EskWeston

Yes there are a lot of our young players who are going to be looking at our first team in the summer and wanting a real go at it, Cork, Kakuta, Bruma, Matic and Stoch are certainly the frontrunners but also Bertrand is one who will fancy stepping in to back up Cole and probably Van Aanholt too. However we can't accomodate them all in 1 go when the squad needs to looked at.

Yes Robben was without doubt injury prone, but when you consider where we have gone since i would have taken an injury prone Robben any day. Because when he was fit he was pure class. Some of the things he did in his first season were just brilliant.

It is really not a great situation. Joe at the moment doesn't deserve a pay rise, and the truth is that the only club who will better the wages we would offer would be City. Would United offer Joe Cole the money he is asking us for?I seriously doubt that. He also at the moment doesn't really deserve a pay rise as his form has been way off. I want Joe Cole to stay but he needs to be realistic.

Ribery would be a decent signing. A lot of our summer activity will have a lot to do with what formation Ancelotti sees us favouring. A 4-3-3 will need some serious injection of quality wingers...

Tough tie for us and probably the one i didn't want us to get. However i know we are more than capable of turning Villa over and i am sure that playing for a place in the final is more than enough motivation for us,

His forward play is something that surprised me as it was not something he really had in him when he was playing in our reserves and just goes to show how much he has improved in his various loan spells. I agree that i would like to see him involved with our first team next season.

Sorry, was he watching the same game as me? Everyone expected it to be a boring tactical game but the game i saw was a game with attacking intent from both sides....

Alex showing why he should be first choice to partner JT!! One thing i will say that has become a feature of our play recently is the slow buildup, everything is so slow paced and we cannot break on teams anymore and catch them out of position. Also today there is a bit of lack of urgency in closing down and winning the second ball, hopefully will be sorted in the second half

Not the sort of player we should be looking at...

Robben was pure class, and exactly the type of player we have missed since him and Duff moved on....

I am really pleased that Jack has got his premier league chance and he is doing very well with it. Jack is a player who i like very much and i hope that he can get some chances with us next season, him an Matic looking good for the future of our midfield.

Yip big shame for him to miss the World Cup. And a massive shame for us that he is going miss the rest of the season. Would have liked to have seen him back at right back as soon as possible but that isn't going to happen now.

Ray Wilkins has confirmed Jose Bosingwa will miss the rest of the season, and is due to have another operation on his knee injury, keeping him out of the World Cup. The Portuguese defender has not played for Chelsea since limping off against Aston Villa in October, and will now have to sit out this summer's tournament in South Africa as well as the rest of the club season. 'Bosingwa will be out for the season and have another operation, so that's him unfortunately, and he'll miss the World Cup as well,' Wilkins said, adding that the injury 'just needs clearing up.' In other injury news Ricardo Carvalho is a doubt for the weekend after withdrawing from Portugal duty in midweek, but Wilkins is optimistic that the centre-half could be involved against Stoke on Sunday. 'We have been very fortunate that most players have come back in fine form from the internationals during the week, and there is only Riccy Carvalho that has a slight problem with his hamstring, a little bit of tightness but we'll have a look at that today and see if he'll be okay for Sunday,' said the assistant manager, before discussing the rest of the absentees. 'Michael Essien is doing well, there has been a slight complication which means it needs a couple of weeks longer but he's out [in France] with Ashley [Cole] now and they're both doing extremely well, so from that point of view we're delighted with their recovery. 'It's difficult to give a timescale but hopefully he'll be fit as soon as possible because when we lose players of that quality it is damning on any side,' Wilkins said. 'Petr [Cech] is doing very well indeed, he was doing some half-squats yesterday in the water, and he's coming on very well.' Source: Chelsea FC

Still a few question marks over players fitness for this game, but i would like to see this team put out for this game. ............................................Hilario........................................... Ivanovic...............Alex........................Terry...................Zhirkov ................Lampard...............Mikel.................Matic................... ..............................Kakuta..................J.Cole............................ ............................................Drogba......................................... Just to see something a bit different behind Drogba and to let Matic to show what he is all about in the absense of a lot of midfield players.

Yeah i agree, why take that level of abuse from your own fans? Being forced out of the captaincy by the media to be replaced by a drug cheat and a thug..... The thing that i find interesting with this whole JT saga is that the bint at the centre of it all hasn't said a word, infact i think she has denied a couple of times anything has happened. The papers keep reporting it as an "alleged" affair still.... makes me wonder if anything even happened there. How ironic would it be for bridge to have given up his England place on the back of nothing but paper stirring. Just goes to show the power of the media that they could potentially completely destabalise the England team before the World Cup just because they can....

Have to say you are spot on FB, football reporting has turned into a soap opera and no better than heat magazine at the moment in my opinion. The worst was saturday morning before the city game where you had Pompey who had just gone into administration but the headline on Sky Sports News was "will wayne bridge shake JT's hand"..... it's a sign of what this country has turned into and will continue to turn into. And the England team is the worst of them all, panders completely to the media and i find it so hard to have any enthusiasm for the games at all..

It's a good point, i would very much like to see Alex back in the starting line up again on a regular basis, obviously injuries has been a problem for him. Also i agree with BlueLion that we miss Bosingwa, even though Ivanovic has done an excellent job, another player who i think would be prefereable in the centre back position. I am just not too comfortable with Carvalho at the moment...

Deco should be leaving in the summer anyway...... The problem this has created fo us now is being able to sell him knowing that he wants to leave. We will probably end up having to loan him for the season which does us no good whatsoever....

