EskWeston

Will be interesting to see how AVB approaches the Carling Cup, especially as we are playing a Prem club. If it were me this would be my team: .................................Cech................................. Ferreira...........Luiz............Alex............Bertrand .................................Mikel................................. ................Romeu.................McEachrean.......... Kalou.......................Lukaku.................Malouda Still a very strong team with and input from the young players, giving also game time to the fringe players to see what they can do.

What a cracking game that was, we fought like champions in this game and were it not for a few things not going our way (2 offside goals, Ramires and Torres missing clear chances) we could have easily drawn or won that game. As AVB has said before this game, you can prepare as much as you like but there are always the things that happen you cannot predict. Had this game been 2 months down the line i think we could have edged it even more. Some brilliant football was played and some great performances, Torres looked sharp and lively even with the miss, his goal was exceptionally well taken. Ramires is becomming a key player for us in my opinion such energy. Meireles is looking at home and offers something new to the holding role. Mata is one hell of a signing, just what we have been needing. The signs are good, AVB is going to create something special at Chelsea, i can feel it, it may not all come together this season but it will. Was interesting to see how well we played without Lampard, to take on the Mancs without Lamps even a year ago would have been unthinkable but we did. Defeat, but with some huge plus points.

He will definately get there. 2 very good assists on Tuesday, he will grow in confidence and the goals will come, hopefully starting with United on Sunday. So much unnessary talk of him, not as if we have ANY prolific strikers at the moment...

To be fair he is right, things will improve in that though i am sure....

LDN Blue gave a very good overview on both Billy Clifford and Todd Kane, i would add to that though that i am not 100% sure that Clifford's future lies at right back, when he is played in midfield he can be an absolute demon dominating game and showing some immense skill. Both are top quality players, Billy in all probability will go on loan this season. Todd Kane will not but will feature heavily for the reserves. At the moment we do not have a lot of wingers especially with Tore and Sala sold in the summer.

Billy Clifford has confirmed on his Twitter that he has just signed a new 4 year contract. Excellent news for a young player who is showing so much promise. Such a versatile young man also, alble to play as a right back or in midfield. Really has a bright future.

With the squad we have and the way that Villas-Boas wants to play then this is our best forward line. I am sure we will see it tommorow and i hope it proves to be as successful as it should be. We really need to kick into gear now and hopefully playing these 3 will really push us on this season.

Surely you have to question Dalgleish though, Meireles was their player of the year now all of a sudden Henderson and Adam are better players than him? Not in my eyes.

Yes but Lukaku was all ready to come on before the penalty was awarded so even though he didn't have to be so brave it was still a bold move from AVB.

Villas Boas team selection will certainly be an interesting one. He has shown he is not scared to try things (bringing off Kalou early and about to bring on Lukaku for Torres when we were still drawing) which is very important i think. Drogba being out means Torres is 100% to start, will look forward to seeing a front 3 of Mata, Torres and Sturridge. The midfield is an interesting one also, Ramires has been in fine form, Mikel has been very strong too. Does AVB drop Lamps and let Meireles play behind Torres, i would be very tempted to do just that. Also given the way we have been caught behind our back 4 of late it would be a good idea to bring Luiz back into the fold, the pace alongside JT will be very useful and having Cech back is invaluable. Still looking forward to seeing Romeu in action too, hopefully can get a spot on the bench this week.

It is a lot easier to afford chances to a young player at a club like Bolton. Chances are that Kakuta will be a higher quality than the players in the Bolton squad, whereas at Chelsea he has to get past some of the best players in the world. Too easy to make the judgement you have, in reality it is far less simple.

IF Kakuta gets the games then this loan will be brilliant for him. He is supremely talented and just needs to be played to develop to a level where he can be very useful for Chelsea. I am keeping my fingers very much crossed that he gets the same oppertunities that were given to Sturridge when he was there.

Gael Kakuta has tonight joined Bolton Wanderers on loan until January 1. The Frenchman helped his country to the final four of the Under 20 World Cup in Colombia this summer and will now link up with Owen Coyle at the Reebok Stadium, following in the footsteps of Daniel Sturridge, who had a very successful loan spell at Bolton last season. To date, Kakuta has made 16 Chelsea appearances since making his debut in a 4-0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers in November 2009. The playmaker spent several months on loan at Fulham last season under Mark Hughes, appearing seven times in their colours and scoring his first senior goal in their 3-0 win at Sunderland in April. He signed a long-term deal with the club in December 2010 which will keep him at Stamford Bridge until 2015. Source: Chelsea FC

Patrick van Aanholt has today joined Wigan Athletic on a season-long loan deal. The left-back, who celebrated his 21st birthday on Monday, signed a four-year deal at Chelsea in May and will join Roberto Martinez's side for the rest of the campaign in order to gain first-team Premier League experience. The Dutch Under 21 international has so far played eight times for Chelsea in competitive fixtures, as well as appearing regularly on loan for Coventry City, Newcastle United and Leicester City in the Championship. Source: Chelsea FC

Hell NO! Stoke can ask all they want, but i hope Chelsea are telling them to f**k off. Lukaku has already shown what he can do for us, he had a great debut, and with Drogba well short of form and Torres still not up to top level we have a need for Lukaku.

This is a deal that is pretty certain to go through i feel. Although again loaning out would be good for him with Genk in the Champions League, but we are in real need of wingers. Still would be very good to get him signed up to us one way or the other.,

Well this loan always was on the cards, but we definately need some more attacking flair in our team and maybe Davila could have done a job. One for the future though, hope he really does well there to come back next season and make an impact with us.

