The Skipper

It's funny how the majority fail to realise this guy's a gem. Please give him a new contract Gourlay!

People are going on like he missed 4 open goals in the Italy game. Fact is Spain looked about 10 times better when he came on. His chances weren't even easy to take. I'm not an avid Torres fan, nor an avid Torres hater. I'm impartial to him. I feel he can still come good but if he doesn't we sell him next season, simple. We've got a more than capable back up option in Sturridge for next season. Relax guys. People need to get off their high horses and stop using the Italy game to unleash their closet hatred for Torres. He's a CFC player, still has time to turn around his career here, so let's support him. Simple.

A defender going at €50mil euros, yet people still don't think Hulk is worth £32mil in today's market? Okay then!

+1. Personally I think a double pivot of Mikel and Ramires could work, perhaps unleashing Mikel's old AM play when he's alternating with Rambo. If we need to keep the ball Mikel pushes up and joins the possession play with Hazard, Mata and Hulk, Ramires drops and covers in case of counters, and if the counter is on Mikel drops and Ramires executes it with Torres and Hulk supporting with their pace as Ramires can really carry that ball at pace. If during possession play we lose the ball and the opposition are on a counter attack Ramires can easily use his pace and determination to break up play. If the game opens up and there is bags of spaces between the lines, Mikel sits back and lets Rambo join the attack with his direct running and goal scoring threat. The possibilities and variables of having those two in the double pivot can potentially be amazing. Hoping it happens and hoping Sturridge steps up next season alongside Fernando.

The way people rate Tiote is ridiculous IMO. There are millions of midfielders like Tiote out there, he isn't anything special IMO. He wouldn't even be fit to tie Essien's (in his prime) laces. Rate Fellaini higher simply because Fellaini offers more to the side rather than breaking off play and distributing it to your midfield partner (Cabaye in Tiote's case).

Crazy reaction here. Spain looked much better to me when Torres came on.

I think it's unfair to discriminate against a player just because they're playing in a weaker league. Hulk is class in my opinion, in an ideal market he would be worth £25m, but the market is inflated. Hulk actually scored 21 goals all together last season whilst also assisting 15. That's an overall direct contribution to 36 goals in a team that scored 79 goals this season, that's just under half (45%) of the goals Hulk has contributed to. If you are looking for goals in a team that is going after 7 trophies, you don't only place the burden on your number 9. It's a team responsibility to score goals. It's why I think Hulk is ideal for us. Everyone is adamant we need a RW because Sturridge doesn't want to play there, and Ramires isn't a natural winger. We have no recognised RW in the squad at the moment, and I believe it's suicidal to keep filling up round holes with square pegs. Yes, our biggest weakness last season was our lack of goals from our front men but the issue to me was more down to the team dynamic than anything. We didn't create enough for our number 9's. I'd love to go into the season with Sturridge, Torres and Hulk as our strikers simply due to the fact that I believe Sturridge can be a more than adequate back up. Sturridge has the potential to be a great striker for us in my opinion, it's not a surprise he out scored our "world class" strikers in the league whilst he was playing in an unnatural position. Torres and Sturridge vying for that number one striker spot makes sense to me. He's good enough to topple Torres from that number one spot IMO. Have a look at this video Even though it's a reserve game, you can't deny the kid has natural talent up front. It's why I believe going in with Torres and Sturridge is fine. Especially if we've got Hazard, Mata and Hulk as the supporting cast. We don't need another striker. My opinion though. Also regarding the Valencia situation, it is well documentaries that they had a huge debt and needed to sell their assets off. It's why they sold Silva and Villa in the same season at a somewhat undervalued price. If Valencia were in a healthier situation they could've got loads more for Silva or Villa. Regarding Mata I shouldn't have used his example really as they were a bit more stabilised when we made an offer for him.

