Naked Mole Rat

It's too early to conclude that Chelsea won't get these players. Modric is starting to get annoyed that Redknapp isn't letting him go, and Tottenham may have to let him go in the end. But I want Hamsik more than these two.

Kind of off-topic but why are they calling Luiz a "Benfica" man? Anyways, Dann could be a good option but £10m? We shouldn't be paying that much to a Championship side.

I'm kind of surprised Di Matteo decided to become AVB's assistant coach even though he has the experience as a PL manager. Oh well, I guess that just shows how much he loves the team. Really happy about this. I'm happy for Holland as well. His work finally paid off. Too bad Clement had to go though.. BTW, does anyone know what roles Di Matteo and Holland will be doing as assistants? It's certainly not going to be like the Clement-Emenalo combo, is it?

I speak Korean and English and am currently learning/self-teaching Spanish and self-teaching Japanese. I attempted to learn Slovak which I hear is similar to Czech. But, I failed and only know how to say "Where is the washroom?"

Having seen how they sacked Wilkins in the middle of last season, I can't really say the board isn't stupid enough to sell Sturridge and Bertrand for £10m, but I don't think that's likely to happen.

I heard the players are not even coming to practices any more.

------------------------Drogba--------------------- Torres----------------------------------------Hulk ---------------Modric----------Ramires--------- ------------------------Essien--------------------- Cole----------Terry----------Ivanovic----van der Wiel -------------------------Cech----------------------- Bench: Hilario, Delac; Luiz, Alex, Bertrand, van Aanholt, Bosingwa; Lampard, Mikel, Benayoun, Kakuta, McEachran; Sturridge, Kalou OUT: Turnbull, Ferreira, Anelka, Malouda, Zhirkov - Luiz as defensive allrounder (CB//LB/RB/DM) - Lampard/Modric rotation. - Torres can compete for FC spot with Drogba and Sturridge will be our #3 winger after Hulk and Torres (not that I like the idea of playing Torres on the wing).

With the help of modern medicines, AVB will retire at the age of 103 becoming the world's longest-serving manager for one club.

Don't long term loans like this usually involve a permanent purchase clause? I won't be surprised if Bruma doesn't come back especially with what happened to Tore and what Arnesen's doing now.

We should definitely wait until we get a new manager. There probably won't be any transfer before we get a new coach. So, really, no point in concerning ourselves over this yet. Also, I have a feeling that if Hiddink comes back the team will give him a full financial support (which Carlo lacked ).

Sturridge: 13 subs, 150 minutes. Bertrand: 1 sub, 34 minutes. Bruma: 1 start, 1 sub, 110 minutes. McEachran: 1 start, 7 subs, 181 minutes. Kakuta: 1 start, 4 subs, 123 minutes. In PL for Chelsea. From www.transfermarkt.co.uk Correct me if I'm wrong.

Honda was linked with Chelsea a couple years ago. This was when he played in the Dutch League and I remember Bruce Buck saying that the team was considering Honda as a prospect, like Sturridge and Matic I guess, but not as an immediate squad player. If Chelsea sign him, it could turn out to be a hit or miss. IMO, he is much better than Park was when he signed for Man U. But, the reason Park manages is because he is a hard worker, and teams like Chelsea have struggled against him. Honda isn't physically talented or super hard working. He probably doesn't have what it takes to play in the PL, but you never know. One major concern about Honda if we do sign him is that from what I heard, he's a bit arrogant. He won't be able to find himself a spot in the first team any time soon, and that could be a problem.

Well, if he is learning, he's awfully slow. Considering what Ancellotti did for us last season, 5 more months wasn't much.

lol actually we call it soccer. Just the official stuff is football sometimes I guess cuz it sounds better. But more commonly soccer.

I'm one of those people who criticized Roman for sacking Ancellotti a couple days ago. I was really pissed at the moment, but I realize that it probably wasn't such a smart thing for me to say GTFO Roman. But, I really doubt that his policies will ever change. I don't think he can learn. Or maybe the people he hang out with him, people who advise him, they can't learn. And if the internal policies don't change, I can't see how the team will ever settle.

Someone patient enough to allow a world-class manager to guide the team to a higher level.

whoever willing to work for the least amount of pay so Roman won't have to pay too much compensation

Roman should be our new manager so he can sack himself. Then, hopefully, someone who actually knows something about soccer will take over the club.

Wait... why is everyone saying that Ancellotti didn't treat Luiz with respect? Luiz sat out two and a half games. Didn't a large part of it have to do with giving Alex some time on the pitch? Or am I missing something here?

I believe Ivanovic played in that position even before he came to Chelsea, but anyways that's beside the point. I think it's too early to decide whether Luiz is suited for CB position now. Sure, he's given up many silly fouls and caught himself in awkward positions at times, but he hasn't done too badly for a new guy and he can learn. But, I agree that he'll do very well as a fullback and maybe even as a DM. We just need to give it a go.

Disgusting effort.... I knew it didn't mean much but I thought the fans deserved some kind of apology at least. And look, Sturridge got sent off... And Wigan's still alive..?

I hope they stick with Ancellotti. Hiddink is top-class and I admire him but I can't see how his comeback as our manager would benefit the team on the long-run. I mean, he's 64, has publicly talked about retirement on several occasions and is not really known for staying with one team for a long period of time. Chelsea are going to need someone like SAF sonner or later if they're to stabilize themselves. I really thought that Ancellotti was the man and still do despite this season's disappointment. The team should give him at least one more season and some squad reinforcement.

R.I.P.

I don't want to sound too defensive, but everything went against Ancellotti this season. 1. Crap summer transfer window after the typical shenanigans the Board put up. Then they had to pay for it BIG TIME in winter. Hopefully they learned their lesson this time. 2. His father passed away in October (but he came back in 4 days to beat Arsenal and show his COMMITMENT). Then the Board fired Wilkins just a month after. 3. The aging forward line collapsed, and Lampard and Benayoun were out probably because the medical team screwed them up. Of course, Ancellotti should've done better when the team was down, but instead he got really frustrated. That part really worries me, but still I don't think too many managers would've been able to cope with that kind of situation (maybe SAF and Hiddink?) and it's not fair to belittle his achievements last year (THE BEST IN THE CLUB'S HISTORY) and say he's just not good enough. And it's not like the next guy we bring in will be perfect or anything just cuz so many guys before him weren't. Go to a casino with that kind of attitude and you'll lose all your money, house, cat, wife and children.