Shogun

Barkley is definitely injured for 6-8 weeks but the thing with Barkley is that although he's got a lot of ability, there isn't much end product there, though he provides a threat in many other ways. Coleman is a very important player for us to be fair, one of the best right backs there is at the moment but he's also coming of a hamstring injury in Pre-season and looked a bit dodgy against Arsenal due to lack of match practise. I've never seen such a turnaround from a player as I have for Steven Naismith. The fickle nature of football fans lead to a large selection of Everton fans declaring him as one of our worst ever signings after his first season. However he was continually played out of position and coming of a serious injury but that isn't important here. He was played centrally last season, whether it be as a striker or as a 'second striker' and he seemed to suit that role perfectly. Although he has a clear lack of pace, his movement and footballing intelligence makes up for it whilst he's probably the best one on one finisher at the club, as he showed in his goal at Stamford Bridge a couple of seasons ago. He's started this season well and he's become one of the first names on the team sheet. Yeah, I've been on here a while and although I don't visit that often anymore, it's always been a decent atmosphere. I became completely engrossed in the CL win of 2012 and the whole Drogba narrative (I'm a bit disappointed he came back for that reason). Some of the posts on here concerning Everton drive me up the wall but you've just got to take into account that this is a Chelsea forum and there'll be similar misconstrued posts about Chelsea on Everton forums. On a free, he's been a great player to have. Pretty similar to Tim Cahill in many ways. 10 of our XI are pretty set in Stone (though Stones, no pun intended, may replace a centre back) Howard Coleman Jagielka Distin Baines McCarthy Barry Mirallas Naismith don't know Lukaku Pienaar is injured and Martinez likes to for Osman as his replacement. Osman tucks in rather than playing out and out on the wing. McGeady is other probability.

You'll probably mock but our most important player is Naismith, even with Coleman, Lukaku, Baines etc in the frame.

I'd imagine a few will care judging by his 403 page thread.

Just popping in to inform you that we are pretty confident he will be signing for us. Whether we are right, I don't know.

You also have to take into account styles of play though. Chelsea don't push their fullbacks forward anywhere near as much as Everton do thus they're going to be less attacking. Impressed with those defensive stats from Seamus though.

Both great players.

Chelsea have lost none of their last 18 Barclays Premier League home games against Everton (W9 D9). Chelsea have had win/win results in their last five home wins Steven Naismith has scored in two of his three Barclays Premier League appearances against Chelsea. The Londoners have won just three of the last 11 Premier League games against the Toffees (W3 D4 L4). Chelsea have had Over 2.5 goals in their last five home matches against top-six teams There have been four goals in the opening 15 minutes of the last four meetings between Chelsea and Everton. All six of Samuel Eto’o’s Premier League goals for Chelsea have been scored at Stamford Bridge. Everton have had both teams scoring in their last four away matches against Chelsea Everton have scored 10 goals through defenders this season in the Premier League, more than any other side. Their opponents Chelsea have seen six goals from defenders (third most). Six of Everton’s last 11 Premier League goals have been scored from outside the box; three of which have been netted by Kevin Mirallas. Chelsea have had 2-1 scorelines in their last four home wins against top-six teams Jose Mourinho’s side are on the longest unbeaten run in the Premier League currently (11 games – W8 D3). Mourinho’s unbeaten home record as a Premier League manager now stands at 73 games (W57 D16). Roberto Martinez has lost all four of his previous Premier League trips to Stamford Bridge as a manager.

you're doing Everton a real disservice though. Everton are the 6th best side in England at the moment and and had more players on international duty in the last round of internationals than any other club in Europe.

I think you're overrating your own players. How many 'world class' players do Chelsea have?

