robsblubot

Of course not... managers always replace the best players. So was he the worst against Sporting?! Because if he was the BEST against newcastle and very good against Sporting, perhaps he deserves a starting lineup position? My point remains: either Mikel starts when all other players are available, in which case he is at least good enough (let's not even go into "best"), or he doesn't (start) and which case he isn't good enough to start. There is very little else to say. I was just calling Jose on his BS. We will see in the following games, esp when Rambo regains match fitness.

There is no hate from me. I think he's a shitty player, especially for a top club. That has nothing to do with hate, which honestly sounds like rhetoric to me. I don't "like" the players I consider good, and I don't "dislike" the players I deem insufficient. I don't know them and they really don't mean anything to me - the same way i don't mean anything to them. Disagree again, a player who accepts a minor role is deadweight. A footballer without ambition doesn't belong at this level. If he has been the "best" player like he said, then Mikel will also play when all others are available, not to fill a gap. In my dictionary, the word "best" means better than the others... You often respond without actually taking the time to understand what has been written, so you end up answering a different point altogether. in short, if he starts today then Jose was truthful. I will disagree with Jose, but agree that he is consistent. My point was that he isn't though, and that he is playing the press.

The "best player" returns to his rightful place in a club like Chelsea: the bench. Believe in what Jose does, not what he says.

Gerrard was slow and awkward as he usually is these days. Lucas was much better in the holding position - surprise! Liverpool's defense watching Giroud, of all players to leave unmarked, walk inside their own box and doing nothing to stop him was quite something. Skrtel scored that goal and his determination was commendable, but he also was caught napping when Giroud scored. It was a bad game despite the intensity, which was good. The number of mistakes and the lack of creativity made the game pretty painful to watch. Despite the nice goal Coutinho returned to his usual shittyness afterwards.

Agreed. I, for one, never associated Jose Mourinho with developing players - quite on the contrary. The big question, for me, would be whether developing youngsters is part of his requirements as a manager - did Abramovich actually tell him to work on that as well? The starting line up against Derby was nothing short of ridiculous... Not even fringe players managed to get a start...

Get him back and start a long-term strengthening program before it's too late. He's got too much potential to risk further injuries. He will only be able to get playing time if he remains injury-free long enough.

perhaps it was just nerves as the newbie guy Hopefully he's not going through any contortions to make simple passes this time. (at work - not watching)

strategy is to kill the game soon with high pressure then start subbing players and switching to counterattacking. Still pretty risky move considering the size of our squad. Could we honestly do what city is doing winning games without most of their key players? Can't really understand going with almost all key players here.

Top striker in the world at the moment, Alexandre Pato: http://caras.uol.com.br/tv/alexandre-pato-comemora-chegada-das-ferias-ao-lado-de-fiorella-mattheis#.VJB-0ifeP6A Honestly the guy is pure talent... Her name is Fiorella Mattheis.

not talking about Luiz specifically as he's indeed on the quirky side. As we are about to face him, I catch myself wishing he doesn't play in midfield which is very telling. The cover I speak of should be especially easy for teams, like us, who play with a CB in the RB position.... When the CB moves up, the RB becomes the CB. Most Brazilian teams, who employ attacking FB use the CDM for that cover, which is something I dislike these days. If the player has the quality to play well, it's natural he will be given the freedom to do so. Hummels (Ramos too) makes a lot of mistakes because he joins the middle and attack very often, which leaves himself and his teammates exposed and yet he's one of the better defenders out there - of a particular style and characteristic. Solid defender not necessarily the same as great defender. Perhaps your point is that a great defender must be solid, but I'd counter that by saying that he can be solid when instructed to stay put. However, whenever necessary, the coach *will* employ/unleash him as an attacking weapon (if he is capable), and in such cases (e.g. chasing a result or as a sneaky move) he *will* leave the back line exposed - something's gotta give.

careful criticizing a 22-year old in his second? season in England. That's how you lose good prospects...

