Celery1989

Probably the most insightful comment I've heard on Torres for a long time. You sir know your football.

Good player, somewhat unnecessary. Ramires is basically the same player for all intents and purposes, although Meireles' eye for goal is up there with the best of them.

Can I also ask how the club decides who gets the better seats at away games? Loyalty points I suppose?

You'll be fine getting tickets. Just make sure you're in the online queue at 7 to get the tickets and you'll have no problem. Incidentally, there's sometimes a glitch in the system where it might say sold out when in fact tickets are still going. I had this problem with Stoke but got them in the end. What I mean by this is that the link in the ticket portal (chelsea's ticket server thing u log into with ur member no. etc) may say sold out and therefore not work, whereas if u go the "ticket news" and click the buy online link by the Sunderland game there, that one may work instead. This only happened to me once but I'm just warning u not to panic if there's a glitch!

What he said.

I look forward to playing Genk actually to see what this Kevin De Bruyne kid's got (been linked with him all summer, rumour had it we were gonna sign him and then loan him back to a Belgian Club). Can't wait for Ballack's return to the Bridge. Last year's failings, especially when Essien and Lampard were injured, exposed how crucial a member of our team he had been in years past. I have to say I criticised him a lot because I often felt he didn't do enough and didn't justify the the reputation he had coming over here. In retrospect however I think he had to play a deeper, less attacking role because of Frank and he was crucial to us holding our shape in midfield and in keeping possession, maintaining attacks. Because of that I'll always hold him in high regard. Haven't seen many other players who were automatic from the penalty spot like him too.

I think they were after a Centre Mid anyway, Sandro is out for a while, Palacios seems to be on the outs and Jenas is injured too.

Seriosuly what is Arsene Wenger on? He deserves a slap for that bid of £6 Million.

Not on Twitter myself actually, but Wilshere's tweets seem to always find themselves onto the BBC gossip colmun or that breaking news ticker thing they have going at bbc sport too.

For what it's worth, Telegraph reporting that Roman's gonna have 1 more stab at it to the tune of £40 million. Can't be assed to get the link but google it and it'll be there.

Fair point too there. A lot of what is chanted is pretty anti-semitic and English Nationalist and you can't expect people who don't hold those values to participate. Nevertheless, is it really that much to ask for someone to say "Chelsea, Chelsea, Chelsea" every once in a while?

Right on the money there mate. Incidentally, I go away 3/4 times a year when I can, and I also happen to sit in the West Upper at home because my good mate's family have a few season tickets there. As far as the experience goes, being away is unbeatable because I like to chant etc, but on the other hand when I go the Bridge I'm treated to a pretty spectacular view. Got to say though I hate most of the people up there, too many stiffs with no real interest in what's going on. It's only when we play Tottenham that there's any atmosphere in the WU.

Wilshere should also start questioning why his knocked-up ex is currently with Josh. Honestly that little pikey is beginning to do my head in. It seems like not a minute goes by without Wilshere updating the world on his life - "just pickin up a pizza from the co-op".

Go on Luka, bit of acting in front of Levy might do the trick! Fury followed by a flood of tears when that pr*ck stubbornly refuses to grant you a transfer!

Yeah man, saw a video of Goetze the other day. Dribble's like Messi. The German's are gonna have an incredible team soon with all the other youngsters that burst through in the World cup.

Still would love us to get Modric obvs, but just out of curiosity what alternatives are out there? Pastore and Nasri have both gone, and the only others I can think of are Christian Eriksen (Ajax), Mario Goetze (Dortmund - this guy has Fabregas type talent) and maybe Marek Hamsik (Napoli - more of a Lampard kind of midfielder though). Stevan Jovetic too at Fiorentina but has had big injury problems already and he's only 21. I guess on top of these guys Joao Moutinho at Porto would probably be the most logical fall-back option for obvious reasons. Can anyone suggest any other players that we may look at as alternatives if Modric doesn't come?

