Leif

LOL

Rafael is honestly such a dick

It's sad how prone Vidic is to injuries and just getting hurt in general. If he'd been our player I'd openly say he's one of my favourite defenders.

OH MY TITTIES!

Varane is cool

I want Zouma. With the right club (which I believe is us), he and Varane will form a solid pairing for the France national team some day.

I feel sorry for avid Serie A followers. The newspapers over there are horrific. Tuttosport are claiming that Juventus will try and sign either Bale or Nani for their Left-wing-back position...

Well that's him off I guess. Someone bring me fire. Lots of fire. And a pinata with Gourlay's face on it. Or better yet - bring me Gourlay.

No offence, but people who think he'll take over at United I feel don't know his character too well. He wants to be considered THE best. He would certainly not have the same time & resources that SaF has had at Manchester United, so he'll always be 2nd-best manager in their history if he goes there. He's our best manager ever. Porto's best manager ever. (I think) Inter's best manager ever. And he had every chance and intention on becoming Real Madrid's best manager ever. If he was to 'follow in the footsteps' of one of the greatest instead of going head-on against him, it would be completely out of nature and possibly damaging to his career on reflection when people consider the all-time greats. This is why I see it being us or Manchester City. (C'mon, he won't go to PSG! Not for the next half-a-decade at least. He has more ambition than that.)

Remember when some of us (including myself) wanted to sign Clark instead of Cahill? LOL at us. Pretty sure he could become not bad, but he really is mistake prone.

That's Barcelona playing probably the best attacking midfielder in the last decade, bar Zidane, in a wide position (but not playing as a traditional winger) against smaller teams with Xavi (perhaps joint best playmaker in world football) dictating the tempo and Messi being Messi. Apples and oranges.

He doesn't drop deep enough for starters. He makes it so that players like Ramires will be far more exposed when they wander up compared to if someone like Oscar, who should be developing in Mata's position, was there instead. When he plays central, far too much area is left open in the centre of the pitch for the opposition to exploit - like we saw vs. Manchester City. Yes, he's "DA BEZT ATTACKIN MIDFIELDER IN DA LEAGUE" but from a tactic point of view, having Mata in the centre can be horrible for the team - especially when someone like Oscar would flourish there and probably raise their game to a level even higher than Mata's. His position is that of an advanced midfielder - and he takes up the role of playmaker; where in fact he should only be taking on the responsibilities of an attacking midfielder.

I've been thinking for quite a while now that, in ways, Mata is holding back the development of our team on a whole, but I just can't bring myself to imagine him on the wing again (I hate it when players don't track back from wide positions) or out of the side completely as he's very quickly become one of my favourite all-time players somehow. Blegh. I just know and feel that Oscar has a higher ceiling than Mata, as does Hazard, but just... ayhsdiaydhisaudyahsid]ausidhsad

He made 8 tackles. 8.

Backstreet because yolo

We should try signing Tottenham's manager and getting him in for next season. He seems to know the game quite well and gets his teams playing attacking football!

He seems like one of the genuinely nicest guys we've had at the club in the Roman era if his tweets are anything to go by (throw Essien, Terry [despite his antics], Cech etc. into that list.) My next top will definitely be Gay4Demba (I've already got Gay4Mata.) (No i'm not actually gay.)

She grew up supporting Arsenal and Crystal Palace, then decided to switch boat and support Chelsea roughly when we won the league I believe

I know this just seems completely random, and I'll probably get flamed or ignored, but err, as well as getting Rafa out...I want us to replace... Gigi Salmon. Yeah. Her voice has started to wear thin on me, and after re-watching the video of the Chelsea staff watching the pen. shoot-out in Munich her reaction was so forced and she even had to ask if Drogba's penalty would win the cup. I want someone young, fresh, devoted to football and preferably a die-hard Chelsea supporter to take her place. Yes it's all fine and dandy that she once flamed someone on Chelsea TV, but that's it from her really. This video shows her celebrating her colleague's happiness more than anything.

I never watched him play (I've only seen clips and highlight reels) but I think Hazard will end up being on the same level Pat Nevin was for us all the years back. He'll be better than Robben, J.Cole, Duff, whoever you can think of I feel!

Since there's obviously going to be talk about Kagawa in this thread now, it shows how much of a joke WhoScored's 'rating' system is - Kagawa got a 9.7 out of 10 because of his hat-trick. Rooney got 9.8 for assisting 2 of the goals and scoring one. Kagawa had more tackles than Rooney and more pass success. Oh well. Still a nice site for other features!

Apparently Morata was MOTM! Huge for his career if true considering it was an El Clasico, regardless how far apart the team are in the league table. I remember watching this guy at youth level and just seeing something special in him. I never knew what it was, and I still don't. He's not a great finisher, not great at anything really - but it's his attitude on the pitch. The confidence, composure and determination which just gets him in the right positions, and then he simply makes the right choices.

Just gonna post it here since this thread will be active at this moment as I think it's kinda big news - "Reports emerging that Víctor Valdés punched referee Pérez Lasa in the changing rooms and has been taken to the police station in Madrid." Some saying it's true, others saying it's false. Regardless, it's a day to laugh at Barcelona. On topic: Oscar MOTM for me. He's still young remember! How many players his age even put in performances worthy of being considered 'MOTM' in the Premier League? Wilshere's done it, Oscar's doing it, Lukaku's doing it... but isn't that it? He's nowhere near his peak yet he's already one of the best attacking midfielders in the league IMO. When he's central he is the guy for the opposition to mark IMO.

It won't be reported anywhere for an odd reason but Cech just captured the most clean sheets at a single Premier League club in the league.

Cancer on for Demba Ba