robsblubot

Who?!? Poor man's Lennon for 15m? Must be inflation.

yup Some young players (and apparently Anelka) seem to have this ridiculous notion that they can say and do whatever they want while representing, not to mention being paid by, their clubs; when people demand professionalism, that's essentially it. No irony here as players are nothing more than contracted employees. Regardless of merit on the action itself, Anelka was wrong in using the popularity of his club, without their knowledge or consent, to send a personal message. The fact that the message was controversial was just the icing on the cake. WBA is reportedly having some trouble with their sponsors over Anelka's action.

He has developed as a good/great player in a different, presumably weaker, league. We may have to show the same patience with him as we do with any other acquisition from a different league/country. The fact he was once a Chelsea player may or may not help his adaptation to the current squad and system, not to mention the Premiere League - has he even played much in the PL?

not sure about that. He seems to be 100% professional in every sense of the word. Regardless whether you rate him a top CAM or not, his professionalism can't be questioned. For this reason, the fact he missed training suggests the deal is imminent.

I've never been a big fan of Mata's. I thought he had great seasons for us, certainly an important player, but I look around and the other top CAMs are better than him. I do think he's bit on the slow side for that position. He's a very good player, but really don't rate him as a top 10 CAM. I understand why Jose, along with Chelsea, are betting on Oscar: he is younger and more rounded than Mata. They reckon Oscar has a higher ceiling while Mata is already at his peak. However, let's just forget Oscar for a moment. Mata's problem and the reason he'd want to leave isn't because he is behind Oscar, or because he is a rotation player. He just doesn't play under Jose. Jose is not liking what Mata has been producing and that's the reason Mata's (presumably) unhappy and would want to leave. Now, I'd not have a problem if we sold him for say 40m... that's the beauty selling in the January window as it is a sellers market.

So, i guess we are going to stop complaining about the CM position now?! We've now got the Brazilian Kenyan and the Giant Serbian.

the bolded part goes against all the evidence we've got, not to mention your own argument. Forward runs and long balls have been either allowed/encouraged or he would've been yanked out midway through matches - perhaps even before. He lost his place when he made concentration and judgmental errors, not when he made forward runs or attempted long passes (in those instances he played the 90 mins) as he has always done. Or are you saying Jose Mourinho would leave a player on the pitch who completely ignores his instructions?! And how about every manager before him who had Luiz as a starter? Concerning Barcelona, I think if they can play 5'11 Mascherano as a CB, Luiz will do just fine.

deleted my post was garbage compared to the one above.

I think Moses is a limited player and won't get much better than this, unfortunately - hope he proves me wrong! However, I completely agree with you - we just can't expect to have players like Mata sitting on the bench (if that much). Gotta have the wildcards here and there and they should not be the 40m ones.

yet it is far more likely Terry is the one picking a knock (on wood)... After all Cahill was signed to eventually replace Terry - similar characteristics. If we do sell DL, we'd need a fit replacement. Right now with Ivanovic injured, we'd be very thin at the back. Really can't start the likes of Kalas and Kenneth in tough matches.

how dare you bringing facts in this la la land of a thread.... I think we should just hand the 3 points back to hull, after a formal apology for playing ugly football, to satisfy some of the crazies around here.

lol For the stats inclined: according to whoscored, Luiz was MotM with 10 aerial clearances... the entire hull side had 17. http://www.whoscored.com/Matches/720693/LiveStatistics/England-Premier-League-2013-2014-Hull-Chelsea terrible game indeed...

DL played in the middle against Liverpool winning us the center of the pitch - directly involved in the setup of the second goal. Now once again today he's the one with a quick flick to Cole who sets up Hazard. Mikel has never been able to do that. Going to the market for a proper world class CM is one thing, but comparing DL contribution in the middle to the likes of Essien (former great player) and Mikel (consistently below average) is essentially ignoring facts, which are the measurable contributions DL has been able to provide from the center of the pitch (last season too). So, Jose is the second (in a row) manager to play Luiz in the midfield, but you are saying he did not have a genuine excuse to do that... Perhaps, you know, Jose and you don't really agree on Luiz?! according to you David Luiz is not technically nor tactically gifted, not versatile... and yet, the top clubs want him and we slap a 35m price tag on this awful player. So, all the players you like ahead of him, are much less valuable players in the market. One of them doesn't even get to play cup matches. The world must not make any sense through your eyes.

