sals

I had high, high hopes for Josh but ever since he went on loan to Swansea and failed to make a mark there I think the writing has been on the wall as far as his Chelsea career is concerned. I think it would be best for all parties to look for a permanent transfer, maybe a Spanish club if he's willing to make the move and I guess the club could look into the possibility of sticking a buy back clause in there. Just for the record I mention selling to a Spanish club as a player of his skillset would thrive in that environment.

As if things hadn't been rough enough for Man United this season now they're going ahead and offering Cleverly a new 5 year contract. Geez that's rough

Check Aston Villas home form this season, they have been abysmal! I'm reasonably confident we will get three points there. Fulham at craven cottage could be a bit of a wildcard with Felix Magath, he is a very talented manager. Saying that noone really compares to our manager do they?

I hate just about everything you just said and couldn't disagree more. In fact I feel that way about most of your posts. If you think that Ramires lacks strength and Mikels positioning is inadequate it proves one of two things: 1) You don't watch the matches 2) You don't have a clue about whats going on when you do watch the matches As is said in that interview Plokoon posted up top he is never going to be getting the headlines but he is a fantastic servant to this club and he is the type of player that if you stick on the field you know exactly what you're going to get. No he doesn't have the dynamism of Fernandinho but if you think Javi Garcia is a better player than him then I'm fast losing my faith in humanity. Long may Mikel remain in Chelsea blue!!

Xavi is a great player and will go down in history for his achievements but he is completely off the mark here, his comments not only show a disgusting amount of arrogance, bitterness but also a naievety. The brilliant thing about this sport that we all love so much is there are so many ways to play it. Yes Bareclona have had a lot of success playing a great brand of football but a lot of their results have also come down to indivdual brilliance over a collective team effort. There are also many ways that you can play defensively. In the Champions League Robbie did what he had to do with the personnel at his disposal, we played hugely disciplined football and against Barca kept our structure over 180 mins of intense scrutiny in an effort that took all 11 players (10players for 60 odd mins of that) on the field playing as a single unit. When Barcelona get a lead and start playing ridiculous possession football that is also them playing defensively. The old philsophy of the other team can't score if they don't have the ball is an ethos ethced into the core of their team, and credit to them for it. Congratulations on your career Xavi but F*ck right off when it comes to Jose, he has nothing to do with you anymore so just let it go you little hobbit. Shows how much Mou gets inside oppossing players heads the fact that he is still having a whine about it. All bow down and hail the Special One

hazard is best player in the league and fast making an argument for third best player on the planet. His consistency is amazing and the way he influences the play is quite spectacular for a player his age. We are very blessed to have him in our team and long may it continue. That second goal is the best goal I've seen this league season

Fantastic piece of business. Absolutely rapt with this. Yes we let him go as part of the Luiz deal but lets be honest, there is no way he would have turned into the player that he did today kicking around our reserves or getting sent on loan all over Europe. We used him to sweeten a deal to bring in one of the most outrageously talented centre backs around, who went on to give an absolutely immense display in the CL final not to mention countless moments of jaw dropping athleticism, skill and audacity (as well as a fair few heart attacks I guess with the odd defensive lapse). Matic went the other way and turned into one of the worlds leading midfielders and had all of Europe's elite sniffing around, he has now turned into a player with all the attirbutes that we so desperately need in our team, he is coming into the prime age of his career and let's be honest he is a very Jose Mourinho type of player. The potential partnership with Ramires in a 4-2-3-1 should excite all Chelsea fans. I rated him highly when he was in our youth team and stoked to say welcome home Nemanja! As someone said above it's the year of comebacks and if this one works out half as well as the other comeback we are in for a real treat!

Petr is 31 or 32, his reflexes aren't declining at all. He has had a bit of a form dip this season but every player always has that. I know Jose isn't afraid of making the big choices (replacing Carlo with Petr in his first stint is case and point) but I'd be very surprised if Petr wasn't our number one next season.

If FFP does get properly implemented I think it will mean that 5-6 year contracts will become the norm. Especially for the big money signings, one of the way clubs are getting around it is by using the amortization method which means that rather than putting the cost of a signing as a lump sum it is actually divided up by the length of the contract. For example Torres cost 50mil and signed a 5 year deal, so instead of putting that down as 50mil it goes down as 10mil every year. Not the best explanation but here is a great article talking about it. http://swissramble.blogspot.co.nz/2011/02/chelseas-financial-fair-play-challenge.html As for Costa, I think he would be phenomenal for us, he is an absolute bulldog of a player and someone who Jose would love. I give a bit of credence to this talk of cash plus torres for Costa as well, Torres is still held in very high regard back in Athletico Madrid, he was their captain when he was 19 and I have very little doubt that it'll be the place where he ends his career. He still makes the Spanish squad regularly and his goalscoring run in the Europa League this year shows that against European opposition he can still score goals. I also hate all the talk that goes on here about Torres being rubbish and all that. No he doesn't score goals, which is of course the main task of any striker, but he is such an outstandingly intelligent player, just watch the runs that he makes. He really helps our attacking midfielders thrive and that is why Jose still holds him in such high regard.

