theblueone

Or it could leave us to focus on the league and give us some drive to do better in our remaining games.

Well, I don't know Messi's height, but he towers over him. Not being funny, but this is now the third post I have read from you about adults wearing football shirts. Why does it matter so much to you? If you don't want to wear them, that's fine, don't. But don't mock others that do.

I'm guessing that the away one will be a colour variant and that would be worn instead in the event of a colour clash. The away one will probably be either green or bright orange. I must say, I love the patterns on the shirt. Just stunned that its red. On a side note, I wonder if the players got to keep their body casts. I know I would want it if that was me. Hell, I'd probably even pay them for it.

You make some fair points in this post. I guess we (including myself) let our passions boil over and more often than not, there needs to be a target to throw the blame at. I've never engaged in the name calling of other forum members, nor do I ever intend to, even if some posts do ruffle my feathers a bit. I think I will leave off posting for an hour after a losing game from now on. Would make sense to do so. Don't get me wrong though, I do appreciate where we are as a club. Back when I started supporting Chelsea, we were really poor (way before the likes of Gullit and co) and if you'd asked me at the time if we would ever win the premiership, FA cup and European cups, I would have called you insane. Albeit with a smile. There definitely needs to be more unity on here though. After all, I did join this forum to chat with other Chelsea fans, not argue.

I love your optimism. Its not impossible and I cannot see Liverpool and City going undefeated the rest of the season. Hopefully with Palace and Villa, we've got our poor results out of the way, we can do the business, provided that we give Ba a chance, Eto'o recovers or Torres wakes up.

There should be limits as to how sponsors affect income in order for FFP to be fair to everyone involved. Otherwise I'll never be able to mention it without laughing. Also how on earth does Manure explain where 200 mil has come from for next season? Someone should step in and give them a surprise book inspection on the final day of the season. I would be absolutely gutted if we sold either Oscar or Hazard. I would hate to see either leave Stamford Bridge, especially since they've both shown support and stated that they are happy to stay.

Never thought about that. Good shout. Definitely keen on this new kit. I think I'll be heading into the Chelsea Megastore at 9 AM to get it day of release again like I did last season. I always get excited about a new home kit. Nothing beats picking it up in person as opposed to just getting it through the post.

As for the shirt, I like it! Looks different and is a hell of a lot better than that last stripy thing we wore. The stripes are strikingly similar to those of the new Spanish home kit though. Only difference being is that theirs are vertical.

If by "shirter" you mean supporter, then yes. Adults can wear football shirts too. You expect us to walk about wearing shirts and ties all day every day?

I completely discard my previous comments in this thread after watching that match. Lavezzi was a menace the entire match and that goal he scored was an absolute ripper. I hope these meetings yield some positive news.

I read somewhere that Luiz has requested a transfer to PSG. Could be a sweetener to get us a certain goal scorer we've been looking at for some time now. Though, in saying that, it is what it is, speculation in writing. Hardly confirmation.No way would I even consider letting Man City have a player of ours. Unless they give us Yaya Toure, but we all know that'll never happen.

Stoke are a deceptively good team when they crank it up. That cup tie we won 1 nil against them earlier in the season, that was close and we were on form then if memory serves. We need to treat this match with the respect that it deserves. I can't see us losing this to be honest, its at home, we'll have the Stamford Bridge faithful as that important 12th player. We must not get complacent and allow them to hold us to a draw like West Ham. I say rest Hazard and Torres too, give Willian and Salah a crack on the flanks and Ba up front. Rest either Lamps or Oscar too and give ourselves some breathing space for selection come next week. Ba deserves an opportunity to make a go of it. I would absolutely combust with happiness if he smashes it and proves Mou wrong about him. I know the goals against Spurs weren't exactly difficult, but they showed that he does know where the back of the net is. I have a gut feeling that he is capable of more than he is given credit for but just needs the opportunity to show it. Not as a last minute impact sub either. You cannot expect to put someone on for the last 10 minutes and expect to make an accurate judgement of what they are capable of.

