The Mak

Congratulations you kangaroo loving bastard!

Agreed mate. I was thinking that about Hazard & Mata as well. I don't know about you, but one of the main highlights of last season was the link-up play between the two in particular. It was uncanny at times. I think the best example that sticks out in my mind is the goal Hazard scored against West Ham: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UQgxOR91CU Two high quality players on the same wavelength truly is a beauty to watch and it's plain to see there weren't many on the same wavelength tonight. Tonight it was all very 'individual'. I was also thinking about Hazard and what Mourinho has said of him in the past. I believe he said in an interview something along the lines of that he is a lot harder on the 'better' players because he expects more from them; a kind of a 'tough love' approach. Mourinho might want to take some of his own advice and act more like nurturing "dad" if he's to get the best out of some of his eggs! However, perhaps only time will tell if it's simply a dip in form or something else...

This is similar to what I felt from the game overall, as it seems just too easy to point to individual mistakes or players (or even to José at times). I think the key thing you've said was 'focal point' and for me, for the past 2 years at least, that has been Mata. Now as much as I love Oscar, I have always said that he just is not as good as Mata going forward. Say whatever about his defensive abilities and work-rate, but as an attacking midfielder I feel Mata is better at this moment. And for the past few years, no matter how imbalanced our team was, he has always made us look as cohesive as we possible could be. We have always praised him for his vision and passing; whereas Oscar, we've praised him more for his individual ability i.e. scoring magnificent goals. Oscar won't really dictate the tempo of a game, however Mata can. And since we have virtually no DM/CM who can dictate the game, the onus has really been on the little man for the past 2 years. The first half in particular, the front 3 just seemed to be meandering around the centre with no real purpose. I felt (a fully fit) Mata would've brought some order to the attacking 3 as his constant off the ball movement forces the others to move as well. Players in the team are also used to the playing with the little man 90% of the time. It's all very well saying this in hindsight. I could be completely wrong though. I'm just saying this for this particular game however. The whole Mata Vs. Oscar is a whole other debate. And I am in no way belittling Oscar's contribution to the team as a whole. For example, he was our best player tonight (though I voted for Brana purely because of the effort he put in) but I just think (a fully fit) Mata would've brought some attacking order to the team as a whole. Perhaps that's what José was trying to accomplish with the sub. Also, I probably would've started Oscar in the Everton game instead since it was ripe for counter-attacks. Maybe what I'm just trying to say is that it just seemed to be too much too soon; to try to take the heartbeat out of our attacks (Mata) for the past two years along with introducing a bunch of new players is a bit much at this early stage. Maybe José just wants to get his own stamp on the team A.S.A.P. in an attempt to get as far away as he can from what he perceives as 'Benitez's team'.

I loved the whole 'Benitez made Luiz a better defender' crap at the end of last season. So anyway: I'm afraid people will just have to wait a couple of weeks for Luiz to pick his form back up. He does it every damn year and this is no different. It's just the type of player he is; he needs plenty of match practice before we'll start seeing something resembling the Luiz at the end of the previous season. It's like he has to curb is natural instincts or something. Until then, we're just going to have to suck it up and take the madness in exchange for the brilliance.

What's even worse is that there are people who actually pay him for this sort of crap...imagine how stupid they are!

Just saw that Lipton article: Some will find that you are an absolute retard Lipton! Martin Lipton, LOL!

@, must...have...your profile picture!

Lest we forget, Eto'o has moved here at Mourinho's whim. He's taken a massive pay-cut and would obviously do anything Mourinho asks, so why would he cause trouble? While Terry and Lampard have nowhere near the influence they once had, as they're entering their twilight years. The same goes for Ashley. The top players at the team now are all young and willing to learn from the best coach in the world. This isn't Real Madrid. There is no 'player power' at Chelsea anymore.

Don't give a shit what he said to be honest...and you'll all see why when you see his reaction/relief when he scores his first ever competitive goal for us.

