Leif

To me this is the 3rd most prestigious trophy in club football actually, behind the Champions League and Premier League. I mean, really, how many clubs will get the chance to win this? And will we ever have the chance to win this again? (I do actually believe we'll win the CL again within the next decade somehow, but I'll leave that for another time.) We have a chance to win the FA Cup, League Cup, CL, PL, etc. all every season - not this one. Arsenal won't get this trophy, or Man City (well, probably not), Tottenham, West Ham etc. Adding this and, less likely, the Europa League trophy to our collection would be great.

He's very raw, but from the looks of things... it really looks like he could have 'it' to me.

From the look of that article - Does it say Vitesse, Twente and PSV will be interested in loaning him from us? I know Kalas has done great at Vitesse, but I believe that if he does join one of those teams, he should opt for either Twente or PSV as they'd exploit his attacking prowess better. (Assuming they'd give him playing time). The article also seems to mention that Hazard/Oscar are roughly only 2 years older than him, so he should get game time simply based on his talent especially with no more Malouda, Marin not having an effect, Lampard possibly leaving blah blah blah. This guy at 18 has roughly the same amount of league appearances as Oscar had in the Brazil league before joining us. He's been averaging a goal just under every 4 games in the senior team since 2011.

Apparently he missed one of the biggest sitters in recent memory just 3 days ago. He was in front of a wide open net, did some kind of weird half-volley and simply kicked it out for a goalkick.

It's called rotation...

Torres has more goals from open play than Falcao this season. If Torres had been taking our penalties all season, like Falcao does at Atletico, Torres would likely be ahead on goals period. Torres offers his team more than Falcao offers his. (All Falcao offers is finishing. Really. That's it.) Despite finishing being an attribute Falcao is miles ahead with when compared to Torres this season, Torres is finding the back of the net more often. All of this while Atletico Madrid play to every strength Falcao has and craft out almost every move exclusively for him. And people want Roman to pay £40m for this guy in January? Wut? I'd understand a bit more wanting to get him in the Summer (although it would still be a strange move in my opinion considering how one-dimensional he is), and trust me - I want this season to be Torres's last; but maybe Falcao just isn't the answer at all? Infact, reading back and taking everything into account, I've changed my mind. I don't actually think Falcao is a great finisher. I believe he's simply a good finisher who has a great technique, causing him to score some spectacular goals. And that's it. He's not as good as his stats suggest. The fact that teams play FOR him means he gets SO many chances and shots that he simply HAS to score a high amount. Every other attribute really must be questioned. There's a reason he's never played for a very top club. Managers can see through the hype which fogs many fans' view on him.

Just want to put this here as seeing him come on as a sub today sparked this in my head - Bertrand. I am so bloody happy he's still working out in our squad right now, even if it is as just a back-up option when the team needs some more sturdiness. He's getting his chances. He's by no means ready to be our first choice left-back, but I believe he could be ready in even just a season or 2. I really hope he doesn't get sold or we buy some 'top class' left back and then keep him as just a squad player. What is he... 23 now? I've been watching this guy's every move since we signed him back in '06 and he'd always been my favourite youth player. Bertrand >>> Maldini

All bias aside, is there a better playmaker in the league than Mata? Some on here were saying Cazorla a bit earlier in the season. Do they still think the same? Hopefully we see the best from Silva tomorrow (assuming he plays) so a proper comparison can be made for now.

He was actually really good in his cameo today! I expected lots of backwards passing from him, so I was surprised by how much he actually helped us in an attacking sense.

According to Barcastuff on Twitter, we're preparing a 37m (No idea what currency it's in) bid for Busquets after scouting him last week. He rarely posts anything unless he's very confident there's some truth to it. How about we get Busquets and we give them Romeu back? Nice little deal.

Why not go for Diame? Like Moses, since he's not been at a 'top club' he's at times unfairly underrated and not given the credit he deserves. He bossed against us. I kept preaching we should sign him last season. I think he's the perfect squad player. Didn't we have concrete interest in him in the Summer? Or am I mistaken? ANYWAY, his release clause is only £3.5m!

Man Utd to win vs. Manchester City are roughly 3/1 odds. A draw is around the same odds. Decent!

It's a shame he hasn't got at least 50 goals with us. There's some really amazing designs (sigs) that would look great to use on here.. but I just can't bring myself to use them.

Apparently when at 'Pool, even after scoring hat-tricks, the first thing Rafa would do after the game would be critisize him for not getting 5 or 6 goals that game. Maybe he did something similar after the Nord game. He definitely looked hungry today after his first goal like he actually WANTED to score.. which I don't believe I've seen him like ever before wearing blue.

This was the first game since his Atletico Madrid days that Torres scored a brace in the 1st half vs. an away side.

On Bertrand: "Hazard is the only player he can pass it to in support." "He passes it to Mata instead." Such such such bad commentary all through this match.

Deciding not to even TRY and reach for a shot isn't a 'fluke goal'. It's bad goalkeeping. It's acceptable on occasions if you're at a mid-table club in League 2 though, sure. But Cech isn't at a mid table club. As for saving a pen, so did the other goalkeeper. Should we then not criticize him at all for the 6 he conceded against us?

No need to be all sensitive about Cech if you can't actually put anything against what I'm saying. Just like Drogba - time to move on soon. Drogba didn't put effort into the 'little' games last season - only the big ones. I've noticed the same from Cech. EVERY time our team is comfortable with a lead, his effort drops.

It's not an overreaction at all. He did it constantly during AVB's tenure. Toned it down a bit during Di Matteo's rein. And i've noticed it again ever since Di Matteo left.

Fucking hate that about Cech. "I'll just assume it's going to go out and not try. Oh wait, no, it's in." This is why we need a new HUNGRY keeper.

This commentator just said Mata is worthy of taking the number 10 kit from Zola... erm.

Attacking Trio Half-time stats: Mata:- Pass completion - 78% Touches - 35 Fouls - 2 (the full English breakfasts must have him fired up!) Tackles - 1 Hazard:- Pass completion - 81% Aerials won - 100% Touches - 31 Tackles - 1 Victor Moses:- Pass completion - 94% Aerials won - 33% Touches - 20 Dribbles completed - 2 Tackles - 1

So apparently that was Torres's first ever penalty in English football. Nice.

YESS!! TORRES SHOWING SOME FUCKING BALLS! YES! I STILL WANT YOU GONE, BUT AT LEAST DO GOOD FOR THE TIME YOU'RE HERE! GOOD STUFF!

Thought it was outside the box at first. But yep, penalty!