Barbara

It's not 4-3-3 imo, it's just frigging Ramires in the RW in the usual 4-2-3-1. Whatever it is, it sucks imo. In my dream team Ramires, Mikel and Lampard never play together.

Substitutes v Spurs: Schwarzer, Azpilicueta, Cahill, Essien, Mata, Schurrle, Eto’o. absolutely. He just spoiled half of my excitement about this game...

why would he start with Ramires, Lamps and Mikel? WHY?????????????????????????????????????????????

Happy birthday Super Jim!!!!!!!! Thank you so much for this place. I know you haven't built it alone, but I also know it's so pretty and organized and wonderful because of your hard work. Luv u!!!!! I wish you the best, sweetie because you're the very best! Viva Super Jim!!!!!!! Especially for you! YouTube You Tube (the yt links aren't properly working, but it won't stop me )

someone just posted on his thread that according to some crazy stat he has created 14 chances for the team only in EPL - the leader in the League. Have no idea where that number came from and I wonder what kind of thing do they consider to be a chance. It could be a chance for a good pass, a chance for a turnover, a chance for a dribble,

yeah, let's talk about the present then

if it says no one created more chances than he did in EPL it's saying he's the player that contributed more creatively in the league, Tom. There aren't two ways to interpret that stat. The player that has created more chances for his teammates has to be the player that contributed more in the league. I don't think he's the player that contributed more in our team, let alone in the league. Actually I even forgot to add André in my list. What I refuted is exactly what they call chances created - which is why I gave the Oscar example. Oscar created nothing in that play Squawka counted, it was a pass to the mid of the midfield when he was already in the edge and I guess Ramires - or someone else - seeing as we couldn't penetrate the opponents' defense took a shot that was completely pathetic. Those stats can be misleading and in this case they are. The same match btw I remember a great pass Oscar gave and found someone inside the box (Eto'o) and because Eto'o did nothing with the ball, it didn't count in the key-pass stat. So yeah, when we look closely at those stats they can be really, really deceiving which is why I'm now considering them with a pint of salt. The point is, he's not playing well to his levels offensively. I think he's been more than decent defensively - really impressive especially when you compare to him last year. I don't need the dribbles, the runs, the flashy plays and other things Weckerz mentioned in his post. I need Eden to be the player he can be in the attack. He hasn't been that player once this season. He had a few good plays - like his goal - but they were few and far apart. He can and should do more for us. I feel like he could have a great match today. I hope he does. The only thing Oscar can say is that he's happy, we're happy, the team is happy Dion and I were laughing about it the other day as we've watched his post-match interview. He can also say very good, hehehehe. They're all cuties.

I would love to see a breakdown of that because I guess I remember 2 or 3 at the most. Which site provided that stat? Squawka? Opta? Sometimes what those people consider chances couldn't be far from what I do... I've been checking Oscar's stats in Squawka and in one of the matches a pass he gave from the edge of the box to 3-4 meters behind was considered a chance created and then I've watched the match and it was because someone - don't know who decided to try a pathetic shot on the goal. So yeah, I don't buy this BS of Hazard being the most creative player in the league at all, this is BS because the player I've been watching has been anything but it. So basically they're saying he's been the best player in the department in EPL but I can mention at least ten midfielders that are way better than him for their teams. If I actually bother to make the list I'll probably find more. Ramsey, Michu, Ben Arfa, Ozil, Toure, Oscar, Silva (before he got injured), Barkley, Walcott, Nolan... imo all of them had been more useful creatively to their teams than Eden was for us because in reality Eden is yet to give us anything remarkable. So yeah, I call the stat BS. he really improved his English and he's aware he needs to improve. I feel he will be the MAN for us today.

why should be talking about AVB anyway? They haven't worked together for three years now... I totally get why he doesn't want to delve into the subject like AVB did... I rather the silence than the rubbish. They've parted ways, they aren't close anymore, only civil, move on. Why does the press feel those things are soap opera? and they try their best to make sure it's Mexican.

