Magic Lamps

even though that goal is undeserved we only have ourselves to blame for our lack of accuracy in the final third.

and I thought team handball was unpopular in England - obviously a hit in Bournemouth.

I bet Ivanovic's favourite song is "Heavy Cross" (Gossip)

Willian's corners are the best back passes I have ever seen. That is why he is such an awesome defender.

that was a stonewal penalty. how it is a natural movement to your arm extended over the pitch for full length.

Does Dan Gosling play for Bournemouth? Fifa 07 legend used to reach 95 there.

It is such a shame how we wasted this season. with ManCity and ManU failing week in week out, we really should have wrapped up the league with a couple of decent signings. Looks like City will be gifted another title tho

I am not a fan of Cesc either. But if you want to dismiss him, do it for the right reasons. I agree that, mainly because he has limitted his play to passing, oppositions have grown wary of Cesc and can easily contain him now. But IMO he is doing better in big games than he did at Arsenal. Remember ManU and Arsenal at home? Two game-winning contributions. No imposing performances but a decisive impact on the game which is exactly what he has delivered in his better games against smaller teams. But the problem is he is - just as Mata who he replaced - a specialist. All Fabregas has is his vision and his passing. He is a below average athlete, not only for a footballer but in general for a man of his age + his technique is not really great. His strategic ability, reading of the game and defending is average at best as well. He has a decent touch but can neither shoot nor dribble. Hence IMO the Gündogan comparisons are spot on. Gündogan is a midfield allrounder and thus would provide a far better long-term solution for our midfield. The thing is, Jose knew what Fabregas brings to the table and what not. He knew a good first half of the season fuelled by the individual brilliance and suprise effect of Costa+Fabregas would deliver the league title. But their failings of this season add to the concerns that JOse cannot tactically reshape a team to be a threat for more than 3 years: he obviously has strategic deficiencies. He should have known that Fabregas will easily get found out when out of form But still he had no plan B. Add to that the possibly untimely discharges of Mata, Lukaku and KDB and we get why he has not been a long term manager so far. Purchasing Gündogan however would at least show he has some sensibility for the long term needs of our midfield. This would still not dispel the notion that he is a cheque book manager though at a well-endowed club like Chelsea I'd much rather have a strategic cheque book manager who buys the right players than a short-sighted egomaniac who sell the wrong ones.

"This is my story" - so his story is holding up a pink boot all the time?

Trading past it Falcao for past it Adebayor. What has this club become?

Sturridge, Bertrand, Lukaku, KDB all performing in a competition we have been dumped out of. Then people will say there is no point crying over spilled milk. But honestly looking at the players we kept over those (bar Baba/Azpi who both are way better leftbacks than Bert) there really should be some kind of reflection process that we need people with superior footballing knowledge at the helm. Everyone at this forum could see that those players are class. Esp. KDB. It didn't work out for him here, but he is the kind of player you should make it work out for whn u are manager/director. Also sacrificing Sturridge for Torres back then was obviously a dumb decision, everyone knew it way before it was made. Some things just don't roll right at this club.

+ his wife, who is one of the few WAGS who actually have a real job on their own is a horse breeder and professional equastrian. Their stud farm is based near Munich and I doubt he would leave that behind. He is the type of Person who committs to his choices for a life time. Honestly. I think Messi or Ronaldo are more likely to end up here than him.

+Teixeira and Shaktqr hav CL football every year playing big guns regulalrly. Teixeira has scored or assisted against Real, Chelsea, Juve, Bayer , ManU, Porto etc About the Qualität of the leagues I don't know. It is always about the players potential. Douglas Costa was a bang on average player in Ukraine but ripping bundesliga apart. The football in general is not good in European top leagues for a few seasons now anyway.

This. His prowess in set pieces has given him the confidence to take on players more regularly and force in the delivery like that forced own goal vs maccabi and several similar situations instead of passing backwards. Also for Brazil he has been one of their mainstays, scoring and assisting regularly (both even from open play). I am not saying that he is world class but he definitely has improved. That would be even more obvious if the players around him Costa, Hazard, Pedro who usually all are decent finishers and regular scorers, would do their job and finish off the chances he creates. He still has his deficiencies like he can't score from open play and does still not always make the right choices both off and on the ball. Still, He has always been a good player with his industrious workrate, skilfull feet, pace and dribbling ability but his increased verticality and set piece ability has made him a very good player which is exactly his ceiling and he is fulfilling it now. The players around him are the ones who should deliver and if they were to, Willian's numbers would be more impressive.

Actually he'd better play vs Tottenham. They go through the middle a lot and will press us there. His ability to dribble the ball from deep in the transition will be vital. However even if he would play, I am sure he will not make it here. Bundesliga would be a good place for him. The game there is a bit more methodic so it should suit him. But other than KDB and Lukaku I am not sure if he is good enough anyway.

