Barbara

I sort of am. Now that we have it, I don't have to obsess over it anymore and although I love UCL for me it's EPL >>>>>>> UCL any day of the week. There's no other football competition in the world I love more than the Premier League. My draw would be ManU - Schalke Bayer Leverkusen - PSG RM - ManCity Galatasaray - Atletico Olympiacos - Dortmund Bayern - Arsenal Barcelona - Zenit Chelsea - Milan

but if he can play as a second striker or a false 9 then we have more than enough space for him next season... anyway, I'd keep him on loan another season - but I don't see a problem if he stays in Vitesse. Chelsea have more control over them than anywhere else... players his age (especially his position) need a lot of playing time and confidence. I don't think he has a problem handling physicality, he's big and he's strong and he already presses very high and he can tackle. I'd rather him there than another Malaga nonsense. People suggested Bundesliga, but it's yet another La Liga, it's too polarized, and only has a bigger name, but for mid-table teams (which realistically is what he'd get) isn't that much interesting imo. A lot of you seem impressed with him, I have to admit I've barely seen Lucas ever since he left Sao Paulo, and he was 17 back then, so maybe he's this player you guys keep describing, but he never seemed like someone especially talented, but someone very objective and with good individual results. Hopefully you're right and there's more to him

Why do I insist on trying to be creative and democratic in the the captains I choose in Fantasy EPL? I should give Suarez a captive position, never-ending captain. Based on the descriptions of strikers Mourinho gave earlier this week about which profile fits us, I do hope he's watching Suarez this season and giving calls to Roman.

This should be 'must-read welcome post' for every poster - regardless of who and what their opinion about Chelsea and Mourinho are - to post in Mourinho's thread and post-match threads (not to say some players' threads too). Seb, can I adopt you? I like do adopt prodigies Jokes aside, I normally don't have patience to read vast articles (regardless of how long or not they are) because there's too much data to check, so I normally do it in 2-3 times because normally there's too much info and I want to be able to absorb everything and feel like I really took as much as I could from what the author expected. This one was an exception because the connection between the data and the text was so strong that the more I read the more anticipating I became and I just had to keep going and make it all at once. I'm positive I'll re-read it a few other times, but it's a gem, absolutely brilliant. I had no idea you had this coming and I just said earlier today in the Mourinho's thread that this is a high pressing team, that likes to attack a lot - counter-attack or not - and this article is a testament to that, explaining in depth why it worked back in October and why it hasn't been working lately. Way to explain the transition phase Mourinho is going through without using the word transition once. Absolutely brilliant

I liked the AM - which is why I liked your post I have a lot of doubts about this pivot though, especially against Arsenal. We need to defend well against them and I don't think Rami + Essien is the best combination. Willian is currently providing the same work-rate as Oscar, especially if he plays fixed in the middle. We should try that as Oscar is clearly out of form right now.

to be honest I'm surprised he's doing so well. I like him, but I tend to agree with @The only place to be that he's nothing special. Maybe he did come too early here and is only now resuming his development from when he was in Brazil. I still don't think he's that much technical, but if he's lethal, he doesn't need to be the guy with the best technique around. Players who capitalize is what we miss the most now imo, whether in defense or attack.

I covered one of the matches in October - I guess it was Norwich or Cardiff (the one where both Oscar and Mata played) and people were saying Mata didn't play center, Mata was in the wing. So as part of deep analyses I did for that game I measured every second each of them passed in the three AM positions and despite people saying Mata wasn't playing entered, that was where he spent most time of the match... The thing is our players interchange so much that is easy to lose notion of where players spent most time. But here is Squawka's heatmap and action areas to correct you in the assumption he hasn't played in the middle. Against Crystal the middle is where he spent more time and where he touched more the ball... http://epl.squawka.com/chelsea-vs-crystal-palace/14-12-2013/english-barclays-premier-league/matches Against Stoke it was even more evident http://epl.squawka.com/stoke-city-vs-chelsea/07-12-2013/english-barclays-premier-league/matches The games where he's spent more time in the wing recently were against Southampton and Sunderland (still he played plenty in the middle in both) http://epl.squawka.com/chelsea-vs-southampton/01-12-2013/english-barclays-premier-league/matches http://epl.squawka.com/sunderland-vs-chelsea/04-12-2013/english-barclays-premier-league/matches The thing is as he hasn't been producing what he's used to, we tend to forget of him during matches, but he's been playing in the middle just fine. I stopped posting my analyses here, but I could post the next match's and once again measure by seconds where he's played, but if feels redundant because I think heat and actions maps show that quite well.

@Steve, mate, can you help him?

