Viper22

Or Pogba?

If we somehow offload Torres and possibly Mikel, then get in another 2nd choice striker, preferably HG like Rodriguez but equally could be Bony, Benteke or Hernandez this will officially be the best transfer window by any club in the PL era.

Have a scroll back through the last 10 or so pages and have a look at some of the posts. We'll need a pallet of that cream methinks.

:'( Right in the feels... Now you've said that i'm not sure I can go on any more...

I really like Lavezzi, but he's not a striker! Napoli did not play with an orthodox 3-5-2 in the fact that they played 2 strikers, Lavezzi sat off of Cavani as more of an inside forward winger. He only scored 48 in 188 for Napoli, those are not the stats of a striker. And anyway, even if he did play as a striker in a 2 man strike force, it's a world of difference to playing by yourself up top. As a side note, I do like him and I agree he'd fit our style of play. Unfortunately we're inundated with wingers atm so do not need him. If we sold someone then yes, but otherwise, no. Lukaku isn't shit. He's a good striker in the mid table of the PL. That's what he's always been the last 2 years. He has the POTENTIAL to step up to Chelsea's level, but you have to fulfil that potential. And yes I would prefer Jay Rodriguez to Lukaku in our team. I think he's a better player. Lukaku scored 16 goals last season being the focal point of Everton's attack. Rodriguez scored 17 for Southampton when he was the 2nd team striker behind Lambert.

Do you seriously not understand the difference between scoring for WBA/Everton and scoring for Chelsea? His world cup performances were as piss poor as his good performances for Everton, and while I think he could improve to one day be good enough to lead the line for Chelsea, he isn't atm. Also, this graveyard of young talent has Hazard, Oscar, Schurrle, Willian, Salah, Christensen, Ake, Azpilicueta, Costa, Lukaku and Courtois in our first team squad and they're all under 26. We have more young talent than most other teams in Europe. If you;re talking about young talent promoted from the youth that's a whole different story, but one that isn't relevant here as Lukaku didn't come through our youth system either.

Eto'o was our best striker last season. Without him god knows where we would have finished. I wish he could've stayed on this year tbh as something different to Costa. As for Drogba, one of our best ever players in his first spell here, and hasn't played a game yet in his second spell? Don't judge him before he's played, that's moronic.

Lavezzi is not a striker. Ffs will people stop suggesting that. If you're going to play a winger at striker then we already have Schurrle. A team competing for the title does not play people out of position for a whole season. Our best option would be Remy for £8.5M, but only if those heart problems that were rumoured to be the reason Liverpool bolted are not true or exaggerated. If not Remy, then Bony, Jay Rodriguez or Javier Hernandez, depending on the price of each of them, would all be great acquisitions for 2nd choice. All are better than Lukaku and with a better attitude. AND they'd be cheaper. No brainer?

Just want a solid answer now.... If he's going to go then fine, go, for £25M. If he's going to stay and compete as our 2nd choice striker then good, let's get pre-season up and running. This constant to-ing and fro-ing is getting on my nerves...

So we have Azpi & Ivan for RB, Luis & Ake for LB and JT, Cahill, Zouma and Christensen as the 4 CBs. There's your 8 done and dusted.

Last season we scored more goals (71) than every other team in the league other than Man City and Liverpool, who both went for outright attack (and in Liverpool's case a complete lack of defence). The cries of boring or anti-football are genuinely jealous insults thrown by fans of teams who can't defend to save their lives (see: Spurs, Liverpool, Man U, Newcastle). Honestly, just view the comments in the same way you view the comments about us/City buying the league: with the disdain they deserve. No team has won the title in well over 30 years without buying players because it's just not possible any more. As a side note to that buying the league nonsense, look at the top 20 transfer fees of all time - Chelsea and City only have 1 each, and ours is Torres ffs. Our football last season was a joy to behold for me. Us destroying City and Liverpool towards the end of the year was a tactical masterclass. It's not negative, it's just clever. Mourinho used tactics to beat their style of attacking football, same as rock crushes scissors. Tactical superiority is cyclical, and you need to be able to be malleable with the tactics you use to be able to beat teams using different styles of play and tactical approaches to the game. Last season we were tactically the best team in the league (due to Mourinho), but due to a few mistakes from the Special One himself and more so to a lack of a creative midfielder and prolific striker we failed against the smaller teams who played with a tactic we couldn't deal with. Simple as that.

