Barbara

I definitely don't. lol

nope, for me it's like that. No team looks convincing at this stage. Not even the eventual champions. City certainly didn't last season. Arsenal was the team playing nice between August and September last season as far as I can remember. How am I supposed to demand a team that has played together only one time - if that, when Mourinho is saying he won't use his first team now because some of them are still out of shape, to already play well? I think you and I have different opinions about the matter, but for me with so many key players still out of shape, key players arriving now, demand good performances now is insane. The team will shape up soon, and then you start imposing your style. we disagree even in the way the last three EPL champions showed us. Arsenal was the team playing well at the start of last season and we were the best team in the league at the start of the 2012/13 season and we needed the very last match to confirm a third place, 14 points behind the champion in that season. Playing well as we did through August-September back then did us nothing because when the best teams finally reached quality, we weren't able to compete with them... which is why in a previous post I said I like the idea to playing big teams very early in the season, especially ones going through a lot of changes like United. We should have drawn United early again. Too bad we didn't. But we drew City, let's see what happens there...

We have half of our first team contingent with only two weeks of training under their belt. They're not even in form at this point, so I think it's hard to ask us as a team to already perform good football so early in the season. Don't take me wrong, of course I want to see us dominating those smaller sides, but that comes with time, as the season progresses. We have three new key-players that are new to the team (two of them even new to the league). Mourinho certainly will abandon the plan B he used from December on and will go back to his original plan for the team (high pressing and direct, fast attacking, keeping the ball in the opposition's half whether we have it or them). We won't be as defensive. He'll probably continue from where he stopped in November last season... so I expect a couple of months for the tactics and players to settle. Meanwhile they'll improve physically. It's important for us to show progression. To regress a match or two in the first four weeks of competition is no big deal imo, but from then on the team has to go in a crescendo until everything is settled and it's all about polishing and growing chemistry and understanding.

for me it's too early in the season to demand those things. The team is far from being the final product, all I care now is the result. For the team to shape up and improve tactically and technically it'll need at least a month. Right now all I care is a good result - especially in the first official match of the season. I think the playing quality will gradually improve in the following weeks and it's too much to ask for the team to already win and dominate. I swear that's the last thing in my head now. So yeah, I'll take some lucky goals and questionable or unconvincing performance in the first 2-3 weeks of the season, as long as we win those matches. I'll start thinking about the team playing nice football only mid-September. Probably after the international break that I know we'll have, but I don't know when it is.

I'm welcoming a 1x0 with all my being, but I'd be delighted if we managed 2x0

I'm not sure we'll be impressive tomorrow either. First fixtures are tough... I won't judge any of the title contenders for their performances this week and next. The same way I won't judge us either.

Actually if you look at every match, everyone had tough games, first rounds are always tough - especially for big teams because their players normally join the pre-season later (even worse in a WC year). Mid and bottom table teams have been training with most of their players for longer, and then all the factors you pointed out in your previous post. That's why last year I was very happy we drew ManUtd in the third or second fixture. It's better to face a big team early in the competition... our 3-4 first fixtures are all challenging imo - which could eventually help us in the 5th day-match against City away.

well, at least it's blue. So it can't be that bad Have no idea though. I think it's sort of creepy to have those hidden around my genitals tattoos but to each their own.

I didn't mean any personal attacks, TOPTB, I just mentioned all the discussions where Oscar's name was thrown yesterday that I could remember of. You weren't the only one tot compare him to Ramsey either.

as most things in life, those are the two sides of the coin. You're as right as he is, although I agree with him.

^^ actually Costa is winning this competition tbf. He was moving towards, then he stopped, literally jumped on the ball and scored the goal. It's plastically amazing how he was able to do that. He's special and Jose is in love. I'm in love with in love-José.

we saw it first hand with Hazard the other day. It's great that he's so great with the teammates and has such a great attitude. Do you have a link for the source @Sh0n3x?

tbf Oscar's name is thrown in every discussion in this forum lately. Talk about bread, and add an Oscar comment. He's been brought in convos about Moses, Salah, Ramsey, Mata and not to mention the damned shirt number. You need to visit your beloved Mata thread though. Oh, you'll be happy it moved 2 pages only today although you might want to skip the actual posts.

