Stats

Drogba is built like a tank. Maybe not as big as Lukaku but very muscular. He was no way near the same level at the same age. Benteke too. It is not simply size that has got Lukaku where he is now. It is obviously an advantage but I disagree with you that he will not get much better. I think he will get a lot better and in a few years think he will be leading the line for one of the bigger clubs in Europe. May even be us, who knows.

What we have to remember is this is not an established 27 year old striker we are talking about. We are talking about a striker who just turned 22 a couple months ago. There are many top strikers who probably were inconsistent or no way near the same level at the same age. He has got years ahead of him to improve and turn into a complete machine.

When he plays like this he is unstoppable. Total beast. Southampton defence cannot deal with him.

Although very early in the season, I am already starting to have my doubts about this loan. He just is not going to get enough starts. He is effectively 3rd choice striker there. Murray looks like he will stay although there still might be movement. He started the game against Bournemouth. Now Wickham, I think will get the nod for the game against Arsenal because of his physical appearance. Pardew, today referred to Chamakh as a player who will be like a new signing if they can get him fit. It is just not going to be a club where he will be able to get consecutive starts. Even if he does start one game, he could easily be rotated the next. He didn't even come on against Norwich which shows the strength in depth they have. For Palace, it is exellent. For us and Bamford is it going to be worth it? Not sure. Think there are other PL teams which would have been more suitable. Sunderland, maybe Norwich, maybe WBA. I hope I am proved wrong but like I was saying before, he will not easily get in that Palace team. Especially now they have bought Wickham for £9m.

So many other teams would be grateful to have a squad player like him. The criticism he gets on here really confuses me. Very valuable player considering his versatility and the unique things he brings to the team. I have no doubt throughout the season his value to the squad will show. People really don't appreciate something until it's gone.

Money.... Just look at Sagna and Sakho's chicks...

Putting Zouma in the double pivot is so negative. I don't want to see us do that again unless it is an emergency or for a specific situation like targeting Fellaini. He not even a DM. I would rather play Mikel than play Zouma there. As good as Oscar has been in pre-season and opening game I can understand if Mourinho benched him. We obviously will look to hit them on the counter. So I think Mourinho will look to the faster players and ones who are capable of hitting them on the counter. I think Mourinho will go with a 4-3-3. Matic, Fabregas and Ramires, with Willian and Hazard on the wings with Costa obviously up front. I would be happy with that tbh. If we go forward at them with pace, Toure will struggle to keep up with the runs of our attacking trio.

Cahill is not fast but he is not a slouch. I mean for a CB I think he has got decent pace. There are many CB playing for top teams in Europe who are no faster than Cahill. Even AVB complimented Cahill's pace stating that he was a good technical defender with excellent pace. Maybe a bit over-exaggerated but it shows that he thought he was capable of playing in a high line. For instance I think Stones and Cahill would work well if we played with a high line. Both are quite athletic and have a great recovery rate. There are many defenders who would struggle in playing a high line. Not just Cahill. Koscielny was exposed time and time again on Sunday, yet he is one of the quickest CB around. I don't think under Mourinho we will play with a high line. I differ to most on here but I don't think there are too many top CB around who are more all-rounded than Cahill.

How is he limited? What is Terry then? Cahill might not be world class but he is an all round quality defender. He can play, scores the odd goal (some good ones too), reads the game well. I don't see how he is a limited defender? He is no more limited than the majority of CB around. Cahill has so many quality games for us but he is always percieved to be as some sort of average CB when he is not.

That would be a good idea. Because we are obviously going to let them dominate possession and hit them on the counter. So using three players behind Costa with pace would be effective for the counter. A lot of us want to see Willian through the centre. Can't see Moses starting though.

I don't want to see there again in big games. He is useless when we play him there in these type of games. I would rather him benched than see him behind Costa. He rarely sees any of the ball and is running around like a headless chicken when we play him there.

Ivanovic is a big game player. How about we give him support. He has never been a weak spot in big games like these.

Relief. Big money but it was vital we got LB cover. As good as Azpi is I hope in home games against teams who are much inferior to us, we see Rahman start because it is rare that he will have much defending too. Having a naturally fast, attack minded player will be really be beneficial. Especially with people saying he is an excellent crosser, I hope he is not left out the team as much as Luis was. I do actually think that the lack of a natural left footer can hinder us sometimes so hope Mourinho sees a lot in him and trusts him to play every so often. Seems like he could challenge Azpi for the role, hopefully too. Had the most tackles in the Bundesliga last season. Very impressive. We hopefully have a LB who excels in attacking and defending.