I see no evidence of a lack of team spirit. There is no sign of the players not playing for each other at all. Media stories coupled with a couple of poor results make it easy to point at the media stories and say that is the reason why. There was no media hysteria when we struggled in December. Truth is we are just not as strong this season. You say that we are self destructing and handing over the title to united but do you honestly think United are looking any stronger than us? If that was the case they would already be ahead of us because we have given them more than enough chances to overtake us and they have not been able to. As for JT, what would be the point of coming out with an apology. Would it really achieve anything truly? Would anyone really think better of him, of course not. And besides, why should he have to apologize? It is his personal life, i would rather he said nothing than do something like Tiger Woods and stand there giving some vomit inducing apology just because people think he should. Terry and Ashley Cole are 2 of the best players in our squad. Footballers will always draw stories because they are overpaid and under-bright in most cases.

Yes you are right, don't think i worded what i said very well. As far as the title challenge goes, it is the weakest it has been for a long while.

lol, meltdown.......

I think the league is the weakest it has been for a very long while. Our squad isn't as strong as it has been, united are considerably weaker and that is why Arsenal are where they are at the moment. Really anything could happen but i expect us to still hold onto it, although injuries look like making it hard for us.

Just thought i would re-start this thread as firstly i didn't comment before and secondly it is a very important thread in my opinion. I don't want to go into detail on players to bring in, because the club have a better idea on that front than me. But i feel investment is needed now and we are carrying too many players who are not contributing enough or not what we need in our squad. I feel like i have been saying this for too many seasons now and every season in the summer i hope it will change, we have made some decent signings over the last few years - Ivanovic, Zhirkov and Matic are good long term investments. We really need to look at freshening things up. I think these are the players we should look to move out: Hilario - Not good enough for a number 2 at a club like Chelsea. We need a top class young keeper to come in and really give Cech a fight, like when we brought Cech in himself he was a young keeper and he forced his way past the excellent Cudicini immediately. Ferreira - Seems to have long past his usefulness, a big surprise when he got his last contract which was a long one too! We do need a right back to push Bosingwa and allow Ivanovic to play in the middle. Carvalho - Probably time for him now, especially considering the options we have with Ivanovic and Alex, both of whom are top class and already playing better than Carvalho. Not to mention we have a number of top young centre backs just itching to get their chances, Bruma being the best of these but Mancienne and Hutchinson will also fancy their chances. Ballack - Despite his reputation it is definately time for Ballack to move on, for me (and i know a lot of people would disagree on this point) i think Matic would offer just as much as Ballack now. Our midfield needs an injection, Mikel, Essien and Lampard are the 3 main in midfield and we need to add to that and shift the rest on. Matic should be used a lot more next season. Deco - Basically exactly the same as Ballack above. Belletti - Similar to above. I know there is the argument for these players, good squad players etc. etc. but are they really? Are they offering us more than a player who will come in and fight for a place? Not in my opinion, Younger new blood in to build a future team around is needed. Also a couple of players i have smaller question marks over are Soloman Kalou and Florent Malouda. Decent enough players but are they the best we could do at a club like Chelsea for the number of games they get? As i said, as part of this discussion the players to come in is not as important. Certainly we need players with creativity and flair. Also there are the homegrown quotas to adhere to. Yes there are young players we can call upon, how many though are ready for real first team duties, obviously not regular starters, i would say Matic yes - possibles - Stoch, Bertrand, Mancienne, Bruma. I would like to see us go for 1 big big name to build the future of the club around, personal preference would be either Aguero or Pato... So basically, a freshen up of the squad is well overdue in my eyes.

We need to keep hold of Stoch, such and exciting talent and has never failed to delivery with every step up he takes.

Bruma did a decent job at right back, just come back from injury as well. But yes i agree, would have been better in my opinion to play Ivanovic at right back at Bruma at centre back where he would have been more comfortable and confident, although i can also see why Ancelotti played him at right back...... No i have not been impressed with Kakuta's performances in the reserves but i also feel that he would and does perform much better in the first team, the pace of the game is more suited to his style, thats just the way it goes sometimes, i would like to see Gael apply himself more in the reserves but i wouldn't let that hold him back from the first team as he is a real real talented player. This is a question which is going to keep coming up and up again and again until we see a group playing regualry for the first team. However when you look at this season we have made massive steps in the right direction, Borini, Kakuta, Bruma, Matic, Hutchinson all had good involvement with the first team which is something we have not seen for a very long while at Chelsea - Sturridge also you can include in that. I think looking toward next season you will see that group get even more involvement than they did this season which is the right way to do it, we don't need to or want to rush them in to relying on them too heavily. For me Matic is the one who i think we will see get the most involvement next season along with Sturridge. Matic has gown into a really classy player this season, for those who have seen even the highlights of the reserve games will not what i mean, especially against Arsenal when the reigns were taken off and he was played box to box. You can include in that little group probably Jack Cork, Patrick Van Aanholt, Ryan Bertrand, Miroslav Stoch who will look to come back from loan and in the summer show they are worthy of first team oppertunities. The jury is out on Franco Di Santo unfortunately and it looks like the end for Scott Sinclair at Chelsea too. For me the bottom line is progress is being made 100% and lets not rush things and let these lads grow into first team roles which they are starting to do nicely. We ARE producing some exceptional youngsters, that is a fact and every year we are going to have more and more wanting to get their chances. Be patient.