Barbara

which makes me hate even more that our match of all there had to be postponed to Monday. It's nearly a torture to wait two more days for our turn... couldn't be happier with the EPL back though

Well, that's a place to have a tattoo :ph34r2:

I think short term that injury will cost him a lot. Last year we were somewhat thin in his position and he would have been much more used back then than he can be used now. It's really unfortunate for him to have gotten injured at that time. Now he's third choice for his best position (#6 imo) and if there's one player - saved injuries - that will play all our matches in EPL and UCL is Matic. I think he's one of the first names in Mourinho's sheet which means Marco's chances of playing are very limited. Had he not gotten injured, he would have grown a lot last season already, with significant play time, and he could be in a much better position now (still behind Matic though).

I've been loving this guy since he's stepped here because of his love for Chelsea. He has incredible attitude in and off the pitch. He's a great character, the right amount of charisma (not too much as Luiz or too little as Oscar), works his socks off in every match he features for us and on top of all that he's a very good footballer. What's there not to love? If anything I think people are a bit late in their love for this guy. He should have been much more appreciated last season than he was. It's not fair to disregard he was in transition, had to hit the gym to get stronger and be able to cope with the physicality of the league. We need to take those things into consideration, still he was better than some of our players in the pitch. Now he's coming here full of confidence after a magnificent WC (the impact he's had coming from the bench doesn't take away from his value, Germany is a side packed with talent, he was 'unlucky' to be part of such a talented generation, that's why he's in the bench) and continues to show his love and respect for this club and fans. Again, what's there not to like? He going to have a huge season for us, I can't see him under-performing with all things considered: second season under his belt, stronger physically, high confidence, better player now than a year ago (technically, tactically and now it seems he even has some set pieces on him). Maybe he will even become our salvation with the striker issue. We could use him as a second striker in matches against parked buses, he's a better striker than Torres already although I don't like him as the lone striker. He has the energy and pace Drobga doesn't, so I won't be surprised if in some matches he bails us out of jail playing second striker and netting a few goals.

I agree to a certain extent about some points here. The fact he goes unnoticed by many is because of his laid off personality. Go check the matches last year when he was picked as MOTM and how much he was praised, but because he's quiet, he doesn't have a classy style like Mata or a mouthwatering style like Hazard, the matches he shines and solve them for us quickly fade in our memory. He hasn't been living off of that Juventus match for two years. He's had some very good matches for us in the first part of last season when he did a bit of everything. I just watched a review of his midseason and he was much more than he's given credit for, but as he doesn't have a standout personality - as you imply - or an eye catching style in the pitch and is a quiet guy in all possible ways, it's normal for people to forget his good performances quickly, but I'd love everyone who's criticizing him over the top (not exactly you) to check the match threads of the first half of the season and see how many of them he was picked MOTM and in some he was the runner-up (Hazard averages 10 votes per matches he didn't even show up, so there's that too). See the comments, re-watch highlights. If he had a stronger personality or a more shining style, he wouldn't be as criticized as he is. There's no denying he's been poor in the second semester. I don't think he purposefully saved himself to the WC but the fact is his head was already in the tournament for months. I think he has Mourinho's trust, but there's so long Mourinho will bet on him if he doesn't start producing what he used to. I just said in the vid review thread that playing like he did in the first months last season makes him an invaluable player for us, the kind we don't have in the squad and who's important. The thing is he needs to keep form otherwise he's just useless as he doesn't have any standout thing about him. He's easily forgettable because there's nothing really remarkable about him, it doesn't mean he doesn't shine for us because he did in the past and I hope he continues to do even more so in the future.

based on the miss he just had, today he's not even scoring. But he's been poor through and through here. When Naismith scores and you don't, you know something is very wrong with you

you know what I liked about this? The kind of thread they have. I think we could have some similar threads with players performances in the season. I really like this idea. That way we separate our general opinion from the guy from what he's been really showing. It's a nice thread to have.

I had a couple of Saints players I wanted to add to my team, but they're still a mystery to me as a team. I'll wait a couple of matches before making any bet on their players.

Had to replace Terry to have Hazard as I already had Cesc and Costa and wasn't willing to change any of them... didn't know who to pick as I only had 5,5 available... so I went with Jagielka... any suggestions?

Make it two actually because it was the first ever Swansea win at Old Trafford for EPL. I can't stop laughing at all. This is the best start of the league in a while

this thread is sort of pointless, never understood why it was opened in the first place... we've always discussed and followed EPL matches at the English Football thread and we'll continue to do so... As for Chelsea matches, we do it in the match threads, so I really don't get the point to this one?

