Barbara

are you frigging kidding me? He was sent off for this?????????

I think it's more about how quickly we closed the gap. we may not be at the same level as them but we certainly got really close in just a decade. what we've accomplished so far is nothing short of brilliant. It's an incredible feat to take such a turn in so few years. We're a marketing book case in the works. So even if we're not on their level yet, Barça, real Madrid and Bayern have been building their brand for a very long time. The fact we're included in the same conversation and make the top five lists such as Delloite's and Forbes' is something unbelievable. I believe that's what makes the haters even more bitter because it's remarkable. We may not be there yet, but it's only a matter of time.

that's what she said oops, wrong context, well, but that's what I said would happen anyway

As I said in the speculation thread, I think he's better than Piazon. I never got the Piazon thing. But we need to take into consideration his age. At 19 we could say he's going to be the next best thing in football or the biggest flop of all. It's hard to say because it could go both ways. He isn't in the Hazard category of players (who is anyway? If players like Hazard were easy to find, they wouldn't be so expensive, they're rare), but he's decent. I rate him somewhere between Oscar and Willian, but as I just said, predicting how he'll develop is going to be hard. In Brazil those kids with some talent are promoted to the first team way too soon because the clubs need to make money and that affects their development - especially tactically - in a negative way. Maybe that's why I'm never in a rush to promote youth and I don't mind Mourinho's approach at all. Here is quite the opposite and I've seen way too many kids cracking with the pressure, wasting their talent, being moved to position that their teams need and that aren't the best for them, not to say they bypass some very important steps of development such as discipline, tactical awareness, time to mature, physical conditioning (many times they're Neymar-Oscar alike because they haven't developed physically yet before being subjected to a lot of burning calories routines instead of working on growing and getting stronger) and many others. All that said, I don't expect him to play for us any time soon - and maybe he'll never do it, but a friend of mine worked at Atletico Paranaense until a few months ago and have seen the kid on a daily basis for years. There have been some brawl between him and the club and he left in bad terms, but despite of that he assured me he's very good, future Brazil NT material because of his level headed way of taking things, his focus as well as his talent (which according to him hasn't been fully exposed yet because some Mosquito guy also from Atletico academy took the spot light and the manager's preference, leaving Nathan as a second fiddle). I totally trust his assessment - especially because we agree about most of our views in football - and I did some research watching some of his matches. Maybe he ends up being the next Piazon as many are implying, I wouldn't bet on it though. Also Nathan (or Natan, or Natã) is a fairly common name in Brazil, it's biblical and it's been a trend here for some time to add 'h' to names. The pronunciation is completely different from English, so like Oscar, people will call him by the English version, but it's a complete different way in Brazil. It's Philippe's (Coutinho) that is uncommon around here as we say Felipe or Filipe (such as Luís). Oscar is also quite normal. Robert (the Kenedy guy prospect who my friends - including a Fluminense supporter tell me is a farce), Wallace among others are the odd ones.

That's my feeling too.. Cuadrado was the consequence of the Schurrle sale, not the cause Still, I'll never get over it

[emoji24] [emoji24] [emoji24] [emoji24] [emoji24] [emoji31] [emoji31] [emoji30] [emoji30] I'll NEVER get over it [emoji26] [emoji26] [emoji26] [emoji22] [emoji22]

I agree with most, but he wasn't called for Copa America because he's injured and will take a while to recover, not being in form in time. It's a sort of a myth he's more creative and important to Brazil. I watched him in the WC and CC and there was nothing different. I haven't watched any friendlies ever since the WC though, but I've never seen anyone - especially in Brazil - praise him for any of those matches, so I suppose it was just about the same. He completely stagnated in his development and I already said it once, it seems like he's satisfied with what he's accomplished so far, he doesn't seem to have a lot of objectives regarding his progression and seems a bit accommodated to me.

I rate Nathan higher after doing some research. But it's still too early to say. He doesn't have an eyecatching raw talent though, somewhere between Willian and Oscar raw talent wise imo. I place Piazon on the same bracket as Oscar (speaking of raw talent only). The rest: tactics awareness, versatility, vision, creativity is early to tell imo.

Lol, gotta love his honesty. I hope Eden takes the advice to the heart and carries on for life. He needs to shoot more, he has a very good finish, he just needs to release it.

