Barbara

People completely ignore that big games mean better players all over the pitch and even deft tacticians come with a special plan to play those matches... Cesc was the best player against a good Arsenal and very solid playing the role he was given against City. Also Hazard is supposed to be this team's star... not sure why everyone is jumping on Cesc to make it in big games. First of all, Mourinho needs to choose a game plan that allows players to shine, then the responsability has to be divided between our best players which are Cesc, Costa and Eden... but somehow only Cesc is pegged by big game failure...

I think your memory has been failing you. Arsenal have played one of their best matches against us in recent years. They were pressing and marking like they never did before. It was a competitive match during the first half. then because they are arsenal they simply imploded after we scored the first or second goal (can't point exactly when the implosion happened). And Cesc was one of the best players in the pitch if not the very best.

you mean influencing directly more than Hazard and third only to Costa and Fabregas? Because that's how many assists and goals he has (at least for the league) so far, third only to Costa and then Cesc. I swear people on this site are hard to please. When he was offering crazy work-rate and inheriting the #10 from a player Mourinho didn't think fit his plans, people complained about him not being creative enough. Then he indeed went through a dark period, but despite his small flashiness and shy creativity, he still scored or assisted 8 times in the last 9 league games, and somehow that's still not enough. He's scoring and creating for others to score consistently for the last nine matches we played, but that's still not enough... Can someone please explain me what they want? Because if those stats I just provided isn't influencing much a game, then I don't know what is... maybe a hundred dribbles in a match without producing one single goal or assist? Maybe defense splitting passes wasted by whoever receives them? I'd say, fuck off and make up your mind because saying a player that has created or scored 8 goals in 9 matches is as fucking influential as it can get... I try to find good and constructive criticism about Oscar on this thread, but all I see is people moaning and ignoring facts. When he's due to criticism for having bad stretches of football, I can find them and agree with some, but when he's doing alright is when the BS galore here can't be stopped. I've been saying the same for a few months... the two of them is redundancy... we need more from 50% of our attack (if you consider the other AM, Eden, and our striker the other 50%). I like that you separated influence in the pitch from scoreline influence... Oscar presses everywhere, he never stops, he goes deep to get the ball when the team is struggling to get it passed opposition midfield, he's been positioning himself in attacking positions much more than he did (hence the many goals and assists), he's been top3 for distance covered in our latest matches. So I guess he's lacking the dribbles to 'influence more in the pitch'? When you have Hazard (with dribbles and pace) and Cesc (with incredible vision and passing) you don't need Oscar to excel on those things in all honesty. He can do his 'simple' passes - such as the assist to Costa the other day with a backheel, because that's as simple as it gets, I suppose - or his opening goals without having to split defenses or dribble half opposition. And for God's sake I'm not criticizing Hazard at all, I'm just saying we can afford someone like Oscar - who doesn't shine - but who, ironically enough - has been influential in our scorelines for the past month (ignoring that horrendous match against Newcastle and the first half against Scum - which wasn't even for the League anyway), if they continue to do so. That's why I find it much harder to defend Willian - who also offers a lot pressing, marking, tackling, but add bollocks to our attack and score sheet. Also, for the 23098450856th time, people became so spoiled by the prodigies around that they can't afford to give time for a younger player to develop anymore. If he isn't 'one of Europe's best attacking midfielders' at the senior age of 23 is because he's a lost case and the few years he was given have already ran out. Some logic...

it's Barça... when don't the referees ever help them? I thought they weren't good enough in the first half - and Gabi was sent off in the tunnel after the first half finished or am I missing something here? There were a conjecture of things, the officiating only made it worse, but Barça surprised them for the second game in a row.

both after Barça had already turned the things around... I hate Barça with all my heart, but I've been resenting Atletico even more than I usually do because of the Simeone lovefest from some here. I wonder what the excuses will now for losing a lead twice in 45 minutes.