Once again the discussion of the progression of young players has reared its head on the TalkChelsea forums this week. This time it was in relation to Lucas Piazon, who although cannot play until January is about to come over and spend the time between now and then training with Chelsea. The discussion was mainly around when we would see him in the first team and how he will break through. It is a familiar discussion when talking about Chelsea youngsters and a topic that is not easily answered. I will,however, give my view on this topic. Chelsea have world class training facilities, for both senior and younger players. Our academy is top class and we are producing some real quality players, but many people are confused as to why we have been unable to bring through a youngster to the first team. First of all I would have to say that JoshMcEachran having now made 17 first team appearances at the age of 18 is pretty good and a sign that we are capable of bringing through youngsters. There is an argument however that Josh having proved himself in the first team should have had more than those 17 appearances which is also a fair point. The disappointing thing for me is when our young players arenot given a real chance to improve. There seems to be a feeling among supporters (and within the club it would appear) that youngsters in our first team have to be world class first team regulars or not used at all. We have yet to get the balance right with regards to bringing through players and allowing them to develop in first team games. We have seen numerous games where we have well in front and in control and rather than give a youngster 20 or 30 minutes we have brought on a older member of the squad who could well be starting in the next game anyway, for example Kalou rather than Kakuta, Malouda intomidfield rather than McEachran, Zhirkov instead of Bertrand. It is these opportunities which must be afforded to young players if they are to be integrated into first team football. The loan system can be very good for young players, but itis 50/50. You are totally in the mercy of coaches of the loan team as to howand when the players get played and it can be that the player will get played hardly at all which is a totally pointless exercise. In this country we have areal problem with the development of young players between the ages of 18 and20, the reserve system is no real stage for development, there are too few games and the competitive level is just not there. We will always be behind countries like Spain and Germany whilst their youngsters are given far better environments to develop at these age groups. In my opinion the FA in this country need to take a real hard look at this because it needs something like reserve teams in league football or a serious U21’s league with the same amount of fixtures to mirror first team football (this has been discussed but never materialised) if we are to see a better progression of young players. However I do think that Chelsea need to better develop their strategies when it comes to bringing the players through, giving them opportunities when you can as I have already stated above is a key point forme. But more consideration needs to be given also. At the moment Chelsea have confirmed that they have bid for Porto’s Alvaro Perreira, a left sided wingback. Many people have realised that this will be a huge blow to the development of Ryan Bertrand and Patrick Van Aanholt. It has been suggested that Perreira would operate more as a left winger than a full back which would not impact Bertrand and Van Aanholt. However, there is no doubt in my mind that were Perreira in our squad and Ashley Cole got injured for a few weeks it would be Perreira that would step in and not the young left backs we have. It could be argued that maybe Bertrand and Van Aanholt are just not good enough but when called into the first team they have proven that they can contribute a lot to the team and not look out of place. Also new contracts for them both would also seem to indicate that Chelsea DO see them as being good enough. Will Daniel Sturridge who has proven what he can do for Chelsea in the Premier League be given the starting role he deserves upon his return from suspension. Or will we continue with more experienced players who have yet to prove they can contribute more than Sturridge? I would say if Sturridge is not going to get a regular starting place this season within our squad then we are always going to struggle to bring him through.As I said at the beginning there is not easy answer to the question of developing youngsters, but one thing I am very sure of is there needs to be improvement. Improvement in the set up of developing young players, also improvement in the clubs ability to integrate young players into the first team squad and give them more minutes on the pitch. Villas Boas is another new manager at Chelsea, we will have to wait and see what his plans are for our young players and how he intends to use them and hopefully we will see some positive signs.

Different positions for a start. But Mirolav's ability was there for all to see, even when given a chance in the first team he impressed. This is a point we are failing on, if the players are not good enough to contribute to our first team then fine. But if they have shown that they can make an impact we need to give them every oppertunity to do that and improve. We will NEVER come across a 17 to 20 year old from our ranks who is going to go into the first team and dominate a game every week, which seems to be the expectation at the moment. Realism, patience and understading is needed to develop these youngsters.

Mitrovic and Prosenik are fighting for the starting central striker role for the reserves, they really need the game time which is why Prosenik is still playing for the youths as an overage player. Both of which would be further in their development were it not for long term injuries...... The argument about developing young players is a long and difficult one. One thing that is for sure is that the system in English football is not fully geared up for the proper development of young players. One thing is for sure, Piazon or whatever young players come in have a very tough job of fighting their way into the Chelsea first team. It will be interesting to see how AVB deals with this over the season.

Your absolutely right, it is a constant trend and mainly a problem with the english set up. Players will be top class at youth level, spend the first season of reserves on fire and then it is like they don't know what to do with them, they don't get enough games, the loan system is 50/50 with how much benefit it can give. Only Fergie manages to get his players in good teams and played no matter what their performances are like, Wellbeck at Sunderland last year is a good example. So many players with huge potential see that potential dwindle due to lack of appropriate development between the ages of 18 and 20. Kakuta is another example of that. We need to be braver with our young players, they are never going to come into the CFC starting 11 and dominate a game, could McEachran do anymore to show how he is no where near out place in the first team and has a lot to offer, but still he is overlooked. Either clubs should be allowed to play reserves teams in league football like spain or there needs to be a full U21's league set up with an appropriate number of games played to mirror the first team.

Lol, given the lack of real input from the wings already this season he will 100% start against Norwich.....

Yes, he will be able to play in any friendly game Chelsea may arrange. It will be interesting to see what happens with him, he is very much an unknown quantity. He played very well during the summer for Brazil and it will be his ability to transfer that form into not only a full adults game but also to a different type of football. Will be tough for him.

But still..... sign a dedicated winger.

I am sure that is most likely, although whilst he waits to be able to play a game he is much much better off training with the first team, as he already been seen to be doing. And who knows, he may impress enough to be given a chance or 2 with the first team.