While you do make a valid point, the players you've listed above weren't as dominant as Hulk in the portuguese league. Lisandro Lopez, the only striker in that list, has been outscored by Hulk, who plays wide. None of those players had the impact Hulk had, if you add all goals and assists of each player you'll find Hulk will be on top by quite a distance. David Luiz in my opinion does have the potential to be a top class talent, so there's another player I wouldn't include in your list. There's a reason why he's been linked with Barcelona. Definitely agree with you on the huge bucks bit, but tell me, who else is available at a decent price that is as good as Hulk? You say Chelsea need someone that scores goals, I say Chelsea need someone class in that gaping right sided spot of attack. Who else better than Hulk? Hulk provides a goal threat, provided assists, pace, power.... Exactly what we need in my opinion. I don't think you can compare the Mata and David Silva deals to the potential Hulk one at all. It's well documented that Valencia had financial problems and therefore sold their star players at a cut-price. If Valencia weren't so financially stricken, you'd surely see someone like Silva go for around £40m+ IMO. Compare it to Porto, who've made nearly a billion over the last decade from selling players. They're financially well run and have no obligation to sell Hulk. They can charge whatever they want. I'm not saying I want Hulk here for £50m but I think in today's financial climate, there's not much wrong with the £35m-£38m price tag we've heard about. The market is inflated, nothing CFC can do about that. We can either go into the season with a very weak right side or go into season paying a little bit extra with a phenomenonal attack. That's how I see it. I think recent Chelsea purchases have been very decent (perhaps bar Torres), especially under Gourlay and Emelano, so it's unfair to chastise the board over that. From what I read Ancelotti was the one who demanded Torres, and Roman then personally acquired him. But that's another discussion for another time. Don't want to go off topic. Personally I'm quite happy Hulk isn't rated that highly. If we do get him at a decent price we'll definitely have a gem of a player on our hands, he'll justify his price if it's around £35m. He'll surprise many.

Go ask your typical Porto fan. Most I've asked said they rated Hulk higher than Falcao!

Barcelona do it with Messi?

I'm sure I was reading up something about it, will try to find the link. Edit: Can't find it, must've been dreaming lol.

I'm sure Del Bosque recently came out and said that Torres was looking favourite to be the starting striker though...

http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?hl=en&sl=pt&u=http://www.abola.pt/nnh/ver.aspx%3Fid%3D335841&ei=oajUT_CTLISi0QXH6ISlBA&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCkQ7gEwAA&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dhttp://www.abola.pt/nnh/ver.aspx%253Fid%253D335841%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26hs%3DRtj%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26prmd%3Dimvns First Portuguese source I've seen that doesn't quote the Daily Mail or The Times. Hopefully we're getting closer to a decent deal.

Hulk isn't a "reserve" player for Brazil. Hulk has been the best player in Portugal for several years now. That's what you're missing.

My mum's from Ghana so I know quite a lot about Ayew's talent. He really is a class act, but not what we need IMO. He's not as direct as Hulk and while he could work, I think Hulk is more suitable to the PL. We've already got two similar players like Ayew in Hazard and Mata. You're right though, we shouldn't be looking to sign Hulk anywhere near 50mil. The CFC board know this as well, so we really need to stick to our guns and not let Porto mug us off. Hulk is trying to push it through in the most sentimental way but I think he's going to have to do more. We'll see. It's only a matter of time.

Since when did All Bran leave the door open on Real Madrid? Classic case of 2+2=33926.

Because he doesn't really play on the right. Hulk is so much more direct that Ayew or Gotze or Dzagoev. Dzagoev shouldn't even be in the mix tbh, he'd be behind Mata and Hazard for his in the hole spot in the team. Ayew and Gotze are also more naturally on the left if I'm correct. The point I'm trying to make is that Hulk offers more when it comes to a physical, direct presence in attack. In my opinion we need someone direct in attack to force things if the likes of Hazard and Mata are getting shut down, or if we're on the counter perhaps. Ramires and Hulk on the counter would be devistating. I'm all for Hulk me, as long as it's around £35m, which is a quite reasonable price for him in today's market where the likes of Jordan Henderson, Andy Carroll and Stewart Downing cost a bomb shell.

It's difficult to believe Kalunho is only 26 sometimes.

So many people forgetting that Sturridge almost carried us for the first half of the season. So many forgetting he wasn't playing in his natural position. So many forgetting that when he did i.e. at Bolton he flourished. Danny is more than good enough to be back up to Torres IMO.

