LDN Blue

Because of his quality? Need I remind you of Willian's lack of end product? I do think he's a stop-gap to be honest, until Mou finds a more suitable RW. But I do get what you mean about his role in a 4-3-3 set up. And when I mean contribution, I should've used a better word albeit, I mean how he responds to playing in such environments. He's not trusted by Mourinho, that's reflected in those tactical changes.

Looks like Miralles is trying to engineer his way out of Everton

Could be as important as Makelele's signing was for us in Mourinho's first tenure. I hope he can continue this consistency into the next few seasons!

Well, tbf, didn't his 'stay' coincide with a convenient pay rise?

That remains to be seen with personnel. What we can only go on is the facts. They're clearly looking at both avenues, the failed bid on Battersea Park and also the announcement of working with the council to redevelop Stamford Bridge.

The pass in 2010 was brilliant. Because Liverpool fans actually didn't mind. Their hatred for United winning their 20th league title was stronger than their general hate for us

Yeah I agree entirely. Family and business should be kept separate. I'd imagine his son would 'inherit' the club as to being appointed a senior position so soon, hopefully he'll have a similar hands off approach Roman has and not try to be too radical. David Dein would be nice..

Seems the influence of Marina Granovskaia seems to be increasing swiftly through the board. She was apparently key in bringing José Mourinho & Diego Costa to Stamford Bridge Perhaps Abramovich may try to incorporate his son into the club's hierarchy now..

That would've made sense. The problem Sven had was playing these players in totally different positions to what their used to. Sticking Scholes on the right hand side of midfield for example was a total waste of his talents and ability on the ball. I do empathise with Sven though because he also had a young, talented, Joe Cole in his ranks too so trying to fit all these midfielders in a 4-4-2 was a problem any manager would've struggled with. But it's not wonder Scholes retired at the age of 28. Ferguson used the situation with England to his advantage, as he always has done.

Ron Gourlay and now Bruce Buck.. Seems there's an aggressive revamp of the board going on and it does seem like the time to do it. Matters on the pitch have gone a drastic change of late, as have the balancing of the books. Just leaves the board now. Perhaps something to do with the countless attempts for expanding SB - Finding an alternative to a bigger stadium?

Yep. Considering the mess Sven made in handling Lampard, Gerrard and Scholes.. Lmao!

I do want to clarify my position on Oscar, because I do think reflecting back I was harsh on the boy. First of, I'm a fan of his general play. He can be a valuable asset when his concentration spans for the entire game, not just when we're in need of goals but even once those goals have gone in - to maintain our advantage over opponents. His goals and assists this season can't be dismissed by any means. I saw someone said earlier that Willian gets more praise than Oscar on TC, well I don't believe that for a second because if you go on his thread there's countless members talking about a frustration with lack of end-product. Oscar is above Willian, because of the end product and all-round play IMO. What is frustrating about Oscar is there isn't a consistent run of good performances by him. He goes through spells of being anonymous or in exceptionally rare cases (Newcastle) a liability. I want him to do well, he's only 23 and has played a hell of a lot of football since being signed for both club and country. But it's no real surprise that Mourinho has opted for Cesc as the number 10 as opposed to Oscar in big games. One could look at that as Mourinho prefers another defensive-minded MF in such games, but I largely think it's more about Oscar's contribution. His goals and assists - again, I'm not trying to say they're pointless - have come against sides like Swansea, Palace, QPR, West Brom. Teams that can be difficult to breakdown but there's a clear difference in where/when he performs. Mourinho was very vocal about Oscar being his number 10 when the decision to sell Mata came about. But in Cesc, Mourinho has shifted emphasis to him as opposed to Oscar. I have no doubt Mou is working with Oscar to improve him and eventually that hopefully will pay dividends and we'll see a more consistent world class Oscar in both small games and bigger ones.

Fulham Broadway takes no prisoners

Again I mention it before, in the bigger picture you're talking about his concentration in these games. It's not just today, previous games this season his anonymity has been an issue.I may seem like a hater here, but I'm far from it. Oscar is a very good player, but his concentration must be worked on and his influence has to grow. Especially if he wants to play in these bigger games.

Loyal to Mourinho, knows how to win a title and will know he'll be a back up. If he's on low wages with a good contract, I don't see the problem.

Problem is, you can only field 11 players. Having class and quality increases competition, agreed, however it can be a disruption too.. You can't keep rotating the team to keep everyone happy, it can lead to confusion and plain disgruntlement. That's why I admire what Mourinho has actually built here, the egos that disrupted AVB et al have all been broken up.

Again, no one is denying the goals and the assists over this season. It's a great return and long may that trend continue.HOWEVER, is it so wrong not to comment on the frustration of those misplaced passes? It's not something you could've exactly not noticed, even commentary picked up on it. It's a simple observation of the frustration I feel with Oscar. Could be a world beater, but he needs to concentrate harder on games.

Lmao you read way too far into that than you should have.I was simply saying that Schurrle's run was instinctively to the near post. Regardless of who or what was behind him, he had to score. Not for him, for the team. Leaving that wasn't an option because the assumption of 'the guy behind me will score' is seldom one that enters a footballers brain.

No-one said that. Your point was 'something to complain about'. No-one's complaining he scored.. But you have to look at the bigger picture.

Even if he beat Shurrle to the 5th goal and scored his hat-trick, his overall contribution would have been poor. Who cares about Sanchez and Di Maria? When you don't watch matches overall it's easy to praise the numbers and what you see on MOTD. They show the best of these players. Oscar is a good player, but his sloppy passing today was alarming. As a number 10 his role is important to the team and he's simply failing to show qualities that justify that. He must concentrate more.

Yeah I understand that, but I don't think Shurrle was confident of leaving it. We've seen many times players miss when a ball like that is sent across goal

...LMAO I actually re-read it after I hit 'Post' and thought 'the fuck..'

Wouldn't usually be fussed, bigger fish to fry, BUT I can't stand if Liverpool beat us in any sort of game. Even if it was a dead-rubber friendly. Fuck them.

Not sure Chou. I think Mourinho might honour Cech by giving him a chance, in appearances, to break this record. There's enough games left for him to do it anyway. For example if we have a PL game against a weaker team and an important CL/FAC game 3 days later, he may opt for Cech in the former.

At first I thought he 'stole' Oscar's goal. But all he was really doing is trying to get to the front post for the potential tap in, he didn't have a look at Oscar (it appears.)