Styles

KDB made Raphael Honigstein's Bundesliga team of the season: Interesting to note Schürrle made the second team. Clearly not as bad as some here would like us to believe.

Mata has shown he can operate as a wide man coming inside. He did it last year and was doing it fine under RDM as well. It's only Benitez that has played him exclusively through the middle. I want to see Oscar and Hazard being given more chances to play perhaps their best positions as well.

Ronaldo "I liked the Oscar in the middle, rather than last week when he played on the right." Oscar needs to play centrally to get the best out of him. Whether that's as an AM or deeper in CM is another issue but he shouldn't be starting games wide again. It's such a waste of talent restricting him to a wide role.

He is worse than Torres in general play. That says it all. DO NOT WANT.

Two years playing in a good league for a strong team will do far more for his development than playing 20 minutes here or there every month at Chelsea would.

I bet it's one of those that will rumble on all summer and perhaps even until the last days of the transfer market. It's early June and people are going crazy already.

Quality player who had a very good career. He was at one point one of the very best players in the world(early to mid 2000s). Perhaps joined us a little too late in his career but still contributed a lot in his time here. Ciao Capitano :tophat:

Jose will veto against any potential transfer.

You think those awful clichés represent and sum up the journey that our players and football have been on for the last 10 years? Terry is supposedly the epitome of a natural leader and yet he wasn't part of the final through his own sheer stupidity that very nearly cost the team a place in the final. 'Natural leader' and all those other terrible clichés have absolutely nothing to do with what transpired in Munich last year. That was the culmination of a 10 year slog, the trophy was won through sheer hard work and a whole lot of luck that we deserved after so many heartbreaks. What does the term 'natural leader' have to do with that? Baffled. The issue here is hyping up nonsense like 'natural leader' to justify keeping a player who may no longer have a significant role in the squad moving forward. Who is stay other players who are going to play major roles over the next 4,5,6 years won't stand up and take more responsibility?

For the vast majority of our games we're going to be playing teams we're much better than and we will dominate the ball. We don't play Barcelona every week. Barcelona are very good at ball retention, it's what they do better than every team in the world. Bayern recognised that and played accordingly. That's the level of intelligence our teams needs to have. Dominate when you need to and play counter-attacking football when you have to. Why shun a very effective style of football because of its perceived lack of confidence? It worked for Bayern and they're European Champions.

This. Ballack, Drogba, Cech, Lampard, Carvalho...all big characters who knew what it took to win and never hid when it mattered. They weren't Chelsea captains but it never made them any less influential.

Bayern Munich averaged 37% against Barcelona in the semi-finals this season and beat them 7-0 on aggregate. But guess what? Bayern actually averaged 64% possession over the course of the entire season. Some games you will have to play differently so it's wise to have different options in your squad i.e. players like Schurrle who are comfortable in a counter-attacking team.

Honestly I'd be lol'ing so hard if that happens and people start backtracking. Go on Jose, do it

That would be absolutely delicious irony considering how a) so many dislike him and b ) so many trust Mourinho's judgement 100%. The cognitive dissonance would make some heads explode.

Why are people doubting the validity of the quotes? They're in the Guardian. Pretty safe to assume they are direct quotes from Hazard himself methinks. As for the comments I'm pleased. He showing the desire to improve his game and develop an area of his game. I back him to get 20+ next season.

It's just a bit of cloth at the end of the day. I never understood why some supporters get worked up over an armband as much as they do. It's completely irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.

I like it.

Wait, what? He's already better than Bale and I say that with absolutely no hint of bias. Bale is good, very good even, but Hazard is a far more complete player.

No Hazard is just playing it cool and doesn't want to come across as a fanboy. He's doing cartwheels behind close doors.

True. I don't see any issues arising with Mourinho and the players. We have a mature group for the most part.

https://twitter.com/MaxAvengazar Translated the original quote using Bing. How accurate is it?

That team is worse than the one we have now

This 'natural leader' guff is perhaps the most over-exaggerated thing in football. It's almost as bad as the people who bleat on about passion, fighting for the shirt and all those other terrible clichés. Terry is on the wane, that much is indisputable. Physically he looks finished and has done for a while. If the chance to offload a high-earner who may not be a crucial piece moving forward comes then you do it.