Epic

How about letting go of guys like Zhirkov and Ferreira who contribute very little yet are taking up a space?

Here is a brief reminder of the rules: So essentially we are allowed to have 17 foreign players and 8 home-grown players. Our foreign contingent is as follows: *As Essien is out injured for six months he will not have to be registered for the first half of the season. Home-grown players: *This year Sturridge and Bertrand will have to be registered as part of this group. Under 21s* who don't have to be registered: *In keeping with UEFA guidelines, an Under 21 player is defined as one who is under the age of 21. *Piazon arrives in January 2012. Whether he is part of this group who might get some game time remains to be seen although it's likely he won't be part of the squad until the 2012-2013 season. So, my question is what needs to be done now you the confines in which we are working in? Our foreign quota is full and unless we sell/release some players we can't sign any new foreign players. We essentially only have 2 places available, both of which have to be English.

Kalou Paulo Ferriera Zhirkov Essien (I would have let him go even before the unfortunate injury) Hilario

They do what every other fan does; overrate their team and underrate others. Everybody does it so fair play. However anybody with any sense will tell you that Chelsea are the better team. But by how much? Well that's up for debate. For those claiming that we are so much better we do seem to struggle against them an awful lot recently. :unsure:

Video here - :lol:

This extremely thorough piece of research suggests we're not in as bad shape as the Guardian thinks - http://swissramble.blogspot.com/2011/02/chelseas-financial-fair-play-challenge.html

Zhirkov can't stay fit for 5 days let alone start 5 consecutive games. I'd be amazed if Kalou hasn't started 3-4 or even 5 games in a row. You probably don't remember it which, quite frankly, says it all.

Glorified goal hanger then? Brilliant.

Bit harsh. That can wait until next summer. ;)

What does the potential arrival of Luka Modric mean for our midfield and more specifically Frank Lampard?

Our bad run was always going to come to an end sooner or later. Lampard was just as poor as everybody else and especially so towards the end of the season.

If you read what Capello had to say then I think his international career might be coming to an end soon: From those comments I take it Capello thinks Lampard is very, very slow and not at all creative. Lampard's international career is coming to an end and if Chelsea have any clue they would start looking for a replacement now.

:lol:

Or Rafa Benitez :lol:

LOL. And Mourinho never played football at a high level and we were excellent!

What a load of circumstantial b*llocks. "Oh they have a Dutch advisor, we have a Dutch advisor" and "they have a good training ground, guess what? SO DO WE!". It would take 30+ years and WHOLE LOT OF LUCK to even come close to emulating what Barca are currently doing. Let's just be honest, that is never going to happen.

Ancelotti has to leave, enough is enough. Yes the squad is much weaker than it was years ago but the performances, the lack of cohesion, the clear lack of desire and hunger from our players is a result of very poor coaching.

Another failure of a performance yesterday in a game that matters. Yes he scored but for most of the game he was beyond useless. Slow in thought and even slower in movement. Simply doesn't have the technique in tight areas or the vision. Lastly he doesn't have the desire to want to help others to score. He just personally wants to reach the 20 goal milestone and nothing else which for the most creative of the midfield is shameful really.

Why not? He has proved he is rubbish in the Champions League losing all four games against Inter and Utd. We have had our worst run of form in god knows how long under him. He cannot motivate players and tactically he is rubbish. Why keep him? We can do so much better.

Do you honestly think Lampard will take kindly to being managed in that way? He wants to play every single minute of every game to reach his 20 goals a season heaven. He is starting to become a cancer to the team with his slow, unathletic, devoid of any creative ability sideways football.

Yeah because picking players is all a manager has to do right? Ancelotti is a truly mediocre coach. The sooner we get rid the better.

This is a big game for Frank Lampard. He was an abject failure in both games in the Champions League and we can't afford for him to go missing again. If he does do his little disappearing act again then Ancelotti has to have the balls to sub him off.

In my opinion he should start every game he's available for. He is very, very good and I hope he has a long Chelsea career. Sadly people want Mikel to provide the creative difference that the likes of Lampard don't. You never see Busquets derided because he dosen't creat or score goals but at Chelsea we expect our holding midfielder to be Messi. Mikel keeps possession extremely well, always picks the right pass and most importantly is always aviallable for under pressure teammates to pass to.

The dream signing. Young with unlimited potential. Flair and already a consistant goalscorer for both club and country. Almost too good to be true. Just hope we do all we can to sign him because he really is the next big thing,

I'd bite their hand off.