Stats

No disrespect to him but he was never going to be in the frame to play against Hull anyway.

Not good enough for us but quality signing for them. If it was not for his injuries I believe he could be a regular for Spurs. He has strength, good technique, excellent range of passing and I think that is an excellent buy for them if they are to try and stay in the PL.

Fair enough. Turned my head a little.

I don't want him because he will command £100k+ wages. I know Rooney is the same but he will offer us more years plus I believe he will not block the progress of strikers like Lukaku because I believe he can play that no.10 role and is proven PL quality. I still think Eto's is quality and although I don't rate it among the best, there are decent teams in the Russian league and he still scored goals however he has not played in the PL before and Rooney has. Eto'o does not have many years left and the PL is a total different league. I know he is proven but I doubt he will be the success people expect him to bring her short term. That is just my personal opinion anyway. I would rather us invest elsewhere like Rooney or stick with our current crop of strikers than him and I think it is a kick in the teeth for someone like Lukaku as in we are basically saying you are not good enough for this season so we are looking elsewhere.

Don't want Eto'o at all. Probably would score a few goals however I don't want a 30+ plus striker here on wages over £100k a week. No thanks. People say Rooney will demand more wages than Eto'o however if we were to get one out of the two I would rather Rooney at the age of 27 than Eto'o at the age of 32.

If Rooney comes here I can see him sometimes playing behind Lukaku in that no.10 role.

I want him to stay however he does not "owe us" anything. Even though he has had moments where he had been poor he always displayed qualities as well and was never that bad where supporters could possibly turn on him like Torres. He has owed us anyway with his performances because when people doubted him he came back stronger and proved to be an excellent CB for us while displaying a few good performances in the DM/CM spot. Like I said though I reckon he will stay but if he wants to move I am not going to see him as some sort of traitor who owed us something.

Saturday it was.

Will never get bored of watching over this goal repeatedly: Pure class!

I wonder how Mourinho sees Lukaku. Does he believe he is ready to start or much of an impact player? I am not sure. Last season for WBA he scored many when coming from the bench, eg hattrick against United in one half, terrorrised Liverpool home and away when coming off the bench but at same time deserves a starting berth. Interesting.

Watching the match preview on Sky Sports. Curbishley really does not have a clue. For a start he put Torres up and then when he debated on who might start up front he said he think he might get the edge over Ba and Schurrle but it is a hard one. Hello, Lukaku is not on loan anymore. He is a Chelsea player and he did not even mention his name. Bloody disrespectful. Weird though that he has Mikel to start on Sunday and even though I think Mikel will become an important part of Mourinho's plans I am unsure he will start this game. The analysis should have been from a Ray Wilkins type of person. Someone who actually watches us and looks at he new boys like MVG.

The day Lukaku gets his first competitive Chelsea goal I will be so happy for him. Hope he can get it on Sunday. He dreamed of playing for Chelsea when he was younger and has made significant strides plus wanted to join us over many other clubs and has been patient and waited his time and now is ready to prove his worth this season. Really think he is going to surprise people this season. Beast!

I know people want KDB to start but do people really think he is going to start? He was decent in pre-season but not brilliant. I can see Moses starting. He has played himself in the team for Sunday IMO. Similar to what Cundy said on Chelsea TV. Hazard will start and I don't know if Mata starts but if not, probably be Oscar. I think Moses direct style of play will suit him to start the match. I can see him causing Hull plenty of problems if he starts.

Most people seem to want KDB to start but I can't see it. Hazard will be one for sure. Mata if fit and Oscar is likely to play. If Mata does not play I can see Moses coming in instead of KDB.

I would like to see this team played. I would not mind Cahill playing alongside Luiz or Terry for this match as I think these are games he tends to thrive in. I would like to see Moses start based on pre-season form and same goes with MVG. If Mata is unfit, i guess play Oscar in the middle however I trust Mourinho with any of the attacking options he decides to choose for this match. COYB! Cech Ivanovic - Luiz - Terry - Cole Ramires - Van Ginkel De Bruyne - Mata - Hazard Lukaku

Nice to see Lukaku get on the scoresheet again. Like some others think, I thought KDB was pretty average first half. Room for improvement but I struggle to agree with other people who believe he will be a key player this season. Like I said before he will be used as rotation and even with Mata likely to not start the game against Hull or miss it completely, I still think KDB is likely to be a sub as I think there are others in the pecking order ahead of him. He is very versatile though and that is where KDB could prove really useful. Schurrle is impressing me though. Think he has got the abilities to succeed here. Fast, strong, direct, technique and young, he will get better. Anyway good to see Bertrand impressing again, always thought he has been underrated and puts in a shift. Hazard is going to be unreal this upcoming season, you can just see it. Looks like Lukaku will get the nod for Hull and I hope so, will be really interesting. hope he can prove a point this season. Now let's just get this Hull thread started and get the match thread as big as possible. Eager for the PL to start again!

Regardless of the level of the Dutch league compared to others, scoring a hattrick at the age of 17 is astonishing. Clear talent. Not the worse of leagues and only just turned 17 which is the frightening thing. Hope he stays at PSV though so he can fully develop. Going to be some player for sure. Got a tough choice though out of Holland and Belgium and possibly but doubt it, Morocco.

I am sure Schurrle will start this match. Did not start the last two and he will be eager to impress Mourinho.

You read too much into things. He has played more football than nearly the rest of the entire squad, if not. Would you say the same thing about Mata not appearing yesterday?

I don't understand when people cry out that we need a striker when Lukaku can't get into the game. Obviously right now Rooney is a better player/striker than him however when you have the service Lukaku had yesterday it is always going to be hard. There is no proof to say Rooney would have scored. He would of dropped deep, sprayed a few passes, but looking back at yesterday I think any striker would struggle with the services put forward to them. He got himself into a few decent runs but could not get the ball as much as he wanted to. When we played Barca at the Nou Camp two seasons ago and drew 2-2, did Drogba do much attacking wise? No, because service to him was not great and Barca dominated the possession. No Suarez or Rooney, or RVP would of miraculously got us goals yesterday. They are not superman. It stars from the midfield because even Rooney would have struggled yesterday.

But City are still ahead of us IMHO. Yes, they have a new manager but they still have most of the spine of the team together, similar to Real. Also proves when we play City, they are stronger than us and dominate us, reminded me of this game today. city finished second last season and although they have lost Tevez, I think they look slightly stronger for next season. Jovetic, Navas, Negredo and Fernandinho. I think Toure and Fernandinho will form a formidable partnership and they have good options in the attacking field. Plus all three strikers for them are proven goalscorers.

Well we will dominate possession from the offset against Hull. They are far inferior but against other big teams it will be a problem.

Well according to many people here who love him, we have two of the best players in the world on the pitch in KDB and Ronaldo

Does frustrate me that most time we play the big teams we seem to lose out on possession big time. Real Madrid have looked superb so far, must admit. Hopefully second half brings an improvement. MVG started off sluggish but has significantly improved as the game has got on. Want to see more from Hazard and I don't want to hear rubbish about Lukaku being poor. None of our other strikers would of made an actual difference as the service has not been great.

Also, let me question you on stats and your opinion on this. Oscar,a player I really rate and believe he is forever improving did not do too much stats wise but what he contributed overall was very good and was a good performer. if you looked at stats alone he would like he was under performing however stats are not the only thing but in 34 PL matches Oscar and Coutinho like literally have the near same amount of goals and assists although Coutinho has only played 13 PL games. What conclusions do you draw from that then? I don't believe Coutinho is better however my conclusion is don't let stats override the actual ability of a player and what they contribute to the team.