Shotgun883

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLpuOEkit_w&app=desktop Does this prat know Loserpool have never actually won the Premiership...

Id be happy with Costa, Lukaku and one of our current fowards. Ba would be my choice as hes solid and the most FFP compliant one, although that will be the reason he'll go first, Torres is the most likely to stay as he'll cost more although I think Lukaku will look at Torres and Costa and think twice about staying (im convinced about his talent but not neccesarily his attitude) Id be over the moon with Bamford and Traore though, especailly as Schurrle and Moses can play there too. Costa, Lukaku, Bamford and Traore. It wont happen but id like to see it.

Hes a solid player, but do we really want to spend £5m and £65k/wk for a non homegrown player to come and put more obstacles in the way of us actually developing a youth team player? Id prefer Hazard Jr, Piazon over Holtby.

I like it, seems about right. I cant see Hilario and Schwarzer both extending their contracts though. Eto'os wages are too big to be third choice, especially as Shurrle can play there, he'll also want a last pay off and can easily get it, I would prefer Ba or Bamford (will NEVER happen) as third choice, somthing tells me though, theres no way anyone will take Torres' £175k/wk off our hands.

Carvalho, like most CBs made mistakes but most of those didnt entail him making a 80m run up the pitch, losing the ball then scything down one of their players to break up the play. He was what Luiz should aim to be, quality in possesion, very good at reading the game but with a better understanding of where risks can be taken. Also a 27 year old Terry was always there to mop up Carvalhos mistakes, a 32 year old Terry can only do so much for Luiz. Think I might be.

Im one of the type of people who never fall out with Ex's, we have generally left on happy terms after enriching each others lives for our time together. Its exactly the same here. Whilst Luiz will be missed by all at the club, its hard to argue though that whilst he isnt being used in this natural position, he offers a massive amount to Chelsea. If Mourinho trusted him in Central Defence, playing in a ball retention system, then yes he would be and absolute asset and sorely missed on the pitch if we sold him. BUT Chelsea dont play that way, Mourinho doesnt play risk takers in defence, he NEVER will. At this point we are holding Luiz back form playing regular high quality football in his favourite position, I want more than that for him. He absolutely suits Barcelona and their style. There should be no hard feelings if thats what he wants, he came, he entertained, we couldnt live up to his needs. He's improved massively since he joined us and we will reap a hansome profit which will help us reinvest in players Mourinho will use correctly. No losers, just a player moving on. To carry on the relationship metaphor, He loved (helped) us, we loved(helped) him, neither of us are willing to hold each other back from the happiness (success) we deserve in the future.

No, Mikel is critisized for slow, distribution, the turning circle of the QE2, putting team mates under pressure and fouling opponents as opposed to actually tackilng them.

Enjoyed that, thanks.

Its not, it makes alot of sense. Chelsea have a very good CB who the manager doesnt rate at CB. Instead we play him in midfield which is not his favourite position. We need a World Class Midfielder. He is not a World Class Midfielder. Its in the Interest of both Chelsea and Luiz to allow him to go somewhere, play his natural position and in return Chelsea get a sizeable chunk of cash to reinvest in our Midfield. Barcelona are desperate for a central defence after not spending a penny on a defender since 2009 and the liklihood of them being banned by September is high, if PSG are interested we suddenly hasve a super rich club challenging a very rich and desperate club for a player who doesnt fit our team. We could easily ask for a decent profit on our €25 Mil investment. Luiz is a very good player and a LAD to boot but we cant expect him to stay around whilst we jepodise his international career whilst stopping him moving to a massive club who are willing to pay a fair price. There will be no losers in this situation and he'd always be welcome back at the bridge.

Our central 2 need to be hubs, they dont need to be looking to play the killer ball every pass. What we need in this area is sensible ball distribution and retention. The ability and willingness to recieve the ball under pressure and make the simple pass which enables us to recycle the ball and create space for other players. Xavi and Pirlo do this better than anyone in the world. Dictating the possesion, pace of the game. This then allows the 10's the space and time to do the more forward thinking play. Absolutely, Modric would be my choice. Has kinda cemented his place at Real and unless the decide a Marquee replacement in this area is what they want, he wont move. Would still probably cost £40Mil. Pogba is a good player but is Matic Mk2, very much more in the style of Yaya than what we are really after. Again would cost £40 Mil+. Just cant see Chelsea going all ot this year.