Since I last posted in this thread, Romelu Lukaku has scored 2 goals in 10 appearances in the Premier League (without counting his injury forced substitution away to Liverpool) having previously scored 7 goals in 8 Premier League appearances. So what we need to determine is whether his drop in goals is down to a drop in performance from Everton as a team or whether Romelu Lukaku has to take a large amount of, not quite blame, but acceptance for his own transformation into Fernando Torres. I have to concede that I am of the persuasion that a decent part of the reasoning for Romelu Lukaku's loss of form is down to Everton's loss in form over the last 2 or 3 months. In my opinion, Everton haven't played well throughout a match since we drew 1-1 against Arsenal at the Emirates and that came 8 Premier League matches ago on 8th December. In that time, Lukaku has scored one goal. Everton have been ravaged with injuries throughout the last couple of months (like some other clubs). Leighton Baines, Phil Jagielka, Sylvain Distin, Seamus Coleman, Gerard Deulofeu, Ross Barkley and much more recently Bryan Oviedo all missed numerous games in this period which will have affected the team as most of them are core players in the squad. Any team that is swapping and changing their team unwillingly are going to suffer. However, there are a lot of players who would step up in that sort of time (Kevin Mirallas in particular did this for us) but Lukaku just went inside a shell and the goals dried up. It wasn't the hardest run of Premier League matches in the world, he has failed to score against Manchester United, Arsenal (they're the excusable fixtures), Fulham, Swansea, Sunderland, Stoke, Norwich and West Brom. Perhaps you also have to take fitness and his stage of development into account. He is still young and has been used sparingly at Chelsea and was used fairly irregularly at West Brom despite his goal return, Due to lack of competition (which could also be a factor, though I don't think it is, he's a pretty self motivated guy), he has started 17 Premier League matches in a row before his injury against Liverpool. You only have to look at your own players recently such as Hazard and Willian who are suffering from fatigue and they have more experience in hand. Also, when you're scoring goals, your inadequacies are often ignored and vice-versa when you're not scoring. Despite the goals, he's always showed that he's a fair distance from being the footballer he wants to be, patience is probably the one thing he needs more of in terms of his career. Unsurprisingly, it's a mixture of a drop of form from the player and the team that have contributed to his lack of goals but if I'm being completely honest, it was the team that was making Lukaku look good this season rather than the other way around as the media would have had you believe with their "what was Jose thinking" headlines. Lukaku is young, that should be remembered and he needs less of the Drogba comparisons and the media fuelling his ego. This break should help him as well as competition from Traore and Naismith who is doing well. There's absolutely no way Lukaku is ready to lead Chelsea next season, nor is there much proof to say he'd be any better at it than Torres or Eto'o... yet.

Here's my preview if anybody is interested. http://www.nsno.co.uk/forums/index.php/topic,43795.0.html

I can't see anything but a Chelsea win here to be honest. We haven't performed well in about 3 months since Lukaku transformed into Emile Heskey. We are getting some results not playing well but unless some players returning from injury (namely Barkley, Coleman and from the bench Deulofeu) start to get back to match sharpness then I can see it being a fairly simple 2-0 here.

I weren't sure you see. An away tie to Gala is difficult and a long tri[ away so I thought Mourinho might have prioritised it.

Will Terry not be rested for the Galatasaray match?

He was ok today. Much better in the second half than the first but his life was made easier by some outstanding performances behind him.

it's depends how long back you want to go, in 2004-05 this team finished fourth on I think 61 points. GK Nigel Martyn RB Tony Hibbert CB David Weir CB Alan Stubbs LB Gary Naismith RM Kevin Kilbane CM Lee Carsley CM Thomas Gavesen LM James McFadden AM Tim Cahill ST Marcus Bent I don't even want to think about where that Everton team would be this year.

