DCS1984

Get in! What a match. Surprised how well Ramires did when he came on, hope he keeps it up Hope we thrash Spurs (in most likely hood) in the final! :blue scalf:

He's been really good against us but he's not really a right winger though. He's more of a centre mid. Doubt he'd be long term but been wrong plenty of times in the past! Cuadrado must be the better option for us or even waiting out it until the summer and moving Salah and probably Schurrle on.

One of the most underrated players of the premiership and one of my favorites but what a terrible haircut!

One of the worst games ever in a bar full of Spurs fans, don't remind me Though I did see Makelele score that day!

RIP Sir Jack Hayward of Wolves. Watching him with his team like Jack Walker with Blackburn always brought a smile to me, their love and passion for their team and city could never be doubted. A fantastic man and a credit to himself and football at all times :blue scalf:

Good day for the blues today, especially with City dropping points. Diego Costa, what a difference a striker that can score goals makes. No doubt he'll match Torres' 3 1/2yrs league goal return in one season!

Well Mourinho did want him in his first spell at the club -> http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/chelsea-target-richards-to-fill-the-terry-void-429954.html However as a poster above has said, City have 2 RBs better than him in Zabaleta and Sagna and hasn't kicked on for years. Possibly I'd take him as he's home grown but for his own career, he's better off going to Villa or Newcastle level teams and getting some first team football instead of warming our bench.

Would have been a strange signing for the present time. If we have reached an agreement for him at least sending him to Leicester is much better than sending him to Vitesse. Seems a decent player from the err youtube videos I have seen of him. Though you have to worry if Bamford will get his chances if we do end up signing another striker like Kramaric to replace Drogba next season.

Great start JT!

Hope the Besiktas fans know the song!

I'd go for (in their primes) Cech Le Saux -Terry-Desailly-Petrescu Wise - Lampard - Poyet Zola Drogba- Hasselbaink Subs - Cudicini, Cole, Carvalho, Essien, Hazard, Gudjohnsen, Crespo I think that team could take any of the premiership teams today. Though Wisey might collapse from exhaustion halfway through with Poyet and Lampard beside him.

I know he's not the favorite player for some after he kissed the c*ck but any chance Poyet could be included? Was my favorite player growing up so many crucial goals, headers, volleys, scissor kicks for us. His goal against Leeds to secure champions league football in 99 remains one of the best Chelsea moments for me, especially as they were they were gaining on us at the time.

Going to see him play when I'm in Rome. Going to be in the Roma section, not quite sure if I should give him extra stick or not? Though Milan can't possibly be sending him back can they?

We need to sell him abroad, seeing him playing for Arsenal or like when Cudicini went to Spurs is not the answer. I know Cudicini wasn't playing at all when he went but he was a fantastic keeper for us and it looks like a case of history repeating itself. I actually felt sorry for him when he was in goal when we thrashed Spurs 5-1 at Wembley. Wouldn't like to see it happen to Cech too. Hopefully he can stay but I think we're all resigned to him leaving by the start of next season.

You could try any of the Paddy Barclay books on Mourinho. Ancelotti's autobiography is quite amusing and well written. Depending how old your son is, Ranieri's book on his final season is good and very cheap these days. On general Chelsea maybe this - I haven't read it though. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Chelsea-Cult-Heroes-Stamford-Greatest/dp/1908051663/ref=zg_bs_279400_31

Ha I probably could get a written one done at a push but it wouldn't be illustrated as I don't own any pictures unfortunately and licensing from Getty's for a 500 page book would bankrupt me! Your best bet is asking Chelsea FC's marketing department to consider making a book like this. It's possible, they might.

I got permission from Alex one of the mods. If not feel free to move it. To the section on books if that is possible. Which I don't think we have. There hasn't been a recent one for awhile as far as I can see.

Hi everyone I'd just like to make you aware of my new book on our Champions League winning season is out on Amazon and other booksites. You may have read about it on our Facebook page but I just got permission to bring it to your attention on the forums too Again many thanks to Alex, Steve and Choulo for their help. http://www.amazon.co...pheonix project So far it has been received with good reviews from the posters I know that have bought it. The book has at least 486 pages of comment, interviews and match reports to bring back memories of what looked like a season of despair into the greatest cup win in our history! This is the only complete season review on Amazon for any Chelsea season, if it starts to sell better, I'd like to complete a back history of our seasons for our fans to read. So if you have any requests please feel free. Please give the preview a read and let me know what you think of it. If you do buy it please leave a review, good or bad. Many thanks David

If Matic ever got injured, then Mikel would have to step in to that role. After Mikel there is only Ake who looks good but still needs time. Well there is Ramires but it's not really his role. Mikel is such an enigma, there is a good player there but it seems to forced within himself. I wonder who we would have had if we had let Utd have him all the way back in 2006!

