Barbara

I now but it makes even sicker he's part of a campaign whose slogan is 'Forever Blue' Those are the longest five and a half years of my life, even the silly association of him with the slogan makes me have a little vomit in my mouth as for the new kit, it doesn't come even close to the current one (which is our most beautiful since I became a fan, tied with 2010-11 season), but it's not that bad. I probably won't buy it though. This season I have all three, but I don't feel compelled to buy this one. I'll wait for the away and third kit. also mourinho narration in the ad is epic

I believe his ceiling is much higher than all those three. But with the exception of Neymar, all those players are more consistent than him at the moment (and the moment here is the season as a whole, not the last two, three months). What's better? To have a player that gives you the same 7 rated at all matches, with some 8, 8.5 in the mix, or one that sometimes plays 9, others even 10-rated matches and then doesn't contribute at all in others? Talking about a player I do know - Neymar fits Barça just fine. Messi or no Messi, he's just as inconsistent as Eden - if not even more - so it's difficult for him too. I also agree Hazard is more talented than Bale (I don't even like Bale as a footballer to start with, but he's a few steps ahead of Eden when it comes to consistency imo for many reasons, one of them, being raised in a much more competitive league than Eden was), I agree with most things you said when I think about potential, talent, ceiling, future. Present time, Eden still has ups and downs and let's not forget he takes literally months to go full throttle. The current Eden, or the Eden from December to February could play in those teams, but let's not forget he takes from August to December to reach that level. It's not so simple, but I think it's acceptable given his age.

I don't mind mentioning Salah I just did talking about Hazard I think people are hasty to look to the flags and label people as biased towards their compatriots, but we can talk better about what we know better. As I said, I'm just pondering. Maybe that's the case, maybe it's not. It's just I never thought about it, which is why I shared my thoughts. I have no doubt for example, Mata could be one of the best players in the world in Spain. Silva has sort of the same limitations as Mata to play the PL, offers sort of the same exposition, but somehow it works on City because the way the whole team is setup, but especially because City only have players older than 25 in their starting XI - which means players in their prime and well experienced. Mata had to deal with a 21yo and a 22yo by his side, a bad pivot, an inconsistent striker. so while City found ways to make up for what Silva exposes with their experienced and prime-time players, we exposed Mata even further with our limitations. But how many teams in the world are like City? It isn't easy to be able to assemble all those players at their peak together. Even RM, Barça, United, Bayern have a couple of younger players playing consistently for them. City only have mature players at their peak. It's a feat on itself imo. Maybe Oscar will overcome all those things. Maybe we'll be the first successful Brazilian AM in recent English football. Maybe he'll be an exception, maybe it's not an exception and others can be just as successful. I'm not giving up on him - sorry if that's how it sounded - I'm just thinking that something like that may happen (perhaps semantics failed me again and I shouldn't have used the word 'may'. I wanted to stress it as a possibility, among many, not something that is likely to happen). If that's the case 1-2 years from now, I'll happily have him gone. I will happily send him away the same way I did with Mata because if it doesn't work completely, then it doesn't. But I'm definitely willing to give it time. I wouldn't give up on him right now at all. I guess all my posts defending his potential are a testament to that.

