Slam Dunk

Shocking that they let that report be published with such a glaring error.

As good as the pens were, please lads, no more shoot-outs.

Nothing to intercept the deal? We've scouted him for the best part of 5 years, sent numerous scouts to watch him on numerous occasions. We made contact last month about his availability/fees etc and that's fact. What have Spurs done to initiate a deal? They've only had their name linked to him because they are pretty much bang-on for one of the CL spots, which is a demand of Hazard's. Roman has been at Cobham because the trial against him is pending verdict so therefore has a bit more time to check on his club whilst in the country. Stop being ridiculous. Oh, and RE: the 'pending' comments. Correct me if i'm wrong, but Hazard said his transfer is pending, not his transfer to Spurs is pending.

Compared to previous Chelsea sides, we're no longer overpowering/outmuscling the opposition, especially in the midfield (which is honestly where I think we're missing Mikel). On the reverse though, we've a lot more pace about this team on the counter, which seems to be the direction that AVB was taking with the side, getting the ball deep in our own half and moving it quickly up the pitch. Obviously to do that more effectively, we just need a good distributor of the ball in the middle of the park.

Bale isn't a left back anymore. These days he's playing CAM when he can haha. If they want a LB/LM player (like Coentrao), they'll sign Alba for that.

No, it doesn't. He said he could go there, which we already knew. He could also join us, Arsenal, United or City.

Only if Bale left would it make sense. But I don't see Bale leaving in the summer.

Judging by this thread, Piazon's hype is reaching Kakuta-like heights...

Indeed. Been saying it for a while, he's poor defensively. His judgement will get better with game time, but not whilst playing with Ivan at CB (who himself has become very prone to defensive mistakes for a while now). He needs to be playing with a JT-style CB for the sake of balance.

Well deserved you have to say. Great 'underdog' performance.

Football is so cruel ha. Poor guy.

Terrible pen Kolo.

Christ these pens have been good.

Far too many individual perfomances trying to take the glory. Very frustrating to watch.

Watching a foreign stream and i've no idea what the commentator is saying, but he sounds like he wants Zambia to win. Quite enjoyed it, quality of the football hasn't been great, but i've learned of a few new young players who look to be pretty good. He'd already been taken off by then. You're right though, Kalou is very good at pens.

No offence to you, and I'm speaking generally here, but I really don't understand the questioning of the subs at times. AVB knows a damn lot more about tactics than any of us do. It's like when Wenger subbed Alex Chamberlain recently, he was playing well, but he was clearly fatigued and it was the right thing to do. Regarding the Mata for Lukaku sub yesterday, we had been playing for the majority and only penetrated the Everton defence once or twice, simply because they were pressing well and sitting deep. We needed goals, maybe Andre thought that brute strength and aerial ability would work rather than the intricate final third passes, who knows. Either way, there's clearly a reason for the subs, if they work the mangers a hero, if nothing changes, the fans sing 'you don't know what you're doing'.

If you're talking about the amount of votes in favour of AVB, then i agree. It's good to see sense has prevailed, especially after the amount of 'heat of the moment' posts in yesterday's match topic thread. I like AVB, he's a good figurehead for the club's transition. More than this however, as I said yesterday, for the good of the club he needs to stay simply due to the fact that our squad needs major changes and this begins with consistency in the management setup. If anyone remembers/cares, I was an advocate of keeping Carlo for this exact reason.

Ok, I was going to let it lie, but I'll satisfy your requests. Plastic mentality refers to your ridiculous requests to sack the manager with 13 games left. Ok, we sack AVB, then what? Recall Hiddink on a temporary (he won't take a long-term job) basis? Then what? Begin a new search for a manager. Back to square one (as well as the ridiculous calls for Bielsa to begin) with a new manager who will delay the rebuilding of the squad by needing time to assess his squad and attempt to implement a new style of football whilst attempting to keep us in the top 4. Because of the mentality of this club, ever since Roman took over, we have bred the types of fans that are extremely fickle and demand success week in week out. Yet they think the way to do this is to spend millions on hiring and firing every other season, bringing short term success. Now we all know that short term success is great, but it is called short-term for a reason. We finally have the chance for a long term empire (ala Ferguson/Wenger) and you're all dismissing it because you won't endure the rebuilding process? Its pathetic. We have had (read: HAD) great success with a great core of players who were in their prime, and yet now they are all on the decline. Why haven't they been replaced? Why are the likes of Malouda/Lampard still being played? Because of your mentality of short term success. The squad rebuilding should have began a long long time ago. Why was it delayed? Because we were too busy thinking of the short term. For the good of the club, we need to start thinking differently. Now i'm done.

Good post. I'm done as well...Let the plastics have their protests.

If you say so...

215 posts, and every single one has been negative drivel.

1-1.

I wish you would. I really do. Plastic mentality.

Torres, for his own good, needs to be taken off.