The Skipper

Fair enough, can't disagree. You watch Mikel play for Nigeria (granted against poorer opposition, but still) and everything goes through him. These intangibles can be fixed though - one thing I am looking forward to if Mourinho does return is a fully, pushed, motivated Mikel.

Higuain is a good striker but he's very limited. He scores goals yes, but he has the tendency to go missing in a lot of games. Why do you think there's always speculation about Real getting a new striker? Because the Higuain/Benzema duo isn't good enough for a club that's one of the best in the world (Granted, Benzema brings a lot more to the team and when he's on form he's brilliant - but Karim is too inconsistent). I too would take Dzeko over Higuain simply because he brings a lot more to your team. We can do a lot better than Higuain. Higuain isn't good enough to be the main striker at a club like CFC or Real in my opinion.

Mikel is far more talented than all three.

As I've said before, we shouldn't be relying on Tottenham and Arsenal to screw up, they have very winnable games remaining. Saying that - our destiny is still within our own hands. We beat United tomorrow and we beat Tottenham on Wednesday; we're practically top 4 as we'll be 6 pts ahead of Tottenham with 2 games remaining - due to our goal difference there would be no way Tottenham would catch up unless they went AWOL in their last two games (assuming we lost those, which I don't think will happen). 2 cup finals ahead basically. If we don't win at least either, especially the latter, then we don't deserve top four.

Everyone loves him now, before the majority of people didn't rate him at all. My point is you don't completely write off a player because he's going through a rough spell.

You should. That would be the natural reaction of a Chelsea fan.

DAVID LUIZ. Does that ring a bell?

Ivanovic is just as culpable of losing his man as Cahill is. I don't mind whoever, just hope that Luiz plays at the back as he does have the ability to put whoever United have upfront in his pocket.

Reminds me of a young JT.

Mikel's going through a very rough patch at the moment so it's easy for people to slate him, after all, people were doing the exact same with Luiz, they used to ridicule him from here to the sun, and look now. He's still a good player in my books. I've seen people now say because Essien has had a few decent games (at RB) that they'd rather have Essien at DM than Mikel which I think is bollocks tbh. I love Michael but it just shows the fickle nature of our fans, and football fans in general - the grass is always greener on the other side right? A few weeks of bad performances won't completely change my opinion on him, he's still got a lot to give to the squad. Mikel has the top performances in his locker, as we saw at the end of last season and the very start of this one, and he has shown a few flashes e.g. when he came on against United. It's very easy for people to say Luiz>Mikel because Luiz has that adventurous, attacking side to him - they're different types of players. People have always rated a player who can score goals above one that doesn't. I still think Mikel is the better DM with the right partner but then again, that depends on what you look for in a DM. What I look for in a DM is someone that can provide a platform for the rest of the team to express themselves - Mikel at his best does this brilliantly. Luiz's performances in midfield are being overhyped because he's scored a few goals from that position (even though he has done the same at CB). His general performances have mostly been average there. Mikel could flourish under Mourinho as well, after all it was Mourinho who reverted him to that DM role. He's still a great asset to the squad IMO. Grill me if you want but I stand by that until I see anything else to suggest that I should change my opinion, which I haven't.

Sting, I'm delighted we have Hazard, but if there was one thing he could improve on it would be his composure infront of goal. Hazard has the potential to be a great finisher as he does produce some brilliant finishes as we have seen this season, and even last season where he scored 20 for Lille, but had he been more consistent in his finishing he would've easily been on 15+ goals this season. There's nothing wrong with a bit of constructive criticism. It's the only slight criticism I have for Hazard - the consistency in his finish.

Fully agree... I said that at the start of the season and got blazed for it. When Hazard becomes more clinical in his finishing he'll be unstoppable.

I'm not sure. I hope he does.

He's basically been forced out by Bayern, that's why he said he's retiring because he's basically had enough - and right now he's proven the Bayern board wrong on every account. They're on route to a historic treble. Jupp has said that he would reconsider retirement if interesting offers came along so he's another great option. I've said it in the thread earlier, if we don't get Mourinho I'd be happy with Jupp.

I've skimmed through and it's more people scapegoating Luiz for our bad defensive performances rather than him getting criticised for his individual defensive mistakes, which was my point - he was still our best defender back then.

Exactly this!

I agree, I said in that same post that I think the credit of our defenders making fewer mistakes in general goes to Rafa, who's set up our team a lot better defensively than RDM did.

I don't want us to rely on having David Luiz in midfield next season, I'd rather us get in proper midfielders. We don't really need to get a CB next year anyway, we can manage without for another season, we're more in desperate need to reinforce the midfield. Regarding Ogbonna, he's a good defender but we can do a lot better. I'd rather Howedes or even Papadopoulos.

Can you please give me a list of the "many mistakes" he made? You're over exaggerating. He made a few, but they weren't many, and overall his performances back then were still good, he was still our best CB then. Our defence wasn't as organised as it is now for sure, but you can't blame Luiz for that, it was more down to the way RDM set up the team. One thing I will give Rafa credit for is that defensively we look a lot more sturdier, and due to the way we set up defensively, Luiz, even Cahill and Ivanovic (who both made more mistakes than Luiz at the start of the season) haven't made as many mistakes as they did back then.

Those first two months is what made me fall in love with Luiz to begin with. Never have I seen a CB so technically prudent, matched with the aggressiveness in his tackle and determination to win the ball back. I really thought then he would be the best CB in the world one day, simply because he's so unorthodox. Even my United and Arsenal mates were excited about his potential. Even though he went through his rough patches, I never gave up on him, told people to keep the faith because he still has the potential to be one of the best under the right manager, under the right circumstances etc. but people failed to look past a young player's mistakes and kept focussing on his weaknesses instead of thinking outside the box. I'm very happy that Luiz is proving everyone who doubted him wrong, he's done it throughout his whole life. As you said, he's still got a lot more to show, and we'll see that over the next couple of seasons. I've always said it from day one till now, defended him through his rough patch... This guy will be a special, special player. It's scary to think he's only turned 26 considering CBs reach their best years at around 28/29/30. We've got a great player on our hands.

How is his talent "wasted" at CB? Why do people still think it's illegal for a CB to have great technique, strong on the ball & a great pass etc? I think it's more of a waste to the team if we don't play him at CB. That's what makes Luiz a weapon - he's still an offensive threat no matter where he plays on the pitch - we play him at CB, and we have a spot open in midfield for another midfielder who can again be an extra offensive threat; thus making our team a lot more unpredictable with more offensive weapons. If we get a system going which allows Luiz to roam forward then teams have more to worry about - traditionally, teams do not worry about CBs being an offensive threat in open play, but that's something we have in Luiz, so why waste that? We'd be better off if we got in another midfielder so the XI in general has more offensive weapons, which will open more spaces, make us more unpredictable etc. Luiz could easily reinvent the modern CB role. It has actually sort of been done before - look up the libero. PEOPLE NEED TO THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX. That isn't true at all, Luiz was very solid at the start of the season when him and JT were our starting CBs which saw us go to the top of the league. Luiz's has had a good, solid season overall, it's just in the last few months where he's really picked it up and shown everyone what he can be. He's been our most solid defender from day one this season.

Our strongest team. Wouldn't play anything else.

manpe.

So because of those two factors you think we've got no chance of signing Xabi? Not even the slightest chance?

For the umpteenth time, Luiz has played better at CB this season.