Barbara

only if you bring kitties with you

I missed the first 18 minutes - which includes the first goal and he made one mistake as far as I'm concerned - still in the first half when he tried an anticipation and failed and City had a chance because Azpili couldn't cover him quick enough and the guy from City had a chance of goal (I don't remember exactly who, just that it was at the end of the first half). Other than that he was very decent imo.But I had a headache, I wasn't able to focus too much and I was doing a match report with the summary of the most important plays and normally during those I can't see much of the tactics and movements, but I don't remember any other mistakes by him and I remember a few very good interventions killing City's attack... pardon me if I'm wrong in my assessment.

then why keep repeating he hasn't been used in the big matches clearly implying that Mourinho doesn't pick him for reasons? I may have misunderstood you - I have a headache, which is a rare event, maybe I'm not thinking straight after having so many peaks of high fever, so if that's the case I apologize. Yes, Mourinho said he wants to be build his team around Oscar as a #10, but he's also said many times and implied Hazard is his main guy. I think when he says he wants to build the team around Oscar, I think he means Oscar as the starting point, not the key point. It makes no sense when you see how Hazard has more freedom and many times Oscar drops deep - to help others. If he was supposed to be the kind of #10 that wasn't only the starting point of building the team, but the center of the team, the main guy that had everything gravitating around him, we'd see that in the tactics, but we don't. Mourinho shouldn't play Oscar - because I think he has a good strategy playing away against those attack experts like City. Replacing him with a Ramires is worse than playing Oscar - with only average pace - imo. Ramires is fast, but he destroys about 80% (if not more) of the attacks he breaks with his pace. So what's the point? I think we improved slightly when Oscar was in the team, despite not having any pace. I guess I agree with this post of yours, I don't with the first - or at least with my interpretation of the first... my head hurts way too much for me to try to understand that, lol, but as I said, my apologies if I misunderstood you. I really thought you were trying to mine Oscar's importance to Mourinho. He's very important, not the most important, and also far from being irreplaceable or absolute in team. He isn't consistent, decisive or even ready for that. And still when he's all those, I still believe Hazard will be a couple of steps ahead of him and will continue to be the main attraction.

That was the worst Chelsea I've seen in a while this season (considering I missed the WHU match and can't talk about it). So we lost, the boys seemed uninterested, there aren't any positives because we weren't able to compete at all. Well there's a small positive. I've watched this City team destroy teams that were playing much better than we did and although they weren't with their full force, they were much more effective today than they were two weeks ago, so having conceded only two goals against a team as dangerous as them in the attack is a consolation prize. I've already moved on from this match... and then people (journalists mostly) question or don't believe Mourinho when he says this team isn't ready to be a contender in EPL... that today just proved why. We still fluctuate in our form and some matches every now and then we just don't show up. I don't know what make them uninterested but I hope Mourinho gives them the lecture of the century and get them focused on Everton, ready to give not only their blood, but their soul in the pitch. Next please.

@dee25, couldn't reply to you in the match thread because it was closed. I think Oscar offers something completely different from what Mourinho expects in those matches. Are there any doubts that we were slightly less dreadful once he came into the match? Our first half (lost the first 18 minutes) was the worst I've seen from us in a long time (only considering this season and the fact I missed the match against WHU). Dreadful seems a nice word to our performance today. So I think it's only about pace, because I don't see Mata starting any of those matches if he was still here because although much more incisive in the attack he's even slower than Oscar. Mou wanted that block of 4 harassing City in the counter-attack, like a feline attacking the prey, quick, fatal, impossible to handle, but we were lifeless there today, nobody seemed to give a f! except the support. This block of four need four quick guys to make it overwhelming, fast and lethal. Eto'o being a geezer (in the American way of the word) is faster than Ba and we all know Torres is useless, so he goes for the two quick AMs we normally start with plus the versatile-guy - who isn't that versatile imo. I wouldn't play Oscar either, I'd play Schurrle or once he's adapted, Salah. I don't enjoy Ramires in a pivot that much, let alone in the RW. He's dreadful when it comes to passing and making decisions and his finishing is unpredictable and I hope we have a few more matches as bad as this one (as long as it doesn't compromise our scoreline - after all opponents can be even worse) so Mourinho is convinced Ramires isn't half good and efficient in the position as he thinks he is. I do hope from the bottom of my heart Mourinho will use André or Salah in the future and I hope against hope we'll sign a new B2B midfielder next season and relegate Ramires to a squad player... The latter I know will never happen and that will always be my grudge with Mourinho for as long as Ramires stays here.

