Barbara

yep

normally I'd rate it 6-7 out of 10, nothing exceptional, but still much better than when he left Brazil. Both Hazard and Oscar picked minor injuries. Hazard's seems a little bit more complicated as he said it's something that's been hurting him for months now, it went and came so I think it'd wise to give him proper time to heal, but I don't believe it'll happen. I have no idea what Mourinho has in mind and as a few guys - like Brazilian and English - have two matches in the international football break and won't come back until by the end of the week, I'd say we may see a few changes. Cech Ivan - Terry - Luiz - Cole Ramires - Lamps Schurrle - Mata - Hazard Eto'o He improved a lot on it since the season started. Some of the best work rates in the team currently imo

no need to shave

I think this season might be the most interesting in the past few years. There are too many changes and a hint of unpredictability is in the air. New managers, new stars playing for EPL. I'm really looking forward to the best league in the world - and it only keeps getting better

there's a reason why nor the club or the players divulge the information. I don't buy it from English media... or French... or Belgian or whoever else. This is confidential info anyway...

I have another concern in addition to them being fit in 10 days... they're important for their NT's (Oscar has no direct replacement in Brazil's squad - Hernanes may take the playmaker hole, but Felipão usually plays him a bit deeper) and Belgium is in the middle of a WC qualifying, even if they're leading their group. So I'm concerned the managers will decide to play them - because of their importance in the teams - and only worsen the minor injuries they have now. They should rest and properly let their bodies heal instead of making sacrifices... especially Oscar as Brazil is only playing a couple of friendlies. It's one thing to be fit enough to play - or in their case with manageable pain, another completely different thing is to actually be completely healed. I hope Wilmots and Felipão have common sense and are sensible about it.

well it already started with Oscar and Eden picking up minor injuries... squad depth is never a problem in my book. Never. Whoever (in the squad) is unhappy in the bench will leave... I mean, if others are better suited or just plain better, there's nothing the manager can do...

@, oh dear, which is why I said I sort of agree. Sort of being the key expression. I agree more people should be nominated (which is why I agreed with your suggestions last month), people that are never nominated because they aren't popular enough, friendly enough, funny enough. As I stated I have no problem with it being about popularity, friendly behavior, memes, or whatever else. I just said more often than not it isn't about football - which is odd, but not wrong. My feelings are more about the people being left out than the people being included. Some are here to pass time, others to talk about footie, others about Chelsea, others just to read, others to have fun, others to play the jester, etc... nothing wrong with any of that. I just find it odd people that talk about football are not mentioned much because this is primarily a football forum.

I meant Juan over Oscar thanks for picking it

I sort of agree with @Kojo. This might be the last month I even vote. It's more like a popularity contest than deciding a member who really contributed to the forum - and consequently something I don't take seriously... In my opinion there's nothing wrong with it being about popularity, or non-football related stuff, or just how friendly someone is, I just don't give much credit to this kind of 'award'. It seems more often than not this isn't about members who contributed with football stuff. As much as I like the Community board, the main reason I'm here is for Chelsea related stuff and so many members say a lot of interesting things, bring news related to the team, videos related to the team, and others write articles, and many of them never have their name even mentioned here. Which is a shame, really. So yeah, never took it too seriously, but after Alex's suggestion last month I thought it would maybe change. It didn't.

Translating: Chelsea's midfielder twisted his right ankle during the training session and had to retire from the activity According to CBF PR team his ankle is swollen and only within 48h they'll only be able to say if he'll play or not against Australia btw for those who might be interested... today he trained in the pivot - before he got injured.

my example using him and Kevin was completely random. I could have said Willian and Mata, or Eden and André. I just used the first two guys that came in my mind. As for Mourinho's decision... I think we can only guess at this point, as it's been only 4 matches so far - Mata is unfit and now Oscar is injured and Mata is a great player - horrible work rate, but amazing creative player. I'd start both, but I wouldn't be surprised if José decides to play Juan over Oscar. If I had to guess I'd say Eden, Ramires and Oscar are the three outfield players Mourinho likes the most although he trusts Terry and Lamps a lot as well. But maybe even liking Oscar more than Mata, maybe we'll miss having Mata and his assists... I don't think Oscar is better than Mata, Mata is the best out of the two, I think Oscar is better suited for the starting XI though. At the end of the day Mata may not even compete with Oscar if Mou sticks with his idea of playing Mata in the RW

