The Skipper

It's funny, my mate who supports Tottenham rates Mata as the best player in the league. Tons of opposition fans rate him very highly as well. I'm starting to see this trend where we ourselves are starting to really underrate how good Mata is, which is a shame really. I wouldn't say there's anything wrong with saying he's in the same class as Bale.

http://youtu.be/SEDDR9ubKKwTorres at his best too.

But Jose's a mug when it comes to Rooney right?

TOPTB, I'm not commenting on Mikel's performances in said games, I was simply stating games where the front four have performed well when Mikel has played.

Even though I completely disagree with you, we are not discussing Mikel's performances here, we're discussing whether the front four perform poorly whenever Mikel does play which is frankly bullshit.

I fully agree with you, but however that wasn't the argument I'm having with bb. He's practically saying that whenever Mikel plays the front four play bad as well which is absolute bollocks tbf.

Don't be stupid. I'll pluck two games that come to mind immediately when the front 4 was exceptional when Mikel played - 2nd half against Man Utd in the FA Cup when he came on and Tottenham away in the league, the latter probably our best performance in the whole season. You were saying?

We stood by him? 99% wanted him gone.

A B2B midfielder is usually a destroyer/enforcer as well.

Yeah, he's an okay alternative because he does offer something different but personally I would potentially try and get him if we can't get a Rooney or a Suarez.

Mata at Chelsea is a better finisher than Hazard at Chelsea, that's not even up for debate (yet) IMO. Mata finishes his 1-on-1s far more than Hazard does.

Lol. Mourinho played him at DM 12 times, whilst playing him 15 times next to Makelele. Mourinho wasn't the one who turned him into a CDM whatsoever. It was the likes of Scolari, Ancelotti, Grant etc. who decided to use him there afterward that made him so. And if Oscar were to move deeper he wouldn't become a CDM. I've told you this before, playing in the pivot does not mean you're automatically a defensive midfielder.

No, the team is not unorganised whatsoever. Mourinho has never in pre season actually played our strongest XI, you have to consider that. He's been testing and trying different things all pre season. To say we looked "average" against a Real Madrid who played probably their strongest team for most of the game (we didn't take the game that serious as you could see with our 7 substitutions) and also against Roma (whom we played quite well against, out of the two teams we certainly were better especially in the second half) is absurd. Never ever take serious conclusions from pre season mate.

Lol. Anyone could see that the front four in the first half had no chemistry.

I've watched him enough during his time in Russia to know that he isn't the Eto'o from Inter or Barcelona anymore. Don't get me wrong. Eto'o is still a very good player but he isn't world class any more. Sure, he'll be a good signing and improve our strike force, but he won't make the impact a Rooney or Suarez would, he won't be that player that'll get us from being title contenders to strong favourites like the two aforementioned would.

I think Hazard is just as good as Iniesta when it comes to dribbling. Iniesta has a bit more finesse but Hazard makes up for that with greater balance, agility and pace.

Signing Eto'o is not like signing a Rooney or a Suarez. He's not world class anymore.

Love him.

Rest assured, if Tancredi is reporting it then we aren't getting him for sure.

He doesn't get up as often but Bertrand probably has the best cross on him between our fullbacks though.

Not in the same class as Suarez and Rooney IMO. He's good, would probably improve the strikeforce marginally, but not world class.

I'd love to know how you know what wages these guys will be on.

JT and Luiz have to be the starting CBs I think.

Was very good yesterday. Hope he progresses as a player this season.

Definitely good enough to be our 3rd choice IMO. And I'm not basing that off this game, I've seen him plenty of times for the youth team and I think he can slowly make that transition.