Madmax

Makelele ... (Not saying I want Khedira, mind).

Meireles WAS our best hobo, though

ST, CM, LB - all primary issues addressed. A backup striker + Tiago and we are done. Fantastic business by the board and the club. P.S. Rob Beasley was right, eh?

I don't think there is a Team of the Tournament ... or at least it hasn't been announced yet. http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/awards/index.html

Okay, so I had some free time on my hands and decided to compare Costa's last season with other top forwards from England and Europe. I've used whoscored data so the usual caveats with their stats apply. I'm not sure how much you can read into the numbers but a couple of them should spark good discussion. I'll provide whoscored's definitions for some of the more disputed parameters at the end of the post. Diego Costa vs other forwards in 2013-14 : Diego Costa vs Chelsea forwards in 2013-14 : (Note that the 'passes', 'key passes' and 'dribbles' are all successful passes/ key passes/ dribbles and not merely attempted.) Whoscored glossary : Dispossessed - Being tackled by an opponent without attempting to dribble past them Key Pass - The final pass leading to a shot at goal from a teammate Turnover - Loss of possession due to a mistake/poor control

Remember when Mourinho said after the Crystal Palace game that he needed 'balls' in the team next season? Reckon he's got them now. Welcome. Be a bad motherfucker.

A squad is incomplete without guys like Demba who wait for their chance and perform when called upon. Kudos to him for remaining thoroughly professional throughout his stay. I wonder who'll perform this role next season. Dearly hoped Eto'o would stick around.

Statzone - FourFourTwo?

This would make zero sense for Juventus. Losing a world class player entering his prime years while he's still on a long term contract for peanuts (in relative terms), with no worthy replacements lined up ... really odd.

I think how it works is that the home team keeps the gate receipts and pays the visitor a participating fee (lumpsum or as a % of the gate). Us going there would be a sell-out and waiving our fee would also benefit them. I'll ask around, though.

Silence! Have you not heard that he's a complete striker?

00.30 on a Tuesday morning ....

Says here they'll be available only for UK and Ireland viewers (http://www.chelseafc.com/videos/pre-season-live.html)

I'd attach some weight to that theory if it was an away friendly in their stadium where we don't take a participating fee and let them keep all the match revenue in return for knocking a few million off the transfer fee. Not sure how them playing here connects with Griezmann.

The 'JK' in 'Besiktas JK' should've given it away

I'd be amazed if he said that with a straight face, but good on him for speaking the right things.

Bottled his one big chance in the final but to be fair to him, they wouldn't have been in the final without his goals. James Rodriguez should have been awarded the Golden Ball but I guess adidas didn't approve. EDIT:

Nah, you deserve it. Always look out for your posts and find myself nodding along more often than not

It's tough because of being allowed only 2 nominations. I'd plump for 5 but I understand it'd mean more work for you guys. Another option would have been to not allow someone to be nominated more than once per category - it's all going to a vote anyway so put every nominee in the poll and thereby avoid multiple nominations for a single member.

Jype should get a few mentions as well, quality poster IMO.

Well precisely what is the point of the 'quality of competition' debate, then? He's outperformed them and he's better than them, hence it follows that he'll be given more playing time than those two inferior players. Which is what I'm trying to say - that the quality of competition, not the numbers, matter.

If that were true, why is Costa a threat but not Ba and Torres?

Lol, the sad fuckers have been adding their League Cup and Europa League wins to make that claim : Leagues : United 20 vs Liverpool 18 FA Cups : United 11 vs Liverpool 7 UCL/European Cup : United 3 vs Liverpool 5

http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11661/9376839/transfer-news-manchester-clubs-liverpool-and-chelsea-chasing-benfica-duo

United have won the most titles so how are they the 'most successful team'? Probably added the 25 year old European Cups to the total.