Waterfall

Pretty sure Matic is the leader in distance covered in CL. Not sure where this stamina concern came from.

Yeah he was absolutely outstanding. Would have single-handedly won them the game if it weren't for last minute goal.

Played an absolutely delightful through-ball to Piazon who calmly finished against Wolfsburg. There were also a couple of decent long passes and good tracking back. Think he will start for Vitesse.

It's a quote, people.

Nope. He was bought when he was already over 21 and he spent more time out on loan

Perhaps it was "embarrassing" essentially selling him for peanuts, but buying him back is not embarrassing at all.

Because managers lie which Jose himself admitted. That said, there's no doubt that there is zero leg to this rumour

Rumour is Traore will be immediately loaned out to West Ham. There's a doubt about whether he can get the work permit in England, but West Ham must know something to give it a try.

RMC: Chelsea have entered into negotiations with Saint Etienne for the transfer of Kurt Zouma. More to follow.

tbf he wasn't slighting United. He would have said the same thing if he went to Bayern

And pretty sure Costa won't move this window.

Release clause only kicks in next year. 50M euro rumor's from a German tabloid. If Dortmund are willing to sell and Reus wants to leave, reinvesting Mata+De Bruyne money on him would make sense. However, nothing's going to happen in January.

I absolutely love him, but he has to earn his playing time just like any other player. Willian has played himself into the first team, and Mata should try to do that himself.

Most people who start their posts with "Sorry for my poor English" actually use the language perfectly fine, and it's the same with you. As for how I feel about the possible Guarin signing, I think he can provide squad depth at a very important position we are currently lacking at. I've also always loved physicality and athleticism in players, so I'd be more than happy with him. If he can gain some consistency, I think he will be massive for us.

Think it's too early. He's not shown much consistency at the youth level, and often goes missing for large portions of the game.

He and Cahill have proven to be great value signings.

Except Bradley's actually very good himself. I don't want either though.

Pretty sure Monaco's not subject to the new super tax law.

Unfortunately I trust Mario's state of mind more than Torres/Eto'o/Ba's scoring ability. Also I think Balotelli's always been genuinely liked by his teammates like he's their little brother. He can be batshit crazy at times, but I don't think he's that big of a risk chemistry-wise even considering potential fights in training.

I think Balo's matured a bit since his days in Inter. He also manages to stay more composed for Italy. But the biggest point I want to make is that a crazy Balotelli's better than sane Torres/Ba/Eto'o. We are playing with 10 anyway

Arsenal have hardly been worse than us this season. Also, we lost at Everton, Newcastle and Stoke, and they aren't even better than us. A point at Emirates is a good result considering how awful we've been away from home.

Had more shots on goal, got a draw away at one of the title contenders, and some people are complaining?

So they only had domestic success? Uh... who cares? We play in a very different league where the last few champions didn't have any high class deep lying playmakers, our team included. Carrick can pass but he's no playmaker, and Scholes simply didn't play much. It's true Schweinsteiger's been dropping deeper and deeper as he's aged, but he's no deep lying playmaker in a sense that Pirlo and Xabi Alonso are. He's still a very complete player who gets up and down. I can give you Xavi, but even he's moved further up the pitch than he used to early in his career. And of course when he plays for Spain, he's got Busquets and Xabi behind him. Also, Suarez and Ronaldo were strikers with play making ability, not the other way around. Anyway my point is that we simply need certain qualities from our midfielder not necessarily the style of Pirlo or Xabi. Yaya Toure is not like Pirlo, but we could use him more than we could use Pirlo.

Guess what. Dortmund, Juve and Real haven't won shit in CL. Also, Schweinsteiger and Xavi aren't exactly deep lying playmakers, are they? Schweinsteiger is as complete as a midfielder can get, and Xavi plays further up the pitch for both club and country. Just because they can pass, it doesn't mean they are suddenly deep lying. Look at next WC's favourites. Where's Brazil's deep lying midfielder? Germany doesn't play with one either. Khedira and Schweinsteiger are both complete CM's - closer to box-to-box which Ramires and Guarin are. For a stop gap (or rotation player), Guarin's not bad. If we are just talking about midfielder's ability to pass, Guarin can make key passes, and he's created more clear-cut chances than anyone in Serie A this season.

I don't get this sudden obsession with new and different deep lying playmakers. We've always done very well without one, and we need power and strength, especially now that our attacking midfielders don't provide any. The problem right now isn't that we have players like Lampard and Essien. It's that we have old and broken-down versions of them. I would take guys like Matic and Guarin any day of the week because that's Chelsea football to me.