CHOULO19

We're going around in circles, here. You're free to believe what you want, as am I, and that part in the article seems extremely unlikely to me.

Everyone expects Tottenham to lose because Bale is out so naturally they're going to win comfortably.

I don't think so, because in the behind the scenes video Adida posted they showed the badge and it is different from that one:

There were no rumors what so ever about Miereles before the deadline day. If there were any interest then the club did an uncharacteristically amazing job at keeping it quite because Raul's signing was a complete shock to everyone. But even if we had interest in Meireles to be the plan B after Modric, that's not exactly what the paper said. They said that Roman pushed to sign Mata when AVB was more concerned in signing Oriol and Raul. But when we signed Mata were still very much in the Modric deal, meaning Raul was not a priority as the writer claims. Besides, why would Roman get involved personally in the signing of someone like Mata? He was hardly a house-hold name when we bought him. Very few knew a lot about his playing style and half our fans had only seen him play a few times. He was no Torres or Modric or Ballack. Seems extremely unlikely that Roman would get involved.

That alone should tell you that whoever wrote the article had no idea what he's talking about. We weren't interested in Meireles until transfer deadline day when we had our final bid for Modric turned down, long after we had signed Mata.

Internet connection is too slow for streams

And what makes you think that sentence in the article is true? It's not referenced, has no source, and just looks like someone crammed it in there to make himself look like he knows everything. Besides, Mata himself said last season that AVB was the one who wanted him here and convinced him to come (when asked why he chose Chelsea).

I think I'm going to miss this one, it's not on any channel here

I think his finishing is very good for his age. Will only keep getting better.

Played another 90 mins as Boro lost another game. I haven't been able to see him play the past three games but from I've heard he's been moved back to his original position. Was ridiculous to play him on the wing, tbh.

Haha well fair enough. Agree to disagree then

So, you get a YC if you celebrate by taking off your shirt. Well' how about if you take off your shorts?!

And I respect your opinion. You have every right to believe that he was not the stand-out performer, I'm not trying to say you're wrong just that my opinion of him being the MOTM in Munich is not ridiculous because a lot of people thought so too back then.

I'm not just talking about his defending, which he did brilliantly along with everyone else that night, but also about how Mikel was able to keep the ball under immense pressure countless times in the match and then deliver the pass to a teammate. He didn't put a foot wrong in that match. It was, imo, the best performance by a DM in Chelsea shirt since Maka left. Here's what people said after the match in case people forgot: And there are dozens more. And some of the people up there were/are his biggest critics. I'm not even picking the posts that fit my view, here check out what everyone said: http://forum.talkchelsea.net/topic/29-12-john-obi-mikel/page-12 So fair enough if you don't agree he was MOTM because there were so many heroes out there that night, but I don't think it is that 'ludicrous' because many posters seemed to think that at the time.

Exactly. Although Luiz over did it at times when he first came here and ended up giving away pens and goals. But he's been much much better this season , especially in 2013. Go back and rewatch the match. If you can't see that Mikel was our best player then you're blinded by your prior judgement. And for the last time, I thought Mikel had a very average, if not below average, game against united at OT. I'd argue about his work rate and give examples but I don't want to trigger your phobia of statistics

Not confirmed yet. Depends on if we proceed in the EL.

He made a mistake against Juve this season but Mikel usually performs extremely well in important matches. Go back to the semifinals and finals of the cups last season where he put in his best performances of the season in those five matches. He was by far our best player in Munich. Even in the 09-10 season, as I've already eluded to in this thread, his best performances of the season were against what was know as the "top four" of utd, Arsenal and Liverpool. He was absolutely instrumental in those matches (don't quote me on this but I remember that he had an assist's assist, meaning the pass to the player who made the assist, in something like 5 of those 6 matches!) Desire to win back the ball and chase players around to do so is not always the best thing for the team. You need composure and discipline more, imo. David Luiz is evidence for that. And I'm not just talking about when he played in midfield but his general play especially when he first arrived here. How many time has him putting his desire to win the ball above his discipline costed us goals and matches? You can't have one player chasing the ball because that would leave massive holes in your team. You either have your whole team pressing and couple that with a high back line like AVB tried to implement, or you have a defensive system where all the players have to stick to their positions and defend their areas. As for our players's passing, it's funny you should say that now because only two days ago Lampard and Ramires must have missed more than 20 10-yard passes even though Rubin had practically zero pressure on our midfield.

I can't see us finishing above Arsenal now. Arsenal winning at both Swansea and WBA and us dropping three points to Southampton means we'll fighting for 4th spot with Tottenham, imo.

Yes but we did not have the quality to finish in top four last season. This team can challenge for the title with a few adjustments. It would be a shambolic failure if we don't get top four this season, especially if you consider how weak the opposition are.

That should be a good game. They're arguably the two teams playing the best football in the championship right now. 5 hours.

Nice finish:

Maybe, but sounds unlikely to me. If I want to sell Chelsea merchandise I's slap Lampard's pic on everything regardless.

So if Arsenal beat WBA today, we'll drop to fi...fif.... I can't even say it!

I think Carlo would be the last person to buy Torres. He practically got him sacked here.

You're underestimating the marketability of Frank Lampard, my friend. If Adidas decided not to put him in the ad then they must have been told by the club that him being here next season is a serious doubt. Because having a figure like Lampard in the team and not using him in the add is an idiotic marketing decision.