EskWeston

Hmmm, many points on this one. 1. Not sure still if Pirlo is the type of player we need. Not to mention signing 30 year olds should be something we should steer well clear of! 2. Pizarro can go. We have more than enough forwards and it would be pointless to keep him here. 3. Mancienne on loan to AC Milan? Is he going to get more playing time at Milan than at Chelsea? I doubt that very much.....

Bearing in mind that it looks as if we are playing 2 strikers this season for the main part i would rather we kept Di Santo. We can give him the games needed along with Sturridge with less risk knowing they will not have to play the lone striker role.

The guy seems very knowledgeable with what he does, thats for sure. If he can bring in something to help prevent injuries then that is fantastic. It is all about having the right set up, and it looks as if now Carlo has that.

The whole of last season for Di Santo just didn't go right for him. He never got the playing time. His first 6 months with us he was fantastic in the reserves, he scored 7 goals in the half season he was here and they were good goals too, like i say he had a natural instict to finish. Through the whole of last season he scored 5 for the reserves and looked a completely different player. The game against Club America i saw more of the original Di Santo than i had seen for a whole season... If Carlo and give these 2 lads the right ammount of game time they will progress a lot this season. 1 playing with either Drogba or Anelka will give us a very strong attack. Playing 2 up top this season will benefit these 2 greatly i hope.

Both players have lots of ability and potential. I would like to see both stay this season and given the chances to improve themselves at Chelsea, Carlo has to give them the games though. Di Santo lost a lot of the confidence he had last season, when he joined the first 6 months were great for him, he looked very talented in the reserves and scored a lot of goals and showed an instinct for goal, last season even in the reserves he didn't look the same player. If Carlo can bring that back out of him then he can be a very very useful player for us.

This one should be a very good game. I would expect us to start with a side pretty much exactly what Ancelotti will field against United in the CS. It will be the last chance before things get serious for Carlo to have a good look at his players.

Considering we are now playing with 2 strikers there is certainly a role still with us this season for Di Santo. Would be great to see him given the minutes on the pitch because there is a lot of talent there, he just needs the games.

Excellant pre season game, Club America gave us a tough workout for sure!!! A bit of tiredness in there this game i felt, Malouda and Essien looked for sure a bit tired. Good to see some of the youngsters given their chance. Sinclair had a great first half i felt. Hutchinson and Mancienne did themselves justice. And it was good to see Di Santo put a goal away, he worked very hard also, which is no suprise. All in all a very good and worth while tour.

Another solid performance, we have looked very solid so far with the squad we have. Zhirkov put in a decent performance without trying to do too much.

Sheva put in a good performance against AC Milan. I am sure we will keep him around a little longer to see how he can progress this pre season, and possibly if we do sign a big money player who can play upfront that will definately see him go.

It is great to get Mikel tied into a long contract. Every year he gets better and better, he really go a long way still.

Yup thats what i thought. Not enough cash and not enough chances with the first team? He has been progressing really well and would have more than likely had some oppertunities in first team training later in the year... It wouldn't suprise me at all. He has great ability and providing he can keep his feet on the ground (which may not be that straight forward considering the way this has come about) then he can go far in football.

I don't think JT seriously considered leaving. But it does appear that he was after an improved contract, with 3 years on his current contract to go if he came out and said he wanted to stay it would make it almost impossible for him to negotiate a better deal. If he says nothing it forces Chelsea to come to the table with a new contract. I don't particulary agree with it, but we MUST keep JT..

Neil Bath on CTV last night explained what happened with Nouble. He said that Nouble wasn't happy with the terms of the Pro Contract he was offered. On top of that he was not happy with the lack of chances he got to train with the first team, Neil Bath sat down with him and explained that at the moment other players were ahead of him and he will get his chances but it wasn't enough.

Excellant game. We looked very very sharp indeed and we made Inter look a bit ordinary. Played very well in both halfs of the game. So far so good with Pre Season and hopefully it will put us in a good position for the start of the season. After 2 games Anelka and Sturridge linking up well i think.

Still only 17 is Nouble really going to get games for West Ham's first team this season? Very gutted to see him go and i have no doubt we will see him doing very good things in the future.....

We do have a squad right now capable of going on and winning cups this season. I do think the club are still looking for 1 or 2 more signings to just up the quality of the squad that little bit more. We do however at the moment have a vrey large squad, one that will still be timmed i am sure, i do think there is a lot for us to look forward to this season. The rest of pre season is going to be a very good indicator for us and for Carlo as to what we can expect and if the squad does need some improvement still.

If this does happen it will be the first time we have unwillingly lost a player from our youth system, and also one who has yet to get to the advanced stage of his development. (attempting to break into the first team)

Bloody shame if true. But this is what happens with young players all the time. If he does go we will receive a nominal fee at tribunal, but more importantly we miss out on a very promising player we have been developing. The question is WHY is he leaving, if he is going because of lack of first team chances then i hope it will make the club sit up and realise that more needs to be done.

A lot will have to do with Fitness levels of each team at this stage. But yes i am confident we will win this game as well..

I truly hope Malouda carries his form over to this season, because he is an important player for us if he can. Interesting about the diamond formation, i wonder how much it will get used this season?

I would always have Chelsea first. Chelsea is every single day, England is once in a while.

It has been confirmed that a new three-year contract previously agreed with Florent Malouda has been signed. The player who had one year left on his previous deal is now committed to Chelsea until 2012. 'We agreed during my holidays and I have signed now I've come back,' explained Malouda. 'I am really happy because it shows a mutual trust between the club and myself and for me it is just the beginning of the story. 'The last six months especially I was feeling great, plus we won a trophy that was really important to me. I feel really good and you can see it on the pitch and I hope we get more trophies.' The France international sought no reassurances from Carlo Ancelotti before signing but is pleased that he will work under the new manager. 'I was really happy when I heard it was Carlo Ancelotti because I have a lot of respect for him and at my former club Lyon I played many times against Milan. For me it is a really good choice and I believe in him.' Already Ancelotti asked Malouda to alter his game a little in the match in Seattle by playing him tucked inside on the left of midfield. 'This year he wants to try the new system with a diamond so I have to adapt myself and that is why we are training really hard to do what the manager wants. It is a different role for me but that is part of my game, I can play in many positions, and I have played it a few times in Lyon when there were injuries and in the France national team I have played many times this position.' Source: Chelsea FC

Its a shame that Zhirkov won't be playing, was looking forward to that. But still should be a cracking game and hopefully we can come out on top.

The thing is though, it shouldn't have any bearing on him yet. For 2 reasons. Firstly he has only just broken into the reserve team. He would be needing to dominate in the reserves before his next step, which would be a most likely a loan move or a couple of first team appearances like Stoch. So by the time he is ready to become a first team regular the situation will be very different at Chelsea. Secondly his speed and ability means he can play very effectively as a winger, which is where he plays the majority of the time. So he has that option as well if he is looking at breaking into the first team. Does he feel he could break into another team faster? Maybe he could at West Ham, but given time he could also break into our team and play at a higher level. Again it is very uncertain because it was reported he DID sign a new contract. I want to see him stay because the lad is a beast of a player.