I love this boy, most players who come to Everton gain some sort of attachment to the club for the rest of their careers and coming off the back of a thrilling Merseyside derby with Goodison Park booming, it really is no surprise he could see himself at Everton. Of course, Chelsea fans have absolutely nothing to worry about as there is zero chance of that happening for financial reasons just for starters. Let's be honest though, the loan is all about his progression as a player and his understanding of the game. No one should really care about what is going to happen after the season at this point. I've not done any updates on him so I'll start from the top. West Ham 2-3 Everton - Lukaku came on at half time and changed the game around (along with the free kicks from Baines). His whole game was perfect in that half with his movement, his passing, his energy and physicality and it totally changed the complexion of the game. Perhaps coming on for someone as woeful as Jelavic made him stand out more. Of course, it took great courage to header in the winning goal as well. 8/10 Everton 3-2 Newcastle - His link up play and his understanding in the first half with Ross Barkley was emphatic. They were finding each other with every pass. He slotted a sweet finish for his first goal before providing a superb through ball for Barkley's second goal and kept his compusure for the third to get it over Krul and trick Coloccini on the line to tap it in. Second half he was very poor and barely found a teammate whilst looking completely tired. 8/10 Manchester City 3-1 Everton - There isn't a lot to say about this match as from 17 minutes we were dominated by the home side and Lukaku didn't have much of a sniff but overall he played ok and latched on to a ball over the top from Jagielka really well with a good touch to run on to the ball and another decent enough finish. Same problems with energy levels and fatigue in the second half. 6/10 Everton 2-1 Hull - He struggled in this one, got a few scraps of the ball but he was totally dominated by Curtis Davies for the majority of the match, still won a fair few aerial battles but overall not much to write home about. 4/10 Aston Villa 0-2 Everton - He looked a bit better in this game, we were completely dominated in the first half and Around about the half hour mark Lukaku had a great header saved by Guzan. Second half came and for the first time this season he probably kept his energy levels to an adequate amount and slotted home yet another goal from the edge of the box to break the deadlock. 7/10 Everton 0-0 Tottenham - I missed the first half but Everton were apparently awful all together so it probably wasn't him to blame. There weren't many chances in this match and he didn't play much of a part and only really had one half chance IIRC. Quiet game. 3/10 Crystal Palace 0-0 Everton - Couldn't do anything to make a difference really, he was getting no service or options when he did rarely get the ball. I'd give him a free pass on this game because we were generally woeful. 4/10 Everton 3-3 Liverpool - Up until his goal(s), this was his worst match for us! His touch was absolutely dreadful and he couldn't pass a fart. I think this was the case throughout the match but fortunately he bagged two goals which is the main thing I'd want out of a striker. He was pretty poor otherwise. 7/10 (Without the goals 2/10) Overall, his finishing is wonderful. He hasn't had a shot and missed where I've though "Even Kojo could have scored that". He has a lot to work on with his energy levels as far too often he has tired in the second half which has left us a bit disjointed at times and he needs to learn how to use his physicality to bully defenders more than he does. His passing is very hit and miss, some days it's great but other times it's very poor, there isn't an inbetween. His attitude is flawless as is his determination. He still has plenty to wok on but as long as he scores goals, I don't really care to be perfectly honest.

Group 1 Will send out the questions now, people don't need to respond straight away and if you don't want to do if anymore then that's fine as well.

No chance for a few years yet lads.

I think people are overrating Fellaini's presence here. He wouldn't have been much of a goal/ariel threat aside from set pieces by playing in centre midfield. I rate Barkley as a bigger danger playing in attacking midfield.

No I expect somewhere between 50%-55% in our favour, but as said possession means nothing.

Not sure you'll have he majority of the ball pal, we've had 65%+ is our games so far and being at home I can't see us handing over possession. Not that possession means goals. Also if anyone wants to read our side of things http://www.nsno.co.uk/forums/index.php/topic,42385.0.html

Think so Choulo, both are in training so it's seems it just slight niggles.

I think you mean question for English members mate.

------------------------------Howard------------------------- --------Coleman---Jagielka-----Distin----Baines------ ----------------------McCarthy---Barry--------------------- ---------------Mirallas------Barkley-----Pienaar---------- ---------------------------------Kone--------------------------- Just a guess, Osman could start instead of McCarthy/Barry and Jelavic instead of Kone.