middleweight

That analogy would work if all teams were equal, or Ford Sierras as Samuel put it, last season. We were clearly the best team last year. If we were a Mclaren last year and everyone else was Porches, if they turn up to race in Ferraris this year we'll still win the race. Nobody knows if the the other teams have done enough to overtake us. This season will be closer for sure but we're still the best team

https://twitter.com/RafaelH117/status/631161598309232645 Barcelona Sporting Director Robert Fernandez confirms that Pedro has asked to leave the club.

Good points. Our squad may be better than our rivals. I was going to say its dangerous to stand still but i'm not sure we have. Maybe it comes down to recruitment. I see us as having 4 glaring weaknesses (5 if you include GK). GK-Addressed in the best way possible, starting quality homegrown player LB - Look to be addressing. Situation out of our hands with player wanting to leave. Baba is a downgrade in my opinion but may prove to be better in our system than Luis CM - Not addressed AM - Addressed with Cuadrado, doesnt look like it'll work out ST - Addressed with Falcao. I'm skeptical but would love to be proven wrong When you look at the above we've addressed 4/5 positions of weakness. The end of the season will tell us if the recruitment has been sufficient or not. For me, we need to sign a CM before Sept and lose Mikel. I'm not a Mikel hater but we can upgrade in his position. I'd take Verratti over every midfielder in the world at the moment

Yep. If we analyse our bench from Saturday - Begovic - Starting Quality, best backup in the league - Zouma - Starting Quality, can cover CB and DM - Mikel - Not starting quality, can cover only one position, both Zouma and Mikel arent need in my opinion. I'd replace Mikel on the bench with Baba for FB cover - Ramires - Offers us something different so I'd keep him on the bench - Moses - Moses is a squad player at best, too similar to Willian in my opinion.This player needs to be a creator and a goal scorer. An AM is only going to come on if we are losing or drawing. Signing a quality RW would give us a creative option off the bench against the big teams (with Willian starting for his defensive contribution) and a player against the smaller teams who can break down deeper sitting defences. - Falcao - We play one up top, not sure we need two strikers on the bench. Remy is better than Falcao in a general sense but i think Falcao strengths suit our system more. I also don't think Jose trusts Remy as was evident with Drogba starting big games last year. Signing a ST in the mold of diego and having Remy as the 3rd option is what I think we have tried to do. Unfortunately as most can see Falcao is not comparable in quality to Diego. Not a revolutionary opinion but i believe we should've signed a ST as similar to Diego as we could instead of taking a punt on Falcao - Remy - If were only going with 1 ST on the bench. Then this position would go to the CM cesc/matic hybrid i mentioned in the first post who could replace Matic if we are losing/drawing or replace Cesc if we are winning

There's a huge gap between the quality of our 1st xi and our subs GK-this where the competition is the strongest. Arguably the least important position to have competition, considering how many games a starting GK is able to play and how many they miss FBs-3 starting quality fbs is what's needed. A RB, LB and a player capable of playing both sides. We had that in Ivan, Luiz and Dave. Luis didn't work out for whatever reason. I believe Luis is better than Baba, so it appears we are weaker here but time will tell. CB-3 starting quality CBs. Not sure we need to strengthen here. I like the idea of signing Stones but when you look at our needs it seems strange CM-Again 3 starting quality players needed. Mikel, Ramires, RLC aren't good enough to put any pressure on Cesc or Matic. A hybrid of cesc and Matic would be ideal. RLC could fill the 4th spot although I'd prefer Ake AMs-same as CMs. Cuadrado, Moses, Traore aren't good enough to put pressure on the starting 3. This seems to be a recruitment error as a Cuadrado was signed to plug this gap but doesn't seem capable. I'm not ready to write him off just yet. I'd be happy with a starting quality AM , Moses as a squad player and Traore as young player with potential as our back up AMs. Hopefully Cuadrado comes good. STs- Again Remy or Falcao not good enough to give Jose a dilemma at the ST position. If Diego is fit he'll play, his condition worries me though. I believe we should've have signed a ST better then Remy for the number 2 spot, instead of a 3rd striker. tl:dr - The gap between the quality of our first xi and backups is too big

Thibau Ivan-Cahill-Terry-dave Cesc-matic Moses-Willian-hazard Falcao I think that's what it should be. Think Moses has done enough preseason to earn a start. Altho I think Jose might revert to type and start Oscar

Thanks mate

Whats the source for personal terms Socrates?