So it is because English teams have money that Pedro is out of form? It doesn't matter how dumb English teams buy, in the forseeable future they can buy anyone they want and they will get lucky with their purchases more often than not. 80m€ for KDB? NO problem. Any decent player outside the top3 teams will want to come to the epl to earn better money, so even barca, bayern will need to get their players early or develop themselves cos epl teams will price all established targets away from them.

I see, thx. But if one applies that Fifa 07 assist rule of yours (only assist when next touch is scoring touch) then who made the assist for cahill's goal yesterday? cahill himself or the keeper? I think it only gives Willian the credit he deserves when we apply a more expansive view on assists. So Willian has 5. Also I remember last season Özil assisted a goal from a freekick that went in on a rebound like the cahill one yesterday. was counted as an assist. so no chelsea bias here...

I am pretty sure than statistic is flawed. He must have at least 2 assists, cos he got one yesterday and another one vs villa.

this was one of the most beautiful crosses i have ever seen. David Beckham would have been proud of that one. All Oscar had to do was to make any sort of contact with it to score but it was right onto his head, couldn't miss. Has to play vs Spurs. Him and Azpi on the flanks pumping crosses in for Remy could be our only threat from open play

not sure about this. they always rest players in EL: The thing is, Leicester aside, they are the most in-form team in the league and will come out all guns blazing. Remember how they dismantled ManCity with their pressing and sharpe passing right through the middle? They will be eager to expose our weak centre just as they did with West Ham, who themselves proved to be in much better shape than us. IMO the best we can get here is a draw and if we get the chance to do so we should grab it with both hands. Similar to the tactics applied at liverpool 2014, we should be out to frustrate them, stem their flow, not try to match them punch for punch with end-to-end stuff this what they want and what they are better at than us. Fabregas and Oscar can not play both, it would impede our ability to get out of the blocks with their lack of strength, close control and pace. RLC however excels when gettint the ball deep in our own half and driving it forward with his dribbling and size. If he can get his tackling/pressing right he can be an outlet to shield that shaky defence of ours. I'd be tempted to play 5 defenders but given we do not know whether Terry is fit I'd go with -------------------Bego----------------- Azpi-----GC------------Zouma--Baba -----------Matic------RLC-------------- Pedro--------Willian----------Hazard ---------------Remy---------------------- needless to say that playing Iva again would be suicide. Spurs are not particularly tall anyway and with RLC and Remy we got 5 outfield players above 6ft which should suffice. Actually I noticed that this height issue can not really be a problem anymore. I noticed teams who used to have big players like Liverpool, City and even Norwich are getting shorter every year. Obviously quality increasingly overrides size as it should be in such a skill-reliant sport. Back on topic, Remy is the striker we need, his pace will carry him past the often pushed up defensive lines of the Spurs and other than costa, he will not dive when through on goal. Last year this time he made Vertonghen his bitch and he will do so again. But our most potent threat are Willian's set pieces and we should be anxious to obtain as many freekicks and corners since - if u haven't noticed yet - we don't create many chances from open play and score even more scarcely from them. However, the most vital is Mourinho. He has to prepare the squad tactically and mentally not to crumble under pressure and once again lose our arduously gained momentum.

I am not sure whether the 2-1 vs Swansea was credited as an own goal but if so, all his 6 goals this season came from freekicks. That highlights the disparity of his finishing and free kicks ability. But i guess u cannot get too greedy. his set piece ability + his defensive work should justify his selection.

Expected win but also a good, assured, confident performance. The result in Porto of course causes unnecessary drama. but we are through with everything but a loss and we always should look to not losing at home. We actually showed some great interplay, sometimes too complicated and should just have shot inside the box and in turn wasted some opportniites with unnecessary shots from outside of it. hope we get this mixture right vs Tottenham.

and i thought this thread was about KDB. IMO he had an ok game on Saturday. Not at his best but one of the better City players, made things happen but not even he can score or assist every game. However him having an off day in a big game is rather an exception unlike Ronaldo for whom it is the norm. I hope our next no. 10 signing be it Texeira, Götze or Isco will make KDB forgotten otherwise people here will mourn after him until doomsday.

Maybe you are right in your conclusion that he might be better off as a fullback but I can't really retrace all the premises of your reasoning. How is he one-footed? Yesterday he shifted the ball on his weaker foot several times to gain an advantage and pulled off decent crosses/shots. Also the commentator said he was two-footed. I did not really see how strength is a major asset of his either. slightly below average in that regard irc, got bounced off the ball easily be Mulumbu on a few occasions. Then I would like to know how you obtained information abot Pedro & Willian's passing when they were 19. IMO his main attributes are dribbling, pace, shooting and workrate. However I agree with you that his lack of close control makes him an oddjob for attacking positions. Reminds me of myself. I also started of as an attacker with decent shooting, finishing, pace, size and strength but horrible technical side of the game. So I got gradually shifted backwards ending up at RB.

Lolz. Then u either got the tiniest feet or u are the tallest man in the history of mankind. BTW why the heck should we recall hector? He is a carbon copy of Papy and not exactly setting the world on fire at reading too.