robsblubot

Right otherwise let's sell hazard and buy Diego Tardelli. Or never buy another English player... Or conclude that Neymar is better than messi... The majority of the games are played against the worst opposition one can think of. Even the WC group stage often pits teams against second/third grade opposition. Not to mention motivation or lack thereof. Did you watch Neymar yesterday?! Yes some of frustration because of good defending the rest is just lack of focus. Brazil and Argentina historically bring their b sides to cops America and Brazil a team isn't that great to begin with. Then there is team mechanics which may benefit certain players and styles. Euros >>>> copa america * originally from Brazil and have watched a lot of copa America.

don't take too much from Copa America - second rate competition. He also looked good/better in the world cup...

A few points on the discussion: IMO all our strikers are a bit injury-prone (assuming Falcao indeed joins)They are all good players regardless of formeven when not scoring Falcao movement wasn't too bad and his work rate was there.Falcao is a bet because of his injuries and so was Torres, but the similarities end here: the problem wasn't betting on Torres, but the contract duration and wages. Falcao will be on loan which makes him a good bet in my book. There are many other variables unknown to us which pertain the deals between clubs, agents, and scouts. Favors are currency too in football.

You should be able to answer your own questions - not that hard unless you choose not to see the obvious virtues Oscar has as a player (that Jose and apparently Juve do).Would people rate pogba that highly (I don't btw) were he 33 years old? I certainly wouldn't. Pogba is sought after because he can still improve and probably will. Same with Oscar. Oscar must improve for me as well. He's not good enough for the club to fly higher. I just don't see the logic of selling good prospects tbh. And then watch them deliver elsewhere.

Esp considering Salah is 22!I hope it wasn't a knee-jerk decision by Jose alone and the coaches also saw something off with him: perhaps he did not adapt well ... We will know in time. The prob I have with cuadrado isn't about lack of impact or bad spell, but rather the lack of technique in controlling the football. Never seen another Chelsea player with so much trouble controlling the football - Bertrand comes in as a distant second.

Salah had one thing going for him: he was young enough to improve his game. At least Douglas Costa is younger than Cuadrado. Still not crazy about his game and he is very lightweight. Also he can't defend to save his life.

should go. did not deliver and too old to improve - never understood the signing.

Not a fan to be honest - shows too much of the football most of the time which just isn't good enough at this level. Now he could be part of a group; he could certainly contribute as he has already. Was never a big fan of Luis signing and thought Ryan could provide adequate cover as (again) he already did. Not everyone has mikel's ambition or lack thereof, so best of luck to him. Soton is a good club and reckon the right place for a player of his skill.

Jose did what was needed to help the player. Ppl here ought to heed his words though. It explains a lot about his preferences as a manager. Certain players will never play for him - no matter how much technique they may have.

Remy has been a lot better than I originally thought - very happy about getting this one wrong. Surprised by his movement and runs into space. Question mark remains his fitness, but with Remy, we might have the luxury to give a chance to a youngster as a third option.

That's consistency or lack thereof and I acknowledge it. So does Jose based on his comments; who also seems to see the quality as I do. Hardly think Jose and Chelsea coaches would be wasting time with him if they did not believe he has the quality. Despite differ opinions, there is one thing ppl here are dead wrong about: fitness does affect technique.

Difficult for me to understand how people choose to ignore the times when he did show quality - technical as well as defensive - both for chelsea and Brazil. BTW, never seen Oscar having any trouble whatsoever with his first touch or losing possession like Cuadrado does. His passing in the final third is what he's been inconsistent with.

Why?! Because Jose said yes to an astronomical offer from the nouveau riche psg? Even folks, like me, who appreciated Luiz play would have said yes to that... Btw Luiz was a lot better than zouma in midfield. In defense, neither played under Jose.

he looked a bit more lively but his control was just as poor as before. Even the pk he got was caused by an initial poor first touch. Sticking to my original idea: not good enough for chelsea (not even rotation) and not young enough to develop.

Ouch No self/auto warning?!

Obviously Oscar is not good enough to play for - a nothing player!

Only the delusional thought otherwise. We have a small squad which leads to little rotation and tired legs at the end of the season and some ppl want him gone... Improve on him sure if we can. Then whether Oscar develops or not is covered, but selling him would be silly. Of course if a massive offer came, like they did for Luiz and Mata, then it's a different situation. Only the bad players are unsellable as they don't get bids.

