MetsajCFC

Welcome!

We won a point, they just lost two. 5 point gap still there, excellent given the terms we went into this game on the back of a 120 minute semi-final and losing 2 players to injury plus one suspension against Liverpool. Hope Willian's alright.

Welcome!

For the last goal? It was Mikel.

Couldn't have asked for a better window if Remy does join.

Surely not. Why should we? If that was the case he'd be sitting on bench or in the reserves for 2 years. No point loaning him out for free.

Sky Sports: The Milan Channel - AC Milan's official television station - is reporting tonight that Fernando Torres will arrive in Italy on Saturday morning to undergo a medical with the Rossoneri. It's claimed that the 30-year-old has agreed to the transfer, and has waived a payout he was owed by Chelsea in order to push it through.

Welcome to TalkChelsea, friend! I don't think Torres is that bad at all. He has just lost lots of confidence ever since he joined Chelsea, lots of pressure and fans-media aren't helping either. Plus constant injures when he played for Liverpool. His main weapon was his speed and agility (look up Torres' goal vs United 3-4 years ago where he humiliated Rio Ferdinand) but after surgeries and hamstring injuries there's somekind of mental block for him, he has lost the self confidence.Problem with England is that the media has too much power, they can make a random player look like a worldwide super star (Lallana, Welbeck, Wilshere and so on) while slating a player for whatever they do and I'm afraid Torres is in the second category. Has he been rubbish for us? Absolutely, but he has also done well sometimes, which is widely ignored. I think moving to Italy is the best thing for him and and Chelsea, it will give him a new breathing. I think he will be good for you guys, form is temorary, class is permanent.

Marin was signed because the club was making preparations for life in the Europa League. We needed new blood in badly and had we not won CL that year we'd be in a much different situation right now.

All very true, but Arsenal, atleast for me, never came across as intelligent in the transfer market. Last time they had tons of cash they bought Özil (tons of potential but doing a Torres at the moment) and let Fabregas sign for us.

Arsenal going through is more of a positive for Chelsea. Firstly they'll have extra competition to play in, meaning they'll have to divide their focus from the league plus let's face it with a display like tonight Arsenal won't make it too far either. And secondly Premier League's rating won't drop, meaning there'll be 4 UCL spots for English top division.

Brilliant second half, Ivanovic and Courtois we're both worthy of MOTM. Willian was very sharp aswell, Oscar has to get his act together.

Brilliant display, especially the first half with absolutely stunning combinations and that's only the first game of the season, imagine when we get the "engine" going. Well done to everyone.

Valid points, can't argue

Not the same thing at all. Mourinho is a world-class manager who will still be one of the best even at 40,50,60 years of age. Whereas Lampard is a club icon and has been the club's "face" for such a long time and at the age of 36 has little to offer footballing terms - though his influence in the dressing room and the experience he brings to the squad can't be underestimated. Wouldn't be easier and more respectful to spend the 6 months somewhere else and not upset majority of fanbase? Football is business but you'd expect that kind of mutual respect from a player like Lampard. Question is why City if it's only 6 months anyway? Only reason I can think of is that he still wants to get into England team. I do wish him well though, been a loyal servant of the club for such a long time, this move won't change much in my eyes. Managers change clubs all the time and top-top managers are hard to come by, especially as impressive record as Mourinho has in the Premier League and also in other clubs. So no, it'd be quite understandable (although strange) to see Mourinho as the manager of some of our direct rival club and I'd wish him well especially if we have a manager at our club who is doing well.

Anyone noticed sales or discounts on Chelsea baby kits anywhere?

Seems very down to earth guy and a professional player plus he actually has accomplished something on the highest level. Welcome back and all the very best to him!

Money and contractual obligations are the reason he is still here.

Listen, we can speculate and guess why he is supposedly being sold but in the end of the day we don't have the full understanding of whats going on behind the scenes. It has to be a Mourinho decision to off-load him and it can be for numerous reasons. He is very talented young player but if Mourinho feels we can cope without him and we'd benefit from the money we'd get then it's the way forward. No player is bigger than the club and Mourinho is paid to make decisions, either way you look at it there'll be people not content with the eventual outcome. Only Mourinho and the club know what is actually going on and reasons behind them, not the media and certainly not the people who supposedly know Lukaku personally. Lukaku is a young boy who made couple basic PR errors and had ruined his image to many supporters of Chelsea permanently, including myself, and instead of cleaning up his act went on to pour some more oil into the fire. I'm sure he'll be a decent player in years to come but we need players who say "We" instead of "I". Can't wait to get rid of Torres either, but that's a whole another story.

Worst kept secret in world football so couldn't say I'm surprised. Surely still has a lot to offer, welcome back Drogba! Just leaving a link here with Mourinho's quotes and thoughts on Didier Drogba, reasons why we signed him: http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11095/9394595/transfer-news-didier-drogba-will-re-join-chelsea-in-the-next-few-hours

New league - new managers - new start! TalkChelsea XpertEleven League is looking for new managers! After discussing it through with remaining active managers in our league, we've decided to form a new league to encourage new managers to play the game, balance the playing field and promote healthy competition. The old league had been running for 3,5 years in which time many of the old managers have quit, new members have joined but it has led to a big gap amongst the teams, making it very difficult for new managers to get into the game and spark an interest in them. So we've decided that we'll all start from zero again for a fresh start and an even playing field. What is XpertEleven? - it's a FREE browser-based game where you'll be able to manage a football team and guide them to glory. It literally takes 10 minutes a week at most but will in return offer tons of fun, excitement and drama especially when end of the season beckons. "Easy to play, hard to master" - is their slogan and it's very accurate. How to join? - at the moment we're recruiting people in order to see how many people would be interested so we can decide if we'll go with two-tier league or one-tier league system. At the moment it's off-season period. Let us know on TalkChelsea Xpert11 discussion thread (http://forum.talkchelsea.net/topic/8767-talkchelsea-managers-league-chat/page-146) that you're interested in joining and also make an account on XpertEleven (http://xperteleven.com/) so you'll be ready to join the league!

So it'd be Costa-Lukaku-Torres? Not bad actually!

Quoting posts from august 2012? I think that answers it..

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Rest in Peace