ever interchanges with the right winger anymore and now he's expected to hold his position. The problem with that is Oscar is a player who thrives on movement and switching positions. He's clearly not very good at creating his own space or protecting the ball, like a David Silva. He does that a lot for Brazil, with Neymar drifting in to the center and Oscar going wide right on occasion. His fantastic performances against West Ham and Southampton come to mind, as games where he was given more of a free role to be a 10 and an inverted winger. The kid needs space to run with the ball as he is not fantastic in tight spaces like Hazard and to a lesser extent Mata. He is not going to get it if he is not given more freedom. Certainly not in the very physical PL.

I'm of the opinion that Oscar has been our second best AM/winger this season, better than Willian and Schurrle. His form dipped badly towards the end but he's still scored 14 goals this season, which is a very high number for a number 10. He could improve on the creative aspect of his game, he's only 22 and is one of our best players. One will think he's contributed nothing this season. I think some of the criticism and negativity is a little bit over the top. When is it going to end? It's his 2nd season in Europe already under his 3rd manager. He is also dealing with life as a father for the first time, it's tough. Give the guy some breathing room, ffs.

Ha, I don't like Rafa but most of those quotes are fake.

Martinez is shite compared to Diego Costa mate. He sure is overrated, that Jackson guy. He's no better than the Loic Remy's of this world. A little bit like how Mandzku is overrated on here too. C.Ronaldo: 31 goals from 216 shots. Messi: 27 goals from 158 shots. Diego Costa: 27 goals from 108 shots. Diego Costa's goal scoring record (last 3 season) : 66 goals in 110 games. Luis Suarez's goal scoring record (last 3 season) : 65 goals in 102 games. That's Diego "one season wonder" Costa for you. And why the fuck will you want Khedira when we have Matic? Hmm, bro?

It's not about physique, Demba is pretty physical but his all round game is average. It's just a general lack of quality in the striker department. And poor signings.

Lampard is one of the best CM's in history. Aside from the insane amount of goals, his general midfield play was impressive and oft underrated. Slow your role

Cech Azpilicueta, Cahill, Terry, Cole/ New LB Oscar/Willian, New CM, Matic, Hazard Diego Costa, Lukaku The most free-scoring teams of the past 3 seasons, us, Liverpool and Man City have done so playing with two strikers. Now that we have Matic at the base, a player who covers every blade of grass, an ever reliable defense and the prospect of having both Costa and Lukaku, this is an option Jose HAS to at least consider. Playing two strikers means you give the bus-parking teams that come to Stamford Bridge two monsters to think about. I can't see to many teams being able to shut-out both those players for 90 mins. I'm very excited at the prospect of a flat 4-4-2 in home matches against lesser teams especially.

Fighting for and (hopefully) winning the league. That's very important to the fans. The CL is just a bonus and the luck factor makes it a risky competition to bank on. We want the league. We only have 4 in our entire history and now Man City have even tied us. And of course playing MUCH better attacking football.

That avatar though..............Lad

Is it the system or the players? Other teams play better with far less resources and quality. Look at Everton. Except from Barkley, they barely have any flair players in their side. Chelsea have the greatest amount of flair players in the league. Costa doesn't worry me though. Just look at the guilt edge chances our strikers have missed all season. You would expect Costa to gobble those up.

Personally, I will have serious reservations signing world-class fullbacks like Lahm or Marcelo for 30 million pounds, let alone an 18 year old fullback, lol. United are desperate. ^^^^^^^^^^^^ Yes to Moreno and Rodriguez and you can throw in Bernat there too from Valencia. Another top LB prospect with fantastic qualities.

(1) He's 25. (2) He's scored 36 goals in 44 games, already tying Drogba's highest goal-scoring record in his 8 seasons at Chelsea. Drogba wasn't even close to him at 25 (3) He has the highest chance conversion in Europe among strikers. (4) Scored a very decent 20 goals in 36 games last season when Falcao was the main striker, so hardly a one season wonder as some ignorant people paint him out to be. 10 goals in 15 league games in his brief spell at Rayo Vallacano 3 seasons ago. So he has 66 goals in 110 games in his last 3 seasons . Putting that in context, Suarez has 65 goals in 102 games. Costa is a one season wonder? No, he's not. (5) Chelsea fans are apprehensive because our two biggest striker signings, Torres and Sheva flopped (6) I'm extremely delighted because we've signed one of the best strikers in Europe who isn't even at his prime yet.