EskWeston

This has been quite amazing it has gone to this stage even considering the witch hunts Chelsea have had to deal with over the years. Some spotty faced gimp posts a video on the internet which clearly shows JT saying "blind" and not "black" (which i might add totally adds in with the context of that game) which the author of the video is claiming and all hell breaks lose. Even more outrageous it would seem (unsurprisingly) that Ferdinand never heard any racist comment, yet it is still under investigation.

The pen he gave away was soft as anything, should never have been given. How there can be any negativity towards Luiz after yesterday is suprising to me, he was determined to give every single ounce of energy to get us back into that game. I thought he was great. Carvalho played with a similar style and had a tendancy to be a little rash but i don't remember the same level of questioning towards him.

Probably because he was looking pretty rusty, if he had played in the CL as he did for the Reserves it would have done him no favours at all.

The lack of games for Bertrand is even worse i think, Bertrand has buckets of experience. He should be playing games against Genk, Swansea, QPR ect... and let Ash take a rest in those games. It is tough for a manager settling into a club, working on new ideas and getting results under the belt to play youngsters, if they are not getting games here they should be out on loan.

It's not just that he is not playing for the first team, it is that he is not playing at any level. 1 Start for the first team with 1 sub appearance plus 2 starts out of 6 games for the reserves. Just not enough minutes on the pitch at any level for a developing player.

This was always going to happen and Josh should have gone out on loan, AVB could see that we were not overstocked in midfield and decided he could keep him around to help but he was never going to get the games people thought so early on in the season. Josh NEEDS games this age is crucial for young players, i have said too many times now. Anyone who saw Josh play in the reserves on Monday would be able to see what the lack of playing can do to him or any player. If he is not playing regular and improving himself when he does get the oppertunities to play first team he will struggle, see Gael Kakuta for an example of that, Kakuta's playing time at any level over the last couple of years has been shockingly low. I can understand why Josh is not getting played much but i do feel he should have been let go out on loan, the current scenario is not helping him whatsoever.

The Football League clubs will receive increased funding from the Premier League on the back of this but yes the Premier League did obviously put pressure on the vote, even with that it is suprising that the vote was passed. Seen it happen again and again countless times, the lack of games and the quality of the games very obviously slows the development of players in that age bracket, loan moves only seem to benefit about 30% of players. Personally i would have taken it further and gone for B teams in the football league but that would never have got passed in a million years.

At the same time though should a young players ambition and talent be halted to make sure that lower league club gets more money? There are many different arguments to be had over this but the fact is we needed to do something to aid youth development in this country, the idea is that the best players will have access to the best academies. Clubs cannot just stockpile hundreds of players, there is a limit to the number of players you can have in an age group. Plus the rates may be nominal to start with but should that player make it to the first team then those figures will massively rise. In reality that is the fairest way to deal with it and what the current ruling panel started out to but the figures have gone up and up dramatically over the recent years. Change to any rules will upset someone, but i think this will benefit the game in England in the long run.

Indeed it is pretty big changes and in the long run will benefit the National team big time, it won't be fully seen for a number of years but these are really important changes for sure and it is very pleasing they have been passed. Yes the small clubs will be hit slightly but i think having to pay £1.5m in tribunal for a 14 year old is crazy anyway you look at it. We have allowed ourselves to be left behind in the youth development stakes against our European rivals and it was beyond time something was done. I really hope the U21 league will be as beneficial as it could be, there are no official details about it yet. Unless there is a game every week like there are for the U18's then it is not positive enough, 2 games in a month is no way to develop a player at the key ages of 18 to 22 and that is what is happening now.

It will change the rules to youth development in a number of ways, the main ones being setting up a ranking system for Academies, the top academies being able to set up boarding school type facilities meaning that the players get much more training time than they do now, the flip side is that the lowest ranking academies will not be able to take players on till age 16. It is based on the number of full time coaches, and other things. Additionally it will scrap the rule of only being able to bring in players within a 90 minute radius of the club. Also the current tribunal for setting fees for young players will be scrapped in favour of a more rigid approach with small basic initial fees and then the fees growing based on development and future sell on fees, but it will be the same for every player. And very importantly the current reserve set up will be scrapped in favour of an U21's competitive league, which will be compulsary for every premier league club.

