OneMoSalah

A player who cost £32 million, looked a £10m player tonight. Got to pick it up.

In a way I agree with your point but their isn't even a desire to win from the lads out there. Hazard was fucking useless, as he was against Everton. Our best player is basically 4th choice anywhere in the 3 behind the striker, our best RB is on the bench/out the squad most of the time even though Ivanovic who is better suited to a role at CB, plays there. We've played good for maybe 135 minutes in 7 games.

Obviously its hard for Mata to influence a game when he's rusty due a lack of game time, hes only going to get back to his best if he plays which means someone will have to miss out. Out of all the players we have Mata is the best, I don't get Mourinho not giving him starts against certain teams. Sure Bayern and United I understand but not Basel or Everton, ridiculous selection at times. Maybe it would be better for Mata if he were to leave and go to a team where he might be more appreciated by his manager (got a hunch for sure that Jose doesn't want him now for sure). One start in 6 games? Ridiculous. Even if Mata could get minutes with the u21s team or whatever like Marin did last year, would keep him fresh so when we take him on he can make an impact.

Needs to stop picking Lampard and Ivanovic for a start and needs to play Mata and Azpi. Team choices have been very strange at times. Obviously early days but it makes absolutely no sense to utilize Ivanovic at RB when he offers next to nothing going forward and is up against a very speedy player like Stocker or Salah. I hope Jose isn't just not playing Mata, Azpi and Torres to prove a point after all the problems with Spaniards in Madrid because if thats the case he might as well sell them.

- Mourinho really needs to start playing Azpi and Mata. - Finishing poor. - Hazard needs a fucking boot up the arse as well, unacceptable that a player of his talent and ability is playing so average. - Willian looked good as did Oscar. - Mata under Mourinho has gone from our best player to an ordinary looking player. I'm confused and pissed at the same time, team needs sorted out. When your best player can't get a chance to impress the coach because 'he doesn't like him' or 'doesn't think he suits his tactics' then maybe its best he leaves. I am annoyed like fuck with Mourinho refusing to pick Mata from the start. Hes clearly fit enough to play, just needs more of a chance.

Totally agree with The Skipper. Eto'o has won much much much more, and all over the world in different leagues. Torres perhaps internationally but hes only won the 3 trophies here at club level I thinkk. Take away Torre's international achievements, bar the Euro 2008 where he played a key role and the 3 trophies he's won at Chelsea which he didn't do much in, hes won 1 trophy... although teams win titles not individuals.

Not really. Mikel in the past has done the same, hes not always backwards/sideways. I was just disputing your point that you said Maka didn't do well offensively, maybe not in goals and assists but he did start attacks for us.

I don't know why fans dislike Mikel. It is hard to go from somone like Makelele (who was arguably the best in that position until Busquets now a days) to Mikel who is still very good but not quite as good as Maka. I'm not certain why a lot of people think we need to sell him, when Carlo came in he started to establish himself as a key part of this team (SeB done a very good article on here about it, I'm sure you'll have read it), giving more freedom to the likes of Lampard/Deco/Ballack or whoever else as Essien was out injured for a long time (think it was one of his knee injuries) and the team a base to go and play. I don't get why Mikel isn't popular with the fans, I honestly don't, he does his job well, it doesn't make sense.

2005/06 I think. Was 1-0, not 2-1 got the score wrong..

Makelele's contribution in attack was poor? Watch the 2-1 loss against Fulham from 2006, where Chris Coleman made sure Makelele was marked when we had possession so he couldn't get attacks started, we struggled. Maka was slightly more than a DM, he started our attacks after regaining the ball, sure not quite the same contribution as a winger or #10 but he effectively started them at times. We were quite fortunate we played a 3 man midfield as most teams in England still played 2 men midfields, if other teams had done what Fulham had done we would have struggled to get going at times. Just because you have 0 goals and 0 assists doesn't always mean you are bad offensively, you get players who create a lot of chances but don't get any assists or players who like Maka sometimes played that pass before the key pass that is vitally as important as the key pass.

Think Oscar will score one or two tonight, would like to see him surpass his total of goals last year, he even said that himself after the Liverpool game, that he wants more than 10 or 11 or whatever it was this season.