Football is a strange game, its all about combinations. Scholes could never run a midfled by himself but put Keane next to him and suddenly hes gods gift. Zidane/Makelele, Lampard/Makelele, Carvalho/Terry, Pirlo/Gattuso, Ferdinand/Vidic, Mascherano/Alonso. In virtually every single one of these cases, once the players split their teams suffered. Each combination has the right amount of pace, tequnique, strength, vision. Most players require a solid partnership of complimenting abilities to really flourish. This is never more true than with creative or deep lying play makers, technically gifted but mostly lacking bite. Playing McEchran alongside Ben Watson is like trying to drive a Ferrari on petrol sieved out of the Exxon Valdez, itll work but BADLY. Playing with better players than Wigans, allowing him to play his natural game with a complimenting central midfield partner, Matic, Ramieres and we may actually see Josh develop. For the record, I dont think Josh is ready to be a first team Chelsea regular. BUT without getting game time HERE I cannot see Josh developing at all without being allowed to play football at a higher level. We have the destroyers in our midfield, physicality, pace, athleticism, Mikel, Matic, Ramires, MvG, Ake, Chalobah. We have no one who dictates play from the defence, noone looking to recieve the ball under pressure and distribute it wisely. Long term I think josh could offer that, Id like to see us dispense with some of our blunt instruments, *Cough* MIKEL *Cough*, and look for someone who really offers us some quality possesion in this area. A Fabregas, Alonso, Pirlo "type" player. Christ even Micheal Carrick is better on the ball than any of our central midfielders. Modric, Khediera, Kroos, Moutinho, Toulalan all offer something in the mid term.

Its gonna be a very interesting transfer window. If Barce are able to sign players i can really see us cashing in on Luiz. Hes not Mourinho's type of defender, hes good but there are better choices in Midfield also a factor is IF we can sign a replacement in the Alonso/Pirol mould. I think Costa is 80% confirmed, We desperately need a LB, I cannot see Cole wanting to play second fiddle, hes better than that and can make bank abroad. Shaw, even for £30m, with the saftey net of Dave at LB is exactly where we should and will go. Gk should be interesting. Leaving, Mikel, Eto'o, Ba or Torres Hilario, Schwarzer Cech, Delac, Blackman / Courtois, Cech, Blackman Azpi, Ivanovic, Terry, Zouma, Cahill, Ake, SHAW, Kalas, Luiz Matic, Ramires, MvG, AN Other, Lampard Shurrle, Salah, Oscar, Willian, Hazard Lukaku, COSTA, Ba I think Mourinho is going to be alot more cut throat on our Reserves, what is the point in retaining Marin, Romeu, Kakuta, Hutchinson, Moses, Davila, Bertrand amongst others if they offer nothing to this first team. Were holding them back by throwing them around europe on loan, they are a wage drain. Mourinho will either us them or cut them

There is more to this than pure talent, I think Courtois will make 90% the decision for us. I can see him coming back here for Pre Season and having a go in some matches. He may decide to stay based on promises of first team football, he may want another loan. However the big thing standing over him is his contract, He has 2 years left on his current contract, if he signs an extension (as has been reported), we have no problem whatever he wants can happen. If he doesnt we have our hand forced, we will have to make a decision THIS summer. Sell or Play. We will not risk losing resale value waiting until next year to make the decision, My thoughts are in this situation Big Pete will move on, but ideally he will sign a new contract, we'll allow him to stay on loan at Athletico for another 1-2 years, greasing our move for Costa and retain Cech until the end of his contract. He'll them come in at 24/5 and be automatic first choice.

Nearly signing off on this one. I think MvG will step into a first team slot and we wont have to spend loads on a midfielder. Theres no way Chelsea will sell all of the Torres/Eto'o/Ba sh*teforce. Bamofrd will go on loan again, I hope Derby get promoted and we let Bamford stay there another season, I wouldnt be against Josh going there too.

I truly think there is alot to be said about our over reliance on old pro's. Im not talking about the first teamers, Lamps, etc. How long was Ferreira used for 10 games a season? 3 years? Yes he had large wages but instead of letting a younger player have that time we chose to mug off the likes of PvA and Bruma for him. What is Hilario or Schwarzer really going to do long term? I tuly believe we should have a core of 11 World class players (or more accuratley the best players we can get for every position) 5 replacements who are right up there 2 Defs 2 Mids 1 Str, after that the team should have no one over 24. Does Ba offer more than Lukaku or even Pat Bamford? Will Cole ever be first choice again? Mikel is just filling a slot, yes hes decent but what hes started 18 games this season, only 9 in the league and hes only completed 90 minutes 14 times. Think of the growth Josh or Nathan C, Oriol, or Ake would have if they were given that amount of game time. Mikel is 26 just about to come into his prime, he should be playing weekly, this is not his level. Do we trust all these players as much as Mikel, no, but can you really tell me that not a single one would have sat in our team not improving if Mikel wasnt taking up playing time because we gave him pity game time. Then take into account his £70k a week salary and compare that to all 4 of those players who combined only earn around £100k (of whom i virtually guarantee Forrest and Middlesborough arent paying £30k a week to Josh and Chalobah so we are basically paying Mikel £100k+ / week) Mikel is our 5th choice Central Midfielder, behind Lamps, Matic, Ramires and a central defender Luiz. It makes no sense in my mind to pay someone £6m a year to stifle the development of younger players. You only have to look at the Matic situation for instance to show how badly we handle our youth. When we sold him we had Meiriles, Benayoun, Romeu, Essien in the squad. Look at the amount of game time and money we wasted because we could be a little patient with someone who obviously had alot of talent. Or Sturridge who was replaced by Ba. Or Kakuta who was marginalised for Benayoun. We really need to get our act together on the youth players. Despite a very good season this year we havent had a single player really come out of the blue to make a difference.

