TorontoChelsea

When he is disciplined, he's excellent, but he still makes so many mistakes. It's not just the stupid tackles or being out of position, it's trying Hollywood passes when he should be playing it short, it's forgetting where he is. If Luiz were 21, I'd think he'd become one of the top defenders in the world, but he's 25. He shouldn't be making these mistakes over and over again. I haven't given up on him because the raw talent is there, but he's incredibly frustrating.

Not yet and unlikely to happen in my opinion. (Cela n'a pas encore eu lieu.)

Exactly...I hate when people use youtube videos to try to prove a point or even to show a player's quality. They are purposefully selective moments and do not show anything other than those selected moments. Youtube videos do not prove anything. Ramires is not a great passer. I know that because I've probably seen him play in about 75 matches for Chelsea.

Expectations? Third and maybe the quarterfinals of the CL League. Go pretty far in both of the Cups and maybe win one. Don't care about the world club championship (Champion of Europe IS champion of the world), the UEFA Super Cup (The Champions League is THE European Championship. Europa League is second tier.), or the Community Shield (really just a friendly). Obviously would prefer to win, but don't care much at all. More than anything, I'd like to see the team gel over the course of the season and get better and better as the year goes on and by the end of the season, us to be playing the attractive, flowing, exciting football we are building towards. .

I'll be shocked if Chelsea are going to go with anything other than Lampard and Mikel as the starting deeper pairing. They played brilliantly together under RDM last season and are easily our best choice in the 4-2-3-1.

And Ramires and possibly Meireles, Malouda, Benayoun if any of them stay.Minimum of 7 players for 3 spots. Ramires is going to get playing time and he simply is not a true defensive midfielder and not even close to the type of player needed to provide cover for Lampard so he will play in the forward 3 when he does play. It's a very crowded grouping in a position where we were very weak last season. So far, Chelsea has bought exclusively attacking midfielders this transfer period.

Lennon, Walcott, and SWP are not all the same player. SWP is a mediocre player, Lennon is a decent player, and Walcott is quite a good player. If we get Walcott's production out of Marin, Chelsea will be ecstatic. This is someone Chelsea paid 8M pounds for and who was erratic in the Bundesliga. I like the way he looks, but expecting him to develop into a top player is probably too ambitious. People just expect too much from new signings.

I never said Mata was shit, but Mata is not one of Spain's best players. He played five minutes in the Euros. You're arguing the same thing which makes no sense that the other chap is arguing. I never said I didn't know why Spain didn't bring their best players, only that they didn't. I know why they didn't. Because they just played the Euros and the Euros are a massive tournament and Olympic football is a minor event and everyone outside of South American countries, view it as such. It's not just this year, it's every Olympics. The previous Olympics the Dutch brought 2 over-age players, Kew Jaliens and Gerald Sibons. Belgium brought no over-age players, and Italy brought 1, Tomosso Rocchi. Ivory Coast brought no over-age players. No Drogba, no Ya Ya Toure. That's what countries do in the Olympics. It's a small, under-23 tournament where the South American countries go all out to win. I don't know why you people keep trying to pretend that this tournament is any good.

Of course not. Mata doesn't struggle against physical opponents, he struggles in the defensive counter-attack system we played late in the CL last season. We played it in 3 matches and Mata was poor in those matches. It's not a system we will be looking to play so it shouldn't matter. Mata shouldn't play a full match though because the game really doesn't matter. Better now than when it would hurt us.

Doubt they come close to winning the CL. It's hard to integrate so many new players so quickly. How will they fit together? Who knows but it will likely take time. Think Man City from two seasons ago. They bought Silva, Balotelli, Ya Ya Toure, Dzeko, Milner, Kolerov, and Boatang. They only won the FA Cup. Even last season, City was clearly the most talented team on paper, they got lucky with virtually no serious injuries, and they still only won the league on goal differential and were knocked out early on from the CL 9And City had a better squad than PSG does). I expect PSG to easily win the French League because there's not a lot of competition there, but in Europe? Anyone can win (as we well know!) but I wouldn't be putting money on it. (They are also going to start out as a #3 or #4 seed so are going to get a tough group)

I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. I said that the Spain didn't bring their best players and you said "what top players did Spain not bring" and I told you which top players they didn't bring and you said "why would you expect them to bring them"? I don't expect them to take good players because it's a minor tournament but you asked.

