Viper22

Got to go for it in this game. But Willian and Hazared need a rest. Our players will be tired but IMO I think if we come out of the gates like a house on fire they won't be able to deal with us. Just have to hope our finishing gets better... Cech, Azpi, JT, Cahill, Ivan, Luiz, Matic, Salah, Oscar, Schurrle, Torres. With Hazard, Willian and Eto'o ready to come on around 50/55mins if we're losing/drawing. Imagine Scott Parker and the Fulham defence playing a testing 55mins then having to put up with a fresh Willian and Hazard. Doesn't bear thinking about from their perspective. Hopefully we should win without them though and those 2 can have their rest, especially if we hit them hard at first for a goal or two then try and control the game from there.

But he scored, so you'd have to take off a goal and a game

9 goals in 16 games when he has started this season and has scored in every game he's started since before Christmas. He's been pretty good this season, nowhere near as bad as people are making out. EDIT: Before people say they were pointless goals, they include: Winner against Southampton away, Winner against Man City, a double against Schalke away, 1 against Bayern Munich and now and important away goal against Galatasaray. Not saying he's prolific, but come on, you can't argue with the facts: he has been hampered by injury this season but not bad at all when he's started.

Another mistake by Cech... Come or stay. He did neither. Quality GK but needs to be replaced by Courtios at the end of the season. Also, the fuck was JT doing?

Just finished not long ago. We won 4-1, scorers were Baker (44, 74), Boga (53) and Kiwomya (78) for us and Petagna (81) for them. Starting line up was: Beeney, Dabo, Conroy, Christensen, Aina, Loftus-Cheek, Swift, Baker ©, Feruz, Boga, Kiwomya. Subs: Brown on for Loftus-Cheek (69), Ssewankambo on for Dabo (82) and Dasilva on for Aina (88). EDIT: Nice to see Inzaghi again as their coach, liked that bloke

Mmhmm. Agree with all you said. I'm glad he didn't say it was impossible like Zlatan though. So I can carry on hoping

Obviously this is all assuming we sell Luiz and Levy isn't a wanker about the price (doubtful).

http://www.espn.co.uk/espn/sport/story/286163.html Key quotes for y'all: In his broadcast interview, Mourinho left the door open on a summer transfer bid for PSG's Edinson Cavani despite admitting it would take an extraordinary offer [] but he ruled out the prospect of Eden Hazard becoming part of any Cavani deal. Mourinho conceded that it would take a huge investment for Chelsea to sign Cavani, who was signed by PSG for £54 million and is said to earn £8.3m annually. "PSG payed a lot of money for him. His contract is also incredible," Mourinho said of the Uruguayan. "Maybe it's not impossible like Zlatan, because I think that Zlatan is more important to the structure of the club. But I think that it's also difficult."

Blind trust in Mourinho is one of my favourite pastimes, I will join you. Costa is a tool, everyone knows that. But so is Suarez, and look how good he is! If he's good enough it'll be worth it.

You've obviously never been the Westfalenstadion have you?

Haven't been around here long so I didn't know that! Will be interesting to see people's opinions though.

I know what you're saying but I have more faith in the pair of them. Mandzukic has averaged a goal every 2 games since 2007, which any way you cut it isn't too bad. I also reckon he wouldn't be that expensive and I have seen enough to convince me that he's good enough, Just my opinion though. As for the 1 season thing with Costa you're bang on. But you have to take some risks i'm afraid. I mean look at Drogba - 1 good season at Marsielle and we signed him and look how that turned out. If you wait for a player to have 3/4 good seasons then every team in the world will be after them so we need to take a calculated risk and I reckon Costa will be as good a one as any.

Might seem like a bit of an odd one, but I read this today: http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11675/9183193/jan-vertonghen-hints-at-exit-if-tottenham-fail-to-qualify-for-champions-league To be honest that sounds to me (reading between the lines a tad) like he's pretty much decided that he wants to play in the UCL (and really, who can blame him) and will want to be leaving Spurs if they don't give it to him. I know he's at a rival but I don't really see that being an issue, I mean look at how good Ash has been for us over the years. Providing we could beat other teams to it I think he'd be a great signing. He's 26, Belgian (always a good thing), has over 50 caps internationally which is excellent experience and over 50 caps in Europe too which is pretty good also. I've always been a fan of his, only time I had a problem was when he had that scuffle with Torres but Torres was as much at fault in that too and i'm sure I can forgive it. Just thinking; Luiz polarizes opinion from a lot of people as a CB, and with Terry coming to the end of his career and Zouma too young and inexperienced for us to completely rely on him as a starter, maybe Jan would be an excellent addition to play alongside Gary for next season? I mean we could then have Cahill and Vertonghen starting next season and Terry as a squad player in case of injuries. Zouma could then be our 4th choice for that season and replace Terry at the end. Think about all that experience Kurt would gain from those 3 cracking defenders!! So what does everyone think? Anyone have any reservations about him?

