EskWeston

Honestly a loan in the Premier League is long overdue for Ruben, he needs to get out there playing games every week to move on with his development.

The only time you can judge the board and what they have done at the very least is when the transfer window is closed. These days more than ever the transfer speculation is a mixture of actual news, reporters drawing attention to themselves and clubs and players using the media for their own agenda. For all we now we have a number of deals tied up and are waiting for any number of reasons to announce them. Personally I will decide on the boards abaility this summer once everything is done on the transfers.

As always this is a multi level question. Yes it is true that young players have a very difficult route into our first team. But that is true for pretty much every team. We have a high level of expectation because our academy is talked about a lot and it is very successful but the fact is the route is hard. There is no real competitive bridge from U18's to first team. If you look at the article on the CFC website from Neil Bath at the moment he is saying exactly this and more players will start going out on loan to get professional football experience at a younger age. Our academy is always evolving and learning from past experiences and they should be applauded for that. Bath stated that a player needs to have played at least 200 first team games "somewhere" before they can really be expected to make it in Chelsea's first team. Tammy Abraham would be the example of this new process in action he is only 19 years old and he has spent a season on loan in the Championship and is now getting a loan in the Premier League. 2 Successful years of Premier League loans and he could be ready for the first team. This is the type of route you are going to see our young players take in the future and they are still going to need to be exceptional to make that route and compete at the highest level. We will see our most loans out to Premier League clubs this year and that is a good thing. We will also see more of us selling off young players with buy back options. The thing is players like Ake and Chalobah are good enough and want to be playing first team Premier League football, have had plenty of loans already and naturally aree not ready for a regular first team starting space. We may find that this option is a cheaper option of letter our young players we have developed go out and learn for real and come back if they make the grade. Basically what I am saying is this is far from a straight forward process and we are seeing Chelsea evolve their way of allowing our players to develop. It is sad to see Chalobah and Ake depart but if they now progress quickly with their experience we can benefit from that down the line and they would not develop in the same way with us and limited game time.

When Chelsea signed up to the NextGen series they signed up for 2 years. So next year Chelsea will compete in BOTH the NextGen Series and the UEFA U19's CL. The UEFA version is only for the team qualified for the CL. 2 very different competitions and at youth level things are very different, just looking at the Semi Finals of the NextGen highlights that with both Sporting Lisbon and Aston Villa in the Semi's neither of whom will be in the CL. However it is only good for us to be playing both as it is more game time for the players and against quality opposition. Still not a solution to the bigger problem of the players above the age of 19 who are yet to break into the first team.

You have to think that United were either turned down by Jose or they have really taken this high minded attitude to the appointment of "our managers have to be blah blah blah blah....." Just like the guff that comes out of Arsenal (we don't win trophies but what a well run club we are) or Liverpool (look at our history, ignore all the negative stuff we are still the best team in the world)... At the end of the day its all about winning. I will be doing cartwheels if Jose is confirmed at Chelsea manager and i am pleased that Man United have taken Moyes on because it puts them in a vastly weaker position next season.

I guess with regards to Rooney the question has to be, would you be happy with him being our big name striker signing this summer? Would he be the type of striker we need to take us up a level? Pointless talking about him in any other position, the number 10 role Mata and Oscar are better and he is not going to play any deeper.

You would think we would have learned our lesson of buying forwards who have seemingly passed the peak of their powers!! Rooney COULD be very good for us, but i do not think it is worth the risk at all and we would be better off looking elsewhere...

It's very interesting that there have been a number of players now coming out and openly discussing the return of Jose. Taking everything into account it seems very certain that Jose is to return, i never honestly thought i would see the day but i think it is going to be great for us again. My only hope is that between them Jose and Roman can sit down and plan out a way to take us forward for the long term, i don't buy it that Jose is ONLY a 3 season top man, i think he would feel it is time to him to create something long term somewhere and that given the right circumstances could be us.

For all the people slating Roman and saying he should go. If you would pick RDM over Roman then you are bonkers. Yes it is surprising that the club have moved so quickly, but things were looking very difficult for Robbie to turn it around. I guess they did not want to let things get any worse like what happened under AVB. Bottom line is i can accept the regular changes as long as we stay in the hunt for the titles. People say we are made to look a joke, so what, it's not as if keeping the same manager for 10 years will make the media or anyone other than Chelsea fans like us.

George is having an excellent season. Has really excelled in the defensive midfield role and has even weighed in with a couple of goals. Hope that soon (probably next season) we can find a good loan move for him and let him get games, i think he will do well on loan.

Chalobah is an excellent footballer and the type of player where the loan system can work for him. For me is ideal to play in the midfield 2 ahead of the defence, he is a top footballer. Want to see him play as much football as possible on loan for the next 2 seasons and come back and challenge Mikel, Ramires and Romeu for a spot.

Thought Cesar looked good against Wolves. Definately need to see him given more oppertunities to grow into the team. But his first outing for us was very encouraging.

Actually a court of law said that he did NOT call Anton Ferdinand that. The FA have made it easy for JT to appeal. If they are accusing him of racially abusing JT (which they are not) then their own rule book states that they cannot charge him if found guilty in a court of law. If he is charged with misconduct of using foul and abusive language on a football pitch (which is what he is being charged with), how have they not charged Anton Ferdinand who admitted in court of using foul and abusive language during the game? The FA have gone with media pressure and have put out a statement initially to make it sound like he has been charged with racial abuse (the media have already gone with that story), they will later reveal what he has actually been charged with, but after JT has been labelled for life a racist.

