Barbara

well you kept saying that it was cool that's why I thought you'd remember and then you told me about your name and stuff. Well, you know I never forget anything said... so there you go

I told this about one year ago... but I'll ignore your golden fish memory... also if it was in one of our 10h+ chats on Skype you have a right to have forgotten.

@Dion, here's your 'xará' with the U-21 kids. He's as cute as you Dion Conroy, Izzy Brown, Alex Davey, RLC

Rami via FB: Having a nice day off with friends and family! Tendo um excelente dia de folga com amigos e família! #Oscar #Willian #Ivanovic #FilipeLuis #JulioCesar #Friends LOL am I the only one amused that they're having a typical Brazilian day (there's even what seems to be Guaraná Antactica) and Brana is there? This is awesome

Too lazy to printscreen and upload Think my midfield will give me tons of points: Hazard, Fàbregas, Gerrard and Ramsey. Got Costa, Lambert and Weimann ahead (had little money after spending so much in the midfield). Does anyone know if there's somewhere where I can see my last season points, teams, etc?

I can draw it for you. Players may take more or less time to get in form. Players arrived at the club in different physical conditions. There are some positions that the adaptation is harder than others. There are a lot of factors that make reasonable people disregard players' lack of form in PS because each person's system is different, as well as their current condition and their own hurdles adapting to a new league (in the case of newcomers). Now if a player already brushed it all off behind him what are supposed to say? That we should expect him to get worse as time passes and as well as his physical condition and his understanding of the new league and his teammates worsen? Can't people actually see the different possibilities? It's one thing to say we're ready - as a team, that our system is now perfect because of PS matches. It's another thing to say a player is ready when he shows indications of that. The ones who aren't ready yet we give more time before making any permanent judgments. I don't think that's that hard to grasp.

@CHOULO19, @Steve, @Jason guys, I'm not sure if passing the codes is enough or if Steve has to approve it. But, let's get him in the league please If it's okay I can send him the codes, but I can't edit the first post, ofc, and I don't know if any kind of approval is necessary in the fantasy website. edit: btw, I'm selling half my team, but I'm going to get Diego Costa there. He's impressive. Question is I don't know who I let go: Sturridge or Rooney

are you aware that gives him a 90% in pass accuracy and that's still outstanding? I don't understand people's instances on Cesc tbh. I understand and can even relate to those having a hard time accepting an ex-Arse skipper at the Bridge. It left a bitter taste in my mouth the first days of the speculation but I was sort of sold already when he was announced and one week later I've changed my favorite player from Hazard to him... That's me, Mrs. Adaptive. I know some people will take longer, especially given his history with Lamps. I get all that. I have a hard time understanding their interpretation of him technically. He has weaknesses just like the next guy, but they seemed a bit overestimated now and some of them don't even match the reality - as for example, the level of his pass. Short, long, easy, under pressure, he's a great passer, his stats state as much and in terms of pass stats don't lie much. Accuracy could be debatable, but in all honesty it isn't because unlike Mikel his passes aren't backwards and to side. He has the best through balls stats, one of the best assists stats - those two stats are 100% precise. There's no taking away from them, just as goals. I don't get how come he isn't a good passer with those stats (although my opinion on him isn't based on them, but they'll make do to backup my point here).

found those amazing brushed pics. Beautiful really x Players' introduction

Still I think Oscar had a better match. I mean, Willian was good with some better moments. Oscar had more ups and downs, but I think Oscar's ups were better than Willian's better moments, if I make any sense Willian is progressing in a linear way. Horrible first match, good second match, better third match. Oscar is alternating too much within the match and between matches, still trying to find his feet. Which means Willian will probably find his way back to the first team earlier than Oscar - if they don't end up fighting for the same spot.

This is sort of contradicting, lol. If he's lacking fitness and runs out of gas shortly, he should be brought as a super sub in the end of the match, not be a starter

People are missing the plot with Ramires in all honesty. We used to have Mikel, aging (and many times injured) Lamps, improvised David Luiz and Ramires as pivot options. It's no wonder he was a nailed starter then. It's not wonder we've spend literally seasons complaining about our pivot. But then they think Mourinho is stupid enough to bring improvement and still keep Ramires as the first name in his lineup (as if he ever was). We finally have top class #6 and #8 people want Ramires to still start and they assume Mourinho will want that too. If that's the case why did we sign Matic and Cesc? If Mourinho was so happy with Ramires, there's no reason to bring those two guys. I'm not saying Ramires won't play an important role. He will start some profile of matches, whether it's a 4-2-3-1 replacing Cesc or in a 4-3-3 moving Oscar to the bench. He will come as a sub in many other matches, but this 'first name in the team sheet' BS is hard to understand now that we have nearly world-class players in the two positions Ramires plays the most. Our wingers options are also better than him, but he offers the athletic aspect Mourinho loves and until the team is there, Ramires will have an important role. The day this is a well oiled machine, his role in the team will be more and more secondary because by then we won't be the team 'scared' of facing stronger or more dangerous sides. We'll be the stronger, more dangerous side ourselves and that's when Ramires becomes much less important, but as of now, he's still important, but I'm willing to bet he won't start as many matches as he did in the past. It would make our improvements in the pivot null and void...

Unbelievable. This place can be bloody unbelievable sometimes. If you go through match threads or even this match (don't remember where I've posted about his previous matches) you'll see I was less than impressive with his performances, which is what I was assessing at those posts. Now question why we signed him - not if we should have or not - but if he's going to be a first team player or not? To say he hasn't proved his value to Mourinho? Why do you think he was signed in the first place? To replace Cole in the bench? I honestly believe some of you might be wondering that and I repeat. Unbelievable. He's adapting, he's new in the squad, his finding his feet. What's surprising there? How many months took Ramires to do the same? Eden Hazard after an spectacular first weeks in England? What could he possibly have done to assure people he's here to be a bench warmer? He may not be a starter in the first matches, but that's because it takes time to adapt to a new team, situation and league. He's struggling, anyone can see that, but his value as a player continues to be the same. Spanish league champion, UCL runner-up being one of Simeone's key players. It's too damn early to say BS such as he has to prove himself. So do the other 24 players in the squad. It's pre-season, the fact he went or not to the world-cup is irrelevant. FB is the position in the pitch that needs the most understanding from the more amount of players. He needs to have a good understand with the other defenders (let's not forget he already has with Courtois and that's an advantage to the others), with the AM's to support the attack, but even with the midfielders to help transition, to hold possession, etc. Give the guy time. Is it a concept too difficult for some to grasp? And sorry if I sound like a bitch... I can't help.

Magnificent. Never I thought I'd think this of him. I said I would happily eat some humble pies if my doubts about him were unfounded. Well, can someone give me a glass of water please? Make it champagne actually. I've never felt so happy to be wrong, I need to celebrate.

Are people basing the idea that Ramires is going to feature in most matches because of this friendly? honest question. Neither Azpili nor Luís started and Iva was in the RB... Also I doubt we'll feature a 4-2-3-1 with Ramires as one of the AMs in the majority of the matches. He can play a role and he does it well in big matches when played in the position. I think he's good playing as the second midfielder in a 4-3-3 (don't like him as first or third though, although he doesn't compromise technically as first). He was good today, he has been good in many matches for us, but let's not forget this was Real Sociedad... they weren't impressive marking, they had ups and down pressing and they weren't as physical as teams will be in EPL. When all those things happen - and they happen quite often in England - Ramires misplaces more passes and his shortcomings are more visible. Last season he was useful and good for us in big matches because we gave the ball to the opposition. He's much better off the ball than on the ball. He can pick a pass, the same way he can score a wonderful goal. The problem is the occurrence of those two things. I value him in the squad, but that's where I think he's worth, in the squad, not in the first team for the majority of matches, let alone for all matches. What Mourinho thinks or does, I don't know. But as unimpressive as Willian or Oscar have been creatively, I'd rather play them than Ramires in the wings, especially if Schurrle plays. Schurrle has the pace Ramires has (not saying literally) and decent work-rate and he has many things Ramires doesn't. If we're taking the route I think we are, we'll be much less defensive oriented this season. We'll go back to plan Mourinho had up to December last season and in that plan Ramires is needed in the lineup in some specific situations, not in a daily basis.

