Blue Sun Tzu

I'm with Just on this one... he just does not look the same player he was a couple of years ago. It was absolute madness to buy him for any money let alone £50m. It's Sheva all over again. Will Roman never learn.

What I like most about Luiz is that he is a fan's player.. the kind of player that Chelsea fans have been brought up with. He has genuine class and charisma and something that has been lacking from this side since... well Zola really - and that is that something special, extraordinary and unique. He is an all round entertainer and as such is the new hero of the shed already.

To be fair, Fernando could have taken heed of this as well.

Not the way essien, lamps, malouda & drogba are playing at the moment i wouldn't... my main worry is that we just have not shown any creativity for months now. Who is going to provide the service for Torres?

of course. that's why. cheers for the clarification.

So Gael doesn't make the 15 for Fulham against Tottenscum today. So what exactly is the point of this loan deal then?

As much as I try I cannot get excited about this pending transfer of Torres to us. Believe me I have tried, after all I am nothing if not a loyal supporter. But deep down in my heart I am pretty certain that this will be a disaster for us in much the same way that the transfer of Shevchenko was. There are alarming similarities which are as follows: 1. The transfer seem clear to on the whim of Roman rather than a footballing decision made by the manager. Will Roman never learn? 2. Torres, like Sheva, has already played his best football. After his injury problems unlikely ever to reach the level he was a couple of years ago. He has shown the odd flash this season but that is all. Certaily nothing to warrant a £50m transfer fee. 3. I think Torres knows that his star is on the wane and that this is his last chance of a huge new deal. He's never sign for Real because of his Athletico connections. Likewise Man U becuase of his Man U connections. Man City have already bought their strikers in Tevez, Dzeko and Ballotelli so the oly club left that could afford him is Chelsea are the only club that can afford him and he and his agent know it. 4. Like Sheva before him, there is no natural place for him in the team? He plays on the shoulder of the last defender. Running the line and moving on to through balls. This is Drogba's role. Is he going to be dropped? Or will Carlo have to play Torres out of position (in much the same way Shevchenko was)? This whole affair shows us in a very bad light indeed. We are on a hiding to nothing. The best case scenario is that I am proved wrong, Torres scores for fun and his goals win us the Champions League. Should that happen as far as everyone is concerned the Chelsea chavs only won it because we bought it like we did the three league titles. If, as I predict, things don't go well, we will be a laughing stock. Despite the problems with form and results this season, I was feeling quite good about things. I loved the idea that finally we were not just throwing money around like chav who had won the lottery. I thought that we were planing for a prudent future and one that was full of promise in players such as Mcechrean, Kakuta, Sturridge (what so the rumours that we are willing to off load him as part of the deal say to that young player?), Bruma, etc etc. Well this episode has blown that up in on fell swoop. There is no long term plan. We are still run on the whim of our monomaniacal owner. It's not so much a matter of the money but the player in question. If we are to spend this kind of silly money is should have been on a player such as Aguero... someone who has their best in front of them not (as I fear Torres does) behind them. At the very least there should be proof that he is back to his best over more than a couple of matches. Since we are know contemplating throwing silly money around again, I do not understand that if we are wiling to spend (if papers are to be believed admittedly) £50m of Torres why have we played hard ball with Benifica over the transfer of probably the most promising defender in the word (anyone who saw his performance against Messi when making his debt for Brazil can be left in no doubt as to his class). We may all have a laugh as scoursers going potty (and of course that is pretty funny) but how many Man U, City or Arsenal fans feel well and truly threatened and how many of us can honestly say to be truly happy about this pending transfer? Did we not learn our lesson with Sheva?

Its all over twitter. Apparently we have had a £35m turned down. Utter bollox I'd have thought. A smoke screen for something else maybe? Anyone else got anything on this...?

Could not have put in better myself!!

Absolutely spot on. Our problem over the past couple of months has been one of complacency and lack of urgency. Whether or not Drogba, Malouda, Anelka, Mikel, have a bad game they have known that they will not be dropped... this has to change; for the good of the individual players and much more importantly for Chelsea football club. If Sturridge is dropped to the bench after his performance what does that say to him? Likewise MacEchrean...? Please Carlo take heed...

Now finally someone making sense. I am really hoping that Kakuta will start to feature and soon... if not there will have to be doubts about Ancelotti's faith in his ability. Signing Neymar would be great if only for the statement of intent. But I am not too bothered if it doesn't happen.

are you teasing us or is this true... and if so what's the source?

Great that we have started this season as we left the last. Agree with pretty much all the points made. Make no mistake, we are very very strong. Our weakness? That something unexpected and special. That little bit of magic. For that reason I would really like to see Kakuta get a run out. I would also like to see Neymar arrive. If either prove to have that something special (and lets face it only really Messi and Ronaldo have it at the moment) then we will have a team to compete with the Barca team of 2008/9.

Done now to be dusted. He has been granted a work permit. Now just paperwork.

Of course... I can see how you might want to try and justify the price tag. Tell me, are you not worried about the point I amde above? Namely, he seems to have lost his legs having been rushed back from too many injuries by Liverpool (see his perfromances in World Cup for reference); his signing would force a 4-4-2 system on us one that in which we just haven't performed; that his signing would Drogba's nose out of joint; that we would be on a hiding to nothing upon his signing. I fear is that his signing would be Roman trying to show Man City that he has the bigger cock. Last time he did this we were lumped with another former great now crocked in Sheva.

Herein lies the problem with football today. I find it extraordinary that fans now discuss the financial ins and outs of a marketing & financial policy of their club over and above the football. The question of whether Torres would be a good signing for us on the pitch is paramount; the financial aspect only important if it means we have less funds to sign other players on a wish list. How many shirts he would sell really doesn't interest me. This is not a personal dig at you Joe, just a general point.

