Barbara

same old, same old with our goal convertion. But I'm happy about the way we're approaching the game. Now get lucky in the second and get in, Blues!!!!!! COME ON!

Torres is so unlucky there He's playing very well. He's passing by opponents as if they were nothing.

new year, new Torres?

also arrived at 6am, the difference I had 7 hours to sleep (which I didn't as I went to bed over 7am), so I feel you in other news, David Luiz and his father are in the stands

Just arrived home, but happy new year, lovelies!!!!!!! May 2014 bring some silverware to our beloved Chelsea and each of you to experience a good year, with accomplishments and dreams coming true. The best to all of you, cheers

I agree! Although you're very hot yourself too, B. You add @, in the mix and TC is well represented. I just remembered this thread existed because I was nicely 'accused' of saying I only think Cristiano Ronaldo is the best player in activity because he's hot. He's hot alright, although not my type either, but I might as well post pics of him!!!!! HAPPY NEW YEAR, GIRLS @DJames, @The_Flash, @BluesChick, @francozola, @Laylabelle, @.Cee (and curious lads , I'll even add spoilers tags because of you)

maybe you're that vain, I'm not. My favorite player in activity, not the one I think is the best, is a guy over 35 and not attractive at all. My man in tennis is Rafael Nadal and for God's sake the kid can't be less attractive if he tries (although he's obviously not ugly). My second fave in tennis is Andy Murray... So don't talk shit just because I'm girl. Yes, Cristiano Ronaldo is hot, but to say there's a player comparable to him is laughable. End of the story. He could be as ugly as Ribery, it wouldn't make him any less good. Your argument not only is sexist, but ridiculous... Messi is more technical, but I prefer Cristiano because of his style and because, obviously, he doesn't play for Barcelona. I don't even bother to discuss football with the likes of you. So if you think PSG is one of the big teams in the world, good for you. It tells me a lot about you. Tit for tat.

And I find it funny that you can compare anyone to Cris with a straight face. It's more than funny, it's literally laughable. I did say they don't have a chance winning UCL as much as we don't right now, but you have to read my post and see the context. I started the paragraph saying 'All that said I doubt Mata will leave in January and I'm not sure he'll leave in the summer' which means I'm talking about his options for the 2014/15 season. We don't have good chances to win UCL this year and I said as much in my post, the same way I don't think PSG will EVER have in the neaby future. And if you think going from a potential English champion to the French champion is a good career move, the okay... Also PSG buys much more than we do, so who knows who else they'll buy and that could eventually compete with him in the position?

There's a difference of how much I think he's worthy and how much I think we'd realistically get for him. I agree with most points @Peace. raised. There's no buzz surrounding Mata because he isn't a player that creates buzz - whether because of his quiet personality or because the media only decided to give him plenty of attention when Mourinho didn't use him as much. The POTY award doesn't really matter, especially when many people think Hazard had a better year than Mata did last season (and which showed in the Balon d'Or final list). So if he doesn't even make that list that has some laughable names, you know that his markeability isn't compatible with his quality. How on earth can Bale be the most expensive player ever? It's not because of his quality alone (which I don't think is that much tbh), but how markeatable he's become. All that said I doubt Mata will leave in January and I'm not sure he'll leave in the summer. The very top teams in the world will also offer him competition in the position (I'm talking about 4-5 teams) and the ascending clubs - like PSG, Napoli or even Atletico - have less chances of winning important titles than we do. All those things must be taken into consideration by him. If he's leaving because he has to fight for his position here, he'll have the same in top teams (all of which I doubt are even interested on him anyway) and if he wants to play in the likes of PSG then he's settling for winning League 1 because they don't stand a chance at all in European competitions (as much as we don't right now, the difference being we have Mourinho, they don't). We'll probably be among the title contenders next season. So what does he want? To be in a winning side that can raise some of the most important trophies around or shine in teams that can only compete in France and Italy? Depending on his personality and career goals he may choose one path or the other.

Mourinho returning. That was the biggest moment. I was seeing my Facebook year review and were there a few posts of me talking about Mourinho. The moment he resigned from Real Madrid I started to ask what Chelsea was waiting to announce him. And the day he was finally announced Nadal (tennis player) was playing whatever and I posted saying even if Rafa lost he wouldn't ruin my day because Mourinho had been appointed for us. Nothing else mattered as much as that. Now thinking about something in the pitch... I'll say us beating Manchester City for the first time in a few years. Among all our fixtures that match is the one I was looking forward the most because they proved to be a bad matchup for us recently, but not only because of the scorlines. It was the way they seemed to dominate us in every match I remembered in the last couple of years. In all honestly I don't think Chelsea had a remarkable year and I don't think we had remarkable matches (either because of their importance or because of the rivals). Our year was quite underwhelming and uneventful and I'm okay with that because football is way too competitive these days. More and more clubs injecting money had increased the amount of teams playing in high level, so it's okay to have a 'bad' year. But Mourinho feels like a breath of fresh air and I have high expectations about the years to come. They're going to be amazing and I'm sure already this time next year it'll be hard to pick the moment I've cherished the most.

