Atholy

It's striking how little benefit Torres is getting from all the effort he's putting in his games. IMO if there is one thing you cannot blame him... it must be his working attitude. He might get a lot of cash, but at least he runs his brains out every game. It's just sooo strange how such a talented player is getting so little result from all his actions. Probably the only key to this problems is: Confidence! Something hopefully Benitez is able to-rive in Torres' head!! Nevertheless I think he's given way too much credit (probably by the business man in Roman => hard to blame him... a 50million pounds investment needs to bring something in return!). Torres is benching Sturridge, Moses(more or less), Piazon & Lukaku (last season). I think it's more than fair to give these guys their chances as well!

Eden needs to step up his game, that's for sure! But don't underestimate the difference between Lille & Chelsea, even for a talented player like him. At Lille he got a 'carte blanche', meaning he could run and go ALL over the pitch asking the ball on any position => distributing the game. With us, he has to stick to his wing most of the time... So he has to change his game a lot! But most off all... do you so how far he needs to fall back to get the ball, almost every time on our own side of the pitch? This is something that strikes me the most. Count with that, that he loses a lot of his energy defending... I don't think we can expect 'Maradona' runs in every single game, passing 4-5 defenders! This is something we need to fix if we want to get the most out of Hazard. AND we clearly need a CM that brings depth in our game to launch Hazard, Oscar and Torres! Mata could do this but he's glued to the sideline most of the time. Maybe in January KDB could be the right man for this job!

My best friend's father used to be the head of the medical staff at Anderlecht. After games we were also invited at 'the players home' in the stadium. Lukaku was a 16 year old massive tank back then !

I know he could speak English before he came here! I used to talk with him a lot at Anderlecht. But it's been a while since I've last spoken to him and I think his accent is getting better and better

Laughing Lukaku his English has well improved, he's getting the accent

Must say I don't really agree on this. Ok he's far from being a TOP player. That's totally true. But please don't think the board would actually start buying players decided on youtube clips... without this player being really special. I'm sure he was followed in a lot of games at Anderlecht before we actually made a bid on him. I'm the first one to agree that Romelu has a lot of points he needs to work on! Finishing 1 on 1's is surely one of them. But then of course you should take into account... that creating 1 on 1's is also a gift. When he starts to get in a scoring spree...and get confident again... his percentage will raise a lot! Please remind that he is still VERY young. And I can tell you... the thing he showed at Anderlecht at age 16-17 was really out of this world. I've been following this team for 20 years now and there is nothing I have seen like him there! So he can be an absolute gem... but he needs to play, get confident and keep on working on his weaker points. If he remains at West Brom until the end of the season and gets more playtime... I'm sure his statistics in june will look really promising!

@SeB, OK, no prob man. Looking forward to read your comments. I don't really think it's a bad thing we have different opinions on a man (Fellaini)! As long as we agree on women, we're safe

The Eden we see at the Bridge these days is FAR from the Eden I have known playing in the last couple of years. Sure there still is that spark of brilliance sometimes when he gets the ball... but far away is the gamewinner he was in 3 out of 4 games at Lille. Easy to spot why: he plays in favor of the team before thinking about himself he has the fulfill a far bigger defensive role here with his fellow maestro's up front... he now has 1/3 of the space he had at Lille + 1/3 of the freedom unfortunately Eden stays stucked to the sideline to often IMO. However I'm pretty sure this has to do with tasks by RDM and not by a change in play because of the serious amount of defensive work he has to fulfill every week... I'm pretty sure he lacks this energy for explosiveness in attack So what to think? Sure he still is a genius player with amazing abilities and a brilliance technique. He eventually brings in a few key passes & dribbles every game. But is this what to expect from Eden at Chelsea??? I must say, knowing him quite well, I really feel mesmerized to see his difference in approach wearing a blue shirt, comparing to the red shirt of last year. You really could see it looks like he is afraid to make the action. He slows down the game (luckily to speed it up soon afterwards with a good pass most of the time) and has barely come in shootings positions or being dangerous in front of goal. The first game with the 3 maestro's was brilliant. But I remember before that, that the link up play between Hazard & Mata was even more impressive. With a more important role for Eden and him being far more decisive than he is now. Maybe RDM should choose to start only with 2 of his 3 maestro's instead of bringing them all. You feel like they are really searching each other far too often (especially Eden & Mata) which sometimes give the impression that every attack has to go through all 3 stations => slowing down everything. The brilliance of Eden I must confess until this far I haven't seen in a Chelsea shirt (sure some sparks, but really not what he's able to). Maybe it's just the time he needs to adapt at the premier league... but still... he has the potential to dribble any of those defenders at any time, still not doing it at the moment. Maybe RDM expects him not to take as many risks? Or maybe he just doesn't feel comfortable enough to force things on his own... Let's hope this will soon change and Eden will start to play at the level I'm just to see him play on. All this doubts aside... Hazard has still been very important for us. And even without shining as he should be... He's still an amazing player! This only shows the potential he still has! Believe me fellow Chelsea fans... Once the real Eden has landed to the bridge, a lot of you guys will even love him more !!