His general passing isn't that good? I think you're overestimating his slowness and I don't think you've watched Cesc Fàbregas enough (and I don't mean this in a patronizing or derogative way) if you say he isn't a general good passer... I'm surprised to read that... I agree completely with Mourinho. He's the key we were missing in our puzzle (it's easy to talk about striker, because we played with only one last season - and that's summing all three we had together, meaning we had half of one with Samuel and a quarter of one with either Torres or Ba). He takes us to a new level. People label Mourinho as defensive all the time, but a team to afford, need and want a player of Cesc's caliber isn't a team defensive oriented. It's a team willing to take risks, to want to bring it to the next level. His speed on the ball and off the ball isn't that much important when we have a high press system that proved to work really well and players that can offer him cover. We have pace-y players to make runs to receive his balls, so he isn't missed there either. We missed a brain when we had a lot of muscles and a tad of geniality with Hazard, but Cesc is definitely the brain we've missed. We lost that with Mata and Mata didn't do it the way Cesc does (not better, not worse, just differently, although Cesc is way more versatile than Mata). Hazard can have his fun moments of a genius more freely now, there's someone behind him doing all the thinking. Schurrle can hopefully run and move smartly because there's someone to catch him. Oscar can share the burden of being creative (as it isn't natural to him) with someone else. (and for God's sake, I'm not even remotely implying Eden or any of our other AMs don't think, they do, it's just Cesc is a brilliant, fast mind that sees the whole story in his head in seconds, before executing it).

Signing Luís sounds even better when we have an kid around 20 as farther in his development curve as Aké. Of course, there's still a long way to go, many things to add to his game, but I feel Luís should be all more appreciated now. We didn't need - and I've always said that - the young, amazing prospect in the LB that many wanted. We need a guy as experienced and good as Luís, who will teach a lot to Aké and we could end up having another English, homegrown, club trained player coming the ranks for us. That's the ideal situation. We need these references, our academy needs those situations - for the kids to keep believing and motivated and approach it the right way. If our academy is known as a graveyard, as Mourinho said, the kids will look at us as a gas stop in their careers, if they really have potential. We really need this to happen and Aké has been nothing short of impressive for many different reasons in this pre-season. I know I appreciate Luís more because of Aké and I stand much more convinced we've never needed a LB in their early 20's as the few names suggested in the transfer threads. We've got it covered. edit: I think it's time we change his number in the thread link. He ain't 57 anymore by any means.