Hold on mate... Spoiled and rotten? How did you conclude that? Also how have I overrated him? Isn't Kakuta a pro footballer who wants to play football too? Funny how you've completely neglected my other examples such as Sturridge, Cleverley or Welbeck who all had nowhere near as many appearances as Bertrand did, especially when they were 20. There is no denying that Kakuta has talent. I don't see how anyone could oppose keeping a 20 year old who could still improve and threaten the first team over a 32 year old who's never likely to be a first team player anyway. Benayoun is a decent player yes, but you cannot deny that Kakuta has more talent than he ever will have. Kakuta's mentality is definitely questionable, but he's 20. The one problem with Kakuta is, he knows he's good already so he doesn't work too hard in training. BUT you can't just write someone who was golden player ahead of someone like Thiago from Barcelona at the U19 Euro's in 2010. The likes of Michael Ballack, and even Carlo Ancelotti (recently even) have come out and said the guy's a star. With him being at such a young age, his mental attributes obviously need honing but it's absurd that some would rather have a 32 year old who won't offer anything special but decent cover over a kid who has all the talent. It's exactly this mentality with us fans that I don't understand; we scream at our club for not developing players correctly yet when we have the opportunity to we'd rather go with the 'safe' option. Having Kakuta in the squad over Benayoun is common sense to me. It reduces the average age, it gives the guy with more talent an actual chance to develop and hone himself and who knows, stake a claim for the first team in the future, most likely cheaper to keep at the club, home grown etc. etc. etc... I doubt that if Kakuta stayed at the club that Sturridge, Meireles, De Bruyne or Piazon would be ahead of him. 8th choice winger? Christ. Benayoun and Malouda are debatable as well. My initial suggestion was that if we sold the likes Malouda and Benayoun, Kakuta would be more than good enough to fill in that squad hole. It's absurd to suggest Piazon in that list even, people say Kakuta is being overrated but yet are overrating another player who isn't ready for the first team at all. Piazon has talent definitely, has a great head on his shoulders but he's still developing, and he hasn't reached the age where he'll start maturing as a footballer like where Kakuta is at now. Loads of people have been tainted by this stupid wonderkid tag, that every decent prospect should be bagging in games at a young age like Fabregas, Messi and Rooney. It doesn't happen too often, but that doesn't mean one bit that they can't develop into a good player. Even Frank Lampard was questioned when he came here, and look how he developed. Kakuta hasn't matured yet, he needs more games before you start writing him off. Ridiculous. I'll give you the example of Fabio Borini, who the club didn't rate enough. We offered him a contract and everything but he went off to Roma, a club that decided to put their trust in him. Now look at him, he's fighting for that number one striker spot with Bojan, the beloved wonderkid that everyone thought was destined to be a world class player. Even Bojan got games at Barcelona, Kakuta had 6 for us, mostly subs, whilst Bojan had over a hundred games for Barcelona. We've also got Jack Cork who looks a very good prospect too now a days. Crucial to Southampton's promotion last season. Another youth that could've been useful over the likes of Meireles, and perhaps even Romeu. If the current Jack Cork was still playing for us he'd easily be able to cover instead the likes of those two. KDB isn't nearly as effective on the wing as he is in the centre. He started his career in the centre, and has stated he prefers that role at Genk as well. He was moved to the deep lying playmaker role and everything started to go through him, he instantly became the centre of the team. So the best position for KDB in my opinion is as a CM. One thing I also don't understand is how people can write off players just because they didn't become a star player at a team they were loaned to. By that logic we shouldn't be giving Josh McEachran any chances either. Give the youngsters time and patience people, and stop slagging them off. Get behind them. Sorry for the long-winded post but it really does my head in when people simply write off the likes of Kakuta. I'm not taking a pot shot at Benayoun as I do believe he could have been decent for us, but it's time for the new Chelsea to arise. We need to allow our youngsters with decent promise the space and give our youngsters a chance to flourish instead of oppressing them over and over again.

Nah, he was just impersonating Gary Neville.

Special Agent J. Cole strikes again. First, he costs the bin dippers an absolute bomb in wages. Then made Stevie Me look like a fool when he claimed Cole's better than Messi (lol.) Then he sends us over Hazard. Take a bow son, take a bow.

Please, if you're still making the video, cap it off with his pen against Bayern.

Welcome mate! Always enjoy reading tactical insights and opinions so do hope you contribute here! Looking forward to a couple of debates haha.

Disagree about Kakuta likeliness to go out on loan next season. Please do remember that we have a potential 60+ games to play next season. Especially if Malouda goes we certainly need another body up there, and Kakuta is the man for the job. We'd have Kakuta, Marin, Hazard, Mata, Hulk and potentially Ramires filling out for 3 positions, which is fine. I don't like it when people write off Kakuta, many forget the lad's only 21. He still has to mature as a player, and we all know he has the talent. We need to give Gael a proper season as a squad player before we write him off. Take a look at the Bertrand situation. Bertrand is now 22 and has just emerged as a squad player. Sturridge, Welbeck, Cleverly etc. Even Franco Di Santo is turning out to be a decent player for Wigan now, mostly due to him maturing. Same needs to happen with Gael. Give him a chance guys. Regarding Yossi, I feel his time with the club is up. He'd be a useful player but we need to develop the likes of Kakuta, KDB, Piazon etc. so I'd rather that than him sort of blocking their progress. I feel it'd be better for his own career too. He's 32. Wish him all the best, shame he wasn't useful here but we need to look long term.