Liquidator

Best signing we ever made...

There you go. He's going nowhere. What more do you need? Now can we put an end to all this shit about him leaving because one lazy, half arse bitter Marca journalist made it up to try to get one over on Mourinho.

Between Ashley Cole and Jones? That was one of the worst dives I have ever seen

Good to see his 'I don't really give much of a shit' attitude hasn't changed under his 5th Chelsea manager. Seriously, why haven't we sold him?

Have I really seen someone (not you Cosmin, you made a good point) just say Laudrup would have been a better choice after 3 games, top of the league. It's the sort of mentality we take the piss out of yet someone actually is thinking that way? Jesus

Although it wasn't our best performance, I'm still very happy. Would have gladly taken a point if you had asked me before the game. There was a big improvement in defence, we looked far more organized in that respect. We do need to learn that route 1 isn't the answer when we have players like Mata, Oscar, Hazard at our disposal though. It reminded me of Wednesday slightly how we just lumped the ball forward, even worse considering Schurrle isn't the most physical of players compared to Ba. If we are going to do that on the odd occasion fine, but we need a player strong enough to hold the ball up *cough* Lukaku *cough*

you can but Sky have the right to change fixtures to pretty much whenever suits them really. They probably would get higher viewing figures if they have it in the evening. There are always afternoon matches on boxing day, new years day and sometimes Easter Monday, which are the 3 main bank holidays in the UK during the football season, we just usually end up with a televised match so it would be later in the evening.

blocked the toilet :/

Jose says these are some really good gifs, well done

He's got Moyes in his absolute back pocket for mind games. Moyes doesn't have the stature, experience or reputation to stand up to Mourinho. You can tell he's got right under his skin with his comments about Rooney, which is something Fergie wouldn't have stood for.

Mata was signed by AVB and was our only creative player at the start of 2011/12. We had been lacking any creativity in midfield the previous season and in 2011/12 you could see how important he was with all the assists he provided. Ramires and Sturridge were often on the wings which didn't present much creativity. Like you say, Di Matteo and Benitez did build their teams around him because it was the best short term solution but that was surely influenced by how well Mata played under Villas-Boas. Yes we may be starting a new project under Mourinho but that doesn't mean that Mata won't be an integral part of that. We don't necessarily need to bring in new players like Willian to completely displace our best player for the past 2 seasons from the starting XI. He might not play every week now, he might, it is too early to say. What I meant by my statement is that, regardless of how long Di Matteo and Benitez were here, the past 3 managers have all had Mata as a central part of their plans. I don't know if Mourinho is starting a completely new project and won't build a team around Mata. That is anyone's guess. However, the club has, since 2011, built the team around Mata and nobody does know if that will change or not. We have done so in the past, which is why I assumed it would continue.

Have a bad feeling van Persie will tear us a new one tonight. Would have been a lot more confident if Luiz was starting but Cahill just concerns me every time he comes up against a top drawer striker. I will also be extremely annoyed if Torres starts ahead of Lukaku tonight. What does Lukaku have to do to get a starting place? He has a brilliant attitude that I could only wish Fernando had, scored 17 goals last season, is only getting better, plays for the team, was our standout striker in pre-season. So why would we carry on with Torres? Ideally I'd have: Azpili Terry Cahill Cole Ramires Essien Hazard Mata Oscar Lukaku In reality I expect Lampard to start although I feel that Essien's defensive capabilities would be very useful in neutralizing Carrick's passing. He offers something going forward albeit not as much as Lampard but Man United are not like Hull or Villa where we can play with only 1 defensive minded player in the double pivot.

Loan a player who is happy in London Loan a player who is happy at the club Loan a player who won player of the season 2 years running Loan a player to a worse team in another country Loan a player who we are building a team around Loan a player who is at the peak of their career Loan a player who is one of the best in the league Loan a player who plays a style we want to play Loan a player who is one of our only left footed players Loan a player the manager wants to keep Something doesn't add up here does it? It won't happen

can't remember exact clubs but there were quotes of 'lower Premier League teams'. I believe Crystal Palace and West Brom were 2 names mentioned

