Saaladin

Well when you factor all his qualities I believe he is...

I think it would be 1a and 1b, in any order. Benzema is better in the air and and more hold up play/physical strength but Suarez has better tight dribbling skills.

Best striker in the world. No one close to him even. He holds the ball up better than any striker, his vision is impeccable for a front man which is why he is just as good a playmaker as a finisher. And he can finish any way you like, in the air, volley, shooting. Plus he is a great dribbler. Most strikers are missing one of those qualities, Benzema has them all.

Chelsea shying away from Costa is very good news... I simply don't think he has the skill set to mesh with our creative players and when you play 20 games per season against 10 teams who more or less sit 10 behind the ball Costa won't be the man that gets us the breakthrough. We need a striker with more touch and ability in tight space. I still hold out hope we will sign Benzema somehow. If not we should look at Falcao, or go all out for Rooney.

And Modric.... and Luis Felipe...........................................

True, its definitely not absolute. But in the top tiers, the teams that have stronger players overall AND keep possession have a good success rate. But again not absolute probably.

Thanks for those stats... very interesting to see. I think though that this is just about in line with what I'm saying though..... City is up there, Southampton is great with possession and probably why they have become a top 10 team whereas where were they before? Same with Swansea, they are a top 10 team now because they keep the ball better than the lower sides. Arsenal was top 4 all year also. I think if Southampton had the cash to bring in a couple more elite players they would be challenging top 4. If Arsenal had RVP, Song and Nasri they would have won the league. RVP alone would have been enough. Liverpool was 7th last year? Rogers comes in and gets them playing possession football and they're second.... However for Chelsea, even if we had Rooney for example I don't think it would have made a difference because we haven't been able to create much for our strikers. I know Torres, Ba, Eto'o are not all-world at this time but we didn't really create for them.

I'd like to see Willian tried in a holding midfield role. He did this a lot for Shaktar and his work rate + vision was really accentuated. It will also give him more opportunity to make late runs. His defensive ability is more than enough to make him an asset there.

Because winning with significantly less possession time is not a strategy that will win you games on a consistent basis and requires you to be very efficient with the few opportunities you will have to score and hope that the other team who is holding the ball misses their opportunities or is limited to few. Also, teams that can't hold quality possession will often have difficulty against lower sides that will just put 10 behind the ball. If you're a team that struggles with possession you will struggle to find spaces in that scenario. Madrid won the CL this year using both strategies. Against Bayern they countered, against Athletico they possessed because they bought players capable of that. Chelsea needs to get on Madrid's level if they want to win the EPL and CL.

http://www.dailystar.co.uk/sport/football/381968/Chelsea-agree-deal-with-Arsenal-and-Man-United-target-Cesc-Fabregas Deal with Fabregas done? Yet do agree fee with Barca

Perhaps outclassed is the word that is throwing things off topic... I should have said out possessed and dictated to and left it at that... So was Real out possessed and dictated to,,,, yes. But Real's counter attack was too good and Bayern paid for not being more clinical with their possession time. Bayern had 72% possession in their 1-0 loss and 69% in their 4-0 loss. Only reasons they didn't win was because the didn't play very smart in terms of respecting Madrid's counter attack. Their defense is weak centrally and they don't have a dynamic goal scorer. Robben has slowed down and Ribery you never know what you'll get. Still they did dominate those games despite the score.

True but you also need to have some inventiveness to break down the bottom 10 sides who will in turn park the bus on you. Hopefully reports of Fabregas coming in are accurate, still young at 27 and has the traits both Mourinho and Roman want.

First of all, nothing is absolute. I wasn't the one who brought up specific games. But I do know that for the most part Chelsea was dictated to and we responded with 10 behind the ball and an efficient counter-attack. And if you can't agree that we didn't have the players to break down the lower sides who parked the bus then you are just arguing for the sake of arguing. Chelsea is not a possession team and we DO get outclassed in terms of style and creativity by top sides. That is fact and has been fact for years.

The point of the discussion wasn't about results it was about style of play. I was quite happy with all the wins no matter how they came. However we inflict a lot of pressure on ourselves due to a lack of ability to dictate play, which is another reason we lost points to lower end teams. They were able to camp out in front of their goal and we didn't have the players to break them down.

Yeah exactly like that actually. You are only confirming my point. We countered Arsenal in that 6-0 win, we didn't out-possess them by much considering they were down to 10 men in the 15th minute. It was still only 53 to 47 in our favor.

Who said anything about luck.. Its called strategy. Mourinho wasn't interested in ball retention or flare. He chose players he could get results with by selecting certain players. He chose power and pace and sacrificed possession and incisiveness.

I don't agree with that... whether it was planned or happened as a result of the style of our players (I think both) we were outclassed and out possessed in every game against a top side. Even Southampton came in and ran us. Mourinho chose players that are powerful and athletic in order to repel attacks and counter. He didn't want players on the pitch whose main function was to organize and distribute and be creative like Mata. Now, I think Mourinho is desperately trying to add players who offer both. Fabregas is one, Koke and Pogba are the same. Paulinho also offers strength combined with savvy.

