Hard fought win!our attacking play just seems so out of ideas...can't recall a single penetrating pass from anyone except matic's long ball for oscar in the first half,and hazard's neat pass to put in lampsy.

Oscar is starting to remind me of a shorter version of ramires,with a slightly better first touch.That's what a lack of competition can do to u.schurrle should've been in from the start.

Willian is also starting to look like another version of ramires with a slightly better shot and bit more hair.so many players to backtrack and defend,not a single one apart from hazard with actual finesse.

Sigh.yes i do miss mata now. Problem wasn't our defence..it was our lacklustre attack.

P.s: ironically,when the real ramires came on he actually did better than most of our attacking mids.

Our supposedly first choice number 10 seems to be going downhill atm. Fatigue is a poor excuse too imo.how many games did he play under rdm/rafa again?'tons' is the word that comes to mind.

Still believe it's a mistake,but the even bigger blunder was not replacing him adequately and flogging KDB while we're at it. Well at least he's got time on his side,and we can look forward to schurrle getting some chances.

Just a little bit more rotation and we would be fine me thinks.I'm not a big fan of calling on players only when we're desperate,as it sends out the wrong message. Each player deserves some game time,and if they're not cutting it in training its jose's job to knock some sense into them.
Last thing we need is a totally knackered squad when matches are coming thick and fast.

This is also one of the reasons the next time Ba gets a cameo appearance,he'll probably be really2 poor. Match fitness doesn't just magically appear without games.

At least jose acted swiftly in taking oscar off. I want to see the oscar who isn't just good in the tackle,but not afraid to try some creative flicks and passes. These days he keeps it really2 simple and winds up losing possession anyway. He's immensely more talented than that.

Schurrle has done really well in the sense that he isn't complaining while being glued to the bench.

i remember quite vividly the drog's superb backheel goal vs madrid. can anyone honestly say our current strikers would be able to pull off something similar? he will inevitably be the dangerman vs gala. terry vs drogs..wow. who would've thought we'd see the day eh

sometimes i wonder how well he'd fare in this mourinho team. pretty sure our attacking mids will be getting more space as most epl teams will be busy double or triple marking him! it'll probably lead to a lower goal haul though

just to to chip in on our striker situation, i don't think costa would be an ideal purchase. i'd say we throw in lukaku, and show some faith in him to lead the line. nobody needs to be reminded of how well danny boy at pool is doing, all coming together with a large dose of the manager's trust.

if we did choose to splash the cash on alternatives, i'd rather we invest on sociedad's griezmann, and newcastle's loic remy as third choice. very close to their peak, and both seem just about ready to make the leap to a 'bigger' team. our last few 'star' striker purchases who were apparently at their peak can be summed up in one word really :-disastrous. from psv's kezman, to milan's shevchenko and pool's torres. the only exception for me was anelka who came on and did a fantastic job.

didier was close to his best at marseille, and subsequently showcased his legendary playing days with us. griezmann and remy are very close to realising their full potential and i think as didier has shown, that's the best time to bring them over.

p.s: forget falcao who's nursing an ACL injury, as some players never recover after experiencing this particularly nasty mishap. the movement of essien these days, tells u all u need to know. cavani? falls into the 'at their peak' category, hence an expensive risk we shouldn't take. FFP's upon us, its time to buy smart.

torres might be jolted into action by jose's little media gaff, but i don't believe ba will be able to do anything about it. mainly because he'll be stuck on the bench. if he gets more than 5 minutes, it'll be quite a miracle.

i wonder what's eto'o's take on all this though..some posters on vital chelsea managed to dig up some info via twitter, that he's quite upset. his performance during the match will be a fair indicator i suppose. but if all of a sudden schurrle / ba starts, then we'll know there's a problem!

not something that should've been revealed to anyone by jose, i'm afraid. we're never sure how the players will react. now we can only hope they take it in a positive way, and it fires them up.

Gotta say..that looked like a red for lloris..rushed out like a madman,fouled eto'o and saved by a poor decision from the linesman.

Can't believe hazard didn't put that away..haih

Yep sandro has been fouling non-stop.we're just beginning to lose our way slightly in this game.have to keep the ball better,and stop hoofing it long to hazard for heaven's sake!

Not a good first half.two excellent chances,failed to put away both.if we insist on playing it long,may as well throw in demba ba.

Oscar for lampard..wow.must say I'm surprised,but its a positive move

Hahaha serves vertonghen right,he got torres sent off in the first game,then politely gives eto'o an assist.such class.

Now a penalty!!

Edeeeeennnnnn~~~~!!!

Spurs down to ten,let's work on that goal difference!

Bahh pity schurrle...didn't have the worst of games,but his touches have been a bit loose.Ramires clone/willian is in

What the hell is sandro still doing on the pitch? Unbelievable.

Hmm no more goals it seems.

Azpi booked? Haih.time to bid for sandro,he's practically immune to red cards.

Baaaaa baaa baaa..hahaha talk about a deadly poacher!thanks for assisting the first one sandro!

Well.let's just say we pressured them into making mistakes.should've been 2 nil up in the first half anyway

Actually Ba's running off the ball was pretty good. Certainly looked determined to score,and his sharp instincts helped him bag two goals.

Haha eto'o trolling the gaffer with that celebration,obviously referring to jose hinting at the possibility of him being 'over aged.' not sure what the boss thought about it,though.

Finally Ba gets a look in.Although it's directly related to nando getting that strange injury in the warm up,those 2 goals killed spurs off completely and will help his confidence a little.

Haha that's good to know.Guess the fact that we smashed 4 goals past them probably helped. A big win always helps with team morale,and i'm sure this confidence can be transferred to the next game. Saw schurrle celebrating with the lads at the end,so hopefully he's not too down about being subbed

Longball tiiimeeeeee~~~