I don't get how people can be so harsh on a kid who hasn't even played a complete season with us. It's harsh and unfair in my book. He's young, he's new to the league and he came from frigging Switzerland. They don't scream physical league to me (although I wouldn't have a clue). Yes, he's erratic, and he has to polish a few things in his game. At age 22 what have you guys expected exactly? Especially amidst a transition to the hardest league to fit in? Give the kid a break and have some trust in the manager who decided he could be useful. Mourinho brought him here with a plan, and that's to have five (six if you count Ramires) players for the AM positions that wouldn't mind being down in the pecking order - probably because he's aware of his age, his own progression, etc. He won't always be okay with that, but now he seems to be. He will start matches, he will get some play time and as others said, it doesn't look like he creates problems or complains about being in the bench. Give the kid some time to get used to the league, to settle in the tactics and to mature. All those things considered, he's done very well so far if you askd. I really am a patient person (except when it comes to stupidity, then I have no patience at all), but it's hard to stay quiet when many people are trashing a 22yo that came from a soft league and has only 4 months of Premier League football under his belt. Also this idea that we must have 22 top players in the squad is delusional. Not even the top of the top teams have top class cover to all positions in the pitch. Salah is fine, he wasn't a waste of money, there wasn't anywhere else we should have spent that money and everything is okay. We finally have depth in the midfield as a whole (pivot and attacking) and I wish we had a third striker that could offer the same as Salah can as 5th AM. We have 10 players for 5 positions and while some of them aren't that amazing, they're decent enough - as it should be. Again, a squad of 22 amazing players isn't possible even on FM...

Not unexpected from José. The six players he means are Courtois, Hazard, Schurrle, Oscar, Willian and Ramires. Ramires can't play because he's suspended, so we're left with five among those six. I see us playing with four at most, but more likely with three. Oscar and Willian compete directly for the same spot imo, doesn't matter if playing centered or in the RW. So I guess we start with Courtois and Hazard and one between Schurrle, Oscar and Willian. If I know Mourinho as well as I think I do, he'll start with Willian and bring Schurrle early on in the second (at most at 60 mark) if we aren't winning yet by then. I see Oscar getting few minutes, if any in the first match. Given the scenario, my only doubt is if he'll start Luís or not. I have a nagging feeling he won't, but I wouldn't be surprised at all if he does, I'll go with my feeling then. Courtois Iva - Terry - Cahill - Azpili Matic - Cesc Salah - Willian - Hazard Costa I could also see him starting with Torres in a 4-4-2 replacing Salah. For the next two matches where he said he's probably going to choose his team based on physical condition, I think Ramires will play and we'll move to a 4-3-3. The best thing that has ever happened to us was the first four fixtures that will gives us time to prepare and settle before meeting City away. Everton away is just the perfect test in a third round, for us to fix anything that could still be out of place. Let's not forget we dominated them last year for the whole first half before we conceded that stupid goal and ended up losing the match. I think we could be competitive against them, have a breather with Swansea at home and be ready to play City.

show off! I'll be lucky to have 20! But I did finish ahead of you last year and I plan to do it again (come on, I need some comfort prize with the awful first day I had) edit: they were just added and somehow I made 26 points.

I'm only having Gerrard for the crazy amount of penalties Liverpool is always regarded. He's their #1 taker... and somehow his assists stats are still expressive. One between him and Ramsey will bite the dust soon if they don't give me tons of points. Do you have any idea when Benteke is expected back?

at least having Ramsey made up for the lack of Sigurdsson, so I won't complain much about my midfield. I brought Hazard for the long term, I don't even believe he'll have a good start of season, but I believe he'll tend to be more expensive as time goes by, which means I don't have a four 9-pound men midfield, but three at 9 pounds and one at 10pounds. My odd striker Weimman scored, so that's good. Still I foresee a couple of changes coming in the next two rounds for me. I might drop Jagielka for someone else 5.5 pounds or lower and if Lambert doesn't start well the campaign for Liverpool, I might change him too. The moment Benteke is back in form, I'm getting him though, doesn't matter when.

half the thread saying Ramsey and Arsenal didn't look good, the other half complaining that Oscar isn't as good as Ramsey

I bet Mourinho is willing to send our players to be trained by Karanka. He's someone Mourinho's trusts not only in a personal level, but also his credentials as a manager, as Mourinho himself was one of his mentors. If only Boro had a more competitive team, we could actually use of some of our youngsters being sent there to gain match time and experience. But I think a few could still benefit from it. Is there the same one loaned player per team limit for the other divisions as there's for the EPL?

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.