The Chels

Why was Luiz getting whistled?

Our best spell came at the start when we were actually pressing. Then we reverted to type, of course. Why is this team so averse to proactive defending?

Yes it's only pre-season but that was an awful performance, comically so.

Am I right in thinking that Azpi was the only one to have played every minute in the defeats to Bradford, Tottenham and now NY Red Bulls?

Pressing teams will be the death of us. Good thing the defending in the Premier League is so passive.

Mourinho's learnt from the best.

Haha Mourinho is still making front page news on Marca and AS (based on a few words in an interview with the Guardian) and they call him obsessed?

Some Everton fans on one of their forums say they should wait till Barca, Bayern or Real come in for him. But those teams don't need to bother with buying English players from increasingly rich English teams at vast prices when they can buy similarly talented (non-English) players for a lot less. The only teams who would be willing to pay more than us for Stones are City or United, and they don't seem interested right now which I guess is why we're desperate to seize the opportunity.

I was replying to the question of how Witsel might be pronounced incorrectly. Pronouncing it as wit-sul (like it being trah-vul instead of trah-vel for travel) seems an easy mistake to make

'The Blues also have cash to spare....' Use it then!

Wit-sul

Lahm earns over £100k p/w and Shaw only said that he doesn't earn as much as him and not that he doesn't earn £100k p/w, no? Given United's apparent wage structure it wouldn't be surprising if Shaw is actually earning that much. Even if we had put in a transfer bid as high as United's then we don't know if his being a Chelsea fan would have overidden his desire for a much larger wage package, but I suspect not.

You're right that the option to buy appears to make little sense and since nobody else is reporting a loan deal it doesn't seem so plausible. The Guardian are also now reporting a £16m deal but it's hard to believe that Atleti would pay that much. I wouldn't be surprised if this is another case of the English media simply converting euro to pound but not the actual figure. In any case 16m euros isn't such a bad deal. It's a pity how things turned out here for Luis but I'm happy for him that he gets to return to regularly playing at the top level instead of rotting on the bench.

Spanish sources say 16m euros (£11m) for a 3-year deal, while Di Marzio says it's £3m/year for a 2-year loan deal with an option to buy. The exact figures are disputed but we certainly won't have made anything but a loss.

Why are people are so confident that Stones will sign this summer? Barring an astronomical bid Everton have little incentive to sell right now. They have a shortage of CBs (rather than a shortage of cash), Stones is unlikely to kick up much of a fuss and his value will only rise.

It would be Chelsea v Real Madrid (not just Mourinho v Benitez) and that would not be an easy game by any stretch of the imagination.

These past two seasons in the CL we took the lead both times in the ties we lost. Against the best we aren't so fluid going forward but we do generally find a way to score, even if it is often from set pieces. Holding the lead or extending it by scoring on the counter as the opponent becomes more desperate, however, is something we are not so capable of doing. I can't really see that changing given our lack of transfer activity.

If we don't improve the starting 11 then it's because Mourinho thinks it doesn't need improving, which he has certainly hinted at, even if many of us fans disagree. When Mourinho wanted major reinforcements last summer the club duly obliged. I don't see why they would act differently now.

"... keep the players I want to keep ... my best players." He doesn't mean everyone.

So many conflicting stories

Beasley has a good track record and I would trust him but you never know whether he's trolling or not. 'I'm never wrong... just misunderstood,' he says. It wouldn't be surprising to see him put it down to a technicality if he ends up being wrong such as using the future tense ('will not sign') instead of past if he's already signed. Whatever the truth is, we'll find out soon enough.

£180,000 per week?!

I am not denying the fact that our interest is in part because they are top players who we can tempt with the offer of higher wages (in addition to the Jorge Mendes influence) but from our perspective the fact they play under Simeone is an allure just as big, if not bigger IMO. Luis is a good example. Did Mourinho genuinely consider him a top LB who would fit our system (passive defending, covering for JT, defending 1v1 etc.) or was he willing to spend upwards of £20m on him and assume he would fit in because he was a top LB at Atleti? After this season I would argue it was the latter. Similarly there appeared to be no interest in re-signing Tiago until last summer after a successful season at Atleti before the move collapsed for whatever reason. Did Tiago drastically improve that year or was he just part of a great defensive unit (one which completely outclassed us at Stamford Bridge) that thus made him more appealing to Jose? Again I would argue it's probably the latter. I don't think it's a bad thing to be buying from Atleti as their players are tactically incredibly disciplined and often very talented but it's hardly ridiculous to suggest our interest is inflated because of the system and manager they play under.

It's unsurprising seeing Mou fanboy over Simeone's Atleti given that in his last 3 meetings with them (once they became a force) he drew once and lost twice. Those defeats came at the Bernabeu in a final and at Stamford Bridge in the CL SFs, an incredibly impressive feat. It would seem easier to adopt their tactics than buy all their players but what the heck. Next up, Griezmann!