Joshybizzle

I googled 'war bus' then i saw the picture, figured it summed up my feelings pretty well especially the six miniguns i mean come on man a bus with six miniguns that's badass

There'a a lot of debate about Luiz playing in a midfield role (i almost quoted a few of them from a couple of pages back) mostly saying he looks like a CB playing as DM, not natural and not especially well. I'm calling bullshit on all that right here and now, last nights performance with Matic was immense, he was winning possession high up the pitch and making the most of his range of passing which is has to be said, is bloody impressive. "Manuel Pellegrini's men have been mighty on home soil, with 29 goals in the course of seven straight English Premier League wins – an average of 4.14 goals per home fixture" Look at that, i mean just bloody look at it, an average of 4.14 goals per home fixture how impressive is it that for the first time in a long time we truly bossed that midfield for the vast majority of the game and there's no doubt at all in my mind that was down to the Matic/Luiz pivot, they compliment each other perfectly. You'd think that a holding midfielder and a natural center back would be a very compact, defensive unit, a solid platform. But that's not what we got, we got a fast paced, high pressing, ball winning midfield duo who were always looking to move the ball into the attacking third as fast as possible. On a couple of occasions i can remember Luiz actually winning the ball back in the opposition half and charging forward, Luiz is a bit of a wildcard we all know that and its one of the reasons we love him but also one of the reasons we end up with our head in our hands occasionally but with Matic to anchor the whole thing (and he did very very well) Luiz is free to join in the attacking when called upon. I think that game showed us that Luiz can undoubtedly play in midfield, i mean he put in an incredible performance against one of the highest scoring teams on the planet right now, AWAY FROM HOME, all the defense deserve credit, no question asked, but that team we put together looked like a unit capable of beating anyone and Luiz stepped up and peformed TLDR; David Luiz can (and should) play as a defensive midfielder and you're damn right i'm looking forward to seeing him and Matic annihilate midfields for the rest of the season and beyond

Incredible result, incredible performance All week I heard about us parking the bus, well maybe if the bus looked like this

With all singing of Kurt Zouma I got reminded of another player we signed one January for a very reasonable price who turned out to be worth every penny! I remember people saying Mikel was under rated for a long time (matter of opinion) but I really think Gary is, he's been immense this season along with JT, considering we snapped him up from a team that got relegated later that season I think he's really come on leaps and bounds and he's in his peak years now, this could be the guy we see partnering Zouma in the not so distant future Just giving the big guy some love (that's what she said) Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

Love it

People probably aren't going to like this but i genuinely think his hat trick against Man United was a fluke, i mean just look at the goals, he got in the right positions no question about that and a lot of football can come down to luck and i think it was just his day. Fairly decent stop gap (other than missing a couple of sitters as is the Chelsea strikers job the last few seasons it would seem) but i wouldn't keep him around for another season even if we do move on Torres and Ba, i think our whole striking department needs to be re-worked be it through promoting youth players or buying in big names/bright talents

I see quite a few people here don't even think he's going to make it into our first team plans, which usually I'd understand, with out transfer policy he'd get completely overlooked as our youngsters usually do But with all of Mourhinio's talk of bringing players up from the youth teams I can't think he's ignoring Paddy banging in goals at every level and club he's been at, even if he does end up our second string striker who's to say he won't force his way into a starting spot He's going to need a Lukaku typed loan In the prem to really get on the radar I think but this kids got bags of potential and I'd love to see another English striker leading the line like Bobby Tambling or Peter Osgood, but I'm getting way ahead of myself Class act, bags of potential, scores for fun, keep an eye on him Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

Entirely get where you're coming from on that one I'd like to see Lukaku come back and do well don't get me wrong but i'm pretty sure him and Mourhinio have been having snidey little digs at each other in the press and the fact he was loaned out to start with seems to speak volumes about the future I'm not sure he's in José's long term plans and we're in desperate need of a striker who can find the back of the net so while we're nurturing our up and comers while the spot lights on something of a marquee signing Put it like this, i don't think all our problems will be solved by the time the summer transfer window closes

