Castiel

Had a quick check on RAWK, it's apparently completely different to what City and ourselves did and it's totally fine. Not even joking.

The United links are because Moyes has personally been to watch him quite a few times now and they supposedly made him an offer. The consensus in Germany is that Kroos is just using them as a bargaining chip to get the contract he wants from Bayern. I'd be amazed if he actually traded Bayern for United if they fail to get CL football.

If he leaves it'll be because Bayern refuse to pay him what he wants, at which point we're one of the more attractive propositions out there (assuming we go for him). He couldn't be prised out of Bayern if he was happy there, not unless they wanted to get rid of him.

The gif doesn't show it clearly, but Schurrle starts behind Torres, moves passed him and into that space Hazard passes into. Torres just walks in the same direction, he doesn't move around, he doesn't even run, let alone attack some space. He's just a spectator in the whole thing, the fact that he's there means Fulham have to mark him. Schurrle creates all the confusion by attacking the space, something Torres never does.

Honestly I think you're grasping at straws here. The fact that he's on the pitch means he has to be marked, if I was on the pitch they'd be marking me as well. I don't know how you can attribute actual credit to Torres for those goals in good conscience. The third one fair enough because he created it, but he had nothing to do with the other two. You're attributing Fulham's defensive frailty to Torres' impact by virtue of his presence alone.

Not wanting Torres to play doesn't equate to wanting him to fail. Stop reframing the issue to gain some sort of moral high ground, it's just intellectually dishonest. Nobody wants Chelsea players to fail, but many are tired of seeing him flop around the pitch sulking, waiting in hope for that one game in 10 where he'll actually do something productive. The other day he literally got into Hazard's way. Against Fulham he had no excuse to not make the run Schurrle did when Hazard played the through ball, why couldn't he have made that same run? Why was he completely static? Why didn't he make any run, even to try to draw a defender? Why is he walking? The very fact that sometimes he does play well, like against City at home, makes it more infuriating to watch him because it proves that a lot of the time he just can't be arsed. Eto'o and Ba at least give their best. Eto'o is just a spent force and Ba is a bit of a donkey, but they can't be accused of laziness.

Says a lot about this country when all he's done is invest in it.

Did anyone else think Hazard looked really pissed that he messed up that wonderful floating cross?

They have been given against us. The referees have said that if your arm is sticking out you're risking a penalty. May not agree with it but that's the stance they take.

That's why Liverpool fans are the joke of the football world.

It's actually not out of the question for Spurs to pip Arsenal to 4th. Win the game in hand and it's a 6 point gap, win the North London derby and it's 3 points, then Arsenal have to come to Stamford Bridge and host Man City. It's a battle of the bottlers.

Though Sunderland had to go through us, United and now City to win it. They'd certainly deserve it if they won.

The wheels are coming off right on schedule.

He means that was the lineup we used at 3 point lane.

None of the chasing pack play next week thanks to the cups, win this and we go 7 points clear.

Top 10 Club Debt

This is gonna get ugly...

Leverkusen tried this as well and it didn't work. He was extremely successful for them on the left wing, cutting inside. No we should drop him permanently. He's a striker, he's just not a very good one.

Yes and that doesn't necessarily mean he sees him playing as a centre forward. It's the same reason Ronaldo is preferred on the wing. I'll be surprised if we see Schurrle there again, Jose already had this idea and it didn't pan out.

Because it isn't his position. He can do it, but that isn't what his game is about. Playing off CB's will blunt him in my opinion, like it did against United. I think that's why we haven't seen it since. Eto'o isn't prolific but his movement is good, it creates space for the likes of Hazard and Schurrle to find those channels. He can also receive the ball in tight spaces and play smart linkup play with Hazard in particular. Schurrle wants to run onto balls, not have them played into him when he's between two CB's.

I think this talk of Schurrle as a centre forward is reactionary to our terrible striking options. He likes cutting in from wide and he actually has an excellent cross as well. He isn't very good at hold up play. I'd go with Eto'o up front. ------------ Cech ------------ Ivan - Cahill - Terry - Dave ------ Matic -- Ramires ----- Schurrle - Oscar - Hazard ------------- Eto'o ------------- As usual we can easily take off Oscar for Luiz if necessary but I don't think Spurs will overrun us in midfield.

That celebration

They won't get anything. Things are just going Liverpool's way at the moment, but one loss could put them 7 points behind and we're on the home stretch now. They've still got to beat City and ourselves, albeit at Anfield.

Beat Spurs and we're 9 points ahead of City, their games in hand all become must wins for them. Great to have some breathing room at the top.

Who would your ideal alternative be?