Wheres the ignore button?

How did that work out for you Mystic Meg?

I think this is already done and dusted. Just waiting for Luis to officially move and this will go through

Its all gone a bit quiet, personally I think thats a good thing

He's got a release clause, if he wants to leave Barca can't stop him

Koscielny was one of the best CBs in the Prem last year. I know he's a gooner but if JT can name him in his team of the year then so can i http://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/chelseas-john-terry-nominates-tottenhams-harry-kane-for-pfa-young-player-of-the-year-and-liverpools-philippe-coutinho-for-top-award-10169580.html

Interested to know who people would have in a team made up of the top 4 teams. I've put mine in a generic 4-3-3 as most teams seem to be moving towards that except us. Heres mine GK-Honestly couldnt seperate them. Cech/Courtois/DeGea/Hart are all great keepers in my opinion DR-Ivan DC-Terry DC-Koscielny DL-Dave DM-Matic CM-Cesc CM-Toure RW-Sanchez- Shifted Sanchez from the left to the right. ST-Aguero - Tough one this. I wouldnt swap Aguero for Costa but I think Aguero is the better overall striker. Not by much though. LW-Hazard - Not a tough choice but theres some top players at LW. Hazard/Silva/Sanchez/ oh and Young 7/10 Chelsea players. Could easily have been 9/11 (sorry Americans) if Courtois and Costa were put in. My conclusion is that even without signing a starting 11 player we're not looking too shabby

Chelsea will not sign Pogba or Griezmann in this window. However, I know that even if we don't sign them that is in no way proof I knew what I was talking about. I have it on good authority Jose is not interested in either player. Whether that's at their current price or whether even if we were offered an exclusive option to buy them we wouldn't because Jose doesn't think they fit in our team, I don't know. That also doesn't mean we won't change our minds but as far as I'm aware as it stands were not interested in either.

I have every faith in Jose. Both Pogba and Griezmann aren't on his radar

If it comes from The Sun, theres actually probably something in it. Well not The Sun but specifically Rob Beasley. He's Joses mouthpiece when he wants things in the public domain without him directly saying them himself

Whoever we sign it won't be Pogba or Griezmann. Guaranteed.

The Express

Would we rather the club conducted their business under the radar or like city with Sterling? I know which I prefer. This obviously leads to uncertainty about our signings but people are worrying about something not happening that could very well be happening right now

Why bother complaining about the time it's taking to make signings? Do you think the club are purposefully waiting till the end of the window to make signings or maybe negotiations take time. Look at the Begovic deal. We've known for weeks he's coming but it's still taking time. You said yourself if a big deal was to be made the latest you think it would happen would be end of July, we're not even half way through July yet. Last year's speed of signings was an anomaly not a constant. The season before last Scurrle signed when the window opened. William and Eto'o signed 2 days before the window closed. The season before that Hazard signed the day the window opened, Oscar at the end of July, Dave a week before the window closed. The season before that Courtois end of July, Lukaku mid August, Mata last week of August. We'll make signings when we make signings

You do realise transfers dealings are a little bit different to going to the shops and buying a loaf don't you?

We've gone from having the best backup GK in the league to having the best backup GK in the league. Smart move by the club

You need to wade through his bullsh*t and pick out the gems. If he has a news on a whatever that may be he'll announce it like its a major signing. Case in point a few days ago when he tweeted a series of cryptic messages alluding to a signing which turned out to be Jose and the backroom staff. He wont ever bullsh*t, but he'll exaggerate small news to make it appear like its something major. If he states something as fact, ie 'chelsea will not sign player x' ive never seen him proved wrong. However he is a troll for the way he drip feeds his news no matter how big or small, thats why you have to sift through his antics