Kostas

Cant's believe this flew under my radar when even bloody Carra is getting media time. Probably my 2nd favourite childhood player after Romario.

So...wages? I wonder who gave in..

I'd like to have a "has Rafa's time at Chelsea been a success" poll similar to Metro's when he's gone. For what it's worth I have been indifferent to his tenure but even if we lose the next couple of games I woudn't be able to look past us improving 8-12 points on last season and securing CL qualification with a squad as thin as that. Failing to win the CWC is probably going to stay in my mind as his worst result but it could be compared to our absolute rape against Atletico at the begining of this excrusiatingly long season. I'm pretty confident that Samuel is a West Ham fan but he is still the most pro-Chelsea journo amongst the well known ones.

Certainly Mata for me. Hazard second but his efficiency dropped as his level of fitness did whereas due to Mata's different style he managed to be consistently brilliant. Probably not important but I can't see the reasoning behind Luiz being on the list. He's been diabolical in some games and Benitez's attempts at playing him at CM(/DM) must be the most frustrating managerial experiment since Anelka's deep midfield-winger role.

He plays for the team that I support but since I don't care one way or another about the incident I find the difference in the reactions between this and RVP much more interesting.

Likewise! As far as as I'm concerned everything's probably better than what it was when I was posting regularly I'll hopefully deside one fine day to get on a coach and attend an away game (within this year). It's just that I barely have enough time to watch Chelsea nevermind have discussions around it. My only exposure to Chelsea related arguments comes from twitter so I'd love to follow you there if you've got an account.

I know I don't post much but it's funny how I was about to echo Style's posts almost as they are. Emenalo isn't even on the Football board, it's laughable to place significant blame on him unless someone thinks that we didn't get 20 more points in the league in the last few seasons (including this one) because our U21 scouting underachieved. Buck and Gourley are more about the business side of the club so as much as people hate them they're irrelevant. I one wants to look past Russian millionaires I can only think of 3 people on the Footbal Board who in the last 5 years held footballing positions and could be blamed for our decline. One of them left a couple years ago one is Tenenbaum who we know nothing about and then there's Forde the performance director at one of the most consistently underperforming clubs in Europe.

Are they really playing with a slow pace? If they are the club/Rafa might have more sense that I give them credit for.

Apologies if this has been posted but I came by this incredible doc while having a quick read on cfcnet. https://dl.dropbox.com/u/46624244/PRODUCTION2012-13.pdf Check the appearances of the 3 only Chelsea players on the list and try to find out how many players have played more. This is also (particularly) interesting in terms of the resulting defensive workrate that I've seen @SeB often emphasize.

The club is certainly not going to leak that info and Cole has as many friends in the media as JT has, he's also never going to give them anything. I think the chances of us getting reliable info on that particular deal are close to none.

Didn't even notice that his contract will expire at the end of this season. Think I'm not the only one.

That's obviously the official line. It is just as true as that the club intended to have DiMatteo at helm for 2 years.

Tried to filter out the (presumably media-fed) assumptions and all I see is rhetorical questions and a couple of instances where you state the obvious.

He was concerned about getting the best out of some players. Is that the same as failing a season?

True but that's hardly the question that was at hand.

That's almost certainly true. Then again Emenalo is not your typical DoF (that's not even his job title) and he holds nowhere near as much power as the people who Mourinho have clashed with in the past like Arnesen and Valdano. He's much more like Zidane as far as his role is concerned. As a matter of fact Emenalo isn't even part of Chelsea's board.

Has he failed to do that with any player before?

Would be very strange if true. Emenalo wasn't at the club in Mourinho's time and he is nowhere near as powerful as Arnesen. Where did you read that?

Erm, I'm not his biggest fan but Ancelotti was in some respect a class manager and when he joined we didn't really have good reputation.

I'm inclined to call bollocks on that. What's the source?

Sounds like more than a half-decent loan, provided that he gets respectable gametime. Wonder who our link to Malaga was. If it's not Emenalo (I have my doubts) could it possibly have been Benitez?

Just read that there have been some developments in that front. Sh0n3x, do you think the situation of his club is tense enough for them to play hardball in order to let him stay till June as a loanee?

That's the point I guess. I have trouble imagining him leaving London and the UK at his age nevermind trying to convince his family. I think he's too responsible for that. As much as a fan could claim to know a player I'm under the impression Lampard will put his responsibility and the love for his surroundings, everything that encompasses*, over his love for the game or a need to maximize his income in the years he has left as a player. *Surely even things like having his father attend and watch most of the games cannot be trivial.

Fair enough although aside from a few cases in the mostly unknown US market I can't think of many clubs that would satisfy both his wage requirements and the gametime-football level relationship that would fit him. I could more easily imagine him leaving for another PL club or retiring altogether than going to a non-English country not to mention the Chinas that I've seen mentioned during the course of these negotiations.

Not sure about Neil Ashton's Chelsea source, as the club is usually the last place to leak facts. Weren't the agent quotes subsequently denied? That's really the oldest trick in the book. I'm not sure what to think of the JT thing although as much as I like the man I wouldn't put that daftness past him or more likely he may not be as well informed as what we think a "best mate" would be. But my angle really stands on your last sentence, if Lamps is leaving, which country/club/place would he pick over what he's been loving (or at least enjoying) for the past 12 years?