Tomo

Part of me hopes they nick it so it keeps Arteta in a job longer.

Yes, haha

He desperately wants to play in Qatar so i'm cautiously hopeful we've got two season's plus the part of 22/23 before the world cup. Maybe if Brazil win it and/or we're in a title/CL fight he'd be able to ride the crest of a wave and complete a 3rd season.

As has been adressed to you before, no one has an issue with the fact you don't particularly rate Mount, it's the clear and obvious bitterness and hatred you display towards him. I've not seen a Chelsea fan speak about Dele Alli with the same level of venom you speak about Mount.

That much rotation is overkill in my opinion, we should only really be looking to rest the players who played all through the international break. Hopefully we will win this and also Sevilla which will secure top spot with a game to spare, and effectively turn Kransador at Stamford Bridge into a friendly, so then we can rest all the first team.

In fairness, that decision hasn't exactly backfired on Bayern!

At some point we need to take calculated gambles with rotation and this game seems as good a chance as any. I wouldn't go overboard but I feel Zouma, Mount, Werner and possibly Kante need a rest.

He looks better than Dubravka, he's (Dubravka) a great shot stopper but has errors in him, not sure he can translate his form to a top team but Darlow looks like an all round package, he read almost every Ziyech delivery.

On another note we should look at Darlow as the next back up keeper if he keeps this up, looks a complete keeper.

Hold my hands up, didn't think he could play as a sitter especially not in a possession based side but he's back to his defensive best and we're still building up brilliantly (which was my main concern with him playing there). Couldn't be happier!

Biggest compliment is how teams are now choosing to take corners short instead of lumping it in our box. Massive transformation from last season.

Also Oli's known for being very streaky (Arsenal bombed out of two title races when he was number 1 there because of such) so even if we rewarded him with starting this season as number 1 his track record suggests he'd have lost his place fairly quickly. On another note always makes me laugh that whenever we get a good squad player for some reason a section of the fanbase get giddy and think they should become starters, Remy and Begovic other examples.

It "wasn't fair" that we dropped Cudicini for Cech. It "wasn't fair" that we released Hasselbaink to make room for Drogba. It "wasn't fair" that Tiago was made redundant to make room for Essien. It "wasn't fair" that Bridge went down the pecking order so we could sign Ash. Making tough decisions even when they're a little harsh is what separates the serial winners from the cup teams.

Well there's also been goals where Mount did the work that was deserving of the assist but didn't get it (Alonso Vs Spurs and Giroud Vs Watford for example) and IIRC you were the first to dismiss his contributions to those goals.

He may be a freak 36 year old but he's still a 36 year old, needs to be managed carefully.

In a way i'm happy about that because it means high quality back up/competition will almost certainly be high on the agenda next summer, if not in January.

Players aren't fans, we may find international breaks boring but for them playing for their country is the holy grail. Infact look at Thiago Silva, he's practically admitted the next world cup is the main thing that is keeping him so heavily motivated at this point.

This is Lampard we're talking about, freezing out in his language is two months in the naughty corner then return with a purple patch. Also if we're going to do the customary 3atb vs Spurs in a fortnight, then Alonso can come in useful.

If outside spread was that big a problem more of our squad would have caught it from Kai. We also played Thiago Alcantara days before he got it and none of ours did, plus the United squad that faced us would have had close contact with Telles who caught it around that time. I mean, anything's possible but we've had similar "scares" already and we didn't get a single positive result from our camp (AFAIK).

30 minutes to get up to speed we didn't need to give him. All adds up.

I know you said it in jest but it would make no sense for him to say that to Billy at this point, he needs the extra match fitness just like Ziyech did on the last break.

Could potentially be worked around by giving him 200k and the rest in a signing on fee. However he quite clearly has no interest in the PL so it's a moot point.

I think it will say more for just how mentally strong that squad are as much as it hurts to admit it. We had major injury problems in 06/07 and 07/08 but our sheer warrior like mentality and spirit meant we somehow kept up with and challenged Fergie's very best United sides. I see a similar spirit in these lot, unless Alisson gets injured (Adrian is tragically bad) i think they will still find a way to challenge at a minimum unfortunately.

Yeah and everyone suffered for it, look at the bizarre results not just in the PL all around Europe so far, even Bayern have took a hammering.

The ironic thing is it probably benefits the lesser sides just as much. Firstly, apart from the odd 1/2 star players the squads lower down the league are pretty average, which means replacing them with their compatriot doesn't give much of a difference, take Burnley for example, apart from Pope and maybe McNeil, are the alternatives in each position that much of a downgrade on the players that start? I remember Wolves (when they were shit under Mick McCarthy) made 11 changes for a match against United and there wasn't really much if any gulf in quality compared to their first choice team atall. Secondly, if clubs like Burnley are playing shit house backs to the walls to try and get a 0-0 or cling onto a narrow win, an extra two players that are physically and most important (for that type of tactics) mentally fresh could be huge.