OhForAGreavsie

I don't think I've heard the story about Ossie and The Cat but it sounds too good not to be true. One of the Jeunesse Hautcharage (Luxembourg) players definitely had lost a part of one arm however. We used to run around the playground re-enacting the game by holding one arm across our chests. And now my question... What is unique about our seven FA Cup wins?

Nope, you're not.

What do people make of Jose's response when asked by a German reporter if he wishes to have more Germans in his squad? Of course it might just be a standard response to a question about transfer policy but I take encouragement from the little smile. I think that's a Mourinho 'tell' that appears sometimes so I prefer to think his answer means, "What do you think I am, stupid? Of course I want Marco Reus." P.S. I've got my fingers in my ears so if you're gonna tell me that I'm reading way too much into this, I just ain't gonna hear ya'. :)

Agreed, they've been lazy with their research. Even if we allow that they meant 'before this season', they are still wrong. There was an early season fixture against Liverpool in Jose's final season first time around. That figure should therefore be 34 if you count the City game and 33 if you don't. Still only 3 defeats mind. To be fair I'm taking their word for the number of defeats. Can't actually remember any myself.

That's not correct Alex. I saw tickets available for general sale on the website and, indeed, they were heavily promoted in radio advertising which ran for about a week.

And I want to buy tickets to sit in it. People often talk about the current crop of football club owners being no more than temporary custodians and about how they should not consider 'their' clubs as playthings to do with as they wish. Quite correct, they shouldn't, but I wonder how often we fans think about our own responsibility for the future? Our club, Chelsea Football Club, is no more ours to do with as we wish than it is Roman's. I care about my family far more than I care about Chelsea but they're about the only things I do put before my football team. Because I love my family so much I think, and plan, and hope, for their futures all the time. I accept that responsibility but what about the other great love of my life? As a supporter, is it my right to cling to my memories and insist that the club panders to my feelings of nostalgia? No matter what the consequence? Should I not also consider the future of CFC and ask serious questions about whether a cobbled together solution at Stamford Bridge really will enable my club to compete over the next sixty years? Fulham FC once had the ambition to be the best team in the world but then they refused to move into a new stadium at Stamford Bridge and someone else did instead. As a result, it's been way more than sixty years since they were even the best team in Fulham and these days they're going nowhere fast. Just a thought.

You may be too young to have memories of one-time Arsenal manager, Terry Neil. After leaving the game he appeared regularly as co-host of a football phone in, where he frequently issued the same challenge to callers that you've issued to me. Whenever a caller suggested that his or her team needed reinforcements Neil delighted in telling them that their point of view meant nothing* unless they were able to name the players who might fill their team's needs. I have to say that I always found Neil's view on this to be a profoundly stupid one. Let me tell you why. I watch every game Chelsea play; live or on Television and sometimes both. Just like everyone else here, I therefore can hardly help but form an opinion about the qualities of our squad and where it might be strengthened. I do not however have limitless time to watch football coverage from around the world. Nor do I have access to scouting reports, or the ability to direct areas in which Chelsea's scouts should concentrate their efforts. Any inability on my part to do as you ask therefore does not invalidate, or even slightly diminish the validity of, my opinions. All of us here have a passionate interest in Chelsea so we all could, and from time-to-time do, name players we'd like to add to the squad. Could I name any such players that you or others have not already thought of? Probably not, but so what? I happen to think my opinions on the subject are well observed and accurate, others think I talk a load of crap. That's the way it goes. * I'm not accusing you of saying my opinion means nothing, I'm describing the attitude Terry Neil used to take.

I think he has lived up to expectations. My guess is that the people who feel he hasn't probably got a little over excited by what Lukaku can do and didn't take enough account of the things he can't do.As for us robbing The Toffees, I feel it would be a bit arrogant of us to say that. If we could see Lukaku's limitations in his few Chelsea appearances, and obviously we could, then Martinez must have seen them too. It's only logical then for us to think that Everton knew what they were getting and that they decided it was worth £28m to them. That's their choice so good luck to them and to Lulu.

