OhForAGreavsie

Yes.

In any case, sounds to me like an absolutely compelling argument for why we should want to sign Reus.

I'm not sure that's Jose's style, I think he'll review his opinions when required. For example, he all but promised Chalobah a place in the squad this season but had the good sense not to be trapped by those injudicious comments and sent the young man back out on loan instead. In any case, Jose only rubber-stamped the deal for Schurrle, he didn't initiate it, so maybe he isn't all that invested in Andre anyway. I like Andre. If the role of squad player would satisfy him he'd be a great man to have around, but I suspect it wouldn't satisfy him and I also suspect that Jose cannot offer him more than that. Therefore, if this swap really does interest BVB, I'd expect it to interest Schurrle also.

Last Wednesday. To be fair, he hasn't been great since his return Understandably rusty I'd say.

It wasn't really that much. Jake Humphrey mentions that the fans were chanting Franco's name, something the great man already knew judging from the grin on his face. Legend 25 acknowledged the fans in that shy, slightly embarrassed way he does, the pundit panel at pitchside had a giggle at him and they moved on. Six seconds screen time tops.

And let's not forget The Boys From Tott-En-Am. Now that's what I call really happy. He-he.

And what about the penalty we should have had for Lovren on Costa? He pulls him down and away from the ball so he can't execute the overhead kick as he would have liked to. No fuss but it was a pen. Also, if Moreno was wearing blue and Willian red when the full back shoved the wide man over, Phill Neville would have been highlighting another missed spot kick decision.

Good shout. The player I have in mind is maybe more of a long shot than Nathan.

Thinking about the slightly longer term, before leaving Gourlay said he had a development player in mind who he thought was already demonstrating the qualities to follow in JT's footsteps by graduating to the first team and eventually to the captaincy. Ron said he wasn't going to name the player but I wonder if anyone has any ideas about who RG might have meant? I've got my own thought, and it's probably not the obvious player, but I'd be interested to hear what other people think.

Yes, I think you are right that it won't happen. For one thing I don't suppose enough people feel as strongly as I do about this and for another Blatter is against it. He says that, on grounds of cash flow, smaller national associations need the regular income from regular international fixtures. He's in a position to know without doubt, but I just don't believe that a cash rich FIFA and their cash rich broadcast partners can't find a way to deal with the cash flow requirements of the affected FAs. Meanwhile, I'd be interested to hear why you prefer things the way they are.

I call on everybody to do what I do; go on international strike. Don't buy tickets, don't watch on telly and don't buy merchandise. If we hit FIFA in the pocket they will soon see sense. As long as we let them get away with disrupting the season to put on a series of almost meaningless fixtures they will continue doing it and fleecing us for the privilege. We should demand that FIFA allow the club season to flow and finish more quickly (without the breaks) which would leave room for an 'International Season' after the domestic one is over. Then we could all get into full flag waving mode and enjoy the international calendar instead of being frustrated by it.

Schurrle is not the complete answer for us. If we can find an upgrade we should do it but I can't accept that Schurrle deserves to be called a clown. He behaves impeccably, speaks well and does whatever PR is asked of him. If he isn't quite as good a player as we'd like him to be that's not his fault; it's the fault of whoever it was at our club that decided to buy him in the first place.

Like your thinking.

Claude Makelele says hi, even I know Yaya is way better than me. And I've got to agree with Claude.

I stopped reading at "Robbie Savage". Gary Neville says a greater number of interesting and insightful things every single time he analyses a game than I have ever heard Savage say. Ever. In total. Ever. The fact that so inarticulate a man as Savage; a man with such limited understanding of the game despite his apparent qualifications, is employed to talk about football ,speaks volumes about what our society has come to. If he happens to be making sense in that article it'll be no more than a fluke. Normal service will, I'm afraid, be resumed.

In terms of FFP, we are in a better position than City. UEFA took more of their fake income into account than I think was justified but City still got sanctioned, and quite right too. Real-income for real-income, we're well ahead of The Citizens.

