Stats

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.

LOL, you clearly know nothing about Wilshere and why he was kept out then. Firstly you can ask Arsenal fans who their three most important players are and the three will be out of Cazorla, Wilshere and Koscielny, maybe Arteta. Wilshere is a quality player and while he may not have the stats, he is a brilliant performer. Seems like you are just being blindsided IMO. Wilshere is not being kept out the team by the aforementioned names because he is playing bad. Wilshere is a key player for Arsenal however when he made his comeback last season Wenger admitted he rushed him back. Wenger had a talk with the medical team and believed it would be best if he sat out some games to save him from burnout. He is only 21 and has loads of potential ahead of him and his going to get better. Please go to any Arsenal fan and ask why Wilshere was kept out the team and they will tell you. If you were to show them what you stated about Wilshere (excluding the comparisons with him and KDB) they would cry with laughter. Like some people here who are giving rave reviews about KDB based on what they have seen, I have watched Wilshere closely and I don't give ratings to people for the sake of it, especially him being an Arsenal player. I have watched him regularly and ignore the stats, he is one of the biggest English talents ever IMO, and along with Cazorla probably their best player. He is exceptional and as I said, he was never dropped because of his performance. There was alrge moments from last season where he carried Arsenal on their own. Yeah, Henderson and Cleverley managed more goals/assists but yeah Wilshere is miles better than both of them, LOL.

http://www.goal.com/en/news/9/england/2013/08/06/4169308/mourinho-hints-at-moses-role?ICID=HP_BN_8

Believe me, many people are. I respect that you have watched which I stated some people have actually done before he came here however if you see the amount of comments that hyped him up because of that goal against the Indonesian team I think it was plus the goal against Milan, just seems to be many overhyped reactions. Had he looked sluggish in pre-season, apart from the people that had rated him before the pre-season games, the hype would have been flattened a little. I have not once denied that he is a talent but as I was saying, let's see him prove it in the Premier League first. I genuinely believe you have watched him, however had players like Schurrle scored a few in pre-season, the bandwagon would probably be with him. I see some comments of people saying Schurrle is a stupid buy and not needed. Based on what? He ws one of the Bundesliga's best players as well right? For the last 2 seasons we have been chasing him and there is a reason why but not as much hype. I hope he does become a key player for the team but like many others think he will become a key player this season I slightly disagree. Not because I don't think he is good enough but because I think Mourinho will have a lot of rotation. I still think that Hazard and in some ways Mata are indispensable players of the team and I don't think KDB is considered that way. Oscar has come of an impressive season for club and country, Schurrle has been bought, Moses is around and has looked better than KDB in pre-season IMO, although KDB has impressed me. I think he will have his role to play next season but I don't think it will be to maybe a couple of season until we can call him a key player for the team. Next season I reckon he will be used as rotation. I hope people don't think I am degrading his qualities, I just think he needs time because I think people expect too much from him this season.

I have big hopes for KDB my self and I believe he will become a good player for us but I believe some of us (not all) are expecting too much of him based in pre-season. He looks good but the Premier League is a different thing. I mean like before Schurrle scored against Milan there are many that are judging him and claiming he was not ready because he looked sloppy and had not seen much from him but because KDB has looked better in pre-season there are better hopes for him. Relax, because even I think he will turn out a good player he might just need time. For example I see the above user has stated that he believes KDB is better than Wilshere. His opinion which he is entitled to, however Wilshere can pass, dribble and has been a marquee player for Arsenal since Fabregas left and while they don't win trophies, they qualify for the Champions League. KDB has only had 1 full season in a major European league for a team who are far inferior. KDB had a brilliant season there however there is a difference. Wilshere is arguable Arsena;'s best/joint player for a team playing CL footy and slightly younger. KDB is coming to Chelsea but I don't think we should make any comparisons about KDB is better until we see another season in the PL. I respect some of the Belgians opinions on him who have followed him at his Genk however many other people are overhyping him based on pre-season. Like what if he did not turn out as good as expected? I know KDB is a much better player than Marin however Marin had a decent pre-season before getting injured and he was awful in the PL. So my point is calm down some of us and let wait to see him in the PL. I am sure he will become a good player but just seems the wight of expectation for him is far too much which I don't think is needed. Even I am a fan of Moses, he was quality player at Wigan and carried them on their own but stepping up to a team like Chelsea as proved is not so easy, I think they need time. Merely my point about KDB.