Celery1989

I agree with Mike to be honest. I've never felt Frank's passing abilities are that great. Yeah he can ping it from one side of the pitch to the other when either of our full backs has half the pitch to himself. However, I don't remember too many defence-splitting passes from deep a la Meireles @ Sunderland.

1) I think most of us head into this game somewhat worried. Unusual since over the years I've always been been confident of a win at OT. But, given United's form right now, I think we'd be happy to come home with a point. AVB will almost certainly play 433. Guessing the team is a little harder though. Cech for sure aswell as JT and Cole, but he could as easily pair Ivanovic with JT as he could do with Luiz too. Bosingwa looks secure to start I think given his improved form so far this season. Midfield: Ramires definitely, Lampard probably since he was rested in midweek. Then either Meireles or Mikel, toss up really but I reckon Mikel to begin with. Attack: Mata for sure, then I reckon Torres and Anelka. Drogba will be out with a concussion and Sturridge may be deemed too inexperienced for this. But he could also quite possibly start seeing as he's in good nick right now and more of a goal threat out wide than Anelka. 2) All in all, I'm quite pleased with what transpired over the summer. First impressions of the manager are excellent. As for the signings, pretty happy all in all that we've now changed the transfer policy around the club to focus on younger players who can step in and begin to fill the shoes of the ageing stalwarts. Meireles to me is also a very good signing, and in terms of value for money better than 40million for Modric. However, as far as the future is concernred, Modric would have been excellent. Overall, I think AVB needs another summer window with 3/4 in and 3/4 out in order to really put his stamp on the team and to comprehensively effect the regeneration of our squad. 3) See above, very good all in all. I like how he dealt with the Torres issue this week, it seemed to fire the player up a little. If we don't win anything this year I sincerely hope AVB is given another chance next season at least. 4) I'm somewhere in the middle of that really. My patience is beginning to slowly ebb away, but I'm also always off my seat whenever Torres has the ball in any kind of dangerous position. I guess like all the rest of the Chelsea I'm praying that he comes good, but if I'm honest, it seems unlikely to me. 5) You know what, Meulensteen is correct. I've been banging that same drum to my mates for the last 9 months or so. Our signings this summer should begin to address that, and as noted above through 1 more window I think we'll have the dynamic team that AVB is after. Hope this helps.

He's good but I complete pr*ck aswell. I'd steer clear of him to be honest. If Milan offer say 20/25 Million in cash then I'd consider.

United were AWAY from home, Fergie left Hernandez, Nani and Phil Jones on the bench, whilst leaving another key player right now in Ashley Young at home altogether. Yet there was never any mention of a "gamble" by the press.

Fair point mate. I never rememeber Sheva being micro-analysed to this extent either! And what a flop he was.

Anyone know who Murdoch supports?

AVB has a number of big decisions to make for this game, which is definitely a positive for us and the state of the squad. If it was me, here's what I would do: Cech, JT and A.Cole pick themselves. If he was in better form I'd play Alex at CB, but he was nothing short of woeful against Shane Long and so at this moment in time I'm not confident of him going up against Hernandez. I'd put Ivan at CB because he's playing well and stick with Bosingwa at RB. He's in the best form we've seen at Chelsea and I think he's improved defensively. Ideally I'd like Ivan at RB vs. Ashley Young but I just don't trust David Luiz enough yet in these big games. In midfield, Lampard or Meireles...hmmm. With the pace that United play at, I'm worried Lampard wouldn't be able to keep up. Meireles though can be a bit reckless in the tackle which we don't need. Toss up really. Mikel to screen the defence, Ramires has to play in my opinion to track Anderson's box to box runs and link up the attack. Upfront: Drogba would start but he's out it seems so I'd stick with Torres, have Mata on the left and Anelka on the right. Sturridge would love to play I'm sure but I don't think he's ready yet to give the defensive shift needed on the right-hand side against Evra and Young. Keep Studge on the bench for a bit of spark if needed in the last half hour. Cech Bos Ivan Terry Cole Mikel Lampard Ramires Anelka Torres Mata

Ronaldo is a more complete player in the sense that his heading ability is superior to Messi, he has an excellent weak foot which Messi doesn't, and he's athletically more superior. I'll give that much. But, Messi is a true professional (unlike Ronaldo) and his overall effect on the team is greater. He always plays for the team, whereas Ronaldo nowadays just shoots over and over again. Also, watching Messi play is mesmerising, I don't think I've ever seen anyone run with the ball as gracefully and as effortlessly as he does.

I suppose I'm so used to the Sky coverage of Chelsea that I didn't really notice too much out of the ordinary. However I was a bit startled by Geoff Shreeves' first question too, he isn't generally like that either to be fair (not to us at least). I can't stand Graeme Souness in general because of how biased he is. Ray is a legend but even he wasn't quite as full of praise for our players as he usually is. Hoddle...meh. It wasn't as bad as the ITV coverage whenever we played Liverpool between 2005-2009. They may have aswell become LFCTV for those broadcasts.

Yeah what gives? Maybe their lawyers are better than ours in that regard :P? Whilst ours specialise in tapping-up cases...