On a side note. The size of Courtois!!! He's a giant. He's about the same size as Pantilimon: http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/04/03/article-2596257-1CBF94B800000578-631_634x594.jpg

I would like to see Piazon and T Hazard in the squad next year, it would be nice to at least see some success stories coming from the youngster ranks next season. Lukaku and Courtois have been much discussed on here already. Fantastic players but I can't foresee them being at the bridge next season. Courtois in particular, as he'll be at Madrid still. So much speculation about Lukaku at the moment and a certain London rival though, which pains me.

Trust the Daily Fail to let that slip. Liking the goalkeeper shirt though. Looks nice, though its really odd seeing a Chelsea badge on a red shirt. Something I don't recall seing since that red and white diamond kit we had back in the Commodore days, which was hideous incidentally. It'll be interesting to see if those supposed leaked images were correct. If so, I'll definitely buy them. Though, I'm saying that I'm always buying new shirts. I'm a sucker for a new strip.

^ This!!! That would be perfect. Don't forget, Zouma arrives in the summer and from what I have seen of him, he is a real powerhouse and a worker. Definitely a player I look forward to seeing as a debutant. One hundred percent agree with that. Cahill is fantastic. Most of the quality clearances during that PSG match came from Cahill and Dave. Though Cahill was slightly reckless when he took out Cavani's foot, that was a penalty and we were lucky to have not been penalised as such. But no harm done and it was a rare mistake from him. Comes with the territory of being a defender. As for Luiz, I think he has had his shot to be honest. His discipline is atrocious. I have heard rumours of him handing in a request to go to PSG. Not sure how much truth is in that, but wouldn't be a bad thing if it helped land us Cavani. Valencia? No way. For one, Utd wouldn't let it happen, and two, we don't need him. He was mediocre against Bayern the other night and was fortunate to stay on the pitch. It can work if you have the right players. Watching Robben against Utd the other night. He cut in really nicely consistently. In ordinary circumstances, he would have created goal after goal. But Utd were camping in their area with 7 to 8 players throughout. Biggest bus I've ever seen. He was unlucky. Such a shame we still don't have Robben. He's a class player.

Yes I have played football, albeit years ago now. What I was getting at, is that David Luiz was in Cechs way. Stepped/tripped over him in the ensuing melee. It wasn't just his fault, the whole defence was poorly positioned and there was no order in the entire area. It was like a charge of Spartans coming at Cech. But Luiz just went in wrecklessly and it was a turning point. Gave PSG some balls and made us collapse. Definitely agree about giving away the free kick. I knew as soon as Levazzi stepped up that it was going in. He has no self control and he was lucky not to get red carded after that spat with Cavani. He has a lot of growing up to do. He should have kept his head down and got on with it.

What a horrid thought that would be. I think ... or should I say, I HOPE that Roman is smarter than that. There's is a much bigger picture to be seen here.

We definitely need 3. I was hoping we would keep Eto'o at first until I realised he was a home player. We need someone more versatile. Ba, I've not see enough of, so maybe keep him and buy two strikers in the summer? Cannot see him wanting to be sat on the bench though come to think of it, looks like we may have to buy 3. Maybe 2 in the summer, see how that goes and 1 in January?

Since there's now talk of sending Lukaku to bloody Spurs next season (how repugnant would that be!!??) I can't see him staying either. Courtois will be staying at Atletico I reckon because we'll be keeping Cech another season. Rumours of us looking to buy Darlow from Forest as Cechs understudy is huge proof of that, plus Courtois will be signing another deal by the looks of it (something that needs to be done in order for him to be loaned further). It should be an interesting transfer window.

