Jase

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/chelsea-jose-mourinho-demands-loyalty-2062822

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/chelsea-jose-mourinho-demands-loyalty-2062822

So much praise in one post. Don't often get that. Cheers nonetheless for the compliment.

Well yeah. If one can help to improve one another, then why not? It's just that Strike's phrasing of that post made me think (somewhat) if one person were to dominate most of the writing, then others won't even contribute anything at all. My bad. If that is the case, then it means you, me, @Hutcho and @Strike can contribute specifically for doing match previews? Does @Barbara and/or @Stingray want to do match previews too?

I don't think I imply that his ceiling will be very or extremely high but rather refuting others' argument that it's not as bad as they are making it out to be. Some already seem to suggest that his last season form was the best and he won't get any better. Improving his weaknesses is one thing but in regards to his growth and development, there is certainly still 1-2 notch he can step up and be even better. And about his weaknesses, if he can work his work around and get rid of it, then he can certainly get much better as a player because a weakness(es) is what sometimes hold a person (generally) back from achieving greater things. Think some had this argument before. Mata is never suited to play regularly for Spain, not when their game is still based around a short passing style and Mata's plays a more direct one. As for the match against Brazil, it's the same when he played with us at times. He won't be as effective as he can be if the fellas behind are useless and can't even do anything right to keep the ball and allow the attacking players to do damage. As for the Navas thing, not sure if they can really be compared when both are two completely different players and play in different manner. Furthermore when Navas came on, Brazil were already 3-0 up then and was in the process of taking their foot off the pedal. Only normal if suddenly Spain had better of the game and improved since then. Made him bigger than he is? No. What he did for us in the last 2 seasons was great and he deserves all the praise that has gone his way. If anything, it's social media these days that seem to make people overhype/overrate him with Twitter, Facebook, forums etc. If we are going to talk about midfielders here, we should be breaking down to the type of midfielders here since we can't generalize every player given the different positions. Mata is an advanced playmaker or an attacking midfielder and in the past 2 seasons, especially the last, he has excelled brilliantly in that role and owned that zone. It's tough to find anyone that did better than Mata in that advanced playmaker/attacking midfielder role. He's one of the best players, if the not best, in that role right now and can only get better. And no, I did not say Mata needs better teammates to reach certain level. My point was if we are to keep possession better, dominate the game more and have a stronger midfield in the DM/CM area, then Mata would be able to shine even more and cause more damage working with the likes of Hazard, Oscar, Schurrle, De Bruyne. Last season, we couldn't even hold onto the ball long enough to save our lives but yet when we do get them and Mata is in control of them, he still managed to cause damage to the opposition. The circumstances in recent times where our first priority is to defend when we lose the ball and can't keep possession restricted our attacking players' ability to do maximum damage. If we can be aggressive, physical and dominate the ball the more often like we used to do it 3-4 seasons, then the creative players upfront, not just Mata, can express themselves and cause more chaos to the opposition.

???

I didn't say I can do the lot! As you pointed out, there are going to be lots of games during the season and I'm not that free to preview every one of them. I don't mind doing it all if we are going to have a group of 5-6 people(or whatever is the amount) and we rotate with one another.

If that is the case, then I don't mind doing it. The stats part should be fun.

@Jim, about writing the match previews, are there any specific format and requirements to write it? Does it have to be really an extensive preview?

Knowing Mourinho, it's probably best that we shouldn't take his words too literally when he said Rooney is our only target this transfer window. No need for him to mention who our other targets might be or which areas we are strengthening and potentially alert our rivals etc.

Decent win. Needless to say that we should have won by more than 1-0 and if we had a top class striker our there, it could have had happened... Anyway, there were certainly positives to take from the players and team's performance. Wallace was very good in the first half. Tiny but strong, quick and aggressive too. Lukaku was alright. The same for Schurrle but he did look very predictable with his movement of constantly coming inside onto his right foot. De Bruyne was superb throughout and love that over-the-top ball he played to Lukaku in the first half. Was brilliant! And Hazard had a great impact after he came on (bloody hate those girls screaming!). As for the team, like I what saw despite it being only against a 4th/5th tier opposition. We controlled the game very well and never looked in trouble except when in set pieces situation. More importantly though, there was proper pressing from the team(!) which forced them into making mistakes and rushed passes. And with that pressing comes aggression that we hardly saw last season to win the ball back when we lost it. We were certainly not afraid to get stuck in their faces and make them work hard for the ball rather than just sit back and see them pass around us.

Malaysia XI vs Chelsea PRE-MATCH DISCUSSION AND LIVE CHAT Pre-Season Friendly No.2 21st July, Sunday 2013 Shah Alam Stadium, Kuala Lumpur 14:45 Kick Off (UK time)

Malaysia XI vs Chelsea POST-MATCH DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS Pre-Season Friendly No.2 21st July, Sunday 2013 Shah Alam Stadium, Kuala Lumpur 14:45 Kick Off (UK time)

...........................................................

Make of that what you will...

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/transfers/transfer-news-chelsea-confirm-bid-for-wayne-rooney--but-deny-offering-juan-mata-or-david-luiz-as-part-of-the-deal-8713599.html

Mind games...

Dear oh dear. Typical 'controversial' comment from you...