The Mak

1. Azpilicueta 2. Hazard 3. Cahill

...and on massive wages for someone who's one of the most injury prone players in the league.

The other week I was saying that a lot of people are overstating his weakness way too much. However, there is also a thing of overrating him as well. Do not mistake one good game for 'form'. Form is putting in a string of good performances and goals, which he hasn't really done since earlier in the season. Inconsistency will always be a part of such a young players game; so a 20 year old striker would be delighted as 2nd choice at a club that plays Champions League football, 60+ games a year and fights for titles on every front (and not just for 4th). For example, if Lukaku is sold, would he be bought as a main striker for one of the top 5-10 teams in the world? I severely doubt they'll want to rely on someone so young and inexperienced in the truly big games (CL).

Just his performance Vs. Stoke yet would do me nicely! We always get individual match performances for Hazard (even when he doesn't play well!), so we should see one for Salah!

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Hoping the yellow away kit rumour is true and I hope its something like Newcastle's, a.k.a Brazilian!

I was on the fence for quite some time, but I would pick Courtois. I know there's a recency effect going on here, but look at Courtois the other night making 3 big, big saves for his team in a massive european night at Camp Nou (denying Messi in the process at such a tender age) and compare with Cech last night who only had 3 shots to deal with, only saved 1 and let in a bit of a clanger - no top keeper should be beaten at their near post. When you start making these sort of comparisons, its very hard to see past Courtois for next season. We have a chance to go from one WC keeper to another, a rarity, I don't think we should pass that up.

If this happens it'll probably be down to Mourinho's will. I'm sure Lukaku would be fine with 2nd striker for the time being, we have an insane amount of games each season and it looks like Costa can pick up little injuries now an then. If he is sold because of the transfer/loan request thing, then I can't help but think José is handling this all wrong. Fair enough he wants to ensure he only has players in the team that have a strong 'team' mentality and not a 'me' mentality, but Lukaku is young. The little fuss he's made pales in comparison to the amount of absolute bullshit we've had to deal with from Torres, both on and off the pitch, for over 3 years. If this is the case, then Mourinho's first order of business should've been to ship out Torres, but he didn't and, honestly, I think he's a bit of a coward for not doing so. He's a kid, kid's make mistakes. Big deal. If he's serious about this 'nurture' thing, then that's what he should be doing for Lukaku, not tossing him out in the cold because he knew both an old Eto'o and a shit Torres would be ahead of him. It would leave a bad taste in the mouth if he was never really given a chance here before being sold.

For next season: Centre Midfield More than ever am I hoping for a DLP next year to help break these sort of teams down, Mourinho must see it by now. We looked so clueless and disorganised, it would've been a massive help if we had a passing lynchpin to help build meaningful attacks. Strikers As for strikers, I pray to whatever divine forces that may be that Torres is not wearing a Chelsea shirt next season. I'm hoping that when we buy a big striker and get Romelu back that Mourinho sits Torres down and explains just how shit he is compared to his competition - that it would be best for everyone if he just fucks off as soon as possible so we can put this terrible, terrible transfer as far behind as possible. Eto'o has been good as soon as he adjusted, but I'm not sure how fond I am of keeping a 2nd/3rd choice striker on such big wages. Honestly, I think Schurrle as 3rd choice would suffice - he does play there for Germany after all. So for next season I would hope for something like: 1st Costa (most likely) 2nd Lukaku 3rd Schurrle (but maybe Eto'o) Defence And of course, hoping we get Shaw so Azpi can lock down the RB position and Ivanovic can get the fuck out of there. I can't believe the people who were debating me at the start of the season saying Ivan was better. However, I think ST and CM are more important. Putting off Shaw for another season (I don't think he's going anywhere else) and keeping Bertrand wouldn't be the end of the world.

Undone by another team that camps in their own half and wastes as much time as possible. Of course Pulis was going to play this way. The amount of times Speroni just falls to the floor and holds the ball makes me sick.

