CHOULO19

Doing very very well against Argentina.

Oscar? He's got to be the shiest player in our squad and by some distance.

Great game against Turkey yesterday. Big win for the Czech.

I think that for us fans, a lot of that comes from the fact that for past 3-4 seasons it seems that whenever the team seems to be doing great and gets important wins we often went on to drop points against lesser sides. So, it's not "we're not great" but rather "be careful and never get complacent". I kinda like that about our fans. Much less delusion and arrogance about Chelsea fans than the likes of Arsenal or City.

FT: Chiellini 2-1 Chiellini. What a hat-trick!

Guys, back to Cesc, please?

Erdogan's new and effective methods of controlling and censoring the Turkish media: "President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been focused on getting major media into friendly hands, using behind-the-scenes pressure to control coverage and muzzle criticism. Arbitrary tax penalties are assessed to force newspapers into bankruptcy—after which they emerge, owned by friends of the president. According to a recent investigation by Bloomberg, Erdogan forced a sale of the once independent daily Sabah to a consortium of businessmen led by his son-in-law. Sabah is now an unofficial government mouthpiece, employing Erdogan’s son-in-law as a regular columnist. As in many other countries, owning a Turkish newspaper has become a recipe for losing money. Helping to cover the losses of those papers that support Erdogan has become part of the price of doing business for companies seeking government contracts. One journalist aptly described media ownership as a “tax” on Turkey’s largest industrialists. In compensation, the government guides the flow of advertising dollars toward supportive media outlets, and away from opposition outlets." http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/foreigners/2014/10/president_erdogan_s_media_control_turkey_s_censorship_is_less_brutal_but.html?wpsrc=fol_tw

Don't really care about Spain, just want Diego dropped and hence rested for Chelsea.

If they are not happy, then they should just drop him. Simple as.

The man almost single-handedly stopped Germany in midfield in the WC final. Not that I'd want to face a Barca with proper CBs and players actually playing in their rightful positions...

No, Mascherano is a CB

Just ask any City fan.

Give him a break. The guy is trying to sell some books...

Alright, let's not turn this into a politics thread. Nemanja's political opinions and whether or not he was indeed knowingly expressing any political belief is personal to him and irrelevant to the football he plays. Discuss it in the general knowledge section if you must, this thread is about Nemanja Matic the footballer only. Thank you. Fine then, put him under "Terrifying Midfielder"

Toure literally does nothing defensively for his team in the vast majority of matches. I can't count him as a defensive midfielder.

This is actually Jim's article. I just posted it up for him and am unjust;y taking all the credit (and likes) for it

And Gomez! Proper Chels legend

This is less logical than it was! I really don't get why...

Chelsea have been so successful against Arsenal in recent years that the 5-3 defeat for the blues at Stamford Bridge, during the regime of Andre Villas-Boas, does appear like a freak result. On Sunday, the blues enjoyed yet another customary win over our rivals from North London. Inevitably, there were comparisons with last seasons 6-0 thrashing of the Gunners. The only common line between this victory and the 2-0 win on Sunday is the control. Betfair offers Premier League odds of 1/2 for Chelsea to win the title. Chelsea did not have much of the ball on Sunday, but we showed the reason for being placed as this seasons title favourites. Pep Guardiolas teams often try to have control on matches by dominating possession. Jose Mourinho showed on Sunday that teams need not dominate possession figures in order to have control on the match. Chelsea kept the ball when they needed to slow the pace of the game, but relinquished it enough to allow the opportunities on the counter-attack. Arsene Wenger said before the match that they did not buy Cesc Fabregas because of Mesut Ozils presence. On the basis of Sunday, the Frenchman may have made a grave mistake. Ozil was largely anonymous through the 90 minutes in sharp contrast to Fabregas lively performance. It was not surprising that Fabregas turned provider once again for Diego Costas ninth goal of the season. Costas goal was more than just ensuring three points. After having drawn a blank against Manchester City earlier this season, Costa had to score against top opposition so that he does not get classified as a flat track bully. It was a typical strikers performance from the 26-year-old; he did not do much apart from pressing the defenders until the goal that secured three points. In the past, Fernando Torres used to do everything apart from scoring but Costas goal showed the importance of a real striker. Eden Hazard was visibly tired beyond the hour mark, but it is easy to understand Josés reluctance to take him off. It was the moment of brilliance from the Belgian international that broke the deadlock in the 27th minute. This is after Arsenal defended with numbers the back in order to avoid the mistakes of last season. Hazard skipped past two players as if they simply were not there before drawing a challenge in the penalty box. This is the kind of individual brilliance that wins matches and it did on Sunday. Hazard may have been overshadowed by Diego Costa and Cesc Fabregas this season, but he once again proved his importance in the team. The real star of the show, though, was Nemanja Matic. The £21 million paid to bring back the Serbian international looks worth every penny right now. He complements the team extremely well in defence and attack. He is a substantial upgrade over John obi Mikel, who does not offer much going forward. On Sunday, Matics reading of the game was so good that Jack Wilshere and Santi Cazorla were almost non-existent in attack. Last season, Chelsea showed that the brilliance of Jose Mourinhos tactics alone would get them past top opposition. Yet, the team was simply not versatile enough to contend with the threat of teams from the lower half of the table. This season appears to be a marked improvement as victories over Leicester City and Aston Villa have been backed up by a win against Arsenal and a point at the Etihad stadium. The blues have a five-point advantage over Manchester City. Jose Mourinho and John Terry have both been stating recently that this is definitely a good advantage to have in the run-up to the December fixtures. Traditionally, Chelsea have struggled in the months of October and November. As last seasons Premier League title race showed, an advantage at this stage of the season is almost insignificant. Even last seasons table on January 1 did not provide an accurate prediction; Arsenal were sitting comfortably on the top with a similar advantage and they just about ended the season in fourth place. For all the successes that the blues have achieved in the last decade, Chelsea have lifted just one Premier League title since Mourinho left in 2007. We have had one of the strongest squads during this period. This clearly shows that the team has been unable to sustain a good run of form over the course of a 38-game season. It is definitely great be top of the table, but a word of caution needs to be thrown in. Manchester City seem like the only other title contender right now, but this five-point advantage sees Betfair offering only odds of 11/4 for Pellegrinis men to be successful once again. Chelsea fans should not take the win over Arsenal as a barometer. After all, it is just another customary win! Click here to view the article

Neither will Cahill in a couple of months

Haha. To be fair, Rubert lasted almost 6 months here!

March of the year that you get when you combine the day and the month in which we won the CL

Eddie doesn't exactly work with the youth team. He described his job as keeping track of how our loaned out players are doing and communicating with the teams about the players development and we expect to happen during the loans.

Right, Hamburg was a friendly