I'd go with the same. I don't think this match is that much fitting for Mata as I see him in some lineups. I think if we won't play Willian we can't afford not to play Oscar and I guess Willian is tired after too many minutes lately (in consecutive matches, including 120 against Sunderland). I also think it's fitting for Schürrle to play against them because of his pace. So for me it's either what you suggested or Willian - Mata - Hazard. I'd take your suggestion though, but I guess Jose will repeat Will-Oscar-Eden

@Tomo, Mourinho already is the only reason why we are where we are. Why do I say the only and not the main? Most of our signings this summer aren't playing often. Sometimes it's Schurrle, sometimes it's Willian. Marco and Kevin are off, and Eto'o's goals and contributions aren't that significant which means Mourinho has been working mainly with the players that were already here for a season or two and where were we last season and the one before it at the end of the calendar year? My point exactly. While we didn't have exceptional players at some points and we've been facing the same deficiencies in our squad for a few years now, still Mourinho made the difference basically with the guys that were already here. One could argue - and it's a very valid point - that Oscar and Hazard are fully adapted now whereas they weren't last season. But let's not forget how amazingly Eden played for us until the United match. We won matches early last season because of him and still we were 11 points or something behind the leader at the end of 2012. So we had a killing Hazard early the season that won us matches and still we were out of the title race as soon as December ended. Of course I'm not dismissing the players' role in our current position, they're the ones who win matches and lose them, but we all know what a difference a manager can make and I think in our case Mourinho does it because not only we're tactically miles better than we've been in years, but also he's recovered Terry, he's improved Oscar, Hazard, Cahill andTorres a lot (and it has nothing to do with adaptation in the new guys' case). We have a confident Lampard, a better Ramires and I think Schürrle also benefited from Mourinho even if I can't say much from his Leverkusen days. I can talk about Schürrle based on what I saw in pre-season and early this season and then I compare it to the player he was from October on. It even affected his national team performance imo (have been following Germany closely the past couple of years). So it's not only the tactic system we have - which is very efficient and entertaining imo, but also how he works individually with those players and he just improves them. Hazard had absolutely nothing on his defensive game that was worth mentioning. He's one of our best pressing players nowadays, he tracks back effectively and not only to add a number in the lines in our half. So I credit Mourinho more than anyone in our position 2 points behind an Arsenal side that has the same manager and the same players (sans Ozil, but he only adds to the mix) brewing for years now and who are now florishing. We're one point behind a Manchester City side that has an incredible attack force and by far the best pivot in England (if not in Europe) managed by an experienced, attack minded guy. I'm not saying we're inferior to Arsenal or City squad wise because I think we're superior the former and as good as the latter. The thing is we have deficiencies in critical areas (pivot and attack) that they don't have. Their squads aren't as deep as ours, but we're only deep in defense and attacking midfield. We don't even have first team material strikers and we have literally a half-decent pivot. Our pivot players don't compliment and complement each other, which is why we're so terrible there. Still we've been working around those two critical weaknesses and some defense blips and we've been just there with those guys from the start. I'm thankful Mourinho is here, words can't say how much.

OMG *dying laughing*

Mourinho's face after Nando missed that goal. It reflects how we feel about all our strikers (although both did well last night imo). Even Eva is angsty about it, lol.

excuse me the double post, but this deserves a post of its own. This man is a legend in this club, but most of all, he's indeed one of us. x x When I first read these sentences by him I expected him to have said them laughing, joking. But look at his face... he's dead serious. here's the vid: http://yvett.es/post/71624536131/when-i-retire-in-75-years-old-i-go-to-be-a See if for one moment he's laughing. He isn't. I mean, ofc he's not serious about becoming a pundit, but he's serious about how those guys are biased and we'll never defend Chelsea or even talk positively about us. ONE OF US!!!!

he's perfected that slide, hasn't he? x

so much class on and off the pitch with this guy. He made sure to state this apology in his instagram account although he also made sure to hug Lucas last night just after the final whistle. We need him on his best. This team has a completely different (and more effective) dynamic when Oscar is in form. So happy he now is back on track. edit: here it is x

look at how affectionately he hugs those guys and how they look happy with him there. excuse me and my lame tearing up

