The only place to be

He's a striker playing with masses of confidence at the moment and that shows in his finishes. Direct and instinctive, the complete opposite of Torres. If he can keep that going throughout the season it will be an amazing feat, but I have a few worries about him having that inevitable dip. All promising so far though.

Fair play to Ivanovic. That ref let a few things go way too far. Needs to sharpen up his act in the second-half.

Because we absolutely destroyed them in the first twenty minutes with a combination of pressing hard and devastating counter-attacking, things Schurrle was instrumental in. I'd take Schurrle over Willian every day of the week because he has an end product. Schurrle has 8 more goals than Willian in his career, having played 123 FEWER games. At international level he not only plays for a far superior side, he has a better scoring record.

The team has a beautifully balanced look to it and there's far more effort on display than the last match. Loving the looks of Schurrle on that right wing though. He needs to be a massive player for us because he offers something none of the others do. Fabregas is going to be a delight to watch as well. He's back to his old Arsenal-style of passing, always looking to make the pass forward first.

So you think that disenfranchisement of huge swathes of the populace, a lack of education and people being imprisoned and tortured is better than the situation right now where people actually have OPPORTUNITY in their life? The state was the mechanism being used to keep people down, and that is never preferable to anything. That's a very simplistic way to look at things. I'm sure people were saying the same during the Selma riots but do you think black enfranchisement was worth the trouble?

No it isn't though. A war crime is a very specific label. Now you may think it's a war crime, but that doesn't mean it is and saying 'regardless of the circumstances' is a reductive way of eliminating context from something that is entirely dependent on it.

The comparison isn't about what they're like on the ball, but about what they produce for the money we spent on them. Willian cost roughly the same amount Robinho cost Man City. He was about £5 million more than Mata. That transfer is one of the weirdest, most bizarre transfers in recent memory.

Except it doesn't more than make up for it. Oscar should be brilliant on the ball, and he's shown flashes of that but he contributed very little in an attacking sense from January onwards. You might as well just stick Ramires in there.

What does it make you? Backwards? Democracy should be the aim but it's never achieved without bloodshed. Praising someone like Saddam as 'providing peace' when he disenfranchised 90% of the country is the worst form of logic. A basic lack of knowledge of the second world war and in particular the Japanese notion of 'total war'.

Exactly. Credibility.

Where do I claim my prize?

The new Shaun Wright-Philips?

In your opinion. Don't be silly. He's still the same legend he was two weeks ago. Fact is from the moment he arrived from West Ham to the time we decided we didn't need him in the same capacity he gave probably more than almost any other player to this club, and represented us superbly both on and off the pitch. People measuring the degrees of legendary status to attribute to players is a little silly, because you're only going to open up certain legends (like a certain CLL) to criticism they aren't deserving of. He's a legend. He's one of the greatest players we've ever had.

65 goals in 104 appearances is pretty darn good. Now he can focus on Chelsea and means we won't be without him during the African Nations, which would've ruled him out for the City game and at least two others.

Surprised by this if it happens, but it could be just what he needs. Dyche is a fairly astute coach and he focuses on similar things to us, pressing hard and then moving the ball quickly in transition. No faffing around with him.

Great article. Completely forgot he was 25 but hope he can continue to progress because he's a very good bloke and a good player too. The article also gives an insight into the amazing group of players we have.

Those two ideas aren't mutually exclusive.

They're not a historial rival, there's no bad blood between us, they play at the very top level and that's important for a player who still wants to represent his country and they're his team's sister club. Where else would you expect him to go? That would make zero sense. West Ham fans HATE him, they've spent the last decade or more slagging him off, booing him and calling him 'fat Frank' at every opportunity. Or Liverpool maybe? Perhaps dirty Leeds? In terms of historical rivalries, we don't really have one with City. In fact their fans generally aren't that bad either (they hated United more than us) so in that respect it's not that big a deal. Conversely as a senior player maybe he had the best interests of the club at heart. If AVB doesn't get the sack, we don't win the Champions League. If Frank doesn't regain his spot (along with other senior players) we don't win the Champions League. Ultimately if Frank doesn't do what he did, we don't win the Champions League.

He'll never be loved, and he'll even be hated in some quarters, but it's very hard to untangle the progression we had not just on the pitch but off it from him. Sure you could look at other influences for some of those and even find much to criticise but there's also a very strong case to be made that we're not where we are now without him - even so far as to say we might not even exist without him. The stories I've heard from the early days of his tenure are of a down and dirty fight for survival, something that requires a certain mettle. I tend to believe that the resolve to pull us through those dark days comes from a similar place that the petty, somewhat cuntish other things he did comes from.

It is a worry that he doesn't shoot more often, or take it upon himself to run at players more. Ronaldo does it all the time because he's supremely confident that he's 'the man'. But being 'the man' brings pressure with it. Under-perform and you're going to get stick because you've put yourself in the spotlight, don't put yourself in the spotlight and there's no criticism. Hazard needs to start backing himself and thinking everytime he gets the ball that he's going to score. Yes he's going to miss a lot, but he'll also score far more. This is the season he either steps up to another level or he's simply a very good player.

Change his name to Mosesdinho and a lot of opinions would change. He's a direct player, a bit rudimentary at times but he produced on the pitch so I'm not sure why certain people dislike him so much.

Chill out. You know exactly what you're saying, you know exactly why you're saying it and you know exactly the response you're trying to get....and you got it. Fact is you've slung insults at a man many of us here either love or have a great affinity with and you've given him dog's abuse. You moan about loyalty yet the vast majority are still loyal to Frank and what he did here, so you can't call him things like 'judas' without expecting some shit back....but to then go crying to mummy (sorry Jim) is fucking pathetic. You've got off lightly based on all the shit you've posted and you know it. Man up, take it on the chin and move on.

The funny thing is that everyone here knows this is all bollocks and you wouldn't actually dare say something like this at the Bridge because you'd be ridiculed and mocked (much like you have been on here oh 'Mourinho's dead to me'). You're the Fox News of this place, using silly, emotive language to try and rile people up and being largely ignored whist actually under the misapprehension of forming cogent, reasoned arguments. But please, don't stop. We're all having too much fun watching you.

I don't agree with this at all. He hasn't cheated on us in the slightest. Nope.

Liverpool were told that he's off to Real Madrid. Can get all excited about doing a deal where we get him and Monaco take Torres off our hands but can't really see the point.