dodojojo

Doesn't he want one more try at the World Cup? If Chelsea makes it clear he won't be starting, maybe that will convince him to find a starting spot elsewhere and keep his WC dreams alive. But it's probably too late today for anything to happen.

Why? They don't play the same position do they? Bellamy is more of a striker or supporting one no?

Think club was giving him a hint but he's not taking it. Thirty-one with 2 more years on his contract and asking for an extension, hope the club wises up.

We were laughing at Liverpool's transfer season but they've shown, even if they overpaid, they've addressed every single squad problem bar striker. And if they sign Sturridge, my god. Meanwhile at Chelsea, long-standing issues have yet to be fully addressed.

A bit worrying that we have heard little about Chelsea players leaving, other than Yossi? If no one is going out but one, then chances are we won't be seeing a lot of signings for Chelsea today.

Thank you, thank you. Now someone confirm signing of Modric....or Sneijder...

He has an attitude on the pitch and apparently a bit of sleazebag off of it. Do not want at Chelsea.

Would I be guilty of harping on this if I repeated the fact Ribery can't play in the !@#$$% CL for Chelsea?

Completely cup-tied. How about getting a player who can at least play one CL game, eh?

I truly doubt Torres has that type of influence at Chelsea just yet. He needs to score goals for quite a few seasons. And frankly I doubt AVB would tolerate kow-towing to a player in such a manner. He may tread lightly around the older established players but not bow to Torres whims on transfers. Clearly Mata was wanted by AVB and Torres helped facilitate it. I doubt Mata would have been brought in over AVB's objections just for Torres' sake. Just look at Benayoun's situation. He and Torres are really good friends. If Torres had any pull, why have they hardly played together at all under 2 managers? Why is Benayoun leaving? Meireles played with Torres mostly under Hodgson so the evidence was a bit tainted by the crap football played but they linked up pretty well considering they had to play such negative football. For sure, Meireles would be one Chelsea midfielder willing to pass the ball to Torres. They also seem to get on really well. I don't think Meireles is particularly excellent in anything, he's just a good all around player. He may not be great defensively. The big plus he would bring Chelsea is that he understands pass and move football which seems to have been a forgotten art at Stamford Bridge. If Meireles comes in, I'm sure Torres will be happy but it won't be because he demanded it.

Seriously crazy to bring in Ribery. He's got major problems off the pitch and 37M for a 28 year old? May as well up the price by handful of millions and sign Modric then.

How funny would it be if Malouda joins Arsenal and turns out to be a tiki taka master?

Surely if Yossi is going back to Liverpool, Meireles is coming to Chelsea? How many MFers does Dalglish need? I'd rather Yossi go to Arsenal to be honest. Arsenal are less of a threat this year so Yossi helping them won't be a big deal. Considering the fluid football Liverpool has shown so far, Yossi will only make them better. I want them to rely on Saurez as much as possible for creativity and then have the house of cards come down when he's not available. I don't want Yossi to fill in.

Torres hasn't played well. The service he gets is abysmal. Negative reinforcing negative. The thing is even when his form was off and when he was coming back from injuries, he was able to score for Liverpool. The service wasn't even all that great, but two things were guaranteed; Benetiz would play him plenty of minutes and Torres knew he would almost always get the ball whenever it was possible. The drought has gone on for so long it's a burden on him, the team and as it's obvious here--the fans. I have no solution to offer other than to plead for a run of games where Torres is played in a system and with players that will highlight his strengths, not his weaknesses. Can we honestly say that's happened any time he's been at Chelsea? If he's still ineffective, then I can admit he and Chelsea were not meant to be. Diego Forlan was an abject failure at Man U and look at what he's done since joining La Liga. Sometimes a player and team just don't gel. This link was posted yesterday, take a look at the analysis, they do point to issues that some of us have had for awhile but never quite quantified. When Drogba and Torres were in the game at the same time against Norwich: Torres got 39% of his passes from the midfield and Drogba. That means 61% of the other passes came from four defenders. Four defenders passed more (by a lot) to the main striker than did the four midfielders and his partnering striker. I know Boswinga is one of them and he was quite aggressive on offense, but come on, there's something seriously amiss when Torres gets as many passes from Boswinga as he does from Lampard, Ramires and Malouda combined. I imagine if almost 2/3 of your passes are coming from the defenders, as a striker, you're probably not getting most of those passes in goal threatening areas. Contrast that with Drogba getting 80% of his passes from the midfielders and Torres. So are the midfielders ignoring Torres? Simply a case of him and them being incompatible? They are simply used to playing with Drogba? Whatever it is, it's a huge problem and it's not a case of it only happening in one game. I want Torres to come out and just kick ass on his own too. And yes, sometimes, you know, he should and needs to. But at the end of the day, he's a traditional #9, he needs help and he's never said so otherwise.

