BlueLion.

I'm sorry for being so stuipid, you pompous, sanctimonious tool. How does your own arsehole taste, because you're so far up it!

Which is why Luiz started the last two games. Oh... Look I thoroughly respect your opinions Tomo, LuicioBrazil and Barbara. But I will withdraw from this debate because my mind won't be changed, and I fear this argument is just going to be a circular one of "Luiz can do this" and "Cahill can do that", etc. etc. Luiz just doesn't do it for me as a football fan. Sure, he's capable of the majestic, but he is equally as able to produce the ultimate in brain-farts. Cahill is a "safe" defender, and that's the type of centre-back that I like

No, but it asks the question of how good Luiz's positional discipline and overall awareness is, doesn't it?

Worst-case scenario is they turn around and say they can't fulfil the orders, and offer refunds - then we play the "statutory rights" card and get shitloads of money off the next thing we order

Fernando Torres was once again the match-winner, as José Mourinho's side sealed a late, great win over title rivals Manchester City. Set against the background of Great Britain's most fearsome storms in many a year, it was Chelsea who emerged the victors of this tempestuous title bout between the two sides many fancy to lift the Premier League crown come May, thanks to a 90th-minute winner from the wonderful Fernando Torres. Fresh from his Schalke-slaying European exploits in midweek, the Spaniard was once again the key man as Mourinho side dug in deep to grind out the sort of result necessary when in contention to lift the title. Having set up the opener on the half-hour after a brilliant run - in between missing an absolute sitter and then crashing a magnificent drive off the bar - the £50 million man sealed an evening to remember when he capitalised on a defensive mishap to poke home a last-gap winner. In a game where both sides enjoyed periods of dominance, it was the home side that showed the greater grit and determination. Whilst Manuel Pellegrini set his side up not to lose, the onus was on Mourinho's side to take the game to their opponents and their undoubted quality to send a message out to the rest of the Premier League. Whilst the Blues have contested valiantly in clashes away from home against the likes of champions Manchester United, Tottenham and Everton, their efforts have produced a mere two points from fixtures against the league's top sides. A result here, then, was as important in terms of keeping pace with Arsenal at the top of the table as it was to show that Mourinho's charges have the quality to defeat their rivals. And whilst City did excel at times, they seemed to lack in moments of genuine quality. Whilst the talismanic Yaya Toure was at his tenacious best, City did little more than show glimpses of their collective talent. It seemed as if City's threat is constantly impending; their flair players remained dangerous without ever truly testing Petr Cech. In truth, neither goalkeeper was particularly busy. With the scores level at 1-1, both sides enjoyed fair spells of momentum; one side would try and press the initiative whilst the other sat back and protected what they already had. Yet neither team particularly attempted to force the issue - and that is where the effervescent Torres was able to steal the show. Having missed a glorious chance to score early on - beating the offside trap, the Spaniard brought a long ball down, only to be deceived by the bounce as he hacked over with just Joe Hart to beat - Torres sparked into life, and his brilliant, driving run down City's left fashioned an easy finish for Andre Schurrle with 33 minutes gone. Picking the ball up, Torres ghosted past Gael Clichy effortlessly, before gliding into the box and threading the perfect pass between the goalkeeper and the centre-backs. Schurrle did the rest by converting from all of four yards out; but the Germany international acknowledged the fact that the goal belonged as much to Torres as it did to himself. With captain Vincent Kompany absent through injury City were looking a little susceptible to Chelsea's pace-laden forward line, and Torres might have doubled the lead following yet more magnificent aggressive and direct play. Turning on the half-way line, the Spaniard surged forward with a remarkable burst of pace, stopping only when confronted by three City defenders inside the box. Unperturbed, he turned and spanked a raking effort plumb against the woodwork with Hart duly beaten. Over on the touchline, José Mourinho cursed aloud, bemoaning Torres' luck - what must the Spaniard do to break his Premier League duck?! Yet City began to rally, and four minutes before the interval Cech had to be alert to push away Aguero's drive at the near post - though he was motionless as the Argentine restored parity minutes after the restart. A fifth goal in four games for the former Atletico Madrid man came when Nasri played him in beyond the exposed Gary Cahill, and his emphatic finish caught Cech by surprise. It was a fine finish, but Cech - on a day where he equalled Dennis Wise's tally of 445 Chelsea matches to move up to sixth on our all-time appearances list - will feel disappointed to have been caught so off-guard. He did better moments later to deny first Javi Garcia's header and a David Silva effort which he stopped with his legs. At the other end Ramires thumped a strike just over the bar from 25 yards, and a free-kick from substitute Willian evaded everyone in the box when all it needed was the slightest glance as the Blues finished the stronger of the two sides. Yet as the game rolled towards a merely satisfactory conclusion, Torres capitalised on severe City indecision to blow the title race wide open. A lofted clearance from Willian - more likely intended to relieve the late City pressure on the Chelsea goal than act as a through-ball to the wily Torres - was the source of confusion as the hapless Joe Hart made an absolute mess of Nastastic's header, allowing Torres to poke home into an unguarded net. Cue pandemonium at the Bridge. Mourinho jumped into the crowd to celebrate as the stadium erupted into a vociferous cacophony of noise as the Blues moved within two points of Arsenal, the early pace-setters. Next is the little matter of facing the Gunners at the Emirates in the League Cup - perhaps Mourinho's men can inflict a psychological blow with a defeat of Arsene Wenger's side?

A very fair point Tom. If José can get the best out of both, then great. We see how weak City are without their main defender (Kompany) - to have players of the ilk of Luiz/Cahill, Azpilicueta, etc. as back-up players speaks volumes of our squad.