if we want to play a pacey counter attack we won't use a guy who 'isn't the slowest either'. You want pace you use the quickest players in the squad, but some people want to take a jab on Oscar - as some say around here, they have an agenda to prove Oscar isn't used in big matches Mourinho is faithful to his strategies, not to make players his main guy. Also have you been drinking? Oscar isn't and has never been the main guy in this team. Just because he took the position from the guy who used to be the main guy, it doesn't make him the main guy... I'm not going to discuss this with you - or others anymore. You may think Mourinho doesn't trust or want Oscar for the main matches. I think it's not the case, but not going to say the same thing for the 2349083495846th time. If we play Madrid or Bayern I expect the exact same formation, as well as playing Liverpool (all matches away)

Thank you Mourinho for taking the piss and getting Ramires off. I don't even care who you replaced him with....

The reasoning is quite simple actually. When playing against teams strong offensively away from the Bridge Jose will favor pacey players and right now he believes Ramires us the best option probably because he offers a lot defensively too. I respectfully disagree about it. I agree about the strategy and dropping Oscar, but Ramires in the RW is a living nightmare. The implication if some here that Jose drops Oscar in big games is ridiculous. He plays all important games home and most away. It's the high fast counter-attack pace based that doesn't fit Oscar. There are about 4 teams in the whole Europe that fits the description. All the other possibilities fit Oscar and I'm positive he'll start most of those Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Note 4G using Tapatalk

are you seriously comparing both players' pace? Oscar doesn't come close.I'd rather have Schurrle instead though Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Note 4G using Tapatalk

Mourinho explained he wanted pace and to attack with a block of four players. Let's hope Ramires has his finishing/scoring/passing boots on todaySent from my Samsung Galaxy Note 4G using Tapatalk

taking it out of the context, because in the context I don't want pics in my mind of what you might be implying to be done with his ass, that's such a funny gif!!!!!! loved it

It's disappointing and concerning for us, but not totally unexpected - unfortunately. Given him record in the past two years, I'm actually quite happy and relieved he's played so many months for us without any problem. It's been six months with him playing all EPL and UCL matches, while not only being fit, but at the top of his form. I wish this could go on forever, but given his age and injury record in recent years, unfortunately it was prone for him to catch an injury. Hopefully it was a small one and they're indeed sparing him to prevent it from becoming something much worse when we'll need him the most. What really disappoints me is that we don't have Cahill either now. Now that's really complicated and somewhat unexpected - at least for me. edit: should we win today, I'm doing my little dance (recorded) in each of my kits - home, away and third, one for each win. Otherwise, it'll only be the one I bet

I agree with you, but Oscar has something about him that makes every manager who has him - the exception is only Benitez, but then again that's the FSW we're talking here - to put a lot of trust on him. I don't know if it's his commitment, his work-rate, his personality, or whatever. But everywhere this kid went, managers put a lot of trust on him. Inter, Brazil Youth, Brazil NT (Menezes and Scolari), Chelsea (di Matteo, Mourinho). He must have something else, but I agree with your maybe technically and tactically he'd offer the same as Willian (disagree about Coutinho). Thing is imo he brought stability for our midfield (Brazil's), he creates a lot of space for the three strikers, and he's very disciplined. I'm not a big Coutinho fan (not saying he isn't good, he's very good, but very young. I wasn't a big fan even when he played for my Internazionale, though I love the kid, but he's light years behind Oscar maturity wise), I think he could offer more than Oscar in the attack, but he lacks many things compared to him too (maturity, going back deep, work-rate, tackles, intelligence (sorry, Oscar's simply more intelligent than Phillipe about reading the game and understanding what's he's supposed to do or not according to the circumstances)). And if we call Oscar inconsistent - which he still is - that's because we haven't been following (some of us are) Coutinho for long periods. He oscillates a lot and he's much less tactically committed than Oscar. I do think Oscar and Willian are all of the same, and Willian has the edge on maturity, consistency and pace. Willian is far from showing us all he's capable of because he's still adapting. Also Willian's personality is quite different from Oscar. Oscar is a quiet fighter, warrior. Willian is a shy person, not only quiet. I think he needs time to adapt even to feel like himself - which explains why he's even better for us than he is for Brazil. I think he might have a few insecurity issues and combined with his shyness, he's afraid of messing up his chances with the NT, as well as with us (but in a lesser scale). Once he's assured of his position on both teams, and in our case adapts to the league, we have a star, that imo offers the same Oscar does and some more (the things I've just said: consistency, maturity, experience, pace)

