Essien19

Trying to break Neymar's leg is disgusting. Isco was a nice prospect at Malaga, but has regressed ever since, maybe a change of air will do the boy some good. At least he is better than Coutinho.

There aren't many things in life that bring you more joy than fishing for some cods. Staying calm and knowing that you are going to bring food to the table are very important in life.

At that time Bertrand struggled badly under more than one manager to make an impact at Chelsea. Especially his offensive contribution was simply not good enough, sorry. Now he has found a place in the starting line-up for Southampton, maybe he has developed and matured, good for him. The departure was the best thing for him and Chelsea. Sometimes a young guy needs a new start to keep evolving, i made a similar experience in my "young" life. His fellow classmates could't keep the ground running for another top team, so the assessments from the executives haven't been that bad. Sadly, because it's always good to see a young guy going to the top. Chelsea has a lot of young talents, but most of them are very young: Clarke-Salter (18), Solanke (18), Loftus-Cheek (19), Colkett (19), Chalobah (20), Musonda (20) and so on. Bamford (22) himself prefered a loan, can't take that opportunity away from him. When you want to play for Chelsea, you need to be really good. Diego Costa, Remy and Falcao, sorry, but an unexperienced guy like Solanke or Bamford can't get enough playing experience. For me, for those guys it's really important to play week in and week out, Chelsea can't offer them that. A loan is the best thing that can happen to them. The striker's position is arguably the most difficult position to play in. In midfield Kenedy (bought, but young and doesn't know the league) gets more and more playing time. He's just ~19 years old, Mourinho's doing a great job. Loftus-Cheek is the next starlet, maybe he could have played more during pre-season, but he's getting there. There you have 2 gems. In defence, we alreday have two young guys: Zouma and Baba. So, a guy like Christensen wouldn't have got enough playing time, but at Gladbach it's possible and he's doing great. Who else who's currently out on loan would you have liked to be back at the Club? For me, there is no one. Pochettino did good at Southampton, but being at a bigger club is different. He is a good coach, but i have to see more consistency at the Yids before jumping on the bandwagon. Pochettino needed some time to kick-start his campaign, we'll see, where it will go. Could be a lot worse, i give you that.

Let's evaluate him at the end of the season and then it's only one season, can he do it again? But yes, so far he is doing a good job and it's good to see some young players evolving... Is Loftus-Cheek that good yet? He's only 19 years of age, one can speculate all day, lol. Most of Chelsea's young prospects are still very young, assess them when they are a bit older, 18,19 is very young.

Chelsea has a much higher ceiling than Dortmund. Dortmund plays for second place, this Bayern Munich team is something else, Dortmund won't overcome them any time soon. Chelsea is currently struggling, but it's very unlikely that it will be forever.

Before the game i was a bit sceptical with seeing Ivanovic this early, but he proved me wrong, solid performance. Whoscored saw it too. For me it was the right decision from Mourinho. Slagging off Ivanovic is simple and in a lot of games this season he put in a poor performance. But what about Pedro? Again, piss poor performance, can't shoot on target to save his life. He really need to up his game, can't continue like this, i'm gutted so far. For me, he has been a flop! Didn't see that one coming...

One game after the international games Azpilicueta had to sit on the bench. Sometimes you need to rest some players and give others a chance to prove themselves. We need to use all players and stop playing with ~13 guys. You're right, it's a possibility that from now on Azpilicueta has sit on the bench more and more often, but i don't believe it. For me Azpilicueta is one of the better players this season and with all due respect, drawing that conclusion after just one game seems way too early.

He's getting there, no longer this aggressive and more interested in participating in the play. His recent performance i would call "unlucky", he often was in position and took the shot, finally he got his goal, really good for him. For me he's by far our best striker at the moment. Will be very interesting how he will cope with Spuds, unfortunately they haven't been poor so far, that need to change next week.

Mourinho would be perfect for Real Madrid, he knows how to handle the media and gets the better of Barcelona. Real Madrid desperately needs to win back the championship, their domestic record has been dreadful over the last years. I watched the Clasico and what the fuck was Rafa's plan? For his work so far he needs to get the sack immediately, it's sad when someone loses his job, but he has been completely found out. Furthermore he has no idea what he's doing, why subbing James instead of Ronaldo, Bale or Benzema? SHOCKING

Should have put it behind, but why no penalty for Costa? At least he is in the right position, could be worse when thinking about Mr.Torres. There will be a second half, only then should be the evaluation...

Best news ahead of the upcoming match. fucking yes, get in there!

Van Gaal has his problems, but i disagree that guys like Martial can't develop under the Dutch. Having a style of play isn't a bad thing, more importantly they try to dominate the opponents by having the ball, that's not bad. Van Gaal let young guys play, they gain week in and week out important experience. Yes, Martial has got a heavy price tag, but someone like Lingard makes the cut too. He isn't afraid of dropping one of his own and expensive players, take a look at Memphis. Yes, Rooney is a mystery, but that's just one and the captain. Guys like Alaba or Muller became class, now history is repeating itself.

