DenyLu

If he scores >25 goals for us like he did for Atletico I will forgive him those 1-2 suspensions ;) You've got to set your priorities right guys.

To be fair, I haven't heard a single Chelsea fan talk about Marin's potential for like 2 years ;) But I agree that he is a clear case of sell him to whoever wants him. I also agree about Mikel. He can be very useful in some situations when you need to calm a game down and when you need someone with composure in midfield. Definitely a good player to have on your bench.

It hurts to say it, but football is a very performance driven business, and if Courtois is likely to be one of the best goalkeepers for the next 10-15 years then we have to hold on to him and integrate him quickly. Cech is a legend though, and his penalty saves on that night in Munich are forever.

He was mentally under a lot of pressure during the World Cup and the ending weeks of last season because too many people expected too much. Admittedly, I was one of those. Hopefully the additions of Fabs and Costa will take some pressure off his shoulders and allow him to be just the genius that we all know he is. Still the most important player for me.

Don't take this as an offence mate, but what you've wrote is essentially what has been said about 11239123 times already ;)

...and because theres no 'Costa - Skills' video on youtube ;)

Sweet silky free kick by Fabregas. Haven't seen a Chelsea player take it like that for years. Also Costa appears to have more pace than I have expected! So far I've been positively surprised by him.

It's typical Oscar. Last season he had a few sensational games, but most of the time he remained dull. He has to become more consistent now. He's old enough and has been here for over two years - no excuses.

Exactly, the teams that are sent out to play now have nothing to do whatsoever with the team that will eventually start against Burnley. Is it still better than no Chelsea at all? Probably!

I was more concerned about a few transfers that actually went through - Shevchenko and Torres. I even like(d) both because they seem to be hard working and nice individuals, but that was almost 100m spent on virtually no added quality on the pitch. Our transfer dealings have become better and better over the years though, which gives me hope that we have now a scouting department that won't do the same mistake again. You hear that Costa?

Define rich

I'll join Mourinho there ;)

Maybe we have a different understanding of what good football is then ;) In any case, I doubt Bertrand will ever play any role whatsoever for this club and this thread isn't about him in the first place!

If Bertrand was to get a chance, I assume many other of our academy players would consequently deserve that chance too. We'd quickly turn into Arsenal of the last 8 years - lots of young players playing regular first team football, but no trophies for 8 years. It is no coincidence that they won the FA Cup when they eventually changed their philosophy in this respect. We all desperately want to see a player of our own be a regular first-teamer, but some things are simply more important than that.

At clubs like Chelsea you only get a chance if you're good enough and you've proven so. If you look at the players that start for us week in week out, virtually all of them are key members of major national teams around the globe. Where does Bertrand fit in there? Bertrand never got a chance, true, but that's because he isn't good enough and not because someone at CFC has been unfair to him. For me, everything points towards this conclusion.

Wouldn't you agree that Mourinho had enough time to see whether Bertrand has what it takes or not?

Look, there is no point talking him up. He just isn't talented enough and won't ever play a significant role for us. Another truth is that Morinho had plenty of time to assess him in training and the fact that he left him out completely in all but two games last season is evidence enough for me that Bertrand isn't good enough. I trust JM's judgement on this one.

He was the worst player for us on that night and generally his performances have been rather poor. In fact, I can't remember a single decent performance. Of course he's homegrown and we all want our own talents to succeed, but in the case of Bertrand it will never happen. We might as well accept it and move on.

I am not very concerned about what Lukaku says to the press, as he's probably just answering questions asked by journos. It's rather his lack of quality on the pitch that bothers me. He is efficient, yes, but lacks in virtually every other department.

It might be, depends on how Fabregas and Costa cope. They both can turn out to be anything from amazing to flops, so I'm a bit more careful at this point with how I assess our transfer dealings this summer. The good news is obviously that in theory we have no problem zones left anymore.

The problem I see with Schürrle starting is that he is, in my opinion, the one player with the biggest game changing potential if brought from the bench at around 50-60 minutes into the game. His directness and pace are lethal for weary defenses and he is always good for a goal. He is a naturally born super sub. Willian, on the other hand, is the player you would use to slowly gain control over a game and slowly build one attack after the other, which is rather done in the opening minutes - unless of course we concede an early goal. Therefore I can't see Mourinho starting Schürrle, unless he is forced to due to injuries etc.

I saw some of it on Twitter, it was very amusing

Courtois Dave Cahill Terry Luis Fabs Matic Hazard Oscar Willian Costa Not really sure about Oscar, to be honest. He's had a very poor run in last season and barring the game against Croatia a rather average World Cup. Maybe Hazard behind Costa and Schürrle out wide would work out well.

Completely agree with the part about Courtois' comments. He seems to be a bit cocky if I'm honest, which is never good and a coach like Mourinho won't tolerate. I hope he'll change this quickly after he arrives at Cobham. By the way, when are the World Cup players due at Cobham? Does anyone know how many additional weeks did they get off?

Right, it's very exciting, but I am a bit worried about the pressure on our squad. Many people will expect them to win the league at the very least.