Jonty

haha i hope he flew all the way to milan just for that question as well

Not by fault of AVB really.

In terms of investment there's no better owner in the history of football than ours, maybe this season will serve as a lesson to him that he has to learn patience, I don't see how we can go through this rate of managers for much longer before he runs out of people to replace them with. In the next 2-3 years I expect us to settle on a manager for quite a while.

Ashley Cole has won as many FA Cups as Liverpool, Chelsea and Aston Villa, and as 1 person there are only 3 clubs in the 131 season history of the Cup who have won more; United, Arsenal and Spurs. Add to that a Champions League, 3 Premier Leagues, a League Cup, numerous smaller trophies, numerous individual awards, being part of the first undefeated top flight team in over 100 years, 100 England caps and the fact he's probably the best left back in English history, and probably top 3 or 5 all time in his position, I don't see how he's missed opportunities. Not his fault the rest of the England squad perform like a squabble of muppets in tournaments.

Who else aside from Bale under the age of 23 has been better than Hazard this season?

It's voted on by other players, it seemed the majority of them were in support of Eden, although it could cost him a few votes, particularly with Swansea players.

While many of us just want this season to end before the fat one masterminds our exit from the top 4, there have been a few silver linings to this season, such as Frank closing in on the goal scoring record, and also the performances of our dynamic duo. We're now into February and with only 14 games left we've got a good idea already of who have been consistently quality enough over the past 24 games to warrant winning the big 4 individual awards come end of the EPL season; the PFA Player of the Year, EPL Player of the Year, FWA Footballer of the year, and PFA Young Player of the Year. Juan Mata will certainly have to be a contender for the former 3. 9 goals and 10 assists in the league so far leave his combined total behind only Van Persie and Suarez, who are likely to be his 2 man competitors for the award: Van Persie: 18 goals 6 assists Luis Suarez: 17 goals 3 assists Juan Mata: 9 goals 10 assists Theo Walcott: 10 goals 7 assists Wayne Rooney: 9 goals 8 assists However obviously more than just goals and assists are taken into account, it seems unlikely a defender or goalkeeper will take away any awards this year considering what a poor year it has generally been for the top clubs defences. The fact the other 4 members of the top 5 are striker's shows just how good Mata has been this year and how important he's been in an otherwise inconsistent and disappointing season for Chelsea. PFA Players' Player of the Year: Despite being a top club for the last decade, only 1 Chelsea player has ever won the award, which was John Terry in 2005. Even in the 2010 season when we smashed attacking records, Wayne Rooney won the award despite Drogba scoring 3 more goals and winning the golden boot (as well as getting 13 assists, significantly more than Rooney), and despite Lampard topping the assist charts AND scoring 22 goals from midfield and placing 5th in the goalscorers tally. RVP won the award last year and only 2 players have won the award in consecutive years in the 39 year history of the award; Thierry Henry and Cristiano Ronaldo. His goals per game currently is less than it was when he won the award last season when he was playing in a weak team which probably enhanced his chances of winning. This season with so many attacking options around him it may be viewed as less of an accomplishment. Liverpool currently sit in 7th place - no player has ever won the PPoY in a team that has finished so low on the table. This added to the fact that Suarez continues to be a very controversial player and probably quite unpopular with large sections of opposing players for his diving and racism background means that it's unlikely he would win over either RVP or Mata. Barclays Player of the Year: They chose to award it to Kompany last year over the favourite RVP, the award is voted on by a panel chosen by the EPL sponsors. On top of last years surprising decision, there have been some surprising winners such as Juninho, Kevin Phillips and Freddie Ljungberg, and defender's have won 3 of the last 4 years. Lampard is the only Chelsea player to have won this award, winning it in both of Mourinho's title winning seasons. FWA Footballer of the Year: This one is also more unpredictable than the players' player of the year, highlighted with Scott Parker winning it 2 seasons ago while getting relegated with West Ham. RVP won the award last year, Henry and CR7 are the only players to have won it in 2 consecutive seasons, but they like the BPOY often favour less predictable winners, something which would favour Mata and Suarez, or possibly even Fellaini over RVP. The other major award is the PFA Young Player of the Year. Anyone 23 years young or younger at the start of the season is eligible, meaning the likes of Hazard, Oscar and Moses are possible contenders for the award. Out of the 3, Hazard is likely the best contender, with 6 goals and 8 assists making his combined tally the highest of any possible contender for the award. The next highest is Gareth bale with 9 goals and 3 assists, followed by our very own Romelu Lukaku on 9 goals and 1 assist, then no-one else really close. Kyle Walker may have won it last year, but he was the first defender to win it since Tony Adams in 1987, generally because attacking players bloom at a younger age than defenders or goalkeepers. Scott Parker is the only Chelsea player to have won this award, but i'd say Hazard would be in with a big shout to win it this year, although will face stiff competition from Bale who was pretty unlucky to lose out to team-mate Walker last year. So what do you guys think, if Mata and Hazard can maintain similar form until the end of the season, do you think they can come away with any of these awards? Do you think they deserve to?

Unfortunately he forgot there's a zone around near the back post where 3 reading players were loitering around unmarked for the equalizer yesterday

Back for Wigan, wasn't that one of our first games this season and he absolutely ripped them apart? Wonderful.

So everything he's been saying about wanting to play in the EPL or another of the world's top leagues has just been undone by a fat pay rise to go play for a team that can't even train in their own town. Quality, that willian fanboy must be devastated.

Them Cisse goals... Won't take 2 spectacular shots to beat Turnbull just toe poke it in the general direction of goal.

all you need is a plastic flag or so our manager would lead you to believe

Would be a great player but that's more than he's worth. Then again does Roman really care about that?

Deals apparantley done so far: Beckham to PSG Samba to QPR Danny Graham to Sunderland Becchio to Norwich Urby Emanuelsen to Fulham (on loan) Good to see 'arry through his car window, wouldn't be a deadline day without it. Apparantley Everton are in for Negredo, this could have implications for our top 4 battle...

Wouldn't be worth it in my mind, a lot harder to find a world class keeper than a world class striker. edit: Especially considering their ages

We're currently playing a formation with 2 holding midfield players, when we only have 3 proper players in that position, and one is on loan at Madrid, one is out for the season and the other is frequently ridiculed for not being able to score a goal in 200 odd matches or whatever it is now. I'd say yes we do need him.

Loss against Newcastle, scrape a win over Wigan, loss against City. Scrape through in the Europa and thrash Brentford in the cup Just being realistic, if we can get 6 points from those 3 league games i'd consider it a success considering how bad we've been lately.

Odds on Bertrand and Torres starting again?

ha ha ha

Cech's injury must be pretty bad if we're so determined to buy a keeper?

Pundits take 3 months to say what we've been saying all along, why can I not get paid large sums of money to talk common sense on tv.

OP was clearly right all along, look at his tactical genius in our game today against Reading, they sure proved us wrong.

Would be delighted if he saw out the rest of the season here as the new interim, so long as Jose or Hiddink come in the summer. But if he would really give up his current job where he's doing well for 3 months in the madhouse, he's even more stupid than Rafa.

His 45 minute cameo out of position against Brentford on possibly the worst excuse for a pitch he'll ever play on was clearly enough for the tactical genius that is our manager to decide that Marin isn't good enough, instead we'll play our 23 year old left back as a winger.

Just when you thought we were finally getting a break with some good luck in our CL win last year, the universe has to balance it out with all this sh*t. Why does everything have to hate us.