Disgraceful - maybe not the charge itself (it's up to interpretation) but their blunt double standards. If I were Mourinho after we're mathematically champions, I'd say we won it against the team(s) competing for the title, referees doing their job just perfectly and FA being fair and unbiased. Then he'd get a ban through a bunch of matches that won't matter anyway. Fuckers.

I'm not sure José does as well. Who are the players he's preventing to play? Salah and out-of-form-Schurrle? So among some very mediocre players (either entirely or because of lack of form), he's leading because of his work rate. Willian has been criticized by José a few times to the media. He's the less worse of our RW options, not someone José necessarily likes (or dislikes). We'll learn if Jose really likes him if 1) we don't start seeing Ramires playing as a RW; 2) if we don't go for a better player in the next window transfer

Not sure this day will come... Iva won't be dropped...

Late, but not pregnant - and finally here bonus:

“I’m happy with my goal but I think this game is a real example of how the team has to play and the team wins the game.” — Branislav Ivanovic truer words haven't been said. He knows - just like Mou, Terry, DD, Diego, Cesc that we need to change our mentality and go to each game as if we were going to war. I'm pro Luís-Azpili, but the team loses a lot of its drive, bite and will without this man. He has the highest fighting spirit in the team and when it seems like this is what we lack the most, it's hard to imagine how worse the team would be without him... Doesn't mean he hasn't been horrendous doing his primary job - which is defend.

lmao, I love tumblr

“My Ramires is back, that’s the second best news of the day. The first to be in the final but to have our Ramires back after weeks of work and sacrifice.” — Jose Mourinho

Learning from the master thought he did really well today. He's taking steps in his development I'm quite happy with. Let's win a couple of medals and assure his contract extension. He'll reach the final steps pretty soon edit: awww my fave bromance they always get together in celebrations edit 2: Terry doing what most of us wanted to God bless, son! edit 4: (can someone post after me please? so I can start a new post? lol)

can't ever deny or detract it from him. He always gives his everything and some more. I thought he was much better today than he usually is. Maybe there's hope after all. Well done, champ

He's missed me rooting for him all way from Brazil In all seriousness though, he has to be ready for Saturday, we need him, even more so as a #10... although without Yaya I'm not sure only Silva will be enough to cause our defensive midfield that much trouble. I mean Silva is quality, top player, but I think City miss a lot without Yaya. Either way, I'd rather play Rami in the pivot and have Cesc as #10 than have Cesc in the pivot.

you mean this?

after being so devastated for dropping out of the cup on Saturday, Mr. Happy looked absolutely elated today, so happy for him This young players need to win this kind of match... it makes wonders to their confidence and development. I'm happy he took part of it and having missed the first half (can't talk about it) I think he was much better than what I generally see from Cahill. He was very no-nonsense in the second, roofing balls away instead of trying to pass them to Courtois when he was pressed by opposition, but also trying to pass when he had time and space. He's also SO MUCH more pro-active than Gary and that's something difficult to forge, so the fact he already has it in his defender blood only helps us. Hope he's in the team to stay, I'd rather see his mistakes - that he'll learn from - than watch Cahill making the same mistake for the 234985th time in his time here. I think he showed character and he seems to be very invested in every game (maybe because he has to win/confirm his position with every touch of the ball)

proper Chels legend having it at Scum scum's faces

see my post on Mourinho's thread... he's already addressing it and adding pressure on the FA. I still don't know what Costa has done (probably missed it)

what was the tune today at the Bridge? lol, hilarious pic begging for some photoshop inserting them anywhere but a football pitch

LOVE Oscar and Hazard in the pic. The team needed it for more reasons than one. So happy we did it

actually I've seen posts about a ban for Costa all over my Twitter and here. Did I miss something or was it the Gerrard altercation?

lol, barely no word here... Very happy for him, thought he was fierce and daring with his choices and despite not seeing the first, I think he was spot on in the second and ET

how could I forget the fucking referee. Even the commentators on my TV said it was a blatant penalty in the first (haven't seen it yet) and Henderson deserved a yellow for that handball. Many coward calls and he definitely seemed to have come to officiate with a plan in mind: fuck Chelsea. Cunt