I really don't understand what I'm reading in this topic sometimes. Also strange to see that this board hugely dislikes a player like Fellaini while almost all premier league analytics are praising him week after week. Fellaini has played on numerous positions the last years (Standard de Liege & Everton). Don't think he's just an attacking midfielder, with the same ease he can play as a DM. The only thing we need to work out in our system is to play with a triangle in the middle. Fellaini can both play in the rear point or the front point (as you wish to swap the triangle). The lad is just a massive powerhouse, who has a good technique and scoring abilities. I mean... he has so many key assets that it's hard to be against him. I know he looks rather slow in his movement, also slowing things down and giving the impression that his passing isn't that good... but figures show he was the best tackler in EPL last season, had a more then decent passing % (did better as a DM than AM as it comes to passing %) and just wins about ANY header or 50-50s in midfield. Fellaini is actually just the guy that any coach would love to have in his CM position. I took me a while to like him as a player... so I know that a lot of you guys are where I was 2 years ago. But actually at the national team I really started to see what this guy actually does during games. He's like absolutely EVERYWHERE on the pitch... fighting out duels and wins most of them (also fouling some but that is getting better). He must have 6 longues because even at the 80th minute you can find him defending the opposing winger at your own corner flag... and seconds later you will see him heading the ball through to the attacker in the box of the opponents... really impressive! What I think is important... is that a guy like Fellaini (just like Mikel) allows your creative midfielders & wingers to put their minds mostly on attack without the worry that them dribbling would cause a lot of problems when losing the ball. Fellaini would give you that rest you need to have... to know you can just try to force something when he's in your back. Players like Mata, Oscar, Hazard & Marin will be able to play more offensively... (or at least less defensively) & guys like Ramires AND De Bruyne will find it very comfortable to have this guy in support next to them. The last few weeks... our brilliant trio Hazard, Mata, Oscar have lost a little of their brilliance... purely because these guys play at their best when their mind is 70% on attack and 30% on defense. The last few games it was almost 50-50 or even 40-60. You see that their defense work costs a lot of effort which they lose in attack. For me that's one of the reasons why Hazard hasn't really been as impressive as in the beginning of the season. If you keep those 3 having such a big role in defense... you need to rest them a lot! If we don't do this... you end up with games in which they seem not to be giving it their most. I don't see Fellaini should be replacing Mikel (since I really like the way Mikel plays as well), but saying Fellaini is of absolutely no use with us... looks like some talk of Mikel lovers who are afraid that he would take his position. I would play a 4-3-3 with a 4 man defense, a triangle in the middle with the point in the back (this would be Mikel or Fellaini) with Mata & Debruyne as the front part of the triangle. Hazard & Oscar on the wings... and a ST (Torres or Sturridge) up front. -----------Torres--------------- Hazard------------------Oscar ----------Mata---KDB---------- ----------Mikel/Fellaini--------- Ash----Luiz-------JT------Ivan ------------Czech--------------- ps: This doesn't mean that I think he's worth £40millon!!

True that

I think it's called "myteamdoesntwantmetoplayitis"

Audi will be the new sponsor of the Red Devils (our national team's nickname). This was during the preparations for the game against Romania tomorrow. Just fooling around and having fun. Apart from great players... the team spirit is the single most important factor of succes. Seems like this group really sticks good together. Rio 2014... here we come :blue scalf:

He lost the ball, that's right. And he also did this in the CL game a while ago. But I think you can forgive him because: "in the defensive midfield" At least he works for the team and runs a lot of defensive miles as well. Although I'm rather sure this cost him the energy to shine (like in 1 out of 2 games at Lille) in offense. Think of it this way: he starts dribbling and has lost the ball twice... but I guess we still have a defensive line behind him that should catch up for his mistakes + 9 out of 10 times when he starts dribbling from our own half... he creates so much danger that I would never want him to stop doing that.

