Barbara

he sits where he wants, he sits where he wants, he sits where he wants Jose Mourinho sits where he wants

which means we'll be champions by a fair lead.

Mourino's favorite son being awesome again my fantasy says thank you

I could have used a Torres goal there... can you imagine it? both our strikers scoring the same day?

please, Azpili... show the best LB performance ever. And Mourinho just cursed the referee saying filho da puta (son of a bitch) LOL

ETOO BITCHES

I did call the sub, but ffs, José, Ivanovic has been terrible

because he's tired from the trip to Asia, he played tons of minutes, arrived back on London on Thursday... isn't it obvious? Maybe it has nothing to do with that, but when you're tired, you let the ball pass to the keeper because you're saving all your energy to when it really matters. Or maybe he was just distracted, sloppy, either way he's tired. He said so on his Twitter Thursday.

I'd say Torres for Willian (or Mata, or Ivanovic). Eto'o is linking up well, that first cross that Mata lamely wasted, that cheek interception in the goal, and another key pass that I can't recall to who now. He can link up with Torres hopefully. Luiz made a mistake and he's tired as hell from the trip (Ramires is too and it's visible on both their displays so far). Luiz shouldn't have started... I complained about the lineup the moment it was released. That's why. If someone should have been sacrificed for this match (among the brazilians who are very tired) it should have been Oscar for Willian because I think Eden-Mata-Willian is too 'new' and we could have used a bit of familiarity

here we go again!!!!! Finally. Go Blues!

Two new interviews for the Guardian José Mourinho interview: I want players who are made in Chelsea Mourinho willing to help with FA's commission on England's future

Club!!!! This is my choice... I fell in love with each of the clubs I support, I don't support them because I was born in a certain place, but because they won my heart and I'm so invested on them!!!! States play a big role in the clubs your support in Brazil (depending on the region). It's like mini-countries (or even countries because some of our states are as big as most countries in Europe), so the natural way is to support a club from your state if you were born in Southeast, South and some of the northeast states (the other regions normally have very small clubs and the normal thing is for people to choose a big club from another state to support). Still the club I fell in love with wasn't from my state, and while some people in my family supported the same side, most didn't. I fell in love with that club, it reached out my heart. So for me NT x club is like arranged marriage and marrying for love. Supporting NT is basically an arranged marriage, while supporting a club is sticking with who your heart chose for you. When I was a kid I loved Brazil NT and the WC. I was 14 when we won the 4th WC title and I went mental. It was an amazing experience, one of the best I have related to football, but then my Brazilian side - which sucks - won Brasileirão in 2009 (last time before that was in 1992) out of nowhere and I cried like a little girl... I invited friends over to my house as we watched the last round - we won the title by 1 or 2 points, I don't remember and for most part of the match we were losing the title. Damnit, that was one of the most intense experiences I've had with football. So it's hard for a NT to make me feel the same because I'm not as nearly invested. Then there's the corruption in CBF (our federation) and the fact that sometimes players are called for the NT to raise their price tag because of third parties interests and I'm disgusted by that especially because I'm an exception in a country that breathes football (although I feel more and more people in Brazil are getting less involved with the NT), in a country that arguably is the best NT of all time (maybe not presently, but historically [not in a Liverpool way because mind you, we're competitive right now]). So for many, many people here, people who don't have much money, who have a hard life, working hard, struggling, the NT is their happiness, is their passion and CBF doesn't give a fuck and uses the NT to make profit and to enrich agents. Those people have so little to actually look forward in their lives sometimes, but CBF doesn't give a shit. To make money CBF makes we play the most ridiculous friendlies as preparation to the WC and even when we're playing qualifying and our national league is so badly managed and planned that I can't even start with it. It's a cockblock for me, but I still think the biggest reason why I become less and less invested to the point last WC I only supported Spain and Netherlands (I supported Netherlands against Brazil in the QF and I was wearing Spain's shirt in the final) is because I've never loved the NT the way I love my clubs. The last WC I was really invested was 1998. I was much less invested in 2002 and even more in 2006. I love WC though. It's a special competition and I always watch it, the only thing is that my passion for Brazil NT dried up and I support teams depending on my mood and heart. Next year I'll support Brazil mainly because I trust Scolari to be above corruption, above the shady business in CBF and I guess being in our country also influences. But I won't support only Brazil... I'm supporting Germany and Belgium as well. Between Brazil and Germany I'm not sure which one I'm supporting harder, so if they cross paths I may not know who to support. I guess I'm very weird when it comes to NT footie.

thanks for the vid, although the song sucks A LOT - muted it just after the 1:00 mark it never ceases to amaze me how easily he passes by his opponents. He isn't a flash dribbler, actually most times he does it without dribbling, just taking on them and passing through whatever space he has... in a league such as the English, this is definitely a plus. He just needs to score the first, then nobody will be able to hold him back.