How was their initial formation and tactical system? I missed most of the match, woke up in the middle of second half, some changes had already been made by then

replaced him by Hazard at the last minute and I hope it pays off in a couple of weeks. I have four 9,00 players in my midfield, if they don't start paying back, I'll replace them for Sigurdsson and improve my attack instead. I wasn't bad when I had Costa and Rooney, but I changed it to afford Hazard... bleh

van Gaal continuing from where Moses stopped. First time ever Swansea beat United at the Old Trafford in the EPL. I'm loving the trend

Brazilians teams normally play with numbers from 1-11 with a few exceptions... so he isn't looking for legend numbers, he was looking at the numbers that could be suitable to him as an AM. The #8 is a bit of a stretch, but #11 was okay. He isn't purposefully looking those numbers, those were simply the ones available at each time for what in Brazil could be his position. It's very simple actually. In recent years a few players coming back from a good career in Europe carried their odd numbers with them, but normally and mostly, teams here play with 1-11 numeration (which is different in Europe btw).

No, he has never. He's worse than Torres to this club. He's done absolutely fuck nothing in two years here.

So here's a deal: let's temporarily retire the #8 shirt - but not in respect to Lamps, but because last season none of those players did shit to deserve this privilege - except Terry or Cahill, but as we didn't win anything, I think their claim would be empty too. Seriously... I thought player had to do shit to earn their wages, not the number they wear... Also by the way people speak about Oscar in this thread it seems like he has never done anything for the team, has never won us matches - some of them important. I don't have high expectations anyway, so who cares?

we shouldn't worry about it tbh The boss here is Mourinho and I have no doubts he'll choose fairly taking into account their performances and what he needs from them. That's yet another advantage of having a smart, fair, world-class manager. We can trust his judgement

confirmed as #16... although it means nothing about his possible loan, but we could add his number to the thread name anyway.

I don't because then someday down the road they could have another amazing player in the #5 position (and Italians are more loyal to the 1-11 numeration than England is) and he won't be able to use his position rightful number because of a guy who was there nearly 100 years ago (supposing it happens way down the road). That's the main point, a club's history is never-ending. If we start retiring shirts we're in serious risk of 100 years from now having had 10 retired numbers which is nonsense. Also if you have the prerogative to someone, it means you should give to everyone else that marked the club's history in the same way. The moment you don't, you're diminishing players that were as loyal or successful here as those others. If we retire #8 now it means we should have retired a few others in the past and that we should retire #26 when Terry stops playing. Then let's suppose Aké or whoever in the next decade has a similar history, then we retire #6 as well. Then in two decades from now the biggest player who's ever played for this club retires #10, etc, etc, etc. Football clubs are quite new historically, that's why it seems like the right thing to do, but it isn't. Unless the world ends soon or football stops existing, those clubs will have hundreds years of history and we'll diminish a lot of legends that didn't have their numbers retired. And what does it take to retire a number? To stay a long time? To be brought from the academy and play the whole life here? To win a lot of silverware here? To score a bunch of special or important goals? Can you see how many players we already had in our history that fit those categories and their numbers are there for the take? And how many more we'll (hopefully) produce? Silly stuff imo. Build statues or plaques, but don't retire numbers. There are many ways to homage and honor a legend.

sadly I agree. Didier should have come only if it meant Torres was leaving. Maybe he will, but I don't think so. The dead wood here is Torres, but having him and Didier means we're 1) having a weaker striker force than we should (to an extent is last season all over again, because the moment Costa isn't available or isn't having a good match, we're fucked again); 2) sacrificing a non-HG player for this. We could have signed a better striker or any other position we pleased and then it wouldn't be that bad to sacrifice Cech or even van Ginkel for this... Mikel I don't mind tbh

you guys made me laugh hard and I have a sore throat! Take pity on my health lol

In all honesty I don't get this concept that a player has to make something because of a shirt number. It's stupid as players are irreplaceable in their history in the club. If Cesc Fàbregas isn't here to replace Frank Lampard by taking his position in the pitch, why would Oscar have to because of number?Taking someone's number and having to live it up makes no sense. A Chelsea player has to live up the honor to play for us, not the player who previously worn said number. Oscar has to show his own value or else he'll lose space or even leave. It shouldn't have nothing to do with Lampard's history here. The only way to honor shirts' numbers is retiring them, and I'm happy we don't do that often at the Bridge, it makes no sense in my head to retire numbers. Players are temporary, the club is permanent. Numbers a little random like #26 I could maybe agree, but from 1-11 or even 1-22 I don't like to be retired at all. Players come and go and nobody should feel more responsibility because of that. The responsibility comes from the badge at their chest and the color they're wearing (and that's a huge responsibility), not some number...

From the Official Site. Class act by both

From one legend number to the other... can he somehow get some inspiration from that? I think having #8 is even bigger at Chelsea than #11 because Lamps is one of the biggest legends of this club ever (imo)... I like this about Oscar... he gave up the #10 for Neymar (because Neymar asked it - and yes, Rapha, he did and we already had that discussion ) and now someone probably asked him to give Drogba's number back as I don't see why Oscar would have asked #8 himself. He just seems not to care about that stuff at all. let's ask Lamps to come here on a loan and wear it again. oh wait...