I'm kind of 50/50 on this. Flo was on fire at the start of last year along with the rest of the team, but then he looked very disinterested to me later on in the season during our slump. When the revival occurred, I felt as though he had little part in it. For the now, I'd rather not sell him because if he goes then we're back to having only 1 winger (Mata) and the strikers that we pidgeon-hole into playing out wide (Kalou, Anelka, Sturridge). If we had to get rid of 1 of this group I'd rather it were Anelka - older, offers less to the team IMO, and I hate how slow he makes our play. However, what with him having 1 year left on his deal, I don't see Malouda being offered a new deal and this may well be his last season, so perhaps taking the 5 million pounds now is a good deal. If this Pereira dude is coming in then I guess it makes sense to sell. We'd have Mata, Pereira for LW (Kalou and Anelka can do a job there), and then ACole, Pereira and perhaps 1 of Betrand or PVA to cover LB. So I suppose, as far as numers as concerned, Malouda could be expendable.

Not too sure what to think of Kakuta. I remember his debut cameo against Wolves 2 years ago where he looked explosive, but then I remember he was utterly anonymous at Villa Park last season in his first start - granted the whole team were pretty ordinary but still. Would like to see him loaned out this year to continue his development, he's not gonna get a game with Mata, Malouda, Kalou, Anelka, Sturridge occupying the wide positions. I don't think the club have given up on him just yet but he's got to perform on loan this year: Look at Sturridge, it's taken him scoring in every game for Bolton and him being our best player in pre-season just to make the squad for this year!

I find these terms pretty perplexing. Why would we want to nurture one of Barca's youth prospects only to let them take him back for a snip in a years/2 years time? I see where Barca are coming from in light of the Fabregas issues but this makes little rational sense for us. Having said that, Barca have Busquets and Mascherano as their holding players so unless 1 of them (the latter would be most likely) leaves in the next couple of years I guess there would be no need for Barca to take him back.

CB? Terry, Alex, Luiz and Ivanovic - that's a pretty solid group to me. As for Van Der Wiel, don't know enough about him to comment. Not much on the internet either regarding our supposed interest except for 1 iffy looking site.

Think I'd watch the Clasico somehow...

Frank is definitely getting on, the injury last year seemed to take quite a lot out of him. I still think he can be effective and will get over 10 league goals this year I reckon, but we definitely need another creator in the middle like Modric to supplement him and give him a breather. To be honest, Wesley Sneijder would be the ideal replacement for Frank but that's another story and we seem to have no interest in him, What would be best is if we do what United did with Scholes and slowly start scaling back Frank;s involvement in the team, so that he can play at his maximum say once a week. That way we can also give McEachran more a chance!

Look, We have possibly the most rigid set of players in the top 5/6. The reason we haven't been able to get anything out of Torres is because none of our players knows how to "play between the lines" - Mata and Modric are exactly the type of players who can do this, pulling defenders out of position and creating space for the likes of Torres to run into. Then the killer ball and bang, 1-0 Chelsea :) The reason Fernando got all those goals was because he had Gerrard playing behind him, who was able to play those killer balls.

Haven't felt as excited about this for any signing since...Sheva, Ballack!? Exactly what we need, I really hope that all the paperwork gets done in time for Saturday so I get to watch his debut. Now bring in Modric and we're talking!!

Today's news would seem to suggest the wheels are in motion for a transfer. It seems as though 'Arry would rather sell him too as a means for bolstering the rest of his squad. I just wonder how/if Benayoun fits into this. I've seen rumours that Mata will get the no.10 shirt (Yossi's currently), and I've also seen rumours where Benayoun has apparently declared that by Wednesday he'll know where he's going. I'd rather he wasn't part of this deal if I'm honest - Mata, Modric and Benayoun would be a pretty good trio of creative players, and if 1 of Mata/Modric gets injured then we're down to just the 1 creator. I'd rather flog Spuds Anelka or Kalou as a makeweight tbh: Tottenham need strikers, the former has little left to offer whilst the latter will never improve - can anyone honestly say that Kalou has got better in the 4/5 years he's been here? Probably reasons why Spurs wouldn't want either lol.