Tomo

This lad is the example off just how patient players have to be to make it to the top. Deemed not good enough for Villa and loaned to Burnley and Sheffield United then sold to Bolton in his early 20's, he kept plugging away and built his rep at The Reebok, eventually earning his move to Chelsea. After an up and down 18 months where his tendancy to back of players had us driven up the wall, he established himself under Jose and is now a key part off a team looking to battle out on 4 fronts next season. Moral of the story is breaking into the top level is hard, it requires hard work and a lot of blood, sweat and tears on the way, it doesn't always happen at 21.

Every time I see Liverpool followers talk about there lineup for next season most people have Gerrard, Coutinho and Lallana in a midfield 3 with Sterling, Lazar and Sturridge as the strikers. Do those idiots actually want to stop conceding goals? Funny thing is Liverpool followers tried to claim we were going easy in Mourinho criticism which is quite funny as I have never before seen a set of people so brainwashed as what Brendan Rodgers has done to the Liverpool lot. They use to take pride in there solid defence under Benny, now they act like defending doesn't count. We as fans accepted our weaknesses last season and are delighted Mou is trying to rectify them, Liverpool followers on the other hand don't seem to bothered that they have done fuck all to fix a defence that conceded the highest number for a Liverpool side for a century.

The prem defences are catching up fast lets be honest. 2nd place Liverpool shipped 50, Spurs shipped 20 against last season's top 2 alone.

if you said this about Ba I would agree, however Torres attitude had stunk for a long time, after the I didnt care comments (which I will never forgive him for and is the main reason he is the only player I grew to dislike while playing for Chelsea) i would never feel sorry for any way he gets treated here (professionally).If this happens I would have no sympathy for him whatsoever, but unfortunately like Choulo said, it won't happen for commercial reasons.

I still cringe at posts when he joined, not least this conspiracy he was forcing out KDB.

My only worry is when big games turn into a battle, when we faced him as a Arsenal player I was always confident Essien would have the measure of him, and he usually did. Other than that no qualms whatsoever and is actually just what we need, our build up play will improve a lot with Cesc.

He wasn't, that stat is deceiving, the first half of that season until Demba arrived he played the full 90 in all but 5 games (both United games, one sent off the other suspended, subbed on at Juve, subbed off at QPR and WBA).If we gave Costa similar minutes he would get much more imo.

People who comment on those pages make Bushman look like Seb or Peace.

I do, he's lazy and can't defend, if any one is an anti Mourinho player, it's him.

Looks like Joe Hart smelt his breath then gave him a bollocking.

Also to add knockout competitions are a dangerous way to judge people. If Costa Rica won their shootout vs Holland then who knows, 2 games, adrenaline high, players that would die for their country, keeper on the form of his life they might have done aGreece. Yet ultimately if that happened it would be the ultimate freak show and those players would go back to being average players for the rest of their careers. That is why I don't buy the, you have to do it in the World Cup to prove your greatness.

Brendan improving his defence I see.

Rightly or wrongly that's the nature of the beast at the top level. If Messi became avalible in 2008 (when he was 21) and made it clear he wanted to leave Barca and only had eyes for Chelsea should the club have said no thankyou we have Kakuta and Stoch? If Madrid are stupid enough to let this lad go, and we can afford him, then we should sign now and ask questions later.

All brilliant members, hard decision but I voted Skipper, Barbara a very close second.

Bolax I was going to do my nominations on Sunday but completely forgot. I mulled over the decision here because James and TOPTB are both worthy winners however I voted Jason because of his sheer dedication ever since joining the staff. Thank you so much for people who nominated and/or voted for me.

Come on, think with your heads instead off your hearts for a couple off minutes and this makes zero sense on any level. Drogba has been average since 2010, the last month off his Chelsea career sugarcoated how poor he was in the last couple of season's, our striker issue was even worse in 11/12 and ironically we were looking in envy at Newcastle for having a free scoring Demba Ba. What was quite noticeable especially in his last season is he completely lost motivation for the run of the mill PL games, think that's changed as he has got older? In the world cup it was clear he is pushing his body to the limit, also it took Eto'o a while to get back up to speed playing in a major league again, factor in Didier would play less (due to us having a bonafide first choice this time) and is 4 years older than Eto'o was last year............ If we want an experienced serial winner to compliment Costa we should have kept Samuel, Drogba has his place in the Chelsea history books, as a club legend but as a player in 2014? Get real. I love him when my mates who dont like football ask ne about players i always squezze Didiers name in but if we want to win titles head must rule heart.

Who will only play RB under Jose unless a case of emergency.

Terry, Benatia, Cahill and Zouma would be a good combination of centre halfs.

Still can't get over Henry and Rodgers acting like 5 year olds when Arsenal made a bid for Suarez. Never seen such an club so insecure about themselves in my life.

If he wins tonight it will be the first time a player won the world cup while playing for Chelsea since France 98.

I actually think the last two months helped sugarcoat some issues in 09/10. First half of the season we were conceding far to many goals from set pieces, Cech was off form and Carvalhos decline was alarmingly obvious. After the Inter and Blackburn double header there were people seriously wondering if our squad was to old and simply run out of steam (There were a lot of signs that this squad was approaching father time, and we should have acted that summer). We were like a team possesed from then on and really proved them wrong in style, but that season wasnt all champagne and 7 8 goal wins, we had to cross some serious obstacles to cross the finish line, the back to back seasons were much more straightforward in comparison.

The calendar year in 2005 was the best imo, we were ruthless, the results getting chalked up were like mine on fifa career mode. It was absolutely insane. The air of invincibility around the place was so high merely conceding goals even if we went on to win were annoying. 09/10 was amazing team, but was still behind the back to back winning teams in terms of quality, Carlo did amazing getting what he did out of the boys, shame he undone it all and then some the year after.

Ash was the best LB in the world but isn't no more, nevertheless he is still a LB. I find it harsh that a player who was once the best RB in the prem regularly (as good as) gets branded a fraud in that position (he was actually good at crossing back then, when he had Drogba, Flo, Kalou, Lamps and Ballack getting on the end of them, coincidence?). Maybe the system helped, but the system only helps players so much, the rest is down to them.

Ivan is a better at RB than given credit for, he was the best in the league under Carlo so it's a bit unfair to say he's a CB playing there. I agree Azpi's the better option in this current day weighing it up however.

Im wondering what's happening regarding Oscar, the Pogba rumours are slowly hotting up and you know what they say, no smoke without fire. If that happens that will mean Cesc would be number ten or the most advanced midfielder in a 4 3 3. Whatever happens im fine with. ----------------Courtois/Cech-----------Iva/Azpi-----Cahill------JT-----Luis/Azpi-------Matic----------Pogba/Cesc-------Willian/Schurrle---Cesc/Oscar---Hazard---------------------Costa---------------- Rest of squad from- Schwarzer, Blackman (if one of our keepers leave) Zouma, Ake, Rami, MVG, Tiago, Mikel (if he stays), Salah, Aubamayeng. That would be a perfectly balanced squad imo (maybe an extra defender) in terms off playing style and youth/expierence.