TorontoChelsea

He has done a good job? We've had five games and four of them should have been wins. Fulham at home and West Ham away are not particularly difficult matches in the Premier League. I knew this would happen-our schedule for the first 10+ games with Rafa is so insanely easy, that early success is inevitable which will inevitably lead to people acting as if we needed Rafa to defeat teams like Sunderland , Leeds, and Southampton .I do agree with your broad point-Rafa is going to be here to the end of the season so we might as well tolerate him.

Wow...

Feel sorry for the lad. Was just going to get a bunch of games in the next couple of months.

Thought he was not very good but hard to judge with no real DM next to him and it being his first real game there. I'd like to see more of him there for sure and in time, I think he has the skills needed for the position.

I generally agree with you. As I've said before, people tend to get too down when we lose and too up when we win. We've mostly been the same team all year and that's a team with talent and potential but holes and a lack of depth. (the sort of team fighting for a Champions' League spot.) We'll likely do very well over the next month because we have about 10 games in a row we should win, but I don't think we'll really turn things around until we bring in some new players and a long-term manager.

Seriously, just fuck off. "Try watching some football?" Go back to wherever you were before you polluted this forum. The lowest form of argument to pretend that people who disagree with you don't know anything. Some of the best posters on this board, many of the members of the month don't think Fellaini would be a good fit at Chelsea. We're all a bunch of idiots though, right because only you can see the true value of a player. Only you can understand how football works. Everyone else, must bow down before your superior knowledge. I have addressed every point you've made. Fellaini is not a defensive midfielder, even when he played defensive midfielder years ago, he went forward much more than defensive midfielders normally do (or generally should), he is vastly superior in a central or attacking role, he is deeply flawed as a defensive player, and he's be insanely expensive for a defensive midfielder. nobody sane would buy Fellaini to move him to a position he was worse at, and your only retort is "watch some football", "you're lying", and other insults. You clearly have no idea what a defensive midfielder is supposed to do and what makes a top defensive midfielder and if you missed Fellaini's poor positioning and stupid tackles, you also clearly are incapable of seeing and understanding basic roles in football. Maybe your football manager game says Fellaini-DM so you're confused.

Congrats! Well deserved.

A win us very likely today so I am very hopeful. Interesting that Rafa doesn't want to start Oscar yet. I think it's a combination of only wanting 2 number 10 types in the lineup and wanting to bring Oscar along more slowly. We've got a lot of games so he will undoubtedly play a crucial role for us this season but taking it a little slower is not the worst idea.

So basically don't mind arguing about the merits of individual players as long as people agree with you. Just because people disagree with you about a player, doesn't mean they don't know anything. Dismissing anyone who thinks that Fellaini wasn't a fabulous defensive midfielder as not knowing anything doesn't make you right, it makes you a prick. You have quickly become one of my least favourite posters on here because of your arrogance and habit of dismissing disagreement as ignorance. I mean your depth of football knowledge is just too vast for us mere mortals. We all just started following football May2012. Is the guy kicking the ball towards the goalie man supposed to try to hit him or to get the ball past him? Please, tell me more. I don't know anything. If we try to do more goals than the other team, is that good? Are we the team in blue or red? I'm so confused! Just fuck off.

One can manipulate stats, but these are actually important ones. Defensive midfielders make tackles, they intercept, they pass at a high percentage, they make tackles, they intercept the ball, they make clearances, and they don't get involved too much in offensive play. If you look at defensive midfielders like Mikel, Busquets, Song, Tiote, Sandro, Lucas Leiva etc...they are generally pretty similar in what they do. Fellaini is a completely different player. And not just this year either. He's been moving up the pitch gradually for years and the numbers show that. What people who want him are essentially saying is "let's take a player who was a mediocre defensive midfielder and was miscast there and who is now excelling as an attacking midfielder, let's go out and spend an enormous amount of money based on that player's success as an attacking midfielder so we can turn him back into a defensive midfielder". It makes no sense .