I really don't see the point of keeping him here this season. He won't learn anything from a couple of cameo appearances against Championship teams in the cups and someone we have never heard of in the Champions League group stages. It would be the same situation as was for McEachran and van Aanholt in 2010/11. Apparently there was interest in him from Premier League clubs in the close season so I don't see why we are holding on to him when he will be behind Terry, Cahill, Luiz, Ivanovic and possibly Kalas for a centre back position. He would also be behind Mikel, van Ginkel, Lampard, Ramires and Essien for a place in midfield. Even if we loan him to a Championship side again it would still be better than having him with us all season. You can have Mourinho teach him everything in the book tactically but there is no point doing so if he isn't going to get a chance to put it into practice by playing regularly. He's still 18 but he needs regular playing time to progress mentally as well as physically. To be honest I feel that way about a lot of our younger players. There are some that are ready to be loaned out. They have played for the under 21's and are mature enough to play professionally now and need to learn by making mistakes. If there is interest in players like Ake, Feruz, Blackman and Loftus Cheek we may as well loan them out.

It's all a cover up. It isn't scones we have with our tea...

It's a common ritual on a Sunday afternoon in the UK...

I really need a shit

Very difficult I'm afraid. Chelsea focus their scouting systems in the London area. They generally don't send scouts to other countries unless they have good reason to. If you can impress a local side and get somewhere with an MLS youth side then clubs from Europe tend to start to take notice now and again. Attending 'Soccer schools' run by clubs is also a way to get direct interest because the people who run it are employed by the club. There is hot competition for talented youth players in London especially and Chelsea due to their location take a specific interest in South and West areas of the city. Where I am from (South East London) they are more likely to get snapped up by Crystal Palace, Millwall, Gillingham, Charlton or West Ham. Some Premier League clubs also have agreements with local clubs. For example, the Sunday League club I used to play for would give their best players to Fulham academy. A lot of players move academies once or twice before finally staying put at a club so there is no reason why you couldn't take that route. Someone from my school was signed by Fulham age 13, spent a year at Chelsea and is now playing for West Ham under 17's.

Is there a webcam of Levy and Villas Boas's faces that I can laugh at if we pull this off?

I want Ludogorets Razgrad!!! Come on Ludogorets or whatever the hell you lot are called. Wouldn't mind Steaua Bucharest again so we can argue with their muggy fans who think their club is some super club on the same level as Barca and Bayern. Easy group would do nicely, would perhaps be nice to have 1 challenging opponent from pot 2 just to make things interesting

same old 'Rooney Rooney you're a cunt'...

I just don't see how we can actually expand though? We are in a position where we can't just expand a stand for example because we have problems regarding transport close to the stadium, the size of emergency access, houses near the stadium and their rights to light etc. There is little we can do with the East stand- it is already bigger than it is meant to be, hence why we haven't replaced a cramped, ugly 40 year old stand. It also has a seating gradient that is greater than it would allowed to be if we built a replacement stand. It backs onto a railway line and a royal park beyond that- no brainer really, nothing we can do with it. Shed end has the hotels and properties behind it. There are buildings not owned by the club between the old shed wall and Fulham road which would need to be acquired because of breaches to rights to light if the Shed end was rebuilt or expanded. We would also need to knock down the hotels and Chelsea village, which provide important revenue. The West stand is at the maximum height allowed by the borough council from when we were granted planning permission. It took us a while to even get planning permission to build it that high so I doubt we would be able to expand that much. If we were to expand it then the size of the area outside the front of the stand would be greatly reduced. This area is already a bottleneck before and after games because people go to West, MH and east stands from it. There is also the Oswald Stoll Foundation behind the ground which is most likely listed and would suffer from rights to light problems if the West stand was expanded. Matthew Harding Stand is probably the most viable to expand but would require another emergency exit as the 2 we have at the moment are barely big enough for the current capacity. Decking over the District line would need to be constructed, which wouldn't be cheap and some homes on the other side of the railway embankment would need to be acquired (although this would possibly allow us to construct a new exit into the Brompton Park area). The museum would also need to be relocated. To be honest I expect it is bullshit. The club have stated that it isn't viable to expand Stamford Bridge and architects have said it is difficult to make an expansion financially viable.

The only thing I learned tonight is that agbonlahor is a massive faggot

I'm sorry but from my point of view that was piss poor second half. We didn't use our possession effectively enough. Cech was outstanding and saved us tbh. Play like that on Monday and we'll get our arses handed to us.