robsblubot

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.

Lol I guess it applies to both.

Isn't he too injury-prone? Makes his price tag a bit unpalatable.

because Wenger knows so much about defending... Terry is indeed a leader, but before that, he's a very good player and defender. Jose would say he's the specialist in a very different category.

that's factually incorrect as I've posted stats proving otherwise on this thread. Their "defense" was pretty good in the beginning of the season, while their attack was misfiring. Besides, there is no defense. This is not american football where there is a defense team. Otherwise we'd have to conclude that Thiago Silva is the reason PSG has been poor in defense lately as he was not playing in the beginning of the season when PSG were solid at the back. Just to clarify: I don't watch their league so he might've been really poor - don't really care. I actually thought he was pretty poor against Barcelona away (I do watch CL) and posted so on this thread. Their GK isn't that great either IMO. And Thiago Motta is a bit past his prime which will make things difficult for whoever plays in CB. Frankly, Luiz blunders or not, I don't think much of PSG as a team. BTW, Thiago Silva is overrated too.

I think you are both missing something quite obvious: mikel and cahill are playing at their best while Oscar isn't.Mikel is 27 and cahill is 29. Oscar is 23! u just don't buy the top players because the top clubs won't let them go. So u buy and develop the unfinish product... Oscar may or may not become the real deal, but chelsea and jose believe he has the potential. So does brazil management. There are no guarantees obviously. Here is a crazy idea: you both may actually have no clue about whether he will improve at all or by how much. I don't either, but I am not the one claiming to. Though my wild guess is that he's bound to improve some, whether enough that's not certain.

There are three certain things in life: death, taxes, and a reply from didierforever. Honestly, I obviously watched the game, in fact I did after already knowing the result, so I was paying attention to what the players were doing; how much they were contributing in their roles. Hazard had a poor game (isolated is the oldest excuse in the book) for me, as did William, and Fabregas. Oscar was at the same level, but managed to produce the final ball for both goals so I am not going to complain today. Because we did very little aside from those two goals. I reckon all agree that Oscar needs to improve, but being only 23, he is bound to improve.

Right my point is that things don't happen in vacuum. There is a reason our attacking mids struggled today. Hazard wasn't great. William had no shot on target did he? Oscar wasn't great but not as poor as you claim either - he did have a terrible start of the game though.

Not a great game but credit where credit is due. He made the run, which made himself available for the tap in. He had a freaking assist from a very clever flick. More than fabregas had going forward today. Or hazard? Also credit to Newcastle for making passing in the final third difficult for us.

frenchie... watch out for Wenger!

JT record number of open play goals by a defender in the PL. Richard Dunne record number of own goals by a defender in the PL.