Styles

Seems like Jose and Emenalo have a decent relationship. Schurrle and Van Ginkel were long-term targets before Jose and have been confirmed since his arrival. If Jose wasn't on board I'm sure neither player would be here but they are. Things are looking to be working very well behind the scenes which is pleasing.

Excellent signing considering; a position of need has been filled with a young player with potential, and all for a very reasonable fee. I think this all but confirms that Romeu will be leaving soon. Mikel, Lamaprd, Ramires, Essien, Van Ginkel + KDB and Oscar who can play deeper or further forward. We already have a much bigger and more competitive squad than last season and it's only early July!

Oscar is quality and everybody on this forum knows how highly I rate him, but from what I've seen of Quintero tonight he has a huge amount of potential, almost on a par with Oscar imo. He's quality.

It's funny because Quintero has played in Italy for the last year so he has more European experience than Oscar at the same age.

I saw that goal in the highlights yesterday but didn't catch the game. This is the first time I've seen him play and I'm HUGELY impressed. I doubt he'll be a Chelsea player, well any time soon anyway , but glad to see another immense talent coming through. That left-foot will do great things.

This kid is phenomenal, I've been amazed watching this game. Unbelievable technique.

Would be a good move for him.

He scores some great goals, hopefully we see some of them next season. But in order to score those goals he's going to have to take a lot of shots which mean plenty of misses, some going into row z, and ignoring team-mates to go for goal. He took 122 shots in 34 games in the league last season. I don't mind attacking players taking shots within reason, I just hope some of the supporters don't start moaning when he does shoot a little too much

I understand what you're saying. There was a time when scoring 20-30 goals a season was considered great, but Messi and Ronaldo scoring 50-60 a season has distorted things. However I think there's a balance especially with somebody like Hazard. I don't want him to sacrifice his natural game but if he can score 15-25 goals a season then it would just be his natural progression as a footballer and not him becoming more selfish. He's too good not to score a decent amount of goals.

Perfect description of Oscar. I think 4-3-3 will solve a lot of problems.

Agree that the Mata dependency will come to an end. That was always on the cards if/when we actually had a normal sized squad and the alternatives weren't Marin, Benayoun,Bertrand etc. The way it's going we're going to have serious competition for places and a number of multifunctional players like Oscar/Schurrle/KDB who will replace Mata either from the start of games or off the bench. I don't think Mata is suited for some games and therefore having strong alternatives is a must. I think Mourinho knows that better than anyone and will plan for that.

Amazing how the years have flown by. Roman :tophat:

He really struggled last night, only Arbeloa was worse. I really don't think he has much chance of being in the Spain team in the future. I can see him being part of the squad but not a starter.

This tournament told us what we already know. Against rubbish pub teams like Tahiti he will score, but against any decent side he is a liability at worst and a passenger at best. He is rubbish. If we somehow get rid this summer it will be a miracle.

Great performance last night, he deserves a lot of praise. Sensational goal-line clearance.

Lovely assist, showed a lot of awareness of Neymar's position and waited until he was back on-side. His pressing and tackling last night was immense as usual. The Osc

Here's hoping he does well enough there to make it a permanent move but I won't hold my breath.

Hulk is just a terrible player. He shouldn't be anywhere near the national team.

I don't buy this 'not as naturally talented' talk at all. He's technically very good and unlike some of those other players mentioned he is very good with both feet.

But you have to admit Luiz is prone to making some really dumb mistakes that are so avoidable. I watched the game yesterday and he must have fouled Balotelli at least 5 times in the space of 15 minutes. Every single one of those fouls was from behind when he was trying to win the ball despite Balotelli being the clear favourite each time. Smarter defenders would accept that Balotelli will be first to the ball and try to work around that. But Luiz simply bulldozed him from behind every single time and clearly fouled him. How many times do you make the same mistake before something clicks in your head? What's worrying is that he's 26, he should have grown out of this phase a long time ago. I like him and think he has some strengths that could be huge for us in the future but he really does make some downright silly decisions. He was on course to be sent off by the 30th minute yesterday but was saved by getting injured and having to be subbed off. The commentators have every right to criticise him on performances like yesterday's.

13 goals 13 assists and plenty of chances created. Very good stats considering his age, first year in Europe, being played out of position and being overplayed which meant he (and many others) were virtually exhausted towards the end of the season. But you obviously don't care about these things and don't care about players developing. You're one of those people that expect every young player to be the finished article and demand that they score and assists 100 goals a season right?

Not surprised. Defensively Oscar is a beast.

David Luiz was an emergency midfielder because our squad was woefully short. He is not a midfielder. Please stop this nonsense, I never want to see him in midfield again. EVER.

I've personally chosen Mata. It's so controversial I'll definitely get a few bites.