Back in the day, didn't the board made the choice between Mangala and Zouma? I like Zouma, he's serious about his career and gives his best, but Mangala is a damn good defender and young too. I think at that time Mangala was too expensive, otherwise we would have brought him in. We'll see who will be "better", can't complain about the choice. For me the more interesting question is who is going to be Zouma's next partner? Stones would be perfect i think Mangala and Zouma have too many similarities...

Didier Drogba: Some heavy shit, grist to the mill for every speculator, can't believe that the king said something like that. It's upsetting me big time, fucking shit. The book has to be ordered, at least by baby Jesus. Maybe that's the bitter sweet revenge for calling him a "diver". We really need to collect the three points from now on, that's the only way to shut them up.

Yeah, i remember that bet, opened my fat mouth, but i still don't have a problem with it I would pay a lot more money to see Chelsea in the Champions-League next season, no matter what's going to happen, the club or this fan community will be on the receiving end. It could be a lot worse... I read you're familiar with numbers, so by putting it all together, my situation has massively decreased. I give you that. Am i as confident as when i cockly approached you with my proposed bet? No, but i'm still not broken! Being honest is an important part of life so i don't have to beat about the bush about that. Now the bookies would love to place that bet, that's for sure. I like to play and everything that comes with it, the anticipation, the kick and the upcoming sweet. I need big pressure to bring out the best in myself, maybe the current Chelsea too. Last season we had a clean slate, no one was able to throw us off the porch, sky was the limit. That's different now, the inevitable thing is going to happen (soon), that means we'll be back on the horse! Will it be enough to get a top 3 finish? Already 14 points behind the third place, the media tries everything to take us to the cleaners, being the current laughing stock of the league seems almost impossible to recover from, but i have seen more difficult comebacks in recent history (take a good look at Klopp's Dortmund in his last season). I think for Mourinho and his stuff, the team and Abramovich it's not over yet, so my hope is still there. Watching every game, praying for the best, but still not good enough by getting the results needed, is frustrating but definitely not boring. We'll see what a result we'll get.

Maybe in a couple of months we'll be near the places for the Champions-League, who knows. I prefer looking at the whole season instead of making premature decisions after 12 games, yes, the outcome thus far hasn't been impressive, we can agree on that. But we aren't talking about freshmens.

So all of them are current Champions of England? Being ahead in the table means being the better manager? I strongly disagree with you, but if you like to think so, alright.

If we decide to sell Oscar and buy another number 10, we won't have any depth. Why not buy a good player who he can compete with and rotate wisely. Yes, i know very unlikely with the current business model in place, sad!

Neymar cuts it for Brazil, he is a leader and is not afraid to lead the line. Same goes for the UCL, he takes games by the balls, absolutely outstanding these days. Overall these two guys have different qualities, but the main difference between those two is the ability to score actual goals. Goals change matches and Hazard said himself that he can't hit those numbers. Yes, both players sometimes hold on too long to the ball, but when we're comparing the technique Neymar is ahead and maybe Hazard's vision is better, but not that much, when you take a look at the interplay between Neymar, Suarez and so on. For me Neymar has stepped up big time, nowadays he has become a lot more efficient and his show offs have really decreased.

Don't know if Hazard has Neymar's ceiling, there is no shame admitting to that... I severely underestimated Neymar's abilities in the last years, really astonishing how he has upped his game since 2012, his technique has always been superb, but now there is so much more than that. A man needs hope, dreaming is the least we can do.

Has been poor so far, opinions?

For me, currently the best player in the world! A man can dream.

For me that's a good thing. There must be more pressure on Diego Costa, he really has to step it up now and i think better competition could do it. Willian has upped his game since the arrival of Cuadrado, we need to do a Willian. In the past it worked with Higuain and Benzema, or Anelka and Drogba. Futhermore with someone like Aubameyang we are able to play with two very good strikers up front, he is able to play on the wing, offers a lot to the team. Yes, Remy can play in that positions too, but as you already said, we would get someone with more ambitions and in my point of view a far better player who is able to play in the UCL. Big fucking win! If Griezmann is also on the table, i would take him over Aubameyang, we'll see how it will turn out. I think we'll get some players in the upcoming window.

What about Aubameyang? This dude is banging them in for fun. I would be surprised seeing Costa gone, but a good second striker is desperately needed...

It seems that the so called one piece will be staying whole for some time. I prefer it this way. We'll see, but i expect a busy window, Mourinho will go guns blazing, should be fun, can't get worse anymore.... Who knows, we'll have to speculate and see how it will turn out, exciting, not giving up... :blue scalf: