Barbara

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...

Guys, remember Matic doesn't score or assists much. He'll get points basically off of clean sheets - which defenders will give you more anyway. It's tempting because he's a great player, but for fantasy? His feedback ain't that great

He has a higher ceiling than Mikel and Ramires put together. He's an amazing player already (to his age) and an excellent prospect. Not all our loaned players are doomed, only the ones that given the chance to continue their development somewhere else didn't show what it takes to be a Chelsea player because of their quality. If they show somewhere else to be good enough or nearly good enough to come back here, they will. I agree playing elsewhere and a different club (and many times different league) every season disrupts a bit their development, but he's already 21, will turn 22 later this year and it means he's going somewhere else just to get important minutes. I'd loan him to a good English side (he won't be able to play against us) if we're adamant on loaning. I'd rather keep him - but I'm not sure that's the best option for his future here.

according to Oscar's FB page it was Brazilian barbecue, trust me, it's worth dueling for an invitation

I just realized that Diego Costa can hold Andre on his arms with only one arm. See Shirley jumping on him (when Diego was ready to just a double high five) and except when Diego is trying not to lose balance he has two arms on Shirley. He can hold one of his teammates with only one arm... this man is really tough and strong. I love it.

He's a very promising player and one that has a bright future with us imo. He's young (not eligible to be an U-21 though) and he already shows to be very good, needing only some polishing - which is normal and expected. A loan would mean he could get tons of match time and come next season as a real backup for Matic, but I'd still be very sad if he left. But unlike said above, I don't see how a loan would destroy his career here, if anything he has everything to have a loan history and comeback as successful as Courtois given his quality.