TorontoChelsea

Too many awards, they're like boxing belts. Not sure who will win but all three players of the year will probably be between Bale, RVP, and Suarez. Young player of the year's results are different from the actual rules. They almost always vote in someone English even if they are inferior so it's hard to guess.

Webb didn't punish Hazard and Webb didn't see the Ferdinand shove (it was away from the play). Nothing to do with him.

Seriously. If you had to miss a season, this is the best one to miss in a long while.

Barcelona are just dominating them and really they should have had a penalty and Abate sent off. Barcelona fans are so annoying, whistling and booing any time the opposition has the ball.

What a touch and finish that was.

It's still difficult to watch this with us out. This is the real European tournament. I'm hoping for a 2-0 game with it going to extra time (but not penalties) and Milan winning.

Van Persie was accused of rape a while back but the accuser later admitted she made it up for attention.

Azpilicueta is certainly better than Bosingwa, but he was one of our worst players against ManU. He was caught badly out of position about 3 times forcing Moses to make a couple of key tackles (including the foul that led to the Rooney goal).He's had a very good first season with Chelsea but he does have room to grow. Azpilicueta and Ivanovic are as good a RB duo as there is in the Premier League (except perhaps Zabaleta and Walker and Maicon) so it's not an area of concern.

Absolutely agree. People will almost always fixate on individual moments rather than their play in general.

It will be one of RVP, Suarez, or Bale and rightly so. Mata has had a fabulous year though although I didn't think his performance yesterday was anything special.

Don't think Cech had a shocker at all. First goal, he maybe shouldn't have come out, but second was perfectly places and there was really nothing he could do because he has to be in between. Luiz should have got his head on it. It was low enough, but he just missed it. He also made a fantastic double save and his save of Luiz's header was especially excellent. De Gea is an impressive if unorthodox shot blocker.

Am I seriously the first person to vote for Ramires as MOTM? I thought he was the obvious choice (with Hazard being second) Not only did he score the tying goal, but he was solid throughout, breaking up plays and leading the charge, and our central midfield was the only part of the team was solid all game. Luiz had some brilliant moments (the interceptions that lead to the goal, the pass to Mata), but also had some awful ones (he probably should have got a head to the opening goal, his awful almost OG, letting Welbeck walk right around him to create a 2 v 1). Nice to see us come back. We've had three games against ManU and all three have been very entertaining. We've got two more to go as well.

Mata twisted his ankle it looks like. Not good...

Ramires!

What a shot by Hazard

Weird substitution. Lampard was one of our best players today and is a threat going forward unlike Mikel. Moses tracked back nicely to save us a couple of times and got into some very good positions, but his final pass/touch/shot were pretty bad.

Overall, we both have 6 shots, 4 on target and we have 51% of possession. Neither of the goals were the result of sustained pressure. The overall play has been about even. Their defending and finishing have just been better.

Not really a bad performance so far, just gave up two weird goals. We've had some chances on the counter but our decision making and execution have been poor. ManU are attacking us effectively on the wings and Azpilicueta has fallen asleep a couple of times, once which led to a goal.

I agree. We've had some chances, often controlled the ball. We're not being outplayed nearly as badly as we were for the first 20-30 minutes of the Clattenburg game. Not even close.

1) There are a lot more theoretical tryouts than real ones in football. Rosters are pretty much set early and pre-season form doesn't change that. How much did our pre-season games change our roster or our lineup this season? The answer is none. It just doesn't work like that in football. The changes that get made in the roster are when someone is a sub is able to get a shot and show their quality and earn time. Feruz isn't even on the fringes. At best, he's our #4 striker right now. Feruz will be loaned out, probably to a Championship team. 2) KDB has rarely played CM and he certainly hasn't this year. The only games I can see his position from last year, he either played attacking midfield, winger or left midfield. He may have played CM with Genk a few times, but at that form, he wasn't good enough for Chelsea. The reason people are rightly excited by him is because of his form this year which has been as a very attacking player. The type of game he's playing this year is excellent for an attacking player, but it would be awful for a central midfielder. (Excellent in crossing, setting up chances, scoring, but a 76.7% passing percentage and poor defensive game). The idea that he will easily be able to play as a deep-lying midfielder is absurd. He might be able to play there but he might not. 3) I was agreeing with you. 4) Yes, it is my opinion which is why I said "I think" rather than a statement of fact.

1) Feruz is not going to be on the team next year (except maybe in the way Ake is this year), He has played zero professional games. He's not even remotely ready for Chelsea. He's likely not even ready for a loan to a Premier League club. 2) Kevin De Bruyne is not ready to be our #1 CM. He's played exclusively as an attacking midfielder or a false 9 this season and mostly that or a winger last season as well and his game seems to be more suited for that position . It's possible, he can develop into a central midfielder as might Oscar (who I think is actually better suited there) but starting the season with someone who is not a central midfielder and has very little experience playing there as a starter is a massive risk and teams that plan on contending can't take risks like that in their starting XI. 3) We're all writing Torres off as gone but it's possible they won't be able to get rid of him which would very very bad for us in so many ways. 4) I don't think Ba and Lukaku is a good enough strike-force to win the Premier League (I'd rather see either as the #2 guy right now) but they're both too good to be a #3 striker as well.

I don't think very good. He'd be fine as an emergency striker, but I don't think any of us would be happy with him as our #9 for an extended period. It goes back to an overall strange transfer policy from us in many ways creating some real imbalance (we have made a bunch of good signings in the past year, but the overall vision still confuses me).

The problem with even that is that we're already stacked at attacking midfielder. Mata, Hazard, Oscar, Moses, and De Bruyne are all best suited there and will all demand consistent playing time so even getting someone flexible (like Jovetic) wouldn't mean much, because we are so attack-heavy already.

Welcome and keep posting!!

The problem is that you can't integrate three strikers into a one-striker system. ManU and City play with 2 or even three strikers at a tim. 4 strikers for 2 spots is very different than 3 strikers for 1 spot. Let's say we play 60 games next year and we buy a Cavani or a Falcao or some other proven striker. They would rightly expect to start 40-45 matches. That gives 15-20 starts for Lukaku and Ba combined, mostly in domestic cups which is simply not enough to develop Lukaku or to keep either him or Ba happy. Ba can play on the wing, but we have Hazard, Mata, Oscar, De Bruyne, and Moses for attacking midfielder so any time he sees there would take away from their game-time.