Cahill and Terry out and we'll probably rely on Iva and Luiz or worse, Luiz and one of the young guys (including Kalas). and that happens to be against the team with the best attack in Europe. Well, good luck for us! I'm not saying we'll lose, I'm just saying we need good luck. I was very confident in the first two matches - predicted 2x1 wins for us in both games - in the match threads - but for this one I'm not so sure. I hope we can scrap at least a draw... but I won't predict a loss. I can't

I think the problem here is the expectation any of us has (I guess I already posted about it, but I could be wrong). What José expects from his #10 may be different from what other managers do, let alone fans. When he decides to make his main man in the team another AM, it's expected (from him at least) that the other two won't be as decisive as the one guy he's building his team around. I think Oscar - or at least the Oscar from the first three months - at age 22, is exactly what Mourinho expects from his #10. He knows a boy as young as him and who isn't totally adapted to the league yet, that he'll be inconsistent, but every match Oscar gives his best, so for now that's enough for Mourinho as he's been repeating like a broken record those last few weeks that he's building a team for the future - something he's said many times since he arrived here, but that has been stressed by him lately given his comments about us being candidates, but not favorites to the title (which is a perfect assessment imo - the same applies to Arsenal imo). So if his eyes are in the future and building a team that next season and the one following it, will be not only a candidate, but a favorite, it means he can overlook Oscar - as well as others' - inconsistency because he's keeping an eye in the prize here, which is long term results. If we don't win the league it won't be because Oscar (or any other AM, including Mata in the many games he's had a chance) didn't create enough chances. If we don't win it it's because we don't have a striker to capitalize the many chances we create every game (with few exceptions). So if the problem isn't Oscar - especially if Hazard makes up for his bad form now - then it means we can wait the boy mature more his game and also complete his adaptation. If you look at Oscar playing for Brazil and Oscar playing for Chelsea there's a gap between both (proof of that is that Oscar's always been better for us in Europe rather than in England, as he feels less the difference when he plays in Europe - especially against Italian and Spanish teams - rather than when he plays English teams) and that's because he isn't completely used to that and let's not forget or disregard the manager instability. He's been here for 18 months and he's already been managed by three different guys with three completely different tactics. Not only he had to adapt to the physicality, the speed, the style, the pitch's size (Brazilian's players are used to having plenty of space because most of our pitches are huge and it makes a whole difference going from big to small - not so much going from small to big), but he also had to adapt to those guys' strategies and in some cases - like with Benitez - he's had to prove his worth while doing all that. Hazard went through a similar process, except Hazard is European and has been playing European football since he was a kid. His adaptation is less overwhelming than Oscar's. European football - maybe except Portugal and Spain, and in the past Italy where the pitches are bigger and the play is less physical - is still very different from Brazil, although the most contrasting style to ours is English and then German. I agree with whoever says he's been inconsistent (I disagree with those who say he's been terrible. He had an amazing match against Soton as well as Newcastle and some matches between he was fairly good), but I don't understand why people aren't willing to give him more time and keep the comparisons. I get it, he's not good enough for you. He's been good enough for José, he's good enough for me and he's good enough for many fans that are willing to give him time. I still think this has a lot to do with Mata leaving. Mata's ghost has always been fated to leave a bunch of widows behind and it's okay to take a while to get over it, but Oscar was the same while Mata was here and still he displaced Mata from the team based on what the manager expected from them, but also on their performances (and before anyone says Oscar didn't displace Mata because they played in different positions before José, Mata was the CAM when José arrived, whoever José decided to play there instead of him displaced him either from the position or from the starting eleven). btw it makes really no sense to justify Gotze and Isco's similar stats as them being in a new team. They're both still in the league they've played since they were kids, changing teams would require a few weeks adaptation period... it's more about chemistry and getting used to the new philosophy rather going through an adaptation process. I do think it's relevant to say they've started less than Oscar did.