I have to respectfully disagree here. I rewound the goal a few times with my brother and we both agreed that it was going for the post and would have bounced outward or possibly along the line where Cech may have reached it. With the mass surge of players charging at the goal, someone may have got the tap in, but I would rather have had that small chance than see David Luiz collapse in a heap in the goal with a dumb look on his face. I actually don't blame Cech for that goal due to the sheer number of players charging at him, it was pure chaos inside that penalty box. I'll agree with that. Did you notice a change in their shape after the pen aswell? They seemed to be camping their centre half in a compact formation once they scored the opener. But they opened it up and commited 3 forward once the pen went in. Then once the second goal went in, they went compact again. It was similar tactics as Utd used against Bayern to blockade the goal, and it worked. We couldn't bet a pass in anywhere, yet they were freely passing the ball around like it was a leisurely Saturday kick about at the park. No matter how much we probed, their defence was just too compact and solid. Their man marking was exceptional too.

I'd go out on a limb here and say that even next season is too early to decide if I'm honest. I say give him at least 3 seasons at the healm before even beginning to make any judgement on his job. There are no quick fixes that mend all problems. These things take time.

Thinking the same thing myself. He's been a rock for us this season, as has Terry, Cahill and Azpilicueta. Best back 4 in the Premiership easily. Why on earth would we get rid of Ivanovic? Lampard too for that matter. I'm stunned at the suggestion of letting these two go. Lamps is reaching the twilight of his career, but he still has a few seasons left in the tank, easily. If we're going to be letting anyone else go, it'd have to be David Luiz. Especially after his performance last night. He is too much of a loose cannon on the pitch.

Personally, I would rather have a trophy less season in the name of stability and building a future proof squad. I would hope that Roman has learnt his lesson and puts a cap on that knee jerk P45 reaction of his. I think the true fans trust Jose completely and I think he finally gets it. Its only the "been here 5 minutes" glory hunters who are calling for Jose to be sacked. We can do without these supporters, so they can go support City for all I care. I've been blue since I was a youngun and that's never going to change irrespective of whether we win anything this season. I have seen much much worse seasons than this. At least we're making progress on some levels. Jose has a long term plan for the team. This would have clearly been discussed with Roman and such a drastic change to a team doesn't take a season to come into fruition. It takes several. Jose has a different approach to football than all the managers who followed him and he has spent this season evaluating the quality of players he has inherited. He knows who the dead weight are as do the rest of us. Roman would have to be profoundly stupid to let him go and throw the club into disarray again. I'm going to accept whatever happens for the remainder of this season, eagerly await the summer transfer window and see what happens there. We're still in the Premiership title race, even if we are just hanging by a thread now. To an extent, we still have a degree of control, ie: win the remainder of our matches, but we are now reliant on two clubs slipping up towards the end. Remember, they are just as susceptible to the pressure as we are. Champions League isn't over either. Albeit, we have a mountain to climb now, but we have the atmosphere of Stamford Bridge on our side, aswell as our impressive home record. PSG will no doubt be aware of our home record and these kind of stats can add pressure and change the mindset of clubs going into such matches, playing as a 12th man on the pitch. I am confident Jose will be around this time next season. If not, as somebody has previously stated, the fans will be livid with Roman and he won't have an easy time trying to win our trust again.

Thing with Willian, is he needs a solid midfield to work with (David Luiz and Ramires not cutting it these days) and he needs a decent striker to feed crosses and layoffs to. He has one of the best work rates in my opinion, he tirelessly runs up and down the flank and back tracks when needed (as great as he was, mucking in with defence was something Mata was unwilling to do). I wouldn't count Willian out yet. I think that once we've solved our midfield and forward troubles, we may see a different side to his playing. A perfect summer transfer window (for me at least) would include securing the services of Luke Shaw, Ross Barkley, Adam Lallana, Diego Costa and Mario Mandzukic. Whilst getting rid of David Luiz, Ramires, Fernando Torres and Eto'o (as much as I love Sami, we need a striker who plays consistently both home and away).