MrExcalibur100

He's a very good passer. I don't think he's shown anything so far to suggest he isn't. I have been impressed with his passing range ever since I saw him in the Under-21 Championships in Israel. He's not Marco Verratti (or Pirlo like you said), but his passing ability is more than good enough for the purpose. We aren't talking about a Ramires. His passing ability is similar to the Ballack's and Lampard's of this world. He also scores goals, is physically strong and has a great engine on him. Very few young CM's in the world can boast of these qualities. He is a box-to-box midfielder and very few players his age can be considered box-to-box. I prefer him to a Verratti type of deep-lying playmaker.

van Ginkel isn't a great passer? Are you being serious right now?

Liverpool easily have the worst fans in England. There is something seriously wrong with them and I'm not even being funny.Seriously, I fear for the safety of our match-going fans taking the trip to Merseyside. We all know how the "bestest fans in the world" treat other fans. If we win that game and deny them the title, their fans could really go full psycho. I just hope security is at an all time high.

With the media love-in towards Liverpool and their arrogant, nasty fans who hate this club and our manager with incredible passion, winning the league will be sweeter than ever. Perhaps even sweeter than the CL.

No chance Bamford is our 3rd striker. Will rather have Costa, Eto'o, Lukaku.

Just ignore

Sutton was so poor that I forgot about him. I never wanted us to sign him anyway as I never liked him as a player. Fleck was before I started supporting the club. Casiraghi was unlucky with injuries. He was actually a good player, but he suffered a very bad injury when it seemed he was about to come good. Never really recovered. Other teams have had their fair share of duds too.

The story actually broke in Spain from a reputable media outlet. And the comments Simeone made suggest there's a lot in it. The Telegraph is also a reliable source. At least more so than those other ones you mentioned.

Let mee just clarify. Xabi Alonso is a brilliant player but his poor form against the good sides this season has been well noted. It's not entirely his fault though. It has a lot to do with Ancelotti's ultra-offensive 4-3-3 that has no natural protection to the back four. A midfield trio of Xabi Alonso, Modric, Isco/Di Maria is very risky. Even Xabi Alonso said that 4-3-3 the way Madrid play it is too open against strong opposition. http://deportes.elpais.com/deportes/2014/03/21/actualidad/1395433899_528944.html Xabi Alonso is still a great player but Madrid have badly missed Khedira. Alonso can't do the defensive job on his own. He is not that type of player.

Decent compo on Nemanja for CFC

You are right when you say Alonso's long-range passing ability is unrivalled. He is the best long-range passer I've ever seen in football and that's what made him such a unique player.

Jorge Jesus: "To me Matic is the best defensive midfielder in the world. Currently, he doesn’t have an equal." http://afootballreport.com/post/73522592694/zero-to-hero-the-rise-of-nemanja-matic

The best. No other one has a combination of his defensive skills, interception/blocking skills, physicality, anticipation of danger, passing range and playmaking skills. His long legs also allow him to cover an incredible amount of ground. He's deceptively fast. One moment he's at the center of the pitch, the next he's by the left wing. He generally covers more ground than Ramires and actually makes clever "steals" on the opposition in possession, unlike the Brazilian.

Alonso has been gash this season Kellz. Matic > Alonso this season.He has had many poor performances especially against the good sides and is a weakness for Madrid if we face them in the CL. Besides, Matic's defensive game is naturally much better than Alonso's ever was. Though Alonso's long passing range is still something to behold, Matic is no amateur in that regard as well as we've seen already. In 2014, I will take Matic in my team ahead of Xabi. Also ahead of Schweini (he is more CM, though he is obviously functional at DM) who has struggled to get into Guardiola's side. At least until Alcantara got injured.

I think it's safe to say he is on track to fulfilling his potential. He has already achieved a lot in his short career having spent most of it at an average sized French club and in a tumultuous first season at Chelsea. This puts him at an obvious disadvantage to the likes of Ronaldo and Messi who had been at great teams from their teenage years. Can you imagine this is only Eden's first year playing in the Champions league knock-out phases? Many people forget these little (big really in terms of experience) things. It's the fault of some of the fans not Eden or his performances. He doesn't deserve to be criticized because he has been blameless for virtually most of the season. If we are going to criticize our best player then we might as well criticize everyone at Chelsea. Can't we just celebrate a player for his performance anymore instead of criticizing him for how good we want (expect) him to become? I think it's more healthy if we talk about the areas of his game he can improve on instead of building him up to the player we want him to be. That's the duty of Eden himself and the coaches not ours.