Mata was a great player, a great guy and will live fond in my memory, could prove to be a thorn in our side in the future maybe, but i don't hold a grudge against him for moving and i felt his open letter was very true to how he must have felt as he was packing his bags Good player, good guy, bad situation Can we stop gushing over him now? You guys are becoming stalker ex's.. i'm waiting for someone to write a poem or make a creepy collage with his eyes cut out

Read an article last night (i think it was on my Caught offside app, so maybe not reliable) which said we might look to cash in on Lukaku for £23m+ to fund a summer move for Cavani who is apparently unsettled at PSG having been played out of position and not really being the focal point of the team.. When you're competing for that honor with the highest scorer and assist maker in the league.. you can kinda see where he's coming from So i guess i'm just wondering if you guys would be open to that kind of move? Forgetting for a minute his injury last night (career ending? really? come on you guys...) I only ask because i think Cavani would be a great fit for José's system at the moment TLDR; Would you sell Lukaku to fund a move for Cavani This is hypothetical.

I don't doubt he was and probably still is quite selfish but that's one of the qualities you want in someone that's going to win games, if everyone was so unselfish all they did was pass the ball around the penalty area we'd be... well we'd be Arsenal.. I'm pretty sure Mourhinio knows what Salah is like on and off the pitch, he's not likely to take on a player he can't kind of mold to his own ideals, which he's done with pretty much all of his signings from Didier to Essien to Snejider to Ozil to Di Maria, he knows what he's doing In José we trust :blue scalf:

I watched the match same as you guys but if you watch this; it pretty much looks like a highlight reel and that's from one match.. his (full) debut match in fact! Mourhinio referred to Matic as his 'Spiderman' because he gets his legs and his body in and gets the ball and i can see where he's coming from, really really happy with this signing i don't feel like i can say that enough lately!

I honestly think one of the driving factors behind us chasing Shaw, other than being a very bright talent, would be that our home grown contingent are coming to the end of their careers, without Cole, Lamps and JT we've got just Gary Cahill who's likely to be starting and i know football goes well beyond nationalities but it'd be nice to keep that English backbone in the squad, so why not sign the next Ashley Cole

Does he kind of remind anyone else of Robben? Speed, dribbling, deadly left foot Just remember when Arjen came over here from PSV he wasn't world class, when he left for Real Madrid he was worth £25m (in 2007 so adjust for inflation) If we can have a similar effect on Salah i'll be a very happy chappy, they've got similar qualities and I've always been a bit of a Robben fan, he can create something out of nothing with a drop of the shoulder or cheeky dink into the box. Don't get me wrong here i'm not saying he's on par with Robben, i'm saying there's enough similarities for me to get excited!

Thanks Yuval much appreciated! See you around the forum

Incredibly uneventful thanks Kevin! How is it being a Chelsea fan in New Zealand? I live an hour and a half from London but even i struggle to find any local Chelsea fans their all Villa supporters!

I'm a Ramires fan personally, he gets around, he really puts in a shift and he can score and when he does they're more often than not pretty important goals (Barca chip anyone?) After seeing Matic play against Stoke i'm looking forward to seeing them both playing in the pivot with Matic's defensive solidity and Ramires energy and he may just get a licence to break forward on those lung busting runs which will be great for moving into the oppositions third, same as Matic's crisp passing The question i'd like to put to you guys is, if Ramires didn't have so much stamina, that willingness to run and run and run would we really rate him? He gets a respectable amount of goals for a deeper lying MF (since he's in the pivot 95% of the time) and assists with 5 goals & 5 assists in 37 games For Mourhinio's system he's ideal as he can run around just pressing for the whole game and still play an integral part of our system and you can't ignore his versatility, that's not what i'm questioning TLDR: My question is, without his other worldly stamina and work ethic, would you rate Ramires?

