Barbara

death is approaching me with a burned throat (got burn with very hot milk) and a flu (reason why I had the hot milk in the first place). I can barely breathe and then I read this and literally I couldn't find any air for a couple of seconds here. it would have been totally worth though, that was brilliant edit: also very nice to see some of our Egyptian fans that were lurking coming to live and posting (as well as new signings )

but for Hazard to play as a striker he has to improve plenty of his finishing and goal flair. I mean, he's not awful, far from it, but I don't think his finishing is good yet for us to do that neither is he's that goal inclined yet - which are two different things, although the second I'm positive I'm not apt to define well, so I'll explain instead There are some kind of players that 'smell' the goal, and they haunt and chase it down. Scoring is second nature to them, their natural reaction is to try the shot and they seem to be magnetically attracted to the goal. I don't see that on Hazard yet and there's no way I'd rather us to make this bet right now than sign a world-class striker. We're talking about six months from now. Can Hazard completely change his goal approach as well as improve considerably his finishing in such a short time? I think it's a risk I'm not willing to take. Another season without a proper striker for us will lead me to pull all the hair off of my head. I also doubt that's what Mourinho has in mind. I think he's probably referring to a player that will only become available then or whose situation in their current club is likely to change 6 months from now. Also there's no need to complicate things like that. RM has the best 'in-theory-winger' in the world, that is basically a striker and who plays with a striker ahead of him. Barça played with Villa (and others) ahead of Messi for a while. We don't need to turn Hazard into our #1 striker if he could enjoy a second striker job (whether in the wing like Cris or in the middle like Messi) while we have a poacher in the box. that's the ideal scenario in my opinion. Developing Hazard (without any rush) to his full potential, give him a free role but still have a striker ahead of him.

before that happens, Hazard will have surpassed Mata's, as it's only 60 pages behind now. Way more likely to happen. This thread will die soon and it'll only be revived every time he has an assist or a goal for United - just like Sturridge's thread. As we have quite a good attacking midfield now, that has been working just fine for the whole season without Mata (unlike our strike force without Dani) and I don't see Mata shining promptly (or ever, as long as Moyes is there) for United, even Dani's thread might get more posts than Mata's in a few weeks from now...

I don't like him as a CB... and neither does Mourinho. But the same Mourinho said he wouldn't play Luiz in the midfield (which is also my opinion) and he's played there a few matches. So maybe Mourinho would go back in his words, because I think if Luiz is sold (which he won't at least until the summer), Mourinho might be more willing to give Ivanovic a chance rather than deploying newly arrived Zouma or Kalas there. Maybe you're right about Zouma. I'd still prefer us to sign another proper and experienced CB if we part ways with Luiz. *********** btw, if I were to choose a future for Luiz based on how much I like him and forget about Chelsea, I'd say sell him asap. He's lost his joy of playing, it's been a very complicated months for him here, I think with time it may even affect his production in the NT (which is never of my concern, but I'm sure is his #1 priority). So he deserves to go somewhere he'll be appreciated and his style of defending is too. I think he's deflected right now and in a bad place, so if I had to support a decision based on his feelings and on my feelings for him, I'd say, get rid of him. But I still think it's better for Chelsea to keep him, even if he's deflected, sad, miserable as he looks lately.

Hazard is our best player, by a very fair lead. He should play where it's the best for the team, regardless of Oscar form or lack of form. If he proves he's the best option to do what Mourinho requires from a #10 now (which is a lot of work-rate to balance the midfield) we should go with it. I'm just not sure if we wouldn't be wasting him a bit there now. Oscar has a very important tactical role in the team right now, and I think giving that responsibility to Eden will harm the team and also Eden's progress. Right now Eden also have defensive responsibilities, but they're lighter on a winger than on a CAM - at least that's what Jose said when he explained why Mata was playing in the wing. I think the system will mature as well as our players. In the future our pivot will be stronger (when Matic is fully adapted) and probably we won't demand as much work-rate from our #10. If by then Hazard plays better in the CAM position than in the LW position, we should play him as the #10. And if Salah is better in the wing than Oscar and Willian (which with time or maybe even right now he might be) than one of the two might be benched. I just don't think we should sacrifice the system for Hazard now (and we'd be sacrificing by giving him a free role) or that we should sacrifice Hazard for the system now, moving him to a position where the system demands a lot more of work-rate and defensive responsibilities.

