dmitz

Great post. I agree, I would love it if we kept the four of them - Drogs, Kalou, Sturridge, and Torres. Only problem is, I highly doubt we can do that. Kalou has said earlier this season that he wants more playing time, and that he could see himself playing with the likes of Arsenal. The fact is, Kalou is class, but he barely sees the pitch here. At any other club, he'd be a regular. And as he is not getting any younger. I think he will be going this season to get more chances to play. I've been impressed with Sturridge at Bolton (as I think we all have been) and I really hope he comes back and plays a part in our future. Most importantly, he has shown he has what it takes to score in the PL, so he has proven himself worthy. I'm still not sure what to do about Drogs: We definitely will not sell Torres, and offloading Drogs now might be a good business move; he is having a great end to the season and his stock is only rising. But he is a legend and has done so much for the club...plus he is showing that his dip in form this season was probably more attributable to malaria than anything else. I suppose I would keep him on and let him finish the season. So that leaves us with 3: Drogs, Sturridge, and Torres. But let us not forget Kakuta: he should be coming off loan at Fulham if i'm not mistaken as well, and he is supposedly a huge prospect for the future. But, the whole striker debate is meaningless if we don't reorganize the midfield as you said earlier. I also do not know what to do about it. But, to me a major problem with Chelsea's play is that we do not have true wingers. We are over-reliant on our fullbacks to do a winger's job and often we are playing too narrow and up the middle. I expect to see an overhaul in the midfield and possibly the signing of a real winger this summer. Now, if we do that, how does that affect our strikers?

I could not agree more. Everyone seems to forget how great Lamps was for us just last season. We are coming off a WC summer, he had a bad injury that sidelined him for months, and under Ancelotti this year he hasn't fit well into a 4-4-2 system because that is just not his style. I understand he is almost 33, but he couldn't have aged SO drastically in a year could he? I think we need to wait till next year and give Lamps the benefit of the doubt. he is a legend and deserves a little bit more breathing room.

I really like the Villas Boas idea. He seems like a dynamic young coach with a long coaching career ahead of him. I would like him to come in and have a long and successful career here. We need a longterm stabilizing, BIG personality - and this guy has learned from the best of the best. Lippi - NO THANK YOU. Guus is also an attractive alternative, but he has said he doesn't really want to coach much longer. If it isn't Jose, I would take Villas Boas over any other coach. My only reservation with him is that he really doesn't have experience with a top side. A team like Chelsea has huge egos - it would be interesting to see how he could handle that. Thoughts?

Love the Jose bit. I really hope so too. I just want this game over with so I don't have to go on with the feeling of "can they actually do this?" I got in my chest right now.

Could not have said it better myself. You are 10000000000% right. We need to be bold and we need to score early. What do we have to lose really? We are already down and we need to grab this game by the balls and go all out.

I agree 100%. An early goal is key to winning this. We need it at least in the first half. This is gonna be really tough for sure, as the mancs will surely play tight and counter. I hope Benayoun has some part in this game too, he really picked our spirits up when he came on as a sub against Wigan.

My feeling is that Jose may wait out his contract and take over at Man U (which would be sort of like a stab to our backs). Fergie has said he does not plan on retiring within the next year or two, and Mourinho's contract at Real ends in 3 years. The numbers just all seem to add up - and the fact that today Mourinho said with absolute certainty that he will return to England makes me think that something already has been arranged with Man U. As for the short-term: depending on what really happens this season with the Champs League and Prem League (which we can realistically say we will probably not win), I believe either Carlo will stay on another year or Hiddink will take over. If Hiddink takes over, I definitely do not see Mourinho coming back to the bridge, as sad as that makes me.