Football League clubs have voted to abolish the tribunal system that sets fees when clubs cannot agree a transfer for home-grown youth players. The Premier League had threatened to withhold funding for youth development if the Elite Player Performance Plan (EPPP) was not accepted. The new proposals will guarantee clubs more funding for youth football over a guaranteed four-year period. But it could mean clubs receive lower fees for players under the age of 17. A Football League statement read: "Following lengthy consideration, Football League clubs have voted to accept the Premier League's proposals on the Elite Player Performance Plan (EPPP). "The League will now continue discussions with the Premier League on the implementation of the EPPP across professional football." BBC Sport understands the Football League reluctantly advised its members to vote in favour at Thursday's meeting at the Bescot Stadium in Walsall. If clubs had opted against the proposals, the annual funding they receive from the Premier League for youth development - over £5m-per-season - would have been withheld. The clubs voted 46 in favour and 22 against, with three no-shows and one abstention - while the Premier League decided in favour of adopting EPPP at a meeting in June. But many in the Football League are concerned the current tribunal system will be replaced by a set of fixed prices. The new tariffs will see a selling club paid £3,000-per-year for every year of a player's development between the ages of nine and 11. The fee per year from 12 to 16 will depend on the selling club's academy status - but ranges between £12,500 and £40,000. The incoming system will put an end to the type of deal which saw West Ham sign Sam Baldock, 22, from Milton Keynes Dons for £2.5m in August. Chelsea also reportedly paid the same club £1.5m, rising to £2m, for 14-year-old Oluwaseyi Ojo this week. In addition to the sale of Baldock and Ojo, MK Dons have a thriving youth setup and have used seven players from their youth ranks in their first team this season. But boss Karl Robinson, a former member of the Liverpool academy coaching staff, said: "If we lose our youth players for nominal fees how are we going to survive? "I don't think it is fair. Kids develop at a phenomenal rate at the highest level but are these kids going to play in people's first teams at the age of 16 or 17?" Peterborough director Barry Fry reckons many Football League clubs could eventually close their youth academies. He said: "What frightens me is that a lot of clubs will pull out of having a youth system altogether. "Lower league clubs will look at how much it costs to run their academy or school of excellence and think that, if the Premier League can nick their best players for a low price, what is the point of investing in it?" Fry estimates the sale of home-grown players such as Luke Steele to Manchester United in 2002, plus Matthew Etherington and Simon Davies - both to Tottenham in 2000 - generated Peterborough in the region of £6m. But he added: "We would not get anything like that under the new system. "The Premier League wants everything and they want it for nothing." EPPP will lead to the introduction of a four-tier academy system next season. It will range from category one "super academies" down to category four status, where clubs will pick up 16-year-olds that have been released by other teams. Clubs with category one status will have programmes that vastly increase the contact time with young players, with the aim of ensuring the most-talented youngsters have the best opportunity to fulfil their potential. The new programme will also see the end of the 90-minute rule, which currently states an academy player must live within an hour-and-a-half's drive of the club they play for. The Premier League is keen to stress the new proposals will result in an increased youth development payment for all 92 Premier League and Football League clubs over four years. That money will be gratefully received by Football League clubs due to lost revenue from the latest television deal. Source: BBC

So far he is our best player. I would never have thought this when he signed but given his progression he could be the player who truly can replace Lampard. He gets into the advanced positions so well, and if he can work on his finishing he could get plenty of goals every season, he has already got a good number of goals in addition to missing a few good chances.

Kalas has done really well. It was clear how talented the lad was during his short spell with the reserves last season, a run of games is exactly what he needs. He certainly has a good future ahead of him.

Through injury and the usual lack of games after youth level has seriously dented Kakuta's progression. His current loan move is a very important one, he needs games. It might have been better given his struggles at Fulham last season to send him to the Championship to guarantee games. We will have to see how well he does, it will be a massive shame to have not been able to develop Kakuta's ability and potential into a Chelsea first team player. Tore could look brilliant at times, but those times were few and far between. Was very frustrating to see him waste his ability in many a game. With his speed, skill and strength he could have been awesome but his approach to games most of the time was poor.