Spain didn't bring any of their best senior players. No Xavi, no Iniesta, no Ramos, etc...The logic that the competition must be good because good players have looked mediocre is ridiculous. Because Chelsea lost to Brighton, does that mean that Brighton are Champions' League contenders? Hazard played poorly, so therefore Brighton's players are really amazing. It doesn't work like that. Good players will have mediocre games against poor teams sometimes.(Especially, as was the case for most teams apart from Brazil, when the players have barely played together.) And yes, Egypt and Korea might almost be as good as Mexico because they are all poor.

No, it doesn't. Uruguay had a pretty good roster and lost to some poor teams. Britain was one of the better teams in the tournament and they weren't any good. It happens. The best team doesn't always win. It doesn't mean that the other teams were necessarily good. Brazil could have easily lost to Honduras, it doesn't mean they are a worse team., Just go and look at the Olympic rosters of the teams. Saying that they are quality is just ridiculous. Mexico is in the final and every single player except Dos Santos plays in the Mexican League which is a pretty poor league.

Brazil didn't play Uruguay or Spain. (And there is no contradiction in saying that Uruguay was trying and still got knocked off). and Spain left their best players at home. Brazil has faced the under-23 sides of Belarus, New Zealand, Egypt, Honduras, and South Korea. The best team Brazil will face all tournament might be Mexico and their top player is probably Giovanni dos Santos who hasn't been good enough to be on the Spurs squad. It's a very weak tournament.

I agree with this. He'll only be 21 this season so him not being a superstar immediately doesn't mean he won't develop well. The issue is that if people expect too much right away, they will inevitably be disappointed. You saw some people on this board after Hazard's first poor pre-season game berating him. I expect Oscar to be a very good player long-term but he may take a year or two to get there.

It changes enormously. Passing is much more difficult when you have less time. Passing is much more difficult when your teammates are well-marked. Control of the ball is harder against better defenders. There are many players who look ggreat at lower levels and can't make the jump. He has impressed and I think he has a very bright future, but people are reading way too much into this tournament.

They are extremely poor. They are under-23 sides of poor footballing countries. Of the better footballing countries, only Brazil and Uruguay sent good over-23 players. It's a minor tournament and most teams treat it as such.

It's quite possible he will struggle at first. Brazil are playing 90% of their starting team against under 23 sides of poor footballing countries. Oscar has looked good, but looking good against teams with League One sort of talent does not equate to instant stardom in the Premier League. I think he's very likely to be a very good player, but it will also very likely take a period of adjustment.

Arsenal consistently get excellent transfer value. If they ever were willing to spend money, they'd be in fabulous shape. Lucky for us, they are more interested in turning a profit than they are winning.

This is exactly it. The formation is pretty much set save new signings except for what you mention and perhaps Luiz vs. Cahill at CB. My feeling is that Ramires will start and they'll try to bring Oscar into the starting XI as he gets acclimatized to the league.

No, he can't. You absolutely need a creative player and excellent passer in that position and Ramires has many skills but his creativity and passing are not among them.

It's more than the Tea Party, it's Grover Norquist and all of the GOP who has basically ensured that taxes can never be raised. Of course, it's also the fault of the people who think listen to the lie that America can keep up its current spending and pay down the deficit without raising taxes.

Yes, for sure, but training is different and not nearly as exhausting as playing in games. He deserves a break and he'll get one, but after that, he should be fine.

Mata has played 5 matches in the last 2 months including 2 appearances as a substitute. He hasn't had time to go away for a long vacation, but it's not as if he's been playing non-stop. He played about 5 minutes at the Euros.

Mikel had a bad run of games under AVB but has been a solid player for us for years. Is he an elite defensive midfielder? I don't think so, but he's very good and certainly good enough to start regular for Chelsea. Defensive midfield is one of the hardest positions to judge in football because they are more about being a link and covering other people than being proactive themselves. Mikel does what he needs to do which is make short, accurate passes and cover for defenders and he does it well.