Agreed about youth development and this is why I say 'severely restricts' is a better description than 'prevents'. There are some things to note about this however: - It takes a l-o-n-g time, and a degree of luck, to develop players through the youth ranks. For example, our revamped accademy (by common consent the old one was not fit for purpose) was set up 9 years ago. Many people have complained that we have not yet managed to produce any first team graduates but the truth is that it is still TOO SOON to judge how well Neil Bath and his team are doing. The kids who are true products of the new system, those who joined the youngest age group in that first season at Cobham, are still only 16/17. Many (not all, I know but many) of the older lads who have knocked, or are knocking, at the door of the first team are not true accademy products; they were bought in. Bear in mind that any transfer fees and other costs of recruitment paid for youngsters who are 'bought in' DO count against FFP. A few decades ago we were all told we had to copy the Dutch system of youth development because they 'knew' how to churn out talented players. Then, when that production line slowed down, we were told to follow the Clairefontaine model. Until that went out of fashion too. We were then off to Barcelona but where are Barca recruiting from now? The fact is there is an element of luck involved in finding players of the right quality for the level your club competes at. All your academy can realistically do is help young men become the best players they can. No academy in the world is going to turn an 8 year old Joey Barton into a 21 year old Lionel Messi. In order to turn out world class footballers an academy needs world class prospects to walk through the door in the first place. The quality of player that just happened to grow up together in Holland made the Dutch system look good for a while. The system made them as good as they could be, but if they turned out to be great that was because they had great talent to begin with. The same was true for the French system and so too with Barcelona. Man Utd have had a world class youth system since 1948 but how has that been helping them recently? Just having a great youth structure is no guarantee that you will produce great players.

This squad is far from 'completed'. Whether from the existing set of development/loan players or through the transfer market, we need further serious strengthening at CB, CM, AM & striker. - Up top we need a high quality 'technical' striker for balance. That player would replace Didier in next year's squad. - At AM the "he's tired" excuse ain't gonna keep working for Oscar. He's great at part of the job but we are playing at the very highest level of football so we need a '10' who is great at the whole job. - Also at AM we need someone who demands selection on the right in the same way that Hazard demands to be picked on the left. The reason we rotate people on that flank is that none of our current options is quite up to it. - At CM we need a player who can match Rami's lungs and attitude but who is better in possession. - At CB we need pace, power and poise.

"Far from implementing a true financial fair play, this rule is in fact a prohibition to invest that prevents ambitious owners to develop their clubs" - MCFC Supporters AssociationThis is 95% correct. if you replace the word 'prevents' with 'very severely restricts the ability of' then MCFC Supporters' Association would have this 100% right. "The FFP ruling will restrict the incomes of players and agents, reduce transfer activity and ensure that Europe's larger clubs remain dominant" - Jean-Louis Dupont. Two-thirds of this MUST be true. This or that individual player/agent might not be affected but, with FFP forcing many clubs to spend less than they would like to, the OVERALL amount paid to players and agents WILL definitely be restricted. The bit which is not necessarily true is the claim that transfer activity will be reduced. Once FFP settles down it may only mean that the number of transfers stays the same but the fees paid will just be lower than they would have been without FFP.

I like most of what you say here but I would put just a little more emphasis on the idea that playing defensively does not mean you are not playing to win. I know many disagree but I believe it is perfectly legitimate to set out to win on the counter. Had the players been able to pass the ball a little better at The Ethiad the plan would have worked and we'd have beaten them again. As it was we nearly won anyway despite playing badly in possession. This suggests to me that it was a pretty good game plan. BTW, just in case you aren't aware, it's 'gung ho'.

How do you feel the summer transfer dealings have gone for Chelsea and do you believe it was the right move to bring Didier Drogba back to the club? A reasonably good window but we need another one which is at least as good to get where I'd like us to be. There are holes in this squad. I would not have have brought Didier back. I had you as favourites before the season started, and nothing I have seen so far suggests that my prediction will be wrong. Do you believe you have what it takes to win the Premiership? We are not playing as well as our results would have you believe. We are certainly not title favourites in my book. We were second best for spells against Leicester, Swansea, Everton and even Burnley. Sometimes long spells. We defended well at City but did not execute the rest of the game plan at all well. Our passing was poor throughout so our counter attacking threat was almost non existent. Jose being Jose, we nearly got the points anyway but it was far from a great performance. What is your weak link? Just one? I wish. I personally don't believe Gary Cahill is good enough for a team like Chelsea. What are the feelings amongst the Chelsea faithful? I'd say most are happy with him but we recognise the need to bolster our CB options. We're probably more focused on the idea that JT can't go on forever. Premiership title or Champions League title? Premier League all day, every day. Not even close to being close. Who do you consider to be the best and worst signings in the Premier League this summer? Can't really say I've watched enough football to have any clue about this. Tadic looks good so far but players do sometimes shine brightly at first. What are your thoughts on Aston Villa? I'm as surprised as I think you might be that you've started so well without Benteke. Which player should Aston Villa fear this weekend and why? His stats may not suggest it, but Eden hazard has been just brilliant so far. He's been close to the top of his game and if this continues he'll be a handful. What is your match prediction? A 1 goal victory margin for Chelsea. Jennifer Lawrence or Michelle Keegan? I don't know who these women are. Do I need to open a private browsing session before I google them?

