Arq

Wow, that's very impressive... And that's for one match. Over the span of the season, that alone has to be daunting. I can't imagine doing that along with the other duties AVB had to do while he was here.

Not at all. Ok, maybe slightly. ;)

Having AVB as our manager with Guus as our DoF is a great combo imho.

Transfer fees these days are ridiculous across the board. Lots of people on the board here also thought that £50 mil for Torres was way too much. It's not our money though (the fans), and if that's what our club thinks we need to be better, so be it. Is that worse than £35 mil for Carroll? Only time will tell.

In all fairness he did say "kind of" in parenthesis... Which by reading the comments, means not at all. Game on! ;)

Lost? What the heck happened? Equaliser in the 89th I saw, then what? That eliminates England doesn't it?

Jones clearly got acting classes from some of the folks at Barca. What a dive!

Jones goal thanks to a Jamaica deflection otherwise it's an easy save for Ricketts.

OH, and I forgot to mention... Jones' lovely yellow where he just swiped the Jamaican player's legs out from underneath him. Pro move...

Did you like that swing and a miss by Jones in the 42nd min or so? Crap... Crap, crap, crap. I know everyone makes mistakes and all, but I don't get what Bob sees in him. Anyways, the USA has been the better team, they just need to finish. Dempsey had a nice curling free kick that Ricketts stopped. I expect to see them break through in the second half.

I would say that Real, Barca, and Man City also have a hand in the prices going up over the last decade. And of course, there are others. We aren't the only ones. So to answer you, I think they would still be as high even if we hadn't been spending as we did.

I'm getting it coco, so any time you want to get some killing in online, give me a shout.

I was saying that earlier. I would hate to get more "thin" than we already are. And that includes getting us a manager, which I'm confident the board is working on day after day until it's done.

Perfect answer on both accounts. It's going to be interesting to see how our next manager handles Torres and Drogba (along with our other strikers). Torres will probably be the focus, as he should be considering how much Roman spent for him. However, no one can deny that Drogba is still one of the best around. Is it the reverse of what Crystal was saying? Do we play Torres for 60 minutes and if things are going as expected, switch him off for Drogs? The issue, and it's been stated here many times, is the way Torres and Drogs is fed. Torres likes the through ball on the ground. Drogs is more the type to take it from the air and go. For much of last season, the team couldn't adjust to the way Torres needs service to be as effective as possible. Will things change this season with the purchase of new players and possible moving on of others? Only time will tell. Drogba staying at the club is an absolute positive. He's still got gas in the tank, and he knows our players. I, for one, do not want to see him on the other side of the pitch playing against us.

Planet Drogba, you said it well. I think Dempsey looked much worse than Donovan, although both need to pick it up because they clearly are just going through the motions. Ok maybe Dempsey is just tired, but if that's the case then Bob Bradley needs to get him out. At least pull him at the 60 min mark or bring him in as a sub at that point. The way this is going, I don't see anyone beating Mexico. Jones is absolute crap, I've always thought that. I'm a follower of the DFB, and I for one was not sad to see him change his loyalties. The sad part is that Bob can't see that he should be on the bench for Edu.

Bioshock Infinite is going to be excellent if it's as good as the first two. Even the storyline for it is exciting.

A great post Dorset, your usual high standards. I do wonder how it's all going to turn out. I try not to get wrapped up too much into the media hype of we're buying this player or that player, but it still makes me excited and puts a fire in my belly. Spending some time thinking of Modric in our midfield makes me smile. I think he would provide the faster drumbeat, as you say, that we need along with giving our striking core and Torres in particular the service he needs to excel. And there's no doubting his ability to play in in England. He's been doing that.

I agree with this.

Welcome!

I wouldn't mind that last frame being correct either. :D

That was just a matter of time.

The USA squad was very bad that game. They had real issues at the back and just looked very "blah" for the 1st half plus the first 10 min or so in the 2nd half. Panama totally deserved that win imho.

I think this is correct. Adidas just doesn't come up with one design and tells Chelsea that this is what they are going to go with. They probably come up with a slew of designs and someone from within the organisation picks it. Not everyone will be happy with whatever kit is chosen, but I think that whoever chose the design for the away kit needs to get his/her eyes checked (I do quite like the home kit, matter of fact I'm wearing it today). There's also the possibility that we give Adidas the ideas/thoughts about how to make the kit. /shrug To blame Adidas 100% though imho is foolish. It's not completely on them. If our board, or whoever picks the kit, didn't like/love it they could tell Adidas to go pound sand and redesign it. It all depends on how the contract is written.

The problem with letting both leave is that our squad gets even thinner than what it was last year. Being thin is not something I think that we need. It hurt us last year, and it could certainly hurt us again. Letting one go for Sneijder is fine. Both is too much unless we have plans to get other players or promote players.

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