Styles

Oh my, such an amazing player; world-class is an absolute understatement.

The 25m hasn't been confirmed; no-one knows how much the deal is worth besides the two parties involved.

That's because he knows how to time his runs perfectly. I haven't seen a player this aware of the offside since Crespo (who was an absolute genius at it). If Arsenal try to play the high-line as always he could have a field day.

Oscar definitely isn't a flair player and unfortunately that's where a lot of the undeserved criticism he gets stems from. He is more of an all-rounder ability wise; he doesn't really excel at any one thing in particular but he can do a bit of everything to a decent level when on form. Off form, however, he can really struggle which is something he needs to work on. Top players don't always play well but even their bad performances are solid, they aren't littered with individual mistakes which is what I think happens with Oscar. I do agree that his biggest problem overall is consistency.

They're going to try to defend this time round.

I thought his basic technique would be an issue but little did I know. He fits us perfectly; really great business especially when considering the fee.

Let's hope he gets off to a good start against Arsenal and wins October too. I never imagined he would be this good.

It seems Costa has won the POTM award again.

Yeah, Oscar benefitted greatly from Sporting's suicidal high-line; many of the through-balls he played were simple passes down the sides that released players into acres of space. Oscar's passing/final pass is an issue in tighter games against opposition that defend deep. Against sides that play such a high-line most players would be able to pick passes rather easily. That's not to take anything away from his performance though because he played well.

It just goes to show how fine the line is between 'not doing enough' and 'world-class!!1!1!1!'.

I love the way he carries the ball when a pass isn't available.

...which is why he isn't. He's a squad player and gets squad player minutes. I think the likes of Schurrle are about as good as it gets when it comes to squad players. You can't have a world-class player sat on the bench for half the season; it's invariably the Schurrle types that play these roles at other top teams.

Wow, that could have been so comfortable. Some of the misses were ridiculous! Maybe we needed a game like this to keep everybody sharp. Think Mourinho will have them doing finishing work over the next few days. Thankfully the other game was a draw so we're in charge of the group now.

I think those guys are nothing but trolls who shouldn't be taken seriously. I may or may not have said some pretty harsh stuff about Mourinho before (tactics mainly, I think ), but on the whole I'd say I'm balanced; I give him and every Chelsea player/manager etc both praise and criticism when I think it's due. I will, however, never understand the 'Mourinho is always right and can do no wrong' camp. Get a grip, man. It's as if anything that even resembles a slight difference in opinion gets shouted down.

You trivialise Lambert's reason for not shaking Mourinho's hand and the make excuses for Mourinho ("well other people do it too!" being the worst). Someday I won't bother with this forum as well. The cult of Mourinho makes this place unbearable at times.

No disrespect but I think your analogy isn't comparable whatsoever. Jose knows when it's over - who the hell doesn't? - but that doesn't mean he needs to leave early.

I bet that guy didn't walk out the ring at that precise moment. He probably did something crazy like stick around until it was officially over.

Imagine Simeone went to shake hands 10 minutes early after the battering at Stamford Bridge last season. What would Mourinho's reaction have been then? Do you think the same people in here finding excuses would have found that OK? I doubt it.

I wasn't going to mention it until I saw it being talked about in here. And there are people acting as if Lambert is in the wrong. You couldn't make it up. How about because, er, the game actually hasn't finished? It's really that simple. I just find it completely unnecessary. Yeah, when his team wins convincingly he leaves early. Why? Pretty much every other manager sees the game out whether they win, lose or draw. And let's not act like there's some deep, logical reasoning for why he does it; the one reason he's given so far is he needed to tell his wife the result (after the Arsenal game) or some other nonsense. Like she isn't already aware or can't wait a few minutes. It's like a boxer telling his opponent: "You know that, mate? I've won the previous 11 rounds so let's just call it day. There's no way you can win or come back from this position. I have won convincingly. You're dead, finished, finito...kaput. And I've got a pizza waiting in the back that's getting cold. Yeah, margherita. It's my favourite." STAY, GODDAMMIT! SEE THE GAME OUT.

It is pretty disrespectful though in my honest opinion. I don't get why he has to disappear 5 minutes before the game has finished; just shake hands at the end of the game like everybody else, everything else can wait. I actually laughed when I saw that on MOTD2 last night and thought 'well done, Lambert' to be honest. Hopefully Mourinho stops doing that leaving early nonsense.

http://gfycat.com/IllustriousSpectacularKusimanse If Hazard ever did that I would be embarrassed.

He's really not.

A world-class Airline for a world-class club. Unlucky, Term-X. I know you wanted Apple or some other nonsense. Chin up, son.

And yet I wouldn't swap Hazard for any of those players. I wouldn't even have to think twice.