The only place to be

That's your opinion, but it's not mine. Just don't believe the image you see on tv because he's by no means naive when it comes to understanding the way to market an image, and nor are the people he pays a lot of money. Simple fact is that he's somehow the second most marketable star of this tournament. You may think stuff like that 'just happens' but it doesn't. No. He's ok as a DM but he's not brilliant. He's certainly had good games there but let's not go overboard. Although once again there's the discussion about where the world's most expensive defender's best position is.

So you realised that he's a world class DM but Jose Mourinho didn't. Is that likely? Someone doesn't have to be an 'actor' for something to be an act. But of course why would he play up the emotional shit? It's not like the cameras will be drawn to him more thus increasing his profile and earning power...oh wait. Out of interest do you think that footballers endorse products because they genuinely believe in their quality?

This whole 'nice guy' schtick is just so overplayed though. The Brazilian team went overboard with the emotional stuff in the World Cup, but Luiz's mawkish attempts were the worst. He's a preening, selfish, look-at-me type player. It's that stuff I objected to with his constant instagramming. Maybe I'm being cynical but I don't think much of what he does is sincere. The way he hijacked James Rodriguez after the final whistle, the emotional screaming of the national anthem....every single act seems almost scripted to attract the world's cameras, right down to the emotional final speech, eyes red from tears, voice cracking....just in front of the advertisements. And it's worked. He's become the world's most expensive defender when he has HUGE deficiencies. He has 4 million Twitter followers, a distinctive, hugely marketable look and even the trademark gesture (tongue out, thumbs up with the pinky finger pointing down....if you think that's any less scripted than Bale's trademarked 'heart' gesture then you're naive) which all adds up to one thing - endorsement deals. Oh, and I know I'll be accused of being a hater and orchestrating some slanderous campaign against a sincere young boy who just wants to play football. Maybe I'm cynical but I've been around enough sportspeople and 'their people' to know that very little of what you see in front of the cameras hasn't been planned, vetted, focus-grouped and sponsored long before it ever happens.

There's absolutely no reason for him or us to do that though. He's on holiday, we've got the deal sewn up so why not just wait until he's in Cobham ready to train and get the photo done at the same time? He's a Chelsea player in all but name now. People just need to relax and not look for conspiracy theories.

He shouldn't accept that though and I doubt many teams would. Third-choice full-back is rarely a specialist in that position. It's Geremi or Essien most of the time and that's the way it should remain in my opinion. Cash in on him now, let him continue his spectacularly average career elsewhere and everyone's happy. The truth is he's simply not that good a player. I agree with you about Van Aanholt though.

Too much talking about me, rather than the points I've raised which is amazing considering the length of your post. You talk about his start to the season being enough to justify him not getting stick but how many games did he actually play well in during that time? 8? 9 maybe? After that there's what, the Southampton match, Arsenal at home, Stoke and maybe Newcastle. That's a good performance every 4 or 5 matches from a player who has been here for two years and put in over 100 appearances. And I actually defended him a lot of the time. I said that selling Mata was the right thing (still believe that) and that we shouldn't sell Oscar when the PSG rumours were abound but he does absolutely nothing to defend himself much of the time. He's looking more and more hesitant when in possession of the ball. Look at his dribbling technique recently compared to someone like James, Hazard, Neymar, Alexis Sanchez etc. I'm starting to have grave reservations about whether he can actually play at number 10 for a top team. His future may lie deeper in midfield as a tempo setter a la Modric rather than the star of the side. Now I can make an argument to say that all may not be that dire, particularly in light of the performances of players like Gotze and Isco last season, but the simple fact is that in his second season in the Premier League he didn't just stagnate....he regressed. Whilst Hazard actually stepped up and improved as the season wore on, Oscar got worse. As for the World Cup, I don't think it's a great barometer of a player's level of quality but the argument put forward to defend Oscar was that he was saving himself or focusing on this tournament. It's therefore annoying when he's bang average for most of it. Finally, I have no idea why you decided to ignore discussing Oscar and spend that post talking about me. I don't make posts in response to you personal so why you felt the need to do that I don't know but if you want to continue doing that then I'm more than happy to offer more ad hominem responses to you.

I actually replied earlier by pointing out that the Germans actually took their foot off the gas (which they clearly did) and that Ramires's performance was nothing special, but simply looked ok (not good) because Paulinho, Oscar, Luiz Gustavo and Fernandinho were all very poor themselves. I'm not the one with my knickers in a bunch because a guy who was actually poor by any objective measure didn't get credit for not being quite as shit as others who were worse. Please put me on ignore though because I'm doing the same with you. Enjoy your time as a Chelsea supporter.

I think people need to be a bit realistic about what Jose Mourinho (he's the Chelsea manager) will select to start away to Burnley. I'd be very surprised if Ivanovic didn't start and anyone not selecting Cahill and Terry as starting centre-backs (Zouma lolololololololololol.....no) is having a laugh. Courtois Ivanovic Cahill Terry Azpi Fabregas Matic Willian Oscar Hazard Costa Could even see Ramires or Tiago starting because Burnley will be up for a fight in their first game. Can't see Jose messing around too much with the back four when we have two much more comfortable home matches to introduce Luis to the league. Bit boring but first day of the season is about getting three points, not blooding youngsters or taking risks.

I think Ake may well go out on loan too, purely because he needs more game time at left-back which means we probably sell Van Aanholt to someone who isn't Vitesse. Bertrand would be third-choice left-back here (Luis, Azpi) and I don't think you need specialised left-backs for that role. Plus Luis and Azpi seem to be adept at avoiding niggling injuries so you're planning for an unlikely event.

