lionsden

We desperately need a face palm and bang head against the wall emoticon added to the library of smiley on here. I also agree with the delete post suggestion.

Yes they have lost Falcao and their manager but the core of the team remains the same. in addition to that the team spirit, squad depth and quality that made them a competitive force last season simply wouldn't varnish overnight. When we lost Mourinho and a couple of key players in 2007, we didn't exactly become a relegation threatened team did we?

TBH UCL Group stage and 2nd round draws have been favorable to us in the last 5 years. and here's hoping that luck continues. 4 teams I hope we avoid at any stage of the competition except the final are Barca, Real Madrid, United and Porto.

I bet Bayern are regretting the decision to release him big time now as they have such a poor defence. I just hope the Chelsea Board don't suffer the same fate as Bayern in the future given the alarming rate at which we are disposing our academy product.

Teams like Spain and Barcelona should be banned from the sport temporarily to promote healthy competition

But would you rather have a cunt like Suarez or a saint like Heskey or Crouch in your team

Do you reckon BVB can manage to hold on to him for more than 2 Years?. I'm still surprised he hasn't been linked with some big European club's yet this summer.

Definitely. I can't wait to see him and Gotze in the UCl this season. The german National team scares me to death tbh lol. Similar to Belgian and Spanish NT. . . Too many talent to choose from

We are gonna have to agree to disagree on this one guys

DL is a similar player to Vermaleen. Defenders with superior technical ability (by the average defender's standard) but shaky defensively and prone to committing errors at the back. He still has a long way to go.

Excellent defensive pair there but I would prefer Dortmund's Mats Hummels, who I feel is the most underrated footballer currently, to Thiago silva. They should have his picture next to the word unbreakable in the dictionary.

I see your point. To an extent I feel Ramires is similar to Park in that regard. don't you think?. even though his energy level has dropped slightly since returning from Copa America. I agree with you on the importance of a workaholic in the team though.

Meh. Can Park significantly improve our main weakness, lack of creativity?I seriously doubt that

Wayne Rooney without a doubt. He makes Man Utd thick and would vastly improve our team. sometimes I feel he's more of a playmaker/attacking midfielder than a striker. Honorable mention: Kompany, Silva and Van persie (if he can manage to stay injury free that is)

I seriously hope you are joking

Great post Like I said on the other thread. Our priority this season should be the rebuilding of the squad. If the transitional period comes at the expense of winning trophies then so be it as the benefit will outweigh the risk in the long run. If by the end of may the likes of Josh, Sturridge and Betrand have not been given ample game time (18+ appearance minimum) then we should consider this season a failure.. . .that is the target we have to set for the next two seasons.

Fair enough. I'm just tired of the same old shit. I don't care about us winning trophy this year as long as we use this season as a transitional period to integrate youth with experience and change our style of play. that's all I'm saying.

Fair point but what baffles me is that some of the so called experience or as you put it "safer bet" have been mediocre. Using Lampard as reference, do you honestly believe that Josh could/would have played anymore poorly than Lampard in our last 2 games? I can totally understand his conservation to play youth if the experienced players are playing well but that hasn't been the case.

How many games did it take Fergie to start having 100% confidence and faith in the youth. . . .right from the opening game of the season. Josh should have started ahead of lampard for the WBA game factoring Frank's dramatic drop in form. Fergie could have easily chickened out tonight and opt for their experienced and league's joint highest goal scorer last season (berbatov) instead of wellbeck against a superior opponent to WBA (spurs) but no He didn't and the faith he showed in the youngster(s) paid off.

I hope AVB is taking note from fergie on how to ease the youth into the starting X1/1st team. Can anyone seriously tell me that Wellbeck would not have been overlooked for Drogba and Lampard selected in place of cleverly for tonight's game (in Chelsea's context) instead the generic argument from some fans and AVB (if his decision was questioned) would have been "they are not ready to start premiership games yet", "experience is highly crucial at this stage" . . . .

He needs a Gillette endorsement like Beckham

Or maybe Lampard is past his prime and should be relegated to squad player instead of finding a way to play an aging and out of form player week in week out of position to accommodate a new competition. Seems illogical especially when we are not lacking in DM position with Mikel and Romeu occupying that role. Giggs's limited role at United has been extremely effective in getting the best out of the veteran and most Chelsea fans feel it's time Lampard take a back seat to the next generation/ new playmaker.

Excellent post. The sooner people come to terms with this, the better.

Why do people always compare Mikel to Essien even though they play different role on the pitch?

Bravo, monsieur a parlé