Sheva.

Lol Torres please gtfo.

Lol why would you pick the worst striker possible? The point is Benzema is a good and very inconsistent player, definitely not underrated. There are some games where he misses a lot, and then against weak teams like Honduras, he can score a lot also.

Sooo?

3 goals against Honduras is certainly no easy task

It's too easy to pin it on 1 player. Barcelona have no defence, Xavi is on massive decline, and even Messi has been injured the past 2 seasons. Fabregas actually contributes to their attack, even if they claim it's only against the weak teams (all la liga teams except like 4 are weak anyway) you still have to beat those.

I'm not worried about the performance. 2 things that did bother me though were; the headbutt. As already mentioned, he does that shit too often. Also, he got a great pass earlier in the game, and he didn't even get a shot off. It shows a lack of confidence imo, and there's nothing worse than having a striker like that. But all it takes is 1 goal to get back in the groove.

what the fuck? i thought this was done long time ago lol.

Meh. He's always good when i watch him for Brazil, and no doubt he will have a good tourney. But that doesn't mean anything for Chelsea, he still needs to improve when it comes to playing against defensive teams.

The type of player you need to maximize the chances Costa has of succeeding here. Schurrle also will benefit hugely, like he does with Kroos for Germany.

Massive signing. Hope he does well.

Hardly anyone ever comes back from loan to start here. Might be the beginning of the end of his Chelsea career.

Wow, 300 quid for some random person posting a picture. Seems very unfair to me, but the law is the law.

Dat long pass.

Lol

So some paper managed to interview Mou, they asked about Fabregas, but nothing about Costa's impending signing?

Ramires-Matic; Fabregas. If Fabregas is signed, i'm very sure we'll see this in the big games away from home. Fabregas will have the same role Lamps had, but he's going to be much better at delivering those passes in behind the defense for the front 3.

Lol what if indeed. Just like you would have thought Matic dominating everywhere will ease some of the burden on Ramires and make him play better. But nothing is ever so simple, Oscar clearly has some problems when so many defenders are standing at the edge of their area. Eto'o and Schurrle are no Messi, but they have good movement and combined well with Hazard, but not Oscar.

By your logic shouldn't playing with a top DM like Matic make Ramires better? If you put Messi in front of Oscar, he will still have the same problems he does against defensive teams.

The strikers are pathetic but they aren't the only problem. Costa won't magically make Ramires a better player, won't make Oscar create more chances, won't make Ivanovic deliver better crosses etc etc. Chelsea could have won the league with a proper striker, but said striker will still have many games where they have close to no supply.

Blaming the strikers is the easy way of Mou passing the blame and not taking any responsibility for his system not working. You cannot have 9 defensive minded players out there (minus Hazard and the striker) and expect to create many chances, and score many goals. Costa will help, but a lot of times, he'll still be feeding off scraps and stupid long balls from Ramires that fly into the stands. It isn't going to kill anyone if we had a more creative team for certain games, and Mourinho can play his defensive football with Ramires and co when necessary.

Our problem last season was not teams not giving us space and time, it was looking totally inept when we had to break down other teams. Put Fabregas on the bench for the 5 or so games we might need to defend, but against your Sunderland's, QPR's etc, you want him in the middle spraying the ball around. (Doesn't have to be Fabregas, can be Rakitic whoever, but a player like this would be great to have)

Ramires Fabregas with space and time can pick out anyone he wants, which is what he didn't have in that .gif, in fact he really couldn't have done anything else in that situation. His technique, passing etc is not a problem, his motivation/drive might be though.

I've come not to expect much when we're linked with big players... somehow, someway, it ends up not happening. Fabregas is probably the best midfielder available right now, signing him would be a massive coup regardless of his Barca/Arsenal ties.

Most likely, he won't play. Unless if England somehow have nothing to play for in the 3rd game. He really isn't far off. He's the best LB in la liga, or at worst top 2. And in Europe after Alaba (mainly offensively), i can't think of many better. So Mourinho and co might probably consider him the best LB in the world.

Having this guy on the left and Azpi on the right is the NFL equivalent of having 2 shut-down corners. Both are very good defensively, it's ridiculous. It's really a shame he's about to be 29, but he's so good i think he has to be bought if he is available. If not, then you look at inferior players like Shaw and Rodriguez.