Barbara

He didn't impress - but he's far from being the worst player in the world :rolleyes: :rolleyes: He played a role he did many times in the past, but there's more to him than what he's been showing. I think just like Hazard benefited from Cesc's presence Oscar will too, not only he complements and balances Cesc out, but he can feel he can be more daring and bold and try a few things as if he fails others will offer an answer. He doesn't to have the weight of being the only one to create, I hope he improves because he can be much better than he's been lately.

can we appeal? I don't know the rules. Mourinho's words on him: “We’ve explained to Diego Costa what people like in the Premier League, what we don’t like, and the kid presented himself here with a fantastic and polite attitude and he was booked. The kid wasn’t happy and I hope he doesn’t get any more unfair decisions.” and LOL FOREVER at Mourinho calling him a kid. I know he's young, but then I look at his face and I think is drug cartel lord for a couple of decades, lol. I hope there's a way for us to erase that yellow.

For me Azpili and Luís have to fight for that LB position because the RB belongs to this man (and I don't think Azpili was that good today to be honest, I'd rather play Iva and Luis tbh) I criticized his crosses - like every other sane person did - but I've always been a defender of this guy in our first team. There are few with his attitude and his quality. He's a legend, a walking legend. I looooove Iva and he symbolizes a lot what I think Chelsea is, especially now that many of our 'old guard' guys have left. That pass to Cesc was perfect and he was good through and through. I don't like him much as a CB and I hope we don't need to use him there, but he can do a job there as well. Either way, I think we can't lose his leadership, spirit, energy and strength in the pitch, in addition to his qualities as a defender. As an offensive FB I know he'll have good days and bad days (or maybe with better people to move around him, he'll have mostly good days), but I'll take it. He has to stay. And this was funny, lol

He is, let's celebrate it. It doesn't matter who you have in your team, Arsenal and Arsene suck because a player of his class fits any team in the world. Even RM would have space for him... Ramsey is good - had a promising season last year, but Cesc is a step above any other midfielder in this league, maybe except Touré - despite their different styles. Their loss, our gain. HE IS BLUE!

As long as Oscar and Willian don't ever play together, we're fine. Schurrle is the same kind of player as Salah (although a total different caliber) and Oscar and Willian although quite different, offer the same end product. So we always need one between Schurrle and Salah and one between Oscar and Willian to have balance as we did today. Despite Oscar's underwhelming display, he didn't compromise and I think he even allowed Cesc to have more freedom, the same as André. I don't necessarily think André played better (or worse) today than in many other matches he played for us last year. But one thing made capital difference imo: today he had someone who saw his runs and passed to him. He'll look a much better player because of that when in reality it was never his fault nobody saw him and didn't pass to him when he ran. Actually, I think his movement wasn't even as good as in some other matches he made for us and still he was one of our best players imo. And I love how he loves our manager and how our manager loves him

Yes, we have a striker! One of the most mouthwatering goals ever. I love collective goals. In Brazil we transformed the word myth into a verb in some sort of slang to when the person in question is just that great. Iva's been mything at Chelsea since 2008. Blues Myth! x

x Indeed. He was very firm and confident when intercepting balls in the air from their corners.

when I say players love this club even when they leave...

“Being at Chelsea is probably something I would never have expected but football is unexpected. I’m very happy.” “Everyone has treated me very well and I’m enjoying it here. Everyone has made it so easy for me, the staff, the players. It was something I would never have expected, football has brought me here and I will give my best to make it work for me and Chelsea.” — Cesc Fabregas

and WTF was that yellow to Diego? He was well behaved the whole match and received a very undeserved yellow imo. Maybe it wasn't a penalty, but it was far from a dive. If we have to count the booking he deserves and this fuckery, he'll see a suspension for yellow cumulation soon. I wished we should challenge that yellow. Totally undeserved. It's unbelievable how even in an uneventful match referees find a way to screw us.

