Duppy Conqueror

we will certainly need to have some cup luck/backs to the wall moments to conquer to win the European Cup this season. we aren`t the most talented team in Europe but the most talented teams don`t always win it and the same applies for all Cup tournaments. being League Champions of England is always my number 1 priority tho...a League championship is always earned and won by the best team in it. we have our work cut out to be that this year but I think over the course of a season I`d still put us as favourites marginally. our depth is currently a little worrying in certain positions.

(I still can`t quote on here so..) @ Willander. Great Britain is not the English National team..Great Britain is made up of England,Wales,Scotland and Northern Ireland..Welsh,Scottish and Northern Irish people are just as British as English.the only time Great Britain has a team in football is during the Olympics. Britons are an ancient people who came from Wales, England and Southern Scotland who were forced back into Wales by the Normans & Saxons who took over most of England..therefore arguably only the true Britons are from Wales. British and Britons are not quite the same thing..it`s complicated but when the English are the only ones classed as British or Britons it`s totally inaccurate.

@ChelseaFanUK. what you say about Gullit is true.tho that is not the reason entirely why I haven`t been excited as the same could be said for others we have signed since. Hazard,Ballack,Shevchenko etc...I just don`t get excited about signings anymore.I think is more to being older now and understanding that until they actually play for us it`s a mystery to how good they will become. most of the players we have signed I have been happy with us signing.in particular Hazard,Carvalho,Ballack,Makalele,Duff,Joe Cole,Petit,Petrescu,Oscar,Hughes, just not to the extent of excitement. I get excited about things like away days in Europe etc.. big games rather than signings,

I haven`t been excited about a signing since Gullit. just open minded always hoping for the best.

ah (I can`t quote for some reason btw) thought you were calling me a fucking idiot..haha.. it`s a sunday we aren`t playing on..i`m on fuzzy mode.

I didn`t disrespect his dead wife..just pointed out that despite his grieving he still is finding time to hold onto something as petty as his bitterness towards Chelsea.

so will Rio take another break from his grieving to retract his statement that Petr Cech was the best signing in the premiership this window. along with all the other digs at Chelsea..e.g. Stones would be making a mistake to join Chelsea etc..

Petr doing Chelsea proud..bringing down Arsenal from within.. :blue scalf:

German football has been available to watch live games in England for a few years now. not for me personally I go to Chelsea games usually the same time or day they are on. but the assumption that nobody in England could have seen Baba play is just wrong for that reason.

Bertrand at 25 (now 26) and in the mix for England was not going to stay to be back up any longer. I wish fans would move on from that.

in certain games Dave should play at RB. Bran has his worth..he adds a threat to get on the end of set plays.against less direct LW/LM he is fine..his ability to play CB is another plus.he should always be in our matchday squad but not always starting at RB. certain LW/LM`s give him kittens and we need another option there. personally I would have kept Kalas around last season and this. but that ship has sailed. we desperately need to bring in another full back..LB is the obvious choice because we have no natural left footers in our first team squad. I wouldn`t up the price for Baba..i would offer a player,possibly even 2 who have no way back into our first team squad. if that fails I would tell them to fuck off and promote from within if no other LB becomes available who is good enough and then look at RB`s. we kinda lost leverage in selling Luis before we had a replacement but Augsburg has a player who they know wants to leave and have already bought his replacement so I`d say that has evened it out.

having two yorkshiremen as our CB duo with their brand of English would be a nitemare for teams on the continent to defend against our corners.

the Spanish managers become crybabies when they are rattled. .Benitez did when Fergie rattled him during his scumpool days..doing that bizarre press conference with his big sheet of paper of things to whine about. now Martinez. JT mentioned us chasing Stones. everybody who follows football knows we are. we bid twice for him. if he had said Stones should put in a transfer request he would have something to cry foul about but that`s not the case. Juventus have mentioned Oscar several times this offseason without any public knowledge of them putting a bid in for him. Martinez would have a stroke over that.

