Madmax

Meh. He's got nothing on Kalou.

There's no way he's worth 20m.

Needs to bulk up a bit.

I'm mildly surprised he hasn't had another go at Maradona, tbh.

lmao, cheeky Martinez thinking he had a chance after the debacle with PvA ...

They have. The recommended upper ceiling for wages-to-turnover is 70%.

OPTA don't release such reports for general consumption free of cost. I found those graphics here -> http://www.weaintgotnohistory.com/2012/1/14/2706802/chelseas-season-so-far-opta-stats You can follow them on twitter (@optajoe), there are isolated nuggets of information in their tweets.

Full article -> http://www.zonalmarking.net/2012/01/20/gary-cahill-chelsea-high-line/

OPTA stats posted online.

^ What's DP? .....................................................................................................................

Esk, eldo and myself among others have been banging on about this ad nauseam for a while now. It's blindingly obvious, though the congregation of wise men constituting the FA wouldn't know common sense if it hit them in the face.

Must be frustrating for Madrid ... they're pretty much the best in the world. Only there's a bunch of little fellas just a bit better than the best, and they shove it in their faces 5 or 6 times a year.

Deja vu. Or did you have that reply on repeat?

I'm thoroughly bored of these clasicos tbh.

Hopefully it's his last here.

Would you get assaulted if you did?

There's no 'situation' here. Nobody kidnapped them at gunpoint. It's a career decision. Moreover, such deals usually involve parents being offered residences near the club to smoothen the transition process. They aren't going to be left all alone outside Cobham after training

I believe silverbacks are extremely endangered?

You're welcome. You should bookmark that site, they do a great job of covering the loans in addition to first team news.

Claude Makelele was not a glamorous sea-captain of any sort. His affable mannerisms and ever-present smile belied a combative, negative style of play that on first examination was far more destructive than constructive. This is not a bad thing. His precise, successful tackling and harassing of opposition attacks was awesome enough for unimaginative EPL commentators to consider the defensive midfielder position the “Makelele Role.” We should not judge him for the sins of others, however, as he was more than worthy of distinction. Nevertheless, one must ask when reflecting upon his career: what exactly was he? To answer that, we must first ask: what is beauty? Beauty is subjective and encompasses a broad expanse of life that includes the aesthetically pleasing but also that which is less glorious to the eye yet engrossing (and engorging). By that standard, Claude was indisputably beautiful. Watching him break up play and quietly dictate the tempo of a match was in its own way as cathartic and fascinating a spectacle as the constant creation of Xavi. Opponents and fans alike realized—usually well after the fact, if at all—that he, as much as Zidane (blasphemy!) or Vieira or Lampard, was running the show. Or, more precisely, he made the show possible. It was a beauty of a more subtle sort than that of someone like Pirlo, whose understated play exists in parallel with the immediacy of his colossal talent and glorious, flowing locks. Affable Claude, pleading his case with the smirking referee (“But I had the ball :-D”), hovering around the two center-backs, was not a man whose play inspired ecstatic hosannas. Instead, he imbued the viewer with profound respect accumulated over time, his total competence refined by intelligence and maturity to art. Sometimes, like Clint Eastwood's character in The Bridges of Madison County, the situation at hand requires a character with a fine (but not necessarily delicate) touch refined by experience and diligence. Makelele was always ready to offer just that, and for this he is rightly exalted. Yet Florentino Perez, the President of Real Madrid, said the following after refusing to give Makelele a raise to a salary more comparable to his galactico teammates and selling him to Chelsea: 'We will not miss Makelele . His technique is average, he lacks the speed and skill to take the ball past opponents, and ninety percent of his distribution either goes backwards or sideways. He wasn't a header of the ball and he rarely passed the ball more than three meters. Younger players will arrive who will cause Makelele to be forgotten' There are many truths in Perez's statement, and yet he got the most important piece of information perfectly wrong: Madrid missed Makelele, badly. The galacticos project withered and died without the player Zidane deemed “the engine.” A reworking of Sir Alex Ferguson's defense of Juan Sebastian Veron, a deep-lying midfielder not noted for his defensive qualities, is a fitting tribute: “[Makelele's] a great fucking player. Youse [Perez and assorted detractors] are all fucking idiots.” Why are we stupid? What did we miss? What made Makelele such a great player? To start, he knew himself. This is vital: self-knowledge and self-awareness are often overlooked by the exceedingly talented, but for those with more prosaic skill sets, such qualities differentiate between mediocrity and excellence. He knew himself, knew his role, and his grin hid a resolute determination to succeed. In addition to his psychological strengths, he possessed outstanding positional awareness, was a superb tackler until he lost the ability to accelerate in his late thirties, and his short frame served as an asset in tight quarters as his low center of gravity helped give him balance and excellent strength while over the ball. He worked through a checklist of sorts: 1) Don't get caught out. 2) Get the ball, or, failing that, slow the attack down by getting in the way somehow. 3) If I have the ball, pass it to a nearby, open teammate. 4) Trail the run of play if someone needs an outlet. 5) Repeat as needed. He was brilliant, then, because he transcended his limitations and consistently laid waste to opposing teams' attacking schema in a campaign of destruction as subtle as Roy Keane's was spectacular. One can make the case that he was a rough equivalent of the Buddha, achieving fulfilling and transcendent enlightenment through methodical reflection on his qualities and an intense but even-keeled diligence. It's a stupid and ultimately useless analogy, but the last part of that has merit. Think of Makélélé as a night watchman, performing the unglamorous but vital task of protecting the extremely expensive modern art from the marauding playmaker-cum-art thieves of the world. A base soul like of Florentino Perez could never hope to comprehend such matters. ................................................................................................................................................................. Outstanding piece of work. Complete article here -> http://inbedwithmara...midfielder.html

Gotze. Don't think we'll end up with any of them though

http://www.weaintgotnohistory.com/2012/1/18/2707662/chelsea-fc-loanee-mid-season-review-tomas-kalas