The only place to be

I disagree. That isn't the way our crowd works.

I think it absolutely will inhibit his development because you're buying a very similar player to slot in beside Ramires when you also have Van Ginkel coming back as well as Loftus-Cheek looking for minutes. That's four players aged between 21 and 18 looking for minutes alongsides a 26 year old Ramires. I think it would absolutely sum up the culture at Chelsea at the moment. Pogba is further along in his development partly because of his age, but also because a club, it's coaches and it's supporters had the will and the balls to give a young guy a chance and support him. But that sounds like too much hard work and uncertainty for us...let's just start printing his name on plastic flags.

By the way I'd say all of that about Chalobah. The guy just needs a fucking chance but that's just not the Chelsea way anymore is it. Let's just throw money at it. Who gives a fuck whether we actually develop players that the average supporter can feel some type of connection with, who they can watch develop through the ranks and feel like one of 'us'. Ha ha...look at all those mugs who turn up to youth team games with the naive thought that the kids working their bollocks off for a chance might actually get one. Chalobah's even got one of them there funny foreign sounding names but that's not enough. We can't take a chance with the kids...they have to be proven players who guarantee us wins. Soulless, plastic commodities for soulless plastic....well, you get the idea.

To me it just seems like not long ago, Pogba was a player with a ton of potential and physical tools. In Loftus-Cheek and Chalobah we have exactly those same types of player. What the fuck is the point in an academy if we're just going to ignore these players and sign players who were given a chance by a fairly big European side?

Because some people are thinking pragmatically. It's very rare to move from one world-class keeper to another and we have the opportunity to do so. Yes Cech could go on for another 10 years but you have to look at what is likely to happen, not what might happen. Courtois is likely to stay fit and healthy for 15 years whilst Cech isn't. Courtois can't be loaned out forever and it's not beyond the realms of possibility that he simply runs his contract down and leaves for nothing - it's unlikely though.

It would be amazing to think that we'd spend millions of pounds on buying a player who was one of the two stand out players in the FA Youth Cup in 2011....when we have the other one already in our ranks. It would actually beggar belief that we would not give Nat Chalobah a chance and instead buy this guy. That doesn't mean that I don't like him as a player because I do, but he left United because he wasn't given a chance and then proved himself. Why don't we just go full retard and let Chalobah leave, then sign him back for a about £10-£15 million in a couple of years' time? Only a Juventus fan would think that we aren't a better proposition for a young player with his talents.

What I'm saying is that you seem to be conflating age, experience and maturity and reducing it down to just a number. You're ignoring things like character and mentality because it's easy and looking just at a birth certificate. But we'll just agree to disagree.

Couldn't disagree more. I think he's the best of our strikers and would only improve when given the chance. He isn't perfect but he's already got enough about him to make our team better...and he scores goals. But what's done is done.

Here's where I stopped reading. We have a saying in this country, 'if you're good enough you're old enough'. Now you might mean he's not experienced enough, and you might have a point (although 150 first-team appearances and 20-odd international caps is not to be sniffed at) but age is just a number. There are players five years older who aren't mature enough for this club to rely on, but I see no issue with his maturity. He seems an articulate, well-mannered young man who is dedicated to football. Again there are footballers who are maybe a decade older who don't exhibit the same level of dedication to their JOB that he does. So this 'too young' thing is a load of bollocks in my opinion.

To be fair that's actually an improvement. Of course we did. Why wouldn't we? I imagine another couple of managers were sounded out too. That's the way football (and pretty much every other industry) works.

True, although I think you said it best when you suggested... Cech was the key player in our greatest ever success. Conversely Arsenal's failure to sufficiently replace David Seaman led to them starting with Lehmann in goal in the CL Final with Barca....an extreme example perhaps but I think we've become a little spoilt with having someone like Cech between the sticks for so long. Not only is Courtois technically very good, he's also had an excellent (perhaps perfect?) education at such a young age. Already a European champion and an international keeper, he's also faced Barcelona and Real Madrid on numerous occasions. Compare that to the other 'bright young thing' whose name is floated about - Ter Stegen. Very much back-up for Germany, he has won fuck all and never even competed on the European stage. Courtois has the talent, the pedigree and we already own him. Finding someone else similar in the next decade is not going to be an easy task.