If Jose wants a player it`s best to hope that he gets him. if he doesn`t believe in a player ,not signing any player is gonna change his mind. JT at his age and with his long list of previous injuries..his form and fitness could fall off the cliff at any time and Cahill although better than he gets the credit for among mostly foreign Chelsea fans is certainly not untouchable. Zouma had a better first season than I expected but not enough to make him our longterm starter just yet. we didn`t need to sign Ricky when we had Gallas and JT but we did and ended up signing arguably our greatest CB ever from a technical standpoint.

we haven`t played Augsburg in the time he`s been there so I`ve never seen him play.seen some footage of him and he looks good going forward.not seen much footage of him defending.he has been one of the leading tacklers in Germany tho. for this one I`m going back to how it was in the pre internet days .I`ll welcome him and trust that we have done our homework on him. no presumptions on how many games he will play,nobody can see into the future of who will be injured or how we intend to use him..we do need 2 good players at every position tho and there isn`t a long list of great fullbacks at the moment,even less who will be willing to share time with another one.getting a good one with the potential to become great seems to me the most realistic hope we can have in a signing when we already have a great player at LB...if he turns out great..Azpi can always slide over to RB in the future as Bran is entering into the twilight years of his career.

I would have kept him around last season and depending on how that season went then either keep him around this season,loan or sell. for me I would only loan players out if they are buried deep on the depth chart and/or have been given some game time and looked completely out of their depth..i don`t believe either of those are the case with Kalas..I think he would atleast be somebody who can be Brans understudy. and like Bran,he`s capable to play anywhere in the back 4.

Classic Jose quote..further inhances my belief that he is infact Brian Clough`s Portuguese lovechild.

I think if that is rejected we should not up the money but throw in a player or two who doesn`t have a future with us. I`m not gonna pick who because then the focus of my point will be taken to that player but we seem to have quite a few on our books who appear to have no way back into Jose`s plans.

They are paying him great players money on his potential now but if he proves to be just good for them he will expect a pay rise in the future. we are doing the best thing in buying players when they are youth players we just need to plant the seeds and let them grow in our garden instead of constantly digging them up and moving them around.

from Barcelona we have signed Albert Ferrer,Bolo Zenden,Manu Petit,Winston Bogarde,Cesc Fabregas,Oriol Romeu..quite a mixed bag there..the good,the bad and the injured.. from Ath.Madrid..Diego Costa,Felipe Luis and JFH.

we sell our hardly ever used/always on loan players and we have no reason to sell any regular matchday squad players.we don`t have to sell anyone atall to fund any transfers. just better to get money for them when under contract. we have done Milan "favours" but the rest of the Italian teams can fook off with their begging bowls if they think we are gonna give away players we can use..Shevchenko,Essien,Torres were done and jjust cock blockers for talented players behind them. letting them leave was good for us. every day it seems some Italian team are telling their media they are interested in our players..just let them know..Mikel,Marin and Moses are available.

I think Hilario and Turnbull was like having two "3rds"..with Cech he had his health issues..bone density etc..I think the risk of him getting injured was always higher than it is with TC,even tho he`s pretty thin bodied for a keeper. then we should have Begovic..I don`t know if he has any health concerns. I wouldn`t be against a cheap experienced option if Begovic counts as homegrown we don`t need to have an English keeper or a young guy to bring through..none are gonna get a sniff to become a regular starter for atleast 10 years even if they were really good. it`s not something that concerns me like it did in the past tho with Cech and earlier with Eddie Neidzwiecki,where the drop off in talent was so big..the immortal ghost of Les Fridge lingers on...but yeah..there should be an Hilario type available somewhere..Germany seems to be a factory of good keepers maybe look there for an experienced keeper looking for the life experience of being at a major club like us for a year or two.

all Bertrand showed for us by starting in Munich was that he could handle playing in a big game. he was given a certain role and he for the most part was solid whilst playing the role of defensive LW/ Assistant LB. he had pretty much for his entire Chelsea career been back up to two players who were/are among the top LB`s in the world. Ashley being undisputed number 1 in the world and Azpi being arguably. I don`t see his case being a precursor for a different player at a different position(or the same) that being the most rotationed position in football not making it with us.

I don`t see any player not making it as a precursor for other players following suite. there`s too many variables.

4 or 5 months is all we saw from him,he showed flashes when if it wasn`t for his end product he would have scored quite a few goals for us. then a season on loan where he did well. although I personally would have gave him a better chance.i don`t feel strongly enough to argue his case and can live with him being sold. what I really don`t like is how someone can fall totally out of favour so quickly,go on loan,prove themselves on loan but whatever they do it`s not enough.. we don`t have to chop and change the squad every year. a little coaching up what we got would save a lot of money. Jose has overhauled the squad in quick time to get us back as champions but I do think sometimes he`s guilty of throwing out the baby with the bathwater and this aint really about Salah. it`s something he`s done in both spells. he`s our Brian Clough and I love him for it. just a side of him I wish he didn`t have.