Fellaini is valuable and people want him because of what he is doing the past couple of years where he hasn't played much at all of DM. As a DM, he was mediocre and wasn't really a real DM anyway. Even before this season, he was taking between 1.5-2 shot a game. Defensive midfielders don't do that. They almost never shoot. Look at last year shots taken. Busquets-5, Song-14, Mikel-11, Fellaini-52. Defensive midfielders don't shoot that often, because you're not supposed to find yourself in scoring positions twice a game.If you also look at positional charts, Fellaini was nowhere near the DM position. People like him because he's noticeable and he's always involved in plays, but he was nowhere near elite as a defensive midfielder. He was often out of position and forced to foul, something he still does but matters a lot less because of his new position. What you want in a DM is someone like Busquets. Safe, smart defensively, makes mostly short to medium passes at a high level, etc...Fellaini is the opposite of that. Here's a few head to head statistic differences (and I'll throw in Busquets too to show a good guide to what DM should be) Passing pct%-Busquets-91.3%, Mikel 89.9%, Fellaini-78.7% Avg # of passes a game, Busquets-79.4, Mikel, 61.4, Fellaini 47.7 Long balls/game-Busquets-4.5, Mikel-3.4, Fellaini-2.2 Tackles per game-Mikel 2.6, Buquets 2.6 Fellaini 1.7 Interceptions per game-Mikel 1.8, Busquets 1.5, Fellaini 0.7 Fouls per game-Busquets-0.9, Mikel 2.1 Fellani 3.2 Dispossessed per game- Busquets-0.5, Mikel-0.6, Fellaini 2.5 People want Fellaini because he's flashy, but he's worse than Mikel in every way as a defensive midfielder except in aerial ability. His passing is weak, he gives up the ball way too often, his positioning is poor, and he fouls constantly. People always overrate certain sorts of players and Fellaini is a perfect example of that.

I don't see how anyone would think Fellaini would help us. He's an attacking central midfielder bordering on playing as a second striker which we don't need at all. He is the player Everton is playing around so Fellaini is taking 3.7 shots a game (by comparison, no Chelsea player has taken more than 2.5 shots a game.) He has real strengths as a player (great in the air, very good at finishing) and massive weaknesses (He doesn't position himself defensively well and fouls way way too often. 3.1 fouls a game for an attacking midfielder is insane). Where would he play at Chelsea? How would he fit into the side? Doesn't make any sense to me.

Apparently he had a long-standing charity commitment.

Fellaini is basically playing as a second striker right now...maybe even just as a striker. Everton run their attack through him. He has more shots than Jelavic despite playing in one less game. He's a talented but flawed player and as you say, massively overpriced right now.

I don't know either and I don't like them. It's almost always a needlessly showy move where you don't have all that much control over where the ball goals. Fans and players love skills moves, but they aren't what win you games.

Because trying to win it means that you have to play key players in it which means that they will have to sit out some Premier League games to rest. To me, the Europa League is as if there were a second Olympic Games where people who failed to qualify from the first games and people who failed to make the cut in early competition faced off. The games will still be fun and winning is better than not, but it's a ridiculous tournament. even if you win, it means you are the best team in Europe except for the best teams.,,The Premier League is the highest priority. We absolutely need to finish top-4 and that's still a very attainable goal. The ramifications f we fail to make the CL are massive.

Yeah. This was similar to the Wolves win. We played great, but the opposition was awful so it's hard to read anything into it. Nordsaelland played decently in Denmark, but we still beat them 4-0. This time, they were missing a couple of key players, then lost another key player early so that their entire shape was messed up. There was no chance of them winning anyway. We won 6-1, crashed out of the CL, but really there's not much to say. We got a tough group and didn't play badly overall, but ultimately, we weren't good enough. Very disappointing even in a rebuilding year, I thought knockout stage at a minimum. I'll obviously watch Chelsea in the Europa league, but I really care about 1/50th as much. Even if you win, it just means that you are the best team that's not one of the best teams. This would normally be a great opportunity to work some younger players in, but the ones who are ready for action at a decent level are all on loan.

Another penalty!

I think he didn't see either of them and wanted to get confirmation from his linesmen. Better late and right than wrong and immediate.

Yikes...

Cech mate!

Oh jesus...

Flipping back and forth between the games.. Shakhtar are definitely pressing forward, looking to score. Dominating possession so far. Vidal has an early yellow which is good. Our game...well, it looks like we should score five. Nordjsaelland are a poor side missing three of their best players.

Chelsea doesn't make any sense for Mourinho. What's he going to accomplish here that he already hasn't? Maybe if we hadn't won the CL recently, he might be interested, but I don't see him going somewhere just to build a dynasty. Not his style. Also, don't really see Roman wanting him back. If Roman wants flowing attacking football, that's really not Mourinho's style. The players we bought (small, skilled, defensively ambivalent) don't fit his preferred style anyway. Also, Chelsea is pretty unappealing for Managers these days.

I don't think you worry about that. You can't make someone the starter over a better player just because you're afraid of losing him. If Cortouis is happy at Athletico, we can keep him there for years for all I care.