LDN Blue

well that just took apart all my beliefs! Haha But I agree about Henry and Van Persie (though when he's on form, he really is sensational!). Gibbs is good, he hasn't played much ahead of Clichy but I've heard some positive things about him. Van Aanholt is probably better though

Yeah I still stand by that comment. We could've got a much better player instead. Not knocking Ramires, just thinking tactically. Ramires has been a bit of a revelation though. He shows passion and intent, a bright spark when the rest of our players are laggy and lethargic. I hope there is a lot more to come from him though.

Second. Was just about to say something similar.

Van Persie & Vermaelen? Not to mention the likes of Henry, Eduardo (pre-Injury), Ramsay. Ect. But their English contenders too, Gibbs, Wilshere et al.

Well I did. Then I remembered how we said the same thing about Lampard & Essien. Then I just lost hope

Cheers mate. Agreed, you'll find the true fans in bad times, they're the ones who'll stick with the club. Criticising them is fine, as long as the support is there with that

Applauded him a lot versus Fulham. He never stopped running, every time he lost the ball, he went back for it again! A very good player and is becoming important for us, considering our weakness on the right-hand side

LOL touché

What's wrong with that? Arsenal have scouted some great players!

A cruel poll this! Nevin - Lampard - Makelele - Duff Zola - Dixon

Right, as we know, this season has been shit. In a nutshell. As a result we've had a lot of comments made from depression and anger. Justified, it must be added, but it seems we've all lost faith in Chelsea. It's safe to say this season is over, in terms of title race, for the first time in 5 years we're in a battle for 4th. While some say, even this is in doubt, I have no worries we'll fail to accomplish this target. So how do we find optimism in this bleak time? The answer lies in lessons learnt. I'm not going to dwell on why we're in this position, because there are many posts in this thread that answer this riddle. My focus will be on what we have to look forward to. 1. Squad personnel It's evident the board and/or management have realised there was a serious error in judgement for not replacing the players we released. Not that I'm saying, we should have kept them. The signings of David Luiz and Fernando Torres clearly show that we needed more players. As the youth system didn't prevail. It could be a safe bet to say, our dealings in the transfer market 2011, are nowhere near finished. 2. Youth A touchy subject our youth. As we came into this season believing they'd be given a chance we've seen Kakuta, Sturridge, Bruma & Van Aanholt go out on loan. Sturridge & Van Aanholt have already made impressions with Sturridge grabbing 3 in 3 for Bolton and Van Aanholt becoming 1st choice left-back for Sven's men at Leicester. While it's clear they won't be involved this season, seeing them take their chances will bring huge smiles to our faces and will only help them in getting the management's notice for the coming season. McEachran is one we all want to see get his first competitive début and I'm sure next season we'll see him being included a lot more (based on the evidence of this one). If Sturridge carries on scoring, I have no doubts the club will seek to intergrate him into our squad next season. Kakuta's yet to get a full chance at Fulham yet, so it remains to be seen if he'll take his chances, as he follows in the steps of Messi (by winning Player of the Tournament at the u19 European Championships) 3. Management Personally, I'm glad Carlo has not received the boot yet. The worst mistake Chelsea could have made is, firing Carlo in January after seeing Ray Wilkins go and the effect that had on the club. We've learnt a great deal from the days we fired Scolari so quickly and had to fork out that massive compensation fee. While many of us will criticise, fairly, Carlo's management abilities, we can all agree that he's not an idiot and firing him now would be awful for the rest of the season. I don't care to speculate where Carlo's future lies beyond the summer, but one thing is for sure, Abramovich has given his full support to Carlo for the rest of the season. The signing of Torres & Luiz could've waited until the summer, for a new manager, but Abramovich decided the time was now and trusts Carlo to use them to get us the highest position we can attain now. 4. Finances While we still have a bit of a way to go before we break even, or even steer in the profit zone, we have been trying to be more cost-effective. Lucrative sponsorship deals were signed on the back of last season, the main ones being Singha Beer & Samsung/Adidas. This, with the realising of players like Ballack, Deco et al, has shaved quite a lot from our wage-bill. The revamp of the scouting department would also help with the costs and us not replacing Wilkins as opposed to simply giving a title upgrade to another member of management has also kept keep costs down. It'll be argued that the £73million we've spent have hindered that, but I firmly believe, the club has worked out their costs to match with these transfers. Bruce Buck has been a very strong supporter of a wage-cap and this is shown evident by details emerging of Ivanovic's contract which sees him on simply £65k/week (I say simply, even though I'd kill for that lol). Rumours are also surfacing that we're set to have another clear out this summer of the "old guard". The likes of Drogba, Anelka, Malouda & Ferriera are all on the precipice of being released, while Bosingwa and Alex are rumoured to be transfer targets of several clubs. Most notably AC Milan. I'm sure we won't make the same mistake twice, of going into the 2011-12 season with a weak squad, but a freshened up one would come. If we can get good money for, said, players and use this to fund their replacement transfers it'll really be a new age for our finances. 5. In conclusion.. So there's my take on trying to put a positive spin on the failures of this season. While 2009/10 was a great season for us, 2010/11 was not. So all we can do now is cheer our players on for the remainder, despite knowing we're not going to win much. FA Cup & Champions League are attainable targets (though the latter is less so). 4th is a must for this season too. 2011/12 leaves me with nothing but optimism. I firmly believe the club has learnt valuable lessons from this horror show. Perhaps a "transitional season" will take place next, where we see the youth integrated WITH the superstars.

