Jase

Trust me, I'm also annoyed at the speculation as well. Think most of us are but just can't see Mata starting for the reason mentioned. And unfortunately, our best player here is not at 100% match fit yet. If anything, he will likely to come off the bench instead.

He scored again today from the penalty spot, helping Lille to beat St. Etienne 1-0. So that would be 14 goals now in 2013.

As much as we all love Mata and want him to start, think we are all aware of his defensive deficiencies and knowing Mourinho, he would not want to gamble on that where he would surely want high workrate throughout the match and helping the team not just to attack, but also defend.

Yes, 8 of those 25 places need to be allocated to HG players BUT we don't have to put in 8 HG players to fill the quota (as far as I know). And I believe we have been doing that in recent years too. We can just fill in say 5-6 HG players and leave the remaining slots free/empty. Don't have to fill in with reserves or youth players.

Mata is likely to be on the bench as he's not 100% match fit yet and judging by Mourinho's liking of Oscar, it would seem ridiculous if he doesn't start since his ability to link up the play and defend as well will be extremely crucial in a game like this.

But we don't have to fill in all 8..

TBF, it just seem all weird and a bit dodgy that the players we signed these days come out and say how they have been wanting to play for Chelsea, delighted to be here, have been watching our games etc.

Erm, don't think Ribery and Neuer are injured at all. Apparently, those usual BS Twitter rumours came because someone used the German Super Cup team news or link and said they aren't available. (they didn't play vs Dortmund then due to injuries)

As far as I know, we don't necessarily have to fill in all 8 of HG players quota. Just need to allocate 8 of the 25-man squad places to HG players. The rest is obviously filled by 17 foreign players though excluding those U21 lads like van Ginkel, Lukaku, Kalas. As for working with 22 players, he has always maintained a liking to work with that size of squad since last time and nothing new about it here. And it should be noted that we recently a provisional squad list of 26 players for the Premier League. http://www.chelseafc.com/news-article/article/3364371/title/squad-numbers-submitted

Simeone coy over Juan Mata loan There are quotes from Simeone about this in the link article above.

Think when he said that, the likes of Lukaku, van Ginkel etc are part of his ideal 22 players squad.

A chance to open a gap, albeit a small one, over Man United and Man City should we beat the former tomorrow at Old Trafford.

Clearly someone hasn't been reading..

You forgot we have Izzy Brown too...

Whatever you say 'Fan's Favorite'... Am not going to continue this discussion any further as I've made my point clear and especially when people are just gonna use the weak argument of 'He's Jose Mourinho. He can do no wrong' or 'He's Jose Mourinho, the best manager around. He's right, we're wrong' bla bla bla. Going absolutely nowhere with it.

We may have been interested in Willian for awhile now even the club now wouldn't be sanctioning this purchase without Mourinho having a say in it or agreeing to it. Hence, it's only normal we refer to him for this transfer. Ha. I don't think I need to bother myself with how others view me as a Chelsea fan just because originally, someone indicated you can't disagree with Mourinho because he's Jose Mourinho..

Mourinho: With three wishes I'd heal Vilanova, Mandela and the world's health problems (while listening to Bryan Adams)

Did I outright-ly say Mourinho is wrong here? No. What I'm his decisions or any other managers decision for that matter are always right and even if he believes so, it doesn't mean that we have to immediately believe and trust that particular decision. Bringing that up from anywhere? No no. As I said several times before already, Mourinho is a great manager and nobody can deny that but the way some people have been talking him up and thinks he can do absolutely no wrong, like I've saying, is absolutely ridiculous. It's the general feeling from the fans all around after reading their comments/thoughts from forums, Twitter and other places on the Internet really.

He actually said he likes and wants to work with a squad of 22 players and then allow the 3 spots to be filled with kids from the academy to come and train and play in the 1st team.

The questioning is only out of hand to those who think Mourinho is the absolute God and whatever he does is absolutely right..

Of course of course. We question the manager's decision and we are deemed to be an average football fan. How typical...

Oh joy. If that is the case, then why do we all even bother of discussing about transfers or anything related to the club if everything they do is right and we all that have pea size of a brain is wrong?!

All those questioning and analysis of players before buying them is normal even if it's different generation but it doesn't mean that the purchase will turn out to be a success at the end of it.And questioning getting out of hand? Think I could turn around and say this treatment of Mourinho like a God and he can do no wrong is getting out of hand. Why we should necessarily immediately believe what he does is right just because he's Mourinho and it makes sense or it's right to him? Haven't you been in a situation in real life where someone else does something because he or she believe is right but you disagree or don't believe in it? Even you would probably question that person with what he or she is doing and having doubts, disagreement and/or questioning the decision in such situation is normal and it's nonsense to say it is getting out of hand.