Although consistency would be preferable at this point in the season it might be worth playing a few of the second stringers like Azpi, Bertrand and Mikel and giving the main guys a rest. I wouldn't be playing Mata in Schalke so he'd start, as would De Bruyne and possibly Willian. Cech Azpi Cahill Luiz Bertrand Mikel Ramires Willian Mata De Bruyne Ba

I hope he thinks that. He wants his goals to help Everton finish higher than EVERY team, so he'll go into every game focused on being the best he can be so his current club can be the best they can be.

That's about long enough to get bored of Spain and want to move elsewhere.

Because they're falling for a 'media narrative' and not forming their own opinion having seen our own strikers misfiring and Lukaku putting in commanding performances.

Neville is a fantastic analyst and a decent commentator. Garth Crooks has a job because he's black - there is no other reason. Shearer is as good a pundit as he was a manager. Lee Dixon is occasionally interesting. Hansen is just phoning it in nowadays. Clarence Seedorf was fantastic when he worked during the World Cup. Same goes for Klinsmann. Souness is actually alright. Carragher I haven't seen enough of yet. Jamie Redknapp is an utter cunt. Completely bland, uninsightful and only on tv because he wears a suit well. Seeing Jose put him in his place was a delight, although he should have had a right of reply purely so Jose could embarrass him further.

He could probably sit on his arse until Christmas Day and still outscore our strikers, but I do like his attitude. He could maybe do a bit less talking but he's got a point to prove and he's been doing it since he arrived at Goodison.

Again, I get this in theory but does it actually work in practice? Mikel was completely overrun against City last season. Not sure it's that weird seeing Essien picked either. Mikel was hauled off at half-time against Spurs when we were losing, dropped to the bench against Steaua and then dropped from the squad in the next game. Maybe he needs a game against Cardiff to build his confidence back up again.

Neither player was let go on a whim. Morrison in particular was given many chances by Fergie but the feeling was that he needed to get away from Manchester for personal reasons. He was a really troubled kid and Fergie really didn't want to lose him but it was the only option open to him by the end of it. Pogba...well that was a cock-up but he had people telling him he should be playing now and he got impatient. Fortunately he's backed up his ambition with talent.

Be inclined to play Mikel against Cardiff and resting Lamps or Rami for the next two games, or maybe even throw Essien in against Cardiff. Ideally we'd keep the same team from the last two matches going for the next three but it's a big ask. I can kinda see the logic of people saying we should put Mikel in against City because he's more defensively-minded, but that ignores two things. 1. His performance against Spurs when the same logic seemed applicable 2. His performance against City away last season, when the most impressive aspect of his game was his ability to fit his large frame inside Yaya Toure's pocket. He needs to start putting in the consistent performances some people in this thread imagine he does. Then we'd have a truly world-class player in our squad.

It's because there are some people who can't be objective - pass completion is the go to stat for certain people, but when Lampard gets a very respectable 90% then they decide to moan about FIVE short passes going astray. It's comical. The fact is that Lamps early passes turned the Norwich defence and forced them to play deeper. He made the opposition defence THINK, which is something Mikel doesn't do. He can do it, but people say he's just supposed to retain possession and that's not true - he should be moving the ball on quicker and forcing the opposition defensive lines to readjust and he doesn't do that enough. At least Lamps forces the opposition lines to move, which creates spaces for the players ahead of him. He's not perfect and him and Ramires need to work out their defensive duties better but that will come with time and familiarity, and I expect him to start in the next game too.

We'll have to agree to disagree. You should be in a good mood considering both of the teams you keep an eye on are third in their tables.

Completed 61 out of 68 passes, including the one that set up the first goal and some fans moan about him missing 5 short passes. The guy's a legend doing a job he's not really been asked to do for most of his career and he's stepping up to the challenge like he always has. Keep it up legend.

90% pass completion yesterday as well (coming off 92% against Steaua) shows just how important he is in retaining the ball too, despite some misguided fans talking shit about him losing the ball yesterday.

Jose got lucky yesterday, but that's what happens when you take risks. When we made the changes we gave Norwich a sniff and actually lost a fair amount of control that we had in the game but in that chaos we also created chances for ourself. That's why the supporters love this guy, because he has balls. Rafa would've maintained the same system but made personnel changes whereas Jose is wiling to completely change the shape of the team and give the opposition something new to think about. It's risky but it's compelling and I'd take that over a 1-1 draw any day of the week.