DYC.

Hmm I guess you're right. That would explain it. Yeay for us.

I don't get it, what's so difficult about pronouncing his name? Can't wait to see him in action, hope people will give him time to adapt. The club has done well this summer, it has been a good transfer window. And great price btw, we usually pay at least double the amount.

I know but at least he actually does know how to get past players. His fantastic pace is a great weapon as well, for counter attacks and when sent through into space. And he's never afraid to take his chances. I do think people exaggerate his selfishness. Don't get me wrong, he definitely is selfish (which is also due to a lack of vision) but it's not all that bad. There's too much focus on the bad he does in general.

I hear what you're saying. He actually messed up what would've been a good opportunity. But that will come with time as you said as he grows a good understanding.

I found Anelka incredibly frustrating on the right for the most and he used to get a lot of stick on here. But he was good as a striker. Sturridge deserves a chance up front. It's not like our first choice striker is tearing defences apart. I have a feeling he'll do better than Fernando.

I agree with Stewie. Thought he had a good game. Good interceptions and some good tackles. Also provided pretty good support to the attacking players and hardly giving the ball away as usual. No complaints really.

I'd like to see that as well. With Mikel staying deep, Romeu can chase players and try to break up play early. And he has shown that he has the ability to start attacks from deep. It's the only way I can see the double pivot working over a whole season and against top sides (without parking the bus).

Nope, bad game. Not surprising tbh, the consistency is gone. Shouldn't be a starter week in, week out.

Oh he was the one who passed to Cahill, thanks.

5? Two Lamps penalties, 2 Bran goals. Which one did I forget?

Haha in pre-season Hazard was overrated, not that great and whatever and now he's class. Funny how quickly things like that go.

Adversity. Let's see how we deal with it. We can still turn this around. I miss David Luiz.

Stylish.

That's what I was thinking about. Making many changes is never the way to go, regardless of the stage of the season.

Well I expected the top teams not to perform really well. The busy summer and the top teams of the PL being filled with internationals, it makes sense to me. If you refuse to believe that's the reason, that's up to you.

Look at the performances of the top 6/7, it's not a coincidence no one looked really good. It's because a lot of didn't get proper rest. This is a good opportunity to make use of some of the squad players, with the Newcastle game in mind.

Cech Ivanovic Luiz Terry Bertrand Lampard Romeu Oscar Hazard* Sturridge Malouda *Free role from the right, Malouda providing width. Not gonna happen but im allowed to dream. Think this is the perfect opportunity to start with Oscar, playing at home and all. Especially if the coach isn't planning on starting him against Newcastle. He needs to establish a understanding with the team quickly. Rest Mata, didn't look good against City and Wigan. And looking at the upcoming games, I think this is a good opportunity to give Danny a chance up front.

Didn't know he only had a year left on his contract. Even more the reason for us to get him (but no links sadly). But looking at Nasri, who also had just 1 year left on his contract, joining City for 25 mil, I think Fulham would demand more than 10.

£10 mil? I find that hard to believe as that would be an absolute steal. I'd even get him for £20-£25 mil really. He'd make a wonderful addition to the team. I'd much rather have him than Fellaini. Having a CM with his work-rate and who can defend like him combined with his excellent ball retention is ideal. He's also a wonderful dribbler and a solid passer. He's as strong as a ox as well, fast too. Still needs to work on a few areas thoigh, especially his off the ball movement in possession. A midfield three with Oscar, Dembele & Mikel/Romeu, yes please.

When you say goes to ground, you mean sliding tackles right? But tackle succes rates are about both standing tackles and sliding tackles. Mikel is a awful sliding tackler tbh. His timing is just all wrong. But he hardly does sliding tackles so his tackle succes rate almost solely include standing tackles. Mikel does get too much stick most of time imo but he does need to improve his defensive play. When watching Carrick last season at Utd or Lucas at Liverpool in '10/11 for example, you can't help but wish you had a DM like that in your team.

That's a different discussion. Torres was told he'd be the number 1 striker this season. Going by that, if we're in the market for a striker, it'll be a back-up striker. If we are looking for someone to really challenge the number 1 striker spot, then Bebrbatov is not the player we should be looking at yeah. Hernandez won't join. And he's useless with the ball anyway, giving you a huge disadvantage against when facing good opposition.

Two completely unrelated issues. We need a back-up striker as going into the season with just Torres and Sturridge is very risky, arguably too risky. In this case, Berbatov is ideal as he only has a few years left and Lukaku will need at least two years of regular football before he's actually Chelsea material.

Why not? The last thing we need is a young striker with Sturridge and Lukaku at the club. Berbatov as a back-up striker for the next two years would be great. By that time, Lukaku would be ready to actually play a part in the first team.

It's not the first time Bran remained very cool in front of goal. Oddly enough, he possesses striker-esque composure when facing the GK. I wonder when he'll be allowed to fire long range FKs for us, not all the time of course, like he does at the Serbian NT btw.

Great game against Wigan. If it wasn't for Hazard winning us the game, he'd be my man of the match. Just needs to work on his aggression. Often it's just unnecessary.