LFC bought him for 11.5M but now you have Scousers saying they won't take anything less than 15M. For a player who's one year older and dropped to the bench by Dalglish. Delusional.

If RM really did offer 29M, then yes for Cole. That's an amazing offer for a 29/30 year old LB. If I'm a Man U acolyte, then it's yes for both. They really do know when to let players go as much as I hate their success.

Villas-Boas only worked briefly with Meireles at Porto but there is a mutual admiration and the Chelsea manager would welcome him at his club especially if he failed to land Modric. It is believed that Villas-Boas has decided against bidding for another midfielder, Porto’s Joao Moutinho who he had considered as an alternative to Modric. You're right the article is all over the shop. I focused on these two parts which leads me to believe Meireles will be a satisfactory signing should Modric fail as there's no Plan B for a creative MF. So we could end up with just Meireles (again, I like him and I would start him over Lampard or Ramires) but Chelsea's need for creativity means Meireles doesn't really fit that void.

Oh really? I haven't read that one. Just the Telegraph article. Okay, just read it. I guess we'll know which paper gets right by 11pm on Wednesday. I usually trust the Guardian more...and hope it's right. The Telegraph makes it clear that Meireles is the backup if the Modric bid fails.

According to the Telegraph, Meireles is a backup plan if Spurs won't sell Modric. So actually, buying him does mean Chelsea won't be signing a creative midfielder. It's B instead of A and not A+B=AB.

His injury is a bruised collarbone and he'll be out for 1-2 weeks. Look I don't want him either just because he's basically only coming in if we don't get Modric. Obviously I would prefer Modric. But if Chelsea come up empty-handed and Benayoun is leaving, then Meireles is better than nothing. I

That's a really depressing report. So many potential problems there. 1) Levy still not convinced to sell Modric 2) Modric is a Roman pursuit rather than AVB's 3) If Modric isn't signed, there's no alternative for a player like him 4) Instead, the club will seek Meireles...he's a good player but he's not a creative MF! For crying out loud, him coming in and Benayoun going actually means Chelsea loses creativity. 5) Perreira's deal is not close to signing at all. So basically by the end of Wednesday, Chelsea could end up with nothing at all or just Meireles. I hope Mata is made of steel because if he gets an injury, good luck to Chelsea creating anything at all.

I like that site a lot. Always interesting to read his/their game analyses. There are some eye-opening statistics from this particular game. But I wouldn't be surprised if it's indicative of Chelsea since last season.

The gap in class in La Liga is ridiculous. How can that type of disparity sustain a league...well I guess there's the Scottish league. Barca are playing against one of La Liga's CL teams and they've got Mascherano and Busquets as centerhalves and they're up 2-0 at HT. Que?

I'm with you. The midfield and Torres have taken up all the oxygen that Cole's performances this season have gone unnoticed. Not by AVB I bet. I thought WBA was a bad game for Cole and it wasn't much better against Norwich. Maybe the high defensive line has a lot to do with it. But since AVB is insistent on using it, it would make sense to get some insurance just in case Cole gets benched. Cole was a solid performer last season but if he's slowing down defensively, it only compounds his limitations--can't cross or pass or shoot...well you can see why he may not be untouchable.

It's clear AVB doesn't want Yossi and formation-wise I understand it. But I'm wary of tossing a skilled player overboard when it's clear skills and creativity is what is needed at Chelsea. I hope he goes to Spurs rather than Liverpool. He would help Liverpool by giving them creativity when Saurez isn't on the pitch.