Bir_CFC

Felt bad for us when he left but now I feel bad for him. Should have just waited till the summer and went to PSG or Spain. Why jump on a sinking ship? United don't deserve him, Moyes doesn't deserve him.

At the top level, the game is as much mental as it is physical. And, when you see physical marvels such as Zouma, Lukaku in the opposing lineup couple with world class talents like Hazard and Oscar. A certain fear goes down your spine. You've already lost the match mentally. Plus the new high intensity pressing, we already make it tough to beat us. Sooner rather than later, even trying to devise a gameplan to beat this Chelsea team will become a task too difficult for many teams. Being able to beat the top top european clubs is still a work in progress but the mid-table, bottom table teams that have often caused us trouble at random times over the past few years will slowly begin to bend over for us even before kick-off.

Just get Lamps on. They aren't packing the half with 11, they are packing their own box with 11. They are even leaving gaps on the outside of the box that's how deep they are. Just get Lamps on and let him take shots from there.

I don't think Mou actually has a point either when he says that stuff. Just trying to deflect. He brings it up at the most random times. It's like he has a few go-to statements about every team. Whenever, someone mentions that team or manager he brings it up for no reason. City - great team, finished article, they have the best squad they should win the title, all the pressure is on them Arsenal - easy fixtures United - great team, great character, they will keep on fighting but title is out of reach Liverpool - stop complaining/crying/diving

No way! Maybe I should watch more of him but to me he seems very fast without the ball. He's still quick with it, but I don't think he's Willian quick with the ball at his feet. I also think we're being a little optimistic. He's a pretty small dude, adjusting to the power in the PL will take some time surely. I hope I'm wrong though, but for the moment I'm tempering my expectations, at least for the remainder of this season.

As oppose to shaw is a defensive juggernaut? lol. I have seen more than enough of both players to make the judgement that there's nothing between them both defensively and offensively. The epl experience is the only factor that shades it in favour of Shaw not ability. As for the point in bold. I'm actually one of Bertrand's biggest fans, I rate his defensive ability very highly however, the ability to defend is only one aspect of a fullbacks game and PVA is miles superior to him offensively. It then boils down to which aspect you rate more in a fullback taking into account the system and style of play of the team as some team's offensive strategy relies heavily on their fullbacks joining the attack to provide width and extra option. Well I'll focus on Chelsea and it's clear defense is a bigger concern for a full back. Hence, why I rate Bertrand more than PVA. And no Shaw isn't a defensive juggernaut, but I don't think he'd be a liability whereas I def think PVA would be one. And comparing PVA in Eredivisie to Shaw in the PL is useless. Piazon is considered one of the best player in that league right now. I won't be convinced with PVA until he shows me something in the PL.

Defensive ability. PVA is great going forward but he's not good defensively. Not saying he hasn't improved. He's definitely improved while at Vitesse but he's still not good enough imo. Often out of position and his pace compensates for it because the Eredivisie doesn't have enough quality to punish his every mistake. Won't get away with it in the PL. I'm not saying I watched every Vitesse match, but I've seen a lot and Bertrand is without doubt a better LB than him. I think we should let Ash leave, sell PVA, sign Luke and bring back Bertrand and let them both fight it out.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1acd9x_chelsea-tv-s-tribute-to-juan-mata_sport

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODxuMH0_M5M

Yes it does, if that player goes straight into our first XI. 18 years old, at a minimum he'll have 12 years where he'll be a starting caliber player. If we pay 25M for him, that's an FFP hit of approx. 2M/yr. In comparison, hypothetically if you were to pay 15M for a 25 y/o starting caliber LB. That's 3M/yr for him. Even though the fee is 10M less for him, the age makes a huge difference and still tips it in favour of Shaw.

That team will concede 4 goals a game. They have so many wingers, I don't see them playing such a narrow formation. 4-4-2 maybe De Gea Rafael - Evans - Vidic - Evra Mata - Carrick - Cleverly - Januzaj RVP - Rooney or 4-2-3-1 De Gea Rafael - Evans - Vidic - Evra Carrick - Cleverly Mata - Rooney - Januzaj RVP

Does anyone want to take over my team, Super Villains? I still have some experienced players and have already started the transition with a lot of young players part of the squad too. <br />I just haven't had a lot of time the past season. Forgot to set my tactics several times due to inactivity. <br />Only accept if you will be active otherwise I rather continue doing a half ass job.

Send him to Bundesliga next season. Depending on how he performs there, then maybe PL and then Chelsea possibly. Should do the same with the kids at Vitesse too.

One of my all-time favourite Chelsea goals. Everything about it was orgasmic. The venue, scenario, the strike, the player, the pass, the celebration, the commentary (ESSSIIIIEEEEEEENNNN!!!!). Just awesome.

Oscar not so much but I think Willian links up really well with Hazard.

While he'll surely improve, I don't think Oscar will ever come close to even 50% of Mata's vision and creativity. Just a different kind of player. He has ability to cover the goals but I don't see the assists getting anywhere close to Mata level.

It's the general transfer thread. You're going to call out every single non-chelsea related post in a thread where majority of the posts are not related to Chelsea?

What idiots fail to realize is that we're not replacing Mata with Salah. Mata has already been replace with Oscar! Salah will be replacing Mata's contributions for this season, which considering how little he's been able to contribute can be easily replicated or improved by Salah.

Great article: http://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/espnfcunited/id/11843?cc=5901 If United have 40M to spend, they will get better with or without Mata, I don't think it's about improving them because if they don't get Mata now they'll get Reus or some other world class players in the summer with that kind of money. His sale was inevitable, and I'm sure everyone would have preferred to leave it till the summer but with the world cup looming and Spain as one of the favourites, you can't really blame Mata for requesting a move away now as it doesn't look like he was going to be a key player here and most likely would not have made the WC squad. Can't blame him and won't blame him. The only negative is that we all love him and it'll just hurt to see him at United. It hurt to see him on the bench but slowly we accepted that and I'm sure if we re-invest the monies and get stronger and win the title, it'll def help us move on.

Spot on. Plus leaving Salah on the bench instead of Mata won't make any headlines either. The only question is that is he just a stop-gap for this year cause we're loosing 2 AMs or does Mou actually see him as a viable squad player for the future? It'd be stupid to buy him just to avoid an injury crisis. Just recall Moses or something if that's the plan.

Compare all you want, as long as we're higher in the table, neither Oscar nor anyone else will care. Secondly, don't talk about pressure getting the best of Oscar. While he may be young, on the pitch, mentally and even physically he's no 21 year old. Dude has never hid in a big game, yeah he may have bad games but he doesn't go hiding. I can't recall anytime he's let pressure get the best of him in Chelsea colours.

I don't know why Athletico would sell in this window considering they can possibly win la liga and get very far in the CL. Just doesn't make any sense. They would be bigger idiots than us to let him go in this window.

Shit, any news on how bad? Colombia were looking pretty good too for the WC.

I don't know if he is. He has decent workrate and can get stuck in, but he's pretty weak physically similar to Mata. Gets pushed off the ball very easily.

I won't believe this until it happens and if we do sell him to United, I don't know how I'm going to handle it. Surely, we can't be this stupid. Surely, there must be someone else in Europe that would want Mata as well. Accept a little less if needed, just don't sell him within the PL. If we do sell him, we need an AM to replace him. Just 4 for 3 positions isn't good enough. Maybe recall someone from loan.