Madmax

I sure as fuck hope Chelsea make him feel special on his birthday.

This is the one image that'll define his Chelsea career for me : Go well, Ash.

There's a reason Sanogo looks like he hasn't taken a shit in weeks.

IMO, what's needed more than a 'core' of English/HG players is to have a quality HG option for each position. It lends a better balance to the team and the squad while obviously not compromising on the overall quality. For example, we spent this season with Hilario as our 3rd choice goalie. He contributed nothing to the campaign (not his fault he wasn't called upon, mind), all the while eating up a precious foreign slot. Would giving that exposure to Blackman not have made more sense? I look around our squad and its fringes and most of our HG contingent is around central defence. We have no locally developed players in attacking midfield or up front. If Lukaku (less likely) and Moses (quite likely) are sold, that situation would become worse still. Whereas if we have a scattering of reliable local players all over the pitch, not only does it do wonders for the confidence of our academy and other younger players, it is also cost effective. With that in mind, for next season I'd like us to have Blackman for GK, Kalas for CB, PvA for LB, Chalobah for CM, Lukaku for ST with JT, Cahill and Lampard rounding off our quota of 8.

Correct, even Ramires would get this right.We're now at that point where Cech's experience and familiarity no longer offset Courtois' raw promise. The Belgian is no longer a greenhorn honing his trade, we're talking about someone who at 22 years old is one game away from having won every trophy he's ever competed for in club colours. Which then makes the decision boil down to pure footballing ability. In that department, even if Cech performs at 100% for 2 more years, would you take that over Courtois (for argument's sake) performing at, say 85% over that period, knowing he could then go on and give you a dozen more years as possibly the best in his position in the world?

I didn't check. Posted the link because chelseayouth is a good account and thechels.org are a great CFC resource in my experience.

The guy who compiled this list (@chelseayouth on twitter) confirmed Piazon isn't HG; it's a copy-paste error on their part. They've corrected it.

Especially seeing as he isn't a big part of the team, unlike JT, who still is (and probably will continue to be for another season).

^ Bloody hell, I didn't know Afellay was still rotting there.

Handy page detailing the HG status of our current squad for PL and CL competitions : http://thechels.info/wiki/First_team_squad ______________________________________________________________________ I searched for threads with discussion about 'homegrown' quota but found no results. If one exists, I hope the mods merge these threads.

2 years ago today ... ...#Kalou2012 #neverforget

I haven't been keeping up with the Luiz swap stories recently but from the two I've read, Sanchez + Song is so much better than Mandzukic + cash.

No, that'd be Rooney. He negotiated it as part of the new deal ____________________________________________________________________________ Eh, I dunno what's happened here with The Skipper's post I quoted. Can't edit.

...and then you switch off FM/FIFA/PES

^Yes.

£10000 fine for sarcasm.

Why? I ask because I seem to remember you following German football more than most here.

Great news. The fine was never going to be an issue for them but reduced roster spots goes down well with me. Also reassuring to see UEFA anticipating some of the get-arounds and extracting an undertaking in those aspects.

I'm desperate for Chalobah to succeed here but I fear he's not going to be used in the immediate sense. I was going through some of Mourinho's responses in a twitter Q&A session just now and when asked about bringing through our youngsters he said he wants that to happen but doesn't want to see them fail, possibly hinting at waiting till they gather some more experience and 'pedigree'.

It's one thing handing them duds like Moses, quite another to trust them with someone like Thorgan. I hope Mourinho doesn't let his friendship with Rodgers affect this decision.

... are you okay?

I really want us to give Chalobah a chance this season. I believe Mourinho said he will last August when discussing loan moves.

He should, considering he is second choice at his current club and likely to remain so while Peppito wanks over a false 9 setup.