Yes but Makelele was a bit different from Mikel in terms of quality (the guy has the defensive midfield role named the Makelele role for a reason). A defensive midfielders game isn't exactly spectacular but as Toronto said you need guys like Mikel who play simple error-free football and are 9 times out of 10 available to receive the ball when his team mates are under pressure and fill gaps left when Luiz or Terry step into midfield or are caught out on the counter or whatever. It was the same with Pep Guardiola at Barca when he was a player all those years ago, he played in Cryuff's dream team as it was called, his game looked the simplest and easiest to people but he held that team together when players like Michael Laudrup (who he famously told to play it simple), Rivaldo, Begiristain, Romario etc. The thing is his game was appreciated by fans, unlike Mikels it would seem. It was the same with Paul Scholes (arguably the best English midfielder of the last 20 years), who Zidane said is the best midfield player in the world years ago and a lot of Spanish players like Xavi and Iniesta have praised, who at times was underappreciated as he wasn't David Beckham or Mark Hughes or whoever else played for United. He wasn't even a holding midfielder or that but even in his late career he played a lot under Fergie as United didn't really have anyone who did the same apart from Carrick who you could say initially struggled at United when he first went there, who could do what he did.

Well in my opinion, Mikels a better distributor, has better tactical awareness, better at retaining possession and filling gaps in than Capoue is. I liked the look of Capoue when he played in Ligue 1 but hes nothing we don't already have. Perhaps the only thing Capoue has over Mikel is hes more versatile as he can play CB, is a tad more mobile and aggressive but you don't necessarily need to be aggressive to be a holding midfielder.

Well based on how United defended tonight they have no chance in hell of winning the CL lmao. Leverkusen's final ball was poor, against top quality opposition who can play through teams they will be fucked.

Haha I am 110% screwed. Anyway I've read nearly every post in this thread and this thread has become what this thread was here to warn people about/stop people doing. Jesus... Well done Spike mate, pls dont ban me within a week you fud.

I remember watching him in 2010 when he was on loan at Rangers in a few Old Firm games and other games, he looked a pretty decent player at times but very inconsistent. Think he used to play Man City, has all the tools to be a good player though, hes very fast and a good dribbler with a decent final ball. Thats some goal he got tonight though.

Did Mourinho say 4 under 22 year old players will start? I wonder if that includes Kalas and van Ginkel ...

Aubameyang was always someone dubbed with a big future years ago, he used to play for AC Milan as a kid but was let go due to attitude problems.... then he picked his career back up in France with Dijon, Lille, Monaco and Saint Etienne.

This....

Still envy the fact they have 4 potential 20-30 goal a season strikers. Sure you might disagree with that but Aguero, Dzeko, Negredo and Jovetic have scored a lot of goals in the respective leagues they all played in before each. They can all get 20 goals but its going to be hard for them all to play obviously.

Why buy Capoue when we already have Mikel who is better? Its a similar case to Nemanja Matic being linked to us, sure Capoue is a good player (as is Matic) but Mikel is sort of struggling to get into the team so going and buying Capoue (or Matic) who plays in that same position when hes inferior to Mikel and not really needed? If it isn't broke don't fix it. I don't mean the pivot but in terms of defensive midfielders, we don't necessarily need another one so it would effectively be a luxury buy (like Willian was imo). Romeu who is a good prospect is out on loan as well, if he can get game time and develop, come back a better player, we have even more competition without spending anything. With all these loans the likes of Romeu (if he can get his old form back) and Lukaku, has a chance on competing for a squad place for sure, no doubt about it. Also as Kojo mentioned we have Lampard, Ramires, Mikel, Van Ginkel and Michael Essien, we have options just not the correct profile of players in a way I guess. Forgetting about those players and Romeu, we also have young players like Nathan Ake, Josh McEachran and Nathaniel Chalobah who you could include for the pivot but will they feature at all? That remains a mystery. Still my point is, in my opinion, Capoue and Matic are players we don't need due to the fact they aren't better than what we already have. I think Jose, Emenalo and the board need to prioritise strengthening these positions in the next few years: Center back: JT has been great so far this year but you cannot always bet on his fitness and hes not at an age where any more injuries/previous are going to take their toll more than ever. Also considering Ivanovic looks more than likely to be featuring at RB for Jose now a days then when JT hangs up his boots/declines/whatever then we will be relying on David Luiz, Gary Cahill and Tomas Kalas (who still looks slightly inexperienced but that will come). Left back: Cole is coming to the end sadly and Bertrand is solid but nothing spectacular in my eyes. We will need to look to promote or buy sooner than later. Luke Shaw would be a good fit due to the fact hes English, only 18 right now and a Chelsea fan. Ultimately I know that means nothing but hes certainly one for the long term, if we were to go for him. Central midfield: Lampard is close to retiring and Michael Essien has been finished for a while so a new central midfielder is going to be needed soon. Gundogan/Modric would be perfect but unlikely, someone along that line of profile though, even Josh could be that player for us but he needs to make it happen through hard work and prove he's worthy of a place. We don't need any more holding or sitting players, we already have Mikel, Romeu, Ake, Chalobah who can all play that role. We don't really need a box to box player either as right now we have Lampard, Ramires and Marco. Striker: Torres is done, Eto'o is 30 odd, Ba is coming towards his 30s so we will need another striker soon to compete with Romelu Lukaku when he returns next summer (I'm certain Lukaku will make it, hes too good a talent not to make it here now). I'd like to see if Islam Feruz will play much over the next few seasons as he's really talented and it would be a shame to see him not make it a top club as the Scottish national team could do with some more top quality players playing at top clubs. Also Chelsea need at least 2 strikers who are at a high level; like we had with Drogba-Anelka, who can score at least 20 goals each.