It is important that our players on loan have to fight for their places, it makes them work harder. Of course it is no good if they are never playing but Bruma seems to be improving at Hamburg and will have a good season i am sure,

We have known for years that for us to compete in the future, especially with the financial rules in play we were going to need a bigger stadium, with all the big clubs in Europe having far bigger stadiums it has to happen. It has also been pretty clear that the chance of us expanding the bridge for a number of reasons is slim to none. Chelsea building a new stadium at a new location has been on the cards for a while now, but with the current announcement it really is hitting home and not suprisingly it has divided opinion. It is a unique situation for us having the CPO shares in place which very much complicates things for Chelsea. As much it would break my heart for Chelsea to leave Stamford bridge, for progress and for the future i think it is inevitable that we will move to a new loacation. Chelsea need to be very clever about this, there needs to be serious communication with the club and match going fans with regards to location, design ect.. it will be the right way to do it and the only way to smooth the transition over.

Lets be honest, at his age and stage in development he is going to make mistakes. The idea is for him to learn from them away from Chelsea, he is doing very good for himself, if he continues to get played through the season he will be miles better off for it.

Youth team results are typically not that great. Chelsea's philosophy is to push the younger players up levels. This means that we often play with a number of schoolboys in the team. Development is the key here, results would be nice but not the all important thing.

For me i would like to see Bertrand start this one, the 120 Fulham minutes may have but that in doubt, but if you can't start Bertrand at home to Swansea then when can you? I think AVB pretty much confirmed Sturridge will miss this game with the knock he took, we will find out for sure in todays press conference. That being the case i would imagine Anelka starting alongside Torres and Mata. Really would like to see us take the 3 points comfortably in this game, the confidence would do us the world of good. We need to start putting some goals away, the chances we are creating are numerous but we are just not finishing them,...

Luiz is class and can be absolutely outstanding. I would like to see him start more games, i think he offers a lot to our play and the more he plays the better he will get.

This wasn't the easiest game for the youngsters to debut in, ideally we would have drawn lower league opposition but we didn't and they still got played and did very well overall. Ryan Bertrand was solid throughout i thought, nothing spectacular but solid defensively. Still think he has a great future at Chelsea, needs more games now though and i would start with Swansea tommorow. He gets in good attacking positions without being careless. I know there is more to come from Ryan too. Nice debut from him. Oriel Romeu was a real treat. Lets be honest it is so hard for any holding midfielder to get credit for some reason. But i saw a composed player who had a great passing range, did everything calmly. Covered so many times Luiz when he burst forward which showed a great level of inteligence in that position. I think in a year or 2 could be the perfect player for the holding role if he continues in that vein. Was man of the match for me against Fulham. Josh McEachran did Ok. Not one of his better performances for sure but he was as always good on the ball. Want to see him play a little higher up the park though like we saw Mata do against Man Utd, he can do so much more damage there. Romelu Lukaku has taken a little bit of stick for his performance in this game but i thought he did well. Fitness wise he struggled big time once we hit extra time but i think that is understandable. He showed signs of his strength and power, again there is so much more to come from him. Like i said, on the whole i think we can be very proud of how our youngsters competed in the Fulham game. Hopefully we will get a nice draw in the next round to let them express themselves even more.

No Arsenal comparison in my opinion. Our faults in that game were due to us still being a work in progress. We put what is considered one of the best Man U sides under heavy pressure for a lot of that game and deserved at least a point.

Ashley Cole had a good game against Man Utd. But he is coming to that stage where he should not be started every game and someone blooded to replace him. Bertrand is that player, but we cannot wait for Cole to retire and then chuck him in. In my opinion he needs 10 to 15 starts this season to grow into playing with the team and to get the experience of playing premiership football. Next season he can play more possibly split more 50/50 with Cole and then the following can replace Cole entirely. But he HAS to start games. A start against Fulham tommorow would be start, and i would follow that up with a start against Swansea, those are the games where it is ideal to play him. There has to be a development path with these young players, same with Josh, AVB will do him no favours by stopping him go on loan and not giving him any playing time.

The press are a useless pile of s**t. Not one match report has gone in to analyse the attacking play of both teams and the fact that it was one of the most entertaining games between any of the top teams for years. Instead they focus on obvious bits of negative Torres miss, Rooney Miss, Coles tackle ect.... worse than bloody Heat magazine.

Tough to choose between Torres, Mata and Ramires. But i went for Mata because he was so influential in everything we did in an attacking sense...