LDN Blue

Much like us with the Europa League

You do know this is simply a way for him to go to Real Madrid in 2014 right? So look at it like this, it's a 1-year loan, to a club where he's going to earn £250,000/week tax free. He's not exactly gone to Qatar either, he's going to be in a league where he's going still be enhancing his reputation by scoring a huge amount of goals which will make his portfolio seem even better and when he finally ends up at Real Madrid, he'll be where he wants to go.

I'm laughing at the comments here, with the amount of backlash he's getting When we're "close" to signing him he's "exactly what we need" but when he's gonna sign for someone else he's "overrated" :lol2:

One of the best qualities about Mata is his consistency. Now he's played an enormous amount of games in the last 12 months! If he picks up an injury between August and December, I fear it's going to take him a long time to recover because of the amount he's played. And even then, Eva won't be able to fix him.

You guys totally missed my point -- And MagicLamps, I'm laughing that you brought up Essien. Essien was only played because of injuries to his squad, he was often deployed at right-back because Arbeloa was often a weak link for Madrid & various injuries meant it was a decision made out of necassity. You guys shouldn't be happy Lampard might play reguarly because José is his "biggest fan", you should be alarmed! What kind of well educated manager plays certain players because they call him "dad" lol. What nonsense.

Let's not forget something about Mourinho. He took out Iker Casillas out of the Real Madrid squad and replaced him with a man who's in his late 30's. Now he may have done it out of political motives, but it shows you that José is ruthless. He's not going to play guys out of blind loyalty for what they used to be.

The travel alone will be very exhausting though. If this is just a brand-PR (which I have no doubt it is) we will see quite a few on-pitch showings from Hazard, Luiz, Mata & Cech. I'm very worried. We're not just travelling to one continent, but two. Now we'll have to content with a Super Cup fixture next season too, so that's more travelling for the squad. They're still very young.

Agreed and that's how it should remain to be fair. When we're 1-0 down or it's 0-0 and we need a goal, then sure. Throwing Lampard on in the last 10 minutes for someone who occupies that position will be great because his tendency to seek that goal will benefit us. But as a player that we're using specifically for double pivot? That won't work.

So Chelsea have announced today that we're going to be in the USA for a while longer now after our participation in the Guinness International Champions Cup was confirmed. Teams that will take part in this competition beginning from 27th July, will include; Real Madrid, AC Milan, Everton, Chelsea, Juventus, Valencia & LA Galaxy. Now here's the thing. We took off for USA 3 days after our final game of the season. We've played 2 intense games v. Manchester City, at almost full strength, in the space of 3 days. The club have played over 60 games in the 2012/13 season alone. Last summer, Juan Mata played in Euro'12 & the Olympics. Eden Hazard, Oscar & Azpilicueta were regulars this season clocking up over 50+ appearances in their debut season in a new league. Are we risking the fitness of these players in the 2013/14 season, for the sake of increasing our Brand?

You're blinded by your loyalty to Lampard. I appreciate this loyalty, but what's that old saying? No man is bigger than the club. I'm grateful for all that Lampard has contributed to the team, but that does not give reason for him to be included in the squad just because he's Lampard. The needs of the team come first. If the dynamics of the squad aren't right and it's because of Lampard's inclusion then every manager in the world will do something to fix that. It couldn't be done last season because we simply didn't have the players to do so. Romeu was out injured, Luiz could only play that role v. weaker sides who wouldn't exploit his gaps and Mikel had been dropped. Lampard was therefore an automatic inclusion, which I have no problem with. However, if stories of Modric are true, which I'm not saying are, but for argument sake, then Lampard will have to get used to the bench.

It doesn't matter who partners who lol. Lampard doesn't have the qualities to play in the double-pivot no matter if he's got Luiz, Ramires or whoever next to him. He could have Makelele next to him and it still wouldn't make an inch of difference. The point is, once you take those goals away from Lampard, you've got a passenger in the team. He'll have a reduced role in the squad next season, we hope. It's not surprise our defense has been a major leak in our team, the balance of our midfield has never been up to scratch. That's a factor of many things, from the attacking players failing to trackback to the guys who are actually in the middle of the park. There's no question that there needs to be some signings made specifically for this position. If Lampard is to play there, he's going to have to do a lot of adapting. One of those adaptations will have to be him going to search for a goal, every time, and keep his positional discipline. Unfortunately, I just don't see that happening for a man with 203 goals.

Good question. For me, technical ability is about having awareness and a good peripheral vision. A player with technical ability should be able to know what his next move will be before having taken the move before that. He will possess excellent passing qualities, good first touch instincts, 1-touch play perhaps. Most crucially, he'll 90% of the time know when to make the right pass, when to shoot or when to hold up play. The players I then think we have that present these qualities are: Luiz Mata Oscar HazardI'd also co-sign what Madmax said and include Azpilicueta.

Had to be Terry in the middle of it though, didn't it?

Lol your last 3 replies about this issue have all come back to talking about Mikel. This is talking about Lampard's merits alone, not Mikel's. When you take away to goal scoring aspects of Lampard's game, he simply doesn't fit into the position that he's been deployed that. He lacks the ability to play in this double-pivot position, because it's not the type of player he is.

You then have to ask, what more does he offer after goals?..

http://metro.co.uk/2013/05/25/frank-lampard-begs-chelsea-to-keep-brilliant-john-terry-3808490/? It seems we're going to endure a repeat of this season regarding contract renewals. I wonder how many people in the media will leap to JT's defense this time lol

This would be good, need a bit of "cuntishness" about our squad, someone who's not going to allow the youngsters to get bullied around by the likes of Yaya Toure. Plus it'd be funny as hell because of how much Citeh chased him in the past

I love the way it's grown since I first joined, the numerous forum upgrades (thanks Jim) to the numerous members joining and making it what it is! It can only continue to increase from here.

But. United could also be candidate for his signature. If the paper talk over the season is to be believed, they have enough financial backing to sanction the move. However with Ferguson gone, that may mean Ronaldo would've changed his mind. Also need to bare in mind that Ronaldo & Mourinho's relationship hasn't been very good towards the end of Mou's tenure.

I'll always remember Asprilla because he took part in one of the greatest premier league matches I've ever witnessed. Newcastle v. Liverpool in '96. If you haven't seen it, watch the highlights, outstanding game!

Zidane & Ronaldo. These two were just, incredible when I was growing up watching football. They played the game so well, Zidane more so. Their appreciation for the game, the way they went about it.. you know in 2002 we were witnessing something phenomenal (pun intended) when Ronaldo lit up the World Cup. And you know in 2003 that no-one deserve that CL winning goal more than The Scientist.

Couldn't agree more. I appreciate his hard work etc, don't quite get the love.

he's not the only one out there, and for the money he costs.. na, you're alright

I'm not so sure. Before AVB rebuilt the medical team, it wasn't that great. We had a lot of absentees for prolonged periods of time, with no explanation offered. Albeit, that could have just been bad luck & poor communication with the media.. But on the evidence of it, it seems we've improved.