It_Dont_Mata

Just a public information broadcast for those of you who may not know this already, but the match at home to Real Sociedad will be free to view on Chelsea TV on Tuesday 12th August at 19:45 - the only catch is that you need to register (also free) with the fan club. Here's the link: http://www.chelseafc.com/videos/chelsea-tv-freetoview.html Should be a good chance for those of you who haven't seen much of pre-season or who usually use dodgy streams to see our first home game of the season. Also, Jose is urging fans to arrive at The Bridge early so that they can cheer on to the pitch, one-by-one, the players before they warm up and there are even reductions on refreshments as a sort of 'early-bird special' if you're lucky enough to be going. Can't wait!

Enjoyed the match last night - very watchable. We looked much sharper than we have been and it seems as though our pre-season preparations are doing the job. Fabregas and Hazard made a real difference when they came on. I'm feeling fairly good about the first game now. I hope the Drogba injury actually serves as a bit of a wake-up call to Jose and prompts him to buy another striker as cover. However, I worry that the idea behind Torres starting on the wing so much is about getting his fitness up at the same time as Costa so that we have him fit as a 2nd choice - hope not. Or perhaps Mourinho intends to have Schurrle as a backup striker? I wouldn't be averse to that idea as he certainly looks better after the world cup and he isn't afraid to get a shot in, and it also helps with the midfield selection dilemma if he's playing up-front. I guess we'll see soon enough what Jose thinks... And just for sh*ts and giggles and because, unthinkably, nobody's mentioned it yet on this particular page - Torres out!

A good move for him, Southampton, and if the reports are true about there being a clause for them to sign him permanently at the end of the season, Chelsea too. He'll get game time with them and I don't mind Southampton as a club. He had a good go at it here (more than most of our 'yoots') and did OK, but OK won't cut it at Chelsea. All the best to Ryan!

I think 4-2-3-1 is our natural formation really, but we need to be competent at 4-3-3 for certain games and have that in our locker. 4-2-3-1 works well IF your striker can handle it and looking at Costa so far in pre-season, he can. Courtois (PRM/CL) / Cech (FA/LC/PRM) Dave - Cahill - Terry - Luis Fabregas - Matic Schurrle - Hazard - Willian Costa Subs: Cech, Ivan, Zouma, Mikel, Van Ginkel, Oscar, Drogba

Now that Lukaku has slung his hook, what happened to those rumours about 'Little Pea'...?

Adios Romelu. Go and be a big fish in a small pond, score 15 goals a season at a club that won't ever win anything, except maybe if they get lucky in the League Cup. This kid's attitude was the antithesis of everything Mourinho is trying to instil at Chelsea and is not the sort of mentality expected of truly classy players. There's a fine line between supreme confidence in your ability (aka Drogba, Ronaldo, Ibrahimovic) and downright delusions of grandeur (aka Bendtner, Taarabt, Mido). Sadly, Lukaku in his current state falls in to the latter category. He had three decent seasons at Anderlecht, West Brom and Everton, granted, but he also played eight games for us under AVB, scored none, assisted none and sulked his way in to a loan deal rather than try and compete with an obviously impotent Torres. Add to that the fact that he couldn't keep his gob shut and Mourinho has done the best thing for the club in selling him for more than he's worth. His career could now go either way - there are plenty of young attackers who show lots of promise yet fail to deliver or improve. But the one thing I will say is that perhaps Mourinho should have kept quiet about the reasons he was sold, as now he'll be itching to score against us even more so every time we play Everton. Time will tell. If he does do well though and ends up moving to a bigger club, I doubt he'd be first choice if you look at what else the top clubs in Europe already have at their disposal. I'm just glad he didn't end up at Liverpool though!

Anybody know when the full squad will be back?

Shouldn't both he and Courtois be back for pre-season by now? It's getting a little worrying. Even if they can't train at high intensity they should be with the rest of the squad and participating, bonding, showing the media that everything's fine etc... It's been 25 days since Belgium's last match, we're half way through pre-season and there's only 19 days until our first proper game.

Yeah - probably in the second half for about 15 minutes. Can't wait! Looking forward to seeing a bit of Traore too - he stood out for us last pre-season. Overall I think the 'yoots' have performed admirably, particularly Brown, Boga and Zouma. Zouma still needs to learn some composure as he gave away a penalty and also a silly goal so far, but I love the fact that he's looking to score at the other end at corners and he seems to be quite good at it - he could have had a hattrick in the last match! Fits in well with the Chelsea tradition of goalscoring defenders a la Terry, Cahill and Ivanovic. Brown has been very impressive, but needs to be developed carefully as the next few years are pivotal for him. Boga has a very positive and direct style of play and everyone likes to see that. Swift needs to up his game though and Bamford I think needs to bulk up a bit but also stop the unnecessary fouls and also maybe a new haircut as he currently looks a bit 1-Direction, which isn't very imposing. Fabregas looks class as does Luis. Looking forward to the Vitesse game.