The issues Eden has on his own game should be worked more closely by Mourinho. Mourinho is there to be his guide, not only to say he's capable of being one of the best in the world, giving him a lot of confidence, allowing him to have tons of freedom and do whatever he wants, instead of guiding him on what he should be doing. How many times have people quoted (I think even Eden himself) Mourinho saying the only thing he tells Hazard before matches is that he can do whatever he wants? Sorry, Mou, the kid needs more direct guidances than just that. If no one tells him his decisions aren't the best, he won't improve them because in his mind he's probably doing what's best. What's the point of us being a counter-attack team with some great players for it (Willian, Schurrle, Salah all have incredible pace, Schurrle doesn't dribble much, but he passes by opponents easily, same goes with Willian and I'm positive Salah too) if it seems we don't have counter-attacks well drilled? I was observing PSG during the match and there was a corner for us that was deflected by defense and Thiago Motta (I guess) passed the ball from the edge of their box to the left side of midfield line without even looking there. And guess what? Lavezzi - I guess - was there. How did Thiago know without even looking? They did that in training, obviously. Mourinho said in December he'd have to take a more defensive approach with the team because they weren't ready to do what he's planned. And we clearly did from the Arsenal match on. So maybe he's decided to change the slow development for short terms results, to ensure we'd be top4 or maybe even fight for the title. It's his call to make, his decision to take. He did what he thought was better for us and I hope he took into consideration the long term aspect because we seem kind of lost attacking. We don't seem to know what to do with the ball when we have it and while a lot of that is because we don't have a good striker to capitalize or because our pivot players have limited vision and technique and whatnot, we also seem to be lacking training in that area. But maybe Mourinho had to sacrifice it to make sure we were defensive trustworthy. The problem is Cahill and JT seemingly ran out of gas too soon. We used to say in the Luiz thread that keeping him is important because we didn't know how long JT and Cahill would carry on their amazing level. They aren't that great anymore (but Luiz is even worse). So Mourinho invested in making us more pragmatic, steady defensively, less risky, less incisive because he thought his attacking players weren't ready yet to be what he needed them to be. The problem right now is that we haven't been executing even the pragmatism well anymore. That's why I said if I had to blame someone I'd blame him, thing is I don't blame anyone in reality because this team is far from being ready and Mourinho isn't taking a lot of risks. Should he? I don't think he should. As I said, Eden is 23. So is Schurrle. Oscar is 22, Salah is 20 I guess. Willian is 25, but he only played in Ukraine and Russia since he left Brazil at age 18. Torres is useless, Iva is useless attacking, Azpili is playing in the opposite side he's naturally meant to - which also compromises his attacking influence. Should we risk our left side by bringing Cole - who's had a terrible season even when he wasn't injured - just so we have Azpili in his rightful side? So we have a good right side both defensive and offensive and we have a liability as big as the flank itself in the left with Cole? Not an easy decision to make. Also there's no one in that team that gives more to it than Mr. Branislav Ivanovic. When did we watch that man not play with his blood and heart for us? You can't ignore that when so many don't do the same. With all those problems and limitations we were a striker away from winning EPL imo, we are three players away from the ideal starting XI but God knows how much time we are away from making this team live up its potential. A football system is a living system, just like our body. All parts have to work well and in harmony otherwise it collapses. The brain is Mourinho, but even his pragmatic decisions seem to be justifiable imo. We just aren't ready. That's why we struggle to beat minor sides, that's why we probably won't win anything. That's why we stopped the evolution in the tactical movement and became more predictable, boring, etc... If we could clone Ivanovic's approach of matches into all other 8-9 players that aren't like him, we'd be ready. thing is we can't, in addition to having a lot of young players. They're young technically, tactically, but also mentally.