Rafael Nadal

Maybe the board can try with FA and TV to move the match against City to Saturday instead? Why couldn't Spurs match be moved to the Tuesday then? UGH! Or no, Mourinho just said this in the PC Chelsea FC ‏@chelseafc 2m Mourinho: 'We play Man City on Sunday before cup game v Arsenal on Tues, so our Under-21 side will probably have a great experience.' #CFC So we'll play the u-21 against Arsenal?

Chelsea FC ‏@chelseafc 1m Mourinho says he has no wish to talk about his relationship with Andre Villas-Boas. #CFC Mou 1 x 0 AVB

Chelsea TV just confirmed everyone but van Ginkel is available for tomorrow, and they've showed a shot of Ramires among the many shots of today's training.

Do you guys have a link for the conference? I'm in the Chelsea channel on YT but there's no link for the conference... edit: Chelsea FC ‏@chelseafc 1m We're having technical difficulties with the live stream. We'll have updates for you here though. #CFC

I think credit is due here. Torres has showed better form this season. Is it enough? No. Does it erase the past two and a half seasons? No. Does he continue to show he can be appalling technically? Yes. But we can't deny he's showed improvement. We can cry and moan about the last 30 months he played for us, but that's all that is. Moping. Now it's a new year and while I don't expect him to be better than Eto'o and I don't expect him to regain his best form, I'm also happy that he's improved. He's been improving since arriving here. It's just that his form is so abysmal that the constant and small improvement curve he's showed since arriving isn't enough. But his second season was better than the first and he's off to a better start in this one. So I understand people who want him to get chances, but I also see where people who want him in the bench are coming from. This is Mata 2.0 except the opposite. People are using the last two years to back up why they should or shouldn't be in the team and are mostly ignoring what they did show this season. As Mata is a fan favorite (deservedly) his current form should be ignored - or he should be given more minutes and start more matches to improve his form. With Torres is the opposite. Although he's showing progress compared to his own standards and despite still missing sitters (something that isn't that much uncommon for strikers, although Torres can be embarrassing) people think because of his historic he shouldn't be given the same minutes and the same starts because they don't trust him. although he could use both things to carry on his progress. Eto'o is going through a transitional time right now and it's more than expected - especially on his age and after spending 2 years in such a low-demanding league - that he struggles in the beginning. The right thing for me is to have one playing in the weekend and the other playing in the midweek games, so we can develop and improve both because at the end of the day the more players on good form we have, the better. I don't think Torres will ever be great for us - I didn't believe it on January 31, 2011, I don't believe now. But I do believe he can be useful and I honestly think he's been our best striker so far in the few games he took part (while probably being the worst in some moments of the same matches). He is the only one of the four that have played for us that actually scored (while still with us), or did I miss something? A little bit of support for a Chelsea FC player doesn't hurt, even if we don't have any faith on him.

epic pic and hair are epic

it's 3am here (I've been sleeping during the day and staying awake at night since last week) and you made me laugh so hard I'm sure I woke up the neighbors.

sorry if this is too girly humor but I can't stop laughing

if Marco himself barely featured in the main team, why would Oscar be moved from a position he works well to a position he hasn't played more than 5 matches in his whole life?

Actually Özil has the best chances created stats, not only the assists stats, meaning even if the players wasted the chances Özil is the most creative player in the world... But still thinking one is better than the other is subjective. Now the top50 list is a bit wild. I mean I guess I could name 10, maybe 12 players I consider better than him (in all positions), maybe a little bit more (or less) but 50 so many people... I mean there are what 7,8 really top teams in Europe now (and that alone is sort of a stretch, an exaggeration). Those teams have some great players, but rarely one of them have 3 extraordinary players. Even listing them like that, some of those guys while top players aren't better than Mata imo... so I'm certain he'd be in my top 20, maybe probably top 15 or 12. But I won't even bother making such a list. Still the 50 thing is a bit far-fetched, even if it's a subjective thing.

I'm not sure I can name 50 players in the world better than Mata... I haven't tried but it seems like too many people at first... although for most Chelsea fans he's only behind Cris and Messi [i had to read a few times around here he's better than Özil ] I think not being a top50 is a bit of a stretch...

better face Arsenal now - that Ozil is still adapting than later when he'll definitely make them a pain in the arse to play against.

