The Skipper

all the fools who thought City would win the rest of their games... It's between us and Liverpool now but we have to beat them at Anfield, they can do with a draw. Hope Norwich can get a result against them on the weekend and hopefully we beat this spirited Sunderland side as well. It's not going to be easy for anyone.

Two games... It isn't about "oh no, we need another left back" it's about us having fullbacks that can provide width and options off the ball and fullbacks that can deliver decent crosses in the box. That on its own will create more space for the likes of Hazard, Oscar, Willian etc. to exploit instead of it being so congested in the middle all the time. Having two good attacking fullbacks will stretch teams and allows us to create more quality chances. A good attacking left back so Azpi can play in his natural position is just as important as a midfielder and a striker in my opinion, but that's my opinion. We have to get all three if we want to become a more complete team that can adapt and adjust to different situations. Again, are you insinuating that against Palace we created enough and were simply unlucky or weren't clinical enough with our finishing? The amount of quality chances created against Palace was poor. You have to stop pretending like creating good chances against the smaller teams hasn't been our problem this season. Again as I said before, we do need a left back, so Azpi can pay in his natural position. You're forgetting that Ivanovic is 30 as well. It's just as good as a long term investment as a striker is.

You're simply stating that after the Swansea game but you can't tell me that most games against the smaller teams have been like that... Plus you're ignoring that Swansea went down to 10 men. It isn't like we've been creating a lot of chances against teams on a consistent basis. If United or City or whoever come through for Shaw this summer it'll be a big loss IMO, hence why I think signing him is as important as signing a ST and a CM.

Fair enough, it's just that too many people are quick to chastise Emenalo when he hasn't even done a bad job, so naturally it irks me a bit when people suggest stuff like that.

Because it's solely down to Emenalo to make transfers for us right? And because Emenalo has been so bad with his transfers right? Come on, give him a break.

That's why against the bigger teams we can just start (if you want to be so defensively solid) Ivanovic and Azpi. It's about options. Shaw is no slouch defensively either so you're overstating the defensive solidness we'd lose. If anything, I think we'd be better defensively because Azpi is better than Ivanovic defensively in my opinion. What has been our problem this season? That's right, breaking down the smaller teams with good quality chances. A good attacking fullback goes a long way to solving that. Signing Diego Costa won't fully solve that problem.

Why do you think we struggle to break down teams? Because we aren't fully exploiting them - both of our fullbacks are average going forward (Azpi would be much better on the right though). You don't need defensive fullbacks against teams who sit back and let us have the ball. A good attacking LB is as important as a ST to me for us next season. £30m for Shaw is too much but I sincerely doubt he'll actually go for that, it's all paper talk atm. Rodriguez would be a good alternative definitely but only if we can't get Shaw for ~£20m.

Trust me, a good LB would help the team so much going forward because it gives you an extra option on the overlap - that takes away attention from the centre and attention from your wingers, and gives you also another option for a cross from deep or a cross from the byline. Do you think Bayern, City, Real etc. have good attacking fullbacks just because? Someone like Shaw would unlock Hazard's, and thus the team's attacking ability even further.

Clasie is a good talent but I'm not sure he's ready for us yet. Still a very tenacious player with a great pass on him but I'm not sure he's ready to be a starter next to Matic.

Wise move from him. Gives himself a year to recover to his best and prove to everyone that he's over his injury problems.

FOCUS ON: Willian showed again vs Swansea why he's so integral to Chelsea's style & system - http://t.co/r6GlHV1FRJ

It's why Ake didn't go out on loan this year, to ensure he's considered as 1) home grown and 2) trained at Chelsea. I think Nathan will be a very solid squad player for us if things pan out well for him.

You need 4 trained at the club (for Europe), 8 trained in England (for both PL and Europe). Right now we have JT, Ash, Lampard, Cahill, and had Bertrand. Because we don't have 8 English we have to vacate 3/4 spots of our 25 max squad. We actually need a LB, not a CB, so Shaw would be a much better signing in that regard.

No, I actually agree with that. Just an observation in general to how the forums been talking about Hazard recently.

You probably would've got rid of Iniesta and Xavi before they fully matured as players as well I guess. You need to be patient.

We don't need a young CB though. You forgetting we signed Zouma?

Stones is a CB.

De Gea got criticised because he basically wasn't a physical goalkeeper so it was a huge culture shock to him. Thibaut won't have that problem because he's very imposing in the box and much bigger than De Gea.

Yes, a Gerrard backpass to Torres who surprisingly finishes would be absolutely mental.

No one will flame you for saying that, because it's true, he hasn't been good in this half of the season, but when you start sprouting out the stuff that haranr has been saying of course you'll get questioned.

Yeah it's his opinion, but when he says stuff like "Oscar is a horrible number 10 and has a shit first touch" he's bound to get attacked.

Did he complete 90 minutes? I would love him on the bench for the CL.

You need to watch him more often then. Salah is very good in tight spaces, he showcased that at Basel, and showcased it internationally at Egypt, and also showcased it in our last game in periods and did so too against Stoke, Swansea and Arsenal.

I would pay a lot of money to see that happen.

Naingogglan is a really good player but not what we need, unless we sold Ramires or something I don't think he'd be a feasible option to look at.