LDN Blue

I didn't say he's ready yet. But the season he's having at Southampton now clearly shows he's no chump. In fact everytime he's actually been given a chance with us he's never done a job. He's learned from Ashley very well in that aspect. Again, he's only 25. Why couldn't he turn out into a world beater? With the right coaching, as he's showing now, he can do a very solid job. You've also described having 3 players for 2 positions. Where's the logic there? Rule of thumb, 2 players per position. It's the way José has always operated and having a small squad could end up costing us. All I'm suggesting is, there was a future where Bertrand could've been challenging at LB as Luis got older and Ryan grew more mature. I guess we'll have to regret it by spending big again when Luis' decline comes.

I would LOVE IT if we see him and Drogba replicate the rock band celebration we saw in 2009 v Wigan

This. Precisely this. Filipe Luis is 29. Just 4 years younger than Ash when we deemed him surplus to requirements. Ryan is 25. There's no reason at all we couldn't let him develop at Southampton, which he's doing a fine job of it should be noted, then recall him to fight for the LB position with Luis. Considering the Brazilian is being used sporadically this season as well, Ryan could have easily fought his way in. It's another case of not trusting the lad. A lad who's got 154 loan appearances to his name by the way!

What brought you out of retirement?

As I remember, it took us so long to confirm this deal initially lmao. What was interesting was, he was actually vetted before Mourinho signed for us. Rumours of Mourinho talking to him at an all-star game where he was a coach occured too. But sounds like it's a signing Mourinho was inevitably not going to get along with.

Would he qualify for a PL winners medal/COC should we win them?

The problem is, I can so easily see us signing 2 world class defenders in the summer t.window and Zouma gets relegated again.

Fair enough if that's true. It would be incredible. City sign a player in Mangala who cost them £31.8m & we have £12m Zouma who's already better

With Varane and Mangala, could that mean actually Zouma misses out on being a France regular?

http://www.thesportbible.com/articles/chelsea-s-2015-2016-home-shirt-leaked-online

I'm a better fan than you are! Your opinions are rubbish! This thread sometimes

Lmao is it weird that I simply didn't care when he came on? Felt no hatred, no admiration, nothing. He was just another City player to me. Maybe in the future when things have passed and if he should come back in a managerial/coaching capacity... I don't think it'll matter. In the meantime, I'm beyond caring now. Which is a shame in itself after all he did for us..

For all that was said about our 'weak' bench today - Schurrle is still a Chelsea player, isn't he? Could've been of use.

Yeah exactly. The lack of possession by Hazard was also reflected by Cesc's absence. Such games really highlight his importance, I think he would've done really well too because Yaya was missing and in the reverse fixture Toure made Fabregas mute.

This has a draw written all over it lmao. Fabregas back will be good, I hope Mourinho lets Remy have a successive run of games before Costa's ban is complete.

That's why I think missing Cesc was more of a factor today than Costa. We can manage without Costa, we did it earlier in the season when he couldn't play consecutive games. Fabregas is a catalyst in big game that mean any of our other player can score from what he provides. It's no wonder to me why Mourinho chooses Fabregas over Oscar in these big games.

I've heard this too. Perhaps the hype got to him? 3 years ago (I can't believe I'm the OP on this lmao), I would've loved if we made a big money move for him. Now I am not so sure, but I can't say much since I haven't watched Serie A for a long, long, time.

Our own version of Pogba, so to speak* -- Anyway, I don't really put down KdB in the bracket of players I wish we never sold. Kid didn't want to stay here long enough to try and fight for his position, the same thing we criticised Lukaku for to be honest. Yes, he's developed into a fine player but we'll be fine without him.

Thing that annoys me about Gary Neville is that he's just like every other pundit, they know the world about big clubs and their players. But when you ask them to analyse games which don't feature such big teams and such big players they're completely clueless most the time. I mean, it's sort of their jobs to do such homework but they don't really do it 90% of the time. The other thing is, they spend so much time talking about a few incidents that occur in matches and sometimes they fail to talk about the match over all. While it's entertaining sometimes it's quite boring on the other hand.. We don't need to see a potential penalty 3000x, slowed down frame by frame for another 2000x. I seldom praise pundits because they're a face. Behind them are teams of people who produce these statistics and these animations that highlight these key features. That being said, like DYC. said, he's one of the few pundits in the world who does say good things about Chelsea from time to time. But I wouldn't rate any of them so highly as to make an appreciation thread lol

@We Hate Scouse will it be a straight bidding war now or is there another aspect to negotiations?

How much would they be able to expand by, do you know? I wonder if this plans to force a redevelopment is the club bottling it with their stance on the CPO. If moving away means we'll have increased potential for expansion, I think that should be their first priority imo.

Sterling, run down your contract and join us lmao. I wouldn't want us to buy him for the quoted sums of £20-50million.

True, but I think with such an important match he'd take the risk. Ramires would be more effective versus Everton and West Ham anyway.

When we win, it will be a big statement to everyone that's we're more than capable of beating big sides without our best players. Smh, we've proved it before anyway, and we'll continue to do so! CAREFREE.

This is a comment on the Cuadrado story in Sky Sports by a user called 'manutd fan'. Shows a lot of how we're beginning to be perceived now in world football. The change in attitude from our board deserves a lot of credit and you can see why there's a drastic revamp going on with the board now, to meet this attitude. Buck and Gourlay represent the 'old' Chelsea, of reckless purchasing.