Stats

Like I was saying, you are not backing that up. Sterling has an end product and contributes with goals and assists. So if he was just a "fast winger with trickery", he would be an Aaron Lennon type of player but he is much more developed at his age. Also, Sterling's main position was a winger but now he is mostly used as the no.10 for club and country. So another thing you seem to have ignored. That is where he has been playing over the last year. You keep pointing out that he does the same things which many other wingers have sufferred from but you have failed to mention how many excellent games he has had and just ignored it. Unlike many other wingers he can play on both wings or in the no.10 role. Also scores, pass/assists and is still young. But yes the rumours about us bidding £48m is ludicrous and utter rubbish. There is no truth in that at all.

So average? I would say the correct word you are looking for is maybe overhyped but that is understandable at his age. Last season he was excellent. Nailed down a starting role for Liverpool around December and finished the season with 9 goals in the league and 6 assists. Obviously Suarez was the main player for them last season but Sterling was an important player for them as well. This season Liverpool are clearly not going to do as well compared to last season due to losing Suarez, a declining Gerrard and playing in Europe and you can see already that some of those points I have picked out are taking its toll on Liverpool already. It has not helped that Sturridge has been injured as well so much of the pressure is on Sterling which is difficult for him when there is a lack of quality around the team. However, even this season he has not been brilliant by any means but I still would argue that he has probably been their best player. Against Southampton he was the MOTM. Scored and assisted. Man City, they got battered and was not one of his best games. Tottenham who they battered once again, he was fantastic and was given the MOTM again. The other games which I have not mentioned are mixed with inconsistencies. But my point stands. He is a fantastic talent. Don't see how you labelled him as a 'mediocre' player and like the same excuse many fans use for Oscar, Sterling plays like every game for Liverpool and rarely rests but he still contributes with goals and assists. However like I was saying I think the fair word you would be looking for is overhpyed but that is understandable with him playing for England and a 19 year old kid who is arguably the main man for club and country. I do think he will sign a new contract but is in a dilemma about whether his long term future lies there as I think he will question the ambition of the club but that being said I don't think he would even consider a move here due to the ways other talents at this club have been obliterated. Can't see it.

Iniesta is excellent at creating chances. Hazard too but I am sure stats wise that Hazard has more assists. Maybe I am wrong but Hazard bagged a lot of assists at Lille and in his first season here got into double figures with assists and second season not as much but a few. That is for me why Eden is such a great player. Not only has he got the capablities of scoring goals, he is brilliant and making assists and creating chances.

http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11662/9505824/premier-league-nemanja-matic-is-jose-mourinhos-monster-in-midfield-and-could-be-crucial-in-the-title-race

Mourinho does not make many mistakes but he certainly made a mistake in claiming Ozil was the best no.10 in the world. Such an overrated player. One good game against Villa and suddenly he is a genius. Was brought back to earth today and to think that Wenger showed no interest in re-signing Fabregas because of Ozil... Great win. It is so fun beating Arsenal. Can't remember the last time they beat us. They also have not scored against us in the last 4 meetings IIRC. Hazard was such a joy to watch. My MOTM. They did not know how to deal with him but great team performance. Also on Costa, what I love about him is that even when he is not having his best day, he always works hard and you always feel he might bag a goal. Today was a perfect example and the game against Villa. Might be neutralised throught parts of the game but the sheer persistence is always there and that is why he gets his goals. Can't wait to watch the highlights later. Have not been this excited about how good our team looks for a long while. And all this panic about our defence/Cahill. That is 3 clean sheets in a row :blue scalf:

IMO, yes he is. Fabregas has scored much more long range shots than Modric in his career. Modric is not renown for his shooting. Fabregas main strength is his passing but has scored many long range shots as well. Especially at Arsenal.

Recieved his first U21 call up for England http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/12182/9499083/england-under-21-saido-berahino-luke-shaw-and-calum-chambers-in-euro-play-offs-squad http://www.chelseafc.com/news/latest-news/2014/Oct%2014/baker-named-in-england-under-21-squad.html

Counter, counter, counter. That is all. Let them do all their possession rubbish. We nick the ball of them. Counter at pace and score. Tactic to beat Arsenal. No Ramsey, Arteta, Walcott and Debuchy. Big bonus for us. Hazard will be up against Chambers. I shall say no more. I hope Costa rips a few into them and we truly show Arsenal who are the title contenders and the title pretenders. Would love to see another 6-0.

If people compare his matches where he was 'bad' compared to the ones where he played well in they would realise most games he played for us, he done well and rarely looked out of place. He is just one of them players who have done well at us but can't replace the first choice in that position for whatever reason. Bertrand is not the only one. There is also Sturridge as well. If people want to recall games where Bertrand was poor for us please do. I remember several games where he done very well for us. Most noteably Arsenal in the 0-0 draw at the Emirates about 3 seasons ago when we rotated a lot of players due to the UCL and in saying that we ended up winning the competition. But he came in for Cole that day and was given MOTM. Was superb defensively and done well offensively as well. I have always liked Bertrand and it is nice to see he is excelling at Southampton.

But he scored goals despite his flaws. Goals win games. So just because his overall play has not been up to scratch so far that does not deny the fact that he scores and will continue. I will put my house on it, that Lukaku gets into double figures once again. I am sure Lukaku would have made an impact for us last seaosn, especially coming of the bench. So tbh I think we would have won the league with him tbh.

Draxler usually plays on the LW for Schalke and is quite effective at cutting inside and shooting. He does not have to play down the middle. He is quite versatile but like I was saying is usually used as a LW.

