Daniel1980

Did they pay us anything?

Yep, and it's pretty obvious. A few days ago, Luis said the same thing: that Cesc is the team's leader this season.

Oscar's been definitely more decisive in the final third. Also, a pretty telling stat: TOTAL FORWARD PASSES Fabregas - 977 passes Hazard - 486 Oscar - 466 Willian - 249 Out of all our main AMs, Willian is the one who plays forward passes the least. You can often see Hazard dribble past two defenders and give Willian the ball, Willian make a couple steps forward, wait, and then pass the ball back(or lose it). He's ineffective. Oscar is nowhere as effective and creative as Hazard and Fabregas, but he's definitely better than Willian.

Yeah, I don't expect an easy win. I know we completely dominated today, but it's a different match and a different team. They're a good team. Ours is better, but it's football. Shit happens. There's no room for complacency. Our physios had better give the lads a nice long massage after every match. They would need it.

Oscar's more decisive, though. He can shoot. His decision-making in the final third is generally better too. Unless we're seeing the beginning of Oscar's slump in form, I think he deserves to start. Though he is rather uncreative for a #10.

It was a good game by Willian's standards. I thought he was better than Oscar today, but over the season so far Oscar has been definitely better.

Saw them on twitter.

122 passes84% Pass Completed4 Chances Created3/8 Crosses2/2 Take-Ons4/6 Corners3/5 Tackles1 Clearance17 Ball Recoveries. 17.Clearly Matic is rubbing off on him. Pity he didn't get at least an assist today. Totally bossed the midfield.

Was bloody amazing today. I hope he can keep this form up. It's great to see him so hungry and determined. But I really want him to finally score away. It's been a bit too long.

No chance Cesc will be given a rest. Fabregas and Hazard are the last people Jose will rotate in an important match. Most of our chances are created by the two of them, and Eden's away form isn't as great as his home form, so they'll both play. I wish he rested them, but they'll play.

Can't vote for one MOTM. JT and Matic were superb defensively. Hazard was lively, hungry and everywhere. Deserved a goal. Costa scored and had a great game overall. Fabregas bossed the midfield and showed Downing how it's done. Deserved a goal, too. Even Willian looked good.

Yes, consistently average.

Torres actually isn't that bad in the CL, so I wouldn't be surprised if he managed to score against us.

I know the GKs train separately. But aren't all the other players supposed to train with the players who did play in the previous game already? It wasn't their first training after the match. As far as I can tell, they usually train separately only one day after the match. Anyway, as I said, probably reading too much into this. I don't believe we'll play the same team.

Hmm, TC is missing, but these are exactly the same players who played against Stoke. I'm probably reading too much into it, though.

Maybe, but I'm not sure. I think we need to see more of Oscar on the wing to judge. The only thing I would be a bit concerned about is the fact that he's slower than Willian. Though considering how often Willian fucks up counter-attacks with his decision-making, it isn't that important. IMO, Oscar is a smarter player than Willian: he's slower but he reads the game better, which allows him to track back and defend effectively. I think it's worth a try.

I'm not Mikel's biggest fan and I don't like the lack of creativity in the centre when we play two DMs, but I agree. I'm pretty sure if Willian and Oscar were in Cesc's place against Stoke, they wouldn't have made the run into the box to get that pass from Eden. Fabregas isn't the fastest player around, but he has much better attacking instincts than Willian and Oscar(probably playing as a false 9 helped too). Out of our AMs, Hazard has the best link-up play and understanding with Fabregas, and he is the player Cesc seeks out the most(I think Fabregas to Hazard is our most frequent pass combination). We don't really miss much when we play Mikel in the pivot instead of Oscar in the hole. But I want Jose to try Hazard-Fabregas-Oscar. Oscar will offer more in attack than Willian, and defensively he isn't worse than him.

Yeah, I get it. He raised expectations too much and if he does any less in the second half, it will be considered poor, however unfair it is. He should have made a couple of assists in the first half of the season, like our AMs, and then no one could have said his form dips in the second.

Another stellar performance from JT. Good to see him scoring too. If he didn't score that early goal, who knows how the game would have gone.

Yeah, but it might be a good idea to try to play without Eden once in a while. Andre-Oscar-Willian should be able to do the job.

Maybe it's better to rest him and play Andre. Though Hazard will probably score at home.

I wonder what lineup Jose will chose: the same team or our standard lineup with Oscar.

Any news on Eden's injury?

Just to put things in perspective: Cesc has 12 assists now in the PL. Our next assister - Oscar - has 5. Eden has 3. Willian has 1. And that's considering they're playing on more attacking positions. Demanding 10 more assists only from Fabregas is a bit unfair: we must demand the same from Oscar, Eden and Willian, then(especially from Willian - his productivity is incredibly poor for an AM). Though with Costa's losing his scoring boots it's getting harder to get assists, especially when you play a CM. The Costa from the beginning of the season would have converted Fabregas's through ball yesterday. Let's hope Diego finds his scoring boots soon. Fabregas must break Henry's assists record.

Was torn between Matic and Fabregas as MOTM, but holy shit but we needed that second goal so much. Much needed goal and 3 points. Hope Eden is okay.