If only it was as simple as out competing other clubs on the wage packet. I'm guessing of course but it seems likely to me that all of the candidate clubs would match that figure. What is more, taking FFP into account, a number of those clubs can pay a fair amount more than we can. As for Schurrle, he is a good player but 'good' is not good enough for the level we aim to compete at. If you want to be a serious contributor for Chelsea then the entry level job spec starts at 'great'.

He was blowing hard after the run. Maybe he ought not to have taken it but a miss was bound to come along sooner or later. What's really bothering me at the moment is Drogba. He's embarrassing.

Agree with you some of the way but not all of it. Our squad definitely needs a player who offers the qualities you list and Rami is one such. His shortcomings are well known however; shortcomings which often become an issue during games. If we can find someone else to match Rami's strengths and to offer improved finesse in possession, that would represent a significant upgrade. That player may not be easy to find but we should be looking. Hard.

Deleted.

Although I'd dearly love to have Robben playing on the right of our current team, I won't be a hypocrite and pretend that I regretted his sale at the time. Between injuries and form Robbie hadn't really been contributing consistently for a while. By the time he left he was glad to go, Jose seemed happy to take the money and I wasn't too unhappy about it either. Studge was a different matter. Although I'd like to think that I recognised his weaknesses as clearly as anyone else did, I always felt he was our best striker and that he should be starting at centre forward. I remember thinking one day, as he tracked back to the corner flag just below where I sit, what a terrible waste it was playing him wide and forcing him to do this. That said I'm over it now, just as I'm over Mata's departure. It's done and they've gone.

Like you I hope to see progression from the development squad but it feels to me that I'm more patient than you are in waiting for it to happen. Even if you disagree with that, let's get our priorities straight. Promoting youth products is not an end in itself. If we are able to discover, develop and eventually select young players who contribute to our success then fine but the real aim is to have a strong team which is as competitive as possible across all competitions. Your perspective seems to be to take the long term view; to place the emphasis on giving opportunities to young players in what, by common consent, is a junior competition, and not just on winning. I'm sure you'd argue that this would lead to us having a stronger and even more competitive squad down the line. Well that view is reasonable enough but I don't share it. I don't particularly agree that developing home grown talent is a route to competitiveness at the very top of the game and, even if I'm wrong about that, I don't want to put potential silverware at risk in order to pursue that policy. I enjoyed seeing Ake and Christensen play last night but their presence would have been no consolation to me if we had lost. In this sense, I want to have my cake and to eat it too. I want kids selected but I'm not prepared to sacrifice the win in order to see it happen. If I can't win with kids then I'd rather play without them. The question then becomes who is to make the decision about which kids to use and when to use them. Here again there seems to be disagreement between us. You appear to have your doubts but I have no doubt whatsoever; Jose is the man I want in charge of our team. One hundred percent. I've been supporting this club for longer than most users of this forum have been alive, and for longer than their dads have been alive in some cases I'm sure. In all that time, JM, for all his faults, is the only boss to whom I feel a personal allegiance. I believe he is getting it right. We were, in my opinion, a million miles away from where we wanted to be when he returned. Fixing that was never going to be possible in one or two years. Even if we win something this season, the squad still requires upgrading. I'll be ecstatic if those upgrades come out of Cobham but if we have to buy them then so be it. Either way, Jose is the man I want to see making those decisions.

Quite right although I'd say that we need two upgrades, not one. Willian, Schurrle, and especially Oscar, have their backers; I might almost say their 'believers'. This is unsurprising; they are good players in possession and they make big contributions to Jose's ball recovery structure. The problem is that 'good' in possession is no longer good enough. We have grown and the level at which we must perform has grown with it. Great is the new good at Chelsea. In my opinion Reus is great. It may be that we can't get this particular player but, whether we develop our own or buy them in, we need to trade in our good AMs for outstanding ones.

In terms of deaths per km, cycling is the most dangerous method of travel.