That's the irony of defending... better defenders want to play and their coaches want them to play because they know how. On the other hand, when they do play they will naturally expose the defense and it's up to their teammates and coach to address that - either you live with that or you don't. I still think Kompany is world class though as he can be dominant in a low or high block.

still think he's very different from Oscar as characteristics go. I like Barkley very much, but they've played nobody today. QPR stars Robert Green and Richard Dunne.... How do they play in the PL is beyond me...

fair enough. My disappointment was with Thiago Silva - who (i hear) actually f* up yesterday in their league loss. Back to CL though, I just wish Blanc, or whoever may replace him, doesn't stick Luiz in midfield against us. it could become challenging if they pulled a Mourinho against us. Rather have them playing attractive football with only Motta defending in the middle.

how do you know it was all fake? Maybe he is that volatile and from the reports he is like that (Iva was mentioning it one of these days). It would certainly match his game. The loss was on the difference in quality, but the trashing was solely on Scolari and I am a Gremio supporter. There is no excuse for the starting line up we started with. Some commentators were very pessimistic before the kickoff, because of it. We had a 2-men midfield that got crushed by a 5-men midfield with superior players - honestly, it's that simple. I could name at least 5 players who also had horrid performances alongside David Luiz that day.

Not a horrible draw to be honest. They are a good team, but we are a lot better. Arsenal got the best draw, obviously, but City will have to pull off something very special to go through. Barca are prob happy with their draw esp considering City's injuries. Unlike Barbara, I honestly wasn't surprised by David Luiz performances in the World Cup (the very good, the bad, and the very ugly). as I always thought he was very quirky and needed a system to fit in. However, I was surprised by Silva's mentality which wasn't what I expected from a skipper. PSG chances, as things stand right now, are small, but they could improve if Blanc got sacked. He's a very naive coach who would go into SB playing as if he were playing Nantes at home. He would never move Luiz into midfield, which for them would be a quite obvious (esp playing away) move considering Luiz is (at lot) better than Motta right now and also that they have Marquinhos as an option in defense. Their GK is also not at the level of Courtois or Cech. My only concern is that we are very dependent on the form of 4 players atm: Hazard, Matic, Costa, and Fabregas. If any one picks up an injury, his replacement would not be anywhere near the starter in terms of quality. Esp considering the upcoming concentration of games.

You are being nice to Cahill. Terry is a world class defender who should always be the very first pick for England. Cahill is a good dependable player and that pretty much all he's ever going to be. Nothing wrong with that btw.

old didier is getting more minutes. Never though of remy as a player for chelsea but surprised by this.

Mikel was getting booed for sure. As much as think mikel doesn't belong in a top club, he is picked by the club and manager - not his fault. Sometimes supporters do get fed up with a player and pick on him. That will make life harder for mikel and Jose.

That's how bad Foy is. The most blatant dive wasn't warded a yellow. Costa one wasn't even a dive - he was protecting himself. People are right to be worried as hull are a very poor side. We haven't been playing very well lately.

Thank you, hazard!

That's exactly what I meant... that putting the blame of a trashing on a single player (1/11) is very silly - a defender nonetheless. Games are won and lost in midfield and Brazil, for a number of reasons, didn't have one that day. Obviously luiz had a shitty performance just like most of the other players - besides the point though.

Fair enough - that's your opinion. Just fyi, David luiz is also an integral part of the new Brazilian side coached by dunga. Honestly blaming one player in a trashing is kinda silly - not tennis (singles).

No I don't think Cahill switched off. He was beaten by a player as physically strong as he is; Cahill offers very little else other than strength and awareness. The "suicidal" part is your opinion as we all know, which is not shared by others including Brazil and PSG coaches. We've been down this rat hole before. We may even agree on the CDM part. But Blanc wanted to play attractive football in Barcelona...

we always go back to this discussion and we agree to disagree. There is solidity, which means consistency, making few mistakes. There is also limitation, technical, mental and physical, which are specially important for top clubs as the defenders will face top attackers. Though mental crosses the boundary and could be the cause for the former. The point being that Cahill does NOT have to make the same mistakes David Luiz makes to be deemed insufficient. He might be uncomfortable on the ball, or not quick enough to play a high line for example. Then we go into characteristics, personal preferences, and we've been tehre many times before. For example, even today I see John Terry as twice the player as Cahill is. He can still go forward and make plays a lot better than Cahill. David Luiz not being good enough, or solid enough, does NOT make Cahill good enough either. BTW, Didier might have forgotten Cahill marking the fantastic Balotelli at the world cup.