I don't even know where to start... that was... unbelievable. For those who thought the result was more important, they've got it. For those who thought we needed to look convincing, they won't have any complaints. When was the last time we played with so much fluidity in our attack? I credit it mainly to my MOTM, Fàbregas. Never regretted choosing him as my fave player and he keeps proving it over and over again. He's been magnificent. It seems like he had eyes in all our other 9 players and with that amazing pass (FAR FROM AVERAGE) and incredible brain he caught Schurrle, Costa, Hazard, everyone and their mothers. He simply changed this team. We dictated the tempo - through him - we were fast, quick, a lot of one-touches, a lot of vertical passes and I don't care if this is Burnley or not, a message was sent and although I only watched some parts of a few matches in this first weekend, based on everyone else's comments I don't have a doubt we were the only convincing team so far (maybe City was too). While I didn't expect - much less demand - that level of football now, I hope we keep it up. One of our best starts of season was in 2012/13, not only results wise, but we were playing great football then and I don't need to tell what else happened as the FSW ended up managing us (dark days in our beautiful story). So I know this amazing start can be misleading, but I do hope we're here to stay. Hard to believe that after last season we'd look somewhat shaky in our defense, but it hasn't been convincing during the pre-season and today was a bit shaky for my liking. It's not something that compromises, but I hope Mourinho fixes whatever is wrong. And no, before someone puts it on Cesc's account, our problem isn't covering the defense, it's mostly our positioning and even some personal mistakes. It feels like David Luiz left his spirit, but I'm sure (or at least I hope) it's only because we need the players to reach their best form. Our midfield was pretty solid. I don't have worries with Matic and Cesc and Oscar dropped deep many, many times to help them when we had the ball and when we didn't. I really like this formation to be honest and maybe Luis for Azpili, I think that's our best formation. Oscar wasn't creative again, but I think he's fulling well his role, he hopefully will improve, he's still far from his best shape, but Hazard, Oscar, Schurrle seems to be the way to do. Also as I said a few times, I believe Oscar balances Cesc out and vice versa, so it's good to have Oscar to give even more license to create and advance for Cesc. Of course, it doesn't mean Oscar shouldn't improve, he should and if he doesn't, I'd throw Willian there, as he also has remarkable work-rate. I kept saying Schurrle was going to benefit a lot from Cesc passes and vision and that finally someone would catch his runs - and it happened a few times in only 70 minutes - but it seems like Cesc released Hazard to do his thing. He was lively. He tried his cute, fancy passes - but always very objective and not only for fun. It was great to watch Eden having fun and helping us in the attack like that. I think now that he isn't the only hope in our attack - as we have an assister and a striker - he won't feel that overwhelming pressure on him and will be more carefree. I think we'll watch him explode this season. Costa is a beast and now I know how United, Liverpool, City fans have felt the whole season. This is how it feels to have a striker and I'll tell you what, there's no better feeling

Cesc to play as #10

I even voted for him in some polls, but that's because of his never-ending dedication and he's a good player. I'm not discrediting him to credit Iva. Both are great, but Iva isn't appreciated as he should and gets too much stick for his offensive shortcomings.

haven't throughout the whole pre-season, but I expect Mourinho to fix it soon.

you know what I've been loving here? Hazard doesn't feel overwhelmed and you see his 'street style' and fun football all over the place. Rabonas, back heels, fancy passes, he's tried everything tonight. He's carefree and free. Cesc is a blessing to this team. We'll see Hazard take his show-game to a new level and I hope he explodes this season as he doesn't have that overwhelming pressure to do everything in our attack.

his importance in our team is invaluable, if he doesn't put as many right crosses, it doesn't take away from everything else he does. He scores, he's a leader in the pitch, he's scary and he's a wall in our defense. The guy is unbelievable. I know his crosses suck a lot of times, but then sometimes they don't and I don't care. I love the man.

I'll never understand how he gets so much stick and Azpilicueta doesn't. I admit that normally Iva doesn't do much in the attack, but neither does Azpili, even playing in the right... Iva is an immense player for us, one I love, regardless of how bad or good he attacks, but today he's been superb.

no, I'm talking about him being criticized because he had a 'bad match' which wasn't true to begin with. As I said, if you don't remember or believe check either of those live threads and the postmortem.

I've been like a broken record during pre-season saying how much Schurrle would benefit from Cesc - who would certainly see his runs. One match and he's already caught Schurrle running in at least three occasions (could have been more). That's why I keep saying Cesc has been our most important signing - although Costa keeps giving him a run for his money. The fluidity he brings and how he dictates the tempo is UNBELIEVABLE! Barcelona and Arsenal are morons. Completely morons. And del Bosque is even worse.

oh they did. A lot of times. Don't remember if against Sociedad or the match before (the Ferencvaros or something) team. Go read the threads if you don't believe me.

Remember when people were worried about us at pre-season? Remember when Cesc was bad and things were gloomy? Welcome to the regular season, guys.

seriously... the football match cost the price the guys paid for the ticket. The spectacle by Chelsea is for free.

and the officiating fuckery starts... it's always against us...

if this is dream, I don't want to wake up. We win this league. oh I'm positive we will LOL Don't you know his passing is average? Cesc is an average passer, can't dribble, can't mark, can't run, can't anything! I have said.

I don't want it to ever stop. I'm working now for Chelsea Brazil to write a report that should be posted as soon as the match ends... I barely have time to type. This is FUCKING PERFECT SPECTACULAR!