quickpassnmove

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.

this is awful. either keep the ball moving or pack it in and go home.

they should have had a penalty by now and David Luiz is horrible in CM.

what is David Luiz doing?

you're missing this entirely. forget it.

good thing about Costa from my view is that he's not gifted with a great physique, nor speed, but he's a handful, he's a team player and he seems like he could be one of those elusive players in and around the box who slams them in onion bag no matter how much the opponent tries to to stop him. I would like to think Costa could have a career and reputation as lethal as someone like Raul or Inzaghi. If Chelsea were to finally land a striker who could be this kind of player and he stays healthy, Chelsea will have one of the best strikers in football. Hope Costa can become so good if Chelsea get him. who knows? the only sure thing is that the market for a top striker (and other positions) is very inflated and there's nothing we can say nor do about that as fans. Costa has enough ability and he is willful, has a strong mind. I don't see mental fortitude in Benzema at all. And Balotelli is a mental disaster unless Prandelli has him on a holy crusade mindset for Italia.

They have played most of the season without a good left back and they started with Kolo Toure a number of times while not having Leiva healthy. Hard to say who they might buy for a center back this summer, but I know that center back, left back and strength+depth in center mid will be a priority. Leiva hasn't stayed healthy for a while, so Henderson and Gerrard are the only two decent center midfielders. They might have too much to buy in the summer to have success with the fixtures they will take on next season. Buying two defenders and a CM will greatly help LFC for next season. They will be playing more matches and they don't have the depth they need. Meanwhile at Chelsea, after spending far too much on Torres, Chelsea have two known starting CMs in Ramires and Matic and one unknown new guy in vanGinkel--and that's all.

...which is the reason I mentioned buying two top defenders in my post above. gives them stability they've lacked, relieves pressure on the forwards during a season. The context of the discussion is: Chelsea have given Liverpool money and a top player, which has given Liverpool a way back into the top four. LFC have taken advantage this year and only need four quality players to keep them going and push on for greater things in the CL--contingent upon Suarez staying of course. I don't think we would be talking about LFC today if we were the ones that bought the rising star from Ajax. Meanwhile, Chelsea are still recovering from bad decisions January 2011 and with all the money spent, still don't have a top striker nor depth in center midfield. We'll see if Jose and CFC can fix this soon.

Except that Chelsea and ManUtd don't already have the top scorers nor the fluency of passing the Liverpool have shown all season.

IDK, seems to me that if they get one star centre back, a good left back, some depth in center midfield and maybe one more player (like a good wing player) this summer, they could maintain their form). But, it's hard competing with PSG, Monaco, Madrid, Barca, Juve, Bayern, ManCity and Chelsea in the marketplace.

I really like Josh's vision and ability. But, he hasn't gotten any bigger/stronger it seems in 3 years or so. I don't see him 'making it' at Chelsea with his lack of physical strength. He has such talent that I have to wonder whether anyone tried to get him to bulk-up or make changes to his lifestyle. If I were trying to engineer him, I would have sent him to Spain for better food, a spot on a Spanish club along a lifestyle coach.

...and none of that waste matters because: Suarez became one of the best strikers in the world, Rodgers and Sturridge went to Merseyside, Liverpool are getting CL football again next season. It all started with Chelsea giving Liverpool the money for Suarez. Personally, I blame Chelsea for LFC returning to a top 3 or top 4 club as much as crediting Brenden. January 2011 will live on for an eternity. Big mistake. Huge. Should have been just Chelsea and ManCity for the top of the Premier League in years to come. Since Jan. 2011, I've had a really difficult time enjoying CFC. Thankfully Drogba was still with us long enough (for CL title) and we've finally gotten a top center midfielder in Matić which was long overdue since Ballack and not the end of the story for long-deficient Chelsea center midfield. Buying Suarez and a new CM in Jan. 2011 and spending 1 million p on a nutritionist and lifestyle coach for Josh McEachren would have been far better than El Niño roto.

Does this forum have league on the official PL site? reply with info, pls.