Same bloke yeah,,, except I said he had Pirlo like traits to pick passes and if you watched Chelsea this season you would have seen that his ball distribution was excellent... and he was switching the field of play for us regularly....

Depends what you want in your team. Chelsea wants to be able to attack more efficiently, hold possession better and dictate play. So IMO, to do that we do need an overhaul. Some of our players are just not designed for that...

I want Paulinho, Pogba and Febregas. But that of course depends on who we keep. Mikel and Lampard are out of the equation and if Mourinho sells Oscar thats 3 mids out and 3 in. I think we need more options and flexibility. Fabregas offers that as he can hold or play behind the striker. Pogba is a playmaker that can also play behind the striker. Paulinho is a holding type player as well. You have to have options in case of injury or bad form. Ideally I'd like to see Matic and Fabregas holding with Pogba behind Costa. Paulinho can figure into any of those positions as well and gives us depth.

Give your idea of what Chelsea should do this summer... Who should they buy and who should they sell? My plan: Loan Players: Sign Courtois to extension and loan him out one more season with promise that Chelsea #1 is his in 2015. Bring back Patrick van Aanholt, Lucas Piazón, Bertrand Traoré, Lukaku and Kurt Zouma. Sell: Torres: Let him find himself at another club. Won't happen at Chelsea it seems. Oscar: I wouldn't mind giving him one more year to become an impact player for Chelsea but I wouldn't complain if he was sold for £40 to PSG either. In the end I just am not crazy about his style, very slow to pick a pass and not all that powerful. Ramires: I simply don't think he has enough quality to start for Chelsea. Mourinho loves his work rate but I think he will get annoyed with his lack of technical ability if he hasn't already. Ramires foils too many attacks with an inability to add to the intricacy of players like Hazard and Matic. Personally I would play Ramires at RB where he would make the most of his speed and counter attacking ability. Mikel: Love the guy as a utility player who does his job well but I feel like he is best served going somewhere else. And I think he will be an untouchable wherever he goes. Buy: Paulinho: Has way more quality than Ramires, solid tackler and smart passer of the ball. Has a strong presence and calming effect on a game. Wouldn't mind Hernanes either, his Brazilian teammate. Fabregas: Mourinho type player. Tackles hard and very complete. Dribbles and passes as good as any midfielder. Paul Pogba/Koke: Player that can effect the game in the attacking third. We need playmakers to get our strikers the ball. Marcelo or Felipe Luis: We need a LB with some flair. One of these two would be great replacements for Cole. Kareem Benzema: I prefer Benzema to Costa. I think he has way more foot skill and is excellent connecting with mids and wingers. He would be perfect for EPL as he is also strong in the air and holding up the ball. Best striker in the world right now IMO with Aguero and Ibra. Sanchez/Pedro: We need another winger with speed and skill that can unlock a stubborn bottom 10 side. That would give us. RB -- Ivan and Azpi -- Great competition LB -- Marcelo/Luis and Van Aanholt CBs -- Terry, Cahill, Zouma, Kalas and Ivan Holding Mids -- Matic, Fabregas, Paulinho, Van Ginkel Attacking mids: Fabregas, Pogba/Koke, Willian, Traore Wingers: Hazard, Salah, Schurrle, Piazon, Pedro/Sanchez. Strikers: Benzema, Lukaku, Ba This team would be able to hold possession so much better than what we had last season. More class up front and more potential for attacks from our wing-backs. The added creativity in midfield will provide so much more scoring potential for our strikers. Out wide we would have much more versatility that last season where we were just shuffling around Willian, Hazard and Schurrle.

Untouchables: Terry, Cahill, Azpi, Ivan, Willian Everyone else is fair game. Matic is up and down, Hazard, Schurrle, Salah, Ramires inconsistent. We know about strikers.

Luke Shaw is a must buy. When a talented English player comes available its a must to sign him especially for one of the big clubs in england. Cole, Lampard and Terry don't have long left and you can't have a team with only foreigners. We need Shaw, Rooney and hopefully a few of our own academy players step up soon.

First of all I was right on Willian so bringing that up is unnecessary on your part. Second of all he is not as prepared as Willian to perform at a high level on this squad. Although he does have CL experience and lots of National team caps. He has the ability to be like a Robben type player in the EPL. Speed, goals and assists and likes to cut in on his left. Mourinho wanted him because he will most likely use him as a left footed player from the right wing cutting in. He had the same thing going in Madrid. He is also very hard working.

This is amazing news. Great player, great kid. He is a very skillful and explosive winger with a nice curling left foot shot. Has real good pace and can also pick a pass. I think this is a typical Mourinho signing. He is not here to replace Mata. Not the same player at all. He's my countryman so this signing is really cool.