dee25

Now 5 goals and 7 assists in the league. Not chelsea material they say

I think the idea that Willian (ala Mikel) doesn't contribute much in attack because he's a safe player that prefers to keep possession is such a myth. If that were the case then he wouldn't have slowed down that counterattack only to attempt a more difficult pass in the end that resulted in lost possession. You're completely right, he slowed down play because he didn't know what to do with the ball. He couldn't think quickly enough so he dawdled with the ball until he made up his mind what he was going to do with it, which unsurprisingly turned out to be the wrong decision. If he were conscious about keeping possession then he would have made a simple pass to Mikel rather than attempting a difficult cross-field pass to Hazard, and that's the thing that frustrates me most about Willian. If he's going to be a player that doesn't contribute in attack, then he needs to make damn well sure that he does his job to high standard but he doesn't imo. He has the 3rd highest turnover rate after Hazard and Costa but he creates one of the fewest number of chances (I know stats don't always tell the full story but come on! 3rd highest turnover rate when you create so little? That's ridiculous). For all the praise he gets about his defensive work, in the match at WHL Rose scored a crucial goal when the game was in the balance because Willian wasn't tracking him. His ability to keep possession is just as overrated as his defensive contributions. But he does cute little fancy step-overs, so he must be good I guess...

Hazard often slows down counterattacks only to misplace a pass that ends up giving the opposition a counterattack of their own? Also, when you say "a player that is vital to the way we play" I hope you're referring to Eden and not Willian. If Willian is a vital to the way we play then yeah we're in trouble.

Definitely. Yesterday's game is the sort of game we would have lost if we were playing away. Wonder if the problem lies with the mentality of the team or is it due to a technical problem?

I'm not sure if I completely agree with everything, particularly the bit about Mourinho preferring passing defending. Our defenders are passive defenders, so that has to be taken into consideration. Terry does try to be proactive, against Spurs he was playing more as midfielder! I do agree though about our pressing. It's very easy to bypass. At St Mary's, Southampton were playing around our pressing quite easily (even with Matic and Mikel in central midfield).

Just looking at our away form. Only 2 wins in our last six away matches and one of those wins was two months ago (against Liverpool). Didn't realize it was that bad.

Exactly this. Like you said he was atrocious in the 1st half, his performance really was diabolically bad but he had a better 2nd half than Hazard. I don't even remember anything of note Hazard did in the 2nd half.

Completely understand the criticisms people have about him. Oscar's weaknesses became apparent to me the moment he displaced Mata from the no. 10 position. Regardless though, this season he has something like 4 goals and 7 assists in 17 appearances. Yes his touch is inconsistent, his passing can be sloppy at times, his vision is limited, he plays with his head down too much for my liking and sometimes he could be very weak on the ball......but in spite of his weaknesses he has 4 goals and 7 assists in 17 games and this is a player that's still only 23 years old. How much can he really be holding the team back with stats like those? Not Chelsea material? 4 goals and 7 assists isn't Chelsea material? Would people then prefer a more aesthetically pleasing player over one with high productivity? Oscar isn't the most talented attacking midfielder in the world, but he's still among the top talents in his generation. Yes we probably should look for better options in his position, but right now he most certainly isn't a weak link in the team. It actually makes zero sense to shell out 20M plus to bring in another no. 10 player. Why on earth would we do that? Cesc can play in that position if need be. What we need to be looking to upgrade is Ramires with a Pogba type player. That type of player will help us more than bringing in another attacking midfielder.

Spoke very professionally. If I see Cahill in the starting line-up against Swansea I might actually burst into tears. Zouma deserves to be given a run of games damn it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UK_R7ODwQ5M

They're very strong at home though.

Wow. This is just so heartbreaking. RIP

I need to first preface this by saying that there're probably a handful of teams I follow as closely as I do Chelsea and City is one of them. I watch all of their games (watching their match against Everton right now). I think you raised a couple of fair points and I generally agree with you that City do have an advantage over us in the title race but it isn't necessarily because they have more talent than we do. Appraising a squad's talent is very subjective but really aside from Aguero, Toure and Silva I urge you to name me one attacking player from City's squad who will come into our team and take us up a level, because I'm reading your comment and I'm struggling to think of one City player (aside from the three I mentioned) who I've watched play and thought...."yes we'd definitely win the league if we had him." I highly doubt that you (or anyone here) would be more contempt and satisfied if we had Milner, Nasri and Navas instead of Willian, Schurrle and Oscar. I'd be willing to bet that you'd still have the same complaints about there not being enough genuine quality options in attack. What though gives City the edge in the title race over us (in my opinion) is that their truly exceptional talent (Aguero, Toure and Silva) vs our exceptional talent (Costa, Hazard and Cesc) have been playing together longer, have more experience in challenging for the league and have more 'know-how' when it comes to making an impact and winning games on their own. Imo that's what tips this race in City's direction, not because they have players like Nasri, Navas, Dzeko, Fernando etc. But to each his own I suppose.

Strange. It's like you're describing Cahill's performance against Newcastle away.

Man how different would this half have been if it weren't for that Oscar goal?

LOL that half......hot mess

Omg it's like watching a train wreck

Sad that it took us having to concede 5 goals against Spurs for Mourinho to drop him. He's been so poor all season.

I BELIEVE, I BELIEVE. This evenin' my change is come.....Yeah, I tell you that my change is come *I'll just see myself out...*

It would be a good deal only if the club has someone of similar (or better) quality lined up otherwise selling Schurrle will only weaken the squad in a crucial time of the season.

If there's nothing to these rumors then why was he fighting with Hazard over who will wear the no. 10 shirt next season? Video confirmation: It's a done deal in my opinion.

From his interviews and general demeanour on the pitch, he seems very much captain material to me. I still can't get over his performance against Maribor away. That 2nd half was such an open game as we were pushing for an equalizer but he kept a cool head and completely stamped his authority. I'm not sure if anyone else noticed but there was a point in the match when one of the Maribor players was trying to time waste but Zouma quite literally grabbed the ball from his hands. He's such an imposing character but yet charismatic. I think he has leadership written all over him.

Behave...

Evidently you've been living under a rock Henrique because Matic is highly regarded by many in the larger footballing community as one of, if not the best DMs. Just a few of the praises he's been receiving lately.... Like I said, it's cool if you don't consider Matic to be the best DM in the world, no one can fault you for that but stop acting like it's only members on this forum that label him as such. Quite frankly it's very telling of your ignorance on this topic.

That wasn't the initial point you were making though. This is exactly what you said....... It was a laughably absurd comment and now that people have rightly called you up on it you're backtracking. I'm getting very sick and tired of certain members on here (and you know who are) who carry on as if it's this great travesty to call Matic the best DM. If you don't think Matic is one of the best or the best in his position, then fair enough. That's your opinion, but don't act like people on here are "getting carried away" by thinking he is. Many pundits and neutrals who have watched Matic play for Benfica and Chelsea unanimously agree that he is one of the best in his position. Considering that Busquets has been playing poorly for more than a season now, Javi Martinez (even when he was fit) hasn't consistently played in the DM position ever since Pep took over at Bayern, Mascherano is used more as a centre back for Barca than a DM...... so there is a very strong legitimate claim to say that Matic is right now the best DM. It isn't by any means a stretch to say he is. So spare us all the whole "wow you guys are overrating him" nonsense, please.