£50m for Torres now is laughable, yes, but not so much then. We thought we were going to get a proven PL players with a ridiculous goalscoring record, not a meek, broken player. You on the other hand smack massive price tags on potential or records in an inferior league. I know your clubs needs to make as much money as possible, I get it. The price tags on Falcao, Luiz, Ramires were fine, probably should've even been more; but €40m for Matic is beyond ridiculous. You were lucky Zenit came in and payed upfront cash the last time for Witsel, and if you think Chelsea are going to do something similar for a player we gave away for nothing well then, I'm sorry, but you're an idiot. We would never pay such a price for a player we basically threw away, we'd look like absolute idiots if we did. The only reason you sold Witsel last time for so much is because Zenit had to pay the premium for being in such a bad league. So you better hope they come back for Matic, because a club from a top league will never pay such a price. P.S. I don't even rate Matic. Good, but not as good as some think and he's not even good enough to shine Witsel's boots. He played against Chelsea, a team which is a level above the teams he usually plays against, and all he looked like was a midfield thug; resorting to running around and kicking lumps out of people because he couldn't get a sniff of the ball. He was lucky to stay on the pitch.

Benfica logic: We sold Witsel for €40m, so we'll do the same with Matic! :lol2: Porto and Benfica always make me laugh every transfer window, Hulk for €50m+ and Matic for €40m LO-fucking-L!

We just get the PL back, just a taste of it and this shitty 2 week international break pops up. Every damn year. I swear, it's the worse one of the lot.

I LOST MY SHIT RIGHT HERE!!! Came to this thread out of interest on why it's still active, but I stayed for the LOLs.

Exactly

Hopefully, but it just goes to show the importance of squad depth. Imagine this happened (both Hazard & Oscar out) at some point last year for a longer length of time? No CL football me thinks...

Anyone want to complain about having too many quality players now?

I think people need to wait a few more weeks before complaining about rotation. Ok, maybe we'll have just 1 quality player as surplus because of the signing of Willian, but I think we really have to wait to see how it plays out. Although we do have some idea, we're not even 100% of where everyone will play yet. Last year we were complaining about the lack of depth and the fact that we were forced to play Mata, Oscar, Hazard nearly every game. We then complained about how tired they seemed later in the season. Hazard in particular seemed burned out just a few weeks in because he was asked to start 95% of games in our busiest season ever. An injury to any of the 6 changes everything, not to mention knocks and niggles they will undoubtedly get. We've never been in such a privileged position before in terms of depth, so we've no experience of it: therefore, I think people should seriously wait before complaining.

Well at 15, sure, but the likes of Freddy Adu (remember him?) were being touted as being the world's next big thing at that age. Hazard is actually the same age as Kakuta, but world football never really heard of him until his 3rd/2nd last season a Lille. We all know that you can never really tell at that age, no matter how talented they may seem. I'm strictly talking about now since they're only 1 year apart from one another. They can be different types of players, but I just don't see much of a difference in terms of the level they're at. And since they're a similar age (Atsu 21, Kakuta 22) and since Kakuta will never touch our first team, I don't see this guy doing it. Especially when you consider the level Hazard (22), Oscar (21), de Bruyne (22) and Lukaku (20) are playing at already. Maybe if we signed the likes of Bruma (18) instead, I'd be a little bit more optimistic.

To be totally honest, he looks like Kakuta 2.0 to me. Nothing really that special. It'll be interesting now since they'll be competing in the same squad!

Hasn't scored one goal at Chelsea = One of the best Chelsea strikers ever ......?

Thing I love the most is that he never stands still. Always calling for the ball, finding space or stretching the defence. That in itself is a big step up from the blonde statue we have...

The Skipper!

Brendan Rodgers making another fine addition to his Chelsea B team.

It would've been nice if he got the chance to start one measly fucking game. Then maybe we could see where he is exactly or see what José sees, but whatever. Really hope he does well and makes another mockery of the ladyboy from afar.

Plus I'm pretty sure we don't need an economist to tell us to hit penalties high and hard...ffs. I study Psychology and stats, and while I find examining raw data like this fascinating, I still know better than to use such data as predictors. For penalties, it's simply in the moment. Instinct if you will. It's about taking the best possible penalty you can take at that moment. If you put it where you want it, the keeper doesn't stand a chance. And if you fill your head with too much 'plans', 'strategies', stats etc., you're just going to fuck with your own head more than anything else...as the article proves!