The only place to be

The Corinthians game is utterly meaningless. It was a tin pot, mickey mouse game that we had to travel halfway round the world to play against a team who prepared like it was the biggest game of their season (and it probably was). And after all that we lost 1-0 and their keeper was MOTM. The QPR game simply came down to one thing - no Mata. He sets the tempo for the team and we can't afford to drop him for big games. Two bad days at the office. Maybe he was a bit harsh but he raised a valid point. No need to go overboard in response.

JT called Lamps the heartbeat of the team, he was wrong. It's this guy.

That has to change and I think it will change.

We've been linked with him in the press (along with Arsenal), but I've been impressed with Luke Shaw. Put in one brilliant tackle in the box and worked hard all match, getting forward quite a bit. If we're losing Cole then he'd be a good choice. Even if we aren't, he looks like he could be a good buy at only 17.

I'm starting to really think Mata will take over a lot of what Lampard brings to the team (goals, playmaking, set-pieces) and someone else will take over the deep-lying playmaker position that Lampard has moved into over the last season and a half. That's for Oscar, KDB and McEachran to fight over. I also think Mata can claim the talismanic role Lampard assumed in his time at the club.

He'll be at Watford for the rest of the season and then he'll come back in summer and fight for a spot. We shouldn't decide now that he should go on loan next season based on nothing but his birth certificate.

We could sign Luke Shaw with the money we'd save paying Frank Lampard.

The more games United have to play, the better. The other encouraging thing is that they continue to look weak at the back and Vidic's return doesn't seem to have had much impact on that. They will drop points and we seem to be back to playing with 11 men again.

Good result - United have to play another match.

Quite.

I don't think anyone is saying he deserved to take it or had a right to. It would've just been a nice thing to do.

On the plus side you've got this thread going again - it seemed very quiet after the QPR game.

I would've thought he'd start Swansea and Ba would start Stoke.

Because it's a nice thing to do. It's good for team morale for the new guy to come in and score a hat-trick. It's also good for morale when one of the senior guys walks over to the new guy, gives him the ball and says 'here you go'. A couple of the older players did that for Piazon against Villa and people mentioned what a classy thing it was to do. On the other hand Lamps is after the record. Like I said, I can see both sides. Personally, I don't think the goalscoring record matters a jot in regards his status as a Chelsea legend but it's a nice record to have.

When the most important thing on your mind is the next game. Like I said, I don't blame him for taking it but there are captains out there who would've given the ball to the new lad who facilitated the win today and said 'here are, you take it'.

He's the penalty taker in the team and he's chasing that record so you can understand him taking it. On the other hand, what's best for the team? His personal glory or for the new guy to get his hat-trick on debut?

Tough call. Of course he wants to get that record, but some captains would have given the new guy a chance to get a hat-trick on his debut. Can't criticise him for wanting to take it though.

Showed how much we missed Mata on Wednesday, and how much we've missed a proper striker all season. Southampton were weak but we still showed a lot of good things for the future. Everyone seemed a lot brighter after another slow start and the movement of everyone stepped up a gear. Luiz looks tired though and needs a break at some point. Overall, a good performance but we need to start off faster and we can't drop Mata for big games. Also got to say I was mightily impressed with Shaw at left-back for Southampton. If he's available for £5 million then he's got to be worth a look.

Ba just makes the right runs. It's page 1 and 2 of the strikers' manual and shows that if you just do the sodding basics, you'll score goals. Benitez needs to take a break and let Torres take a few fucking notes for once.

Fuck me, Shaw did brilliantly then. That was absolutely top class defending and he's only 17???

Plenty of people on here were saying Benitez wouldn't drop his lover/girlfriend/whatever for a new striker, but it took him 1 day to do it. Give him some credit for that when it would probably be easier to start him from the bench.

Fernando?

Looked better and better as the game went on. It's almost as if we had something unfamiliar in the team and it took them time to settle. Ba's movement has completely changed the way we play though. He sprints (yes, actually exerts some effort) when we've got the ball which creates space for the players behind him. He plays on the last man and that's why he scores. And did you see that thing he did that Torres doesn't do. It's really subtle, and hard to notice, but he actually SMILES. He actually seems to like playing football. What a peculiar thing for a Chelsea striker to do. Also, Azpi is a machine. Gets up and down that right flank all day and when he's got a target to aim for he's very accurate. He just needs to get better at putting the ball into the right areas when players aren't free.

If that was Torres, he would have been standing on the 18 yard box and then defender would've cleared it. A striker doing things a striker should. Thank fuck at last.

Been impressed every time I've seen Shaw. If Cole is off we could do a lot worse than go after him for £5million.