Gilvorak

He's an excellent dribbler of the ball. Someone of that size running at you must be a frightening task for a defender. But aside from that as a footballer he's still extremely raw in almost all areas. That's why he has so much potential though, nearly 20 goals in a League season at only 20 despite having severely underdeveloped sides to his game.

Cech is still miles better than Courtois. Courtois isn't as good with his feet, shocking at saving long shots and is blessed with a superior defense. I know people love to circle jerk over the 'yoof' but there's a reason Cech is the greatest goalkeeper this club has ever seen. Courtois is admittedly a terrific prospect though.

Amazes me how much people on here overrate him. He's still a poor footballer that scores goals. He's basically a less experienced version of Demba Ba with mediocre technique but superior athleticism. As for the Drogba comparisons he's definitely more athletic. Faster, stronger and bigger but he's miles off Didier technically. His first touch is even worse than Torres' on a bad day, his shooting technique is poor (no subtlety in his finishing and the power on his shots are surprisingly tame), he's nowhere near as good holding the ball up + linking up with others (most crucial weakness considering the players we have) and he's shockingly poor in the air. Another loan to a club that plays to his weaknesses would do him wonders in my opinion. He's still only 20 and we have two above average strikers at the club already with one incoming so there's no need to rush him at this point. Even Lukaku himself realises this. Look at his recent comments on his season, don't get me wrong he has scary good potential but he's still a raw youngster some way off starting for a title contender. There's a reason an average player like Benteke starts ahead of him in the Belgium NT. A loan to a club like Southampton, Swansea or maybe even a Bundesliga/La Liga club would do wonders for him. Teams who don't soley rely on the long ball or counter attacks and exploit his physical capabilities while neglecting/refusing to improve and hone his deficiencies as a footballer. It's easy saying we have Mata/Oscar/Hazard etc he'll score shitloads HERE! But look at Ba, apart from his debut and his two wonder goals in the FA Cup he has looked pretty average and out of place in the team. Got outperformed by Torres in the closing stages of the season and only scored 2 PL goals in 14 games for us while at Newcastle he had 13 in 20.

Hazard started the season on fire but has cooled down recently. Oscar only just recently became a starter & Mata has only come into his own these past 3/4 games. I'm not saying he's been brilliant or anything. But he has been (in my opinion at least) our most consistent peformer so far this season along with Mikel. Strikers don't always need to score goals to impact games as I eluded to in my previous post. I do understand why people on here hate his guts and continue to throw their toys out the pram because we didn't get a new shiny toy to play with upfront this summer though.

He's been our most consistent player so far this season. His link up play with Oscar, Hazard & Mata has been great. His workrate and pressing for the team has been sensational. He's actually winning headers this season, averaging around 3.5 per game. Only 2 other strikers (Gervinho & Suarez) have averaged more dribbles per game than him. Just needs to stop panicking in front of goal and start taking his chances now. Goals are coming from everywhere in the team at the moment so it matters little thankfully.

One of Ramires/Mikel will be on the bench even though they've both been in good form. Lampard needs games after all. Aside from that the team pretty much picks itself. Get Marin, Romeu, Azpi on the pitch ASAP if we have a healthy lead after HT. What would we gain by resting players? There's an international break after this game, no?

I reckon Lampard, Moses, Azpilicueta and maybe Bertrand might start this game with Ramires, Branna, Ash & one of Mata/Oscar/Hazard on the bench.

No idea what game that guy was watching lol. Even RDM and Sky pundits pointed it out post game. Did a similar job on Pirlo a few weeks back.

I thought he was extremely lazy yesterday (still looks short of fitness to me ) but to claim he's started the season terribly only tells us you have an obvious agenda. If you've followed Torres from his Atleti days his one glaring weakness has always been his inconsistent first touch. When he's on form and confident it's usually brillant but when he's having a poor game it's as bad as Rooney's. Just the way he'll always be, it seems. I thought he started the game very well with some clever layoffs to Hazard & Mata early on in the first half and was involved in the build up to THAT Ramires chance. Thought it was obvious he was clearly frustrated after Ramo went for glory to me it looked like he was sulking for the rest of the game. His workrate has been very poor so far this season but he has had several brilliant solo runs so far this season to be fair to him. He had 2 or 3 against City. Blatant penalty not given against Wigan after a vintage run and then he had that moment of genius the fake and the nutmeg before of course he scuffed his shot in our last game. That was something that looked like had escaped his game last year. He has 13 goals in his last 17 starts. 2 in 3 to start the season (could easily have been 4 in 3 had Ramires squared that chance and he had a shot cleared off the line against WIgan). By no means am I saying he's been perfect so far but there have been some promising signs so far in my opinion. Hope he steps it up against Newcastle.

Mata is clearly knackered. If I was RDM I'd give Oscar the nod for this one and rest Mata for the Newcastle game. It'll probably be the same team as yesterday except maybe Sturridge for Bertrand maybe Rambo if he's fit. I would personally rest a few vets for this game to take full advantage of the game against Newcastle seeing as they're going to be playing 2 games in less than 3 days but I can't see RDM risking it.

If we can get Moses in surely he must realise there's no place for him in the squad? Hazard, Mata, Marin, Sturridge, Oscar, potentially Moses and even Bertrand & Meireles are currently ahead of him. He's on massive wages so it'll be hard to get rid of him. If he has any pride he'll leave on a reduced salary, if he doesn't I can see him causing problems in the dressing room.

It's basically based on why I believe he is/was the most complete striker of his generation and I need your help. As of now it will be divided into 5 parts (Pace/power/strength, skill/ball control, vision/passing, heading and his most decisive moments in the "big games". Please post your most memorable Drogba moments in each one of these categories please. They don't all have to end in a goal either. Thanks in advance!

Played a blinder today. Very promising performance, have high expectations of the lad. Shame most Chelsea fans have written him off because of a poor first half of the season.

1-0 Lampard to win it.