I see why people want him to be more objective and clinical and I think with time he'll grow to be. I feel he is far from being comfortable playing in English football and he has to impress two managers and not only one and nothing impresses both Scolari and Mourinho than hard work and low error margin. So not only he still has to adapt to the style, he has to be careful not to make stupid things and lose the ball. Mourinho seems to like him alright and I'm positive Scolari will take him to the WC because the option (Lucas Moura) is much worse and too young. Scolari likes his mature players (not to say experienced). I don't blame the guy. Nearly all players going (or with chances of going depending on managers' selection) to the WC have it in the back of their minds. They won't risk getting injuries, they'll try to prove to their managers they should be called, they try (as much as they can) to have their club managers to spare them some matches, etc... It's their dream, the one thing they don't do for the money, but for the gratification, it's very important to most players in the world. So I feel Willian still unsure, insecure and very much tamed in his presentations and while some of it comes from adapting to such a physical league, it also goes through him working in a way he knows for sure will please Mourinho and Scolari and he'll try to make as less mistakes as possible, and consequently it means he won't go for the risky pass in the final third and that he won't shoot very often because those are prone to errors. We won't see him dribble (although he can), we won't see facing off his opponents, taking them over, and we'll see rare and far between shots by him. Which is all a shame, but I understand why him (and others) are this cautious.

#6 and #11 are absolutely hilarious!!!!!!! I looooooove it when opponent fans lose their shit with our AMAZING players and they just start hating on them because that's all they can do. LOL And the comment about them being back not where they're called to be, but where they BELONG is too amusing for words. #7 also made me laugh out loud. Rage all you want scourses!!!!!

I said just before the match that it came down to a point where I simply support whatever lineup he brings to the table. He knows those players better than I do and even when I disagree I'll support because I know he has a plan in mind and I just trust his assessment and his tactics. Today he had the team I would have liked to see and I think we played very good, entertaining, effective football. The way this team presses high in the pitch, the way those players are finally buying his ideas and going by them, the way we attack and counter-attack. Everything is coming together very nicely and I guess it's now time to mature those tactics. If the players can carry on performances like that more often and for most part of the 90 minutes like they did today, in all honesty we'll be unplayable against 85% of the teams we face. It's too much pressure we put on the opposition, we seem to surround them and dominate them in a way that they don't know what they fear more, when we have the ball and stars like Hazard, Mata, Lampard, Oscar can make a play or take a shot, or when they have the ball and we have Oscar, Willian, Azpili, Ramires, Luiz, Hazard enclosing them and being a constant threat to their possession either in the second third, or worse, in the attacking third. It's going to be very hard to play against us (and note I'm saying play, not win) because we just don't allow the other team to play. That's how we control those matches, they have their possession basically in the first and second third, while we press high and hard, and we have possession in the second and in the third, also being very effective in the counter. Of course, the team isn't there yet, they're still polishing those tactics, but once they're mature and finished, even if we don't have the most attractive football out there (we'd be very far, far, far away from having ugly football too), we'll have a feared kind of football, the kind that suffocates the opposition and just imposes itself. CAN. NOT. WAIT.

once again very entertaining read provided by you, Lex.

I want him there too, but I feel like we have such a bad left side right now. Cole is easily ran by opposition these days and he doesn't contribute too much in the attack. Bertrand isn't that great (although I guess he's improved a bit) and he's been off way too long and had an injury. If Iva could rotate with him in the left then I'd love to watch Azpili more often in the right. There's a significant gap between them and all other options we have for the left. Iva is a non-factor attacking because of his terrible crossing, but he's still very good aerially and defensively and he holds the ball pretty well in the attack imo. Azpili improved a lot defensively and I wish he played more often in his position to give him a chance to improve his crosses as well (although his are better than Iva's - I don't think it's humanly possible to be worse than Iva crossing). He's been flawless in many matches for us this season, absolutely class player.

His voice was very hoarse in that post-match interview and I wonder if he isn't a bit under the weather (or maybe he had to scream too much during the match). I think early in the match he's made a few mistakes positioning himself as a CM and also in a few tackles, looking sort of clueless. But he quickly got used to the position and his contributions in the attack are incredible. I hope to find a gif of that ball right in the midfield he received from Oscar. It was a tough pass he's received and he got rid of his man with one touch (I guess he nutmegged him) and then he passed quickly to Hazard or Eto'o (can't remember) and left said player in a 1v1 play, in front of Mignolet. There's a lot of quality in his pass, but I really want him to play as a CB. I hope he also finds his best form for us as a CB and we can rotate the three guys we have because we do have a lot of matches and we should protect Terry's body as much as possible, given his age and pronity to injuries.

It really makes me happy to see him improving. I guess he's not only playing well, but improving as a footballer. He was once again flawless and I don't see any way Luiz could displace him based on their current form. I may even be willing to change my opinion about his overall status. If he keeps improving and positions himself like he did today more often, I just can't consider him a squad player anymore, he'll be first team material regardless of the other options we have. It's also very good to have him this confident and solid, so we can rest Terry more often without getting nightmares about a partnership between Gary and David. I think he had a better match than Terry today and not because Terry was shocking - both were very solid - but because he was simply more solid imo. Way to go, Gary!