No loan. That wasn't the last chance he'll have to prove he fits the team and can start. I'm disappointed because I'm eager to see him playing because I think he has the skills to shine. He'll have other chances and hopefully he'll become fierce competition to André and maybe even Hazard. As for the Willian comparison, I think Willian has proved what he's capable - because he's older - and everyone who watched Shakhtar in the UCL matches (not only against us) knows he's way better than he's shown for us so far. The guy has spent 45 days without any match under his belt, he's in a new team and he has 0 match fitness, so I guess it makes it obvious that he'll struggle and seeing how he isn't starting matches every week, I think he'll take a while to finally be sharp again and then months to adapt to the league, as every other guy had... But André and Kev will also have to endure the adaptation period, so once Willian is match fit I think he'll offer better competition to the spot.

spot on. Except it's not only when Mata is injured that we can compromise titles if we build the team around him. He disappears on matches more often than other star players do. It's not only about the amount of goals and assists Messi and Cris provide, but also how they're protagonists or at least contributing players in basically all matches Barça and RM play. Robben, Ribery, Gotze, Reus, Lewa, van Persie, Ozil also have better consistency stats than Mata does meaning they were decisive in matches or at least contributed importantly more often than Mata does. Mata disappears in some kind of matches (for tactical reasons) and also in the odd match now and then (for no apparent reason, except it not being his day). I'm not saying he's inconsistent, I'm just saying he isn't that much consistent when compared to other players - and even those players don't have their teams built around them. how can we be competitive if we build a system around Mata if he goes missing or contributes too little in a relatively compromising amount of matches? I don't know if like Bayern because I feel we miss the main key for that (amazing pivot), but we could at least be a RM.

The key point remains being competitiveness. Mata was our best player in the last two seasons. The last two seasons Chelsea wasn't competitive and because Chelsea wasn't competitive Roman asked Mourinho to change the team's philosophy. Mourinho (and the rest of the managers ahead of top teams) thinks that current winning football is about a balanced team that defends and attacks in blocks meaning that defensive players have to have good pass, a little bit of vision and the DM/CM should allow a smooth and fast transition from defense to attack. The attacking players should also provide defensive achievements such as pressing, tackles, interception and man-marking. That's how big teams are competitive today. They have balanced squads. If Barcelona didn't have one of the best defenses in the world in the 2008-11 period they couldn't afford Messi to be the player he was. Their problems started when Puyol was injured and ever since their defense (FB, CB, DM and CM) wasn't at the same level and that's why they lost some of their competitiveness. RM had one of the best attacking players in the world, but defensively the team allowed the opponents to dominate their midfield, Mourinho is the one who changed that and the result was immediate: from 6 years in row falling in UCL R16 to three consecutive SF. It can't be hard to understand that in modern football defensive players have to improve their passing and vision of the game and attacking players have to improve their defensive skills so they can be competitive. Top teams are attacking sometimes with 6-7 sometimes 8 players because everyone attacks and defends in blocks (except weaker teams that need to park the bus). It doesn't need to be a math genius to conclude DMs, FBs, CBs aren't enough to cover that... Normally teams can afford one player to have less (or even little) defensive responsibilities. Right now I can name Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo who are out-of-this-world footballers and can't be compared to the rest. Robben, Ribery, Ozil, Gotze, Reus, strikers all have defensive responsibilities imposed by their managers. So it's time for the club and the manager to make a decision. To keep Mata with his little service and work-rate and not enough attacking contribution to win us anything worth mentioning (because he is no Messi or Ronaldo) or adapt to what the best teams in Europe have in place and compete for big titles. We may love Mata - some more than others, we may want his splitting passes in the matches (all of us want it), but if we want him to be the exact player he's been for the rest two years let's prepare ourselves to have realistically 0% chances of winning EPL and an average between winning UCL and being knocked out in the groups stage - because chances are neither will happen, but something in the middle might be the reality (R16 or maybe a QF depending on the bracket). When I look back to our history in the last couple of years it's normally been the goals we conceded that cost us competitiveness more than the goals we didn't score and also our inability to solve complicated matches - which means we had tactical limitations. We have problems in the attack and in the pivot, I'm not denying it, but knowing the resident issues we have in the pivot and in the attack should make us want to desperately fix our liabilities in the AM - because that's attainable right now.