I didn't watch Belgium yesterday, but it's great news if he's playing better. I think he already played better for us against Norwich, but I also so hope he grows as a footballer because while this 'slow starter' thing isn't a detractor for young players, a mature player shouldn't go through those stages so we can't count on him for a few months per season. I'm willing to overlook this excuse for one more season, but from next season on I hope he gets his act together much sooner. In high level professional no club can afford one of their best players to take a couple of months to be on full throttle and then have a dig another couple of months later and play really well the last 3 months of the season - as I already read theories here by different people saying in France he used to have a dig in form between December and January. Consistency is a must, although it does come with age.

also he takes on his opponents with incredible easiness. He passes them by easily, sometimes dribbling, sometimes simply cutting inside. And the funny thing is that they know he'll cut inside or run by them, and still most time he's successful. So I believe the best way to go is explore this... a striker isn't a mobile enough position for someone with his skills unless we start playing a very counter-attack minded style - which I think we won't.

@KamikazeBlue, thanks. It may be sappy, but I cried.

if anything the vid above attests exactly that. To score most of the goals I've just watched, the guy must be very technical and have great skills. As for the inconsistency, the boy is 22... there's plenty of time for that to come. I'm so excited and over the moon this guy is ours and he seems to love the club so I can see him renewing his contract and staying here for a decade or something.

I don't know if it was commentated by anyone before, but we were lucky with the NTs. Despite yet another break coming in the middle of November, no players will be involved in the European play-offs (I'm not sure if Brazil have any matches scheduled, but they probably do), so it means that most players in the squad will be with us instead of risking injuries in the NT matches - which is always a relief. Also, we can use the extra training before December comes as the winter isn't normally Chelsea's favorite part of the calendar. Speaking of injuries I breathe relieved knowing none of our players had them when we have a very important match against Schalke coming next week. If anything this international break was a blessing for us as some of our players will come back to the club with renewed confidence (Schürrle, Mata and de Bruyne) for scoring goals in their teams. It must be specially important for de Bruyne - to start working harder in the training sessions and finally be selected, while Schürrle could keep the scoring boots for us. All in all it was a good break - as much as going without club football can be good anyway.

around here, I never know, Jay... I've said so many things that were understood differently from what I meant. But you were right though about a Eden x André debate starting soon. You should open the thread like you did with the Mata vs Oscar. (and that's a joke just in case, lol) But I do think we should make a test with Eden in the right and André in the left - supposing both play at the same time. Just to see if Eden has as much problem finishing in the right as André does.

did I say we should sell the player I think has the highest ceiling in the squad or you came up with that on your own? he only played there because Eden was injured, and that's exactly the point... or is Hazard cemented/stuck/buried in the LW?

who, except in the match against Norwich, has been playing in the right wing for us at all other matches he played.

he seems so much more efficient and dangerous in the left than on the right... I hope Mourinho notices that too.

andré bloody schürrle!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! you beast! now bring that to Chels!!!!!!

what's the point of comparing any player to Ronaldo and Messi? It's a miracle itself that they were born in the same generation. Footballers like that aren't bred every other day. They're beyond world-class, more like out-of-this-world-class. I'd call world class players I see as a reference in their position in the sports worldwide. Which should make that list quite small if you ask me... don't like the term much tbh

I meant work law enforcement actually... because as far as I understand his post was about how building stadiums were killing people here or making them homeless, or slaving them. I think we have decent law enforcement on other areas... our corruption law enforcement is lame though. But civil, working and in some place criminal law enforcement is good. I don't know about amount of police officers actually. Big cities here are more violent and Rio and Sao Paulo have areas that should be avoided... but for example the city I live in, it has 1.2M people and while there's violence I don't think it's too much, like something appalling... we must have about 20, 30 at most cities this big. My hometown has 700K inhabitants and while there was a wave of violence a few years ago, it's a quiet city... The biggest problem imo is drugs. Addicted people rob a lot around here and when they're high they simply pull the trigger or stab you because they're drugged. I think that's one of the things that makes it worse. But the kind of thing he was implying happens here, it doesn't... we are way more civilized than that.