Jose is a player - he plays the media and they love it. The best managers have the keen ability of finding spots in the team for their best players. Terry and Cahill are in great form, and he obviously values Luiz as a player. That outside of the boot quick flick to cole for the first goal is the type of move Mikel has never pulled off. Lampard does, but Lampard isn't as strong in defense as Luiz is. There was a moment in the match when Terry made a forward run and Luiz dropped back as a CB - very smoothly done. BTW, I didn't think DL was amazing or anything like that, but he was key in the dominance we had, esp in the second half. Hull don't know what hit em - don't think they had a shot on our goal in the second half. That's very Mourinho.

I really don't know why the press even talk with the other managers... waste of paper/bits. Q: You have been fortunate enough to work with both Ronaldos. Which one was best at his peak? (Zobayr Nader, via Facebook) Mourinho: "I had Ronaldo and Ronaldo; I had Figo and Stoichkov; I had Ibrahimovic and Drogba; I had Lampard and Terry ... I had, I had, I had ... dozens of top, top players! I also had the ones without the same talent, but with big hearts -– and they gave everything to me." http://www.nbcsports.com/soccer/pl/gaffers-answers

Defensive skills are far cheaper to acquire in the market. Yaya is the best CM in the world for me because he can do it all - the fact he's so good in attack just makes him even more valuable. Regardless, Yaya isn't available. It really boils down to the following two considerations: 1. Is Matic better than Mikel? How so? 2. Furthermore, is Matic good enough to provide an edge against the other top sides?

agreed. If Shaw is good enough then he is good enough - no doubt about it. Again, I was just referring to Polo7's point when he warned about going gaga for English talent.

Chelsea success of recent times involves large sums of cash used to acquire top players from all over the world - the exact same policy of today. http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/roman-abramovichs-10year-chelsea-anniversary-what-did-he-ever-do-for-us-spend-2-billion-in-10-years-at-chelsea-thats-what-8680084.html I do remember Chelsea back then kicking the ball up field to hasselbaink... effective at times, but hardly world class. However, I do not deny the importance of Lampard and Terry in this winning process. My point was merely due to the odds of trying to find the odd talent in a smaller pool (England) vs a much larger one (the world).

Haven't seen enough of Shaw to know whether he is class or not, but if you don't understand Polo7's point... well you are just very bad with numbers, esp probabilities.

So apparently, Brendan Rodgers would like to send Victor Moses back to us as he failed to impress. Not a big fan of Moses myself, so it doesn't surprise me one bit.

yeah I understand where he is coming from, but if the youngsters dont get to play in these matches, when are they going to play then? We already have a reputation for not giving youngsters a chance... it could make things harder for us... will SHaw come knowing that at 18 he prob won't play for us?

Good, yet nothing impressive, performances from a few players aside (Oscar, Mikel, Willian, Cahill), let's not forget we've played a championship side with a fraction of the talent at our disposal. TBH, it was not a good football match. All I can say is that we did our job, but the fact Jose fielded a strong starting XI is a bit puzzling. The scary thing is how poor our strikers were against very poor opposition - Eto'o looked like the proper retiree. Luiz's lousy first half performance should be concerning, esp again considering how poor the opposition was.

I don't watch Spanish football, so I end up only watching Barca and Real when they play in the CL. I have to say I've never seen anything remotely good enough from Higuain. He's nowhere near Aguero's level, which is the level of striker we need. I don't think a good striker will help us ATM - we already have good strikers in the squad. What we need is a top striker and Higuain ain't it.

Agreed! It's even worse for Oscar though, because most (very few exceptions) refs in the Brazilian league show cards far too easily for any physical contact. So, imagine that a dive in the box might not only give you the penalty but also, very likely, a red will be shown to the opponent. Diving is literally a win-win situation in certain leagues. Just retroactively suspend them - a yellow for any blatant dive and problem solved.

people may be forgetting this is a World Cup year... the internationals need to play consistently to make their case. It would be extremely convenient for us to have a player of Mata's caliber as a rotation - more like backup right now - option. Mata may have a far different idea of what his role ought to be though, and honestly I think he made abundantly clear what he thinks of his current role. It is very difficult to turn a key player (on demand) into a rotation/backup player and expect him to accept that without making noise. He may want to leave and he might have a case. Now, It's just a matter of meeting the players valuation, which takes into consideration how much he wants to leave. I am sure he/his agent will come out and say it was just the "heat of the moment" or another canned PR BS though.