defensive? I was just giving my insight in said discussion, if anything you're the one who came defensive. I'm defending Hazard here, if you haven't noticed by the comment when I said it's natural in the future he earns the freedom to roam as he pleases. I'm just saying football isn't like math when you do exact calculations and things are like that. 2 years ago Hazard and current Hazard are completely different players. To know if he's better as a #10 we should test him now, not simply come to that conclusion because of what he's showed 2 years ago, especially in a position our current system doesn't afford (being responsibility free). In the future the system will afford it and he's the right man to receive the privilege - whether in the wing or in the middle. I don't know how saying that is me being defensive. edit: what does Oscar have to do with anything? I said Oscar and Willian can do decent in the wings for us to test Hazard in the middle, without deploying Salah.

and when have I ever said we shouldn't sell him? I'm just saying Mourinho won't release him as easily because his case isn't that similar to Mata (although there are some similarities). It's one thing to say we should sell him and it's another to say I don't think we will. All my posts in the subject here fit the latter. For a good amount of money I think we should sell him, but we should also sign another more experienced CB to replace him simply because of what I just said, Terry being prone to pick injuries and Cahill having a dig in form (just like Luiz had) would leave us short in the position and the current replacements would impact the team negatively.

I'd be much more confident about him there than Kalas or a newly-signed Zouma, who will only be available next season. Terry isn't getting any younger and I'm very thankful he didn't pick an injury this season (and I hope it stays that way), but six months from now he'll be six months older and we don't know how long Cahill's form will last. Cahill is at his best form of his career at age 28. If he's peaked at age 28, then why can't Luiz too? That right there should invalidate your pragmatic theory that Luiz is too old to improve. Cahill did. Everyone with two eyes (and even without any football knowledge) can watch vids just from last season and this season and see Cahill improved a lot. We don't know how long that will last (again I also hope it stays that way for a long time), so what's wrong with having a strong contingency plan? And people should be convinced of something that Mourinho said many times: Luiz isn't for sale. I'm not saying Chelsea won't accept a bid for him. But since pre-season and in both transfer windows Mourinho has been emphatic on turning down bids for him, saying he isn't for sale and that he won't leave. That was never how Mourinho talked about Mata or de Bruyne - both of which he said he'd like to keep, but that could leave if they saw fitting. The only way I can see Luiz leaving now is if he puts a request to leave or if we receive 40m+ bid for him. And the reason why Mourinho won't release him as easily as he's released Mata and de Bruyne is simply because he knows that if something affects Terry's or Cahill's good form, or if Luiz regains his form again, he has the right man for the job... Luiz has made wonderful matches for us in the 3 years he's here, against Liverpool including, so if he's in form, I don't see why he shouldn't play. Regardless of his form though, to say Zouma or Kalas (!) should be higher in the picking order for such a match is nonsense.

Everyone knows Hazard is a better player now than he was last season, let alone two seasons ago at Lille, then how can people say he's better playing as a #10 if they haven't seen the current Hazard playing there for a bigger streak? He's had a few cameos there during some matches and I didn't see anything better than when he's in the wing, quite the opposite actually, he was better in the wing than when he was in the middle. I think Oscar has been playing much better in the wing than he did in the past. Willian can also play in the wing and Salah isn't here to displace either of them, so while we could keep the same three and have Eden in the middle, I don't see it improving us. I just don't think it's viable, but not because of the options we have for the wing, but simply because I'm not convinced Eden is going to have more impact there than he's having in the wing. Unless we make him Benitez's Mata 2.0... I didn't watch Lille (don't watch French footie), but I've read many of you saying in his last few months there he had a role similar to Mata here last year: #10 without any other responsibility other than attacking. If our system couldn't afford Mata, why can it afford Hazard (although I'm the first to say Hazard is the best footballer among the two)? For what I understand his stats improved a lot simply because he was exempted from any other responsibility... I don't feel like we should give him such freedom right now (in the future I think it's the natural course of things, but he's not ready yet). Also I'm not sure we can look at this in such a pragmatic way. Just because 2 years ago he was better in this position - having privileges he shouldn't be given now - it doesn't mean now it'll be the same. He's not the same player he was two years ago, what if all the progress he's made suits the wing more than the middle? He plays in the middle for Belgium (at least he did in the matches I've watched) and that Hazard fades in comparison to Chelsea's Hazard, even the Hazard before Mourinho... (although that may happen for a number of reasons - the system Wilmots have in place; Wilmots himself; Hazard being similar to Messi - great in the club, but not able to replicate it in the NT, etc...)

right because when Terry picks yet another injury that he's been so prone in the last couple of years, or when one between him or Cahill collects a 6th yellow card and any of those things happen to be before an important match we should just throw Zouma or Kallas there, let's say, against Liverpool. It seems like an amazing plan imo...

