On a brighter note...

[ashwin]

While we all know that Stoch has been performing admirably for Twente, at least for me, this is all based on highlights of his goals and some matches and of course reviews in general. I finally watched a full Twente match yesterday and Stoch was bloody awesome!

His vision seems incredible and he has a real eye for goal. Dribbling was second to none in that game and dare i say better than any of the regular Chelsea starters now. Excellent pace as well. Good crossing. Touches were Anelkaesque. He scored but was rightly flagged offside.

He seems to love cutting inside and trying to find that killer pass and seems to find it more often than not. He brings back memories of Robben albeit with less pace and strength.

Apart from all this his passion during the game really impressed me and i think he is undoubtedly the best (closest to the first team) among our current crop of youngsters.

Twente incredibly did not score and lost INSPITE of Stoch.

I'm sure he'll make it in the first team next season. ;)

[High Street Ken]

Less strength than Robben? What the hell's he made of, tissue paper and twiglets?!

[sexelk]

Less strength than Robben? What the hell's he made of, tissue paper and twiglets?!

hahaha

well put

[dkw]

Less strength than Robben? What the hell's he made of, tissue paper and twiglets?!

i didnt think it was possible to have less strength than robben. a new born baby would give him trouble in a scrap.

[TheWestwayWonder]

While we all know that Stoch has been performing admirably for Twente, at least for me, this is all based on highlights of his goals and some matches and of course reviews in general. I finally watched a full Twente match yesterday and Stoch was bloody awesome!

His vision seems incredible and he has a real eye for goal. Dribbling was second to none in that game and dare i say better than any of the regular Chelsea starters now. Excellent pace as well. Good crossing. Touches were Anelkaesque. He scored but was rightly flagged offside.

He seems to love cutting inside and trying to find that killer pass and seems to find it more often than not. He brings back memories of Robben albeit with less pace and strength.

Apart from all this his passion during the game really impressed me and i think he is undoubtedly the best (closest to the first team) among our current crop of youngsters.

Twente incredibly did not score and lost INSPITE of Stoch.

I'm sure he'll make it in the first team next season. :)

Thats a good report, thank you And I am glad to hear he has come on so strong there.

I have really high hopes for this kid, especially after the few glimpses he got last season. I hope he can be as good as you think.

[mad_mac]

Great to hear, have to admit my imited access to the Eridividisie means that I see very little of Stoch play, that and McClaren's terrible accent stopping me from watching.

So, in essence, thanks for the updates, I really hope that someone is watching him closely at Chelsea. One thing I wonder...are he and Kakuta too similar, or are they both too small to actually play in the same team?

[rahul]

Some positive from the weekend. Stoch scored a goal in Twente's 4-3 win over NEC. He now has 8 goals in 24 appearances for FC Twente, 6 in 15 in the Dutch League and 2 in 9 in the Europa league.

[dkw]

i was wondering about stochs availability now that the ban is on hold? if hes playing so well i presume we can now bring him back if the terms of the loan allows it and register him back to our squad.

[rahul]

I dont think he will have much chance in our first team this term, so he'd be loathe to come as he's doing great there and from the interview not so long ago, looks very happy. By bringing him back we'd be hampering his progress imo. Although it could be said that its the sacrifice that we might have to make in order to fight the potential ban, but I am convinced we'd find a solution in the Jan transfer window, hence leaving Stoch where he is for this season would be a better idea.

[BlueDay]

He's a winger, we play diamond formation. Anyone else apprehensive about this one?

[Cam]

Yes, I am...

Our diamond doesn't even have wide midfielders...our mids tend to tuck in to allow the fullbacks to advance.

Edited December 9, 2009 by Cam

[rahul]

Although he's a winger, he likes to cut inside and take shots. I think he can play in those wide left and right positions in the diamond.

[Cam]

Do you think he could play tip of the diamond?

Either way, even if he can play succesfully in the diamond, I don't think he's got enough to push any of our existing mids out of the team at this point in time.

[rahul]

I dont think he has enough to play at the tip of the diamond and we have more than enough players vying for that spot in Deco, Cole and Kakuta. Maybe next season he could come off the bench to inject pace and trickery in tight matches or when we want to change the system. It will take a long time for him, we're looking at 2-3 years minimum, to break into the first team by which time he will be off to another club anyway imo.

