CHOULO19

Exactly. He had an average game like almost everyone else. He made a couple of mistakes, but he also made three crucial interceptions.

He played as the anchor man yesterday, but he played a more advanced role in the first game for Wigan. I like him when he plays next to a holding midfielder so he has the freedom to utilize his quick passing and creative edge.

Good luck affording 300K/wk without CL football!

Funny you should say that, I was just watching the rerun of wigan's game yesterday and was thinking that Josh is probably a better passer than anyone we have at CM at the moment. It's quite incredible how he always seems to get the right weight and pace on his passes.

Whatever gets you through the night

Just saw the rerun of the match. He came on when Cardiff where trying to get an equalizer and Wingan sat rather deep to defend, but he did well, imo. Defensively he made a couple of interceptions and kept his concentration well. On the ball, he was a joy to watch as always with the few superb first time passes and touches. He looks stronger.

No, that's fickle as well. And just for the record, I like Iva and Lampard much more than I like Luiz and Mikel.

And we indignantly object when other fans say that Chelsea fans are the most fickle and spoiled...

I hate to criticize one player after a performance like yesterday's, but I find it hilarious that this thread is in absolute silence when, imo, he played worse than the players that everyone is using as scapegoats.

One question: How did Luiz have a worse game yesterday than Hazard or Willian that he's getting all this stick while they're not?

Yes, Mikel played no part in us winning the CL, he wasn't one of our best players in the final and semis, played no part in us winning the FA cup 4 times, wasn't a key player in us winning the league in 09-10 This thread is hilarious at times.

at the past two pages.

Thought he was actually the best of our front four, which really isn't saying much, tbh. He actually showed some energy, fought for balls and made some good movement. But we could have had Van Busten and the original Ronaldo and we still wouldn't have scored yesterday. There was zero space and we rarely had the ball in the final third.

Didn't have a good game, but you can't really point him out because the whole team, bar Azpi maybe, didn't do well. But it is true, that he left some gaps and was ball watching on several occasions, but it could be just fatigue.

Thought he looked very bright when he came on yesterday. Actually had some energy and tried to make things happen... Oh, and didn't get dispossessed every time he touched the ball like Hazard and Willian did!

2-0 away at City is not a bad result. In fact, just 12 days ago half the forum was expecting us to get hammered by 4 or 5. People just had their hopes too high because of that win in the league, but difference in the squad strength had to show eventually. If anything, tonight's result makes the wins in the league against them more valuable and highlights even more what an amazing job Jose did tactically.

Maybe. But I'm not here because of Mikel: I've supported the team before him and I will certainly support it after him. I support all of our players and hate none of them and I support our manager and board. So I can't see why that bothers you so much about me not seeing Mikel's fault if that were true which I don't think it is.

Yes Ron, I'm the reason Chelsea bought Mikel

Yes, yes, we need more than one scapegoat for today, David Luiz alone will not do. Didn't have a good game as the rest of the team, but I thought he was of our better players along with Azpi and Eto'o. No it wasn't! The post you quoted was from a week back. Maybe you should read before you get on your high horse and tell others to read.

Half the forum was predicting that we'd lose by 4 and 5 at the Ettihad just 2 weeks ago. So losing only 2-0 is a positive result, right?

City beat us to pretty much everything. We never got into the match. They just wanted it much more than us. They were tactically, physically, technically better.

City are doing to us what we did to them in the league. Low block, not committing many men forward, not giving us any space in their half and attacking when we are in transition. Our back five look very nervous from the start, and our front four lacking energy and purpose. Willian and Hazard have been terrible. City well and truly in the driving seat here. Not sure what, but we need a change.

I missed it but I saw that he got about 35 minutes. Surprised to see the manager put him on when they needed to defend a lead.

Mata had those assists in a completely different role. You can't compare the two. Oscar's role requires him to drop deep and often receive the ball around the half way line. How many assists did Mata get for us this season? 1 IIRC and that was from a FK. EDIT: In this season in the same number 10 role, Mata has 2 assists in 15 appearances and Oscar has 5 in 30 between PL and CL.

We have so many experts on expected lineups, already... Should've just said check the match thread for all the various expected lineups