robsblubot

Didn't think he did anything wrong in the KdB goal - he does not look composed in his defending so he stands out even when not doing anything wrong. It was a counter with city attacking with many players - only so much defenders can do. my prob with him as a defender isn't with the mistakes, but rather with the mistakes he doesn't even make by being completely out of position...

Heh this goes back to my arg against mikel... Maka was obviously different from mikel, but their roles were similarly limited. Their range of passing in particular was very similar. Maka defended 10x better though. yaya is more similar to essien, but not as complete as essien was. It's difficult to find something essien was poor at-perhaps aerial duels? i just don't see the top teams employing limited players anymore - a pure defensive dm as maka was. plenty of rounded essiens though.

Motivation during practice can do wonders...

Excellent that's essentially saying fuck off!

his brain fart moment aside (kinda soft must say) he looks a lot fitter than when with us. After this fucking season I have to question our fitness coaches and their methods... it's like every player runs more and does more elsewhere.

Fuck yeah! Although maka was indeed a beast back then, not sure he'd have a place in the modern game. Essien, however, is the very epitome of the modern game - prob my fav Chelsea player before his sad injuries...

Only if the deal would include a time machine.

schneiderlin's long ball to mata was real smething... Good CMs must be able to do that. I'm hopeful that most rumors so far mention CM targets.

Yeah two tough matches, west ham and United, and two easy ones. Completely doable. yes arsenal has easier opponents, but they are running against two teams ahead, which makes their task pretty difficult.

Different conditions... different time. You just cannot establish a strong correlation with so many variables. Let me just strongly disagree that this was an impressive result. For me beating City one nil would hav been 10x as impressive as beating Vila by any margin. And yes, I believe if we played City 10 times with this crop of players we'd lose 9. perhaps it was a particular bad game for them., who knows? I thought Vila did not press our midfield at all... they looked scattered on the pitch.

Pedro has a poor first touch. It did not bother him too much today because Vila is championship level, but against tight marking Pedro will always struggle. not good enough to start.

No, we should indeed care that Vila is a horrible side, otherwise we don't have to buy anyone for next season. yes we did our duty, but don't take too much out of it. You can actually analyse the players' performances taking into account how much space they had; but even then it is tricky, because some players react differently to tighter marking and that's what we care the most about at this level. Good to see some of the youngsters get a game though, but this was too easy even for Pato.

If you haven't done so, go ahead and watch the highlights of Brazil x Uruguay match for cut qualifiers. David Luiz had another ridiculous performance - hilarious stuff.

Mistakes... Culprit... they aren't the reason Cahill is insufficient. It's not like Kompany makes fewer mistakes, but that he adds more to his side than Cahill does. how they defend also matters.

You are linking cause and consequence When imo there is none or at least very little. mikel started against Everton and Porto under Jose and you know how well we played. i digress, this is Oscar thread. i will give you a different example then: don't think Pedro is better than Oscar regardless of form. my point remains that we have other oscars in the team... Several of them actually. pains me to say it, but depending on the deal he may or may not be willing to take, terry should perhaps leave too.

Absolutely not... Regardless whether I think Oscar may still make it, it is clear it won't happen here. what I am criticizing is the simplification that Oscar is somehow responsible for our lackluster play this season, ironically when he hasn't featured very often. cant answer why RLC doesn't play - might be that the manager doesn't think much of him. I personally think matic is twice the player mikel is, but I digress. Mikel should definitely be one leaving along with Oscar. it is actually a lot easier and cheaper to replace mikel than Oscar. 4-5 players should leave or at least lose their starting position, otherwise we will have a very similar season. And def adjust the system if fabregas stays.

Don't know about your telly, but on mine Fabregas and Mikel pivot gets destroyed week in and out. People keep saying there is some stability. but we keep conceding twice per match, home or away. It doesn't take a PSG either. The defense is completely exposed facing attackers one-on-ones all the time, which even makes Azpi look like a poor defender - something he is not. RLC needs minutes... pick anyone in midfield and replace him. It doesn't matter anymore. Unless Hiddink has been told to give some players som minutes to raise their value/get some offers in... it happens.

Because he is one player out of eleven and this is not tennis, as many here would have you believe. so if you replace Oscar and get a fucking "proper" #10 - whatever that may be - the other oscars will still be there fucking it up around your fabled #10. In the end it's simple arithmetic: the top teams have no oscars in their starting xi or even in the squad. We have them in numbers. if you want to fool yourself in thinking that replacing Oscar with, say Isco, will make us great again, then go right ahead, but I still find that idea fucking ridiculous.

Agreed, but ironically Oscar did win as much of a penalty as the one at the end.

Lukaku had a horrible time against Arsenal. i guess that makes us look even worse by the way he took us apart.

There is only one way this set of players can play: the Mourinho way - very very deep in their own half. it is very easy for anyone atm to get behind our midfield and our defense lines. They are just too slow to chase and to step up respectively. There is a gulf that separates the defense line and the midfield - very classic problem - which will get exploited until fixed.

Agreed except work rate, which is puzzling tbh. Think that ship has already sailed. Even people like me who still think he can improve, don't think that's likely to happen at Chelsea. what worries me is that even at current level, there are far worse problems in the team: like the fact our midfield gets overrun by anyone. Can't win games losing the midfield.

He has regressed indeed. If you look at his stats you will that they are down in comparison: he had goals, assists and especially interceptions due to high working rate... Not anymore. not that it matters too much right now though-this is his current level. However we have quite a few oscars or worse on the team; you guy's obsession with Oscar is unhealthy... Sorry couldn't resist.

Ok say he does, still don't think so, but just for argument's sake: he's just too old at 34/35 especially for a striker who needs acceleration to make runs. would take him a few years ago, but not now. he plays in a far less physically demanding league.

Sell him! Get 10m while he's worth 10m! After playing 50 matches as a defensive LB he will be worth 5m, so this is pretty much it....