Joker10

It looked deliberate, he turned around to ashley slowley and calmely, would expect a jiterey and more unexpected reaction for someone who miscontrolled the ball. If RDM can make Mata, Hazard, and Oscar work and fire on all cylinders we will have a great team on our hand. By work i mean playing to their strengths and hidding their weaknesses. I think Mata has the best final ball on the team and most creative at that. Hazard on the hand is the most dynamic on the ball, because of his close control and dribbling. Oscar well....simply i think he is the most complete player don't mistake complete with the best player but i think out of the three and i think he has the highest celling.

Before i sing praises for Mikel and Ramires midfield, i need to see how they perform against an actual midfield. Would have rated his performance much higher if he stop hoofing the ball. I rate his skills on the ball so highly, but his counterpart Cahill was so much smarter on the ball always making good smart passes. other than that he was fantastic. Hopefully Danny gets his oppertunity sooner, because i can't stand seeing Torres for another full game. Another position we can improve on is RB, With Hazard, Oscar, and Mata upfront our fullbacks needs to push further and provide width. Ashley did his part imo, but Ivanovic didn't and when he goes forward he cuts in a lot. I want to see Cesar tried at RB because he is so much more natural on the ball and can do better going forward.

Not really i always rated Cesc finishing ability and eye for goals, only Lampard surpass him from midfield. btw Cesc was decent, but i wouldn't want him playing as false 9 on a permanent basis. Anyway for me Hazard skill set is closer to Iniesta then Messi if i had to make a comparison.

Last season for example most of his goals didn't come from open play. From what i have seen Hazard finishing is definitely not one of his strengths. Csec is a great finisher which is why he was tried as a false 9.

can i get a link to that list?

No he is not, Ramos is still trying to find his place at CB and find consistency Mourinho benched him against City, because of his poor performance against Sevilla. Wouldn't be surprised if he is moved back to RB, but he definitely has a higher upside at CB. You can have your opinion, but i think it is ludicrous to call Ramos a top 5 cb. I don't even think Madrid most biased fans would even try to attempt your statement.

no, not even the best CB on his team. Ramos is in the same league as David Luiz. Ramos has also been criticized a lot in Real Madrid, especially in recent performances.

Ramos is basically like our own David Luiz with a lot of the same attributes and faults. pointless signing that would be. our defensive problem is collective, not one player can fix this. The team as a whole needs to improve defending.

PVA also setup a goal.

Well not really fair, i still think Huntelaar is an excellent striker and could do well at a "big club." Didn't think he did that bad at Real Madrid. Consider he wasn't even a primary choice with Raul and Higuain at the club. He was only there for half a season during a bad time at the club, wasn't a instant success but neither was Benzema who was awful for nearly a season a half. Benzema was strongly backed at the club got numerous opportunity, something KJH didn't get. Didn't follow him closely at Milan, so can't make a strong judgement on his spell at Milan. But i can say in his first year at Schalke he was pretty bad on par with performances at Madrid and Milan, you could see a striker out of form and lacking confidence. He turned it around last season. From my observation i think he can succeed at a big club, he had difficult circumstances at Milan and Madrid, neither team showed great support in him. If Schalke sold him or allowed him to leave like his two previous clubs after his first season, we would probably say he can't succeed outside of the Eredivisie since he wasn't an instant success there either. Who knows if either Milan and Madrid gave him more support, we probably won't be calling him poster boy for the "big fish small bond" theory. He is a fantastic striker, he can succeed at a "big club." I personally consider Schalke and Ajax big clubs.

Simply not true, and if true it doesn't say much because over the past two years we have looked our worst in years especially in midfield. Beginning of Carlo second year, Ramires was barely used and we looked good. Last year in our CL and FA Cup run, we looked much better when Ramires was moved out of midfield into RW. Those two are stretches of games, but i am sure i can name many performances where our teams looked good without Ramires in midfield. As i said our team was abysmal in the past two years and incredibly dysfunctional in midfield, so him being one of the best players on those teams say a lot more about how poor we were then how good he was. Agreed the team has tactical flaws, but this reflects way more on RDM then Mata and Hazard. I don't think RDM has done enough to change our team to tailor around our best players. He basically gone with the approach that replacing Kalou and Malouda with better players and keeping last season formula will make us a better team. Simply not going happen, because in some aspects Kalou and Malouda are better then Hazard and Mata, talking about defensively and work rate.