According to this article on the 23rd (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/chelsea/10984812/Chelseas-bid-to-sign-Didier-Drogba-puts-Romelu-Lukakus-future-in-doubt.html) Lukaku has been confirmed as home grown by the Premier League. It's all a bit confusing, but good news IF he is and IF he stays and this may well prove a decisive factor in him staying at the club.

I believe that he counts as home grown due to his previous loans and the fact that he still counts as an U21 player this season because of when his birthday was/is.

Add Ramires and Delac to that list. Seriously, what's Delac still doing here?

Definitely feel more optimistic this season about the youth prospects. I have taken out Chelsea TV to watch the pre-season games and a few of the young lads have really impressed me. Boga, Brown & Zouma have stood out big time and Baker, Chalobah, Solanke, Ake, Christiensen and Bamford have been decent. I honestly think that without a full 25-man senior squad being registered for the league this season, Zouma and Boga will get chances to play. Brown is looking excellent, but perhaps a little too young still. Ake and Christiensen are in the squad I think, but probably only as backup I'd imagine, but they may get late run-outs in matches were controlling. Bamford should go on another loan, ideally in the Premiership, but Championship would be fine as he's probably not quite good enough for the Premiership yet. Swift hasn't really shone for me though - I don't think he's at the same level as the other young lads. Jose has said that some of the young lads will be training with the first team this season, and I actually think this is better than loan deals - we had too many last year and these boys need to get used to playing together at Chelsea. The teenagers Andreas Christensen and Nathan Aké will be part of the first-team squad, while Lewis Baker, Izzy Brown and Dominic Solanke will spend the season training with the seniors. Mourinho claimed that he would have failed if Baker, Brown and Solanke do not go on to win full international caps for England. Forwards Brown and Solanke were part of the England team that won the Under-17 European Championships this summer. “My conscience is, for example, to say to you that I think Baker, Brown, Solanke, if in a few years they are not national team players, I should blame myself,†Mourinho said. “They are part of a process the club started without me. Now, we have players who will be Chelsea players. "And when they become Chelsea players, they will become England players, almost for sure. I’m not saying we’re doing it just for English football, because it is also about us. “At the moment, officially in the first team squad, not under 21s coming to join us now and again, we have Christensen, Aké, probably another one because I want to have one more English player. “Baker, Brown, Solanke and Jeremy Boga. These four are not going to be in my squad because I cannot have 30 in my squad, but these four are going to work with us all season and these four are going to be Chelsea players. “These three are English – Brown, Solanke and Baker – they have to be Chelsea players and they have to be national team players. They have to. "And I have this feeling that our academy is bringing players to our level. “Chelsea will have a strong team with Christensen, Baker, Brown, Solanke, Boga and Kurt Zouma in two or three years, which is the end of my contract. “English guys or seven or eight guys from the academy – home-grown players. It’s a complete turnaround. At the moment, you look at the Champions League list and John Terry is the only one club trained.â€

No. We just need to stop doing any business with them whatsoever - it always works out better for them than us. Torres £50m flop. Sturridge leaves us to become one of the best in 2013/14 season. Moses goes on loan and rots for a year. Raul Meireles. Youssi Benayoun.

Ask me last season and I'd say Oscar is the best of those three (Oscar, Schurrle, Willian), but this season I think Schurrle will be the one that stands out with Willian a close second. They all have their merits and drawbacks - Schurrle is very offensive-minded and has a high shot count, but most of his shots miss, Oscar is strong in the tackle for a little guy, but lacks a top delivery and Willian is dogged and tenacious when he presses, but seems to lack ideas in the final 3rd. Still, a nice quandary to have and not a bad lad to have on the bench. But if somebody comes in with a big bid I think we have more than enough AM's to cover and we should accept.

From The Telegraph: Jose Mourinho has admitted that he will have to get rid of one of his foreign players as Chelsea desperately try to find a buyer for Fernando Torres. The return of Didier Drogba means Chelsea’s anticipated first-team squad has one too many foreign players under Premier League and Champions League rules relating to the home-grown quota. Clubs can only name 17 foreign players over the age of 21 in their official 25-man squads and Chelsea have 18 overseas stars who are realistically vying for those places. Mourinho, the Chelsea manager, wants to offload £50 million flop Torres, but clubs are being put off by the £20 million asking price and the Spaniard’s £175,000-a-week wages. Chelsea hope that Atlético Madrid may take Torres back, while Monaco are understood to have looked at his situation in case Radamel Falcao leaves. Should Chelsea fail to sell Torres or midfielder John Obi Mikel, who has not generated much interest, Mourinho may be forced to consider a Paris St-Germain offer for the goalkeeper Petr Cech. “From the group you are expecting us to have as a squad, I have to send one away because we have one extra foreign player,†Mourinho said. “So from all these players, if you think all of them have to stay, you are wrong. One of them has to go.†I think we're all in agreement over who should be the one to leave! But I can't see that happening. Mikel is a good squad player who we will need to perform a specific role at specific times, as well as cover in lesser matches for the likes of Matic and Fabregas. He's never going to get man of the match for the job he does, even when he does it well, which is more often than not. He never complains and just gets on with it and I think we should aim to hold on to him, but if we do sell him I think he needs carefully replacing. And obviously Cech needs to stay in an ideal world. That's OK if you're playing football manager, but I do worry that having him and Courtois vying for position won't work out well. Cech still has another 5 or 6 years left in him, as goalkeepers tend to do. Overall a tricky situation, which I think will end up with us loaning out Cech to PSG as nobody will take Torres or Mikel. PSG do need to start watching what they spend now and they've already taken a loan deal for Serge Aurier, so if they do want Cech a loan would sort them out this season with a view to a permanent transfer next time round. I don't want that to happen. If we can't shift Torres permanently we could look to loan him somewhere and pay most of his wages, but where would he go and who would want him based on recent history? Or we could just not register him! So many ifs and buts, but a very real and thought provoking situation...

