Tomo

So in this theory we should never have signed Cech and Cudicini should still be our keeper, infact while were at it lets resign Duff and give him 90 minutes every game, Hazard will never love Chelsea like Duff and he was great in 2004.

I don't get the embarrassment thing yeah its easily looks that way in hindsight but for one Matic their is Sinclair, Mancienne etc etc Also this is where constantly changing managers works against us, Carlo didn't want him but Jose does, if Jose was here in 2011 maybe he would never have left, who knows?

Luiz in midfield is a stickly plaster option just like Essien in defence was, Rafa and Jose are only doing it due to lack off options. If we sign Matic and MVG makes a return sooner rather than later the only way David is going back in the only pivot is if we have a stupid injury crisis.

well taken goal but my god how many attacks can one person mess up.

Actually this style is what makes me feel most secure and what makes me believe we are in with a real chance in this race. As good as Citys you shoot we shoot game can look on the eye sometimes the oppo will take more chances and City are not gret tactically under pellegrini which could come back to bite them with their big away games coming up.

Im surprised Liverpool fans are saying he plays like he doesn't give a fuck , if there was one thing you could say about him for us is he put a shift in.

Thought i was the only one thinking this, this thread has similarities to the Newcastle pre match one.

Sam Allardyce is the 13th highest paid manager in world football.

Luiz and Cahill is similar to having a top keeper and decent squad one anyway. Luiz is the one who has all the tools to be well, whatever he wants to be, while Cahill is the player keeping David on his toes. Even saying that, rotation in defense happens a lot more than in goal anyway. Goalkeeper is a completely different ball game.

I was watching 'banged up abroad' the other night and their was this gay bloke that went to Saudi Arabi on a job, and he got nicked on suspicion that he was gay. If in the future a footballer does 'come out', would that lead to problem's if a world cup was hosted in a country were it's illegal? in other words, will it even be safe for him to travel? Scott Mills (radio 1 presenter) went to Uganda and admitted to the president he was gay, and he called the police to seize the video tape, and that was for being gay, not even doing anything.

True, i would hope that if or when he returns that the other keeper is good enough for Jose to do what Pellegrini did to Hart i he has a wobble.

Competition in goal is different from outfield, you can't make a tactical sub from the goalkeeper in the match, like you can with say attacking midfield to make sure Mata is still getting a decent amount of minutes. Im not saying give them a free pass, yes have a good keeper like Schwarzer, Pantilimon, Lindegaard, Tremmell that would keep whoever out of Cech and Courtois on their toes, but having two world class keeper's just isn't practical.

There seems to be some general consensus to over-rate City full stop, they haven't ran away with one title yet they are "by far" the best team in the league We were full value for our lead at half time against City, if anything it should have been more, the suggestion we got outplayed that game is laughable.

I remember when we won back to back title's under Jose first time and comfortably, it was amazing but i always knew in the back to my mind that United had the young pair Rooney and Ronaldo and it was only a matter of time before they fully exploded and because of that United started challenging us hard for titles, it actually started in the second half of 05/06, but luckily we were well away at the top by then that season. Now with Hazard and Oscar we have exactly the same luxury.

Your own opinion of the way you like the game to be played is fine, but Xavi is showing clear arrogance and contempt to teams that don't play a certain way and by the way he spoke seems to think there's only one way of playing football and they have some sort of moral victory every time they lose, it's pathetic.

Didn't Cole's have a couple of lay off's last season which accounted for about 10 of his appearances? Then there was the Europa and games like QPR and Southampton where Rafa pretty much rested the whole first Xl because of another game shortly after. Also he had a fair few game at LW, especially at the start of the season, also a few of them were off the bench to protect a lead late on (for example, both matches against Arsenal). I think the Cole was the best LB in the world still being used past it's sell by date was mainly people who didn't watch Chelsea and hang on to the same cliche's, Ferdinand's name was still in the worlds best defender's debate's up until about a year ago, even tho he hasn't been at that level since 2008. Back to Ryan, he should have made more appearances without question, but some players just seem made to be dependable squad players, and, imo, Ryan's one of them. There's no shame in that, infact i would much rather we use the academy for squad depth than buy tripe like Marko Marin for the same purpose.

Haven't you heard? if you play more than 10 neat triangles by half time you get awarded the win.

He has played under 5 manager's at Chelsea and despite Cole being in a steady decline since he (Ryan) got promoted to the squad, none off them have made the change but at the same time have kept him around, that suggest's they think similar to what i do, good squad player, but not much more than that. And like you said he gained lots of experience out on loan, we are not talking about Aziz Deen-Conteh.

Toure is lazy defensively, infact when we go to The Ethiad i wouldn't be surprised in the slightest if Jose specifically targets the space he would leave on the counter attack. Man.City under Pellegrini are being heavily over-rated, people just look at their squad man for man and assume they will run away with the league (they might, but so might us and Arsenal), Manuel has given players freedom to express themself's and at times it's great to watch, but tactically they are like Arsenal of 2009-2010 with superior players, i can't see them winning many big games away from home under that blueprint and for that reason alone i think we stand a decent enough chance of getting something in Eastland's. Watch their game against Liverpool compared to our's and the difference tactically is night and day.

Nobody could have took on Barcelona then, played them at an open game and beat them (unless your keeper had the game off his live or they had extremely wasteful finishing, like they did that night at The Emirates, but rectified that quickly in the second game). You could spend a billion, but you still wouldn't have a CM as good as Xavi and Iniesta, a player as good as Messi, or a bunch off players that could keep the ball for 5 minutes then get it straight back within 10 seconds of losing it. Arsenal tried to beat them at their own game, got hammered twice, no shots on target in one. Tika Taka is the most effective form of football if you can get it right, but it needs to be spot on for it to work, Arsenal tried it to a point, and they were the most easiest team to tactically set up against for a good number of years.

Against Arsenal he was, but against Cardiff and Swindon he wasn't excellent, a decent performance yes and enough to have earned more chances than he has defiantly, but he was a standard 6-7/10 in those two games.

I know it's the Hazard thread but because he is in discussion here im going to give my 2 penny's worth. This is Lukaku ready or not is a bit off a grey area, is he ready to be a member of the squad and play a fair amount of minutes but get gradually eased into the club? absolutely. Whether Lukaku is ready for Chelsea is not the debate because he is, where the 'is he ready' debate comes in is about being the number 1 forward playing every match and holding the club's expectations on his shoulders? Is he ready for all that (yet)? Im not so sure. He wanted to go to a club who will give him the number one role in a WC year, although in hindsight looking at Benteke's form he could have played for us and still made it as #1 for Belgium in Brazil.

Just thinking how relieved must he be he didn't go to United? The mental image of him taking instruction's from Moyes is disturbing. Happy Birthday.

No one is trying to blame Mata for the last two season's, in the first one he single handedly prevented us from fighting for 8th place with Liverpool and Fulham. But when the reasoning to play him and build the team around him is "he was the best players in those two season's", then people will bring up just how poor we were as a team in 11/12 and inconsistent in 12/13. I mean Demba Ba was the best player in the Newcastle team that finished above us in Mata's first season, does that mean Demba has to be part of our new spine too?