Styles

What's really embarrassing for me is seeing one player derided constantly for not being creative enough and then excuses being made for another. Even when Willian plays well we have to endure the "well only by his standards!" and "what 'bout that one pass, eh?!" nonsense and it's absolutely pathetic.

Which is my point - after that it comes down to personal preference. Obviously the numbers favour Oscar but personally I prefer Willian.

Oscar has better numbers. I still prefer Willian because I think he's a better ball-handler, smarter player and more versatile. It worked perfectly fine the other night when they both helped the team win in one of the hardest away games of the season. I thought Willian made some perfectly good decisions today (couple of good shots and set-up Hazard too) - and some of his passing in the build-up was very good, he's a very smart player in possession in my opinion - but not everything he tried came off which is normal. I don't even want to get into the vague 'creating space' thing that Oscar does (I see clearly how Costa creates space for the team, don't see it with Oscar to be honest) but Willian played better than Oscar today. The elephant in the room is that Fabregas can also play CAM and he'd contribute more than just 'providing space'. That's ultimately what I want to see: Fabregas playing CAM. What happens with Oscar after that? I genuinely couldn't care less to be honest. Willian owns the RW until somebody better than him is bought in.

Honestly, Oscar is a marginally more decisive/better decision-maker at best (if at all).

And there is no way they won't be tired. There's also another game to consider just 2 days later. This will be a very tricky game against a team coming back into form after a bad spell.

He was comfortably better. If we're going to have one non-threatening 'attacker' in the team then it's Willian ahead of Oscar for me. All I will say is that if Willian shouldn't be in the team (or doesn't have a future here) because he contributes very little in attack then the same also applies for Oscar.

Amazing player. Makes the games infinitely better to watch - without him we'd be going bckwards and sideways for 99% of games. ...so I take it Oscar is the irrelevant one?

This is really strange - I thought Willian had a good game and was a large part of why we were so utterly dominant in the first half. I can't quite believe what I'm reading to be honest. Willian is the most unfaily maligned player in the team now that Mikel is no longer in the 11.

Oscar and his dad go off, on come Mikel and Drogba.

Get Oscar off for Mikel, and move Fabregas forward please!

Costa

Come on, Hazard, aim for the corner!

Best 45 mins of the season. We should be up by 2 or 3 really, as long it's 1-0 West Ham are in the game. Willian is playing really well btw, hope the haters are watching.

^That

I will never not laugh at this

Yeah, Fabregas and Hazard almsot always exchange the most passes each game; they really do have a brilliant understanding. And another thing that's being overlooked is that Mikel also allows Matic to be more progressive and break forward with the ball (something he doesn't tend to do much with Fabregas alongside him). I think he is, and especially on the wing. And that's not a slight against Oscar who is a real hardworker himself, it just says more about Willian who is an absolute beast defensively.

There already seems to be an agreement with Middlesbrough in place (albeit unofficially), but if they were to get promoted Premier League rules dictate that only one player can be loaned from a particular club. Loftus-Cheek is the most physically mature of all the young players - he is the same size as Matic which is ridiculous - so he seems to have a better chance under Jose than some most of the others. Tactically and technically he needs to keep developing because he has the power and strength to compete at this level.

That's a goal even at senior level; not many keepers are saving that.

Ultimately, I think Oscar is more of a squad player than most are willing to accept.

Schurrle wasn't missed yesterday either - not once during the game did I think 'we could really do with Schurrle here'. I don't think Willian and Mikel limited us creatively us when we scored 2 and should have had even more. And we still had enough match-winners in Hazard, Fabregas and Costa. Schurrle can't keep possession well enough (something which Willian does really well) and defensively he isn't as strong as Willian either. A freer Fabregas makes up for all of Mikel's shortcomings. I don't disagree that we need somebody who offers more than just defence in the pivot but until we go out and buy that player Mikel is the best solution. I also think he's being integrated into the team now in preparation for the Champions League.

Mikel had a solid game and his inclusion made a lot of sense in an away game at Stoke. I don't think we missed Oscar at all, not even a little bit.

Willian is a great team-player but offensively he does leave an awful lot to be desired. And I think it's pretty clear at this point that he's not going to do any heavy lifting when it comes to scoring/creating goals. But I think that if Hazard, Fabregas, Costa, and Oscar etc carry on making the difference there will always be a place for Willian in the team. I have no doubts that Schurrle would score more but I'd still pick Willian ahead of him more often than not.

Honestly, the biggest compliment I can give Courtois is that he reminds me of a prime Petr Cech. He dealt with Stoke's physicality with ease and claimed everything in the air.

Honestly, under Pulis I thought Stoke were competitive and incredibly physical but not nasty. They are so dirty and the refs let them get away with murder.

Very professional win. Stoke are incredibly dirty - they seem to be getting worse every season.