Magic Lamps

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.

haha. eight players could actually be what we need all in all. We only got 2 proper fullbacks, so we'd need another one or two there, same goes for CB, where Zouma is our only long-term option. In midfield we need one each of DM/CM/CAMs as ramires, Mikel, Fabregas, Oscar are all below Chelsea quality and should not start. Another striker would come in handy too. However of those 8 players, many could be injected in the form of returnign loanees and academy graduates So my dream formation for next season would be Courtois Begovic Azpilicueta Zouma Höwedes/Hummels Baba Fabinho Christensen Cahill Azpi Krychowiak Matic Pogba Pasalic Fabregas/RLC Ramires/Oscar Willian Costa Hazard Traore/Pedro Lacazette Kenedy Not necessarily in this first/second XI. Would cost a bit but worth it. One can dream. Apart from Pogba who is not a must, all are realistic.

And I always thought PVC was short for Polyvinyl chloride whilst Luxemburgo is a small European country^^ I don't know shit about what is said in Brazlian media by some whatsoever idk commentators. Whilst I don't like most of them anyway, I appreciate German commentators for not saying anything they are not sure about + they don't try to influence clubs they dislike by spreading rumours. So whatever your Polyvinyl chloride guy said about bad training and players leaking about it, as a Chelsea supporter I don't give a shit and I don't believe it will affect the club what Filipe Luis, an understandably bitter Chelsea outcast, passes onto the media. And last - only because s.o. likes a post does not mean they are blind in their opinions. I have seen people mockingly like posts completely slagging them off. Liking does not equal supporting every syllable in it. Back on topic. Credit where it is due. Mourinho made some tactical and motivational tweaks and they worked out. The players interchanged positions like mad, Norwich had trouble marking them so we found openings every few minutes. Kenedy at left back is unconventional but it gave us another skilfull passing outlet. He also created some chances on his own, sadly there was no one in the middle finishing them off. I still don't get why he played Iva on the right instead of Azpi. Norwich are not particularly tall and Azpi does still contribute more offensively than Iva. Fabregas also improved, the time on the bench really did him a favour. He was more determined and focused, not suffering a single turnover, holding onto the ball amidst physical challenges. One thing that has been lacking for years now is finishing. Since the beginning of Mou's second coming, our finishing has been poor. Mou really should hire a psychologist or an attacking coach to work that out for once. I know confidence is low, but you really should not go down under a challenge until the opportunity to score is gone. If you stay on your feet even if you can't score, the defender has to intensify the contact and eventually foul you. Then you can still dive more convincingly. Also when defending we are still very nervous. Understandably but with the experience we have, there should be a time when the corner gets turned and stays turned. All in all, still a lot of hard work to accomplish until we click again but I am confident, with some reinforcements in January we can string an ok season together.

they really should given our lack of quality cover in their positions anyway. If they turnout just as they should, we might not even have to buy more hyped and expensive youngsters like Stones or Pogba in their positions. What impresses me most about Pasalic is his consistency. Apart from a a handful odd games, he racks up a 7/10 performance every week with a goal every 3 or 4 games. He could still improve on his tackling and passing but his confidence and ability on the ball is excellent for that age. IMO there should be much space in midfield for him next season. We should revert to 4-3-3 as it suits us best whilst Fabregas, Mikel, Ramires, Oscar all should not be starters at a club like Chelsea so there should be chances for him even if we sign some other mids.

Why does everyone tell me he is not a LB? I fucking know he is an inverted right winger/second striker which is why i wrote he should be tried higher up the field. Having been perfectly aware of his true position, being funny was exactly my intention when I made that 'skilfull LB' joke. On a different note, I can see where Mou is coming from. Azpi's defensive prowess was not really be needed on the left vs NOrwich and as much as I like him, he is not that good offensively. Kenedy offered much more in that regard. However I also can not really retrace why he picked Ivanovic who was a liability as always but it did no harm yesterday. Probably some height + element of surprise reason.

wut? of course he does. every sane human being would give the media less, less reliable and less accurate information than he would give to his players.

He is like the most skilfull LB I have ever seen. The number of times he beat a player with a neat trick I have lost counting. Amazing ball control. Also did ok defensively. He really should be used higher up the pitch whilst Pedro should take more of an impact sub role.

that goal looked much more like the real Costa. now we have to continue pressing them instead of going back to square one

costa really is afraid to score. goes down rather than shooting and nowhere to be found in the middle when the crosses come in. however the question is, if we don't score, who will get tired first? tbf the tactical tweaks MOu applied are obvious. players constantly changing position, kenedy the most technically gifted fullback i have ever seen, roberto carlos who?

what a game by hazard. why is this the first time he is tried in the centre? that is just his place

decent game from us so far energetic display but the old problem is still the cleverness and finishing

no idea where else to put this: we all know him as an average defensive mid and the mother of all budget signings, but Matthieu Flamini obviously is also a biochemical genius who found a substance to replace oil. http://www.theguardian.com/environment/shortcuts/2015/nov/16/mathieu-flamini-arsenal-chemical-company-saviour http://www.n24.de/n24/Sport/Fussball/internationaler-fussball/d/7643492/fussballer-macht-20-milliarden-euro-entdeckung.html

I do not even doubt that he does not regret moving here. We are in relegation battle, but why should he consider this a negative? he has won shitloads of titles at Barcelona, for sure he will not be that disappointed if he can't win the league here in his first season? He gets good money, lives in London, learns a new language and culture as well as a new footballing challenge. Give him time, he will come good, he is still in a decent age and has always been a class player.

Well financially this can still be a very good signing. We paid like 2.5m for him and he is worth at least 5, so we can make a handsome profit of him by selling him. Loaning him out however does not make as much sense since he was brought to provide cover. Luckily only one of our 3 main cbs has ever been out so no wonder he has not played so far.