Styles

It seems as if the only thing that can stop the team now is injuries. Things are going really well right now...almost too well

Stunning goal. I love it when players fool the keeper and score at the near post. Yeah, hopefully Ramires is back. I'd be worried about Di Maria's ability to burst past players with the ball in central areas and that could cause us problems. But beyond that I really don't think we have much to worry about.

He made some errors but I wasn't expecting a 100% pass completion. He made the right decision more often than not and was made some good driving runs with the ball. The turn and pass to Fabregas in the second half in particular was brilliant and very nearly led to a goal.

Thought Remy played really well today. He linked well with the players around him and was very positive on the ball. Solid performance and better than his game against Bolton.

Needs to score more often in that case.

It's the touch on his chest that took Szczesny out; Costa got his first touch absolutely right and didn't allow Szczesny the chance to close him down. The assist and the finish itself were both of high quality, but that touch to guide the ball into his path without breaking stride was sensational.

The Everton angle, mostly. And I could have sworn that the Lisbon miss was from a similar angle. Maybe it's the fact that Costa is trying to curl the ball into the far post in all three chances that is making them seem similar in my mind. So yeah, perhaps it isn't the angle itself but his shooting form/technique when trying to aim for that corner and he isn't getting enough curl/whip on the ball. I really don't think it's a great save by the way. It's a good save, don't get me wrong, but I think that should be a goal 9/10. Thanks for the video.Yeah, technically he isn't the best - which really isn't a problem. A lot of those finishes were scuffed shots but they still went in which is all that really matters. One of the Sky pundits recently went through Costa's Atletico goals from last season and he kept saying "he didn't hit that one cleanly", and to be fair, he was right.

Origi is simply the better footballer. At the World Cup he looked really good with the ball at his feet and his speed is ridiculous. I was more impressed by him in the summer than I have been in nearly 3 years of watching Lukaku, and I'm sure that's how many in Belgium football feel.

The chance at 3.50 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbasB3Dz_-0 I wouldn't say that was a great save by Howard; it's more of a miss than it is a save in my opinion, if that makes sense? If I recall correctly the Sporting Lisbon chance was quite similar.

Against Arsenal, Costa was central to the goal; Szczesny had advanced, and with the ball on the bounce, that allowed Costa to simply lift the ball over the keeper. Brilliant goal but very different to the kind of situation/angle that I'm talking about.

Oh and I saw his miss the other night: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3LYmDd9Wqo He isn't good at scoring on that kind of angle. He's already missed that kind of chance twice for Chelsea (against Everton and Sporting Lisbon). He doesn't seem to get his body shape right, well not enough to give him a proper angle to curl the ball into the far corner. Hopefuly he improves on that because with his ability to get in behind teams he will have plenty of chances like that.

Oh ffs, not again? I thought this was the last round of international matches for a while.

Some of his brilliance also came from wide areas. Hazard has enough freedom to move centrally when he likes; he starts from the left but sees plenty of action in central areas. He is a devestating winger so why not keep that as part of his game along with his #10 qualities; it's that double threat that makes him such a unique talent. That kind of variety and balanced game is what seperates him from a lot of the players he's compared to.

The closest player stylistically to Hazard is Ribery and he had a very strong case for winning the Ballon d'Or in 2013*. Ribery doesn't score 50 like Messi or Ronaldo; in fact that season he only scored 11 goals if Wikipedia isn't lying to me. *Ribery really should have won the award as he was the best player on a team that won the treble. Ronaldo won nothing (if I recall correctly) so it was a bit of a joke decision in my honest opinion. It just goes to show it is really just a popularity contest and not worth serious consideration at the end of the day, so beating Hazard up for potentially never winning the thing is a joke. I'm convinced he keeps talking about it only because reporters keep asking him about those two players and winning the Ballon d'Or one day.

Saw the quote on Twitter, pretty sure it's legit though.

Good luck, Robbie. Shame we've already played them at home, he would have got an absolutely great reception. I don't use the word lightly but he's a true Chelsea legend.

Fabregas: "Hazard is our Messi, he will soon be on the list for the Ballon d'Or."

Excellent defensive performance; he worked incredibly hard and provided a platform for the big three (Hazard/Fabregas/Costa) to make the difference. Didn't really do anything constructive with the ball if I recall correctly, however, so doesn't really warrant a MOTM in my honest opinion. Willian and Ramires would have probably worked just as hard and perhaps offered more going forward.

Glad to see Mourinho stayed until the final whistle today

Amazing. Brilliant run by Costa to distract Mertesacker and open up space. Torres would have probably got in his way

Five years later and they still can't defend the ball over the top

I have to correct this post...THERE IS A CECH BANNER! To be fair to myself I only ever sit in the MHU when I do attend so wouldn't be able to see it and I've never seen it on TV either until today! It should be somewhere more visible like the Terry, Lampard and Drogba ones. Great performance by the way. The way he ran out at Wilshere was amazing.

He really knows how to play through-balls; he almost always gets the weight of the pass exactly right which is very rare.

You make a fair point to be honest. I'm not really a fan of Schurrle's overall ability but when on-form he can still be a useful player. Perhaps the real issue is not having a clear first-choice player on that side (like a Hazard) good enough to be more than just a squad player.

We don't have one playing style though. He's definitely in a poor run of form however. I was surprised to see him start ahead of Willian and thought he should have come off a lot sooner than he did.