Personally I hope that we do not sign Torres. There is no doubt about his ability; season before last he was undoubtedly the best striker in the world, scoring goals for fun but ultimately it was the way he would glide across the pitch, a Rolls Royce player. That his performances were awful at the World Cup following on from something of a disappointing injury-hot season suggests there is a very real risk that, like Sheva before him, his legs have gone. He is simply too much a risk at some £50m. In addition, I am not sure how his signing would effect Drogba whose ego demands that he is the number one striker. Also - although I have to trust the manager - his signing would indicate us playing a 4-4-2 and we really haven't played well in that formation. Ultimately though - and I have said this numerous times on this forum - I want to sign players that have shown amazing promise but yet to prove themselves who will go on and do so in a Chelsea shirt (someone like Aguero fits the bill here). Not players who have done so in another shirt and so whose rising star in one shirt can only go the other way in ours.

I have heard a similar story... I have a mate whose rich Russian girlfriend is very good friends with Roman's squeeze. Apparently he has already been flown in on a private jet and taken a medical. I know I know... a friend of a friend etc etc... but where there's smoke there's fire and all that... If this turn out to be true I am in tow minds... on the one hand he is a brilliant striker one of the top three in the world and still only 26. He has proved himself in the premiership and it would be one in the eye to all Liverpool supporters. On the other hand, remember the last time we spent stupid money on a striker who was one of the best in the world? This also suggests that we would revert back to two up front (Drogba is surely undroppable) and we just don't seem to play well with two up front as it leaves us one short in midfield (exactly the same problem that expect England to have in the world cup). Still whatever, 'twill be interesting to see what happens after the world cup...

Hot rumours circulating the net that Steven Gerrard has got a 16 year old girl pregnant and that his wife is playing away with Tranmere player Steven Davies. If true let's see if the press come down on him like did with JT. Will he have to be demoted as vice-capt of England? As if...

Not sure whether this breaks the rules but here goes... Bring Back Jose

No doubt I will castigated for this post… accused of being a monger of doom and all the rest of it but it is how I feel… the rails are coming off at the Bridge. That the press have laid into us over the past month has finally begun to take its toll. Terry has not been the same since he lost the England captaincy; he has been culpable for at least fours goals conceded. He showed little leadership on the pitch today. He has gone from being the best defender int he world, the best leader, the one that everyone wanted in their side to being damaged goods. I can only hope that he manages to turn this around. Ancelotti is losing the plotti once again. When our form dipped before I pointed out that you cannot play Ballack and Mikel in the same side. Eventually he seemed to see this. We started playing really well again. But now we are back with the two of them in the side. Ballack strolls around offering nothing. Mikel is another casual brother. Stupid header to allow them back into the game and what the hell was he doing being left one on one with Bellamy for their second? What was with those substitutions that seemed only to confuse us? Where was the creativity? Outside of this game have been seriously underwhelmed with how Carlo has managed the scandals hitting our club. Jose would have used this to our advantage. Been outrageous, got the press talking about him, taken the heat off his players. Ancelotti seems to have just shrugged his shoulders at it all. Where is the man management here? Only one manager has stood up for Ashley and that in the Inter manager. Unbelievable. As for the future, I am seriously worried that there is too much bad karma around the club. What player would want to sign for us knowing that the press have singled Chelsea out at the club they want to bring down? How is this all going to affect Roman? I had better sign off before I depress myself even further...

No... but you now how schadenfreude fuels rival supporters into action!!! Funny though, ain't it?!

Not sure what your question is?!

This whole affair suggests to me that there is more sh*t on JT and all will be revealed over the next few weeks. If this was a simple case of adultery I do not think Capello would have acted in the way he did. After all, how many in the current England set-up are whiter that white? As for JT - where does he go now. Well a lot will depend on what is to be revealed by the press who have been digging for quite a while now. If the rumours prove top be correct regarding Hilario's wife (it seems my source's information is surprisingly good as i was the first to mention this rumour in a much earlier post) then his position not just with England but also with Chelsea is going to look decidedly shaky. The truth of this situation is that the Premiership footballer lives in the kind of climate of success and excess the like of which would not be out of place in Ancient Rome (and they ended up being so bored by their orgies they married their horses!). Temptation everywhere and being not of the brightest section of society on the whole, do not have the faculties to get their life into some kind of perspective. It would be harsh but not wrong to suggest that JT comes from a particularly unsavoury chavvy background if his mother shoplifting and his father selling dodgy yayo when they're minted anyhow is anything to go by. Like all addicts, he's pushed the boundaries further and further in attempt to satisfy an urge - have an affair, tick, have another, tick, have one with a mate's ex, tick, have one with a team mate's wife, tick - and because the status-quo becomes quickly boring. Let's face it, he is unlikely to be the only one of that particular brand of footballer who is behaving in a similar fashion. My guess is that his decision to sack Aaron Lincoln was the catalyst for things to go wrong for him as far as the press are concerned. He probably saw him self as invincible, nothing could stick to him and ended up pissing off the wrong people and is now facing their wrath. If I were advising JT I would be telling him to come out publicly and admit that he has a problem. Reveal that he is now attending The Priory for sex-addiction and then look to reinvent himself as someone who helps younger players that fall into the same trap as he a la Tony Adams. My hope is that JT will come back stronger, totally rehabilitated; that he will use adversity to surge toward triumph, both personally and for Chelsea. I wouldn't bet against it. As for the immediate future, Sunday should prove interesting. Never boring being a Chelsea fan is it?!