DYC.

He's playing against Nurnberg right now. Good game. Still can't believe we let Töre go , he's quality.

Comparing Hernandez to Kalou is so wrong.. One does his job, the other doesn't. Three points, yay.

Normally I wouldn't care, this being the League Cup and all, but we've lost every big game and that's just unacceptable..

Finally someone who noticed. Not playing against Leverkussen did him well.

He was good against Leverkussen and was the same today. He really does make our defence more secure by doing a lot of little things but they go unnoticed by many. He's not been as eager to leave his position, think the coach had a little talk with him and it has been for the better.

Always liked Tore, was sad to see him leave. Good to hear Bruma's doing well, will be interesting to see whether he makes it at Chelsea.

People have to admit Drogba is a much more dominant figure than Torres which helps our play. He does tend to over-do it but you can't ignore the good he does. And this why Sturridge should stay on the wings. If we play him at CF, we loose that extra goal-scoring threat on the pitch. Good first half, love how we're really going for it. Hope we keep it up in the second half and score more goals (without conceding one)

Totally with you on this (he is important when defending though). But I do agree with the people who say he should be rested. I'd say nice opportunity for McEachran to get start but that's very unlikely..

I think he's best suited to a SS role behind a main striker, giving him the freedom to move around while since he's in a deeper role, he can turn to do the goal like he likes to do and just do his thing. That is possible but that's one difficult role.. Impossible with the current squad (we don't have players who are constantly on the move and get behind the defence a lot) and the striker has to be able to hold on to the ball very well as well as posses very good passing ability. Of course he does. A lone striker who doesn't know how to play well with his back to the goal only works in a counter-attacking system. But when playing possession football it's a must as you push the opposition back and don't get that space to run into. Therefore you have to pass the ball around to find and create that space and the striker has to contribute in this, which he can't do if he doesn't know how to play with his back to the goal effectively. What Sturridge does a lot is receive the ball and immediately turns to face the goal.. and as the highest player up the pitch, that means you're facing at least three players of the opposition team in the middle of the park and not a single team mate in front of you (in most cases).

Sturridge will have to learn to play with his back to the goal before being able to play as a lone striker. Hazard would be a great buy.

Mata is not a winger.

I still don't understand how he's not a starter. In the way AVB wants to play, he just has to be a starter.

You're not seriously trying to compare Carvalho to D. Luiz are you? There's no such thing as a flawless defender but Carvalho did so much good that the bad didn't matter much.

Where did you get that from? He is an absolute hero at Milan and he recently extended his contract.

The whole Gallas story was so vague and confusing to me.. did he actually admit to make own goals if he wasn't let go?

Yeah Gallas was class in his better years, he still is a very good defender but he's become very injury-prone. Doesn't know the meaning of the word loyalty though.

True. David Luiz' positional sense is terrible for a CB and his decision-making is poor too. We just lack a world-class CB duo. But then again, we do have very high standards, coming from Terry in his prime together with one of the best defenders in the 00's Riccy Carvalho.

That was a good side, kind of like the Everton of a few years back. How I loved Eidur .

He really needs to settle on a starting XI though. The constant changes really harm the building of chemistry between the players. Rotation is good but this is too much.

http://www.goal.com/en/news/9/england/2011/11/21/2767107/the-ex-factor-how-the-match-was-won-and-lost-as-chelsea-fell

The thing is, even though Puyol's slow now, he's still a lot faster than Terry (Terry's lack of pace is really shocking). But playing a high line isn't even just about speed, it's mainly about reading the attacks of the opposition and about anticipation. Puyol is a lot better than Terry in this which is why he can handle a high line (that and other circumstances like you already mentioned). The likes of Terry, Ivanovic and Alex are penalty box defenders, they're just not the right type.

In the period 2004-2008 Terry was excellent but since then, he hasn't been the same and has become inconsistent. He's still a good defender though but needs to be replaced as we lack a world-class CB, something every big side needs.

Our problem is we don't have the players to play in the way AVB wants us to play (while we also lack true quality). Against the smaller sides in the league it's possible but against the big sides it's suicide. AVB is at fault for that for being so naive and needs to open his eyes and realise he needs to change the style until we do have the right players.

Benz doesn't have any consistency issues. It took him long to perform at the expected level but he's been great and consistent all year long. Higuain the better player(?).. that's your opinion. For me they're of the same level but different types of strikers.

Yeah another quality striker would be good but not just any quality striker, that's how we got Torres, one that fits the game we (are trying) to play. But there are other areas we should focus on first. Yeah he would be a better fit.