BigIzz

I could see giving it a shot. Clearly he isn't a natural trequartista but would be more of a attacking midfielder/deep lying forward. I think this could suit Anelka well. He already loves to drop deep into the midfield and he's also a striker so he could make his way into the box or find space out wide and be very effective.

Then there are clubs like Arsenal of the last few seasons who obviously odnt care and had Gallas, a central defender, wearing the #10 shirt.

I think the point Phillip is making is that it wasn't cheating per say. He didn't try to hide his handball, or take steroids or bribe an official. He violated one of the sports rules, clear as day. He accepted the punishment that the rules of the game called for in the situation and the game carried on as it should have.

Remember transfer fees generally aren't what cripples teams anymore, it's wages.

Back in the old days when teams played a 2-3-5, the players were numbered in order. Keeper #1, centre backs 2 & 3, midfielders 4, 5, 6 right to left and forwards 7-11 right to left. When the W-M became the popular formation it was basically a 3-2-2-3 so the centre half #5 dropped back to play centre defense (which is why England calls centre backs centre halves) and the 8 & 10 shirt dropped into the midfield, forming the number system (right back 2, left back 3, centre back 5, midfield 4, 6, 8, 10; right forward 7, left forward 11 and centre forward 9). As to how it's decided well when you pay £50 million and £200k+ a week to a player he gets whatever number he wants and in this case he's a centre forward and wanted 9. If you noticed Chelsea intentionally left 9 and 4 open until a big name came in.

I think that formation makes sense but the personnel doesn't work. This setup would leave us far too exposed: Anelka can't play as a wide right midfielder, Malouda is an attacker, Essien is wasted in a holding role. I think this could work if Essien or ideally Ramires was the ride right midfielder and then maybe Mikel as the holding midfielder. I don't know how much sense it would make to play Boswinga in a formation like this either because we probably couldn't push up the fullbacks nearly as much.

Firstly I don't think we need United to implode. Obviously we need to win both of our matches against them and I think it's a pretty safe best they'll drop some more points along the way. The much bigger issue is we are behind Man U, Arsenal and City so we have to pass all of them. This makes things much less straightforward. So yes, Man U could easily lose to Arsenal and City but that means those points go to other teams above us.

It's important to remember that any player can get hurt at any time. Anyone can fall victim to a mistimed tackle or a cheap shot. For people worried about this being too much for Torres I surely hope not. For the amount of money he cost playing in this match shouldn't be too big for him. The man played in a World Cup Final a few months ago. You don't invest £50 million in someone who backs down from pressure.

If I'm Gerrard, Cole, Daglish etc. I'd be much more worried about keeping on the pitch, playing well and winning matches then trying to injure Torres. And so what if they do after him? We're gonna just back down from a confrontentation and hide Torres in a suite?

Is it really a consideration that he wouldn't play? I can understand not playing against Sunderland Tonight but after almost a week he should be ready to go against Liverpool. Why wouldn't he play? Is he gonna get tackled harder or something? The Liverpool players are all highly compensated professional athletes most of whom probably like Torres personally. I seriously doubt they're going to try and intentionally injure him and risk suspension and whatnot for it. Players see teammates bought and sold all the time I really doubt they take it personally.

So no Torres and no Luiz tonight. How do we lineup and play against this team that thrashed us already this season? Now that we've made a huge financial commitment and are clearly going for it this season, dropping points here would be devastating and might derail our title push before it even starts. Figure we play our usual 4-3-3. Midfield is tricky. Ramires has been playing very well and Essien seems wasted in the holding role. Although I think both will start anyway. Cech; Cole, Terry, Ivanovic, Boswinga; Lampard, Essien, Ramires; Malouda, Drogba, Anelka Were gonna find ourselves short handed in terms of attacking options on the bench. We really only have Kalou at the moment if Torres isn't around.

If he's fit, he starts. I can't imagine that he wouldn't play at all.

How about we try a good old fashioned 4-4-2? Cech; Cole, Terry, Luiz, Ivanovic; Malouda, Lampard, Essien, Ramires; Torres, Drogba Maybe too soon for Torres and/or Luiz? Can Ramires play wide right? He seems to have the pace for it at least.

I think the song will write itself after a hat trick on Sunday

This loan is great news. Sturridge never impressed me at Chelsea much. It's clear he has ability but he never produced. Hopefully he can get regular match time now and we can finally do a fair evaluation of what we have in him. I'm sure starting so matches and scoring some goals will do wonders for his confidence which may be all he lacks.

Yes. Obviously the bought Luiz to play him so I can't imagine he doesn't start in the short term. Ivan is a better player then Bosingwa however fortunately they offer very different things. You can start Ivan but if you need a goal at the end of a match Bossy can come on for a more attach minded option. Of course depending on the matchup Bosingwa could start and Ivan is a great luxury for the bench. Who knows about when Alex returns however there won't be a rush/pressure on him.

This is pretty awesome. Worth the money? I don't care, I'm not signing the checks.

You don't think Real would pay £100 million for Messi?

He only plays at right back for Serbia of late with Vidic and Lukovic or Subotic playing as the centre backs.

And what sense would it make for CFC to make up a rumor like this? To disappoint their fans in the end when they sign no one? To make them look cheap after the transfer window closes? I bectha this rumor came right from Atletico as recent news reports suggest. It only helps their position if huge bids are flying in for their players. I mean they must be great if Chelsea and Real Madrid are willing to pay so much, right?

Yes they do. Not to say we can't go back into the woods but I'd say things are looking up at the moment.

If we are shipping Kakuta out I would hope it has to mean someone is coming in. Depth is our huge problem now so how can we afford to lose any of it? On the other side of the coin I think it will be great if Kakuta can get regular first team football in the Premier League. Hopefully this offseason we can know what we have with him.

This was a nice win. A return to form? I especially liked how Bolton came out of the gate playing very well and put us back on our heels. We did a great job to weather the storm and Bolton never even got a good scoring chance. Then Drogba with a wonder strike and we were up 1-0. That's what great players do. That's the difference in class, what we've been missing. Our away form of late would have suggested we'd either give up an early one with all that pressure or find ourselves frustrated and unable to score. However we broke that trend tonight and I was very impressed. Drogba looked like the Drogba of old. Hopefully he's fully fit and can keep at this level. Anelka played a good game, Malouda had some flashes, Mikel looked good in his return and it was nice to see Ramires score. You can see how popular he is in the dressing room after he got mobbed by his teammates for scoring an essentially meaningless goal. While we weren't perfect and had some shaky moments, we had Cech to pick up the pieces. Again this isn't necessarily a bad thing, just what the difference ought to be between Bolton's squad and Chelsea's. This was our best league performance since the first half against Blackpool in September.

Drogba

I went with Terry but was very encouraged by Ramires performance, he was all over the pitch.