Watched Davila's highlight reel on YouTube and he looks an exciting prospect. Seems to have very natural dribbling ability and can shoot from outside the box too. Reminds me a lot of Javier Saviola in terms of the way he plays. From what I saw in that video he's totally different to Hernandez. Davila likes to pick the ball up deep and run at players, whilst Hernandez plays on the last man, makes quick runs to the near post etc when the ball is crossed in.

I thought Torres showed some positive signs yesterday. He almost scored a wonder goal, and was little bit unlucky with the other chances in the first half. If he was on form I'm sure he'd have scored on the 1 that the goalie blocked, but he isn't right now so let's look at the positives: 2 nice assists, in particular the second one. Obviously we want him to be scoring goals but if he's not yet still contributing to the team, then at this stage that can only be a good thing. You could see after the set-up to Luiz that the confidence started to come back and his movement was better. Also getting a full 90 minutes can only help his confidence too, which as most have stated here seems to be the key.

If you look at McEachran, he's an absolute weed physically. All our players are pretty muscular really, with the exception of Ramires, who also looks like a stick but in fact has enough bite in his game to make up for it. Given that he won't be playing much this year Lukaku could do a lot worse than showing McEachran how to work out!

I have very fond memories of Ranieri too. It felt like a soap opera or something following his progress the first few years what with him not being able to speak Englsih at all, and for 3 years we didn't really go anywhere in the league. I chuckle pretty hard thinking about those defeats to Viking Stavanger and Maccabi Tel Aviv in the Uefa cup too. But the most significant thing he did was get to get us to the CL (obvious reasons - also he did sign Lampard, Cech, Makelele, Robben, Crespo and Duff). Not to mention promoting JT to the first team. It goes without saying that Jose was the best of the lot, but I have to say I have a bit of a soft spot for Avram too. I thought he did an admirable job in taking us very close to both the title and the European Cup given all the tension at the club post-Mourinho. Hiddink was like a saviour that one season, and Carlo on balance was pretty good too. Shame it went to so badly for him in the second season, partly his fault and the board's for evidently not providing enough funds to fill the gaping holes we had in the squad in August. I'm still somewhat miffed as to how Scolari flopped so badly. We looked so strong the first few months of that season, but then as soon as we hit a blip all the in-fighting began. It seems as though Scolari was difficult person and so much of our problems under his regime derived from that I feel. Seems silly to say so but the personality of our coach seems to have a big effect on the team.

Looked more solid at Sunderland with Ivanovic in there. It was strange how weak we looked at the back against West Brom when I thought Alex and JT were rock solid against Stoke.

Agreed Myles. If we were in a flashy new stadium then I could perhaps understand the prices but we're not. I love the Bridge as much as the next person but the prices are ridiculous. If enough fans were to protest then perhaps the club would listen. Without sufficient ticket sales the club is f*cked.

Really good post Davey, I confess that I have been pretty despondent about us thus far on the back of last season but I feel like we've made some steps in the right direction with AVB here and with some of the new signings. As you said, AVB appears to have a good eye for talent, and, if given the time to fuly implement what he wants, then after 1 more solid transfer window we may be close to, or maybe even equal to, the level that United and City seem to be at. Regarding United this Sunday, I'm very very nervous even thinking about it. They look imperious right now, and we're going to have to play out of our skins at the back. In fact, I'd go with Mikel and Meireles holding, and with Ramires playing as a link man between the front 3. So lots of counter-attacking basically. Right now, a draw would do me just fine. Then hopefully when we play them at the Bridge, we'll be in better form and able to take all 3 points off them.

Are you forgetting that the King's Road is the Cocaine Capital of the country? There's a reason why Mutu and Bosnich were done for it!

I haven't totally given up, but I'm begininng to lose patience. If he gets a chance alongside Mata, Sturridge and Meireles, and he continues to flop, then f*ck him quite frankly. If we don't see a remarkable turnaround by Christmas, then perhaps we should sell him off to Spain. In all seriousness, Malaga, with their new Arab benefactor, would probably be willing to take a punt on him for around £20 million. Sadly the ignominy of the Torres predicament is made all the worse by Aguero and Suarez.

Seems as though we were prepared to sell Alex at the end of the transfer window without bringing anyone else in, so surely that would suggest that AVB has confidence in Luiz's abilities?

Silva is ahead in terms of his development, and perhaps little more "silky" and less direct than Mata. But both fit into the same general creative mould. If I had to pick one purely head to head it would be Silva because he's more proven the premier league, and in actual fact, probably my favourite player in the prem that doesn't play for us. Interestingly enough we should have really signed him. I remember him stating that he wanted to come to Chelsea and how it would be great to play alongside Drogba and co. Alas, Chelsea dithered, Man City swooped in, and that was that. Shame, can you imagine Mata and Silva in the same (club) side!?

So with Lukaku on neither list does this mean that he can't be added in January for the Knockout phase if someone gets sold?

Really not buying AVB's claims that we won't go after Modric again. I'm pretty certain that we will.

I'd love to see this side: -------------Cech------------- Bos---- Luiz----- JT----- Cole -----------Romeu-------------- -----Ramires--- Meireles---- Sturridge--Torres---Mata-- But I think Mata will come in for Drogba (enforced) and Anelka for Malouda. That will be it. Romeu definitely won't start but I really want to see what he's about. He'll probably have to wait until Fulham in the CC.

Who's the other Finn!? Moi mita kuuluu!