No you're right. It's disgraceful that Rambo didn't get credit after that performance. Well done Ramires, pat on the head and a gold star.

Actually it's now been revealed that the Germans basically took their foot off the gas at half-time so as not to embarrass the Brazilians, so maybe that had more to do with Rami's 'dominating' performance....at least until Schurrle came on and the Germans decided to start playing again.

I don't think it's worth keeping him around when there's money on the table, no. Bertrand is a funny old player because he's been completely unspectacular since he was a kid at Gillingham. I was talking to a bloke in the pub a few weeks ago who actually knew him then and it was exactly the same case. Absolutely nothing we do next season hinges on whether Bertrand is still part of the squad or not. Ake and Zouma will need minutes if they stay here as well and I probably think Ake is a more rounded player already.

Because he's not that good. He's never been that good and it's surprising he's had a career at a top club this long. Next season we have Luis, Azpi, Ivanovic and possibly Zouma and Ake who can cover the full-back positions. Anything more than £6 million for Bertrand is great business.

Because it's nice to be proven right. I'm petty like that sometimes. I also dislike him as a player because I think he's all about himself on the pitch, like Stevie Me on steroids. Look at his Hollywood passes - half the time a simple pass would be better but he loves the attention (ironic I know). Can't fault him for the 2012 Final but so many times people have tried to tell me that his inherent faults weren't important because his talents (of which he has many) compensated for them....but they don't. He basically embodies everything I dislike about some modern sportspeople. Team sports are about self-sacrifice and doing your job, even if it doesn't get all the glory....that isn't David Luiz. Watch fucking tape of attackers and learn how to mark rather than practicing fucking free kicks. You're a defender. But less people notice an inability to mark attackers than those who will laud a 30 yard screamer (which he really didn't score that many of). What's going to get you on the front page of a newspaper??? Oh, and that post-match interview. This is the translation I've read so I apologise if it's incorrect. “I just wanted to give joy to the people who suffer so much. Unfortunately we could not, sorry everyone, all Brazilians. I just wanted to see people smiling. Everyone knows how important it was for me. I wanted to see everyone happy. [Germany] were better prepared. It is a day of great sadness and a lot of learning too.” Four uses of the word 'I' or 'Me', one use of the word 'we'. Sums him up.

How many matches is that exactly? I'll be kind and include every match up to the loss away to Newcastle (even including Everton away where he barely featured and Spurs away where he was average)....that's 13 matches out of 47 appearances. Then there's the odd match after that where he actually did well. Is that it? That's the start of the season we're talking about? He's had more chances than anyone else at this club. He was the number one choice in his position such that two of his main competitors were actually sold as the season went on. Mourinho said he was his number 10 and for a while he actually stepped up, but it was so frustrating watching him this year. I've watched that performance against Southampton far too many times because I needed to reassure myself that he was actually capable of such things. I even got excited about his two phenomenal crosses in the Croatia game and the tackle that set up Neymar's goal....and that was it. That was the highlight of his World Cup. I don't want him to fail, but if he does I couldn't give a fuck. We'll make our money back and move on. I just want to see him really man up and take control in that first game at Burnley, but the last image I saw of him wasn't a man. It was a little boy who looked like he'd had his heart ripped out and NOTHING I've ever seen of Oscar suggests he has the strength to come back from that.

Which is completely untrue considering he's been he for two seasons, made over 100 appearances for us and actually regressed over the last six months. In fact the supporters have been remarkably patient with him, just like they were with Torres for his first 100 or so games.

I'm quite happy to go through all his truly good matches over the last couple of years if you want, but of the 100+ games I'd be surprised if you got many more than a dozen truly top performances. That's not to say he hasn't had those matches. He helped transform the game against Southampton and scored the winner against Stoke (his only two great games in 2014 for us, maybe you could include the Arsenal match too) and he was our most important player up to maybe October (if I'm being generous). But that was his second season and whilst Hazard progressed, Oscar actually fell into a slump. One of the main excuses offered was that he was saving himself for the World Cup, but now because he's been bang average in that the argument is that Scolari got his tactics wrong. I know he's got a cute face and people just want to hug him and snuggle him and blow raspberries on his belly, but he is a man. The constant stream of excuses needs to end eventually and he needs to start actually performing on the pitch.

Borrowed from redcafe.

You've had me and others explain this before.

We've still got Stamford the Lion. Honestly I don't miss him in the slightest. To me he can be a very selfish player who makes everything about himself rather than simply doing his job. Anyone in doubt of that needs to look at his heat map from the Germany game. Versatility-wise he's overrated. He's a defender we couldn't trust to play to use in defence so he was essentially a defensive midfielder. That was the only position Mourinho trusted him in.

I've defended him but it's unfair to call it a kneejerk reaction. Yes he kept Pirlo quiet (for 74 minutes) and scored two great goals... on 19th September 2012!! You can probably count the number of truly good games he's had on two hands. Southampton away on January 2nd was probably the last one. That's just not good enough, although he rarely neglects his defensive duties. Of the six World Cup games, Oscar put in the type of performance you'd expect in maybe one (Croatia). Is one good game in six much different from what he's put up for us? He needs to prove a hell of a lot next season, but even if he doesn't we can probably still make our money back and maybe a bit more.

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Nice to see you shitting on young players and the way we develop them. Maybe our young players should pretend to be older for some perverse reason, eh?

I remember watching the Sunderland game and thinking it was the perfect example of how players sometimes get a very small window to establish themselves at a top club. He was possibly on his way to cementing that CDM spot but the injury robbed him of the chance and just shows how much luck plays a role in a player's career.

Also, he's got a proper striker ahead of him and two top midfielders behind him. He's got no excuses next season.