put him in Real Madrid or Barça and he'd have to outplay all the consistent players they have there. The only exception is Neymar - as they are the same age, have about the same consistency issues, except Hazard has one year over Neymar in a big league, so he's further into the development curve. He wouldn't displace Cris, Bale or even di María from RM right now. His best chances would be displacing Neymar - or an injured Messi that has had ups and downs this season because of his physical issues. And how fair is to expect or ask him to displace the best player in the world, or a guy who's been playing in RM for as long as di María has? It's not fair. But I think it's delusional to think he'd step in those teams being as inconsistent as he is at the moment and for him to have the stats you believe he'd have there, he'd have to play. He can't have them from the bench. Would Barça sacrifice Xavi? Or Iniesta? Someone has to leave the team for him to be part of it and the only case I see is Neymar. Even then, chances are if he went to Barça right now he might not completely displace Neymar and have enough matches under his belt to have those stats. You just assume he'd be part of those teams when in reality he wouldn't. That's why he should take the best our of his Chelsea period - however long that may be - as he's playing week in, week out, 90 minutes. I'm very patient with Eden, I believe he has a lot of potential and I believe he's doing very good things at the present, but I think people are too fast to exempt him from everything he doesn't do and blame everyone else for it. He's still too inconsistent. Better players by his side would have helped him with stats, not with consistency. He still had bad periods last year with Mata by his side the same way he's had a great streak this year with 'nobody' by his side. Still he isn't the player of said streak anymore. His first months in the season aren't that much worth mentioning, then he exploded, now he's faded a little bit - all this with exactly the same players - good or bad - by his side. That's on him, not on anyone else. But that's expected from a 23yo... he isn't supposed to be as consistent as di María, Ronaldo, Bale, Messi, Iniesta, Xavi (although some of those are having a bit of dig of their own form). But I think there's a certain of protectionism towards him that harms him more than helps. if I'm the best at whatever I do the expectations about my results should rise instead of lower simply because I'm better than the others. I can't expect Ramires to be better at passing when he simply doesn't have the ability in him, I can expect Hazard to be better at making decisions than Rami because his football IQ is infinitely better than Ramires. But just because Hazard is smarter and has more vision and does 5 good plays using it he gets a free pass not to use it even further?The only logical thing in my head is to demand more from those who have more to offer. We can't make Ramires be reborn and that's what we ask when we want him to be more technical. It's out of his reach. Hazard in the other hand could do better because he has a ceiling, a capacity, a skill, a competency to do better. But instead we blame Ramires for being technically awful and say to Hazard he's done enough when he hasn't done half his capacity while Ramires did nearly 100% of what he's capable. I agree with whoever said he needs players to present themselves to play 2-1's with him. That was why Mata highlighted him so much. It's not simply because Mata used all his flair, it was much more because Mata was there in the first place. A player willing to do the same role Mata did (approaching him, making themselves available) would help him improve stats, make a beautiful play, help the fluidity of our attack, but it wouldn't take away his bad decisions when he makes them. If he's in a great position to shoot but decides to pass to another player and the other guy who's in a worse position to shoot, risks it, then it's a chance created statistically when imo in reality it's a chance WASTED by Hazard himself. That happens more often than I'd like it to happen. Another situation also happens more frequently than I'd like. We break into the counter. Hazard receives the ball around the midfield line and three opponents close down on him. Way too often he goes for the dribble - even against three guys - instead of passing to Schurrle for example - who's more often than not very well positioned. Even Oscar, Willian, Torres (but that'd be a waste, so I can give Eden credit here) are available to the pass, but he decides to slow down the play dragging those three players with him (dribbles included or not). Rewatch the match against PSG and count - especially in the second - how many times he's done exactly that. It's a walking contradiction. We have a player that can dribble like few can, but sometimes instead of fuel our counter-attack, he dampers it. He drags three players with him, which means there are two less players to mark the other attackers. Obvious move? To pass the ball quickly to them (dribbles included or not), but many times he holds it. It's stretching the space others have, but it's only capitalized if he makes the quick pass (which he sometimes does). You know who I'd blame here (supposing someone is to blame in the first place)? Mourinho. But I'll divide this post in two to talk about Mourinho's part in all this.

I don't miss him at all when I think the package that he came with. No, thanks. Oscar might not the answer as much as Mata wasn't. If Oscar isn't, let's move to the next guy that can be, not go back to a clear mistake imo. Mata isn't more suited for English football - when you take into account the liabilities - any more than Oscar might be. I think Mata should go back to Spain and shine there. He might be one of the best footballers in the world if he does that. What did you expect from a 22yo under development? You can't be the only one not to have noticed his age... I didn't come to a conclusion yet. I'm pondering about it. If Mata with all his flair didn't fit because he lacked everything else that is required to play in England, then it may be more difficult for a guy with way too less flair. Oscar has the work rate, but he looked battered for two whole months. He may overcome all those things, my point is that he may not. Willian seems to struggle a lot too. I don't remember a Brazilian AM well succeeded in England. Sometimes you just don't fit. I'd rather to be otherwise, I'm not sure it is. I'll agree with you about giving him more time (as well as to Willian), but I think the possibility of it becoming true is there imo.

I may be coming to the conclusion he isn't that much suited for English football. I may be coming to the conclusion England is the antitheses for attacking Brazilian players. While I think it requires a lot of reality adaptation for midfielders and defenders, I think it may just not suit attacking players. It's the same old story. As Brazilians we're used to a lot of space, very big pitches and that pretty much formats the way you attack. It's like you're programmed for it. Oscar seems to be feeling more and more everything about England: bad weather on winter, lack of space, too much physicality. It may be too much about him. I haven't come to the right conclusion yet, but I'm starting to think maybe he should have gone somewhere else and maybe English teams should stop trying to get Brazilians AMs. It seems a misfit.