Got our away kit today and was very excited to have his name and number printed on it, but they didn't have the dark letters, only the light ones to be used in the blue and black kits. I was deeply disappointed. I love the lad (although he does need to play better than he's been doing) And I disagree with the mate above me who said he only got two good games for us. He's had a streak of them, just because he didn't score or hit the post, doesn't mean he didn't have a good game. He was very good for a while and then he was kept from the first team and ever since every time he has a chance he doesn't live up to it or takes it.

@zolayes, @Rmpr, Tom I'm not sure if I should be offended or flattered. Actually I'm sure what to be, I'm amused because that's Ron for you,

I agree on ManCity... as for Arsenal their fixtures are enough to make them drop points like crazy. I've predicted them to drop 12 points in February/March. They've already dropped 5 and we're only mid-February. I expect them to drop points to Stoke (a) (2), Tottenham (a)(2 or 3), Chelsea (a) (3), Manchester City (h) (2). In April I think they'll be really challenged against Everton away and Hull away may be complicated too. Now City is the one who's really challenging and I think the farther they go in UCL (no farther than SF though) the best for us. They've got two EPL matches postponed as it is now - one because of League Cup and the one against Sunderland. They'll have a crowded schedule and their depth isn't that great imo, especially in midfield and defense. The only position they have good depth (more than needed actually) is striker, but strikers alone won't make it when they need to rotate the team. I agree that Liverpool may be concerning, but I'm still too much in they 'may' rather than they 'will'. One thing I'm completely sure, regardless of what their final positions will be, Liverpool will finish the league ahead of Arsenal. Liverpool have no other competitions (which is why it's important for them to advance in the FA Cup against Arsenal). They literally will play only once a week from March on (unless they continue in the FA) when all other teams fighting for the title have UCL matches in the mix playing twice a week. At the end of the season when the players are getting burnt out, that makes a whole difference imo.

Thanks, Jay that's the cutest thing!

I'm not sure I understand what you meant, Ron But I'm working - maybe not with what you think - and my work is going so great right now that I've got all germs, viruses, and bacterias from my kindergarten students that I'm now a step away from death

I'm dying out of a high fever, I thought I was in a farm this night/morning. My brain is fried, but whatever Rapha says is the truth

actually is the opposite, because I don't feel we should overload Matic as we did with Ramires - and leading them to be overplayed - and the fact that not only Matic doesn't have Rami's stamina, but his own level of it isn't that great, we should give him a partner that won't make the team rely on him more than it should. It really doesn't solve our pivot if we keep overloading one of the two players because their partners are sub-par. Matic is what we need, but we don't need only him, otherwise we're partially wasting the investment by overplaying the guy and getting him exhausted. If Matic had Rami's stamina, then I'd probably be less emphatic about an improvement. I know Rami gives something special. Why can't we find someone who gives us energy and stamina, but also technical quality? City has it with Fernandinho, I'm sure we can find it with someone else. I'm not saying Rami doesn't have his qualities, I'm just saying he's not good enough...

Useless against Newcastle? I don't know which match you've watched... he definitely hasn't been playing as well as at the start of the season and I haven't watched today, but he was very good in the weekend, with very good passes in the final third that were simply wasted... But maybe he does need to be benched, not going to question that.

No, I've been criticizing him for a while. Check match threads. He's had a great start of season for us. But he's poor... a great athlete as some qualified, but technically he's poor. For the things we'll be aiming in the future he isn't enough. For the Chelsea of the past years and even the present Chelsea he's enough, but not really for the future. That's my point. Matic exposes how bad our pivot has been (all of it, not only Rami and Rami's been our best midfielder in the past couple of years) and that if we could improve it, we'd be much more competitive. It's all about where the stakes are and I think they'll be higher next season. If Mourinho wants us to be the very fave in the league and real contenders in UCL, then we need to give Matic a better partner.

I've seen the goal a few times. Just two matches ago Terry allowed EXACTLY the same thing to happen, but the opponent - don't remember who - didn't capitalize and headed wide or Cech deflected it... can't remember. Still when Luiz does the same he's the worst player? I do agree we have a better defense with Terry and Cahill. But people make it out to be as if Luiz is the biggest liability in this team... Again, I haven't watched the match - only the goals - but it's always the same old here... I'm not exempting him at all, but no matter what, if we concede and Luiz is in the pitch, somehow everything will be credited as his fault. As usual. I'm not even going to comment on how pathetic Cech was in that goal. It doesn't matter. It's all Luiz... as always