Styles

I think we should try this from the kickoff

I kinda thought that as well. I remember asking for his number of open-play assists in this topic not that long ago. Although you have to wonder if our lack of decent forwards have negatively impacted his open-play assists, for instance I'd imagine Mata would assist a player with great movement like Van Persie far more than somebody like Torres.

He was motm against Bayern. He was marked by three Everton players for most of the game. Don't have a life Eden, just focus on 'rediscovering' your form from one game ago.

Mata was so bad against Villa on the wing that Mourinho has had to rethink things.

Yep but eople will remember the two or three times he escaped - and did nothing - and forget all the times he was tackled or lost possession cheaply. The hype continues...

Slow, incredibly weak (almost like a child) and like we're playing with 10 men unless the ball is at his feet. He should have been taken off at half-time.

I remember that time he bought on Ivanovic for Azpilicueta when we were chasing a game!

I understand and I'm not advocating that players shouldn't take risk. Players like Hazard are game changers, but it's a judgement call and I trust their decisions. I have no doubt that he can get past almost any defender but sometimes less is more.

That Utd game was very tactical, everybody was being pressed by 2-3 players at all times and there was very little space. I tend to accept the players' judgement, if somebody with Hazard's skill and ability doesn't want to risk losing the ball then he knows what he's doing. Sport is about picking your moments and going for the high-percentage opportunities, simply attempting to do something more often doesn't neccesarily lead to better results.

He already does in my opinion. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5g1hs-Cxjno The great thing about him is that he knows when to dribble and when to pass.

Seems like a very happy and motivated player, long may it continue. That kind of attitude is infectious and will rub off on others.

Exactly. Players know who to take liberties with. We won't have problems with Eto'o or any other player.

My first ever pair of boots.

Yup. It's an odd comment made by someone who presumably sees himself as a football guru. He has made equally bizarre statements elsewhere.

Cool video featuring Hazard and Lukaku, too bad there's no English subtitles.

I hate the international football calendar.

From the very little I've seen Atsu is much faster and more direct than Kakuta. Different type of players and not really comparable in my opinion.

I'm seriously going to make an effort and watch at least 3 full live Vitesse games this season. It'd be rude not to.

He definitely will as we have 5 games in 14 days.

His pressing was really bad too, and guys like Oscar were showing more energy than him despite playing all 120 minutes. Look at how he just ambled towards Alaba before they equalised for example. I wanted Lukaku to stay, but I also want him to develop and the only way he'll do that is by playing big minutes every game which if we're honest he just wasn't going to get at Chelsea. I'm sad to see him leave but at the same time then I'm glad he's going to a decent club and will be playing every week.

Good luck to him, hope he smashes it and has a good time.

Not a verified account, doubt it's him.

I've started reading* Globoesporte because they usually have good interviews with Luiz, Ramires and Oscar and other stuff you won't find in the English/European press. Good interview with Luiz today, he thanks Mourinho for trusting him and putting him in against Bayern at the expense of Terry. Good picture of him and Schweinsteiger chatting too. The story, which has been confirmed by Schweinsteiger, goes that just before Drogba scored the equaliser in the Champions League final, Luiz told Scheweinsteiger "and now we score". Here's the Chelsea page on Globoesporte if you guys are interested (there was a good interview from Oscar on there yesterday too talking about Mourinho/start to the season) - http://globoesporte.globo.com/equipe/futebol/futebol-internacional/futebol-ingles/chelsea.html *By reading I obviously mean using google translate

Speak for yourself. Many people knew Mata found it difficult in big games and was borderline invisible on several occasions. We're not a one man team.