Corner

Well, Isco hasn't been getting paid by Málaga for quite a while and has been talking about leaving as a result, so I wouldn't think he would be too expensive. I'd love to snap him up to be honest, what a player he is. Marin gets injured a lot also, and a bit of competition is healthy I think.

Yeah, probably. IIRC, Rafa moved Luiz up to the DM position in the second half against Nordsjaelland.

There's another one? What is it this time?

God, those are some tough fixtures coming up for them. They're lucky Ben Arfa is back though. That 8 year contract gets funnier and funnier each game they lose. Imagine the compensation they would have to pay if they were to sack Pardew though. They would probably be better off buying a couple of players.

What an exciting match! That's the kind of game that I would been shitting myself watching if Chelsea were playing.

Fellaini isn't great as a DM, he's much better as an attacking midfielder (even if he doesn't think so himself). There are much better defensive midfielders out there for much less than we would have to pay for Fellaini.

What's the point in doing that?

He wasn't tackled badly or anything, he just fell awkwardly.

Ah, forgot Lampard. Lampard is already on that list.

Couldn't agree more. Moses is like a gun. Direct, straight to the point, no nonsense and if you use him correctly he will be lethal.

I'm sure Martinez is on the alleged shortlist of managers as a back-up if the whole Guardiola thing doesn't work out. Any manager that plays a short passing game, 'fancy' football, tiki-taka or anything in that vein is probably on the shortlist alongside Klopp, Favre and Bielsa.

I think you could be right about that. He was even registered to play in the Champions League, so RDM must have had faith in him.

I think he said it on Revista de la Liga.

I both agree and disagree to be honest. Stats can be helpful to a certain extent. (And I'm not implying any particular people of being guilty of this) but it's just when stats are taken out of context, misrepresented or twisted to make a point seem like it makes sense when it really doesn't. That's what annoys me.

Yep. I can see why they've become great friends though. Luiz has been a great role-model for Oscar so far.

Yep, I did. Should have been clearer about that.

Maybe so, but he is our manager and a lot of people are just going to have to deal with that. While he is our manager, we should support him. It's all good and well saying you'll support him if we win the Europa League, Club World Cup and gets us a top four finish, but what happens in the meantime while we are working our way towards those goals? Should we continue to boo him? Should we completely ignore how that negative attitude affects the players? The truth of the matter is that he is only an interim manager in the eyes of the board, the fans and it's also his official title. So saying you'll support him after he does x,y and z is no good because he will be gone after that. And we will have no reason to support our ex-interim manager. And for the fans who think they are 'die-hard' or 'true' Chelsea fans... where were the Di Matteo chants in the 16th minute when he was still our manager this season? They didn't exist. Those 'fans' are only singing that chant as a more 'creative' way of booing Benitez and it's an insult to Di Matteo. It's not true praise or thanks to Di Matteo. They're more concerned about hating Benitez than anything. We were 3-0 up against Sunderland on Saturday and the Rafa jeering and Di Matteo chants started again. It's ridiculous, childish and there's just no point to it at this stage. On top of all that, a lot of fans seem to forget that it was no only Di Matteo who helped us to win the Champions League. Let's not forget about the players who did it for us too. Some of those players now have to play on a pitch to hear boos and whistles and it's shameful.

Do you know if people outside of the UK can view it?

Fellaini is not a DM though. He likes to think it's his best position, but that's different.

Ah yes! Thank you!

Okay mate. Cheers.

Well, it's hard to tell whether he had the ability to do so all along or not as he was playing in a different role. All we can do is speculate about that. Either Mikel had the passing ability he has shown this season all along but was simply restricted by the role he was playing, or he has had to adjust to playing a new role in the team and improve his passing range and abilities. It's hard to differentiate between the two really. Either way, Mikel is showing more vision this season and his passing range is a lot longer than before. And yes, of course there's a massive difference between the role and someone's abilities, I never said otherwise. That's just common sense.

I actually would have agreed with you on this last season, but I think he has made massive improvements this season with his passing and vision. His role in the team has changed and he has adapted really well, in my opinion anyway. Didn't Di Matteo actually start with Mikel + Romeu alongside each other against Swansea? It didn't seem to work well in that game, but the whole team played fairly badly that day. It might be worth another shot.

Okay, just to clear things up. If you don't have BBC HD, can you press the red button on BBC one to watch the game live?

Oscar looks terrified in that photo. You can just imagine him calling out "Where's David Luiz? Help me!"