Oh fuck off

I've stayed away from this topic for a while now because it was frustrating to see people acting like they were judging a finished article instead of a work in progress. Personally, I think some of the lines taken by the critics are insane. Romelu does have weaknesses, yes, and I do acknowledge that just because he is young these will automatically drastically improve over time. However, I do believe to focus on these weaknesses is far, far too overstated. What I can almost guarantee Romelu will improve with time is his decision making, which makes up a massive part of a strikers game. We're still viewing a striker who is yet to truly discover how he exactly wants to play. He can still improve, but when he eventually matures (and by that I mean him knowing the type of striker he is - knowing his limitations but also focusing and refining his strengths) we will see a lot less of 'sloppy' aspects of we associate with this extremely young striker's game. Another thing I will say is where were all the top strikers at Romelu's age? How many goals were they scoring a season in their respective leagues? Drogba at Le Mans, 7 goals.Suarez at Groningen, 10 goals.Falcao at River Plate, 3 goals.Cavani at Palermo, 5 goals.And Romelu? Lukaku at WBA, 17 goalsLukaku at Everton, 12 goals (and counting).Now I know it isn't as simple as this, there are external factors of course like their positions. However, the point in relation to their development still stands: they were nowhere near the finished article. I would imagine the amount of people criticising those strikers at that age hadn't a clue how good they would be. Lukaku is playing in the PL, so I do not think we should be judging him too harshly just yet - we know his qualities, but from that we're not even 100% sure what type of striker he'll be. Hell, Rooney couldn't win a header to save his life until the age of around 24/25 and he went on to score quite a lot with his head in the 09-11 seasons. I'm sure Romelu has the ability to improve such aspects under the right tutelage (Drogba soon perhaps?). So simply saying 'he doesn't suit us' when he's never made a proper start for us is crazy. He'll have quality players around him who he'll grown to know, understand and develop alongside. He'll be one of the very best second strikers next season if he stays and I believe a lot of this judgement should be reserved until then, at the very least.

I noticed that you conveniently left someone out of your stats.... :eyebrows:

Goodbye Mikel.

No one is sure about Eto'o yet and I'm sure Hazard will be 100%. Don't worry, he's a tank! He'll play! Well your English is perfect mate, don't worry about it! Also, Makélélé the player and Makélélé the coach are very different! I'll keep my photo thanks!

Sorry for your English? Dude, you should be teaching English to bushman! Seriously! You're very welcome here!

Very happy for André and Oscar in particular, both needed those goals. Schurrle has always made brilliant, brilliant runs and I'm glad we're getting more cohesion as a team and starting to pick him out more. His runs and shooting is fantastic - imagine the player we'd have if we could somehow combine him with WIllian! Glad for Oscar as well. It's the Oscar we all know and love! Against 10 men, but still played very well. Really hoping he can bring this form into the final stretch because we really will need him. Blue day! :blue scalf:

For all the people who said Ivanovic is a better full-back than Azpi at the start of the season...LOL. AZPI IS BEAST! Did you see that cross-field ball for Schurrle?

Missed the first 7mins....

In my opinion, we'll go through because we'll play a classic Mourinho counter-attacking game which PSG, full-backs in particular, won't be able to handle. It won't be easy though. We can't have any inconsistencies from the likes of WIllian/Schurrle/Oscar.

Please, please, please, please take him! 'Chelsea striker Fernando Torres open to Atletico Madrid return' http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11661/9223833/transfer-news-chelsea-striker-fernando-torres-open-to-atletico-madrid-return

United are still the weakest of the lot! After our performance against Munich at the start of the season, I don't think we should really fear anyone - we've been at our best in counter-attacking games after all. But I would love to get United purely for revenge of them knocking us out in 10/11 - that one was a shit one to take.

Fantastic movement from Schurrle since he came on but no one seems to want to pass to him!

Just look at Dave run! Marathon man!

Getting into some very good positions as well. If he remembered his shooting boots we'd be out of sight.