Tortilla9

lol!!! She's 17 and loves football. She's played since she was 6 and she usually "educates" me during games. Her love of the game started with two events: 1. Spent a year in Spain for work and we were "exposed" to Spanish football. Atletico Madrid was easier to access than RM and that's where we fell in love with Torres and football. 2. "Bend it Like Beckham" the movie. She is still a fan of Becks to this day. He may be slow as dirt but his dead ball delivery and crosses are still pin point accurate.

My daughter saw the little message from him to the fans and she said "awwww he is soooo cute, I want his jersey". I have to admit to a little crush myself on the little guy. Really excited to have him here.

Or maybe Malouda gets sold, Yossi takes the 15 which is his father's #, and Mata gets #10.

Romelu's portion of the presser seemed a little more light hearted compared to Oriol's. Speaking English and that laugh of his were great for Romelu. Felt like they were grilling Oriol "what about Barca, what about Cesc, what about your buyback, what about Barca". Liked how both players faces lit up when their compatriots were mentioned - Hazard and Mata.

He played in the reserves game today and scored the winning goal.

I was watching the game alone and like most I was muttering about Kalou. My resident expert/daughter sat down later in the afternoon and watched the game by herself. I came in the room a few minutes before Kalou got subbed and she knew he was going to be subbed. I asked her if she thought he should have been subbed and she said "he wasn't the only one playing like sh*t". I was thinking back to one of her youth coaches who was a raving lunatic. During one game he started pulling girls out because they were playing horribly. They ended up playing 8 v 11 (and they had 8 girls sitting on the bench) because he was so pissed off. I know you can't do that at this level but can you imagine who would have been left playing after the first half. Back to Kalou, she said "what the hell is on his head, he should be subbed for that stupid thing".

I haven't seen the video yet. Did he speak in English?

Adidas must be loving that Oriol photo.

Mata is going to need to take a page from Torres on his personal website - needs an English and Spanish version now that he's in the PL. When Torres transfer saga was going on, he (his people) updated his website frequently with the initial bid, the rejection, Torres handing in his request, the second bid, the acceptance. He/his people used his website as a tool. I remember it hit me that he was official at Chelsea when the background changed on his website from red to blue. Can't wait to see Mata's website change with Chelsea photos.

Where did the Sun comments come from? I ask because somebody said usually players do their first interview with ChelseaFC and then the media. Did I miss something?

Harry, please STFU! http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2028969/Redknapp-blasts-Mata-midfielder-verge-completing-29m-Chelsea-switch.html

He looks like a mini Federer to me.

Every club goes through a time when they look at their more experienced players and ask the question of can they still contribute at the same level? are they still a starter? are they a bench player? who can we replace them with? do we need to move them on? do we need to take a different approach? Chelsea seems to be at a crossroads with a few of these players. Do you keep starting them because they're club legends who have contributed to trophies and past success? Is that reason enough? Do you keep starting them because what you have on the bench isn't better? How do you get your bench better unless you give them experience? Is it status quo because a lot of players are comfortable? Chelsea fans/supporters have been begging for youth, fresh new faces. They're here. What do you do with them? The big question for AVB in my mind is how he continues to drive toward winning while incorporating the new faces. How slow is the bedding in process? Chelsea need to make some tough decisions or it may be more of the same from last season.

My computer at work is crap. Hopefully somebody else has found it and posted it. It was from Sky Sports.

Juan is in London. http://yfrog.com/kkr4wsuj

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2011/aug/22/juan-mata-chelsea-sid-lowe The subsequent departures of Silva and Villa saw him become occasional captain and take increasing responsibility for creativity: his passing is crisp, his movement intelligent and his timing impeccable when it comes to arriving late to finish or dashing beyond the defensive line. He has scored 28 goals over the past three seasons. Last season he scored eight and provided eight assists, creating 74 chances. On average, only one player – Real Madrid's Mesut Ozil – created more goalscoring opportunities from open play. At the end of the season, Opta built a team of the season: Mata was one of only two non-Madrid or Barcelona outfield players included, alongside the Málaga winger Santi Cazorla. Nominally playing on the left, Mata likes to drop inside and become involved. "I am not," he says, "an old-style winger stuck right out on the wing and limited to running at people and getting crosses in. I like to drop inside, and get between the lines. I tend not to try to take people one on one; I believe in movement, interchange, and being vertical [incisive]." With Valencia there was great mobility among the line of three behind the strikers and this summer's U21 European Championships, at which Mata provided more assists than anyone else as Spain were proclaimed champions, revealed his capabilities in a more central role. He had become the complete playmaker. It is those qualities that Chelsea – and Fernando Torres, aware of the potential benefits to him – were so keen to add.

Funny how transfers are. Torres when he left Atletico Madrid signed for Liverpool and came back and said goodbye officially with the blessing of Atletico. Mata the same thing with Valencia. Torres with Liverpool not so much.

Here I thought Gourlay was just sitting in his office eating pies. Go figure.

Nurse asked if Mata was any good. I'm pretty unimpressed with the media in the US but reading the English football media I wonder sometimes. There seem to be so many public biases that are never questioned.

You guys follow the BBC more than I do. Is Howard Nurse for real? He said on twitter: Juan Mata on his way to sign for Chelsea - is he any good?

So he hopes.

The image of the Bull and the Matador - very Espana there.

Everybody will pass him the ball. It's the Chelsea way.

Who cares that he doesn't say a peep to the English media as long as he's working behind the scenes. Casa de Torres is going to be a hopping place.

Isn't Oriol the "Bull"? lol