I have seen the television show and in this Hein Van Hazebrouck was mostly comparing KDB with one of his 'KV Kortrijk' starlets Brecht Dejaeghere. Furthermore he received reward because HE was the guy that brought KDB in the first team. He laughed and said that even the Radio Commentator would have seen the brilliant talent KDB was displaying in the youth teams . He didn't said that much about Hazard, apart from saying that he's a great player. But it's clear he REALLY likes KDB. He praises him a lot and indeed even stated he could well be one of the best players in the world very shortly! IMO KBD's vision of the game & his rare talent to play diagonally at any time is really World Class!

True! The future surely looks bright and one can think the Chelsea scouting cell is really improving the last years!! Let's put everything on a well structured youth academy now and things can only get better! Really delighted too by the way Eden has fitted into our squad immediately. Although I have to say I'm still missing the Eden from Lille. He was decisive in 1 out of 2 games there. But I have high hopes that soon he will become even more important for us as well! De Bruyne & Josh are doing great as well!!! And for Lukaku... well I think he's finally proving what he's worth at WBA + a player like Lukaku could've really been the player to bring on in yesterday's match against ManU to force a late equalizer!!

TBF I really have to think RDM thought the score was still 2-2 (instead of 2-3). What coach would sub his whole attacking force when you are down by one goal?? I don't care if we had 2 red cards... We ended the game with 4 defenders and 4 midfield players! I think it's rather hopeful to think that Dave, Ryan, Cahill, or Ash would have a gamewinner in the dying seconds of the game... Being 2-3 down with only 10 minutes to play... we should had always played 3-4-1 (or even 3-3-2) instead of 4-3-1!!!!

"It takes a brave man to admit his mistakes" Big up Sloth :blue scalf: That's 1 down... 1 to go... we still have Lukaku that needs a 2nd opinion

I know. But I also think Hazard is on that list of possible FK takers! I'm happy it was not Luiz but Mata that took that last FK. Result is a brilliant goal and not a young boy in the stands that goes home with a chelsea ball

TBH that was his first Freekick out of 10 this season that was actually dangerous (and this only because De Gea made a very strange save with his rightfoot). I'm in favor of him taking the freekicks from a long range (like the first one) but NOT when the ball is just outside the box!

No I wouldn't! I'm just sick of Luiz long balls and freekicks (can you blame me??). Mata freekick => great curl => great goal!!! Come on blues!!!!

Luiz you ass!!!! Perfect position for a right foot and someone WITH technique!!! Did you see how he took away the ball out of Hazards hands??? Let the freekicks to players who can shoot a ball and stick to defense you moron!!

Think of it this way: A 19year old Chelsea kid almost became the gamewinner against the current EPL Champions! This with only 10 minutes of playing time! in this 10 minutes he managed to create 3(or 4 if you consider that low cross) good scoring opportunities. He was just not fortunate enough that none of his chances pulled off! Don't worry too much about that header. Lukaku is able to score headers without doubt (remember his goal against Liverpool & plenty of goals at Anderlecht). Does he need to return to Chelsea in winter? Well clearly he needs to play! So I wouldn't want him on the chelsea bench. OK one of his biggest advantages is that you can send him on as a supersub in minute 75th because he can have a huge impact on games pushing the defense to it's limits in the last minutes of the game. But like the rest of you guys here... I barely see Nando getting substituted in the last 1,5 season (even Moses isn't really getting chances). So if RDM is not planning to change our CF more often at the end of the games ... I don't think a return of Lukaku to Chelsea before summer is a good idea!

His assist (quality corner) last weekend in the game against Mönchengladbach: http://www.youtube.c...v=fozbXbgir0k#!

My fellow countrymen, With the arrival of Lukaku, Courtois, De Bruyne & especially now with Eden Hazard... a lot of us have found their ways to the Talk Chelsea forum! This can only be a good thing since our national squad is full of talent and we are first row experts as it comes to Belgian soccer (players). BUT I think we have to watch out. When I'm scrolling through the last pages of this Hazard thread I almost see more Belgian Flags than on tuesday in the Koning Boudewijn Stadion . If we don't want to get criticised by the other Talk Chelsea members, I think we should well consider the quantity/quality of our posts! Of course we all love Eden and we are his biggest fans... but I think we should really watch out that we don't all start posting/commenting the same things over and over again ... Keep the blue (and belgian ) flag flying high!!

Highlights from Belgium Scotland: Who's in for a left footed assist cross from De Bruyne :blue scalf: ?? http://videa.hu/videok/sport/b2-0c-www.fasthighlights.com-B3nW7ahHFfBxqrvp