Barbara

Eto'o has been by far the best player creating chances for us - doing what Mata, Hazard and André clearly didn't, put Torres ahead of him and see how it goes.

I'd have Torres for Schurrle.

Eto'o is the one that difference in our AM... yeah, not our attack, but our AM creating plays. The three players in the AM had a completely forgettable first half... Hazard was the only one not to miss a chance, but didn't create much - although the best out of the three imo. Our defense had a few weird moments... no wonder to conceded

André WTH?

kudos to André

this AM is a walking nightmare

Mata did the same twice in a row... so? Ramires is one of our best players...

Luiz

so close!!!!!!

Eto'o played I guess 5 matches this season for Anzhi, Willian didn't play ever since Anzhi was on sale - or a week before, he's probably lacking a bit of rhythm

at least this time it wasn't me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

in Brazil the rule changed this year and now there are 11 spots in the bench. Brilliant if you ask me. Having limited players on bench is sort of ridiculous and pointless. All other collective sports have the same amount of players in the bench as in the pitch/court

I just worry about van Ginkel not getting even into the bench for the second or third time? Second I guess... Kid has to play to improve... it's not a complaint on José, but if he's not going to play at all or even be selected why didn't we loan him to Vitesse for another year, poor thing.

dude, I made a question - to Choulo nonetheless. I was sleeping, I didn't see it, I wasn't implying anything! give it a rest. I'm not defending anyone and please, whenever I ask about referees in United matches, don't bother to answer me. Thanks.

their second goal had any bad officiating decision?

well he's the guy with more assists and chances created in Europe for 5 years in a row... it's not going to change now that he's at Arsenal... RM must be the most stupid club EVER

I don't know guys... Mourinho trusts a lot in Lampard and except for the few minutes Marco played against Hull or Villa (my memory sucks that much), he used Mikel in all other occasions. I want to see Marco more especially because the kid needs the minutes to keep growing. I'm hoping he plays more - just like you do - I'm just not sure how much of it is wishful thinking and how much is a real possibility. I don't see Lamps playing 1 out of 3 matches at all - except if he's injured. I think he'll play as many matches as his body allows him to. Which if confirmed is one of the things I may disagree with Mourinho. I mean Lamps is still very much important for us in my opinion, but he's 35, he's no boy and shouldn't be used to exhaustion, but it seems like Mourinho is insisting with him at all possible matches

What I like Mourinho is his raw honesty. That answer is going to remain as one of the most honest I've seen a manager say in a press conference and although it's obvious - if one player plays more than another is because he's best end of it - most managers could try to be milder in the answer. I just hate how The Guardian makes it sound like the said keeping players happy isn't his problem in a maybe ambiguous way. When you read his actual words he meant something completely different. He's just saying he can't assure if they'll be happy, but he can assure he'll use meritocracy to pick who plays. I love the ruthlessness (as the journo puts it) of his meritocracy. It is as it should.

As much as I love Mazacar - and I do - it isn't practical. If they were we wouldn't have had the season we had last year. Yes, Oscar and Hazard were still adapting to English Football, but how come we were never real contenders to the EPL title, lost all cups, got out in CL in the group stage and struggled against the likes of Basel and Benfica in Europa League? There's something that isn't working for us in this combination. We didn't sign guys for our defense or DM (as I hardly see van Ginkel having an important role his season). If the results are somewhat better it may be because of 1) Mourinho gave stability for us defensively 2) we ended up with a more balanced team. If we don't it's proven we didn't address where we have problems that really cost us titles. I don't know if we'll end up doing better, but if we do I hardly see Mazacar being our most used AM. On paper that makes little sense because in theory Oscar balances out Mata and Mata makes up for the creativity that Oscar lacks. Which is why sometimes the most perfect tactics in theory don't end up being as productive as we thought...

even ESPN Brasil had a trip down memory lane with this match and called all our three goals masterpieces. ESPN / SportsCenter ‏@ESPNagora 16m Foi só pintura! Em 2006, Drogba, Ballack e Lampard fizeram golaços no 3 a 2 do Chelsea sobre o Everton. Relembre! http://ow.ly/oQGVM and some rock as the soundtrack to the goals makes the experience of rewatching them all that much better (I wish more highlights had that sort of soundtrack ). that Drogba goal is among the most spectacular goals I've ever seen. goosebumps everywhere

