OneMoSalah

For someone who was 23, started in maybe 15 or 20 games that whole season, made European debuts and played for a team fighting for a top 4 place and not relegation, I think its more than good enough. Footballs a squad game these days, having players who can come in as a sub or start when you need to rest players or whatever and get that sort of return is more than good enough and anyone who thinks otherwise would be mad to think like that.

I think I just seen someone say Ramires doesn't have a creative bone in his body and they would rather see Mikel pass the ball than Ramires (which I can't disagree with because Mikel takes very little risks when perhaps some players would, keeps the ball moving and rarely gives away possession) but they want Khedira, who is just as average a passer as Ramires and rarely plays risky forward passes? Cmon man. Khedira is a big presence in midfield and if we didn't have Matic then he'd be a useful buy but hes not exactly a necessity because we have Nemanja. Ramires provides the same bite and has the ability to carry the ball up the park. If it ain't broke don't fix it.

I feel that £20M is a joke price for a player who has had one 'good' season in the PL. Sure he's a decent player but I doubt he'd ever start ahead of Ivanovic or Azpilicueta to be honest and quite frankly I'd prefer we got value for money. If you said to me we could pay £20M for Seamus Coleman or £20M for, lets say, Juanfran from Atletico (not literally but someone of that level), well you'd have to be daft to pick Coleman in my eyes. British players are overpriced, that won't change.

Think Costa starting is the right thing for the team. Hes scoring goals and hes very much like the Drogba of old where even if he doesn't score against Sporting hes constantly battling with defenders, tiring them out so if Remy comes on hes getting a run out against tired legs who have had a physical encounter with a player like Costa but I think he'll score a goal or two surely. We should win this game but the intensity, urgency and you could say passion perhaps that wasn't there against Schalke, needs to be there. Sporting won't compromise their style at home as their coach has said so we need to press them high or sit off them and play on the counter. Really interesting to see who starts at LB, would think Luis will start but who knows? Sporting's wide players Nani and Carrillo are very very fast so maybe Azpilicueta on the right and Luis on the left would be a good idea instead of using Branna on the right, who is a bit slow and lethargic at times.

To be honest hes been the most reliable English LB in the league so far this season (Baines as good as he is going forward is the most overrated defensive player on the go) and Southampton also have got Clyne who has been the most reliable English RB in the league at the moment.... even though none of them are in the England team, which is ridiculous given that John Stones has started at RB for England. I was speaking to a mate of mines who is a Southampton fan and his family who are Southampton fans and they have said that as gutted as they were to see Shaw go they reckon Bertrand has been just as good if not better so far this season and they also think Tadic is a better footballer than Lallana and Pelle much better than Lambert. I think we will sell Ryan at the end of this season to Southampton for the £10M or £12M or whatever it is and honestly I think that is a good deal on both halves. We will generate a big fee for someone who cost £150k or whatever it was when we got him at a young age where as Southampton get a pretty experienced player who has played in a Champions League final, the Premier League and also the Europa League.

To be honest I'm still surprised we didn't keep him here. Sure perhaps he wanted to be a guaranteed starter but hes English, still youngish and would have been decent for us if we got an injury at fullback. Nathan Ake looks like hes going to be used more as a left sided fullback than a center halve but still I reckon he could have done with a loan this year to keep improving as a player.

Don't know if he can actually decline himself but managers like Harry Redknapp and Fergie have said before they have had players go to them and ask them to tell their national team coach they are injured or struggling with an injury or whatever. He does need to be watched very carefully, everything that happened to him towards the end of last season at Atleti under Simeone could potentially happen again if we aren't careful.

........and we need none of those players. I still don't get why people are concerned that we don't have enough 'world class players' or more than enough good players in our team because we do. Realistically is Paul Pogba better than Cesc Fabregas? No. Is Reus much better than Hazard? No, debatable that hes better than him in the first place. Is Varane better than John Terry? Doubt it. Maybe when Terry hangs up his boots we should replace him but I think we won't get Varane or someone, we will go and get an established player who is in his best years, someone who's about 25 or 26 years old.

Must win game. Would prefer to see us play as a 4-3-3/4-1-4-1 rather than 4-2-3-1 but who knows. I'd imagine since Sporting are at home they will look to keep the ball and take the game to us from the beginning which could suit us down to the ground if we play more on the counter as we are the away team. Not saying we wouldn't beat Sporting if we went gun ho but we need to get a win and after that goal we conceded in the Schalke game I wouldn't be surprised if we were a bit more cautious against a fairly decent side. Courtois Ivanovic - Cahill - Terry - Luis Matic Schurrle - Ramires - Cesc - Hazard Costa Wait is Ramires injured?

Yeah. Bit worrying too sometimes young guys in poor teams, like Wilshere at Bolton a few years ago, can get a grip of the game by the scruff of the neck and try and change it but Nat didn't really look like doing that today. Hopefully he will get a better loan in January than Burnley, who are going to be struggling all season.

If Schurrle can get a run in the team and keep getting shooting opportunities like tonight, I believe he will score about 15 goals this season. Think hes one of those guys who needs a sequence of goals to start a decent run. Sure he only got 3 shots on target out of 12 but hes getting shooting opportunities due to him not being afraid to shoot when others would maybe pass and that itself is encouraging giving how Hazard and Willian sometimes refuse to shoot when in a decent position a lot last season.