1) well the young players can always be loaned - where they'll complete their development and come back if they or the club see fit 2) if they're this kind of professionals, the sooner they leave the better. Chelsea isn't here to have their friends play. The best play. End of story. A good professional understands that and either decides to work harder and fight for the position, or gets lazy and doesn't mind the bench, or leaves. 3) I do agree with this point. Again a loan is a simple and efficient solution to remedy that 4) They train together 5 days a week for 9 months, Mourinho's training sessions have many drills where players from the same zone execute the activity - starting players and bench players. He trains by drills, not mini-matches or reserves apart from titular. Actually most managers these days (in Europe) do it. There aren't reserves x titulars. 5) I don't care about football in general. I care about Chelsea FC (and Real Madrid and Internazionale). Also if they're unhappy, they'll leave and will improve football in general somewhere else. Horrible example with Kaká, but one you were unlucky as he addressed his situation just today. He said he lost the passion to play football and he said it wasn't RM fault or Mourinho's fault. He blamed himself and the injuries. Also he was already on a descending when he joined us - exactly because of injuries. Injuries took Kaká away from football, not RM or Mourinho. His words not mine. Bottom line is, if the player doesn't play and is angry because of it and is destroying the environment or is just unhappy, they'll leave. If they weren't playing in the first place, it means they won't be missed much. If they're young, they'll have the chance to develop in their new club.

if so, what's the problem? I fail to see it. If the player is unhappy he'll leave - and then we'd have the amount you consider ideal to the team (I suppose). The best will play because Mourinho is quite fair and players under him play when they prove to be better than their teammates. If the best play, it means the second level will play less. If they become unhappy because of it, they'll leave - on loan or transfer. Either way the best players continue here. I fail to see what's the problem with a player leaving the club. Look at the Marin situation. The only place I see we're really crowded is in the AM - so we have Eden, Oscar, Mata and now also Willian, Kevin, and André. It's two for each position just fine. If among them let's say Oscar e Kevin play 8 matches as you suggested - is because Eden, Mata, Willian and André have played much better. Oscar would have no problem being benched - Kevin I don't know, but supposing they do have a problem. Well, if they want to leave they will and we'll have the other four who are surely the best players - reason why they played more. Players leaving a club when we have better players for the position doesn't sound like a problem to me. Where is the problem? For me the problem is when a player doesn't produce what you expected him to produce (again Marin example), or is way too inconstant (Moses - great matches and horrible matches) or when a player is injured and we don't have alternatives to replace said player. Having too many options will never be a problem and the unhappy player will leave and Chelsea will continue to have quality players and if the club see fit, they'll replace or if not, they'll keep the ones that played 80% of the matches anyway. Minimal loss. Also amount of starts is one thing, amount of matches played is something else. I'd love to see the # of matches those played because second half subs should count as well to make it a little bit more reliable. Players that are super subs and enter often in matches are normally happy with their condition, as among the many matches they play they also start a few... edit: let me illustrate the whole matches played x matches started. Last season Oscar is the second outfield player to have played more matches for us. He played 64, starting 43, coming as a sub in 21 = (64; 43/21). It doesn't change the fact he played 64 matches. Our midfield was mainly Ramires (66; 56/10) - Lamps (54; 42/12) - Mata (64; 55/9) - Eden (66; 52/14), Oscar (64; 43/21) The others players used in midfield: Mikel (41; 34/7); Moses (43; 27/16); Marin (20; 7/13); Romeu (9; 7/2). I'd say Mikel and Moses played quite enough, and Marin is decent - as he was injured and never really showed to fit.