Edited December 10, 2009 by rahuldotchelsea

[Ruh Buh Juh]

Stoch is an out and out winger, that's clear as day. So, his position is more likely to be either on the left or right side of the diamond, or as part of the top 2 in the Christmas tree. I'm sure that Stoch has enough talent to make it in our squad, but with our abundance midfielders, will he actually get a place?

Deco, Ballack are reaching their retirements, most probably at the end of this season. Lampard, though he has 4 years left on his contract, will most likely be getting less and less playing time as the years go by. Mikel, Essien, Joey, Kakuta, Malouda, Zhirkov will all probably still be there and with the addition of Matic, and other reserve/youth stars (Jacob Mellis, Michael Woods, Daniel Philliskirk to name a few) and probably a midfielder or two along the way, midfield places are getting scarce. If all of these make it to our first team squad, we will have: Mikel, Matic, Essien, Mellis, Woods, Philliskirk, Ahmed, Zhirkov, Malouda, Kakuta, Stoch, Joey and whoever else pops up. All those players have to fill 4 places (if Carlo stays, which I hope he does) in a diamond formation, or 5 in a christmas tree.

I have no idea how it'll work. I'd love to see Stoch there, but it doesn't look like it'll happen.

[rahul]

FC Twente won on Saturday night against NAC Breda. The guests from Breda took the lead in the first half through Edwin de Graaf but FC Twente turned the match around in the second half. Goals of Miroslav Stoch (2) and Bryan Ruiz meant the squad of Steve McClaren kept the three points in Enschede and are still leaders of the Eredivisie.

He's on fire...albeit in Dutch league so not getting my hopes too high.

[Maksimov]

He's on fire...albeit in Dutch league so not getting my hopes too high.

A cheeky penalty to make it 1-1 and although he was lucky to get the rebound from his own shot, it was a quality shot that made it 2-1. I only saw ten minutes of highlights, but he seemed very lively.

[The Machine]

I am delighted at how well Stoch is doing this season. Hopefully he will carry on the good form and win a eredivisie title with Twente. It would be fantastic to see him again at Chelsea. He is going to be one of the players to look at for at next year's world cup in South South Africa.

[Cam]

Excuse my ignorance on this matter, but do loan players get winners medals if their loan team wins the title?

If so, do they have to be there all season, or can they have a half year loan and still get a medal?

[dkw]

Excuse my ignorance on this matter, but do loan players get winners medals if their loan team wins the title?

If so, do they have to be there all season, or can they have a half year loan and still get a medal?

im not sure what the rules are in holland, but you only have to play a certain amount of games in the prem to qualify (12 i think) whether your on loan or not.

[Maksimov]

Excuse my ignorance on this matter, but do loan players get winners medals if their loan team wins the title?

If so, do they have to be there all season, or can they have a half year loan and still get a medal?

I'm not 100% sure, but I think that the player will get a medal if the player has played a certain minimum amount of league matches. For example, in Premiership the minimum amount is 10 matches.

[mad_mac]

I think Maksimov is on the right tracks here. I think you have to play a certain number of games in order to gett a medal.. I'm sure there are different quotas per cmpetition.

I remember when we won the Premiership and Cech was our main keeper, Carlo Cudicini was out partying with everyone, but never got a medal....but some bloke in the crowd did!

[Plavi26]

Jose played Geremi in two or three games just so he can get the medal, and Maksimov is right about the Premiership quota. Crespo got his medals with AC I believe, so why not Stoch?

[bjd]

Jose played Geremi in two or three games just so he can get the medal, and Maksimov is right about the Premiership quota. Crespo got his medals with AC I believe, so why not Stoch?

Its 8 or 9 games you have to play before you get a medal. If you play those and then go on loan you are still eligible.

If Crespo got a medal when he was on loan at AC Milan it would've been because Milan won something not Chelsea!

[Maksimov]

Its 8 or 9 games you have to play before you get a medal.

From the Premier League Handbook 2009/2010:

The League Champions shall further receive 21 commemorative medals to be presented by

the Club to its Manager and to such of its Players and Officials as it thinks fit provided, in the

case of a Player, that he has that Season played in a minimum of 10 of its League Matches.

Additional medals may be presented with the consent of the Board.