robsblubot

agreed he was very good in second and extended time

he did indeed, but he got assists and could not finish - and that is his job. Impressed by Zouma though - defense a lot more balanced with him giving chase while Terry sits.

Costa has been very poor today. otherwise a good game against a tough opponent who are just finding form again.

It's not a bad patch - this is his normal, which happens to be very similar to his performances for England. Our very deep defense line of 2013/14 (the odd year for him) helped both Gary and Terry as both are pretty slow players. BTW, if most agree that Gary is not the paciest of CBs, it should be evident why he has been struggling this season as our defense line is a bit higher. Gary is a good/decent player, but a terrible partner for Terry as their skills do not complement each other's. He is actually very similar to Terry in characteristics; unfortunately, he will never be as good as Terry. They play in line which I fucking hate - no one chases. If the DM is out of position (or beaten) both CBs will be in the 5-yard box.

it's going to show live on bein sports this is a good place to check btw: http://www.livesoccertv.com/schedules/

same was said when Matic went for peanuts.

what does this have to do with what I wrote? I am fully aware that players have quiet games, though Messi has fewer than any other player (including Ronaldo). My point was specific about the past few games where Hazard has had little to no contribution in attack. And I think it has to do with little rest.

Eden has had a few pretty quiet games. He wasn't bad, but I expect a lot more from him I noticed last season that Hazard struggles to make a difference when he plays often and Jose overplays him a bit. Just to clarify, his elegance, first touch, beautiful turns, and dribbling, mean absolutely nothing to me if they don't translate into assists or goals.

That (scoring cracking goals) has never stopped some of us from hating luiz, has it? He was pretty poor but our midfield sucked made worse by a weak attacking trio who did not help the midfield enough.

Well all Mikel detractors (myself included) have been pointing out that Mikel cannot be considered good enough if he can't adequately replace Matic. And he cannot.

what a goal! They are talking about determination, but to me it's a striker's goal. He's playing the odds with that tackle into empty space and it pays off big time!

Salah might have been poor, but the game was 2x1 when subbed off. More importantly, at the same time, Mikel came off for Fabregas. We had one youngster on the pitch today; one who has already played with the senior team a few times before. I personally think a number a our reserves aren't good enough to be chelsea players - yes I'm against the majority on Remy here. Drogba has played way too much for the type of signing he was to begin with. Ramires is probably still very unfit for any level of competition - just been so long. This is the reason Mourinho does not rotate. Of course the blame is also his, because he signs the players, senior team, reserves (prospects or not), and youth. Just to clarify: this was not surprising to me.

We had one youngster on the pitch today. The others are squad players who obviously werent good enough. I do believe some of them are not good enough and are too old to improve.

because he's got no discipline switching off often. He's also physically weak and lacks determination. Can't imagine a more Unmourinho player. No, I am not a fan of Cuadrado. Stupid name too: Cuadrado means square in spanish (quadrado in Portuguese). Would rather keep Salah who has a chance to become a good player one day; Cuadrado's ship might have already sailed.

I am very familiar with his game when he was a youngster at Gremio trying to break through. Coaches did not like him much back then as he was completely incapable of tracking back much less defend. I have not been following his development, so I have no reason to doubt what you wrote above. He's a bit lightweight and short, so he could physically struggle in the PL. Though he's always had a fantastic shot from distance and could score goals from nowhere; Salah has a lot more pace though.

Mikel played like he always plays: decent but far from good enough for me. Matic was indeed poor and he is almost always poor when he's played often. Which is only natural considering he's big fella and needs fitness to move about the pitch. Lucas was better than both by a fair margin. Yes, our midfielders were under constant pressure, but that's when you need quality - when instead of kicking the ball upfield he can beat a player turn a pass to a teammate.

no losing a player to long term injury would be the worse outcome from overplaying.

So Matic always plays... Say you think Mikel is good enough to play these odd games; then we still have a problem that Matic has no replacement. I wanted Mikel to play instead of Matic otherwise what's the freaking point? the problem isn't that the next game only takes place in the weekend, but that Matic played on Saturday and he's playing a tough match again so soon - he never rests. This increases the likelihood of a muscle problem. And this is only going to get worse. Instead of playing Cup opponents (yes liverpool included here), we will be playing twice a week against Cl finalists soon enough.

Great post! My personal take is that a goal is just too important in a game like football. Not even a touchdown in American Football compares to the importance of goals. Goals also change games by forcing strategy and formation changes - much less so in Am Football. Someone said once that football is the only sport where the performance of the teams on the pitch does not necessarily determine the final score. We all know that very well; by watching games where one team has all possession, and therefore control, but does not score and the other team with a simple movement scores the winner; the ratings/stats would tell one story, while the scoreline a different one. So, it's only natural that if a player scores 2 goals, neither being a tap in, his rating is going to shoot up. His impact on the game was measurably huge and there is absolutely no guarantees that a different player would have been as influential. What if the other player had a 95% pass completion, but all completely innocuous passes? Or perhaps he did set up other players more, but they just couldn't finish - all intangibles. There is a reason that the most expensive players on the planet are the ones who can directly impact the game with goals and assists: scoring goals is hard! My only problem with the overall discussion over Oscar is really that people like to completely ignore that he is 23.

City has a larger squad than we do and that is their advantage. I thought they were unlucky in few moments against arsenal. How the hell did jovetic not score from that close range?! That was one of the most blatant dives I have ever seen and the announcers were ok with it. Mistake playing Lampard as he was very poor when came on. Game was too quick for him. Great result though

Jose was very clear - either someone comes along with a big offer or he will be staying. Reckon he just needs to step up in training to get more minutes.

I don't disagree with you concerning the merit, but still do on the overreactions. Like it or not, he's a valued commodity - that's what the evidence says. Get used to it, because he's going to be in the spotlight until he retires (in about 5 years?). The rest is just opinions.

just teasing... the article itself only later mentions Carlo wanted to play Luiz in midfield. Though I agree with the criticism on the overreactions. personally I think Thiago Silva being there was just as crazy, but Luiz has the hairdo.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/11342578/David-Luiz-is-a-great-defender-and-leader-who-deserves-to-be-in-Fifas-team-of-the-year.html "Carlo Ancelotti and 23,000 footballers are considerably better judges than Twitter trolls" I am not calling you all twitter trolls mind you, just TC trolls...

When you go after Pogba, you are not merely thinking of the player he is now, but also the player the may become. Unfortunately, "the player he may become" seems to be already accounted for in the price. He's still a bit inconsistent, which is only natural being so young.