No but the point is which I am making and made before the season started is that we should be after another CB. Due to Mangala's qualities, age and potential I always thought he would be a good option. Because it is likely that we will buy another big name CB in the summer anyway. Mangala and Kompany looks like it will be a quality partnership. Also that theory about him not starting for France does not add up. Koscielny did not get ahead of Sakho. Does that mean Sakho is better? Not at all. Over 90% would say Koscielny is better than Sakho if you asked them but he is behind him in the national team. But we have overpayed for many players. Mangala is not worth that fee at all but he is young and for players that age you are going to have to overpay. Like I was saying, it is likely imo that we could spent big on a CB come the summer.

Just made a nightmare of a mistake(s)

That is the value of young players who have years ahead of them. They are overpriced but that is the reality now. It is not the fact that he would walk into the team but he would keep Terry and Cahill on top of their game and like some people have been criticising Cahill (a bit too harshly imo) he could come in for him if he was having successive bad games and his age is a factor as well. He is 5-6 years younger than Cahill and 10 years younger than Terry. Also judging by what I have heard of him he was excellent in Portugal. We saw how good of a success Carvalho was. I think Mangala will be a quality signing for City. He has a lot of qualites for a CB. Probably one of the fastest CB in football right now and he is still improving. Look how many other players we have bought for quite outrageous fees.

Hazard should and hopefully will be definitely rested. Oscar will start because he did not play any part against City so he will start with Schurrle and Salah on the flanks I expect. But if people expect to see more than 2 youngsters starting I think they will be in for a surprise. Zouma will definitely start I expect and the other one maybe Ake. Don't think Solanke will be in the squad. Boga may be a sub but he won't start and Baker has a chance of starting but like Boga, I think he will most likely be on the bench.

Frustrating thing is that Mangala would have joined us apparently if we matched the same bid as City as he wanted to move to London. I always thought we should go after another CB especially as Terry is not going to carry on being first choice for much after this season and Cahill will be 30 next year. Mangala is only 23 and like you saw already on his debut, was exceptional. Pace, power and pretty much everything you want for a CB.

'The_Flash' is a girl btw

Would have taken the point before the game but to be 'frankly' honest I am quite frustrated. We were 1-0 up with a man advantage and conceded an equalizer to Lampard of all people. And then rather than go out for the win we seem to settle with a point while City go for a win. Yes we have a good lead for now but it is only 5 games and there is still a long 33 games left so I don't really understand why Mourinho was content with the point. When we done the same approach against Arsenal and thought it would do us well in the long run it backfired because we dropped points in games you would not expect us to. We had a great chance to go 8 points ahead of our most serious title challengers and we messed up that opportunity. While the point is a good result it might just be this game we look back on and think if only we won. Would have preferred to see Remy on as well due to his pace on the counter. But really knowing Mourinho and how we set up and the man advantage we should have held on to the lead or finished City off, not bloody drop 2 points when the 3 points was in our hand. Thought the defence was excellent. Matic too. But once again, I will repeat it frustrates me that Mourinho seemed to be content with the point even when we equalized. If it is 5 games to spare rather than 5 games into the season then yes it is understandable but to think that teams like Arsenal and City cannot catch up with us at this stage is naive and ludicrous. We were quite negative compared to City for most of the game which is understandable as going into the game we would have taken the point but for City to be more offensive than us while we had a man advantage with the scores 1-1 is bloody frustrating. Really frustrated tbh and while a lot fans will be happy I can't deny my gut feelings. Never saw us losing the lead once Schurrle scored and annoyed that they scored because Courtois performance today deserved a clean sheet. Anyway, 5 games in with 4 wins and 1 draw, I would have accepted before the season started and considering City have lost to Stoke at home already I will look at the positive side of things.

It wouldn't be too bad but it is rare that we bring players into our squad who have just spent a season in the Championship. Mourinho would rather some experience and I think would want Bamford to taste PL footy on loan first.

Doubt it. Can understand why people want and think it should happen but realistically at a club like us cannot see it. Will need to do exceptionally well this season to be 3rd choice imo. I think Mourinho would like to see him on loan at another PL team first then bring him back into our squad.

Well he contained him well last season and while it is still very early days, Yaya Toure has been quite off the pace defensively and offensively so far this season. Too much birthday cake I think

Aware of that but every game this season we have looked sloppy when teams hit us on the counter. Because all of them have the tendency to want to play a bit more and not just defend. Yes, even Matic. We have been leaking goals a lot which is unusual and that has been without Mikel so I do think that will concern Mourinho. Yes, it backfired against City last season when we played Matic and Mikel together but I would not be surprised to see Mourinho play them together. Especially to accomodate Fabregas.

Fabregas was not poor. Defensively yes. Offensively he scored 1 and again displayed some of his sublime passing skills. Fabregas was better than both Oscar and Drogba who did not offer anything on an offensive point of view.

Would not be surprised to see both Oscar and Willian out. Preferably I would rather see Willian start as I belive he offers more than Oscar but can see Mourinho looking to go with something like this: Mikel Matic Fabregas Ramires Hazard Costa I think this will provide more protection to the team as Mikel always does his job in the big games. Having Matic and Mikel will mean we are more disciplined in defence and not as likely to be as sloppy in defensive mistakes as we have been in the recent weeks. However, most importantly I think it will encourage Fabregas to focus on what he does best without having to worry too much on the defensive side. And hopefully we see Hazard tear Zabaleta apart like he did last season.