I think many people actually believe that we only missed a striker to win EPL which I don't think is farfetched. Then we could have killed a few matches we created chances but didn't convert them and ended up dropping points. It doesn't mean though that we only miss a striker. We need more but a decent striker could have prevented us from dropping those points. Then we'd still be top of the table. Different discussions altogether

I was quite happy with the 2-1 given the circumstances, while the 3-1 makes me angry, it's doable. If that's what PSG has to show, I'm ABSOLUTELY SURE we'll qualify... but it seems their fans are admitting they also played sub par. Even their second half wasn't that good. We were shaky defensively AGAIN and while Luiz had his own issues - including an own goal (from a foul that never existed imo), our DEFENSE's been shaky for a few matches now. The only salvageable there is Azpili at the moment. Cech, Cahill, Iva, Terry all making stupid mistakes - whether they become goals or not. Then you have a poor piss midfield ahead of them like we did today in the second and it's a disaster waiting to happen. As it stands now we don't have ANY - I'll repeat ANY - attacking players to save us in the second leg except Samuel Eto'o. Let me say it again to make it very clear, NO other player. Willian, Oscar and Hazard will have to prove to have balls. All three of them and the responsibility is proportional to their talent and time at the club. Meaning Hazard has to show more balls than Oscar who has to show more than Willian (who's older, but still adapting way too much). If those guys don't grow a pair, it'll be difficult. We don't need the three of them to do it, but at least one. Oscar was shy and anonymous, Hazard didn't make the best decisions at all - except that woodwork at the end of the first half and Willian was the most lively of them, but still not enough - far from it. Schurrle was playing out of position and every single time he was well positioned, he didn't receive the ball. I want to slap the rest of the team. I believe if PSG don't raise their level (not sure if they can), we'll qualify, but I don't believe much in this team because they lack character... not that they're bad players or bad people, they're too young, too fragile, too easily intimidated. They're simply not ready. The 2012 team was the opposite of this. They gave their blood in the pitch even if technically that team wasn't very good. This team doesn't have that profile yet and when you combine that with the shaky defense and the nonexistent attack, it's nearly impossible to win anything. Still I believe we can do it at the Bridge. It's beyond there that we're completely hopeless, in case we do win. And I can't see PSG scoring a goal without a mistake from us. They were rarely dangerous on their own today... we were a joke - as Mourinho wisely defined...

well Lampard solved the bill for PSG here. That was a nightmare....

at least five minutes more here, otherwise the referee is a coward and can't wait to leave the stadium

what comforts me here is that 1x0 is enough at the Bridge where Eto'o will be playing... so yeah, losing 2x1 here seems a good deal imo given the circumstances and the players we have available to this match...

if he wants to keep Ramires, then sub off Luiz or vice versa. I wouldn't have subbed Oscar off. He didn't look knackered imo, he was his usual. Which is better than both Luiz and Ramires now COMBINED

and people question why we moan about Torres...

so why not take off one of said players? That's my point... not who came in, or even who went off, but who stayed...

he had a great first half, but now Ramires is restraining himself so he doesn't get sent off and Luiz is out of his element. He can play as #8, not #6. He's too desperate for that. But I guess Mourinho doesn't want to risk taking Ramires off - although I'm not sure what the risks actually are

so we assure it ends 2x1 instead of trying to bite a draw? That's the only logic in this sub imo... not saying it's a bad sub, but that must be the thinking, I'd still take Ramires off.

How can someone be so football stupid as Torres? What was that pass as high as a tennis lob?

Fuck! now Cavani will play as the CF. It's HORRIBLE for us

I also thought it wasn't a foul and even posted about how the referee was trying to fuck us up. But well when people have agendas, they do.

tbf we've been playing bullocks in the second until their goal. If it was Schurrle now, he would have been scored because he wouldn't have continued running liked Torres did. I hate this!!!!!

our defending in their set-pieces have been ridiculous. That wasn't even on goal and Luiz made it two.

this referee is fucking this match for us. Not giving at least two yellows for PSG, giving stupid fouls against us that never happened. It's ridiculous at this point

our defense aren't using their heads in this match at all in many moments. PUn intended.

I don't think he had a bad match (except for a couple of chances where he should have shot instead of doing nothing as he was sort of unmarked at the edge of the box), I just see him getting second yellow within ten minutes... he's hasty sometimes and sometimes he's just bad at the tackles and then he's given a yellow. I was talking in general, not in this match, the only aspect of this match in particular are the ones I just repeated. Chances of him getting sent off are VERY likely.