Right...(^ lamps) Ppl need to be careful when criticizing the defending as Barcelona make them all look poor. They have the best attack in the world by a fair margin.

Always thought Cuadrado was a terrible signing because he'd struggle in the PL. Did not think he was that great for Colombia either, as they played even worse opponents than Brazil did in the group stages. Cuadrado has physical and technical deficiencies: he shows too much of the football and he is easily outmuscled out of plays - it's a dangerous combination esp in the PL. Now sterling has no such deficiencies. Yes, he's also lightweight (though he stays on his feet), but his superb technique allows him to keep possession going through tackles and bouncing off players. Pace alone does not allow you to avoid contact, but together with excellent technique, one can indeed avoid contact even in tight spaces - Sterling does that. Yes, he will be expensive, but if available I also see no reason not to go after him, especially considering how young he is. Chelsea has great coaches in the staff and I am confident the younger players can achieve their full potential.

Sorry, but I don't think you got what I wrote. I was NOT talking about this game, even though I disagree with the 6+ people who liked your post - thought he was mundane as usual. When you play a 27yo striker who has very few goals in his career, you have to realize the goals will be hard to come by. It's the same logic with a midfielder who historically has had a VERY hard time, assisting, scoring, and even hitting long balls. So, it’s really not a stretch to think we were LESS likely to produce something in attack - we were very poor in attack against weak opposition at home - BECAUSE Mikel was the one pulling the strings. See, I did not disagree (completely) that he was the one pulling the strings, I think he still did not make enough runs forwards, hit long balls, etc, but for the sake of argument, let’s say he had a good game…. Still, Chelsea should NOT be relying on Mikel’s attacking prowess to win games esp at the bridge. Because YEARS of stats on his attacking prowess, or lack thereof, don’t lie.

Sterling for me. Coutinho is responsible for good plays as well as many of the goals they concede. no thanks.

Go back a few pages - it's a long thread - and the same folks are saying the odd goal and assist from Oscar isn't enough and doesn't make good prospect... Compared to Coutinho, Oscar is very very rounded as he's got the defensive side of his game down to exactly what his manager wants. Coutinho is really poor defending and with any physical contact? He's been very poor lately actually, despite a couple of goals in between - went missing several time esp in tough matches. A bad game by Oscar doesn't cost you the game as he's going to do his hard work. At São Paulo an internacional in Brazil Oscar was far more creative and the concern back then was whether he'd ever become a competitive player - mourinho has addressed that beautifully. Grass is definitely greener on the other side. (Carzola Mata... liverpool has one really good player and Coutinho ain't it.

Mikel an attacking threat?! I've heard everything now...Are you messing with me? The word threat implies imminent danger... Was it?! From mikel?! No way you look at his stats you can consider him a threat in attack: his attacking stats are as low as they get. Perhaps the reason we had no attack whatsoever was indeed because mikel was our biggest attacking threat. Another way: because our attacking players were off mikel ended up being our attacking threat which did not work obviously as we had little going forward. Let me put in a way everybody can understand (even people who dislike Oscar): the stats (as well as your eyeballs) show that Oscar has a (MUCH) better chance to hit a long ball, assist, and specially score. So, the fact Mikel is trying those things will almost always end up in a lackluster attacking effort by us. Football is about completing these plays not how often trying them... Also, we played crystal palace at the bridge.... Context...

Creative? No assist, no shots, no long balls actually. Can't remember many forward passes either... Yes he helped containing their impetus, but calling creative when he is the opposite is just crazy... Btw can't really give too much praise to our defenders against glorious crystal palace at the bridge. Praise is to be given for the championship and for the entire season performance, but we've been very poor lately.

hate to talk about shit I don't know a thing about - this qualifies even more than football itself - but it's not what heard from professionals; they want to work with players as young as possible as their development is not entirely complete so they can shoot for more permanent changes which isnt possible once they are close to their 30s. Perhaps bulking up can be done in a short term, but there are a number of other specialized training that demands time, as in years, so expecting a 27 yo to achieve the level of improvement of a 19yo is unrealistic IMHO. This aspect, development of players, is something I see entirely ignored around here. Cuadrado is a 30m buy and he should perform as such. I personally did not think he was an improvement over Andre or Salah - both younger players.