King Deschain

watch the pre-game PC video in this thread to see Hiddink confirm his exit at season's end. As for the game, meh....very ordinary display in my opinion. I've been watching a boatload of football lately (PSG and Barca mainly) and there are two big differences I see (aside from Barca's obvious striking talent): a ) Our passing is horrible. Short passes are fine, but any time we try to put a through ball in it's a brutal pass. Fabregas, Oscar, Pedro, terrible passing. b ) We lack soooooo much creativity....it hurts the eyes. The opponents are never cracked open....I think this also stems from point a. Lot of work to do from next manager. Let's keep up the hard work anyway, no reason to let this one slip away.

Entertaining...but that's exactly the problem....he can't score ugly goals.

I agree with you on this Henrique. Azpi is ok...nothing compared to what we've had in recent years (Gallas and Cole come to mind). Ivanovic of last year was superior to Azpi if you ask me. Azpi brings nothing offensively and is too small to be an intimidating defender. I also agree that Terry is better than Cahill and Zouma will surpass Cahill in the depth chart after this season. The entire back line needs an overhaul (excluding Zouma) in my opinion. Gotta give some of our young talent a chance to prove their worth or start shopping.

Currently: YA trilogy called LEGEND (2nd book). Recently finished: The Martian Red Rising Trilogy (first two books)

Here's the most recent shot of myself with my youngest son.

Rumors, but still...apparently he's a goner. http://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/eden-hazard-decides-to-leave-chelsea-as-psg-and-real-madrid-hover-thursdays-top-transfer-stories-a3150706.html

significantly improved chelsea blue quotes. That said, the lighter "quote within a quote" blue makes white text hard to read.

Nobody puts Drogba in a corner

I've been saying it at my office for a long time now, Matic needs to get off the pitch ASAP!!! He is a real liability in that midfield. Mikel was much more composed. Passes were much shorter and accurate. Now don't get me wrong. We need a better version of Mikel and Matic.....but if I had my pick of those two it would be Mikel 10 times out of 10. Zooma also played one of this more reliable games. Bravo!

sweet!! Re-bienvenue à la maison Didier! Well spotted Namika. Montreal's local sports broadcaster also picked up the article. http://www.rds.ca/soccer/impact/selon-le-quotidien-francais-l-equipe-didier-drogba-a-choisi-de-prendre-officiellement-sa-retraite-1.2803492

I'll join you.

While I agree with you to some extent, I think a half-season of poor form is not long enough to dismiss such a high quality player. He has to be given time under new management to find his way. If in January next year he still hasn't recovered...then yes...I would sell.

Really comes down to Hazard's attitude. If he's done with Chelsea there's no point in keeping a disgruntled player...he'll never live up to his potential if the drive to succeed at the club is not present. If however he's still on board then in no way should Hazard be sacrificed. Plenty of other players to unload if need be.

But Colkett isn't a CB....?

slightly off topic, but anyone know how to remove the border around signature images? See my sig's border. I noticed some members don't have this border around their sig... cheers.

Chelsea desperately need to refresh their back line. Stones would be great. Marquinhos as well. Ok...who am I kidding, just get Ivanovic out of there ASAP and start thinking about Terry's long term replacement. Call me captain obvious.

I'm happy either way. DD plays for my local club Montreal Impact in the MLS. He has done incredibly well in a very weak MLS league last summer. Was looking forward to seeing one of my fav Chelsea alumni destroy MLS all season long but if he's going to leave Montreal for Chelsea I'm fine with that.

New here...but I quite like the color scheme, fonts, avatar sizes. Overall a very clean looking forum.

Simeone or Guardiola would be a dream as far as I'm concerned. Pellegrini, Ramos, Benitez, Moyes would be a freakin' nightmare.

I definitely want to see RLC and Kennedy some more. I'd go with: Courtois Azpi Zouma Terry Baba RLC Mikel Oscar Willian Kennedy Costa/Remy

Hey! Figured I'd join a place to talk about my favorite club. Looking forward to the pre/post game threads. I only started watching soccer/football as a filler during the 2004/2005 NHL lockout (hockey). I grew up in a small village called Chelsea so knowing no better, that's the team that sparked my interest at first. I grew to love the game and the Chelsea squad at the time (Drogba, Terry, Lampard, Makalele, Gallas, etc.). Also enjoyed the Mourinho attitude at the time. Anyway, 11 years on and still don't miss a game. Figured I'd find a group of like-minded fans to chat about the games. Looking forward to it.