lionsden

They won the FA cup and finished 3rd with the same amount of point as us. . .that's a clear sign of improvement from the previous seasons and indicates their players are gradually finding their feet and they could only get better next season. To answer your question David silva Yaya Toure Kompany Joe Hart Tevez all flourished last season

That's just fantastic . . .while we are stuck with kalou, Anelka and Torres

Does AVB think all the clubs, agents and players involved will cease transfer negotiations until he's ready to dive into the market?

He, alongside many other targets, would have probably been snatched up by more active clubs before AVB completes his "squad assessment" Other clubs are certainly not awaiting our serious involvement in the transfer market neither are the sought after players and the selling clubs

Aguero would be the more ideal signing tbh. he's technically superior and proven. we don't need lukaku when we have sturridge who I rate more highly than the belgian

Madrid fans had faith in Mourinho to resurrect kaka and you know the rest of the story Imagine if Jose had trusted the brazilian with the creativity responsibility of the team and hadn't bought Ozil and Di maria

our midfield has never been good enough since we lost ballack and deco

would you be willing to bet your mortgage on Torres replicating the form he showed in his first season at liverpool next season?

How many of those strikers can be classified as world beaters in 2011? kalou?Anelka?Torres? I can't count on any of our strikers bar Drogba (to an extent) to lead us to glory next season

Why would a chelsea fan be envious of Man city? The only team in Manchester that is worthy of an admiration is Man utd

Players in the mould of Aguero, Ganso, Modric, Sanchez et al are the caliber of signings we need if we are serious about changing our football philosophy to a more attacking and progressive style and become more competitive at home and in Europe. We seriously lack technically gifted players in the team . . Players who can break opponents defensive resistance and consistently produce something out of nothing. . The fact that only a few percentage of our goals in recent years have come from open play and we have had to rely heavily on set pieces in order to score reinforces the need for this type of players.

I hope we take advantage of the opportunity but we haven't even shown interest in Aguero this transfer window yet. . .the story is probably bullshit

Makalele was uniquely exceptional and a universe apart from Parker in terms of quality. don't compare apples with oranges. it's equaivalent to using Zanetti/maldini as benchmarks to suggest most full backs can play well at the top level into their 30's If he was so good, why did he end up at Newcastle and later westham after leaving Chelsea? world class players will always attract big clubs especially in their prime We don't need another 30 year old average player in the squad, we are looking to trim the average age of the squad and not extend it. We can buy a younger quality DM or use Josh as an emergency back up to Mikel. . .that may not be his natural position but he's looked very comfortable in that role.

Nah what should annoy you and Chelsea fans in general the most is the fact that Sturridge has higher probability of leaving the club than the likes of kalou,Anelka,Malouda and Bosingwa

Exactly. Have you noticed that Sturridge tries too hard to prove his quality whenever he plays for Chelsea which could explain why he flourished at Bolton as he wasn't faced with the pressure of fighting for a place with the likes of Drogba,Torres,Anelka and Kalou while on loan. he simply played without restrictions at bolton and that's the problem most of our youngsters including Kakuta faces.

The problem with the slow approach in the transfer market is, other clubs are moving quickly and if we don't match up with the pace, we might be forced to settle for the rest of the best. besides, it makes sense to make new signings at early stages of pre-season, that way the manager can better identify the best 11, the most suitable formation and system to get the best out of the players and make the new signings click with the rest of the squad before the season commences.

Is this how low standards have fallen? Everyone has expressed concerns over the aging squad and duds we currently parade while our rivals in England and Europe are improving their squad with young, quality players and this is the best we can do? a 30 year old former Chelsea flop. we went from the likes of Drogba,Essien,Ballack,Robben,makalele, Carvalho to THIS. are we progressing or depreciating?

There's a difference between assertion and action. Until I see the quality of players he has in mind and actually acquires, I wouldn't hold my breath.

Surprisingly we have not made a move for any winger as of yet. . .I just hope AVB doesn't see Malouda as our main winger next season

With the current quality of our squad, we had be lucky to finish in the top four. other top teams are strengthening their squad while we remain static. The signing of a new manager is the only step we have taken so far to improve the team. . .AVB could be a great manager but he's not a miracle worker and can only do so much with the current squad at his disposal. if we remain stagnant int the transfer market without buying top quality players and offloading the liabilities, I just can't see us having a successful campaign next season.

I just hope we don't put him under heavy pressure to become the next Petr Cech.

I would gladly trade both strikers for Aguero right now. Premiership and competitions in general is becoming increasingly competitive and for a club with our level of ambition to remain competitive, a potent striking unit that can score goals at will is key. Drogba is too old and has lost the edge while Torres just simply looks off the pace.

The real question is, Are we interested in signing him. . so far in 2011, we have shown very little interest in the Argentinian. I would be surprised if we hijack him under the noses of Man City who are the hot favorites to sign him.

Totally agree.

Bosingwa was undoubtedly our worst performer in this match.not only was he clueless in defence but he's also lost that attacking instinct that he was famous for at porto. he offered nothing going forward I cannot understand why AVB played Josh in DM. he looked very clumpsy at times and unusually negative in possession. . . I lost count on the number of back passes he made during the match and my biggest fear is that he may lose that creative edge if the manager keeps playing him in that position. Lampard looked very rusty and quiet. . very similar to how he finished last season. tired, unimaginative and ineffective. This further reinforces the fact that we do need a creative midfielder. Torres offered nothing in the first half apart from the assist that led to the own goal. .are perople still confident he would bounce back to form next season? The positives I can gather from this match is the brilliant performance of Kalas,Chalobah, Yossi and Sturridge to an extent. I fully expect the Israeli to play a prominent role next season and Sturridge's participation next season would depend on Anelka or Malouda departure. Major improvement is needed if we are to challenge for the title next season and for that to happen, some dead weights such as Bosingwa, Malouda, Anelka PF and kalou must be offloaded.