Stats

Because apart from that, he had an excellent game. Genuinelly thought he was the best player on the pitch.

I agree 100%. I know Fabregas has been poor but everytime a game kicks off, regardless of opposition people are putting him in their line up. I am thinking WTF. He is talented and has bags of potential but he is not ready to be starting games regularly. He maybe should have minutes but people over exaggerate the situation and make it look like it is a cardinal sin to leave him out. It is not. We barely have seen anything from him for first team bar few appearances last season. He was great against Maccabi though but still feel our situation will not chance, if RLC is suddenly put in the team.

Sad we did not really go for the game but for Hiddink I think it is a situation where he has only been in the job for a week or so and wants to play safety first. I am not one of these people saying a draw is a good result because our league position is embarrassing and hard to look at. However judging by the approach today, it seems Hiddink has ruled out getting top 4, despite him not ruling it out. We improved second half offensively but not enough and the lack of an out and out striker was telling. My MOTM was Matic. Fantastic he was. Dominated the game. Won tackles, did his famous runs but unfortunately the easy part which should have been to hit the ball in the back of the net, he could not do it. Either way though he was fantastic and was his old beast self. Like I said today, when the team gets going and we find the right players for our system he will show why he is one of the best in his position. Hazard done very well too. Got fouled countless times. Created a great chance for Pedro which DDG made a tremendous save but the individual peice of skill he did to find him was bloody fantastic. You can see towards the end of the game he was not fully fit. Looked really laboured and you could see the lack of full training sessions had taken its toll. He was just too tired. He put in a very good performance. Pedro improved second half too. Shame he was denied by a fantastic save. To Oscar though. What a shocking a performance. 90 mins of being a headless chicken not doing fuck all. What did he actually contribute? He made one excellent tackle which was his fault in the first place for losing it. Ruined our attacks, muscled off the ball and was so frustrating. It kills me that we let KDB go and kept Oscar here. A more proficient no.10 would have done much more on the offensive. What must of been going through Hazard's head playing with Oscar this evening. I don't know but it is like carrying an extra passenger. So frustrating because he done fuck all yet played 90 mins. The problem is with Oscar is that he cannot do anything about it. Because he does not standout in anything and that is what is affecting us and him. I don't mind him here but as back up/rotation at best. Just can't be a regular starter in the team. To Rooney, what a prick and the rest of biased BT pundits (Scholes, Ferdinand) are absolute shites. Rooney let his foot in there and wanted to hurt Oscar. It was done out of frustration but for Ferdinand to say it was misfortunate is ridiuclous. To sum it up they gave him MOTM what a fucking joke. What did he do better than other attacking players out there such as Martial or Hazard? He is English and plays for United. Oh yeah. Was a very Mourinho like performance tbh but I hope Hiddink is just keeping things easy and as the weeks go on and he gets to know the squad more, hopefully we will see the best of us. Bring on Palace.

To think people actually even made an argument to say he is better than KDB, Willian and Coutinho is beyond a joke. All he did was run around and do fuck all. He did one good tackle and that is about it. That is considering that he lost the ball in the first place. But what he done near the end summed things up. He could have played the ball to Pedro and decided to waffle on the ball then lost it. Sick of the inconsistent performances. Balance my ass. KDB or even another no.10 can do exactly what he does defensively but be much more dedly offensively. His jack of all trades, master of none thing is starting to show him up big time.

We can win this game. I hope Hiddink shows some balls and subs Oscar off and brings on Kenedy or Traore. Oscar is literally a ghost out there.

Oscar is such a hindrance to the team, it is so frustrating. Sometimes it is really like carrying an extra passenger.

WOW. We are unbelievably awful. No clue on what to do. Team looks lightweight. Matic has been fantastic though and Hazard is the only one who looks like creating anything. It just shows the state of this current team when United who have been winless in 7 before this and beyond damn awful, suddenly show up and look like Barcelona. This is actually embarrassing to watch

Do you really think Hazard will not return to top form and think he could be a Torres V2?

Well form is temporary. Class is permanent. Hazard was excellent last season while Oscar's time at Stamford Bridge has been surrounded by inconsistencies and I firmly believe Hazard will come good. I am not too sure about Oscar though.

If people only realised that his vulnerabilites are caused by Fabregas awful positioning most of the times. I tell you, put Busquets in this team and he would get the same level of criticism Matic is getting but he is better protected in Barca. Matic always has to cover Fabregas ass and when teams are countering he is often having to mark like 3 players running towards him. It will be difficult for a lot of players in his position in a 2 man midfield playing with Fabregas tbh.

So maybe that is down to the manager's tactics? Silva was equally poor as well yet he is considered a world class player but don't really see people saying the same about him. Let's not forget that KDB but on a masterclass against Bayern last year. Who cares if he has not done it against the big teams really? United, they played defensive. Arsenal, Pellegrini got the tacticd wrong. KDB missed a sitter but I thought he was their most impressive player that night. He was the only one bar Toure who was looking like making something happen. Like I said, he has not been standout in the big games. However he has been great in his first season and there is no two ways about it. He was a big game player against Sevilla that night. Great individual goal which set them on the way forward in the UCL. The smaller games might actually be the games that win them the title like I said when you look at the table, end of the season.

