LDN Blue

Lmao what's that got to do with anything?

I'm with you. Thought the whole point of 1-year extensions is you play for a lesser wage?! I hope that ridiculous, rumoured, clause that he gets to match the highest paid earner at Chelsea has been removed.

Thankfully, if stays injury free, we know he'll get a good rest. England won't progress beyond the group stages.. Works for us.

Haha never heard that one, but it certainly true for this season too. Though less so in his defense.

Still funny;

West Brom's stats are amazing, it's incredible they're still a PL team. 2013 they recorded 7 wins. 7 wins in 12 months. 2014 they recorded 4 wins. 4 wins in 4 months. 2013-14 season: 15 draws. In perspective, United and Southampton were 2nd to that with 11 draws. Not to mention the scandals upon scandals. Managerial change, Anelka's racism, match fixing, Berahino How on earth did they survive?!

Oh, we're back to this again

Co-sign what Tx said, you won't get as much information. For years there was rumours of Abramovich being one of Putin's close allies and his fortune, as may be reported to be in his businesses, was made more through under-the-table deals than anything else.

Until Big Sam and Nolan tried to push him to sign with their agent. I wouldn't trust Big Sam with any player, and I'm sure he'd be low on the list of guys who'd do us a favour after Mou criticised West Ham's football so avidly. Newcastle could be a shout too. Lost a lot creativity since Cabaye left.

Do you actually believe our board is capable of such secrecy?

..in your opinion?

Explains how media picked up on it, Roy's obviously made his phone calls and someone's leaked.

Scored a hattrick v United. Goes down in folklore

Gahh, why's he overrated?! I swear these terms are thrown around so loosely when it comes to football players. He's 18 and he's got potential that could make him world-class, but no-one has said he already is that. United will pay £30million for the potential and they're going to pay that because Southampton have put that sum to try and deter bids, but should a bid come in they want to financially well off. Perhaps if he doesn't continue to rise beyond this, then he will be overrated, but he's not yet.

Yes, I made that clear in my original post.. Because I replied to a post that said "City deserve it." As for Spain and France I wouldn't comment because I don't follow their leagues that much.

I was keeping the scope narrowed to the Premier League, because of the structure and competition in it.

Thing is, I'm not even looking at it from a Chelsea point of view. But it's saying something when us beating Liverpool at the end of the season had a massive swing in momentum in which direction the league was going, even putting us in contention. I just don't think a club "deserves" it unless they're outright winners before the last day.

Lol, they criticised him and in a justified manner (though the Torres line was low). Player can be criticised.. They're not saying "sell him" are they?

The point I'm making is no-one deserves to win the league, not in a season where there's no outright winner until the end of season like this year. It comes down to opportunity and relying on the teams in contention with yourself to slip up. Times where a club 'deserves' it is when they win it by simply blowing away anyone else from coming near them.. So like we did in 2004/05, when Arsenal went unbeaten etc. United didn't deserve it last season, they won it because everyone else who wanted it simply screwed up at the silliest times.

God, I'm so sick of hearing this. It's bad enough hearing it from Liverpool fans and various other pundits with an agenda (coughRedknappcough) but from our own fans it's just getting ridiculous. Yes, Mourinho hasn't had a great season but continuously saying "well if he wasn't Mourinho.." is folly. Why? Because as he's said and as we're led to believe (and at this point I don't believe it's naive to think so) Mourinho is here to build this side into a long-term title/trophy winning squad. Rafa was hired to simply salvage our season, get European qualification and excel in other league competitions. The same way Guus Hiddink was brought in to simply ensure we finish in the top 4 and win a trophy. But no-one ever says "If this was Hiddink.." because if it was we all know damn well we'd all back him. The fact is, we all acknowledged Rafa did what was required of him.. We may not like the man, with just reasons, but we maintained respect for the job he did in the end. We know he wasn't going to be concerned with the long-term objectives.

We can only hope he'll be completely displaced next season by various acquisitions/loanees returning

You know everyone's been saying this, "City deserve it" I actually don't agree one bit. Yes, they have a fantastic squad and Pellegrini bought wisely (despite the prices, guys like Fernandinho actually solved their problem of depth etc) but they won the league by the virtue of everyone else slipping up. I know they had multiple games in hand so they were technically never actually out of it until those games were played.. But they should've been well out of it had Chelsea and Liverpool been consistent. But that's how you win the league. When everyone slips up, you've got to be there to take opportunities presented to you. Chelsea often fail to do that, we blow it time and time again when we find out the team above us slip up before we play. Do City have the best squad? Yes Did they 'deserve' it? No, not in my opinion.

Yeah, they spent stupidly.. In that, they bought too much too quickly. City did that initially too which why they won fuck all until 2 seasons ago when they established that guys like Kompany, Toure and Hart (to an extent) would lead that team on the pitch. Thinking about Tottenham generally I haven't seen an actual 'leader' in that team since King hung up his boots. Defoe always seemed the quiet 'I'll do what I'm told' type player and Robbie Keane wasn't as influential as he should have been. I suppose they could say Sandro, but he looks to be leaving this summer which only increases their problems.

Cheers lad, I'll have a read later on!