EskWeston

From what i can gather it is an U16's competition. There are lots of these types of competitions at the younger ages that go on and by all accounts Chelsea have been cleaning up recently. This is a very very talented group of young players most of which have played U18's football this season. Most notably Lewis Baker, Walter Figuera (has also made a reserves appearance), Alistair Gordon (has made a reserves start) & Jordan Houghton. As i said, pretty much all the others have also played for the U18's already. John Swfit is a stand out name but he has had injury problems. Only a few names on there that are not familiar (Dion Conroy, Ben Klip, Kevin Wright, Ambrose Gnahore,Kinda John Kiran). Would expect this group of boys to do very well over there....

Wouldn't count on it, until things are Mathematically done and dusted Carlo will field his strongest side. I wonder how different things would be if we had gone 4-3-3 from the start and played our normal game? Who knows, Man Utd are still a top side with some great players so it would have been a tough game anyway. A lot of this side will be able to play in next seasons comp also.

Actually we played incredibly badly, so many passes going astray, struggling to create anything in attack, it was a poor poor performance. For me Dermot Drummy has to take the blame for this one, the descision to change from 4-3-3 to the midfield diamond was a shocking thing to do. This Chelsea team play 4-3-3, they play quick high tempo attacking football. Drummy set them up to try and hold to their 1 goal lead and the negativity of the formation and tactics took the players outof their natural game and they couldn't recover. Everything that has been good about this youth team was totally missing last night, and it is such a shame. These boys didn't deserve to go out last night like that. Also playing Josh in the holding role in the second half was another tactical blunder. Again this team has always played with balance, the right type of players in the positions. With 3 midfielders (McEachran, Chalobah and Saville) 2 of them are more defensive and 1 is a attacking midfield playmaker, and to play the attacking player in holding role when we needed a goal was criminal. Our proper football was never given a chance and do have done that at this stage was terrible. Having said that Man Utd are a bloody good youth team, and they certainly physically dominated us.........

At the moment Billy Clifford. Billy is a year ahead of Todd Kane for a start, but also at the moment a better player. Billy is a really exciting prospect either at right back or in midfield. His performance in this years youth cup have been nothing short of supberb. Todd Kane is also a very good right back prospect who can play midfield or right wing, same as Billy, and obviously could have just as impressive season next year as Billy is having now, but we will see. It is nice to have these options because they are all top prospects. As things stand though i think Billy Clifford has more chance of breaking through. George has had an impressive season, particulary in the youth cup, for the youth team he has been moved around all over the park, but his midfield berth for the youth cup is obviously his best position. Tenacious in the tackle (some times a little too much) and skilled on the ball he has very good attributes to be a very good holding midfielder. The way he was moved around the park at youth level made me worry he would struggle to break through with no settled position, but this season he has really shown what he is all about. Next season will be an important one for him and i hope he can progress nicely.

We have a massive fear at this club of playing youngsters. We would rather have an older play playing out of position, which for me is a nonsence. Aziz and Billy are real talents. Both have very bright futures, for Aziz though he has Patrick Van Aanholt and Ryan Bertrand ahead of him and even Ben Gordon. None of those can get a game and they have football league experience. Billy Clifford is a very good right back and a very good midfielder too. I hope he gets some chances soon. We have to have faith in our younger players, we give them no confidence at all at the moment. It is a shame.

The trouble is that we have been waiting long enough, every season we think the changes will come. It will not come cheap either. So firstly can we afford to make big changes (Financial fair play rules), will Roman be willing to add anymore big funding. Whilst i think it is clear that there will be quite a few changes in the summer it is very unclear as to what changes will happen.

It is good to see the Journo's put under some pressure to back up their claims. And to be fair to Gigi she does it all the time. These journo's can write what they like and say it came from a "source".....

We have too many of our key players over 30, that much is for sure. Some we should move on and others we should keep and use a lot more carefully and not have to rely on them so much like what United do with Scholes and Giggs. We have taken far too long to look at rebuilding our squad, it needed to be done a while ago. We need to create some stability in this club in the summer, make some much needed changes and push on in a new direction next season,.

A lot of the youth team players have accounts, to add to the above list: Jacob Mellis - https://twitter.com/#!/jmellis52 Lewis Baker - https://twitter.com/#!/lew_baker Jordan Houghton - https://twitter.com/#!/HOUGHTON_J Ismail Seremba - https://twitter.com/#!/IsmailSeremba Ryan Bertrand - https://twitter.com/#!/ryanbertrand3 Fankaty Dabo - https://twitter.com/#!/inspired_fank Danny Stenning - https://twitter.com/#!/Dstenning Nortei Nortei - https://twitter.com/#!/norteildn Philipp Prosenik - https://twitter.com/#!/P_Prosenik Ben Gordon - https://twitter.com/#!/bengordon91 Danny Mills Pappoe - https://twitter.com/#!/Dannypapps George Saville - https://twitter.com/#!/georgesav77 Kaby Djalo - https://twitter.com/#!/aliudjalokaby And new Brazilian Signing Lucas Piazon - https://twitter.com/#!/lpiazon

Unsuprisingly the media have gone into overdrive on Carlo's future today. The question we need to ask ourselves is if this is just to generate a story or if there have been genuine noises coming out of the club to the journo's to this effect? There is already to be plenty of change at the club this summer but it could turn out to be a massive change...

For me the players we should look to move on are: Hilario Ferreira Malouda Anelka However i also think for different reasons that we could see Kalou and Zhirkov move on in the summer. For me a right back, a creative playmaker and 2 wingers is what we NEED to take us on to the next level.

Lampard should not be leaving the club at the end of the season.... He also shouldn't get played every game irrespective of form. With the older players we have to be less reliant on them, yes we can use them plenty but we have to be able to play without them now because injury and a decline in their play is inevitable.