Hes played 90 minutes.... when he gets his next game he might actually score... he can't score when there are no games... jesus some people

I think it's inevitable that we will see Oscar in a deeper role sooner or later (a few years maybe, which is a shame in my opinion as it would be a waste) going by what Michael Emenalo said after a few games under Robbie last year and the fact we only really signed Marco van Ginkel who plays in a deeper role this summer (and nobody last summer). Realistically I think next summer or even in January, despite what Jose said, we might look for a new central midfield player because I think Lampard said somewhere that this is probably his last year and if it is we go back to being slightly short in midfield. It needs to be someone like Modric I feel, be it Modric himself or Ilkay Gundogan from Dortmund or someone else of that ilk. Either that or if Lampard signs on for another year at the end of the season, then we have to put trust in young Marco van Ginkel, who looks a good prospect; he can can distribute the ball well and also get stuck in and break play up. Also next summer what do we do with Oriol Romeu? He isn't a playmaker but hes another midfield player, albeit I don't know if he will get a chance under Jose. I feel he's somebody Mourinho would like as he's strong and comfortable on the ball although still needs games to develop. Then we have Michael Essien too? Does he go? Does he get more minutes? Who knows.

Fuck me that Leno cunt couldn't catch a fucking cold

Lol I dont really mind Ryan or Ry whatever... In a way Moses is something we are going to lack this season; Oscar, De Bruyne, Schurrle, Willian, Mata and Hazard all love coming inside and playing like most wingers/attacking midfielders these days, Moses can do both, he can operate on the right and stretch teams like he did for Wigan, operate more centrally like he did at Palace and also play on the left seen at Wigan, Chelsea and Liverpool. He is probably better on the right, as I said in my previous post, hes strong, pacey and direct. When we play whoever against smaller teams, perhaps even bigger teams, they will look to congest central areas where all our 3 behind the striker players love getting involved, so something is going to have to give, either Schurrle operates on the right every game and looks to do something he didn't do much of at Leverkusen (stay very wide and stretch teams) or Kevin plays on the right and does the same, staying very wide giving him a chance to utilize his crossing ability. If not we are going to suffer against teams due to a lack of width and being too narrow at times, Moses would have been ideal for this I feel. Sure he'd not be getting much minutes but I liked his pre-season performances and I felt he gave us something the others didn't in particular that game against Inter, he was superb, both offensively and defensively. Sure Andre will give us the same defensively but I think his game (coming off the touchline and coming inside to shoot) is much better on the left flank. Also on Eden being an untouchable, I disagree, especially as I thought Mata would have been basically untouchable this season after what hes done for the last 2 years. We have that much quality in the squad, nobody in the band of 3 is untouchable perhaps except from Oscar as he is very productive defensively which Mourinho obviously likes in comparison to the rest of the #10s.