CHOULO19

Great, great result, and a little gift from Steaua as well. Beautiful European night. Schurrle with an incredible professional performance. His work-ethic and defensive contribution were out of this world. But Hazard was simply magical at times and the clear MOTM for me. Great to see Torres bagging a brace. Oh, and Jose Mourinho, take a bow! What a great tactical masterpiece by our special one.

Schurrle

Fair enough. I just thought you might be underrating Azpi because you didn't see him a lot last season.

At least create a new thread for the man! Happy birthday @milan.cech! Have a good one, mate

Both players in their prime I'd actually rather Terry goes forward. Terry's technical skills and ability on the ball are criminally underrated. But now I'd probably rather Luiz simply because Terry has lost what little pace he had. But that's a discussion for another time.

It goes on until people stop buying it, I guess. Don't see that happening anytime soon.

It all gets messed up with the "freedom of the press" and the privacy of the "sources". But ultimately the final judgement is by the masses. If people stop buying papers after they make up lies and stories, they'll eventually run out of business, but of they keep gobbling up the lies that some papers write they'll force as papers to lie too to sell their papers as well.

Yeah, I'm expecting a surprise from Jose tonight. There's a reason why he insisted that the last training session be held privately at Cobham instead of the public one that would have usually happened in Germany.

Goes down to journalist ethics, I guess. We have the same issue here in Lebanon. You could read two different papers and would never guess that they are from the same country if you didn't already know. Everyone makes up the story that suites their agenda.

The kind that sell papers regardless if they are true or not.

Another reason why I'd pick Torres tonight is that we'll need to cause the damage while they are in transition and for this end Torres is much quicker than Eto'o. But then againt Samuel is on great form and if he can create space for himself inside the box like he did with the goal in Saturday, then all that won't matter.

But that's the point, I'm not trying to subtly wind anyone up, those are my genuine opinions and they are all opinions related to Chelsea and Chelsea players and which I try to back up with reasoning. If you feel wound up by an opinion that's different than yours, there really nothing I can do to help you. Right, so back to Azpi. I really hope he starts against Schalke. Daxler is too quick for Iva and stopping him will be vital in the match. Schalke also like to exploit the flanks and we all know that Iva can't stop crosses. Brana will be perfect for the City game where we'll like to defend deep.

Except none of these were aimed at anyone. If you're wound up by an opinion it's not really my fault. I've never aimed at upsetting anyone while "I know your loyalties are divided" clearly is aimed at upsetting me. And BleedsBlue? If he can't handle an opinion different to his and makes serious stuff up like racism, then it is my fault? Again, give me one example where I'm supposedly winding people up. Quote one of the posts that I use to wind people up. Lighten up Jacky, I'm just trying what you call "banter". Always very educational to experience new cultures

It's not a cultural difference, anywhere in the world if you're constantly being wound up by people you don't like it'll eventually get on your nerves. Give it? Go ahead, and show one single example where I try to wind someone up other than Jack who's made it his life goal for the past year to get on my nerves.

Sheesh, calm down! Fine, I was wrong, he's not world class, happy?

Well Jack Foulkes, you're not here to question my motives and I don't accept your jabs at me. So I'm asking you for one last time to stop your "banter" towards me. I've never joked around with Phill or wound him up. I've never had a problem with Phill, in fact we rarely ever speak. I might disagree with almost everything Phill writes, but at least he expresses his opinion respectfully and without bringing anything personal into the discuassion.

Where I come from it's only banter if you're friends. If you're not it's called being a cunt and you'd probably get your ass kicked for it :cfc:

Well that depends on your definition of world class. There is no "definition" of world class that goes for everybody. I just meant he's miles ahead of the other Sunderland players and most players of the bottom teams. And what does Juve have to do with anything? He never fit Conte's system and couldn't get a game with them.

Well, Jake, you still haven't told why you brought it up or what it has to do with Iva or Azpi?

That's a different point, though. I'm not debating whether or not his lack of natural ability is compensated for, I just said that he arguably has the least natural ability on the ball in our squad, and you said it was nonsense. Now you're saying he doesn't have natural ability on the ball but he makes up for it. Make up your mind. Oh, you poor innocent little child! Well, it's not true, not that it's any of your business what teams I follow. And even if it were true, I fail to see what it has to do with either Azpi or Iva.

You really need to watch the last Euros.

I think it's incredible how German players are so tactically flexible. Even the ones that move away from the Bundes Liga, you can see how tactically versatile they can be, and Schurrle is just another example. I think in terms of training and youth coaching they're miles ahead of England for example.

Do you know what natural ability on the ball is? There is no comparison between Azpi's technical ability on the ball and Iva. If you can't see that then there's no need to have this conversation at all. And your point doesn't really stand because Azpi is not a flashy RB either but also a defend first type of RB. When will you ever learn to speak to people with respect? You've been previously warned and suspended for stuff like this and just because I ignore your jabs at me 99% of the time, it doesn't mean that I'll ignore them for ever.

Not that I disagree with your point, but united away in 2011 in the tittle decider match.

Back then Torres was the best striker in the world. What's your point? I know you missed a lot of last season, but Azpi was a key player for us. And that's not all down to his ability but also to Rafa's tactical plans. Cesar was often the most involved player in our matches with the most touches and passes. The transition from defense to attack when not on the counter always went through him which solved what was arguably our biggest problem last season. As for Iva not playing bad at RB, I could give clear examples like our last match, Villa, Everton, Bayern...etc, but let's talk in general: Ivanovic does not have any natural ability on the ball to be a fullback. He's arguably our least technical player. Yes, he is powerful in going forward, but his offensive contribution (bar set-pieces) is almost non-existent. When he gets to the final third, 9 times out of 10 you'll either see a cross into row Z or miss-pass. Defensively, and this is my biggest issue with his as RB, he can't stop a cross for his life! In fact, I don't remember ever seeing him stopping a cross. He just always gives the winger a lot of space to cross because he knows that if he gets to close to him most wingers will beat him for pace. Not to mention that his positioning mistakes are a lot more at RB than when he plays at CB. Check the Tottenham goal for a clear example.