The only place to be

I agree. He just makes those runs which defences hate, and he finishes well. Love him.

Important to get a goal quickly and he did that. Should've had a penalty do but his runs are world-class at times. He works hard, fights, holds the ball up and moves it well. He's a striker. I forgot what one of them looked like.

Oscar can pass, tackle and shoot but not perhaps at the level we need from our central creative playmaker. Fabregas can do that. It also means Van Ginkel could get some time in there for Oscar as the box-to-box midfielder. I just look at this squad and it's wonderfully balanced in almost every area except striker. There's no real dead wood and we have options in every position. The board deserve immense credit.

My first thought was Oscar was poor, but he worked hard and with Cesc in the team there's less pressure to be 'creative'. At times the spacing between Cesc, Matic and Oscar was terrible but that'll improve with time. Oscar's job might simply be to facilitate Fabregas.

That assist was one of the best passes you'll ever see. Vision, touch and disguised beautifully aided by a fantastic run from Schurrle and Costa pushing the defence back. He's something we've been lacking for a while.

What a surprise....when he has players making runs for him he actually gets forward well. Absolutely fantastic in defence and attack.

Perfect first match of the season apart from the goal. Looked solid for most of it and showed some absolutely beautiful passages of play. The passing from Fabregas was masterful at times, Hazard ran at players, Costa was a threat all night and Schurrle just provides a cutting edge from the right. Man of the Match for me was Ivanovic though. Involved in all three goals, his cross for the first was world-class, his pass for the second was as good and he even took his goal well. He was solid in defence and even managed to smile. Top of the league after one match away to a decent opponent is a great start. We look a team!

How the fuck is anyone in this thread moaning?

That pass from Fabregas was world class, as was the run from Schurrle. The pass from Ivanovic was superb too, as was his cross for the first. Ivanovic has been integral to all three goals. Imagine if he was any good going forward eh?

Fuck indeed.

He finished the season pretty well. We've got a fairly stable defence behind him so why not go with someone who is able to get goals? Mourinho gets criticised for not starting attacking full-backs, but then gets it for starting a goalscoring winger. Can't win. And once again, the alternative is Willian. One more point....Schurrle seems to be great at dead-ball situations all of a sudden. I'm not sure what redeeming features Willian brings to the table. I would say he has nice hair but I'm a fan of Schurrle's bouffant style quiff.

The amount of games we play he could easily get 30 games. We've got two defenders on the bench which isn't normal for us I think, plus an injury to one of the AMs puts him in. That's without mentioning that this might not be the best game for him.

Yes probably.

Away to Stoke where he scored two goals. Away to Fulham he scored three goals. Who exactly is the other choice? Willian? When's the last time he started a game and did anything? When's the last time he started on the bench and did anything? He doesn't need to be Ronaldo, he needs to be Schurrle.

Conservative bench. Cover for all four defenders, Mikel to close it out, Willian to dribble at them and two strikers. A sort of planning for the worst and the best. No Van Ginkel because, well why would you? If we're not winning then what does he really offer? Luis on the bench because Ivanovic and Azpi are solid and he can come on if we're looking to attack more. No Salah because if they're defending deep then there's no real room for him to get behind and exploit.

Think that's the team I predicted and wanted. No reason to make any more changes to the back five with Courtois already coming in. Oscar's workrate will hopefully help Cesc and Schurrle has the ability to get a goal. Fucking excited, not bricking it as much now.

Am I the only person chuffed that someone like Bojan is playing in Stoke. He's not a perfect analog for Messi but he's pretty close, so we might finally get an answer to that much asked question. Also on a fairly clear if brisk afternoon in Stoke, Cech made a howler so it's not the be all and end all.

I imagine people would just say he's young but clearly talented and to stick by him because he'll come good in the end.

I think he's talking about the proverbial 'cold night in Stoke' which Cech is proven to be comfortable with... except 58 seconds into this video.

David Luiz played in defence about 3 times after November. His presence is not really a factor, in reality anyway.

Probably away to Stoke last season and continued throughout the season. Not really flapping, but being hesitant on indecisive and he was dropped for the Steaua match after that. Miles better? Think that's a mild exaggeration but wasn't Cech still playing in Rennes at Courtois's age? How many Champions League Finals matches had he appeared in to that point? Did you see him play much at Rennes? It's weird that people like you and lionsden who tend to moan quite a lot about us not giving youth players a chance are now criticising us giving a truly world-class young player a chance. There's some god-level cognitive dissonance going on there. Is it possible he's more exciting because he's a better player at this point in time?

Sorry I read it along with lionsden's post and thought you were suggesting we were being disrespectful to Cech in some way. I agree that if he's not going to be used then he should be allowed to leave, not least because he also occupies a non-hg spot, costs about £5 million per year and would fetch in a decent fee.

Sorry he deserves so much more than what? Isn't the best thing at a football club that players are selected on merit? So you're saying that Petr Cech deserves more than £100k p/w and the opportunity to play for this club? What exactly would that be?

I don't get you. You moan about us not supporting young players, then when one of our's proves himself to be truly world class you deride him as 'flavor of the month' (sic). What type of football supporter are you? Most of us have been respectful towards both keepers because we recognise they're both great players, yet you call one that?

Leeds. Brought up being told to hate Dirty Leeds, still do. Proper loathing between us and them and I love it. Liverpool. Not just down to the recent meetings but I hate everything their fans are about. The hypocritical, self-pitying, woe is me shit is the summation of everything I despise. A fanbase with no redeeming virtues or qualities. Utter scum. Arsenal. Again, they represent a lot of what I dislike about football nowadays. Spurs. Meh, can barely be bothered to hate them but they got a bit mouthy in recent years. Back in their place now. United. Sorry, but I grew up in Kent in the 90s and their gloryhunting cunting fans were the worst. Never went to their matches but would talk shit all the time about how great they were. Hated them after the 94 cup final and then the semi-final defeat at Villa Park. Barcelona. Holier than thou, arrogant, precious....but mostly just wankers. Millwall. Just because they're Millwall. Actually know some decent Millwall fans and even have some in my family somehow, but they have some real 'bad eggs' amongst their support. Don't hate them per se, but there's something about their support I really don't like.