ye most the talk on twitter from the supposed 'In the Knows' say that there is no interest on our part of Guarin, I don't watch too much Serie A but he does seem like a pretty handy player and if he were to come I think he would really add something to our team

Mata and torres were both fantastic in that second half. Bringing Schurrle on for Hazard was a mistake, he was horrific. I really like him but that was one of the worse cameo appearances in recent memory, not only that one on one miss but just messed up all over the park. Would have taken a point at the start of the game and definitely would have at half time but think spurs got very lucky

This wasn't a bad moment. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tvwpHXTYG0 I was 8 at the time and just playing Real Madrid was mind blowing, but to beat them....

Think your display pic is one of the best I have seen on this site! But no he won't change his attitude. Liverpool did the whole PR campaign for him last year where they teed up friendly journalists to do pieces on how settled and down to earth he is off of the pitch and it worked to an extent, then he goes and sinks his teeth into Branslav. Just look at how he has conducted himself during the transfer window, its disgraceful espicially because Liverpool have looked very stupid for the last 2 year defending him with his various misdemeanours.

The funny thing is that his abilities would actually be perfect for our team, would complement our players so well. The unfortunate thing is he is a terrible human being and would be a massive disruption for us. Would be physically sick seeing him pull on our jersey. If I had the choice of getting Suarez or herpes it would be a no brainer

I thought I would start a thread that doesn't talk involve predicting our starting lineup or something similar just to mix things up a bit. I have been having thoughts on this particular topic for a few days now and I believe I have gotten to the stage where I have a strong enough argument in my head to get my words down onto paper and see if this rather controversial argument I'm about to lay out is agreed upon by others. I started supporting Chelsea during the early 90's back when I was a young un and Dennis Wise was my absolute idol. In the first few seasons I watched I think we finished 11th in the league twice, never could I begin to imagine that I was supporting a team that would become in my opinion the defining club of the current generation, a pioneer in the world of football. A club that in less than twenty years time would have thousands of fans scattered across the corners of the globe. Those not of a Chelsea persuasion will no doubt be scoffing at the arrogance and crap they believe me to be spouting at this stage, probably having ridiculed the title of the thread before even caring to read what I have to say. The reason I believe us to be the club that has defined football as we know it is down to one man - Roman Abromavich. Now spending money in football to bring success is nothing new. In English football we have seen it time and time again. Liverpool, Blackburn, Leeds to name a few. Manchester United have continually spent big during Fergie's tenure but never had the game seen these billions of pounds enter the game in the fashion that Roman bought them and no other club has impacted the landscape of football in such a fashion. It was ten years ago now that Roman first started emptying his pockets into the Stamford Bridge coffers and just think of how different the worlds game looks now. Yes many of the traditional giants are still at the top table; Manchester United, Barca, Madrid, Bayern, Juve. However now in that list you add names like Manchester City, PSG, Anzhi, soon Monaco. Clubs where the foundations and pathway for success through money were laid by none other than Chelsea football club. I for one constantly point out the difference to those less informed than me that we were under a very different set of circumstances than a club like Manchester City when they were taken over. We were a club in the CL with a very talented set of of players already in place, not one that two seasons prior had been battling relegation led by none other than Joey Barton. However there is no doubt that the blueprint of what they looked to accomplish was one set out by our special club. Football purists may look at my argument and point to a club defining a generation by what they accomplish on the field, a club such as Barcelona which swept all before them with their style of football, led by arguably the greatest player to ever grace the game. But to that I say great teams always come and go. The old Brazilian teams or Liverpool and Milan through the 80's and early 90's all had their moment in the sun and now it looks like Barcelona's cycle has run its course and could well have come to an end (that is not to say they won't continue to win silverware just that their period of dominance when they stood head and shoulders above the rest of the footballing world is behind them). However Chelsea football club, whilst continually winning silverware and competing at the top may not have had a team of such a stature, the club itself has changed the course of football like no other team. We have pioneered a route that is becoming increasingly well trodden and we have defined this era of football like no other club has been able to do! A special club, an era that has bought unprecedented success and with Jose back where he belongs hopefully much more to come! KTBFFH!!