I've been so busy posting all over the place that i hadn't even noticed this area of the forums! Hi I'm Josh i'm 23 as of Wednesday and i'm a Chelsea-a-holic, i love the banter/stats/analysis I'm prone to saying things people might not agree with, but i'm always up for a good debate as long as i don't end up in a match of 'your mommas so fat...' with a thirteen year old from Ethiopia (you never can tell on the internet...) Also i'm trying to get a picture of one of my lady companions in my 13/14 Chelsea shirt to change my display picture so eyes open for that lads Nice to meet you!

Salah is a much better option given what we've got No player is going to walk into this Chelsea side regardless of price or talent, that's how José is and on top of that we've got a pretty well assembled (kind of) preferred 11 with Hazard, Oscar and Willian playing in the trident, Draxler tends to play on the left but can play centrally, where we've got loads of options. Whereas on the right we've got Willian who's versatile enough to play there but not naturally Salah is a right winger who likes to cut in onto his left, so that's in his favor (not that i think he'll displace Willian anytime soon) & Draxler is the kind of player you build your team round, similar to what we're doing with Oscar I'm not sure this was ever really on the cards but he is a good player and its cliche but things change in football so who really knows

I think if we do get Shaw or Rodriguez the best thing to do would be keep Ash around for another season to deputize at the left back role and as someone to tutor Shaw/Rodriguez could you ask for a better teacher for brighter talents?

Bit off-topic but since Mata is looking likely to get the number 7 at Manure i'm pretty glad this guys not When Ronaldo got the number 7 it seemed to transform him with the extra pressure on him and he became world class Januzaj is a good player and a bright prospect, but he's not the second coming for crying out loud Unlikely to displace Hazard in the national set up and with the younger Hazard having made his debut recently he might not even get a real run in the Belgian team Star that burns the brightest falls the furthest and all that Also got a REALLY punchable face

I think that's about right He's got that Mourhinio kind of work ethic up and down the pitch but i can't see him coming back and slotting into our set up unless people move on in the summer He is developing and he is a good player on his day and based on his Europa league form last season he should be worth a couple of million more than we paid so all in all with his age and potential taken into consideration i'd say £15m is about right

White lightning: The cider that's never seen an apple in its life Tastes like ethanol and drain cleaner but if you're into waking up on benches with the arms ripped off your shirt and dirty hands and knees its definitely your thing Personally i like my whisky on the rocks but i'm more of a herbal remedy man myself

In all honesty i don't know all that much about Mandzukic except he's a pretty exceptional target man with a good work ethic, but like Reddish-Blue said his finishing is about 7.5/10 (which is spot on from what i HAVE seen) Work rate alone isn't enough to warrant signing a player if you ask me (bar maybe Ramires) especially not a striker, we obviously need someone who's clinical in front of goal, more like your Higuain/Falcao/Cavani typed player, although consistent and great with his link up play for Bayern he's not exactly set the world alight with his goal scoring record which reads 14 goals in 29 appearances currently If we have a complete overhaul of our striking department (with Eto'o leaving, Ba leaving and as much as i love the guy Torres leaving) in the summer then i wouldn't opposed to getting in another striker and having him rotate with Mandzukic which is what Mourhinio tends to do anyway His physicality would be good for the prem, he's a good finisher and has great link up play but in my opinion we still need someone who can consistently put the ball in the back of the net and i'm not sure he's our guy

Before i start i know i might get a bit of a telling off from a couple of you folks and yes his work rate has been fantastic and he's hit the crossbar/post with some pretty fantastic efforts and his double against Stoke was pretty spectacular but i expected a bit more from Schurrle personally I know its a bit cliche but after watching his youtube highlights and signing him on fifa (before we'd even signed him!) its obvious he's got bags of potential and i go all weak at the knees over a beautifully crafted long range goal, which he's more than adept at, so i was expecting he'd be our man to occasionally make something from nothing with a cheeky crack at goal, but that hasn't really happened. Yesterday against Stoke he looked lively he got up and down the pitch well and was pretty unlucky not to have scored but how many players could we have said that about? He got a good solid run at the start of the season and since then Willian has come into his own so he's been pushed a little onto the edge of the squad and if Hazard ends up injured at any point *touch wood* he'll be our main man on the left, i guess i just expected a little more out of his final product but he's got plenty of time