Slam Dunk

Wayne's decision, or Coleens?

I highly doubt the new owners would want to see Torres leave. They're trying to turn the club around, selling their star player is not on the agenda.

"Kakuta and Chelsea are set for contract talks in the next few weeks but Ligue 1 clubs PSG and Lyon are reportedly ready to offer him an alternative." TalkSport Looks like we will know more pretty soon. I'm sure the club will do everything they can to keep him here.

Cech; Ferreira, Ivanovic, Terry ©, Cole; Essien, Mikel, Zhirkov; Kalou, Anelka, Malouda. Pretty strong lineup that.

Frustrating day, but then again I was expecting that. The game really lacked pace which didn't help our attack. McEachran's yellow was a joke. Great to see Bosingwa back as well.

Millions? Apparently we have put a down payment of £10k, with future add-ons on top. He is German born. http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/oct/14/chelsea-gyasi-northampton-town-boy

Josh McEachran Sky Sports Scout: http://www.skysports.com/football/transfers/scout Shooting: 8 out of 10 Passing: 8 out of 10 Tackling: 6 out of 10 Heading: 6 out of 10 Pace: 8 out of 10 Vision: 9 out of 10 Current ability: 7 out of 10 Potential ability: 10 out of 10 OVERALL SCOUT RATING: 62/80 Current value: £6million Potential value: £40million

Terry picks up injury while on duty with England: http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,12016_6437969,00.html

What about Sturridge? Mikel Ramires - McEachran Neymar - Sturridge - Kakuta Back on topic, Santos will be offering everything they can to make him stay, and will be asking for every penny they can. That is the only thing I can foresee which could ruin the deal. In a way I think he was right to stay in Brazil for a little longer, he is so used to being a posterboy over there, and a sudden move to London would have been a massive culture shock for him. Maybe a year to prepare himself was the best thing for everyone.

I knew this would come around again, many people were still/still are tipping him to join us in the future. We offered £25mil a couple of months ago, i'm sure we would still be willing to pay it. As far as i'm aware, Santos were not willing to accept a loan deal. The buyout clause means nothing, Santos could still accept less if the player wanted to leave, if they were not willing to do that we could trigger the minimum release clause and they would HAVE to let him leave. His attitude would definitely be sorted out here as well, there is no way CA would stand for him acting up. It's just because he is used to being the big fish in the small pond over there he has gained his ego.

Mateja Kezman part 2?

Alex out for 3 weeks - Confirmed.

Cech Iva Alex Terry Cole Mikel Essien Zhirkov Kakuta Anelka Malouda Turnbull/Ramires/Ferreira/Sturridge/PVA/Bruma/McEachran

I can see what you're saying and perhaps you are right, he is trying too hard, but can you blame him? He wants to impress. I was merely saying that the reason that he is taking on players and shooting from impossible angles is because he isn't playing where he should be. If he was making runs behind the defence, he would be doing what he does best. Finishing. He can't do that out wide so he HAS to cut inside and work a chance for himself. Maybe it will be good for his development, no-one can tell at this point, it will take time though.

I agree with you in that Sturridge has been disappointing, but I do not believe it is all down to him. I do not understand the logic in using him in the right-attacker role. For me, he seems to be a player that should be making runs behind the centre backs, as we have seen him do a few times before. CA said that he wanted to use Sturridge's pace down the right side vs City, surely Anelka provides that, as well as the ability to beat a player 1 on 1. I feel he deserves a full 90mins playing in the centre, then we will see how much he has to learn.

You have to admit City had a good game plan there, high pressure for the whole game, defended very well at times. Looked to me as if we were waiting for them to tire and then we'd get more chances, didn't happen.

I feel this is appropriate:

Ancelotti saying after the game Kakuta has a problem with his back, although he didn't mention whether he would be back before Saturday. 'We had three problems,' said Ancelotti. 'Kakuta had a problem on his back, Benayoun on his calf and Kalou had a tight muscle.' Source

I think Kakuta looked a little lost on the pitch tonight, he switched flanks a couple of times and put in one very dangerous cross, but ultimately I think he would do much better in a central role, influencing play. He clearly has excellent vision and gave glimpses of a good range of passing. It's a bit of a shame really that at Chelsea we don't really have a position for a traditional 'playmaker', right behind the strikers. Of course now with Kalou injured, I just wonder if either Sturridge or Kakuta will get a chance vs Marseille.

Don't quite think that was 6 minutes was it? Either way, a great game for the neutral. Very unlucky with the injuries as well. As much as a defeat hurts, the League Cup is the lowest on the list of our priorities.

Not our night, is it?

What a fucking terrible challenge.

BBC has live commentary no? I don't think the game is actually being shown.

Newcastle have quite a big game at the weekend vs Stoke, I would expect Carroll to be rested or on the bench tonight, hopefully the same goes for Ben Arfa, he looked quite a handful last weekend. Not live on any channels in the UK, it is being broadcast in some countries however, so expect an internet stream.

I've seen a few teams on here with Ramires in the holding role. Has he played DM much in the past then?