Madmax

I'm certain we'll appeal and get him playing against Arsenal on Sat.

Victor is married? Moses be partin' some legs n shit..

Lmao Liverpool's keeper just did a Turnbull there. 1-0 WBA.

A beautiful goal is a beautiful goal, regardless of the competition it's scored in.

Great. Hope to see Lalko break through as well.

Wasn't this the first senior game of his career? I seem to remember reading somewhere that he hadn't featured for Sao Paolo's senior side when we'd signed him.

I must go .. my people need me.

Kevin de Bruyne is one of the bigger names on the unusually large list of names currently spending time on loan from Chelsea at other clubs. We had a bit of a look at De Bruyne's game when he played an unusual false nine role in the opening game of the season, and with the 21 year old having enjoyed a fantastic game against Stuttgart last Saturday, I thought it would be an appropriate time to have a closer look at exactly what De Bruyne has been doing. If you take a look at the image on the left, you'll get a good idea of the structure that Bremen was playing. For the match against Stuttgart, Werder Bremen manager Thomas Schaaf elected to play De Bruyne in the same central midfield role that the Belgian had occupied for the game against Hamburg, a game in which De Bruyne had opened his scoring account in Germany. On the whole, De Bruyne looks far more comfortable here than he ever did in the false nine role, as this is a similar position to what De Bruyne played for Genk towards the tail end of the season. Partnered with the attack-minded Aaron Hunt, this is a proactive approach for De Bruyne, and the defensive midfielder - Zlatko Junuzovic here, but Philipp Bargfrede was selected last week - is left to cover the defence on his own. Junuzovic did a particularly manful job of it here, and he was assisted by the discipline of his wide attackers, Eljero Elia and Marko Arnautovic, who dropped deep, often dropping into line with Junuzovic. De Bruyne and Hunt lead the pressing, taking turns to move forward and assist Nils Petersen in closing down the man in possession. In this regard, De Bruyne is highly aggressive, extremely willing to break out of the defensive shape and lead the pressing (a role similar to that of which Ramires adopted for Chelsea last season under Andre Villas-Boas). Sometimes this was effective, but he needs to be cleverer in his decision making: often, the two wide players hadn't got into position, and space would open up for Stuttgart down the flank. De Bruyne displays a similar aggressiveness in attack, actively seeking to get into central attacking positions, close to Petersen. He is a very direct attacker, preferring to pass rather than shoot: this was especially evident when he went for an ambitious chip from forty yards out, and failed. However, this particular trait did not let him down when it came to the opening Werder Bremen goal. De Bruyne started the move, collecting the ball from a defensive position near his own penalty area, and continued his positive run down the centre of the park. He showed excellent awareness of where his markers were with a cleverly cushioned touch, before driving into space and unleashing a powerful shot. The goal was well taken, but his alertness and pass to launch the counterattack was particularly eye-catching, and in a Chelsea squad seemingly designed for powerful transitions, he would fit in well. On a broader note, De Bruyne's excellence in this role would see him suit a Chelsea 4-3-3 well, as a position in the double pivot of 4-2-3-1 would expose his occasionally poor defensive positioning. The ability to launch these quick transitions was continually evident throughout the second half. In the forty-eighth minute, De Bruyne intercepted the ball calmly and played a series of one-twos with his defenders, before surging into space on the left flank and collecting a long pass from Sokratis. It was a fantastic piece of counterattacking play, even without a goal to show for it. Another example was his splendid diagonal ball to Elia midway through the half, which switched the angle of attack and caught the Stuttgart defence unawares. For all these exhilarating positives, De Bruyne still has much to work on. He displayed some poor decision-making, and there was often a pocket of space to be found in the space between him and his holding midfielder. All the same, he was one of, if not the best players on the pitch, and if his progress continues in a similar upward spiral then he will certainly be a new piece for Chelsea's jigsaw when he returns next season. Good stuff from WAGNH.

Early contender for goal of the season.

Pedo smile.

I was watching Corinthians - Botafogo the other day and the commentators mentioned they're preparing to rest players on a rotational basis henceforth in the Brasiliero in preparation for the CWC. We cannot take this lightly at all.

Juni does a better job of these loan reports over on thechels.net

I'm surprised he's waited so long when it's clear the FA have been waiting for opportunities to shaft him whenever they arise. Stripped once for a personal (stress on 'personal') indiscretion that had no bearing on his on pitch performances whatsoever; let alone the fact that nothing's been proven in that incident till date and your guess s as good as mine as to whether it ever happened or not; then again for a racism abuse charge for which he was found not guilty in a court of law .. they either really don't like him but endure his presence because they know he's still their best defender or are too eager to bow to general public perception and play to the galleries. Read people commenting how it's good riddance for England and how Lampard and Cole following suit would be great, etc. Ungrateful bastards.

Maybe Rio can get a game now.

God save the Queen.

LOL Gervinho.

^ Is this from yesterday?

That is a poor, poor Milan side.

@Tomo-91 We won't win the title? Says who? Records are meant to be broken.

LA Galaxy have made Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard top of their priority list, according to reports in the English press. Lampard, 34, has less than a year left on his Chelsea contract and could sign a pre-contract agreement in January with a view to moving to the MLS in the summer. A report in the Sun revealed that the midfielder's representative, Steve Kutner, was spotted in the crowd as the Galaxy beat Toronto 4-2 on Saturday night and a source told the paper: "We want the best players from around the world and Frank is top of our list. Getting Frank would send a message around the world that the MLS is serious." The Galaxy currently have three designated players over the salary cap imposed - David Beckham, Robbie Keane and Landon Donovan - and would have to make room in the budget if they were to bring Lampard in as well. Still, after AEG president Tim Leiweke revealed that he was "a big fan of Frank's" in the summer, Lampard insisted that he "wouldn't rule anything out at the moment" as discussions over his future took place. With no resolution imminent from the Blues, the midfielder may well be persuaded to seek a new challenge. http://soccernet.esp...-report?cc=4716

Want us to win this. Been a while since we've won the trophy.

Liverpool's worst league start in over a century. Rodgers is creating history, one way or the other.

I'm surprised you're surprised.

We don't get penalties for blatant fouls .. United get ones for blatant dives.

I think it was Dean Sturridge who made a great point during commentary that we had too many players wanting to get on the ball (Mata, Hazard, Oscar) and not enough who'd make threatening runs off it. Moses was the obvious solution and he didn't disappoint. Expect him to be starting soon enough.