Way to introduce himself for the fans as a Blue. Costa was just superb. Really, really good. The link up, the pace, the goals, of course. And then we had to deal with Torres in the second and people wonder why the match was boring. I can't believe, I can't bring myself to believe that Mourinho thinks he can go through a whole season with Torres as a back up. DD is better, but marginally at this point. And injury prone it seems. It's too risky to depend only on Costa to bail us from the jail in around 50 matches (if we go deep in the cups). That's too much pressure and nearly unfair with Costa. Moving onto the match though. Ake was amazing, he totally came of age football wise and if we need him during a match - because of injury or even to start depending the stage, he's ready for the job. If Bertrand played a UCL final and actually didn't compromise, Aké is ready to be used if we need him. Azpilicueta was impressive defending as usual, but still not impressive at all supporting the attack. For all the stick fans around here given to Iva as a FB I only see slight improvement on Cesar attacking wise (and that's not based on ps, that's my opinion on Cesar). Poor Iva. And that's all I'll talk about defense. They didn't have a midfield, let alone an attack to say we were even remotely tested. We weren't. Cesc and Matic worked well again, although a few mistakes here and there - expected so early in the season. I think that's our pivot to go for nearly all matches. van Ginkel doesn't cease to impress me with all his vitality and energy. Talk about a virile young lad - even if he looks like Justin Bieber Our AMs were very good in general. I still can't get over that Mourinho hasn't pointed 1) Cesc 2) Schurrle as our corner takers. I refuse to believe he can't see how useless WIllian is on them. I think Oscar had ups and downs. He played at least two very good deep through balls (although I think that might have been three) and he linked up well with Costa and Hazard at moments. In others though, he tried to win on pace (I had to laugh, poor thing, is he that innocent?) and of course, failed, and also misplaced a few passes, but among his ups and downs, I think he contributed positively. Nearly all players made mistakes here and there. Costa, Luís, Cesc, Willian all come to mind in a few moments. I do not worry about them and I think it's even expected. The only striker worth mention took my first paragraph and he completely changes the dynamic in the whole team. Unbelievable as one single player can change so many things. He's presenting himself to link up with the AMs all the time. You don't see him stuck near the 18-yard box waiting for the ball, or just at the shoulder of the defenders waiting for a chance to run behind them. No! He's everywhere, he's moving all the time, he's linking up, he's presenting himself to receive the through balls, to play 2-1s, he's moving smartly, he's basically bringing life to the team. I keep saying - and I might consider changing my opinion - that our most important signing has been Cesc. But if Cesc has to pass the ball to Torres, Drogba, or to our AMs when they don't have lively people around them, what's the point? It's probably a combination of having both, but the more I watch from Costa, the more I'm convinced he completely changed the team. To say I'm surprised is the understatement of the century as I had my doubts. It seems like he's a contagious presence in our attack and he's bringing life to the others around him. Because he's there to receive their passes/assists, because he's there to drag markers, because he's there to link up and the tempo he sets and the way he links up spreads all over our attack completely changed us. He's the difference between today's match and many matches last year when we looked uninterested, uninspired and unresponsive. That happened for a helluva of reasons, but one single player comes and he has the ability to change it all. Of course, Hazard, Cesc, Schurrle, Oscar, Luís are also very important, also stepped up (all the time or many times) and they will continue to do so. But in Portuguese we talk about a 'reference in the attack'. The guy that you know that is there to be the referential, the target, the tempo dictator, the thermometer and who has the power to influence not only a match, but the team posture. We missed that guy for a while now. Eto'o - our best striker recently (after DD left) could only help as much as his age allowed him to. Many times we talked last season about what a dream would have been to have had Samuel on his best days. While they're different (but they have a lot in common), and Eto'o is probably more technical than Diego (or maybe Diego doesn't get the credit he deserves for his peculiar and unorthodox technique), I think we got something in the mold of the old Eto'o. I wasn't expecting that at all from Costa. Like, at all. There are a few differences, but the output, the influence is very similar imo. One further note. So that's the difference between what England sends to Europa League and what Spain does. Real Sociedad was a lousy team. No attack, unimpressive midfield and while they weren't exactly bad parking their bus, it was far from remarkable. We missed a couple of sitters, had a few other good chances but with bad finishing (I don't remember any impressive save by their keeper)

Drogba can actually be really useful for us if Luís keeps those crosses.

don't want to sound like a moaner. BUT WHY IN THE BLOODY HELL IS WILLIAN STILL TAKING CORNERS? FML

I tried two ways. Clicking straight on the link in wiziwig, it kept buffering for 15 minutes and nothing happened. Then I copied the link from wiziwig and pasted in the address bar in sopcast - said they couldn't retrieve the data. I'm downloading the ace stream now and see what happens.

I'm beyond pissed. No Chelsea TV, installed the sopcast thing and it doesn't work. My crappy stream stopped working properly and came back at final whistle in the first half. UGH!!!!

Costa is sensational... there's nothing else to say, really his linkup with Hazard just now was AMAZING

the shirts also finally have the players'names on them, so I suppose now there won't be any additional changes... Thanks for the goals, missed both with CTV bullshit

Very fair and unexpectedly good analysis by DM on players that have their first-team position threatened this season (Ramires, Cech, Iva, Torres and they included Bamford there as an alternative). I agree with every single instance, except I'm not so sure Iva won't play much. They're spot on (as any reasonable and sensible person) about us needing another striker if we want to compete for real in all fronts. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2722615/Chelsea-face-Real-Sociedad-s-Fernando-Torres-Ramires-Petr-Cech-Co-prove.html?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490