Two words: positional discipline. Add to that he is a "typical English centre-half" and throws absolutely everything at the ball. Luiz does the same, but not quite to the same extent. Cahill communicates well. Doesn't try and overplay, he simply smacks the ball upfield instead of trying to dribble out of danger. All of those things just condone towards the image of what I like to see in a centre-back. People are entitled to disagree, but no-one is going to change my opinion, which is based out of my own preferences of what I demand from a defender. And that's your opinion. On the other hand, I think Cahill does the simple things far more effectively than Luiz. What it boils down to is Cahill plays what you would expect a £7 million defender to perform. Is Luiz a £24 million defender? Not a chance in Hell.

Just bought one for me and the old man!

SAM, FUCKING MARRY ME

Anyone who thinks either team will play anything short of a strong team is mistaken - I will be very surprised if either team plays a weakened side. Obviously there will be changes, but nothing wholesale.

Luiz is a better footballer, yet Cahill is the better CB. As you say, Cahill is decidedly average, which speaks volume of Luiz's ability in that position. That's just my view.

Meh, I'd consider myself to be a good goalkeeper. I wouldn't have saved that shot, so I can't really slag off Big Pete because he didn't either. If anyone says "he should be expecting Aguero's shot"... well, they should just ask for me to delete their accounts now because they clearly don't know the first thing about keeping goal.

For every blunder Cech makes, he makes a dozen wonderful saves. Not concerned at all. Been beaten twice at his near-post by two rocket-shots from Benteke and Aguero. I'd be concerned if he was performing as bad as Joe Hart, but he isn't.

Or we could have Luiz, with no positional discipline, in there and concede goals through stupid brain-farts. For every mistake Cahill makes, Luiz is equally as culpable.

Torres is back. Officially. What Bitter-Boas, King Robbie, King Carlo, Rafa all failed to do, José has done. ALL HAIL THE SPECIAL ONE! Okay, let's not go that far, but that was a top performance by Torres. I think we have to accept he is no longer a brilliant striker, but he is an excellent footballer that can have an important function for this team if these performances continue.

You can forgive Brana the odd poor game, as 90% of the time he is our one of most-reliable stars. He is even addressing one of the key areas that has frustrated me for a while; he is actually beginning to close wingers down now.

He always takes off his gloves by undoing the strap with his teeth, because he hates tearing his latex with the velcro!

Yeah, I thought he looked a bit off on Tuesday. His defensive work-rate is incredible, but I fear it is at the detriment of his attacking qualities.

Cech Ivanovic - Cahill - Terry - Azpi Mikel - Ramires Hazard - Oscar - Mata Torres

Haha, very likely, sadly. Still our best option up front. His workrate > Eto'o's > > > > > > > > > > > Ba's.

Very poignant, that 17 years after his death, our #17 nets for us. RIP.

Goal? - yes Second goal? - yes Hat-trick? - fucking nearly... Tireless work-rate for the team? - yes Good performance overall? - absolutely. All of the above = Torres is our best striker.

My match ratings: Cech - 8 - simply awesome when called upon. Total dominance of the penalty area and an excellent save from Neustadter to cap it off. Several other good saves from attempts later ruled offside, but he wasn't to know. Still the best in the business. Not exactly peppered with shots, but saved them when he needed to. Ivanovic - 6 - a steady game from Ivanovic; nothing too fantastic, but definitely showing some signs of consistency at last. He even closed the wingers down yesterday... Terry - 7 - top performance. We're a stronger side when Terry plays, and the way the defence was organised yesterday was top notch. Cahill - 7 - the same as Terry, he totally bossed it. His inclusion ahead of Luiz was totally justified, and he vindicated that decision with a great performance. Azpilicueta - 6.5 - another one who had a good game, albeit in an unusual position for him. You could tell, at times, he was a little uncomfortable as he was sucked inside quite a lot, but he defended very well on the whole. Seems to have lost some confidence in an offensive sense, though. That will come with game-time. Lampard - 5 - an abject performance from Frank, in my view. Not quite sure what his passing stats were, but he gave the ball away cheaply on a couple of occasions and seemed to be a yard slower than everyone else. Definitely needs a rest. Ramires - 7 - another one who had another good game; and he is having a top season overall. He was all over the pitch defensively, and of course set up Hazard's goal right at the end. Probably the most important player in our squad. Oscar - 6 - Oscar had flashes of brilliance - the run for Torres' second goal was absolutely incredible. But he was quiet at points during the match, but that is only natural when playing away against a very strong opponent. Not a bad performance by any means, and he did well in an defensive role last night. Schurrle - 5 - like Lampard, you could tell he isn't quite fit at the moment. He does a brilliant job for the team defensively and he had a couple of really good, probing runs from the wing, but he gave the ball away many times and didn't seem to be moving too well. Hopefully he hasn't exacerbated any existing injury. Hazard - 7.5 - our best midfield player last night. He warranted his goal and seemed to be the most dynamic of all our offensive players, bar Torres. He's definitely back. Torres - 8.5 - the Torres of old shows himself once more. Excellent all-round performance, and so unlucky not to have had a hat-trick last night. It isn't his goals that will endear him most to Mourinho, it is his work-rate, and the amount of times he worked back and won the ball and helped out the midfield... well, I lost count. That's why he will continue to be Mourinho's main man up front. He's our best striker and this performance proved it. Mikel looked good when he came on, as well. Eto'o didn't have enough time to impose himself, and all Luiz did was give the ball away twice before nearly scoring a 30-yard screamer (the story of his Chelsea career?). Overall a brilliant night.