According to Mourinho himself we have two players for each position, 3 strikers and one extra mid-fielder (in the '2' of his 4-2-3-1). That's totally okay imo... I don't see it being too much at all. I mean it's a lot, but not much to a fault. If it ever becomes a problem to any of the players, then I'm sure they'll handle it, but as of right now I think it's how big clubs are... it's been like that in Barça and RM for years now. The best players stay while the second best either stay happy in the bench with the chances they actually have to play or just leave the club. It's such a natural process that I don't see where we could have problems.

Oscar left Brazil NT training session injured - he has pain in his right foot. UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I HATE INTERNATIONAL FOOTBALL That's all what we get from it: our players getting injured. Let's hope it's nothing serious and that Felipão has the decency of not playing him in a frigging friendly and risk him getting a worse injury edit: he twisted his ankle. will be re-evaluated in 48h because his foot is too swollen for them to evaluate it now

Chelsea midfielder Willian says that the club had been interested in him for some time prior to his transfer window move to Stamford Bridge. "They made an offer two months ago but I was not allowed to leave," he told Brazilian television station Sportv. "Other clubs were interested, but my intention and dream of playing for Chelsea made the difference. "The opportunity to play with Mourinho, the best manager in the world, also made a lot of difference. I always dreamed of wearing Chelsea's jersey." this is to Brazil's TV - so he wasn't aiming to get a good impression with fans, as normally what's said to Brazil TV stays in Brazil TV. Have no idea how SSN found it.

“The boss (Mourinho) believes in me, he wants me to become a complete football player.It’s more important to him that I want to become a complete player, I need to show him the desire.He compares me to Xavi of Barcelona, who he rates very highly in the world of football. He says I have all the qualities” - Juan Mata saw it both on twitter and fb although no source in either

yep, I've watched the vid of him saying as much

well, in that case it isn't even his date of death that gave away this is a new one also I live in a country very rich in literature and the only one I really read a lot in addition to Brazilian (and Portuguese) is Russian literature. Know very little of English literature, or American. But thanks for letting me know

didn't know it was your words, I thought it was this John Keats guy - who maybe is you then. I think it's insane to assess Mourinho's work and the team with 4 matches played when we won 2 and drew 2 (the two draws against two of the best teams in the world). We disagree mate... if we're not building for the future playing Oscar, Hazard, Schürrle, I don't know what that is. Willian will join the list - also young, Mata is young himself, Kevin has been used in two of those matches. All young players with tons of talent. All comes down to Lukaku at the end of the day...

Actually it was only last season when Mourinho said in his opinion Ozil is the best #10 in the world. Mesut's stats sort of back up that. No one has had more assists and real chances of goal created than him in the last five years and he's younger than Mata. So if there was any upgrade from Mata in the world, that would be Ozil. But I feel like Mata gives himself more, he's more committed and when he disappears in matches isn't because he didn't try enough. Ozil sometimes seems lazy and uninterested. I wonder what he would be capable of doing if he carried on his initial thirsty when he first arrived at RM. Let's hope he doesn't like Arsenal much he could kill the league, although even then I don't think that makes Arsenal real contenders to the title. They had other issues to address (actually their AM was fine if you ask me, but any club in the world would improve with Ozil signing to them).

that's our future captain showing his true colors - and they're blue! It's impossible for me to love this man more than I do. Thanks for that, Ankit.

good to know the overreaction, nonsense and rubbish isn't found only here. That was one of the most idiotic things I've read... far worse than many of the things I've seen here. TC continues to be the best Chelsea place to be - even if some people have the oddest opinions about our start of season, Mourinho as our manager, and the way we played. The way some people dismiss the heroic - and top quality - match we had against Bayern tell me football must be new in their country or TV. Also the impatience is amusing - rivals 5yo's who want everything right now. Too much theory and really too little real world football views. It's incredible how people don't think time is needed to progress and I've seen a heck more of progress than I've expect in four frigging matches

any of you kind mates in England that may buy Chelsea Magazine. Would you guys scan Mou's Q&A and Oscar's full interview, please, please, please?