JDY

Unfortunate mistakes that could've happened to anyone. I sense Ivanovic is the type of character that will come back stronger and not let his self confidence crumble like others (Yes, him).

And they believe he isn't a 'Chelsea level' player, interesting.

Balague just said it's highly unlikely that he will leave anytime soon, and is looking to sign a new contract with a bigger release clause.

Just a heads up, it might be worth watching Revista De La Liga on SS1 at 6:30pm. They might have some updates on the rumours linking us with Benat, Isco etc.

Lol, a long way to go until then! At University at the moment.

Me (Left) in Walkertshofen, Germany (Middle of nowhere it seemed): In Munich, at the Allianz looking a bit high :

This is exactly what I'm talking about. Whoscored.com also has Mikel and Moses ranked as Chelsea's 15th and 16th best players respectively. They also have Torres as our 4th best player. Now statistically Torres hasn't done too bad, but we all know from watching him week in week out how frustrating he still is, despite scoring more goals. The point I was trying to make is using statistics can be very useful, but they shouldn't be treated as the holy grail to make a judgement on how a player is performing. I agree that 4 games isn't enough warrant spending £15m on a promising player, but I'm sure the club will have better judgement in this regard. For the record, did you also see him play in the Olympics for Spain? He was God awful, but then again the whole Spain team was. It reminds me of the people who said Chelsea shouldn't buy Oscar based off him performing well against 'poor' players in the Olympics. In that case Isco and co would be no-hopers. On to your last point, I agree that the club has to be smart when buying players and take into account what we actually need. I'd much rather us sign a player like Benat as we're in desperate need for a player like him. Signing Isco for me has Guardiola written all over it. As I mentioned before, he might not be signed for the no.10 role.

Stats can be a little misleading at times. I'm not going to wax lyrical about how great he is as I haven't seen enough of his games to make a full judgement. But I have seen his games in the UCL and he was by far the stand out performer, every match. From what I've seen, he reminds me of a hybrid between Messi and Iniesta. Fantastic dribbling ability and incredible control. I haven't seen him much in the league, but it seems he hasn't performed to the same level. As I said, the stats you mentioned can be misleading. If I was to tell you another player in Spain averages only 1.4 key passes per game and is dispossessed 2.7 times per game (Isco 2.8 times), would you know who I'm talking about? Lionel Messi. If I was also to tell you another player averages only 1.8 key passes per game and is dispossessed 2 times per game, would you know who I'm talking about? Andres Iniesta. Don't get me wrong, I agree that his shooting can be wasteful, but his decision making will improve with age. I'm sure if Isco was playing with better players (No disrespect to Malaga's players), he would perform better. After all, Malaga's top goalscorer has only hit 5 goals this term, and after Messi there is a host of Barca players on 5 goals. It's easy to look at the assist count and say that the player isn't doing what he's supposed to be there for. I honestly think all this talk of where he would play would be irrelevant if Guardiola and Isco were to come to Chelsea. If Pep were to use the same blueprint he used at Barca I wouldn't be surprised if Isco is used how Messi is at Barca.

Biggest potential? Charly Musonda Jr. for sure.

I know this is a typo but it reminded me of when Mallorca gave one of their players (Castro) a release clause of €18,000 by mistake

I honestly thought Ronaldo had a chance. Considering he won the title with Madrid, was the top scorer in the league, and scored some vital goals to secure them the title. Maybe this half a season now has let him down a bit, and Messi has delivered immensely. You could tell Ronaldo was annoyed, he did everything he could last year and Messi still came up trumps. But the thing that bothered me was that there was the whole segment on fair play and decency in football. When Messi received the award and was speaking to the audience, he acknowledged Iniesta but didn't once say anything or congratulate Ronaldo for his achievements. Found it a bit sour. Saying all that though, the award is voted by the fellow professionals. With Messi's golden boy image and Ronaldo's seen as the good but 'arrogant' one it wasn't at all surprising. Both had amazing years, but for me Ronaldo edged it in terms of individual achievements and what he won with Madrid. Regarding the Team of the Year and Manager of the Year (Especially Pep being nominated), an absolute joke.

Agreed. Didn't the Shakhtar Chairman even say if Hazard went for £32m they would want more for Willian. zzz

Some statistics comparing Juan to players of similar ilk: David Silva vs. Santi Cazorla vs. Juan Mata David Silva, 26 years old Santi Cazorla, 28 years old Juan Mata, 24 years old For me there is no question who is the better of the three at the moment. Silva is far too inconsistent this term, and even last year when he was good I felt Mata was just that little bit better. Some people see Silva consistently in the Spain team and instantly think he must be better, the simple fact is he suits Spain's possession game more. Cazorla has been magnificent in the League, but falls short in the other competitions (Not to mention he's much older than Mata). Hopefully Juan keeps it up this season and we could be looking at him reaching double figures for both goals and assists. Until then there's nothing more we can do but sit back and enjoy watching little maestro continue to dazzle the opposition. Source: http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/

Am I forgetting or have the fans not made up a song for Mata yet?!

I think this rumour is 100% false but IF it were true for me it would mean this: 1. Oscar will drop to a deeper role 2. If Pep comes in the summer Isco will play as the false 9

He's here! He's there! He's every-fucking-where! Demba Ba! Demba Ba!

If he came back now he would only play on the wings.

Was at the game tonight and it was a truly embarrassing performance and result. No tempo or urgency to our play, you could sense QPR might end up nicking it and they did. In no way shape or form can you afford to lose at home to a team bottom of the league with only 1 win all season, even a draw would've been terrible. All the hard work done and the massive result against Everton has just gone out the window. Absolutely livid.

Spot on. The only problem is that it doesn't sound like the club is in any sort of discussion with him.

There is a lot of politics behind all of it. Last season contract negotiations really dragged on with Llorente, and it was quite evident towards the end of the season that it would be his last for Bilbao so he could leave for a new challenge. The club made up stories in the media of Llorente being 'greedy' and wanting too much money despite being their highest earner already. All a ploy to pressure Llorente into signing a new deal. He basically said no and he wanted to leave for a new challenge, the club didn't like it and are trying not to show face by making him stay an rot on the bench. You would think after spending his entire career their the club would be more understanding. After all that though, they have Aduriz who is banging in goals left and right, so him being on the bench hasn't been too bad for them so far.

Can't believe some of the stuff I'm reading. Llorente an 'average' player? Most who have seen him play over the past seasons would agree that his all-around game is excellent, the only thing I have against him is that he could score a few more goals (But then again he isn't in the greatest of teams, no disrespect to Bilbao). There is a reason a host of top clubs have tracked him, including Barcelona and Juve, among a lot of English sides. Getting fed up of people passing judgement on a player from just purely looking at stats. I guess Drogba was just an average player then.

@Hamilton Edit: Sigh, such a fail link compared to Corner's

Time to put in a bid now that the Ba deal looks off?

Not opposed to this but I'd prefer Llorente.

You can't fault his commitment out there. This was really his first big test and he coped well overall.