lchk

It's probable that the club will fail in its bid for John Stones and no alternatives will be forthcoming. It's equally probable that there will be no additional buys for other positions besides centre-half. Due to the board's new-found stinginess and perhaps also due to Mourinho's rock-hard stubborness in protecting his favourites e.g. Ivanovic, Ramires, etc, I can see Chelsea finishing out of the top 4 and out of the CL after the first round. Will Mourinho survive the season without getting the sack?

The only real rectification are signing the right players for weak positions. The rest will fall in place once that is done. If the current first team selection persists, Chelsea will struggle to break into the top 4.

What makes you so sure? Do you have insider information regarding this transfer rumour? It may or may not happen but it won't be the first time that denials are being thrown around and the player ends up at his new club which purportedly denies being interested in him.

Falcao on loan is an option to pressure Diego Costa to perform in his as the first striker. If not Falcao, I would rather keep Remy and promote Bamford as the 3rd striker. A better alternative to Nainggolan is Morgan Schneiderlin who more imposing physically and can play with some technique too as well as being EPL proven. Also, he's keen on a move out of Southampton. Him coming would not be as a mere squad player (we have enough of those i.e. Mikel, Ramires and Loftus-Cheek) but would present himself as a legitimate challenger for a first team spot. Why sign Alderweireld as a mere squad player whom I think would find it difficult to fill in the boots of John Terry or Gary Cahill if they are injured or suspended? I hope Mourinho lands his favourite Rapahel Varane who can play alongisde Terry and be his successor when he hangs up his boots. In short, the club should go for first team challengers as Mourinho stated rather than players being contended to sit on the bench and just collect their paychecks.

Toby and Nainggolan are not good enough even as squad players. Benteke blows hot and cold and I doubt he would entertain the idea of being a bench warmer. Mourinho stated that he wants players who can challenge for first team spots. All of the above can't do that.

Man Yoo were dominant in the game, getting at least a dozen corners to City's zero corners. The missing presences of Messers Rooney and Ronaldo certainly contributed to their lack of sharpness in goal even though Tevez had a few nice snapshots at the goalmouth. Excellent stuff. Keep it up, you Manures!

I am not overly concerned if Essein misses the Liverpool match. We have Mikel and probably Makelele ready to fill in his shoes to enforce authority in the middle of the park. Terry's organizational and heading ability are strengths that will be missed in that match although the central defensive pairing of Ben Haim and Carvalho seems to be ok so far, still some jitters but relatively alright. My personal take would be to play Alex for around 20 minutes in the Reading match depending on the progress of that match (to give him a feel of the English game) and then play him from the start against the scousers. We need Alex for his aerial ability and physical presence in the heart of the defence. As for the problematic right back position, if Glen Johnson performs ok against Reading this Wednesday, I reckon he will start the pool game. If he screws it up with a fatal error or two again, he will have blown his first team chances for the entire season and I think Mourinho will replace him with Diarra. The recovery and match readiness of Ferreira has become very important now.

Alves has to be better ability-wise in defending and positioning than Glen Johnson as he's an experienced international. The only negative might be that Alves might need some time to adjust to the relentless forays down the wing by English teams.

Brilliant inter-link play from defence to attack for the Blues! A point of great concern is that we are vulnerable on the right side as SWP ain't exactly the greatest in tracking back and is physically too small to be of much help in defending AND Glen Johnson has been a major disappointment in the two games he has featured for the first team (Community Shield and last night's game). His defensive positioning and man-marking is almost non-existent at times of attacking pressure from opposition teams. We really need to get Alves onboard ASAP or else we will ship more goals coming from the right flank.