Erm, how about get your facts right. He is not my favourite boo boy btw. I voted him MOTM against Sunderland. I remember against Spurs, others said he done shit, I thought he was decent however he is in a position where you expect more from a no.10, especially when other better players such as Mata and especially KDB left and Oscar was trusted, his performances are going to be scrutinized more and rightly so. Do I often think he is the weak link in our team? Yes I do. Can we do with an upgrade? Yes, we could. And to compare one world class performance from Oscar in 2-3 years is a ridiculous comparison. KDB has had plenty of those games. For the record I actually thought him and Toure (second half) were two of the more better players in that Arsenal game. And no it does not need to stop because it is a KDB thread and I will write what I want regarding him thanks. Yeah, we could do with a midfielder like Pogba but that is such bullshit to think KDB would not be an upgrade on this team. And FWIW, I still reckon they will win the title and like I have stated before it is the smaller games that might go a long way to winning them the title.. Anyway, you have any agenda against KDB so not really surprised. And you know what is funny. I only mentioned Oscar once because someone stated he would be a better fit. All my other post was based on KDB. You just gone on this rant and assumed I have slated Oscar when I have not. I stated the truth that it was a ridiculous assumption to say we will win more with Oscar than KDB. And that is the truth.

Oh dear, oh dear Already on 10 goals for City this season and has made 10 assists for them already. 6 of those goals have been in the PL, 1 goal in the UCL and 8 of those assists have been in the PL too. You probably will say the COC is irrelevant so that is why I pointed that out. You predicted 5 goals and 5 assists. KDB has completely squashed that prediction. Now let's see if he makes that 15 assists you said is impossible for him to make. 5 more assists for him to make to also squash your second prediction which you said is "near impossible". Have not seen you on here for a while but I would love to see what you have to say about Oscar being a better fit for us than KDB now. You also said we would win more games with him as no.10 than we would with KDB in the team. Just... I think people on here actually need to accept KDB is a world class player and is only 24. One of Jose's biggest mistakes was not giving KDB a proper chance. If only....

If we had natural attacking FB we would have won this game. I don't see what it is with managers playing Azpi and Ivanovic at fullback. It is outdated and is not working. How many times did Jurado outpace Ivanovic. Jurado is not even fast ffs. That actually tells you how slow Ivanovic is. Pedro was not great but I would have much preferred he stayed on instead of Oscar. Especially at the pace we were attacking them, Pedro, Willian and Hazard would have been much better. Regarding the penalty. Oscar is the designated penalty taker after Hazard so I had no problem with him taking the penalty. When it is a game that is level, you let your designated player take the penalty. Hazard was injured at the time so Oscar was next in line to take it and should of. If we have a comfortable lead now, then you can start talking about individual players getting their personal accolades. Team first, player second. What if Costa took the penalty now and missed the penalty? Would we then be saying he was not our first choice taker and should not have taken it? Oscar before today has had a very good conversion rate from penalties tbh. It is also amazing to see what a goal can do for a player's confidence. Costa was frustrating before that goal then after he scored he was simply brilliant. Hold up play, dribbling, creating space and being a constant handful and most importantly scoring goals. 2 quality finishes as well. A real shame though because we done enough to win that game and it seems every time we have a chance to win consecutive games, we go back to square one. Ah well. Bring on United. A shame Costa is suspended against United after his 2 goals today

"I never looked at it because I know what he did and not a lot of managers would do that." Well tbh, that is because a lot of managers would of given him a proper chance. It is all good defending Mourinho in saying that Lukaku asked for the move which he did but it still does not change the fact that Mourinho obviously did not have enough faith in him to assure him of his starts.

While the lack of goals is poor on Hazard's side, it is amazing how a quality player can floruish under a manager that actually chooses to play football. Just look at the amount of good wingers/ attacking midfielders who have left us and failed to find their feet here. Hopefully with Hiddink in charge the goals will start to come for Hazard.

A perfect example of a fullback in the PL who started as a winger is Bellerin. Look how much he has grown and arguably has been the best RB this season in the PL. Has improved defensively with work by the coaches even though his defensive side can be a bit weak, he is a quality RB now. And yeah like you said, he will never be as good as a defender as Azpi is but tbh I would much rather an attacking fullback who can be vulnerable to the odd defensive mistakes rather than have a full back who is good defensively but does not offer much on the offensive front.

Considering you used to have quite heated arguments with TOPTB, I am surprised of all people you thought it was Pacquiao You just have to look to the way the Ossie and Pacquiao post to know that they are not the same. Either way, whoever Ossie is. Whether it is TOPTB or he is genuinelly a victim of having a similar views to him, I think it is great for the forum to have members like him. I have not agreed with a lot of what he has said but he has constructed his views excellently, even if it means rubbing some people up the wrong way. Lionsden and TOPTB were controversial posters, albeit excellent ones. Ossie is very similar to TOPTB with his views but I like having him on board

I did not directly call them 'plastic'. I said something down the lines of "talk about being plastic" considering that term is used frequently on the forum. And that came across more plastic than some of the things I see people accused for on here. And anyway wiith the face in palm thing, there was nothing malicious in it. I don't agree but if instead of giving a reply where I slated him for that comment I put a face to express my feelings with a bit of humour intended with it mate

Oh my!

I think he gets the right balance right. Time will tell if he could replicate his style at Atletico if he was to be appointed here but for one I think he develops a greater rapport with players. I never have liked Jose's idea of playing Azpi at LB and having Ivan at RB for long term. If Simeone came here when Luis was here, no way would he of allowed him to depart. Also I just prefer his general attitude and think he would get the best out of our players. What he has done with Atletico is nothing short of sensational and he is at it again this season.

Mourinho would of done the same this season and last season. The way we set up at PSG, Simeone would never be that defensive. The counter attacking approach would of been much more incisive.

I think that was obvious with what happened with Carneiro at the Swansea game.

Agreed mate. I think you are a quality poster and have offered a lot of interesting thoughts in the months you have been here. I just was frustrated at the fans jeering. But yeah mate, let's enjoy the game and hopefully we can string 2 consecutive wins together in the league finally. Enjoy the game :blue scalf:

DF. What have you got to say for yourself now after all that shocking abuse you gave him?