Magic Lamps

decent debut. One great assist and a couple of decent runs. looks a tidy player and not easily outpaced. Barcelona comes too early for him though.

Assured performance, a few nervy moments at the back but when you got Cahill there and a rookie, things will get shaky from time to time. Great dispaly from Willian, i hope he has sth left in the tank for Barca. Drinkwater was ok, too. I like Callum's and Scott's cameos.. Morata really not up to it yet.

It's not that Barkley is any useful the way Conte deploys him but still his obvious lack of fitness does not help driving up his market value.

Friday night is the best. I hate it to wait anxiously all week and get nothing done before the game.

I really really hope that Marina or someone else could do some blood magic to keep him at Chelsea for at least another 1 or 2 seasons. Even if we will not achieve the CL with this generation I think Hazard will be key to attracting other targets and achieving minimum goals like top 4 finish and occasional cup win to facilitate the rebuild this squad and club needs. And to be considered on the same tier as Drogs, Lamps, JT, he needs to win the CL. He is probably the most talented player ever to don the shirt but I think the 4 major titles we won during his tenure are still short of the 13+ titles we won with our prior great generaton. Also we have to consider that our great legends won the CL and reached 5 semis and should have gone through 4 of them if not for a lot of dodgy refereeing and obvious manipulation. And don't tell me that our team overall was much better back then. We were full of average players back then too. We went through rough spells, the quality of coaches was really mixed but those great players were the reason we never fell apart and always made top 4 easily. I remember i really did not value the 4th place trophy back then but seeing how we are struggling now, it really was a great achievement being top 4 for 10 years straight. Also the 4+ fa cups we won meant something. With Drogba and Lampard on the field there was no opposition we could not beat. On our day we would always be the best team in the world.

Let's hope we can win this early and 3 of our most reliable starters off as soon as the game is won. But knowing us, this will go to the last second. I would love to win the FA cup but doing so gives us nothing, so rather risk losing the game than going fatigued into the weeks that will decide our season. Hull are one of the poorest sides in the championship and might very well go down, they would do well to rest a few players against us too. Their best defender is our very own Michael Hector so I guess he will be ineligible too. -----------------Willy--------- ---Ampadu---Luiz--Cahill--- Sterling-Drinks--Baka--Emerson ----Willian---Morata---Hudson----

i read that too, horrible story. I remember the game perfectly. The game was in the balance until Gary cahill and ryan mason shattered heads. Gary stood up and shrugged it off as if it was nothing but Mason was terrible. had to be treated for ages and directly sent to hospital. Hull never recovered from that shock and we easily won. I jested in the match thread, that Gary cahill's match winning contradiction was getting one of their better players off the pitch . Now I regret it, even though I never thought it would be that bad. I have seen some friends of me break their skulls too and they fully recovered within days but that really was a mean collision.

I also think he played well and is a good player, but as a right foot he naturally turns inwards and that slows our play and limits our space on the side which is why hazard scored both goals coming from the right. Pedro often had to stay wide on the left in order to create width.

Mikel at that age was so much more accomplished technically allready it is really hard to compare.

If giroud would have scored that chance he would not be giroud. Still a good home debut. As long as he keeps hazard scoring i am fine with him being wasteful.

wba are one dirty bunch. should have seen way more cards so far

we got no width at all on that all important left side with zappacosta on it.

giroud looks even more like a paintbrush now^^

if grioud only had a right foot

we don't need a midfield, we got Giroud.

krychowiak was the player i wanted us to sign instead of baka and drinkwater

some great football this. deserved goal. we are looking miles better than last week

how did giroud not score this. should be 2 goals and a man up already

wba's plan today is definitely to score first and let us panic but they will run out of steam if they continue like this

I know he is not well loved here but Zappacosta is a powerful runner, always beats at least one defender and should have forced a red card here

tt's not confidence. It's his game. He is scoring the same poacher's goals he has been scoring for us. A team that creates chances for the striker and does not require him to create his own will get one of the best fox-in-the-box striker in Europe in Batshauyi. Dortmund have struggled with poor finishing with Aubameyang but they always created enough chances. Now they have a superior finisher. I would have expected Bats to flourish here if we for one would play with more than 3 attacking players of which Pedro/Willian can not really be considered full attackers with the amount of defensive work they do + their offensive output is erraic. Look at Dortmund's lineup. They startet with 5 genuine attacker. Kagawa and Reus in a 3 man midfield, Schürrle and Pulisic as wingers. Small wonder Dortmund create more chances than us.

Try something new for one. I guess christensen is still out so -------------Tibo------------- Azpi--Luiz--Rüdiger--Emerson ------Kante----Drinkwater------- Willian-Hazard-Giroud-Hudson-Odoi will take anyone by surprise. I think 4 defenders and 2 dms will offer enough protection + loads of pace in the wide positions.

I think he means the goalkeeper COACH which we changed to accomodate Tibo.

I feel exactly the same. It is crazy that this guy has just turned 17 in November. What we have seen from him is not too special compared to cameos of other academy products but you have to put it in perspective that usually our academy graduates first start for us when they are their early 20ies.But Hudson Odoi looks just as comfortable on the ball, confident on the field and particularly in his body than talents 4,5 years older than him. Usually 17 year olds no matte rhow quick or talented are lanky lads still moving a bit awkward. Even Ronaldo at 17 was a scrawny kid appearing to fall over with every stepover. Hudson-Odoi looks like he has been playing pro football for years already. I only hope he does not grow even bigger which might affect his agility. I really hoep we for once do not fuck this up.

That's true. But I still doubt we will shed out David Luiz and Cahill. But if our board magically came to senses, De Vrij would be a graet aquisition. Such a talented player and he has come back from his horrible injuries every time.