I'm not so sure because most United fans I know (if not all of them) had many complaints about Mata. Then he had a good run of matches a couple of months ago and started to fade again, alternating good matches and invisible ones. No one I know thinks he's their most consistent player... I also don't think Jose is saving face. Everybody with two working brain cells knows Mourinho sold Mata because he didn't fit his system, not because he thought Oscar is a better player. So why keep an expensive and talented player in the squad if he doesn't fit your system and is sulking in the bench. I can't actually believe over one year after it happened people still don't understand it. But Mata is a well liked and appreciated player for Chelsea fans, so I think emotions cloud their judgment because not only Mata hasn't been for United even close the player he was when he had a team built around him (actually he hasn't been even amazing in 10 matches according to my brother who is a hardcore United fan who watches their matches literally in a looping - according to him he had a few great matches, some good and many average for them), but his sale had absolutely zero to do with Oscar. If we didn't have Oscar, Mourinho would still have sold Mata and would have brought someone else because Mata just wouldn't do it for the system he had in mind. It had never anything to do with either player's quality.

that's the shit that have people with high expectations... seriously, Nathan isn't seen as the next big thing even in Brazil, let alone the whole continent...

It's actually simple. Jose likes players like Lampard (a jack of all trades master of none - except for his ability to score goals, which was above average). Many prefer other kind of players, especially for a #10, maybe not Jose. Nobody denies Lampard was an amazing player at the peak of his career, so if I had to guess why he gives Oscar chance after chance, made the unusual contract renew happen in the middle of the season and gave him the #8 shirt (I don't believe it was just a convenient coincidence) is because he believes he can turn Oscar into our new Lampard. It could work extremely well and some could even call him a genius for that, or it could backfire. With Cesc in the team as a number '7' he can afford or maybe is even looking forward to having a wildcard '9' which would be a mix of a #8 and #10. It fits a lot Mourinho's views of football and for five months in the first half of the season it worked just fine. If Oscar will fit the bill only time can tell, but Mourinho has been adamant about Oscar, if not stubborn. I think he believes more in his own ability to make it happen rather than seeing Oscar naturally becoming that player.

Cuadrado made his 10 minute cameo worth of making him the worst player in the pitch.

a glimpse of real Hazard there now

Hazard has been painful to watch today... too bad we don't have someone to put on his place

really? I can't even put in numbers how far superior Luís is to Bertrand.

I know it's not fair, my previous point was that with those mistakes, new in the team, Mourinho won't trust Luís. I'm not saying he's right and he does overlooks all of Ivanovic obvious and even worse mistakes. I was just stating what I see, not that I support Mourinho's choice. I do hope Luís starts the remaining matches

Mikel should have been subbed off for Matic... not Ruben

Most of us want Luís to cement his place in the first team, but we must also admit he makes some major mistakes in most matches he plays... some eye-catching mistakes. I think those cost his chances here. Two mistakes in a row there now

he doesn't have a brain for set piece it seems. It's not the first time he pushed someone of our players leading to opposition goal. Remember against PSG he pushed Terry? (Or was it in the league? I remember it was a big game)

Cesc

you and a few others have been fair. I think he deserves some criticism even for some isolated decisions this season, but the slamming he's been getting around here (especially before the title was finally confirmed) has been absurdly unfair. He adapted when we needed to be more pragmatic. Maybe he had been a tad too much cautious, but I don't have major complaints.

and not surprisingly enough, this thread is moving in snail pace. Why would be buzzing? We're playing good football, Mourinho started an academy player, we even have much higher possession, although I wonder if now that we conceded people will come from their hiding places.

and they said Chelsea can't play football... We're playing the same way we used to the first half of the season. With the pressure off, the players are back to their carefree playing. The rotation helped and we're the Chelsea we'll be for most of next season. People that insist that José can't play like this really make fool of themselves. Mourinho is just too smart for them... And Diego Costa is class and a legend in the middle of the fans

Matic has been beyond tired for a while now, I hope we don't use him at all in the remaining games we have. his stamina improved here compared to when he was in Portugal - imo - but he still has some trouble towards the last third of the season in terms of form (not that he's too bad, he just isn't anywhere as sharp as we're used to). Delighted for Luís and Ruben. Didn't expect Cesc to start and if Oscar wasn't injured Eden would also receive his well deserved rest. I've always been against bringing Cuadrado and he can already leave for all I care.