This is not the Chelsea way. Our way is to try to win every competition we enter. Let's face it Jose was always going rotate-max for this one but it's still got to be the strongest side possible and they go full-on for the win. That's the Chelsea way, and it's a good way. We are not bloody Arsenal.

My thought is that it would take a lot of effort to turn Ake into a barely acceptable LB, whereas he could become a really good DM. My preference would be to encourage Ake to become the best player he can possibly be and that would mean allowing him to play at his best position. It could be though that the versatility you quite rightly point out will allow Ake to hold down a squad place and buy himself time to develop here.

Agreed about his versatility but, and again it's only my opinion, Ake seems a rather average LB to me. Fair enough for Jose to use him to plug a squad gap at that position but I can't see the young man building his career in that role. Certainly I don't think he's anywhere near as good at LB as he is at DM.

Remy has never convinced me. His touch is quite loose and seldom seems to really master the ball.

Drogba's touch was always hot and cold, mainly cold. We all remember the spectacular moments that built Didier's reputation and they are glorious memories but, throughout his Stamford Bridge career there were many more bad touches than great ones. The Drog has not lost his touch, on average it was never that great in the first place; what he's lost is his ability to make up for it.

CDM is comfortably his best position IMO.

Not yet but I think we should expect very limited coverage.

Perhaps we'd all agree that last night just confirmed what we already know. Change the results of the 4 PL games and the actual performances might attract just as much scrutiny as last night's. Those good PL results have stemmed from some good play but, to an extent, they have also camouflaged aspects of our play that could be better. Last night could turn out to be a helpful reminder of where we are in our development and a warning not to get ahead of ourselves.

I'm not the best person in the world to comment on Drogba's performance since I always saw myself as being equally aware of his weaknesses as I was of his strengths. I would never have brought him back as a player and simply don't believe that he offers us anything worth spending a squad place on. The only thing which makes his return tolerable for me is that Jose did it. If any other manager had done this I'd have blown a gasket. I guess all of this makes me predisposed to see the negatives rather than the positives with Didier so it's best if I say nothing about his display. I'm not a huge Remy fan either. My worry is that his touch is too loose and he therefore won't contribute to the precise controlled build up we aim for. Doesn't rule out him playing his part by just finishing things off however. That said, I do think that he improved us when he came on and deploying him wide looks like an option Jose may be able to use. One of the things I love about Jose is his pragmatism. Any manager can decide to commit men forward but the trick is to be able to do it and win. If Jose doesn't have the players available to play on the front foot then he won't waste his time trying. If he needs to be defensive, he will. An attacking style is something we all want to see from our team but it's not an aim in itself; attack and win is the aim.

I agree with this; last night's performance and result should do us more good than harm in the long run, especially with the Sporting/Maribor draw. Some people here, and almost everyone in the media, have gotten carried away by our 12 point start to the season. Our squad is improved but it is not the finished article and we certainly can't expect to coast to any results. Even the Bolton game will be tricky with a squad team. To complete the squad rebuild will require either that some youngsters come through to fill the gaps or that we go back to the market. Probably the latter I think.

Well I certainly expected that result on Sunday. The media seem to have developed amnesia over the summer when it comes to Spurs. Their squad is crammed full of average players and they've done nowhere near enough this window to cure that. Some of their players are so bad they make Eriksen look good. Put him in the Chelsea team and... well you just wouldn't. Spurs V Liverpool is an absolute no contest on paper and this time it turned out that way on grass too.

No prizes for guessing who has the weakest line up but that's the end of the good news for me. I'd rank the other four as: - City United Liverpool Us