Stats

Did you see his ball for Demba Ba yesterday? Also is his finishing still bad now eh?

IMO yes. People will always say Cole is best LB in the world due to his status but last 2 seasons and this season, Baines has outperformed most LB. He is stronger, faster, better technique, provides more off an attacking outlet and his defending is not bad either. Pardew summed it up after the Newcastle game, the gap between him and Cole is not far apart. From what I have seen Baines is better. Cole is still a brilliant LB but not the one he used to be where he would attack and defend brilliantly. He has made his share of mistakes this season and has looked fragile. Baines is a big reason why Everton are challenging for the top 4. Really underrated.

Can't wait to hear this from the Chelsea announcer at Stamford Bridge when Ba starts scoring: "Goalscorer for Chelsea.... number 29: Demba Ba!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

I understand where you are coming from but Ba alone will be happy that he got 2 goals on his debut and will understand the importance to Lamps and Chelsea fans that we all want to see him reach that goal tally.

Played 90 mins against the Premiership Champions. Respectable scoreline considering difference between the two teams and he can certainly be proud as an 18 year old playing against the likes of Silva, Tevez etc.

Looks like Spike is going to nick this!

Would love to Torres face when Ba scored

Mata will start, I am sure. Otherwise what was the point in benching him against QPR if he would plan to rest him today as well? So he definitely will start.

Just what the hell is that black mark just above his forehead? I never noticed that at Newcastle.

These are his new boots worth £2,500 which took over 50 hours to customize. Has the club crest and colours, his name and number. He really has got swagger, Spiderman mask and these boots. Definitely sets a trend.

The only reason I will not mind Torres starting is so that Ba definitely starts against Stoke. Because Ba needs to start that game.

Cheap is not even the word. They are picking him up for free.

He plays for QPR, that is the funny thing

Another contender to take free kicks

So you think he is ugly?

She fancies you

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYy_T3KqTK0 The skills he has are out of this world. Whatever happens to him, one of the most exciting players to watch when he is on the ball.

He missed an open goal

I agree he had an awful game but due to no one else being an out and out striker, Torres had to stay on. That will change when Ba joins.

Just because he had a bad spell in the Bundesliga or wherever it was does not mean anything to me. I know we have Ba, but this is just a general statement. Players change and improve. Just look at Diego Forlan for eg... he was horrible at United then when Atletico bought him he turned into a goal machine in one of the best leagues in the world. Huntelaar was crap at Real. How many goals does he score for Schalke in a season? Masses of goals right? Or even the case of Rickie Lambert. He changed dramtically. He ways way down the bottom tiers of football and never used to be so prolific. A few years ago at Macclesfield he managed like what: 8 goals in just over 40 appearances and only 18 goals in about 100 games at Rochdale. That is equivalent to six goals a season which is poor. Lambert then went to Bristol Rovers and banged goals in for fun and now he is playing at the Premiership and has managed 8 goals in the league already. Players change. Mbokani is improving and see no reason why he would not excel at a bigger team. That goes both ways as in just because a player had a bad spell in another country/countries does not mean he will not find form at another club and also a proven striker can still lose his touch for goals as we have seen with Kezman and Sheva fpr instance.

At least I can say for a fact you were one of the ones who did not underestimate our opponent.

So fuckin pissed off this with result. If I could go back and quote the amount of complacent quotes we got before the match and I warned we should not get complacent. Guess you have to learn your lessons, do not approach any PL game with the thought of being a walk in the park. Benitez made an error in starting Marin over Mata. Mata needs a rest but this was an important game and against our neighbours who always were going to want to battle till the end. Why couldnt Benitez just have started Moses, Oscar and Marin for Southampton? PL has to be our priority but I guess Benitez thinks "oh well I will be gone at the end of the season and winning medals is more important than trying to gain a CL spot". It is funny how opinions change on one game. After Villa and Everton, a few people were saying Lampard and Luiz should be the two CM starting. Well, Lamps was very disappointing today and there was no creativity from the middle. Lampard started our last three games, he is 34 and if someone should have been rested tonight he should have. Now to Torres, where do I start. I think it is clear that there is no magician manager who can get Torres firing. He scores the odd game like he did with RDM then geess off one again/ Can't believe he was struggling to beat defenders aged over 33 for pace. Quite ridiculous. Thanks god we have Ba coming in and Lukaku should be in front of him next season for sure as well. Apart from the team selection, I will not blame Benitez because the players did not turn up and the performance was below par. But, he made a wrong decision rotating Mata but even more bizarre was that it was clear first half we were poor and Marin was useless. Mata should have come on straight away. The only player tonight who impressed me in some kind of way was Bertrand. We still are top 4 with a game in hand so it is not all doom and gloom but we have tough fixtures coming up with Stoke away and Arsenal at home. Just hope players and fans have learned to give every team respect. Because some of the comments before on the pre-match thread was ridiculous and now has come back to haunt us. Anyway I want Ba starting against Stoke.

I like Everton anyway so best wishes for him if he stays. Ideally if we got in the Champions League, I would want Everton out of all the other teams to join us. They deserve it

Who knows? Speculation over the summer was that he was going United. But if our board put in a good offer for him will you really have a choice?

Pardon?