The Skipper

Excellent post Las7. However, one thing has to be mentioned - next season we've got KDB, McEachran and Chalobah back - they will all get minutes hopefully. Marin hasn't been used yet due to his injury problems, and I feel Moses has been under utilised as well along with Sturridge (who has also been injured himself). We also have Kakuta, Essien and Benayoun returning as squad players potentially (although it is likely they'll be sold, and I would've personally kept Kakuta or Benayoun this season as they might've been helpful) so I think our squad for next season will certainly be lot stronger! Haven't even mentioned the likes of Lukaku and Bruma also coming back... We've got a deep squad I'd say but we've loaned half of them out(and for good reasons)!

Still think we need more than just a pure goal scorer. Mind you, Torres' goal scoring ratio at Liverpool was immense.

No, you did. RDM rates Luiz above Cahill and Ivanovic at CB.

It's quite funny how Azpilicueta should now be a starter after 2 decent games against Swansea and a poor Liverpool side. No. Azpilicueta might be a specialist RB but I'm sure many would pick Ivanovic at RB 99% of the time if we have a fully fit defence. It's quite funny how many forget how solid the JT - Luiz partnership was at the start of the season, and how sketchy a JT - Ivanovic partnership looked not too long ago. I think both Cahill and Luiz are better as a CB when paired with JT than Ivanovic is - because they both compliment JT better. Our strongest back four at this very moment will always be Cole - JT - Luiz/Cahill - Ivanovic. How many times have we played with that back four in the last few weeks? Rarely. It's ridiculous how people neglect this fact and suddenly want a new defence. Not many left backs out there better than Cole, and not many right backs out there better than Ivanovic. Simple.

How can you say RDM is a Civic compared to Pep who's meant to be a Ferrari? This website sucks sometimes. Wow.

Ooooh yeah of course, what could be better than a compliment from the mighty lads of TalkChelsea?

Glad he's back for the December run in. We need him.

You're getting way too ahead of yourself.

In his prime definitely, don't know about the Drogba last season.

Still don't think he'll come in January. He might've said nice things about us, but that does not mean he's leaving Atletico.

Sorry? How can anyone think Azpilicueta is better at RB than Ivanovic and then proceed to say we're short at LB? Good gracious.

Maybe Torres, but Lukaku wouldn't get games if Sturridge isn't.

Why are people replying to him lol? He's obviously a troll.

Only if it says so in the loan contract.

Problem is some people expected Lukaku to be as good as Drogba in his prime after maybe a season or two. He's still 19, has plenty of time to mature and define himself as a player. People crave for us to sign young prodigies but when we actually do they almost automatically get written off after one or two bad performances. It's bad.

Exactly this. RDM gives Luiz that freedom whilst Brazil don't. That's the major difference.

I remember I got blasted here by suggesting that the only thing Hazard really needs to improve are his shots/finishing. I haven't been proven wrong yet so far.

We can't play a false 9 when we have three number 10's at the club. As talented as this guy is, he doesn't fit here without dropping one of our maestros.

Something that has been said over and over again on these forums. Realistically, anyone expecting the club to buy someone for £50m again in January will be very disappointed. As I've said before, I don't think we will get anyone significant in January.

Playing him next to Mikel seems quite logical but I'd rather have Rambo in my team. As a B2B player Fellaini isn't much of an upgrade on Ramires at all. People are replacing Mikel with Fellaini in the team though, so people want him at DM basically - having Fellaini there nullifies most of his game and we'd concede a lot more in midfield.

Sneijder would've been an excellent signing 2/3 years ago.

Can anyone truly say that they've seen a game where Fellaini has been excellent whilst he's played at DM?

Good short passing? He scores goals and assists because he's played FURTHER up the field, not because he's playing DM. His technique isn't that great either it's just above average. Mikel has better technique than him. You think Fellaini will perform like he's performing if he's shifted back to DM? Of course he won't.

What are you expecting from Fellaini in the DM role?

You're right mate, I am not defending Torres at all - but like BlueLyon perfectly illustrated above your post, as long as there are better options available out there than Huntelaar then we shouldn't really force the issue. Torres is frustrating yes, but I personally think him and Sturridge can just about do the job for us till the summer. I'm not expecting us to win much this season so I'm not thinking short term to be honest. All I ask for is decent performances in cups and third place this season, minimum expectation which I think we can achieve with this squad. I don't mind sacrificing one season for a further half a decade of success.