i dont think those stats are right mate. mata made 13 appearances in PL for us, and just 2 in CL. and as you said, assessment of mata is difficult because of his new role. which was my earlier point. i think you have put a very weird spin on it. even without cesc and costa we were PL contenders. even without cesc, costa, KDB, mata we were PL contenders. infact, if mata had stayed, we would most probably have won the league. we did not need cesc for it. in 13/14, towards the end of the season, we played a 1-0 to palace, 1-0 to villa and 0-0 to norwich. 3 games where we could not even score and could not break a deep defence. tailor-made for mata. cesc and costa were additions to a team which without half a season with a proper DM(matic), which without a proper striker should still have won the league. i dont think you can say that mata's departure has made us a PL contender. i have to massively disagree on this point. overall in 13/14: mata - appearances - 32, goals - 7, assists - 8, minutes - 2330, 155 minutes/goal-assist. overall in 13/14: oscar - appearances - 47, goals - 11, assists - 10, minutes - 3113, 149 minutes/goal-assist. hardly any difference, and do not forget how pathetic oscar was at the end of the season. i remember people saying "oh his mind is on the world cup, he is only a kid, its bound to happen". another poor excuse. if a player is not dropped after a performance he put in against city - obviously he is going to praise the manager. do you remember that 3-0 thrashing and how absolutely shit cesc was? 15 seconds and he let silva turn and put aguero through. by the way, if i am not wrong, whoscored gave cesc the highest rating among chelsea players for that game. just tells, you how random their ratings are. on the other hand, you have players like KDB and mata, who are benched for no good reason. schurrle was played ahead of lukaku at the OT. bertrand and luis were not even given a chance. well, you get why these players would say the things they do. fair enough, a buy back should have been included. but do you think KDB would even consider working under jose again? i dont think so. i was just replying to you saying that RLC needs to engage more in the game. for me that can only happen on the field. also, i feel, youth players have to be handled very carefully. 2 years ago chalobah was considered to be our brightest youth propspect. today, no one even talks about him? one bad year and all the hype is down the drain. yes, training with the team is important, but the growth can only happen with hands-on experience. not just in football but almost every other field of career. also, if remy misses oppurtunities, pedro misses more than him. pedro is a very poor finisher. also, i think you underestimate remy's movement, which i feel is very good. not surprising that he can get goals so easily. his movement along with his anticipation is actually quite good. the old saying "right moment at the right time" fits for him. as for costa, there is no "maybe" here. in the present form remy is a better option. infact, i would even put in falcao ahead of him. i remember that goal against palace. a cross in the box, and a well placed header along with a good run. with the amount of crosses we have put in, in the last 3/4 games, i feel if we continue playing this way, falcao can be a bigger threat than "THIS" costa. blackman/amelia, aina, Papy Djilobodji, Bertrand Traoré, RLC, kenedy - atleast 6 players who barely have a shot of starting a PL game ahead of the first teamers if they are fit, irrespective of HOW they are playing. i would even put in baba, remy in that bracket considering ivanovic simply walked into the team and despite baba putting in a MOTM performance in CL, iva still started against spurs. so as i see it, we have 17 players to choose from, out of which 4 are cesc, oscar, rambo and mikel, who should not be more than squad players for chelsea. hardly surprising that we are in a situation we are in, considering our squad strength. and before you say it, NO, the board is not to blame. JOSE is. as for kondogbia, i have to simply ask a question, what DEVELOPMENT? where is it? i would rather have a 22 year old player blocking RLC's development than 3 28 year olds like cesc, ramires and mikel. all of whom, imo, should be here next season. fair enough, about the leadership point, but jose was trying to clear the old guard - cole, cech, lamps. this problem was bound to arise. as for begovic, he is a very good 2nd keeper. most of the teams in this world would love to have begovic as a backup to thibo. yes, he has some shortcomings, but that is nothing compared to some of the shortcomings of our first teamers like oscar, cesc, rambo, mikel. at the end of the day, i have to ask this question. do you think jose is the right man for the next season. do you think he can drop of the "experienced" players even if it is mikel and give pasalic a shot in the team. or drop oscar and give RLC a shot. mould in baba, kenedy, traore. and atleast use some of the talent at our disposal in the form of musonda/boga/baker. expecting ALL of them to be a part of CFC is a major ask. but with jose, except for kenedy (maybe), i dont see a future for ANY of those youngsters at chelsea, which is a shame.