John Terry is still a world class CB and it would not be him being dropped but I can see it. He is 34, going on 35 this year. Would we get the best out of him by rotating him maybe once in a while? I think, yes. Cahill and Stones are younger, more athletic and would not be surprised. I can see both CB being rotated if Stones comes in although it would be risky. But as good as Terry is, we have to remember he isn't getting any younger.

I should have said probably. My bad. But, because this was a defence that kept so many clean sheets and is Mourinho's regularly trusted back 4 you would think unless there is consistent mistakes, week in week out that would be the preferred back 4. It was the same last season. We conceded quite a few first then after the next few months, they got their act together and kept loads of clean sheets.

Not going to happen. LOL. Don't let the Arsenal game convince you into thinking Zouma will play there. That was a one-off.

We are not going to buy another RB though as Azpi can play there but we don't currently have a first team back up for LB. We do for RB which is why we desperately need another LB.

I am happy to spend that money but there are surely other priorities. Mourinho's preferred CB pairing will still be Terry and Cahill. The thing that concerns others is that we are being way too slow in the transfer market. If Azpi got sent off on Saturday the urgency for Rahman is even greater and due to the desparation they would know they could of potentially try to rip us off as we needed a back up LB. We don't have a left footed LB in our team right now, it is crazy. No point giving me Ake because he is going out on loan and don't want people to hear Traore is a LB. Then as we know, Fabregas has struggled with injuries in the past. Iif he gets injured now, what one creative CM do we have. I am fine with getting Stones for big money but for me there are other areas of the squad we need to strengthen.

Definitely. I mean you just know there are some fans waiting for Cahill to make a slip up this season so that is there cue to say we need to replace him. I was reading the John Terry thread and seen that were a few people who believed John Terry was not being given the respect he deserves. I feel the exact way about Cahill. This is a player who has won all 4 trophies with us and has played an instrumental part in us winning it. While Terry was standout last season it is so disrespectful when you get fans who don't give Cahill any credit. He is a top defender. He is prone to the odd mistake like all top CB. Just look at Koscileny yesterday. Probably his worst ever performance. Does that make him a defender that needs replacing? No it does not. John Terry himself knows how key Cahill is in our team as he alluded to him as the best CB in England. Then you get people like Murphy who say Stones will take Cahill's place. Stones has got potential but I have no idea why people think he is automatically going to take Cahill's place. He eventually will be a top CB but talk about replacing one half of the top CB last season in the PL is unfair. But yeah, while it will be nice to have Stones as in the future he will become one of the top CB around, we need to strengthen other areas of the team as we are lacking in squad depth.

All players have bad games. Koscielny was awful yesterday and got ripped to shreds. Matic is a world class DM and I love his style of play. I would not swap him for any other DM currently.

Not like it is conclusive but FIFA seem to rate Azpi as our fastest defender then have Cahill and Zouma next who are both listed at the same speed Maybe I have been oblivious to Zouma's pace. I remember the great recovery he done for Sterling and just seen that Mourinho siad he has a lot of pace but tbj I just have never been too aware of seeing him use his pace on a consistent basis. Anyway, that bodes well for the future then. Especially if things turn out the way it should on paper and we have Stones, in a few years time we may have one of the best CB pairing and one of the fastest too who will be able to complement each other quite well.

Schwarzer played that game.

Zouma would be worse. Zouma has a decent bit of pace but I can't believe we are actually comparing them for speed. I am not just talking about stamina and tactical issues, I have seen plenty of games where Ivanovic bursts past his man. Zouma is not able to do this. One thing we lack is two natural attacking FB in the mould of Marcelo/Carjaval, Alves/Alba, Kolarov/Zabaleta. I think that does set us back sometimes but Ivanovic has decent pace. I hope as the season goes on I can and he most importantly will prove this. The thing is on here is that people are way too harsh and wait to pounce as soon as a player makes mistakes. Sanchez, one of the best players in the league and Europe was kept marshalled by Ivanovic. Especially at SF, Ivanovic had him in his back pocket all day long. He had a bad game against Swansea and wow the hate parade for him is just OTT. I have no doubt he will come back stronger and prove people wrong. With the Zouma and Ivanovic debate we are going to have to agree to disagree. I don't think Zouma has the pace nor stamina to ever play RB.

.... Would Courtois make 2 fuck ups in 1 days like that? ... You got silenced real quick mate.

Ivanovic does have pace. He is not the fastest but he has some pace. Do you really think Zouma could bomb down the sides like Ivanovic has done over the seasons. Just look how many times ivanovic gets forward using the pace he has got . No way could Zouma do that. As much as people want him replaced I think people are forgetting he is a genuine threat for us going forward. Zouma faster than Ivanovic? Not a chance. He is not a slouch but he does not have the ability to play as a FB. Ivanovic does.