So Hazard hasn't had a period when he stood out? Again, crazy expectations. Like Mourinho said, Hazard's performance level is generally the same be it a Newcastle hattrick or a complete display against Stoke. Hazard would arguably have been the best player in the EPL had it not been for Suarez and the guy only just turned 23 while Suarez is in the prime of his career and is a striker, so he always has an edge in individual rewards. Plus Suarez hasn't been involved in European competition this season. None of those players you mentioned were are as good as him at 23. Where was Xavi when he was 23? Just an average/good player. Zidane? Hazard's growth so far is more impressive than his. Hazard at 21 was a better player than all 3 of them. I'm not sure why we are always having this debates about Hazard all the time. People want everything too soon even though the kid is playing at a ridiculously high level and is one of the best in the world.

Mourinho = Hazard is a pure winger. I'm just repeating what Mourinho said.

Hasselbaink, Gudjohnson, Drogba, Crespo, Anelka, Hughes, Vialli, Flo?? We've had more success with strikers in the last 20 years than failures. Why is Crespo in your list when he had a record of one in two for Chelsea. He was arguably better than Drogba in his brief spell here but returned to Italy because of his family. Mutu was hardly played as a striker at Chelsea and as you know, it wasn't because of football reasons he failed at Chelsea. He was a brilliant player. We've had one dominant striker in Drogba and we've played one up top for the best part of the Abramovich era, so we haven't needed anyone. And when we did experiment with two upfront, Anelka won the golden boot in 2008 I think. This talk of Chelsea being a graveyard for strikers when we can only talk of 3 examples in 20 years is not very accurate on further scrutiny. Sheva = Already passed his prime when he joined. Why pay 30 million pounds for a 30 year old who has no hunger and has won it all? Torres = Had a very serious knee operation in 2010 and lost his spark since then. 9 goals in his last 23 games for Liverpool and a poor showing at the 2010 world cup. We should have passed on him. The signs were there that there was something seriously wrong. Kezman = Never good enough in the first place. One of those guys who scored a shitload in a weak Dutch league but got exposed in a proper league as being an average player. He was rubbish in the Spanish league too. Besides, there was a huge influx of players at this time. It was either "swim or sink".

Bale only had one great season before before becoming a world-class player. Same thing with Drogba who had his first 20 goal season with Marseille and we all know how that turned out.

I actually tend to disagree with this because Hazard is a pure winger and we can't compare him to those players you mentioned because they are strikers. Strikers tend to have a lot of leeway with "consistency" because a striker can have a bad game and score a goal and the goal cancels out his bad performance in the eyes of most people. Correct me if i'm wrong, but the only time in premiership history when a winger has won a league "on his own" was Ronaldo in 2007/2008 when he scored 44 goals in 46 games. Hazard has truly carried out team in" brilliant and consistent fashion, with some big moments" this season. He has proven to be a big game player. If Hazard's all round performances in most games were rated as goals then he will have 30+ goals this season as he is either good, very good or brilliant in every game. He rarely if ever has a poor game. The only really poor game I remember this season was the home match against Man City where everything he did failed to come off bar that genius piece of skill on Zabaleta. He more than redeemed himself in the away performances. Hazard doesn't do bad games. Even when he's quiet, he still finds a way to make a telling contribution. If we judge Hazard for what he is, a pure winger, then is his level of consistency any worse than "world-class" wingers like Reus, Bale, Ribery or Robben, Di Maria? No. This is the most important thing. His numbers are on par or superior to these players who play for stronger teams in easier leagues. His 2013/14 season level arguably superior. Unfortunately many people want too much to quick. He isn't going to win us tight games like a world-class striker would do because that's not his job. Anything else is a bonus. If one day he reaches a level were he is scoring 50+ goals a season like the "monsters" Ronaldo or Messi, then good for him. But I prefer a 25 goal + 20 + assist player to individualists anyway.

Pulling the strings in midfield vs Villa U21 right now!

And this is why this Henrique guy is totally clueless. You have to actually know something about football before you talk about it and undermine our best players. People take offense to that.

Henrique doing his best for attention again. Gotta love it.

Toure, Schweinsteiger DM's?? Saying they are DM's is like saying Lampard is a DM. None of those guys are really holding midfielders. You're utterly clueless. I see you're at it at the Hazard thread again. Attaboy, Henrique! Attaboy!

Mourinho actually said in a press conference recently that Chelsea can afford to spend that amount on one player. It's Euros so that about 52 million pounds.