Yeah, not really that impressed with him thus far. His first touch is decent and he's quick for sure, but his finishing, link-up play, decision making and crossing are all below-par. They were last season as well, and at Basel. How he managed to get two against us I'll never know? One for the League Cup / FA Cup methinks. Hope he proves me wrong though!

I think, based on the huge pile of evidence, Torres should either be: a) Sold for peanuts and have his wages subsidised if needs be. b) Released on a free, pay off the contract and just be done with it. c) Left to languish in the reserves until January without so much as a sniff at the first team, in the hope that he gets so frustrated he asks to leave. Of course, on his wages he may well opt to languish comfortably until his contract expires - the next Winston Bogarde! But IMHO, any of these solutions is better than him playing another second in the first team. Paying him £175,000 a week to stay away = money well spent! Pecking order: 1) Costa 2) Lukaku 3) Drogba 4) Bamford ..... 7,000,000,000) Torres (and even then, only if the opposition forfeits the match)

Can't say that I'm surprised - he was never going to get a sniff at the first team. A good, occasionally very good player, but not Chelsea quality. Good luck Patrick!

As with the Lukaku 'situation', this is nonsense. He'll be at Chelsea for years to come. The only exception would be if Real Madrid made a Bale/Ronaldo level offer, then I could accept him leaving. Looking forward to seeing Thorgan playing for us, too!

I'm not too worried at this stage. This is just a load of media drivel from low-rate 'journalists' who are clutching at straws, twisting Lukaku's words in an attempt to create some sort of drama. Lukaku went out on loan in his first season with us because he was unproven in the Premiership, but was used to starting for Anderlecht and the club felt his development would be more positive if he was starting games. He went out on loan last season because he asked to, and he asked to because it was a world cup season, which I totally understand. Both loans were good for all parties. I have very little doubt that both Lukaku and Costa will be at Chelsea next season. If we do get a crazy offer for him though, say £40+million and from a foreign club, then why not sell? £25m is too low for this kid! I can see Ba staying as 3rd choice. Now we just need to pray and cross everything that Torres gets 3 or 4 goals at the world cup so that someone (anyone!) makes an offer.

Can't complain. Hope they go on and win it now - then we can take some of the credit for the fact that Courtois has helped them out! At last I can relax, for a few months at least!

Cech said himself that he's fit, which is promising, although after a couple of solid performances I wasn't too worried about using Schwarzer - still wouldn't mind if Cech isn't 100%. We can't afford to use a sub in the first half because Cech has fallen awkwardly on / bumped his shoulder which was tender from last time. Good to see Terry, Hazard and Eto'o back in training too. Hope they're all good to go and we can have a proper game tomorrow! Although I'd personally start Ba ahead of Eto'o based on the crucial goals he's got us lately. Leave Torres at Cobham! Can't wait for this match to kick-off!

The only thing is, it's getting to that point in the season where some teams don't really have anything left to play for (see positions 14 to 7), whilst others have everything to play for. Sure, there's a million or two for each position you go up in the league, but mentally I don't think that matters so much to the players as it does to the owners. You have to assume that, given they can all still numerically win the league, Chelsea, City and Liverpool will have it all to play for (I don't believe Mourinho for one second about not being in it) and will be going full steam ahead in their remaining games. Then look at the opponents - We've got Norwich and Cardiff - both teams are in the relegation scrap and will be fighting for their lives. Add to that our pitiful record against the smaller teams this season and I worry about both of these fixtures as potential losses or draws. Liverpool have Palace and Newcastle - both mid-table teams, both have exceeded the magic points tally of 40 and neither can qualify for Europe. Their players will be thinking about their holidays already. Then City will have to contend with Everton, Villa and West Ham - Everton could still qualify for the Champions League, but they will also be weary of Tottenham creeping up on them (like the creeps they are) for that UEFA Cup spot, plus they will want to indirectly do one over on the Bodgers because of the rivalry. Villa aren't safe yet either and will really want to reach the 40 point mark to avoid the drop. West Ham are probably safe and only need to win one of their last two matches to get to 40 points, although two draws (Allardyce specials) will likely be enough. There are a few banana skins in there for us and city and I think Liverpool have the easiest run-in, but who knows with this season?

All the talk before the game was from the mullet-media, creaming themselves over the local-pikey-boy-come-good Flanagan. All the talk after the game is about OUR (not-so-local) youth defender - Kalas. Shove that up your shell-suit and smoke it!