"Fat" Ronaldo was one of the best players I've ever seen and will probably be more fondly remembered than "thin" Ronaldo ever will be. Hopefully more players will come through our youth system and into the first team, can't wait to see the next Terry's and even going back Jody Morris come through for us to support.

Yeah, It does seem to have become a Pep V Mourinho debate but it gets people talking and that's a good thing (I think!) On Guardiola' s 2008/12 team it was one best footballing teams I have ever seen and a lot of credit goes to him. I think the team he had will be remembered for a long, long time and he deserves every plaudid he got then. The performances against in 2009 and 2011 made Utd look like amateurs and was exceptional to watch.

Have to agree with much of this with the exception of the Champions League not being worth as much then as it is now. The Champions League is the 2nd biggest trophy you can win after the world cup never mind if you win against Monaco or a drugged up Deportivo team Such a shame Ranieri went mental in Monaco or we would have (hopefully) beaten Mourinho' s Porto and who knows what would have happened....

The point I'm making is Barcelona whether they're under Guardiola, Rykaard, Martino st al are always considered one of the top teams in the world and are the overwhelming favourites in the vast majority of their fixtures. FC Porto under Mourinho, AVB or even if Guardiola took over would never be considered overwhelming favourites in the majority of their ECL games. There is a vast difference between what is achievable realistically with Porto and Bayern/ Barca and to compare them as equal as you did in your first post was highly unfair on what Mourinho had achieved at Porto under much, much hard circumstances. Would he have played like RDM in the Nou Camp? We don't know as he has never been in that situation before. He has came across this type of performance twice at critical stages against Inter in 2010 and Chelsea in 2012 (you could add Madrid to a smaller extent last season) and failed to be able to change games.

Hi Heisenberg If you note my post above yours I agreed that Mourinho would have struggled to be accepted in 2008 at Barcelona. I don't believe he would have struggled to get results but I doubt he would have been there longer than a season and a half at most. You compare Mourinho' s time at Porto vs Guardiola's time at Barcelona but there's one difference between the sides. Guardiola' s team in all games with the exception of perhaps the European giants away are always the strong favourites and were European Champions in 2007. Guardiola had Real Madrid and Valencia/A.Madrid somewhere in the distance as a comparable domestic rival while Mourinho had Sporting Lisbon, Benfica and Boavista, Braga to lesser extent. Even more important is the fact Mourinho' s Porto may have been among the favourites to win the UEFA cup but it's doubtful that they were the favourites. While Guardiola' s Barcelona's team was one of the favourites every year he was in charge due to their squad and history. Mourinho' s Porto team in 2003-4 wouldn't have been anyone's favourites and wouldn't be able to play Guardiola' s style even if he wanted to in the Champions League due to his inferior players. Imagine if Di Matteo had set up like for like in the Nou Camp in 2012, Chelsea would have lost badly. Guardiola has so far never been in that situation and worked his way to a higher level. Guardiola has had teams were the brief is to win every trophy possible because it possible for his team's to do that. When Mourinho was given the Liera job his brief wasn't to break into the top 3 of Portuguese football but he did. He would be expected to win the Portuguese league and cup and do well in UEFA cup but would he be expected to win the Champions League? I highly doubt it but he did. For a team from the Portuguese league this a monumental achievement that far surpasses Guardiola' s champions league wins in my opinion. Is Guardiola a great manager, he more than likely is. I have a great deal of respect for him, his conduct after the Chelsea game in 2012 was a credit to him as he could moaned and complained but accepted defeat with grace, something that Mourinho often fails to do. Until Guardiola goes to a club where he is not the favourites to win every trophy then this mark will always be against him to make people doubt his complete abilities as a manager.

I'd personally love to see how Guardiola (who I have a lot of respect for) try and manage Real Madrid. I doubt he'd last half a season before resigning with the way the club is run and the way the players sometimes behave. I don't think Mourinho would ever succeed at Barca though, it would make for some good alternate history if Mourniho had got the job over Guardiola in 2008.