I think taking things into consideration i think we should give Carlo another season, and a chance to really sort the squad out this summer. There are concerns with Carlo though and he would need to quickly show that he can change the things that are so wrong: 1. Absolutely zero pressing when the opposition have the ball allowing them to pass and play towards us unchallenged. 2. An extention of point 1. Allowing teams to cross balls into out box unchallenged. 3. Quick tempo to our attacking play. 4. Actual support for our striker(s) 5. Making substitutions that can affect a game in a positive way for us. 6. Being able to drop players not in form and give others the chance to show they can do better.

It was a fantastic game, again the youth team showing how Chelsea should be playing. Do not underestimate this United team, they are a very good team and Pogba especially is a talent. To go to Old Trafford with a lead is a very good result for us. We was missing Pappoe and Clifford for this game too, both would have offered big contributions to the game. Pappoe would have make things much more solid at the back and Clifford has been a revelation in the youth cup this season. We have a great chance of going through and i am confident because this team, like last season, are a team with real spirit and determination to go with their ability on the pitch. And yes as someone mentioned we do have a small team, we focus more now on the players ability that their physical attributes and we have drawn great success from that (Despite one newspaper report i read saying Chelsea had the more physically imposing players - what game were they wathing)...... Having Pappoe back and pushing Chalobah into midfield should help us, Clifford is still a big miss though. Heres the highlights incase anyone has yet to see it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4Krz6oAZgs

I agree, we do need a visionary. The obvious is to look at people with sucess. But i say just because someone hasn't managed at a top level does not mean that can't. Even someone like Brendan Rodgers, has his teams playing good football and gets the best out of them........

We were never really in the tie, we created so little in the way of convertable chances. The pen and the sending off just mask our shortcommings. At no stage did we look like we would go through, or even build up enough steam to attempt to. This season has been a disaster and we can only look at ourselves and ask the questions. Big questions have to be asked for next season because there is a LOT that needs to be put right.

Absolutely, Lampards form is only one part of the problem. The other is that he (along with others) get played not matter what their form is.....

For most of the season i have been questioning what has gone wrong with us and how much blame to lay with Carlo. There have clearly been aspects that are not his fault, players form horribly poor, interference from the board with regards to Wilkins and Emanalo. However the way we set up to play most games and the poor substitutions can only be layed at Carlo's feet. We do not play with any tempo whatsoever, closing down is non-existant we are content to allow teams to put balls into our box with no pressure at all and hope we can clear it. We make things so easy for the opposition. The Alex for Ferreira substitution was an absolute joke. In a game that big if Alex was not fit to play the 90 mins then don't play him, or move Essien to right bak and bring on an attacking player like Benayoun or Zhirkov. When chasing 2 goals what sort of substitution was that. I have my doubts about Carlo's ability given the summer to turn things around and get us playing. I do not want to see us sack another manager because we desperately need continuity but i don't know what the answer is....

What a bleeding joke, as if that channel isn't biased enough as it is....... It's not like he is mr bloody persoanlity either!

Big question marks over the form of the players in bold. Malouda especially i don't think we should consider starting against Man Utd.

Basically because he is the only creative playmaker type player we have (other than Josh). Add to that the fact that Essien and Lampards form has been poor. We are doing ourselves no favours by continuing to play out of form players...

For me i would go with this team: ............................................Cech............................................... Ivan......................Alex......................Terry........................Cole ............................................Mikel............................................... ...................Ramires.........................Benayoun..................... Kalou.................................Torres................................Zhirkov Obviously depends on the fitness of Alex and Benayoun. But i would just like to see a team with some proper balance to it. A proper holding midfielder, Ramires playing box to box, Banayoun the attacking playmaker. 2 direct wingers and a target man. There is no chance of this team going out there though against the Mancs.

With regards to Lalkovic, Tore and Sala.... Sala is the oldest and more experienced which is why he has had first team involvement above the others. Sala can play in a number of positions, Winger, Attacking Midfield, Central Midfield, Defensive Midfield and even striker. He has been used a lot as an attacking midfielder mainly because he does not have that explosive pace that we see from traditional wingers but he is a very good player who CAN play on the wing very well indeed. Lalkovic and Tore are your more traditional wingers. Tore took time to get going in the reserves but seems to have really worked hard on his game this season and is reaping the rewards, his physicality makes him a tough customer for defenders and on his day he is unplayable, but those days are still too few and far between. But he has improved a lot this season. Not ready for a break into the first team yet but if he continues to work on his game with Steve Holland next season could be a big one for him. Lalkovic has been around the youth team for 3 years already so he started young. He was always lacking in the final ball and tended to overdo things, i was unsure of how far he could progress to. This season though he has matured a lot and consequently has grown into a terrific player. He has played as a striker for most of this season but that is down to lack of options on our part with Mitrovic and Prosenik out with LONG term injuries. I don't see him as a centre forward for the future, his skills are more suited to a winger and a very good one at that if he keeps progressing as he is.

Utterly wasted there, it is hard to find the right clubs to send players out on loan. But so many loans are just not working out. Connor is top class and proved it at Plymouth, but then he goes somewhere else and isn't given the chance. It ruins the development of young players. I have said it before and i will say it again, until clubs are allowed to put reserve teams into the football league we will see no real improvement with the England internation set up, so many players are being wasted on loan moves.

Indeed, it's a bit of a myth these days that players of a certain style will not cope with the premier league because of it's physical nature. Neymar is young, and should he come he would take time to adjust but he has the talent and most certainly can flourish, like Ronaldo in the Premier League. We NEED wingers, players with creativity and skill badly.