This sucks. Worked until 4 the last 3 days and now today i'm working from 4.30. Grr. I expect a thorough detailed analysis of the game when I get home in the post match thread!!

That's not the way it works. Every transfer will have the betting suspended as it happens. Just because betting was suspended doesn't mean that it is definitely going to happen, like in the Hulk, Cavani and Falcao cases.

Lub-Lee-Are-Na

You only seem to get abuse on this forum for playing FM, so people probably keep it quiet. "Chelsea to sign Luis and Costa from Atletico? Get off FM/FIFA!!!"

As a side note, seeing as i've never concentrated on the HG player rule this much before, when the final squad list is released, is it released to the public?

All for the sake of 1 month? God dammit.

Don't mention the R word!!! We saw what that did to the Salah thread last night

Either we sell Torres/Lukaku or Drogba doesn't sign, and MVG is U21 next season I thought. That should be it.

Maybe i'm being too positive, but I really do believe that even if we don't win any trophies this year as long as we show progression and that we're going in the right direction Jose will keep his job. I understand that we would all be disappointed with 2 seasons without silverware, especially with the squad we have but I do think that Abramovich and Mourinho are trying to build some kind of stability. I liken it to a relationship between 2 people early on in their lives, left each other because they thought they could get better, trying out many other partners before realising that the best they could get was the first one they were with. And they had to be with other people to realise just how good they were together. Sounds a weird analogy but that's what I feel it's like. Mourinho is by far the best manager we've ever had, and he never looked happier than when he was here, managing us. I feel like they're trying to build something here, with a manager that stays for at least 5+ years bringing through youth and building a dynasty similar to how Man Utd did in the first 20 years of the PL. Winning a trophy this year is almost a must due to the pressure that would be heaped on him otherwise, but I wouldn't lose faith as long as we keep moving forward.

Courtois was a special talent too. But I guess the loan system did nothing for him did it?..... Trust in the club, trust in Jose. If we have managerial stability, we'll have youth talents coming through rather than being farmed out on loan all the time.

Well I actually agree with you that i'm not sure Chalobah is good enough. But he deserves another loan to try and prove himself, if nothing else because of the potential he showed at Watford. I guess you can look at pre season in either of our ways, but like someone can play themselves into or out of a team during the season, players can play themselves into or out of the team during pre season too. For instance, I think Boga may well get some cup game time his season if he sticks around with the U21s, it'll give us a chance to rest Hazard or Oscar which we didn't have the luxury of doing last season. I do think Jose's mind would have been mostly made up, but he still has choice to make - Fabregas or Oscar at no.10? Willian or Schurrle opposite Hazard? MVG, Fabregas or Ramires at CM? Romeu, Mikel or Chalobah as reserve DM? Zouma good enough for 3rd CB or do we need to sign another? Azpi or Ivan at RB? Cech or Courtois in goal? Bertrand or Ake as reserve LB? Loan Boga or keep him in the U21s with the odd cup game? We might have our own opinions on answers to these questions but I think the pre season is a good time for Mourinho to objectively make his decisions, and let's be honest, they're the ones that matter.

Mikel is a general problem. His lack of development and progress over the last 3/4 years has been staggeringly bad. Getting rid of him and Torres is going to be a challenge to say the least...

It's nice you didn't overreact to his comment or anything.... Jesus. He meant problem as in being behind them in the pecking order, and that they haven't had their own pre season chances to prove themselves and their fitness to Mourinho. So naturally they'll almost definitely be picked over him. Pre season is a chance to prove yourself. He should've been given a chance in the midfield before these players came back but Mourinho evidently doesn't see a future for him there.

But it looks like Lukaku is being rewarded with his successful loans with a place in the Chelsea squad on the bench. Being a 2nd choice striker for a club like Chelsea is amazing, and he now has his chance to displace Costa and become our no.1 striker. Bamford should take the same route, he's completely unproven in the PL. I love the kid, but scoring for MK Dons and Derby is a bit different to scoring in the PL, let alone for Chelsea where teams sit deep.