Maybe not scum, certainly there are a decent minority of Liverpool fans (along with most clubs, especially ours) who need to look in the mirror, but the world doesnt revolve around them. Yes its tragic, yes its reasonable to mark significant milestones, 25 years for instance. I certainly dont believe it was overdone at the weekend. But as most here have said, let them rest. Justice will never be done properly, anyone who gets convicted now will not be actively serving or wont have had any power on the day. It wont change the past. The 96s memory has changed football massively for the better and long protracted legal proceding and Independent Investigation after Independent investigations only serves to witch hunt officers of whom the vast majority were probably carrying out orders as set, on the back drop of years of holiganism procedures were set as a standard to combat holiganism, those 96 would have died anyway because thats how football matches were policed. The cover up afterwards was horrible but the police HAVE had systemic change in the way football is policed, stadiums are built and match day attendance is regulated. Lets not kid ourselves that JFT96 is anything more than tit for tat revenge.

I cant stand the it. Tell me whether on the 29th May you see a single post on any social media referencing another footballing tragedy which happened 25+ years ago...

There is alot of variables, I can see a bit of movement but not too much in our first team. Mainly out of contract, reserve players and our woeful strikeforce leaving with 2-3 players coming. Leaving Cole (No way he'll renew his contract) Mikel (50/50, Id like him to stay but i can see why he wouldnt) Luiz (if the right offer comes in, Barce's transfer ban has probably saved us selling him though) 2/3 of these, there is no way we will sell 3 strikers, good replacement strikers will cost too much. Eto'o (although id be ok with him staying) Ba (again hes not a bad player as third choice, but is that what he wants?) Torres (if someone is dumb enough to buy him) Schwarzer/Hilario (Maybe 5 of these out, my guess Cole, Eto'o, Hilario, all contracts running out Mikel, Ba maybe £15m total.) Renewing Contracts Lamps (still offers a great deal), Terry (is this even a question?) Incoming; Striker - probably Costa. Left back - Possibly Shaw if we can, Contraeo if we cant, Bertrand if we really cant (3 maximum in - and we wont spend £50M net.) Returning from loan Lukaku (If we sell him we truly deserve the Torres, Ba, Eto'o strikeforce.), Zouma, Bertrand (dependant on LB signing) Pre season decision, squad or loan Moses (21), Hazard (21), Josh (20), Atsu (21), Delac (21) (Probably all loan, but id like to see Moses, Hazard and Delac in the squad) Pre season, Decisions to be made, they are either ready or they never will be; use or sell Romeu (22), Marin (25), Kakuta (23), Hutch (25), PvA (23), Davila (23) (maybe Romeu and PvA staying, probably all sold/released though) Finally, the ace in the hole. Courtois. My prediction is he'll sign a new contract, stay at AM for another 1-2 years and lubricate our move for Costa. If he doesnt sign we have to bring him into our first team or risk him leaving which would be a travesty. It'll be hard on Pete but he is the future.

Boom thanks Timmy "Tim nice but dim" Sherwood.

Not being awful is the height of Torres' Chelsea career. I have backed him enough. I will honestly say it's only been this season I have truly decided we cannot afford to have him contributing the square root of FA, taking game time away from players who can actually benefit from it. How many times are people going to decree the second coming, how many strikers are we going to marginalized because we spent £50m and £175k a week on Torres, Sturridge, Drogba, so far Lukaku? Scraping a pass mark and doing well for an assist is the bare minimum I expect from a title chasing teams first choice striker.

Torres shouldn't be trusted in a blue shirt after he missed that header on the 6 yard box from hazards Rabona cross. Would have been one of the goals of the season and all he had to do was get a simple lofted cross on target. I've said before we don't need a 40 goal a season striker with our attacking midfield, a striker who brings others into play is what's required but you expect a basic level of competency when it comes to finishing, otherwise we may as we'll bring in Emile Heskey.

Our decent players with a top manager against that cluster managed by Tim 'Arry MK2 " run around more" Sherwood. All the teams who have bested us this year have done so with tactical rigidity, something I'm guessing Sherwood isn't a fan of.

JM is right though, even if he does piss them off they can't physically score LESS Goals for Chelsea if they f**king tried. What are they gonna do, f**k off out the club and take their 500k a week with them? Maybe it'll bash their heads together, for too long we've heard "he's getting in the right positions", "working really hard for the team", "I'd be worried if he wasn't getting any chances" and my absolute favourite. "Hopefully that goal will spark him on a run" this could be directed at any striker that's played for Chelsea (including DD in his last 2 years) since Carlo's first year.

I'd prefer to expect 2-3rd and hope for 1st than to build us up and see us "fail" and not win. I'm more than happy with the way the team is developing, on this trajectory I can see us being successful for the next 10 years so I can be patient for a year. ;) let city be favorites this year, it'll be nice to be able to prove critics wrong.

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/transfers/transfer-news-thibault-courtois-will-not-be-joining-barcelona-according-to-his-father-who-also-admits-his-chelsea-future-is-in-doubt-9106805.html I really hope he can be convinced to do a season in tandem with Cech. It'd be a travesty if we let him slip.