My Chinese friends cracked up when they heard it

There's something else going on with Drogba now. The malaria is gone, the fall from grace he's had is unbelievable! But I really hope Torres have given some life back in the old Drog, he showed some of that when he came on for Torres vs Fulham.

Haha come on, that's a bit unfair. All players go through that "lack of confidence" phase, all the best players of past have. Great thing about confidence is, it can come back in an instant.

Well you speak of a loss of pace, but I think there is a psychological barrier there. We're not giving him much to chase really, when we do, he does go for them. Look at how he chased Luiz's ball last night, sure his touches were poor, but his determination to win that ball was evident.

Disagree highly. He's 26 and is suffering from lack of confidence. If Carlo can sort Torres out psychologically we'll see him recapture that deadly form we paid £50million for. He showed that in his last days at Liverpool under Dalglish Clarke. Once we get the service to him right, he'll start to shine. It just takes one goal to start a wave.

When Torres is on form, this is him. A soloist at the best of times. He will come good, he's a natural finisher and a player with plenty of skill and determination. Give him a break..

"Picked up a calf-strain on international duty" And we were never told till now

Would like to hear the chant again, the one our away fans sang for a solid 10minutes.. Nanananana

Patience.

Yeah I get you, but I don't see any of ours players leaving. Torres signed a 4-year contract and we're not letting him go just like that. You might have a point with Lukaku, but who knows, maybe he will sign for the love of the club. If we win the Europa League, no-one can say anything. As for your question, well.. When Liverpool won it in 2005 and finished 5th, they put up a protest and managed to get into the qualifiers with Everton. I think that was a one-off and the rules have been solidified now. But it is a very good question. We won't get booted out, but they may scrape in.

Well, yes. That way we can cope with having a midfield that's more possession based than creative. Mikel, Ramires, Essien & Lampard can rotate, Josh can come in & maybe Clifford. The management must decide on the formation they'll proceed with next season, and buy accordingly. But I don't want them to go on a spending spree. Buy the players where we have gaps, but make sure they're young for a long-term future. The clubs should says a maximum 2 players above £20million, or 4 players above £15million. Anything more and we run a risk of breaching this FFP.

If we win the Europa League I won't mind

I want him to start firing next week vs Copenhagen

Yeah it is, your options are suitable. You missed out Melchiot though (not that I would've voted for him either )