Costa or Mandzukic?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/chelsea/10657690/Chelsea-manager-Jose-Mourinho-drops-major-hint-that-he-is-insterested-in-Monaco-striker-Radamel-Falcao.html Confirmed: No Zlatan for us. EDIT: "Zlatan to Chelsea? It’s impossible. He’s happy at Paris. I know because he is my friend and we are in touch. PSG, with all its wealth, would never open the door. That’s mission impossible."

These people are thugs and just want an excuse to fight. They're just using football as their platform. Ignore them, they're morons and you'll never understand them because you're not mentally deficient.

Not that I was into this debate before, but this truly must put it to bed. Torres has not been great for us, but this season he's been alright. Eto'o has been slightly worse than Torres this season (no debate here, stats show it) but I guess you could put that down to him acclimatising to the PL. Anyway, my opinion before was that we should start Nando, and these stats have just backed it up. Thought he was in pretty good short term form before the injury. 3 goals in 4 appearances wasn't it?

Reckon Mandzukic will be a bit cheaper than what you suggest, but we'll have to wait and see. And Costa has a £32M release clause, that's all teams will pay, there won't be a bidding war, Atletico have to accept a £32M bid. He will then choose which club he wants if more than 1 team meet the release clause. I do see what you're saying with the recouping of money but I think you get what you pay for largely. Obviously some overpriced players and bargains around but mainly you pay more, you'll usually get a better player. Let's just trust in Jose and see what he does aye? As for your Lukaku comments, I'm a great lover of the lad, tons of potential, but he hasn't been that great even at Everton (who have been flying high this season). He had a great start but fell of the pace a bit before his injury. Hope i'm wrong but he doesn't look a world beater. Yet.

Not to nitpick, but Costa has a £32M release clause. Mandzukic would be available on the cheap I reckon, Bayern don't seem to rate him that highly and the arrival of Lewandowski just confirms that Pep wants to change what kind of player he wants his striker to be and remember they only paid like £10M for him or so. (By on the cheap I mean cheap for a top team like us - £20-£30M). Lukaku will be a great 2nd choice striker for next season but he's not ready to lead our line just yet. Personally not over keen on Guarin, although you do argue a compelling case. Obviously price and wages dependent but I'd personally prefer Koke, Vidal, Barkley or Gundogan (if he comes back from his horrific injury as good as he was before it, if so, definitely my first choice). As for the £40-70M flop thing you have all of the history to back you up (and maybe i'm just being an optimist) but I keep thinking that we've had our bad luck/stupidity with Shevchenko, Crespo and Torres. Just got a good feeling that the next one can be that star we have been looking for in ages. Finally, signing a striker for cheap won't make any difference to us if they flop like an expensive purchase. Yes there might be less pressure on them due to the lower price tag, but if they're going to lead the line for Chelsea, then it doesn't matter how much they cost, they're still going to be under the same insatiable scrutiny from Blue fans, pundits and media alike.

Must admit I got all giddy like a child watching Kroos tear Arsenal a new one today. Don't mind if he doesn't come to us if he keeps spanking our PL rivals like that whenever they enter the same stadium as him xD

You're probably right. I am a bit of a Buffon fan boy though so I'm always going to be a bit biased . Still amazing that we've got 2 of the top 5 or so keepers in the world isn't it? What an awesome situation to be in. Dortmund keeper is Weidenfeller btw .

Genuinely think he's only behind Neuer and maybe Buffon at the moment. Could be best GK in the world with a top quality back 4 in front of him now I reckon.

What's the point of swapping a player for Costa? £32M is his release clause, Atletico wouldn't push that down much if we offered Torres with it and offering Courtios would be full retard.

I see this as a good thing tbh, always preferred points in the bank rather than games in hand. Also it puts a lot more pressure on the team having to make up the games, similar to what we went through last season with our ridiculous 70+ games.

Let's be honest, if Terry or Hazard get injured for 1month or so+, we're gone.