The thing with Eden is, he might not score a goal or get an assist in every game but you have to look at how much space he creates for others and opportunities for others to assist by eliminating players in 1v1s, going past a few players or attracting more players to deal with him leaving others free. Its a sort of similar situation (although in a different way due to different playing styles) with a player I admire a lot in Luka Modric, when he was at Spurs and we were linked with him, people questioned his goals and assists a lot and the same has happened in Spain as well. He doesn't always directly assist or score but the nature of his game means hes involved in the goals, be it finding that pass in behind a pivot or defense that opens the spaces up for someone like James, Ronaldo, Bale or Benzema to create a chance or in the past Lennon, Bale, Van Der Vaart etc. The pass that is 2 or 3 passes before a goal is sometimes the most important part of a move. Its also the same with the dribble that is 2 or 3 passes before a goal at times. I read somewhere Eden has completed 31 take-ons already this season, obviously a player of his talent you want to see him scoring 20-25 goals a season or whatever but when hes going up against fullbacks and beating them and dragging others out of position to deal with him, hes having a big effect on the game even without scoring or assisting directly. He needs to keep it up, his problem last year was consistency, hopefully he keeps a high performance level through the season. He should be looking for at least 10-15 goals and 10-15 assists but if he plays very well and drags players out of position by beating people then players like Cesc, Costa, Schurrle etc. all have more space and time on the ball at times too. I know the Modric thing is a bit off topic and maybe not 110% comparable but yeah haha....

Really confused by his form since the turn of the year. Needs to get himself together. Hes not playing every week now so hes got to be a bit fresher than he was last season surely? Hope he gets out of his rut, hes a good player but I haven't seen much of it in a Chelsea shirt since the first 3 or 4 months of last season.

Love this guy, embodies everything I feel Chelsea FC is about. Winner, passionate, hard working and a bullish fighting spirit. Always has an influence, no goals today but he said himself he won't score every game. 32M is a snip.

They had 10 men and we fucked a 1-0 lead, bitterly disappointed, although one point isn't too bad but really against 10 men with a 1-0 lead you'd expect to take 3 points. City were on top with 11 but when they had 10 we should of had won the game. Costa hitting the post was desperately unlucky. A game where the subs made the differences really. Although Ramires I thought made some very vital interceptions and tackles. Andre's goal was great too. Still top of the league but we should have 8 points over City, not 6.

Perhaps yes but Cesc's mistake starts it, then Ramires' fails to take Draxler out before Ivanovic also fails to get a touch on the ball or even take the man and then Cahill makes the biggest error and isn't anywhere near tight enough near Huntelaar. Willian came back but if he tries to even touch the ball when Huntelaar's back is to him before he shoots, he probably fouls him.

Well it was either commit a foul and get a needless yellow card or acknowledge he couldn't tackle Draxler without fouling and not give away a stupid freekick. If it was a poor effort by Ramires to make a tackle that would have only resulted in a foul then was it a poor decision by Fabregas to hold onto the ball for so long?

"If we sign Reus" where the fuck is Reus gonna play? On the bench? On the right (even though hes better on the left, where Eden plays)? As a 10? There is no room for a player like Reus. Salah will get games don't worry, we are 5 games into a long season. We are very well prepared if we get injuries and suspensions.

Joke or serious?

There is a chance Fernando wont be fit for City, he missed the Bayern game tonight, which is a bit of a relief as hes really been quite an astute signing and gives them more balance. No Drogba from the start please. Costa is a must. Courtois Branna - Cahill - JT - Luis Rami - Matic Willian - Cesc - Hazard Costa

I didn't say that. I said everyone who thought (including yourself may I add) that we'd be able to comfortably beat Schalke were wrong and that was our strongest team except for Drogba. They are a good side, if we had rotated more than Costa then who knows what would of happened? Then there was posters who said we could afford to rotate 2 or 3 other players against Schalke because our squad is very good (which don't get me wrong it is) but its hardly like Salah is the same level as Willian or Zouma the same level as Cahill/Terry.

Think this is a huge overreaction. He was complacent tonight and performed very very poorly but hes not the worst center half out there and hes certainly decent when it comes to having the ball at his feet. The only not so good thing about him is his backing off strikers has cost us goals: Huntelaar tonight, Falcao in the super cup, Benteke at Villa Park... I'm sure theres more too but for certain members to say hes the most overrated player in the squad, or he should have been left at Bolton or whatever bullshit is a massive overreaction. Like when Mikel played that pass vs Juventus before they scored about a minute later under Robbie, huge overreaction.

That is what happens when you rest someone with 7 goals in 4 games and start a half fit 36 year old in his place. Not on about the sitter he missed but his all round contribution was shocking. Cahill was pretty poor as well. "We should be able to rotate 4 or 5 players and still beat Schalke" remember those idiotic comments. They could have beat us tonight. Just because we've won 4 out of 4 PL games doesn't mean we are the best team in Europe, big reality check. Play like that against City and we will lose. Filipe Luis is brilliant though.

Hes a system player. If Jose wants to play a more reactive counter attacking style then Andre's his man. Some of his off the ball runs are still class though as we seen against Burnley. Hes still gonna improve, hes not exactly a shite footballer either is he?

Fucking hell I never thought I would see the day Diego Costa's stats were compared to Dion Dublin's stats. In all fairness Dion Dublin is probably one of the worst football players that has ever graced football. Or is that harsh