Styles

Here's hoping he was on the phone to his agent

That pass was amazing.

What did you make of Azpi's performance? Thought he had a shocker on the ball tonight, our left side was essentially a no-go zone because of him in my opinion.

I thought that too initially but he grew into the game and delivered a solid if unspectacular performance. He was quite good at dropping into midfield and just keeping the ball moving; if Fabregas can continue to make the difference creatively then Oscar can continue to play what seems to be a more natural game for him.

Costa, Fabregas and Ivanovic were my 3 standout performers. Interesting performance from Oscar; he does what Fabregas can't and vice-versa, they seem to cover each other's deficiencies quite well.

You and me both. We've had fuck all down the left tonight because of him.

Azpilicueta has been nothing short of a disaster on the ball tonight. If only we had a left-footed LB...

Deserves more sitting on the bench. Cech is 32 - relatively good age for a keeper - and still has a lot to offer at the highest level. Did you read the post I was responding to?

He deserves so much more. Legend.

Ki is quality, he would absolutely be a decent player for Chelsea. Technically he is very, very good.

OK, not another peep out of me on Fabregas. We will revist this again in a few months/end of the season. I hope he proves me wrong.

I know you guys are bored of me saying this already but Fabregas is ridiculously slow, I've seen fat people running for the bus move quicker than him. And while he's excellent at making through balls his general passing really isn't that good.

Now that I've seen Costa in person I'm convinced he's the real deal. I watched him closely in the warm up and during the keep ball session - which was quite intense - he seemed to give the ball away with every touch and I was thinking I've seen Torres do that way too many times. But then the game started and the first 25-30 minutes blew me away, he literally did everything right and it wasn't by chance; movement, passes, awareness and goals! Actual goals from a striker. I can get used to that. Then Torres came on and I started thinking about going home.

Agreed. If/when Mourinho deviates from his standard formation(s) it's because he's desperately chasing a result. I doubt we ever start a game with a 3-4-3 or 3-5-2 as that's not Mourinho's style; he's a very simple tactician. After we took the lead on Sunday he immediately went back to a conventional formation - to our detriment I thought, we were playing well and then became sloppy again after the change.

The way some people talk you'd think we've re-signed Del Horno.

They were solid because the 6 players ahead of them were asked to run and press for 90 minutes to the detriment of the attacking side of our game. Even an average defender like Cahill when protected well enough will look good. I find it hard to believe Mourinho* would buy a 29 year-old LB for 16m and not give him every chance to perform. It would be pretty stupid of him, and would go down as one of our worst transfers in recent years if he ends up playing behind Azpi. *And this is absolutely a Mourinho buy, although I'm sure Emenalo will get the blame if things don't work out.

That was a brilliant goal by Fabregas.

Shows Mourinho is at least thinking of a more offensive formation. Good signs.

Fabregas' set-piece delivery is rubbish. There's no pace on the ball whatsoever, he keeps floating in some weak balls.

Salah playing really well.

And I'm watching Arsenal vs Man City now and Ramsey is playing brilliantly. Oscar really needs to step it up.

I'm watching you No, just no.

I feel the same about Ba.

That was a horror challenge. And it goes to show just how precarious our situation is: we are one bad challenge away from Torres playing significant minutes.