CHOULO19

I agree that the fact that we sold him for peanuts has nothing to do with this deal and I think it's ridiculous to say that we shouldn't be buying him just because of that. But, that said, I don't agree that the board did not make a mistake and I sure hope that they learn from this blunder in at least adding a buy-back clause for young players in the future.

Close enough!

Barardi...what a player he will be !

Cech discussing the 10 moments that defined his career: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2538175/Petr-Cech-10-games-defined-goalkeepers-Chelsea-career.html Good read.

Now, this just got exciting

I sort of remember him being subed off at HT in a game a few seasons back. Can't remember against whom though. I'm not ever certain that it's true.

Yeah but there wasn't anything concrete that I was aware off. We're linked with a dozen players everyday by the papers. Doesn't mean much. It's when there are a bunch of rumors from more reliable sources that you feel that something is about to happen.

Can't really compare the Marin transfer with this, tbh, though. For starters the profiles of the players are completely different. Plus, we signed Marin in something like March or April so naturally not a lot of media sources picked up on it.

No I'm pretty sure he's on 150. Before the game yesterday they were having a look at his stats in the studio and it read 149 EPL clean sheets.

Well this has escalated quickly...I swear yesterday there wasn't even any rumors about him and now the general consensus is that we've agreed with him? Matic would be a great signing because he would give Jose the dynamism that he's been seeking in the pivot while still being very good on the ball and an excellent passer unlike Ramires and Luiz. Ideally we should have made this signing in the summer, but if the quoted 20m price is correct then I don't think we're paying an inflated price for him at all. But I very much doubt it'll be done as soon as Tuesday like the rumors are claiming. It's still early in the window and the negotiations are likely to drag on.

They don't have RVP and Rooney is a doubt and even if he plays he'd be far from 100% fit.

Excellent game defensively. He absolutely worked his butt off and kept running for 90 mins. Broke up so many attacks. On the ball he was rather bad. His passing was terrible at times, especially the start of the first half and his insistence on playing long balls gets very frustrating when the team is looking for a goal and he keeps playing long balls at a 10% accuracy.

I'm sorry, but that's just terrible for a DM. I don't even want to know what his long ball accuracy was. I thought David had a good game overall and more than justified Jose's choice to pick him over Essien. He worked his butt off and ran all game which is all you could ask of your players. But to say that his distribution was good is just unrealistic.

While that is true, we and Monaco attract different types of players. They attract players who probably have had long careers and are looking for the money while if a player is young and looking to make a name for himself, the EPL would surely be his destination.

I think it's actually good for us that they won today because if they hadn't they would have absolutely needed to get a result against us and would have probably needed and wanted the win more than us while now they sort of have more breathing space to lose the game against us and still be in the race for fourth.

It's obvious that our name is just being thrown in there to raise the price. If we were in a "race" with Inter and Monaco we would have already signed him. They can't compete with us.

This is beyond awesome! Lampard saying "Top of the league. Don't talk to me." In Arabic: http://Instagram.com/p/jCppJqq8O8/ Can't stop laughing :')

As long as we don't give Hilario yet another extension and make him no1...

I keep changing my mind about the Cech/Courtois situation every other week so I've realized that since I'm changing my take on the situation so often then I should be okay with whatever Jose decides at the end of the season.

Tbh, I didn't follow the Hazard transfer too closely because it was one of those that dragged on forever and got about 300 pages before he even signed so I generally stayed out of the topic. Like I sad, I too find it unlikely, but I still don't think that you can completely rule it out because he was the most sought after player in the market at the time and we could have offered a huge contract to rule him here. Nothing wrong with that, imo.

No need to wonder why he played in midfield today. Mourinho prematch: "I went with David because Mikel did not train on Thursday and Friday".

I thought Cole had an excellent game. He started badly but used his experience very well to make up for the mismatch of pace between him and El Mohammady and once he got into the game he ended up making a couple of vital interventions (two crucial interceptions and an important block).

No that was just a rumor that came out of no where. What Moyes literally said is that Rooney could be fit for this game and might be a while longer.

In short, incredible work rate in defense, terrible passing especially in the first half.