Hey, you're better than this, sweetie.

Well it would help if you actually addressed the concerns rather than deeming any criticism of Mourinho as a knee-jerk reaction to the loss. If you read the forums you'd see my concerns with Ramires and Ivanovic's technical ineptitude is shared by many and has been for a while. Except I just answered a post among a few saying how Mourinho blows things off, makes us defensive and doesn't provide enough goals for Chelsea fans... you may have a point I even agree with but this thread has a lot of bullshit about Mou as a manager which is different from making specific complaints as you did. I had a lot of problems with the lineup too. It means in my opinion he made a mistake not that he sucks bc he doesn't aim to win 6x0 like City do. Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Note 4G using Tapatalk

The only negativity I see is your approach about it. We are not Liverpool or City. It's beyond me why people insist on the comparison. Winning 3x0 I'm a happy cookie and don't give a fuck about what would Liverpool or City do!!!! Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Note 4G using Tapatalk

Didn't like the line up, but disliked even more how the changes took so long. Why on earth did Mikel start and why took Mourinho so long to sub him? Hammers didn't attack at all and while I'd have gone with a Ramires Matic pivot, I would definitely bring Lampard on 46' seeing how they've parked the bus. Mourinho didn't make sense imo. I wouldn't have brought Ba either. We couldn't break their two lines of five ahead of box, and then you bring another box player that didn't saw the ball in the 15 minutes he's played. The match wasn't bad, but Mourinho made bad decisions that I can't say cost us the match, as we had again shots in the post and keepers doing mini-miracles. Still bad team selection, even worse subs and his complaints after the match are nonsense. He played for a draw against Spurs, United, Arsenal. He has no rights to complain when someone does the same to his team. I just disagree with whoever says Mourinho can't complain about teams parking the bus because some of his teams parked it in the past. Mourinho's teams were very solid defensively and had a defensive approach of the game, but Mourinho didn't use to park the bus - like di Matteo did for example. There's a difference of a defensive team or a team built from defense and a team parking the bus. Still he shouldn't complain about it. Huge disappointment about the result, but well, sometimes life sucks

oh yeah, because that's all he did this season with his two astonishing 2 assists for us in 15 matches. You're absolutely right.

this is the kind of match we need Hazard to solve for us... otherwise we won't be able to score. I'm not demanding it from him, I'm just saying we depend on our most talented player to solve those matches

Eto'o is so annoyingly selfish. Why try to dribble a thousand players instead of passing?

one of those strikes have to get in because they have way too many people inside the box and around it for us to linkup and get inside it. Ramires, Oscar, Willian, Hazard need to get one in

I love Ramires, but God he can be so frustrating with his passing. It drives me nuts

we miss Matic already.... don't get why he didn't start in all honesty

Willian hair is pretty awesome. Nothing changes it That's black power Cech is awesome too, and so is Oscar. Yeah, I'm catching up in my commentary

I want a Matic-Ramires pivot. Same as usual in the AM and Eto'o (I still think he's better than Ba) As for the defense, I don't know if José will play Cole. If he plays as good as he did against Stoke, I'm all for it, otherwise bring Azpili in the LB. I'm pro Terry-Cahill partnership and Iva in the right. Good to know Arsenal only drew. They have a few away complicated matches such as us, Everton, Liverpool and Spurs. Even ManCity at Emirates might be too much for them to handle. In comparison we have away Pool and City and we'll host Le Arse and Everton from the top 6. I think Le Arse is screwed and I'll enjoy watching their fall. As usual.

^^ so happy about this one.

he left Schurrle in front of the goal and Andre hit the post just last match. He had another great pass then I don't remember to who - probably Eto'o. Nobody is defending Oscar's every ability. You just spoke some BS when you called him useless offensively bar his goals. Oscar is no genius offensively, but he offers more than being our second top scorer and tackles in the season. And even those tackles should be counted as offensive when they're made in the attacking third and because of him we have a chance to try a shot. He creates space, he gives good passes, he links up with our other attacking players. Just because he isn't as brilliant as Mata creating chances it doesn't mean he's useless as you said he is. I don't feel like we are the ones acting like fanboys here in all honesty.

Found this in another forum (well, after I checked that one I checked the other three I'm a member, but haven't been on in months) According to the posters, the source is The Sunday Times on Jan 19th. In all honesty... how can one not love Oscar? His so smart and he's mature and down to earth on his declarations (in portuguese where it doesn't feel like he'll have a combustion, lol). The way he talks about Hazard, his role and how he expects to evolve is amazing. I love the kid