I only meant comparing the assists + goals stats comparison. Comparing a 21yo, first season in Europe in the league that differs the most from Brazilian to a 25yo guy fully adapted to the style and who had played in Europe since he plays football, is the part I disagree with. That not only I accept, but I also agree. I just meant using the amount of goals and assists they had last season to backup that argument. That isn't fair imo. Also isn't only defensively that Mata is clearly inferior. Tactically as well. I think Oscar will develop into a better CAM than Mata is, but I think he won't be a better #10. That's where the argument starts and ends in Mourinho's head. He doesn't necessarily wants the best #10 in his formation, but the best CAM. Another manager would rather have the best #10 than the best CAM. I don't think Oscar will ever be as creative as Mata. I believe that creativity in football is more an inherent gift than something the manager can teach and improve with his guidance. One thing though I'm absolutely sure: he'll score much more goals than the 12 Mata did and maybe more than Mata can ever score (as I think Mata will also grow in that department - and with both growing I can't say who will end up being the best scorer, I just know Oscar will do better than 12 and maybe better than Mata's best). This isn't even about defensive x offensive football - that I agree with you btw, defensive footie doesn't equal to success. As much as offensive doesn't either. Normally are the most balanced teams that end at the top of the tables. Everyone used to go on and on about how creative and lethal Barça was between 2008-11, but that team had one of the best defenses I've seen in football. they were very solid. Real Madrid problem before Mou wasn't only about the tactics that would work in the team offensively, but also their defense being a liability. When I say Oscar is going to be a better CAM than Mata I take into consideration everything that is to be considered for the position: work rate, creativity, pace, acceleration, dribbling, tackling, goals scored, assists offered, physicality, vision, intelligence, tactical obedience, decision making, ability to slow down the game as well as speed it up. Oscar is already better than Mata in some of those, will be better than him in a couple more this season already and may be better in another couple as years pass. There are a few of them though he'll never be better than Mata. And that's why I don't like to compare players in general. They have different traits and those traits lead them to have different roles. It's pointless in my opinion because what counts is what works better for the team. Unless we have 10 players that make up for one, like RM makes up for Cris defensively and tactically (partially - as some tactics he can work with). I'll give you one more thing: the two matches we drew this season weren't matches for Mata imo (we could probably lose to Bayern, for example). The one we won and he didn't play, I don't think we miss him at all - the first half against Hull was the best football Chelsea played in years in my opinion. The one we won and he played he didn't make much a difference - but I think saying that isn't fair to him because he was clearly unfit. So saying he'd be a liability against Bayern, wouldn't make difference against Manchester and wasn't missed against Hull sort of answers some questions. Also, obviously I'm talking about hypotheses here. He could have won us the ManUtd match... or he couldn't have been a liability against Bayern. It's our matches in CL last season against teams that played closer to Bayern (attacked minded, with a good midfield, moving up in blocks), but still not quite like Bayern that make me think that not only he wouldn't make a difference in the attack - because honestly we didn't have an attack problem against Bayern - and most likely would have been a liability defensively.

azar in the word in Portuguese for lack of luck or bad luck. You didn't enlight us in the courtois part though So I've been saying iden razar when it's édin. at least thanks to The Skipper I know how to say de Bruyne

I think the question we have to keep in mind this season and others to come is how much are we going to rely on a striker regardless of who that striker is. we've discussed it briefly in the Torres thread (I guess) the other day and then Mourinho comes today and says 'He is a player adapted to the style of play we want in our team which is a bit contradictory to the general style and philosophy in the Premier League. We are not anymore a physical, direct team. We want to use the qualities of our attacking players in a different way' whoever watched him playing for Anzhi knows he wasn't the traditional striker at all. Actually he wasn't even the highest player in the formation, there was another striker ahead of him. The message is between Mourinho's lines for those who want to read them.

as far as I can say it's 'iden' how you pronounce his name. How is Courtois? I'd say 'curtoah' but I have no clue

It makes no sense imo to compare Oscar's first season in Europe - in English football nonetheless - to Mata's second and consolidating season with us after having spent his whole life playing in Spain. no sense at all.