He plays the CDM position without much success though. He left Brazil exposed on multiple occasions vs South Africa, when he went forward. 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1? You switch your formation and style to accommodate your best players, for me Ramires is clearly not one of them. Switching formation could possibly neglect Mata and Hazard effectiveness, we shouldn't do that in favor of Ramires.

Maybe he is not good enough or shown enough to play ahead of the players ahead of him. It's humorous how posters here keep coming up with ridiculous conspiracy theories to justify why he is not playing, when in fact in all likely it is because he is not good enough. With Raul and Essien gone he will get his chance with the depleted options we have. I am looking forward to it personally because so many myths have been said about his quality. First of all we still don't know if Barca has a buy back option or just a mere a first refusal option in the event we decide to sell him. Because Catalans press claim almost every player has inserted a certain clause with Barcelona. example the rumors of Drogba having a clause that he can break his contract if Barca came calling. If there is a clause then he would need to make a serious impression for Barca to activate that clause, because Barca have the best dm in the world in Busquets and vastly superior player in Song in his position. I haven't even mentioned Mascherano, JDS, or Thiago who are capable playing Dm at Barca.

Oscar will compete against Lampard. Here is a quote from Oscar weeks back 'It would be in the position of Lampard. The Di Matteo spoke and said that one of my strengths will be playing there. But playing in the position of Mata also open game, he knows it. It's a smart coach. Chelsea have not only I, but other versatile players." Not sure if he means in the double pivot or Lampard LCM role in 4-3-3. Link:http://www.weaintgotnohistory.com/2012/8/22/3260151/what-do-chelsea-see-as-oscars-eventual-position

If he says it is a professional issue then it clearly has nothing to do with the anniversary of his fathers death. I have heard it has something to do with Real Madrid treatment of Kaka and attempting to push him out.

Neymar contract runs out in 2014, which makes him a free agent.

Not really a surprise that he is going on loan, it became pretty obvious when Todd Kane was named captain earlier in the summer.

Your statement: "by buying technique over physique we have to accept that we won't win too many trophies." My counter: I used Barca and Brazil successful history to counter your argument. Quite honestly there is no evidence of Physical players> technical players as a formula for success, contrary more evidence to support the other. The game of football has always been about technique. Physical players> technical players is a English/British mentality, look no further then England NT to see how much of a fail this mentality is. No one said we should play like Barca or pretend we are Spanish ffs technical players /=/ Barca or Spanish players. The last sentence in your post.....never mind i am not even going to comment.

My biggest worry before RDM was appointed, was simply the question "Is he capable of building a style of play to get the best out of our new signings." That is the biggest question...so far i think our players are being under utilized.

No....sigh does it have to be mentioned that the greatest club side in our life time is probably also the most smallish side in the world. Does it have to be mentioned that the NT with the most world cups is renowned for their technical skills. Biggest problem is we are not utilizing our technical players the best way.

Mikel---Romeu -----Oscar want to see this going forward.. with Hazard and Mata out wide.

First part: we have moses. Not comparing our strikers and goalscorers to Real Madrid quality but from a sheer number standpoint we match up. Second part: Yes some are Americans and while the others are Brazilians. i have chatted with Barca fans on forums, i have also seen Montoya quite a bit. I hope you are not implying since they are Americans you would disregard their opinion. Anyone in the world can be passionate about a club no matter where they are and whatever their nationalities may be. Anyway i really don't wish to discuss Montoya any further, i don't think he would be any where near the Spanish NT if he wasn't from La Masia. I'll just leave it at that.

I was answering the question of quantity not quality. The question was who would play if Torres is injured and Sturridge plays a lot. Sturridge is not a prospect.

Overrated as hell, most of my Barcelona mates don't even rate him. But on the other hand Barca's Grimaldo is going be a gem. anyway Carvajal>>> Montoya