GhostOfDembaPast

I think the English factor is what makes a lot of us lean towards him. Peraonally, I think it's also important to see a few English players in the XI. With Terry's time almost over, you only have Cahill, who many still have reservations about. Shame you have the 15m surcharge for English players.

Mikel, Matic and Loftus Cheek. Would be really good to see. Not much chance of it happening and will lack mobility and goals, but at least we won't see midfielders being manhandled and brushed aside. You can leave Hazard, Remy and whoever else to do most of the damage with the help of the fullbacks. RLC to get forward when able as well.

I like Matic too much, tbh. His style of play, midfield dominance and consistency was so refreshing to see after years of .... Well, you know who. That's why it personally bothers me the most that he seems to have lost everything he had (with the exception of some occasional, sweet passing). Combination of power and technique is what Matic had. Have always liked having big, powerful, tenacious, etc type midfielders who can actually physically overpower opposition midfields. If they can combine that energy and power with graceful play like Matic, that's the dream player for me. I've said it before plenty of times here and elsewhere, give me the bulldozering midfield of Essien, Ballack, Lampard, Makelele (not exactly a bulldozer, but you get the point) over Xavi, iniesta, Fabregas and their tici taca, any day.

Much rather Madrid, then Manchester, of course. Is that in his best interest though, a club likely to give him similar treatment to what he received here?

:) ..... Just kidding, mate. It's a fair point. Your actual comment.

^ Every time De Bruyne scores or puts in a fantastic ball it burns. Then you tell yourself without Oscar, the titke wouldn't have been won last season, and it cools down somewhat. :|

In defence of Ba, I'm pretty sure very few of his appearances were starts compared to the other two. Number of minutes played might have been a better reflection, but yes, I realise the purpose here isn't to compare the three as much as it is to illustrate they were were all pretty average. On Lukaku, I think it was a consensus amongst Everton fans that he was underwhelming for them last season, and the arguments about playing for a pressure-bearing title-contending side seem to have disappeared now that he's scoring and Costa isn't.

Well, you can reasonably expect midfielders of the supposed highest quality on some of the highest wages in football to be somewhat well rounded whilst really excelling in one or two areas. It seems the players mentioned are, atm, each decent/good at one aspect and close to useless in every/most other areas. So unbalanced, Esp when you add the mental frailties (lack of motivation, lack of belief, lack of determination, lack of leadership). Like I mentioned, one can only pass, one can only run, one can only offer good movement, one can only offer mediocre protection to the back four, etc ('Only' might be a slight exaggeration, but it certainly feels that way watching them.)

Has to be Matic. You don't get many showing that level of unbelievable improvisation in the box.

Hahaha... Just an amalgamation of the various names club is rumoured to be interested in, and names wanted by fans. (Emanolo shortlist would probably involve a few more Djilobodjis and Hectors!)

The nature of many young players is that they will need games where they might perform average, below par, until they start to bed in and their confidence, skill level, tactical awareness, stamina, experience all increases. This has been such a poor season, I would be quite content to see RLC, Kennedy, Traore, Baba feature regularly and gain some valuable game time and experience.

Not January but, possible shortlist...? CB: Laporte (exp) Benatia (rsn?) Stones (exp) Fonte (rsn?) Christiansen FB: Van der Weil (rsn?) Aurier (rsn?) Coleman (exp) Ricardo Rodriguez (exp) Ake Aina CM: Pogba (Astr) Imbula (exp) Andre Gomes (exp) Marchisio (rsn) Bender (rsn) Vainqueur (chp) Nainggolan (rsn) Van Ginkel Chalobah WG/FW: Reus (exp) Brahimi (rsn?) Teixeira (rsn?) Mahrez (rsn?) Griezmann (exp) Kennedy Moses ST: Lukaku (exp) Benteke (exp) Kane (exp) Morata (rsn?) Lacazette (exp) Austin (chp) Falcao (perm) :) Traore Solanke

Possibly the freshest 11? Good pace as well for the counter. Likely to see Fabregas and Willian again, though.

Why spend 30m on players like Teixera? I would much rather see the club use money from Cuadrado, Salah, (possibly) Oscar sales and go all out for Reus.

I really don't get what's happened to Matic. He was a consistent, dominant presence in midfield, never the quickest, but always there mopping up, blocking attacks, providing refreshing forward passes for a DM, and going on the occasional dribbling surge through midfield. He looks weak and slower than ever, both physically and mentally. He needs a chat with the his old mentor - the wilder-looking, slightly crazy third sibling of Wenger and Pellegrino...

Matic: No legs, No strength, No clue. Just a big lump atm. Fabregas: No legs, No strength, No fight, Good passing Oscar: No strength, No bottle, no consistency, avg quality Ramires: No technique, No passing, Low IQ. Lot of legs. Mikel: No tenacity, No legs, some strength, average quality, no offence. (pun intended) RLC: Low stamina, No experience, Some promise, some technique, some physicality. State of the midfield at present.

He's got to give the senior players a chance to prove themselves, like he said. A clean slate, or else he loses respect, integrity, etc. If he sees a lack of desire or good reason to drop players, I'm confident he'll do just that.

Judging by his his reaction to the first goal, the boos from the last game were probably a kick up the backside. Came out today to salvage some personal pride. Even managed to stay on his feet and bring a ball down under close pressure from two defenders at one point.

Well, well... Look who's got his mojo back?

? African fanboys.

Most infuriating aspect of the play is the ponderous attack down the right between Willian and Ivanovic. When any type of cross eventually gets played into the box, the opposition players have had enough time to do a couple of laps around the pitch then jog back into place. What's more, you know, if you're lucky, there's only Costa there surrounded by about 5 players who are all waiting to easily clear it - and other Chelsea midgets and weaklings either nowhere in sight, or incapable of making any sort of presence felt. I don't care what anyone says Ivanovic has to stop appearing at right back. The players always seem to play this silly little trickling pass down the side to get from a semi-promising situation to an arguably worse situation, and most of the time they don't manage to pull it off. Complete waste. Put Azpi in his place and Baba on the left. At least you're likely to get some quality ball into the box from both sides. Well played Obi Mikel, actually played with a bit of class and composure, though you feel if he was to get a start he'll do something to remind you why you never want him to start in the first place. Well played Costa, too, for the goals and a bit more hunger. Why oh why didn't he take the pen to complete his hat trick?

Even. Not too bad. Not great, either. Matic was one of the poorer players on the pitch, then he goes and gives away a handball penalty. Seriously, I've been a Magic backer through all the garbage he's been serving up, simply because of the lack of a capable alternative, but unless he puts in a top notch 45 mins (unlikely) he needs to be booted off the first 11 for Mikel.

Not liking this lineup. Maybe he's giving the underperforming senior players a chance to prove themselves worthy before he starts dumping them on the bench.