Gilvorak

Lol, if he handed in a transfer request tomorrow all the big guns would be willing the break the bank.

He played very well in the first half but then Lucas came on and got 2 assists in minutes while Willian once again had no end product. Technically brilliant but zero productivity to his game whatsoever.

Exactly. He should be getting paid just below Ronaldo, Messi & Neymar. The club really lowballed him with that contract.

I just read De Bruyne earns significantly more money than Hazard. That can't be true can it? Hazard must have the worst agent in football if that's the case.

Wait, De Bruyne is Belgium's highest paid player!?!?!?!? Hazard should sack his agent ASAP.

Only on this forum is playing Navas on the right a better option than KDB. The latter is alot better than the former in pretty much everything. He and Silva will rotate between one another fluidly considering both are effective in either position. I don't get this notion they'll lose alot of pace either. De Bruyne is deceptively quick & is elite in transition. He absolutely burns teams in open space.

Heard a poster claim Fabregas couldn't play the basic pass KDB did to Mertens in the build-up to his goal last night.

Diego Costa definitely did not "carry us" in the first half of the season and neither did Fabregas. Not after the first 5/6 games anyway. If I had the time I'd go back into this thread and pull up multiple quotes of posters who thought Hazard was our best player at the time. That was simply a team effort, the entire front 5 were on form throughout that period which is why we were being touted as potentially the new invincibles. As for the PSG game, he was far and away our best player in that match. I still cannot believe he came out from that game with the most criticism. Matic delivered the worst midfield performance you'll ever see. Fabregas wasn't too far behind, Costa got dominated by Silva/Luiz & resorted to kicking/pushing opponents, Ivanovic got destroyed by DL for the equalizer & Terry/Cahill were marking each other instead of Thiago Silva for the gamewinner lol. Btw, hasn't the major criticism of Hazard always been he doesn't win enough games with goals? Now he wins two successive games with goals the tune has suddenly changed & we're back to criticizing his all around game (which is laughable lol). At least stay consistent.

Batshuayi needs to play definitely. Lukaku, Orgi & Benteke are good players but like Costa for Spain they get exposed when there are no spaces to exploit. Batshuayi has the power of Benteke/Lukaku, pace/technique of Origi & the charisma/personality the other 3 lack. Reminds me of Sturridge. Ignoring the coaching problem, striker & the lack of proper fullbacks are the biggest problems for me. I'm amazed he hasn't found a solution for it yet. Zero width or outlets & the movement is shocking. Players like KDB & Hazard need runners around them. I remember hearing about Meunier a few years ago, isn't he regarded as the best fullback Belgium has? Supposedly excellent going forward.

Because unlike Willian he's smart enough to make the most of the space he gets. Anyway, Belgium with their 4 CB's, targetman & 3 DM's are a dreadful team to watch.

He had a good game. Played 3 ridiculous balls & actually shot outside the box which produced an excellent save from the Slovakia GK. Thought he was better than Iniesta personally but yeah Silva was the best player although he was incredibly wasteful all game. Everyone knows he isn't a great defender, he covers an incredibly high amount of ground but he's just too slow, weak & positionally inept to affect the game defensively. He just needs more protection. Hopefully the combo of Oscar, Azpi & Pedro on that right side as well as Matic realising he can actually play football can provide him the support he needs. Bigger problem for me is bar one or two moments a game the creativity has been lacking.

Lionsden with some great posts in this thread. If the result at our appalling poor form since mid January is to throw more money at the problem then doesn't that make Mourinho a chequebook manager? I watched PSG play Monaco the other day & the quality of football they play in comparison to ours is lightyears ahead of us. Every single one of their players apart from Cavani is elite in possession. They split Luiz & Silva, push both Aurier & Maxwell high up the pitch & Motta (who was sensational) is the outlet, constantly recycling possession & controlling the game. That's a brand of football Jose initially promised the fans (while passive-aggressively criticizing Benitez for negative football) in one of his early press conferences when he returned Over 2 years later & we still play a rudimentary style of play utterly reliant on one player who gets blasted when he can't consistently deliver.

I'd sell Hazard if he played like Robben. Cut inside and look for a shot everytime you get the ball? Eugh. Hazard has scored 14 League goals in back to back seasons which is more than decent. Drogba only did that twice for us.

No signing was ever going to transform the shit on stick we've been playing on months into a side reminiscent of Brazil 1970. Lack of signings definitely don't explain the football we play. Look at City, only Sterling has been inserted into their side so far & look at how well Pellegrini has them playing. PSG is the worst possible fit for Mourinho. They play an extremely high brand of possession oriented, technical football. He'd have to sell half the players there to implement his ideals.

The board aren't the ones that got rid of De Bruyne, Mata, Luiz & Filipe Luis. They are the ones that signed Hazard, Oscar, De Bruyne & Courtois though. The Djilobodji signing caught everyone off guard but it's obviously a stop-gap signing in preparation for John Stones' eventual arrival.

Who remembers this moment haha. We win the game if Drogba was in that position, simplest pass ever.

Hazard is nothing like Robben. He always drifts from out wide into the pocket anyway. Robben is cut inside and shoot. Hazard's style of play has way more depth.

Excellent signing. Been keeping a close eye on him since he came out of his mother's womb. Even cut his own umbilical cord. Willing to bet an amount of money he makes the TOTY come the end of the season. Fast, strong, reads the game & has a decent ping on him. Complete defender.

Yup. He's the definition of a vine player. He rarely ever has consistent 90 minute performances, he's a moments player right now. He also benefitted immensely playing alongside 2 World Class midfielders (Pirlo, Vidal) & another borderline one (Marchisio). Our team is more in need of a player like Verratti, Kroos or Modric.

If you're going to drop most of the team why aren't Matic & Costa included in that group?

Messi & Ronaldo have both been poor this season. So have Sanchez & Aguero. Hazard is getting more criticism than all 4 combined though.

It was a decent performance considering we were outnumbered in midfield. He could actually defend & played better than the chuckle brothers. Not much time to make a massive impact anyway.

Lmao. They have two of the best dribblers in the League with Deulofeu & Mirallas.

I think he needs some tough love from Jose. A little criticism could be the rocket he needs up his arse. In reality don't think he's fully fit at all.

Shame our fans encourage Costa's sideshow. It got old incredibly quick. Would sell him this summer if a player like Benzema was available.