Tomo

Because he wasn't even #1 at West Brom, something like 43% of his appearances were off the bench. He had a good loan so he will get a chance to be in the squad and fight for his place, but giving him the number 1 forward role straight away then the manc clubs will be laughing.

We will probably be on super sunday although i hope were saturday lunchtime, especially with Aston Villa at home possibly moved to the following midweek.

@Stingray, I won this twice in 2011, you aint got no history

Im a bit of a late joiner to this thread, but lol at people putting down Yilmaz's goal record to being in the Turkish League. The Turkish league is not the Northern Irish 4th division (no disrespect), its a highly competitive league and one of the best league's in Europe (outside the obvious 4 you can make a case for it being the best). The Portuguese league and Turkish league are similar in terms of the standard and the quality, people thought Falcao might struggle with the step up to one of the big league's, oooppsss. If we lose out on Cavani i would happily take a punt on this guy for £20-25m, 67 goals in 82 games (over the last two season's) is not to be sniffed at.

That's what Mourinho said, he told the press in 2004 it would be tough to win the title of the unbeaten Arsenal team, yet in the dressing room was marking down Bolton away as the game we would win it.

This is the point i have been making for years. Apart from 10/11, i believe our first Xl has been better than Man.Utd in every season under Abramovich, but their is a reason they win the league's and we win the cup's, because they have a stronger squad. They know the true value of the John o Shea's off this world, something we haven't quite mastered yet.

If they wanted to sell him but couldn't he would have merely remained in the squad and played a Kaka role, but someone at the club were insistent on giving him a shot at number 1 forward role, the fact he played 63 out our 70 games this season truly says it all. Most players value their career's over money when it comes down to it, if Adebayor took a pay cut to escape his City nightmare i doubt Torres will hesitate to do the same if it's made clear he's not welcome.

Because he sulked after the CL final last year meaning we gave him a silly guarantee he would be number 1 forward, im not 100% because it was a year ago and i have slept since then, but i think he said he was comptemplating leaving before that happened.

Torres left his boyhood club to sign for Liverpool, taking a pay cut in the process. At Liverpool (mentioned a couple of years back) he turned down an offer from Man.City that would have paid him higher than what he is getting now. Luckily for us Torres value's football over money, he will want to play in next year's world cup and if we tell him he won't get much game time here he will go. Torres may be many things but a mercenary is not one of them.

Lucky that Swansea and West Brom are not interested in Suarez then.

The thing with Torres that gives hope is he is not one to choose money over football. He won't do a Winston Bogarde, no way. He left his boyhood club to sign for Liverpool, taking a pay-cut in the process. He also (someone said on this forum couple of years bacK) turned down going to Man.City for wages even higher than what he is on here. He will want to go to next summer's world cup and im pretty sure he will leave if there is any danger of that not happening.

This was what he said in regards to playing style 'I want to make the Chelsea fans happy – by results, by our playing style, by the mentality and the personality of the team," Where does it say about playing the football Abramovich supposedly "wants"? Shit journalism, as always.

Fernando Torres is a record breaker. Has any player before him managed to cause a club problem's in two completely different ways?

I keep hearing that we made a mistake not signing Pirlo when we could, we didn't, it wasn't his age in itself that meant we didn't want him it was the fact our team at the time (especially in midfield) were full off late 20, early 30's experience, adding more would have lead to even more trouble sooner rather than later. If our squad were in a similar situation today i would not want DDR for the same reason. But now it's role reversed, we have a young vibrant squad and someone of Danielle's experience is just what we need.

I think it was a myth that he wouldn't have minded letting top 4 go for a trophy on his CV. If he took a team that had Hazard, Mata, Oscar, Luiz, Cole and Cech outside the top 4 places, prospective employers would not overlook that.

Gomez would be good for that price, ok he's not that much of a big game player but he knows how to put away the "lesser" sides, which is as important if not more (see United 08/09) than winning the big games if you want to win the title. Win 17 out of 20 against the bottom half sides then you only need about 35 (give or take a few either way) more points against the top half teams.

That would be good if we can get Andorra or San Marino in the PL.

For every team bar the one he's playing for.

The run for the goal against Manchester United, is the difference between Ba and Torres. Ba makes himself available, moves around. The chance against Villa is another example, ok he missed but he made the movement and put himself in a position for the pass, when do we see that off Torres? Ba is not perfect and should not be #1 forward for us, but he is better than Torres and that shouldn't even be debatable.

@Jibay, Speaking of Alex how has he got on at PSG?

Depends what you define giving a chance? If you think giving him a chance is giving him an undisputed number 1 role that he didn't even get at West Brom then no you will have to wait a while for that but Lukaku will get 20-30 (maybe 35-40 depending on how far our cup run goes) appearances at the age of 20 at one of the top clubs in world football, cannot speak for every one else but in my book that is more than getting a chance.

Rooney stuck 2 fingers up showing utter comp-tempt at our support. It would be hypocritical of us (in general) to welcome Rooney with open arms after giving Rafa so much abuse for previous actions against the club.

It's a start tho, Wilshere got his chance at Bolton and because of that was made a member of the squad for the 10/11 season. Because of an injury crisis in the midfield however he got to start a couple and took the bull by the horns and since then (when fit) plays. Which way do you mean taking a chance? Lukaku will be in the squad next season and will get his fair share of games, that in my book is getting a chance but some think to give Lukaku a proper chance we have to fully trust him and give him an undisputed number one role he didn't even get at West Brom.

Running with the ball would fall into this category http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tDNCA-rEWo Little tricks to make space, he did that in his PL debut against City, had 2 players on him in his own 3rd (i think one of them was Yaya Toure) and a piece of skill took him away from both of them (can't find the video for that but remember it well). What your see at 4:08 at this video aswell Protecting from defenders falls into the strength part, something that is easier to pick up in his later life than natural ability is.

We are one of the top clubs in world football not a youth charity, i would love a young player to come through if they do it on merit, not just for the sake of saying "we play young players". If they are good enough, then they will fight off whatever competition is put infront of them to get in the team. Imagine if we gave Carlton Cole "a chance" instead of signing Didier Drogba? All the players you mentioned will get a chance to play somewhere along the line and it's up to them to grab it with both hands.