quickpassnmove

Let's see: Lukaku can return to Chelsea, play/train with D. Drogba, play with Eto'o and, again, play for his favorite boyhood club under Jose. I'm thinking he gets some time to prove himself at SB and he will come back. Forget the rumours. It's just going to be up to him to improve his play in front of opposition centre backs. Didier should coach him. If he still looks like he'd rather be playing RW after a period of time back with Chelsea, I'm thinking he either becomes a RW or he gets sold.

Except he's not worth that much. If Costa comes, we know already what will happen. Lukaku still does not have great balance and ball control with his back up against center backs.

Ricardo Rodriguez looks like the player Chelsea should buy for fullback. Having Iva, Wallace, Azpi, and Rodriguez as options sounds good to me. That would mean Chelsea have the option of playing an attacking fullback on either side (Rodriguez or Wallace) and two strong defensive fullbacks in Azpi and Iva. I don't see Shaw being the attacking player Ricardo already is regardless of his young age. Figure out another way fill positions with homegrown talent. I don't know where.

His hold-up play was improved at the beginning of this season but it's hard to see him improved overall since then. The best we can say is that he is healthy. He should have put that shot in the net. It was also on his left foot.

I cannot say enough how grateful I am that CFC have an excellent fullback who is a quick, strong and under 25. So happy Cesar is with us and continues to do so well. Waiting for Wallace and I'm not sure whether Luke Shaw is the best choice for us.

I would like to see Eto'o and Salah play up top together with Chelsea in a 4-4-2. I guess CM would be Ramires and Matic. Maybe vanGinkel we will see VanGinkel back(?) or no risk taken with his knee this season?

Awesome goal, Willian. thank you.

Does anyone else here despise this ref as much as me? Every week this guy is a vexing jerk.

Well, there you go: the final piece of the puzzle once a buyer has been found. Quick cash gets his signature and him out of London. Hopefully a good compromise can be found and hopefully this is the final over-priced, aged flop that Chelsea buy. Don't think Roman Abramovich and company can afford another mistake like this massive January 2011 F..k-up, unless it's just dandy dropping down into mediocrity on another stupid investment in the future. Chelsea WILL improve with Torres, Luiz, Mikel, Lampard (Moses, Mata, Marin, Ba, Cole) gone from the payroll. Ready to do a victory dance.

Nothing Jose can do about the January 2011 albatross for the moment.

Well, let's make the other changes and use what we already have before investing more money there. I wanted someone like Yarmolenko last summer (who is ~188cm) but Chelsea got Schuerrle and Willian. I think Yarmolenko offers something that no one else can offer in our squad. But I am not advocating that a new winger should be a high priority after the choices of last summer; work with what we have in attacking midfield or forget the "AM" and just use a 4-3-3.

why talk about Marco Reus or any new attacking midfielder when Chelsea clearly need real centre midfielders, a top striker, and some fullbacks that can contribute to an attack? Marco Reus isn't going to add something dramatically different to Chelsea even IF a new attacking midfielder were badly needed. If after addressing these priorities and putting it all together for 6 to 9 months you still want something different, a big, agile winger would add a dimension to the attack. For a few moments in this season, we saw some link-up play between Eto'o, Hazard, Schuerrle. If CFC had a top striker for every matchday and attacking fullbacks (as you mentioned) along with smooth operators in center midfield (Matic being the only one right now), the attacking midfielders we already have would be able to do more. There's no reason to spend more money on the 4231 formation's attacking midfielders before the other positions are fixed with new players. That's why it's strange you're talking about this.

strange that anyone here is discussing centre backs and attacking midfielders. anyway, Lukaku rumour. http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/apr/03/football-transfer-rumour-mill-romelu-lukaku-tottenham

In the league with Barcelona and Messi? how could this be?

Normally Gilvorak has something worthwhile to say, but I think he's lost his marbles. Only thing that matters is that Chelsea make top 4 or 3 and round out the squad in the future with quality in all postions. adding guts and vision (minimum 2 players) to the team in center midfield to play with Matic, a strong CF, some fullbacks who can attack, etc. I was 50-50 on Mourinho returning, but I support him and I think Jose sees Chelsea's problems pretty clearly right now. I think that you can see the future in his eyes as he looks calmly from the technical area in Paris. Whether or not Jose has the tactical and coaching ability to get Chelsea to outplay all squads in Europe is another matter, but I see no problem going forward with Jose for some seasons while this squad is being built-up. The fact remains for me: CFC must still recover from poor decisions in 2011. Just trying to get beyond the consequences of those poor decisions and move on to the future with Jose and a new squad is the ongoing process at this moment. Gilvorak sounds like his world was blown up by Pastore, Thiago Silva, and Thiago Motta today. Today feels like any other day as a Chelsea fan since 2005/2006 for me. Not had a strong and balanced squad as when we had a strong CF, Duff, Robben, Makelele, Lampard's best days, Carvalho, Terry et al. To me, it doesn't seem like the wait will be too much longer. It's just remarkable that we are now talking about 10 years transpiring since Chelsea looked so good and so balanced as a squad. and where has all that money gone since then? Not Jose's fault.

Success depends on CFC getting rid of players and buying players too; not just results/silverware. The season's failures will hopefully be enough to give the club and Jose strong reasons to get rid of some players. This will be the measurement of success.

no one will be able to predict the outcomes of this World Cup.

Torres should be going on a 1 Rupee transfer fee to somewhere else. Not having his salary to pay is a gift enough and no sane person would pay a substantial transfer fee for him, I think. Not sure where Mikel is headed either. if a club plays real money for him, they are suckers. good luck with that project. other topic: I'm looking forward to seeing Mario Pašalić play.

no problem letting him go for less than 30mil.

Looks like Chelsea got slapped around today. I don't see anything good coming out of this right now. send torres out to the wing and let Salah play up top.

Because Chelsea don't play quickly enough in possession.... and there's a nice play from Salah. come on Chelsea!

This match just got interesting. Matic and Oscar in CM.... completely new and risky, but also a good combo for this squad. hopefully there's a goal coming for Chelsea.

That's understandable, but Lampard isn't the only option for a pass. I would take Lampard out of that role... I wouldn't have had him there anyway. But, we will see what Jose does.

Either no player is moving into space for a pass or Luiz is playing his passes too late. I'm choosing the latter.

finally, some nice bit of passing before the half and there's a corner.