LDN Blue

Good for Villa. They've had it miserable for a while now, always in the relegation scrap.. Hope they actually have a stress free season this year lmao.

Really? I think that's a coup for you guys, after making a name for himself with Chile I've been keeping an eye on him. Did well with Athletic in their first season just like Marseille.

Until I see Ivanovic do this..

Depends doesn't it? After watching a season of Ivanovic continue at RB, while the best RB in the league was a LB, at the expense of someone who was dubbed "Best LB in Europe"... Not really excited lol.

Probably because no-one wants him lol

If this story blows, somewhere Suarez will have a little smirk to himself...

Good lord this is getting out of hand..

I mean considering that our captain is a well known dog in his personal life, I'm not sure how we can really call Mourinho a cunt but that's apparently the nature now. Like @Fulham Broadway said, the man's made a few mistakes but he's also going to make us as successful as he can. Much like with Lampard, all will be forgotten when he guides us to success.... Again.

Aw man, no-one made the obvious pun here.. "Misteeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeer Kenedyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy"

Literally only tuning in because 1. Penalties are exciting and 2. Ross Turnbull

I don't know man. It's not like he's the worst player we've had or anything like that, but the fact he still can't manage to pass a football is pretty damn annoying lol. But I do find that we play him slightly out of position is well, I'd love to see his role in a holding 3 with Matic and Fabregas, because I think he'd be more efficient in that kind of set up. I don't see what more he can contribute for us, especially if Mou is serious about using RLC a lot more this season.

What amazes me is that in the window where there was a lack of strengthening by our rivals, last summer, we recruited astutely and we reaped the rewards almost instantaneously. Now that our rivals are strengthening - In the areas they needed to - we've chosen to sit back and rest on our laurels. No-one knows what the real story is, whether this is a Mourinho call, by trusting the youth (massive LOL) or the board's by being financially responsible it seems almost bizarre! As stated many times, it's not like this squad needs an overhaul. That's already happened in the establishment of a new core comprising of Costa, Hazard, Fabregas, Matic. But in the name of competition and depth we definitely need a few extra recruits. CM, RB (we know a LB is coming) and that's really it. If Oscar is allowed to leave (his body language was alarming in the wake of the Swansea goal) then of course he has to replaced in due course.

If you asked me that a few season ago, I would've agreed. When Cristiano left it seemed there was an impending exodus of talent heading to the riches of Spain or the ease of the Bundesliga. But I think this summer has gone on to prove that competitiveness and quality is returning to the Premier League This is the perfect response. Stoke now have 5 registered Champions League winners and you would have never thought they were capable of such a feat when Tony Pulis was there. Players have got that itch back to ply their trade in the PL and they've realised they don't need to join the 'top 4' in order to do it anymore. Palace have captured Cabaye, West Brom just signed Rondon. There's a wave of players this summer coming to the League. You can accredit that to the new broadcasting deal I guess which means Stoke can afford to pay players like Affelay, Bojan and Shaqiri without putting themselves in trouble.

Ronald Koeman, the voice of reason. Unnecessarily sensationalised because we're doing nothing in the transfer market. Doesn't need as much coverage as its getting, same conclusions would have been drawn that Mourinho overreacted. No wonder stars are so quick to leave this league, look how when you have class players like Suarez & Tevez leave they reinvent their careers & do great.

Let's be honest here, we know what's going to happen. Clearly pre-season is being underwritten as much as possible, Kenedy will most likely be going off on loan for the next 2-3 seasons before being sold for our favourite word profit. No point in even hyping this up until we see what the club actually has planned for the kid.

With our luck, he'll more likely concede a last minute winner and be ridiculed for seasons to come

Tbh, under those circumstances it was understandable. After countless seasons of Mikel being our undisputed DM, Matic was a breath of fresh air and that's why we all got excited. He was excellent too, every pundit in the country agreed to how vital he was & is.

Precisely. Mourinho let emotions get the better of him, on the very first game of the season, and ironically didn't see the bigger picture that our medical team does by default.

The question is.. Can he play double pivot?

Perhaps, but I don't think we're going to crumble at the Etihad. It'll be an ugly match because our tactics will be more defensive to compensate for lack of transfer activity, but this will be a 1-goal match.. Just depends who's luckier.

I mean I get that, I even think Mourinho shouldn't have been so public about that. Especially if it is meant to act as a deflective tactic to take the spotlight off a pretty dimwitted performance. But I do think to call him toxic is jumping the gun a little bit. While he does rub people the wrong way, often on points of his own merits that hardly makes him toxic. If we look back on his career, he fell out with Abramovich because (and we can only go by speculation here of course) he had signings forced upon him as opposed to making his own decisions. He left Inter by mutual consent once he'd done it all and wanted a new challenge, which really just leaves Real & his first spell at Chelsea where he'd burned bridges. But then how much do you want to put on him? I'm not going to blindly say Mourinho was right and Eva was wrong (lord know how that conclusion is being met by people), but he's not near as bad as is being made out by those who have criticised him.

All for this. Ramires in his time here hasn't seemed to improved. His inability to find a clear pass is more of hindrance to us than anything. As far as football intelligence goes, he's lacking. Lord knows he knows how to score worldies but that's not really enough to justify his place now. We'll always remember these gems however,

Yea, but no-one's going to care because he's not English

we're not that bad mate! If you look at these two teams, City haven't done as much in this transfer window. They've got Sterling who could be a threat, but they've got the same establishment that we've got. It's not like Matic, Hazard, Fabregas & co have regressed as much as it appears. It'll be an ugly match because Chelsea will go there with the intention to keep the match subdued and slow as possible, but we're hardly going to get demolished. These are still world-class players.

Costa, Fabregas, Hazard, Stones, Courtois... Terry won't ever have to slip again