English Freak

Exactly, I don't see anything wrong with Mikel's technique.
He's a good player without a doubt...but I just wish he was a bit more aggressive/assertive in certain matches...

Exactly, I don't see anything wrong with Mikel's technique.
He's a good player without a doubt...but I just wish he was a bit more aggressive/assertive in certain matches...

So you think Pirlo does not have technical ability? Or Barbatov? Or Bergkamp? In terms of technical abilities, before we started getting players like Mata, Hazard and Oscar two seasons ago, Mikel was one of our best technical players. He is slow, but his technical ability on the ball is great.
Some people on here have an unhealthy obsession with Mikel. I honestly don't get what anyone can complain about Mikel this season. Apart from a couple of sub appearances where he was brought on to preserve a lead, Mikel has started 3 games: He was MOTM against Everton, had an excellent performance was our second best player behind Oscar and even scored against Fulham, and had an average performance in the first half against Tottenham when the whole team was under-performing (apart from the back 4 maybe). Yet some people don't seem to able to post anything without having a dig at the man.

That's always been my (and other supporters') problem with Mikel. He's so ponderous on the ball at times when he should receive the ball and ship it on and it can occasionally lead to him getting caught in possession. It's one thing to retain possession but you've got to keep the tempo up and force the opposition to keep on moving.

Cech at his age cannot go on for another 10 years. He will slow down, soon. His reflexes won´t be as good as these days.
It´s very simple for some of us.
Courtois is Chelsea´s future.

Thibaut and Cech are both excellent keepers. The difference is that Cech is our "Get out of jail free" card now, while Courtois, may not be that good at the moment, can be our keeper for more than 10 years.
So it's never going to be an easy decision. It's a choice between short-term success and long term-success.

Plenty of defensive faults that get overlooked. Just go watch their game against Cardiff this season where Bellamy made a fool of him all game. Yet, he still got MOTM even though he was probably one of Everton's worst men on the pitch. That's what I mean by grossly overrated by the media.

@Tomo,

There are more quality keepers out there now..in comparison to 1999 when Schmeichel left for Sporting..

Those sums are weird. A keeper can be more important than a striker. An importance that is most clearly seen if you happen to own one that sucks. ^^

It's time to leave feelings out of it next summer and move Cech on. It's not like once he leaves Chelsea he'll be needing to take a massive step down to another club. He'll have his pick of a number of top clubs where he'll be very good for several more years.
But we'd be getting the best young keeper in the world who can be a brick wall for us for the next 15+ years. It's best for both parties in the long run.

I know, but more than Courtois, he was a fan of the club as a kid and is just well, a nice guy.

As you posted, a wild guess. The had his heart set on Chelsea for years, was promised to get a chance & ...dick.
Now, how do you think he must feel ? If I were him, I´d ask for starting position for next year or I´d walk.
Personally, I feel he will score close to 20 goals in this season. That will give him some leverage to bargain with Chelsea.

actually the spoiler content is for curiosity purposes, just so if anyone wants to know which plays were showcased, the main article itself I don't think it's that long.
I also prefer Sherry's analysis because it's more practical. This is actually a deep stats thing. His is more dynamic and tactic oriented
@manpe, thanks mate

Maybe Lukaku had a chat with Sturridge about sitting on Chelsea's bench whilst a past-it striker gets multiple chances to prove himself?
To be honest, if Chelsea won't give Lukaku a proper chance, I hope he gets sold.
The loan spell to Everton was a good decision...but as I said before, the timing of the loan spell wasn't right.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIb_GpWwTZY
Great goal. And the composure to do that in the 93rd minute with the score tied at 2-2....

Awww yisss

leading the line this afternoon -go Demba :blue scalf:

Daniel Sturridge gives his shirt to disabled Liverpool fan after Crystal Palace win
http://www.101greatgoals.com/blog/respect-daniel-sturridge-gives-his-shirt-to-disabled-liverpool-fan-after-crystal-palace-win-picture/
In any of Sturridge's interviews/actions off the pitch (he has recently created a charity in his name, can't remember what it was for but I think it was based in Jamaica to help kids get into football), he really does not come off as the egotistical maniac some Chelsea fans would have had you believe.

2 starts in half a season with torres doing shit all thru out that time. by the way in those 2 starts sturridge had a goal against united in COC and performed better than torres in 20 minutes as an ST than torres did the whole season with us. (remember those 2 1v1 misses against wba and his movement which made it possible).
if he lacked belief it was only because he was continously sitting on the bench watching torres play and wondering if he was even worse than what he was watching.

Sturridge has improved at Liverpool for sure, but there have been a few people on here like myself and didierforever that saw that he was a special player when he was here. People always tend to forget that he was one of our best players under AVB which is a real shame.
Sturridge was never given a fair chance here so of course he wasn't able to show it on a regular basis but there were quite a few people on here who said Sturridge does have the potential to be a world class striker if he was just given a chance and it looks like he's well on his way to be that.

he was exactly what he was a couple of years ago. he played on the right wing and was one of our highet goal scorer and until december was definitely our player of the season. and that was when he was playing out of position. he was an amazing striker who was given the cold shoulder by our manager and board, just to promote torres.
the only difference i see between the sturridge of now and then is that he is at PEACE with himself. he knows he does not have to prove anything to any1. he no longer takes shots from 30-35 yards out just to show every1 that he is special. and that has made him a better player.

When Luiz has a poor game, this thread is almost as bad as the Mikel thread.

He left at the perfect moment in time. It's just unfortunate that our current strikers can't find the back of the net.

He left at the perfect moment in time. It's just unfortunate that our current strikers can't find the back of the net.