I wish I was able to like a post more than once because this one certainly deserves it. I'll add a few ideas though. Everybody here remember October? The month we didn't lose and we scored 3-4 goals in most matches and we beat ManCity? We even beat Arsenal when they had more first team players than we did... So if Mourinho was failing so much in creating whatever he's trying to (imo it seems to be a high pressing team, that attacks a lot, not necessary only in counters) then how did the team evolve so much from a shaky start into that? And why we can't continue to replicate that? Did Mourinho decide during November that whatever he had working so well in October wasn't working anymore and did a 180 turn? Did he start sending a new message to the players? Or said players started oscillating damn frigging much, and stopped doing what they were doing until then, in addition to some of them losing form and facing minor injuries that led to even more rotation? One might think we're in transition, where teams normally have ups and downs because players are inconstant in some cases because of age, in others because of their adaptation to the league, but also to settle down to the 203984th manager's tactics we had in the last 3 years. Also I ~love how people say EPL title is ours to take because we have the best squad when 1) ManCity is said by most people here to have the best squad (I think we have more talented players, but they're more balanced imo) 2) the strongest teams without exception had tough games against the weakest sides and dropped points 3) people complain every single day how unbalanced our squad is. So how can we have the best squad if Mancity do or when we complain about how crappy our MD and ST positions are (which is true)? Am I the only one to think that's contradicting?

this is such a shitty comment of someone who rarely makes sense. Lamps didn't play one single minute today and I guess we were the worst we've been in the last four matches today. Next time bring a comment that at least makes sense.

I know, that's exactly my point. He shouldn't start because he isn't 100%. I guess no player in the top teams in the world has played nearly as much as Oscar did in the past 18 months. It's taking a toll on him now that's recovering from injury. I don't think he's shit, but he's far from his best form

it was the weakest match I've seen Oscar playing. It was embarrassing. Shouldn't even get near the team starting against Arsenal.

the only good guy there today... He was lively when the second started and he was very good in the first. Still he will struggle to be as good as on Shakhtar because he still struggles with the physicality of EPL. Still, he's very fast, tons of class and flair, he's very objective (unlike all our AM bar Schürrle) and I just don't know why he hasn't been presenting himself to shooting areas more often as he has a good finish. Those 30m will pay off, I just don't think it'll be this season, but he's an improvement of some of our AMs and he offers something different from others, so it's a good signing - whether we needed it or not (I do think he's very useful, and I'd sign him too if I had the chance)

We deserved this win less than Arsenal deserved losing 6-3 earlier today. I'm all for the 3 points and the win, I do believe we have good chances of topping the table against Arsenal (not sure if Pool will drop points, so we may beat Arse and still not lead), but we sort of don't deserve it. When you struggle against Crystal, lose to Stoke, concede 7 goals to both + Sunderland, sorry, you just don't deserve to lead the league, especially when City and Arsenal are playing so well. But football isn't about justice, so I hope we lead next round and hopefully we'll fix our defense. our attack was once again disappointing, but it's our defense that has been compromising. Oscar was appalling. Mata was nothing special, not nothing special is still miles better than whatever Oscar did. Luiz didn't have a good match, although the capital chances Crystal had were surrounding Terry and Azpili's side (and both involved too). It doesn't change the fact Luiz was decent at best, our defense is still terrible and our attack doesn't produce enough. To think that if we had beat Stoke - as we should - we would top the league today...

JUST BLOODY SCORE CHELS!!!!!!

it wasn't an offside because Torres was in the same line... still Oscar's finishing was a testament of his match so far: below criticism

Mata really lacks shooting skills (compared to his outstanding creativity skills). Two poor shots in a row. Willian is lively in the second... one more reason for André to come for Mata.

that's his kind of defending. We can't blame him when there were four players around Chamakh watching him score. So yeah, Luiz was unfortunate (didn't do a mistake, he tried to tackle, but the guy was faster), but we have to blame mainly JT and Essien, while two other watched. Sorry mate, this isn't the goal you can blame him, he was back in position when the ball was crossed.

be careful, his profile states that's a he, so you're either seeing a product of modern medical technology or a gf or sister. I'm kidding @der Kaiser on the medicine part, mate.

Can we have André for Mata? Mata did little, I think Willian has a much better work-rate (which we'll need given how bad we're defending) although offensively he didn't do much more than Mata did. We NEED André objectiveness and speed. Hazard is playing well, but he turns his back to the goal, nearly the midfield line, holds it while the opponents pile up around him, and while it's useful and I do think he's playing well, having someone to do the opposite, receive the ball and just run. His long-distance shots are a MUST in this match as we seem completely incapable of penetrating their defense.

I don't think our leaky defense has anything to do with Cole's absence unless you call him an amulet. Ivanovic's side - and some people still call him a CB - is the place where most goals we've conceded lately came from. The fact we didn't concede in early matches with Cole in the team is a miracle because every.single.match people ran by him as if they were strolling in the park and he was raped by a few opponents too. Fact is our defense seems to be fragile for whatever reason. It doesn't surprise me much. in the transfers threads before the season started I did say we needed a LB and a CB (in addition to a CM). But I'm actually surprised Ivanovic has been so shocking. And still we see formations in every match thread being suggested with him in CB. If he's so bad in the RB I can only imagine how terrible he'd be in CB. The Swansea match last season comes to mind...

I QUOTE MY FRIGGING SELF!!!!!!

It's not even funny how much Schürrle is missed in this bloody pathetic match

what a contrast from the match I was watching just 15 minutes ago...

TORRES TO SCORE #delusional&hopeful