OhForAGreavsie

That's always been the best part of Willian's game. The burst of controlled ball carnying at pace to turn defence into attack.

3. At least we reached the final... 1. Bitterly disappointing, but definitely better than... 2. Unthinkable, unbearable.

I've won the battle with myself to keep this polite so I'll just say that I hope yours is not a widely held opinion among Chelsea fans, and that we need to avoid sounding like spoiled brats. Indeed, even more than that, we need to avoid actually being spoiled brats.

The 'light' of day.

They also don't pay transfer fees to German clubs if they can possibly help it. They just plan ahead, and entice players to run down their contracts.

Looks a tremendous player to me. My big fear is that City will get him. He's perfect for them so I'd gladly settle for him going to Barca instead.

Surely this story belongs in the way, way, too good to be true file. Not least because, according to his agent, Dembele turned us down in the summer of 2015. My guess has always been that this was likely because he feared he might become a part of the loan army, and that he didn’t fancy that. What lovely irony it would be if we got him on loan from the club, we were told in 2015, that he most wanted to join. Anyway, if this is possible then yes please. Pretty please with bows on.

What's incredible about that?

Huge game on Saturday away to, second in the league, Manchester City Women. Before City's loss to Birmingham last night it looked like we'd need to beat them to have a realistic chance of regaining the title. Now though, City may well feel the tables have turned and that it's them who badly need to win the game. Should be a tense affair featuring the two best sides in the country. If either team takes all three points they will become big favourites to be crowned Champions in May. The supporters coach to Manchester leaves Stamford bridge at 6:30 on Saturday morning; I'll be on it. Can't wait. For anyone planning to be fast asleep at that crazy hour on Saturday, the game is live on BT Sport. kick-off 12:30pm

City going out has to be good. Here's hoping we don't get turfed out by Leicester!

You are blaming the club because the sports media are linking them with a player? Makes no sense basing a criticism on mere transfer gossip.

Hello DV, Is this your long standing opinion, or are you reacting to some action you saw over the weekend? I haven't watched Charly at all since he's been with The Bhoys.

Just don't agree. From the first time I watched him on youtube I felt, and said, that he wasn't good enough to play for this club. Sadly, he has not done anything to change my mind and I long ago gave up expecting him to.

Doesn't affect me one little bit. He's shown great loyalty to this team especially since we appear, temporarily I hope, not to be trying to fulfil his expectations. Remember he came here because, he said, he wanted to win The Champions League. We're a long way from having a squad with a realistic chance in that competition. I think Eden has respected our club and deserves huge, and unreserved, acclaim from Chelsea fans.

I don't agree with the, "You live in Brazil so you don't really know what you're talking about (as regards in Stadium chants)" bit. I don't agree because the volume of appreciation for a player registers on TV and that's what @Barbara is talking about. You are right that stadium chanting is more influenced by quality of song, than it is by depth of love for the object of that song. You are wrong however to claim that Eden does not have a song; he does. It's just not very good, but perhaps that's what you meant to say.

Well, I understand your point and agree to an extent. That said, when Eden is subbed on or off, for example, he gets a bigger ovation than anyone else. I don't think he can be in any doubt of the affection the stadium has for him. It's a fact however that the sustainability of a chant has a lot to do with how often, and how persistently it is sung. The song sung most often, and most loudly, at The Bridge is the one which sustains the best: - #Antonio, Antonio, Antonio Antonio Antonio# sings on a perfect loop. Its end scans seamlessly back into its start. Eden's song, by contrast does not repeat quite so well. There was a great example of this 'sustainability' phenomenon on Monday night. The day we signed Gianfranco Zola, I envisioned a chant for him to the tune of Lola by The Kinks. I'm not the sort of personality that gets chants started however so I was delighted when the same chant I had in mind (more or less) broke out at The Bridge. That version of it is not, if I say so myself, as good as the way I had worked it out and did not sustain. It was often chanted but usually petered out. In was not until the following chant was taken up that the great man's name reverberated the way it deserved to. : - When Franco, Luca and Tore-Andre Flo paraded around the pitch at half time on Monday, it was this song which rung out most loudly. There is no doubt that Franco is one of the best loved Chelsea players ever, but there is also no doubt in my mind that his chant was sung most on Monday because it's the best song. I'd have preferred the following for Eden. I think it would have rocked stadiums around the country. (Phonetically) : - Aden Azar (Clap, Clap, Clap) Aden Azar (Clap,clap,clap) Aden Azar Zar Zar Zar Zar Aden Azar (Clap, clap, clap) Ooo-Ooo Ooo-Ooo Aden Azar.... Sung to the chorus of: - It sustains beautifully and then there would be no doubt possible about our love for the magical Belgian.

Not quite as ridiculous as having signed him in the first place, but yes, I agree.

We can be sure that the club arranged the best loan they could. Why would they send him to a lower status club if a higher level team wanted him, and were offering realistic prospects that he’d actually play? If the place he’s being offered minutes is in League 1, it’s League 1. Playing at Charlton is more useful than sitting on the bench for a better team . What counts is that Jay performs well enough at whatever level he’s in to earn progression.

There are sometimes dissenting voices among Spurs fans about Moussaa Dembele but I’m a huge fan of his. I don’t think it’s any coincidence that his full rehabilitation into their side has seen them producing their best form of the season.

I'm going to dissent a little. Olivier displayed the great technique we knew about from Arsenal, showed the lack of pace we knew about from Arsenal and gave a clue or two about why he's here not there. He indulged in our 'flicks & tricks' offence that looks great when it comes off, but is low percentage and just an excuse for the lack of genuinely effective attacking options. He also gave the ball away a lot. That is certainly something that can be cured by increasing familiarity with his new teammates but it is far, far too early to declare his debut a roaring success. Edit: (After the 'like' by DYC) In short, I'm worried that we're at risk of falling into a honeymoon assessment of Olivier's first start. It would be wrong to deny the positives, but just as wrong to ignore the negatives.

I'd much rather see us go for Milinkovic Savic. Someone that could do a job long term rather than a year or two with a much larger wage. Agreed but is the Serb a realistic target for Chelsea?

This loan is vital for Charly. If Charly is going to take that next step, then his game has to make progress at Celtic Park. He has to focus on being efficient, over being brilliant. His displays must demonstrate that this penny has dropped. If not, even those still clinging to the myth that he was brilliant during his first spell at Betis will start to loose belief in a Chelsea future for Charly.

Was planning to go to The Hive on Sunday but helped my daughter with some gardening in the freezing rain on Saturday and made myself sick. There are goal highlights of the game here.

This isn’t true. City have been closely investigated by uefa’s FFP accountants and have passed the test. We may wonder how they’ve done that but the fact is that, up to the time of the last audit, City were not breaking the FFP rules as they stand. I fully expect them to pass future inspections too. They are far too professional an operation to mess up their sums. The only way City might fall foul of the FFP regs is if the definition of related entities is changed. Even then City might be able win the argument. On the other hand we don’t have access to the same value of sponsorship they book and of course we don’t have the global City group. The upshot of all this is that our FFP cap would be lower than theirs.

Why, and to whom, would Roman have to Justify an unwillingness to spend tens, or perhaps hundreds, of millions of pounds of his own money on our hobby? I think the correct attitude is for us to be glad he spent what he did in the first place, and to be totally understanding if he is no longer ready, be it temporarily or permanently, to do that. I know people like to infer, from our turnover figure, that Chelsea could afford to spend very large amounts but the equation is never that simple.