Well yes but they have also said this: "The Football Association charged Mr Terry on Friday 27 July 2012 with using abusive and/or insulting words and/or behaviour towards Queens Park Rangers’ Anton Ferdinand and which included a reference to colour and/or race contrary to FA Rule E3[2] in relation to the Queens Park Rangers FC versus Chelsea FC fixture at Loftus Road on 23 October 2011." The fact that they have said "towards" AF means that they are accusing him of actually saying the words at Ferdinand, which a court cleared JT of. I thought the only reason they were able to even have a hearing was because they will charge with using abusive language full stop? I guess we will have to wait for the full judgement though. But the way they have worded this initial statement certainly makes it should as though they have accused him of racially abusing Ferdinand. Obviously they will let that fester among the media and once he has been hung, drawn and quartered will they come out and say that he was actually charged with just using the words on the football pitch. Don't know why if they have decided to announce him being charged they should at least announce fully what he has been charged of doing.....

I really don't want RDM to be too negative. We have been nice and positive in our last few games, what we do not want to be seeing is Bertrand and Ramires on the wings to counter them. We could cause them all sorts of problems with our forwards but we need to be positive.

I can understand wanting young players to play. But we have a squad that needs games. Moses, Marin, Sturridge (if fit), Romeu, Azpilicueta, Bertrand (at right back), Cahill - all need to play this game. Piazon is the only player with a shout among the youngsters and i would like to see him given the chance.

I think it was the right move to send him on loan to Bremen, he is playing and playing well. He needed a bridge between Genk and us, playing at a higher level and on a regular basis and that is what he is doing. He is a talent and i have no doubt that he will make it with us, he just needs to be brought along a little like with Lukaku.

I have a feeling we will do well in the League Cup this year given our squad. We will be able to put out a very decent team for sure, something along the lines of: ..........................................Turnbull............................................... Azpilicueta............Cahill....................Terry.......................Bertrand .............................Romeu..............Lampard................................. ..Moses..............................Piazon....................................Marin.... .........................................Sturridge.............................................. Based on the fact that JT and Lamps will start as rested against Stoke. Pretty decent team and using our squad very well too.

Overall i was happy with the performance, i have no problem if the team have a go and it doesn't quite work out because we are trying to find a new way of playing. What is frustrating is like the QPR game, setting up negatively against a team we should beat comfortbaly. We should be looking to utilise our players to get the best performance rather than looking at the opposition and working out how to stop them playing, doubly so against inferior opposition. Oscar was great tonight and hopefully will be the start of a great thing for us.

I don't see why he can't be. Would just like to see him try a few things out more often. We are obviously a team trying a find a new identity, and that is fine. But try a few things not just continue trying the same thing over and over and hoping it works eventually. What frustrates me the most is that every other big club would sign attacking talent and try and find a way to use them as a major attacking force, we sign them and try and find a way to be defensive and still use them.

I would say as time went on his best position was midfield. He is able to influence the game better there and he can be a big influence. I would keep him in that position now, he is a big talent and all he needs now is to mature more and this loan and any future loans will do just that.

So Ramires and Romeu would be awful for that position and should not play there, but Lampard played well last season and for the past decade, been man of the match for 2 England games so SHOULD play there, even though he does not have the discipline to play the role. I am not slagging off Frank because he is one of our best ever players. But there is no getting away from the fact that he is not suitable for the role. Personally i think Romeu and Ramires would be better suited to the role. With 2 proper holding midfielders i see no reason why we cannot play a fluid 3 ahead of them. I see many opinions of what the role should be, it seems that the only player to fit the profile is Pirlo which is silly, to my mid the club and RDM clearly wanted to play with 3 attacking midfielders which is why we have spent so much money buying them, behind them we need players to make the play tick, move the ball around and link up to the 3 attacking mids. The article at the start of this thread explains perfectly what is gong wrong. RDM has PLENTY of options. Tons of them, but we have not seen any attempt to try anything other than switching to 4-3-3 on Saturday which worked much better in the end. The problem is (and it is something Chelsea do frustratingly often) is putting square pegs in round holes. We have so many attacking midfield options there is NO reason to play a left back or a central midfielder in those roles. To my mind there are 2 basic options, stick with the formation and take Lampard out the midfeild 2, or switch to a 4-3-3 to accomodate him.

Yes, as both you and Kellzfresh have said Frank is an attacking midfielder and should be played there. The problem there is that Hazard, Mata and Oscar are ALL better options that him now. What we are doing (or more importantly what RDM is doing) is desperately trying to find a way to shoehorn Frank into the starting 11. I am sorry but i don't care who you are or what you have done, times move on and the best TEAM should always be sent out. We could very easily play in a team with Hazard, Mata and Oscar behind Torres in a similar way to the teams Kellzfresh posted above do, but we have to have right 2 midfielders behind them otherwise it is pointless. We are now taking away an attacking option to allow Lamps to play every game. Just once would like to see Ramires or Romeu alongside Mikel and 3 proper attacking midfielders behind Torres.

When playing 3 attacking midfielders that is exactly what you DO want. Obviously they are involved in the movement of the ball in attacking play but there is no way one of them should be in advance of the 3 attacking midfielders. We are having to play a defensive option (Bertrand or Ramires) in an AM slot to counteract the fact that Lampard bombs forward. This to me seems pointless and completely knocks the balance of the team. Ramires is a top player but in the centre of the park. Bertrand is a top player at left back, he is pretty ineffective as an attacking option. We are completely out of balance at the moment.

Whats the point in spending a fortune on players to play in a 4-2-3-1 and then not playing them and playing people out of position. With 2 proper holding midfielders we give greater freedom to 3 proper attacking midfielders to cause damage.