german-blue

Mikel and Luiz are out for this game? if yes: ----------------------------cech--------------------------- ----------bos-------ivan---------jt-----------ashley----- ----------------Ramires-----------Lampard------------ -------------------------Benayoun----------------------- -----------Anelka-------Drogba----------Malouda---- Terrible line-up but should be enough for Stoke ... Going into another season with Anelka and Malouda on the wing really annoys me but we dont have a other choice have we? Just looking at the age of our attacking players Anelka,Drogba,Malouda. Lampard and Benayoun should give anyone a big headache.

Anelka top-scorer in 2 of the last 3 seasons? Only time Anelka was Top-scorer was in 08/09 and that was because of Drogba´s problems with Scolari. Anelka had 29 asists and 56 goals in the last there seasons in a total of 146 games , while Drogba had 64 goals and 37 assists in 132 games, Lampard had 62 goals and 45 assists. And regarding Anelka´s slow playing style... I really doubt he can speed up his game, thats just not his way he is playing.

1. He is blocking the development of Sturridge and Lukaku 2. He is declining, we wont get any transfer fee for him if we hold on any longer 3. Apart from CL groupstage and one match against Copenhagen he was garbage for most of the season 4. He is forced to play out of position for the rest of his Chelsea career 5. He is slowing down our play 6. He is not good enough to sacrifice giving younger players a chance at his position. Seriously I am pretty optimistic that Sturridge is going to do better then 6 EPL goals and a few assists

Why not ?

-----------------------------Courtois--------------------------- --------Santon-----Hutch-----------Rajkovic-------PvA---- -----------------------------Mikel------------------------------- ----------------------Josh-------Ganso----------------------- ----------Sturridge--------Lukaku------------Kakuta------

What I really dont like is that quotes are really difficult to read (at least on my computer) ... Too little contrast

Thats exactly why I cant get excited about this transfer aswell... Its more like a loan then anything else

I like the new look... as Moi said, just scroll down and chose Shed End 3.2

Im sick of him slowing down our play and even though he gets a few assists here and there he isnt offering regular service for Drogba/Torres. Lack of pace, mediocre in 1on1 situations, past his prime, often trying to shoot from difficult angles/positions. There are lots of reasons why people want to get rid of him and even though I respect what he did for Chelsea I would be really happy if we have a new left-winger to replace Malouda SOON.

Great player but how is he going to get playing time? Wasting him at the wing would be a bad idea considering his skill-set and physical presence and in the center it is difficult enough to keep Drogba and Torres happy.

Pva/Bertrand have yet to prove they are any better then the other youth team failures, Oriel is going back to Barca if he comes good, Josh and Sturridge are promising but if they become a succuess remains to be seen. And Torres?? He is already 26, hardly a youngster. The only young players in our XI are Luiz and Ramires, Mikel maybe also. And thats hardly impressive to be honest ... Also by saying "in a mess" I am talking about overall balance and future outlook ... Drogba/Torres situation, lack of wingers, lack of creative midfielders, lack of a natural RB, key players behind their peak, there are plenty reasons to be a bit worried about the future of this Chelsea squad.

So what ? Dont read my posts if you dont like it or proof me wrong...

So what makes you feel optimistic about next season? If you look at the squad in a honest way you will see that all of our players are a year older, a bit more past their peak and our weaknesses havent been addressed. Yes I am happy about AVB but without the right players he wont be able to make this team able to win EPL, let alone CL

Depends on who we sign until the transfer windows is closed.... Right now I have to say I dont see anything that would make me feel confident and optimistic about next season. I was excited about Romeu but after I realised Barca can buy him back its not helping us in the long term either

Yes in a mess ... We still dont have even semi-decent wingers. Our 55m signing is probably going to start the season on the bench. We have zero creativity in midfield... None of these problems have been solved. Our attack remains unbalanced and Lukaku would make things worse. I am not spoilt, all I want is that we start to spend money on the right kind of players. Its easy to say that everything is good, of course we still have a strong squad but if you would look at how things really are you would see that there are huge issues present and even bigger ones coming up. Once the first couple of bad results come in everbody is going to be in rage about our management still ignoring the weaknesses of the squad... you can bet your ass on that. Simple question: If you have Drogba and Torres in the center and Anelka/Sturridge and Malouda on the wing. What type of player should be signed to improve the team? Answer A: sign a central forward that is not going to get playing time behind Drogba/Torres (after all they are world class strikers, both are amongst the best in the world) Answer B: sign a winger that competes with Anelka/Malouda for the place in the XI and be the replacement in the long-term (after all Malouda and Anelka are both on the wrong side of 30 and are, at least at this stage of their career, mediocre at best)

There is a lot of "could" in your sentence. The most likely scenario is that we will still play 4-3-3 and I cant see Drogba leaving anytime soon after all he is still our best forward.

I would be a total fan of signing Lukaku if we hadnt just wasted 55m on Torres. If Torres wasnt here Lukaku could slowly take over from Drogba, learning from him and then ultimately replacing him as our main central forward. The 55m on Torres could have been used for 2 wingers or a winger and a creative midfielder (ie hazard + modric) and we would be in a good position. Right now we are in a mess though and signing Lukaku will destroy any balance that might be left

I look into the future and I see Torres holding down that central spot for YEARS... after all that is what we bought him for. As I said I dont want to see us play 4-3-3 with 3 central strikers in the future, we need proper wingers, ie Hazard Dont even get me started ... Lukaku is 1.91m and strong physically, his body and his skillset make him a potential world class central striker. Used as a make-shift winger like Sturridge, Anelka or Kalou he will not fullfill his potential. We will waste him at the wing while Torres holds down the center for a lot of seasons to come. There is no way of not seeing that

First of all Torres is 26, he is not going to make way for Lukaku anytime soon which means that Lukaku will be forced to play on the wing. That is not where he should play if you ask me... I am sick of central forwards playing on the wing (ANELKA) and I dont want to see us continuing on this route. What we totally lack is an eye for the right balance, you cant buy central forwards if you have no creative midfielder and no half-decent wingers. A player of Lukaku´s abilities and talent HAS to get decent playing time and lets get real behind Torres and Drogba he wont get more then an occasional sub-appearance and some starts in meaningless cup-games. Its going to be VERY difficult to keep both Torres and Drogba happy and now another central forward to be bought in?? You gotta be f**kING kidding...

Torres our 55m signing starting the season on the bench !! Thats really amusing if I wouldnt be a Chelsea fan

ANOTHER central forward ?? We need a winger and not another central forward... Im really getting desperate with the people in charge of transfers... How is Lukaku going to get enough playing time behind Torres, Drogba and Anelka? Only way a signing of Lukaku would make senese is if we include one of our strikers ie Kalou or Anelka in the deal.

In my opinion this transfer doesnt make sense for either club... It looks to me more as a loan for two seasons with the chance of getting some cash for "developing" Oriol. This deal makes me feel like we are a development team for barca youngsters ... Actually the more I think about it the more it looks like we give Barca a loan... they get 5m now, if they can pay it back with some extra cash they get their "property" back...if not we keep it. just like a bank taking your house

And why is Barca thinking like that? Because they think of themselves as "more then a club" ... and thats annoying. You act like ex-barca youth players are your property while in all reality they are just like any other young players.

I like that blue shirt...cant we have something similiar to that as our home kit? The new 3rd kit looks better on actual players then it looked on pictures... still not really better then "acceptable"