Joker10

Really not interested in discussing anything Kalou related with you. I have no problem with your bias and borderline delusional opinion regarding Kalou. But i do have a problem with how you attack other and former Chelsea players to make your argument about Kalou. It is very unproductive and only garners more dislike for Kalou among other posters. Just for the record i don't think he was the worst signing, and far from it. But he stayed way too long, he showed little to no progression and proved unreliable at times at Chelsea. He should be thanked for his contributions at Chelsea, but it is a really good day that he has been released.

"Not taking away the goals and what he did" *few sentences later* "He scored 2 against a rubbish Ireland side," and "1 against an Italy who have already given up"

I don't think you are alone, i don't think it was convincing either.But why take anything away from what he accomplished? Fact is he won the Golden boot, few players have accomplished that, and did really well in the opportunity he was given.

Well tbf he didn't have the greatest financial backing from G&H, so he had to sign 2nd tier players. But no doubt he had some bad ones. But nowhere near as bad asKenny Dalglish. I actually like Rafa mainly because of his time at Valencia, maybe one of the few among Chelsea supporters who rates him as a manager. I think he has the same problem as AVB, poor players management and far worse with handling the media. Anyway i rather have the board and a group make the transfer decisions, as long as they have a clear philosophy and bring in managers who share the same views. It is much easier to have stability that way, then bring in players by different managers with completely different tactics and philosophy. Barcelona is the best way to run a club, i don't mean to replicate their playing style. But the fact they have kept that playing style and philosophy for decades. So i would like to see us take a similar approach.

Rafa Benitez transfers was not that bad.

Wait didn't Hazard play most of the season on the left? From what i understand he spent as much time on the left as Mata did this season.

Last summer we were strongly linked to Alvaro Pereira, and even AVB commented on our interest. There was definite interest and intention in signing him. So Bertrand being given his chance is due to our failure of not signing Pereira. Also AVB Sparingly used Bertrand, and preferred Bosingwa on the right, so RDM appointment and his trust in Bertrand was also key. His future outlook with the club wouldn't be what it is now if RDM wasn't appointed or if we were successful in signing Pereira. I also disagree on your comment about Carlo eventually using Stoch. Because Sturridge didn't get his chance even though Kalou, Malouda, and Anelka were shit. So I am not sure if there is any evidence of him being used, and i also remember Carlo using Paulo at CB even though we had Bruma. So overall I completely disagree, being patient and good enough is not enough, because that opportunity might never come. Bertrand case only shows how unique and rare his case is. The blocking development argument is very valid imo, it is the reason why we only have Terry from our academy in our starting squad, and Bertrand the only one in our rotations.

He signed an extension earlier in the season, would love to see him here though. He has definitely been Italy second best player after Pirlo.

No he was not brilliant against Italy, he was not even the best in their midfield Rakitic was, and i could possibly argue Vukojevic was better in their midfield too. Don't want to sound rude, but saying he was brilliant is a utter joker. He was good against Italy i will give him that. He put on some neat passes in tight spaces. But on the defensive side Croatia didn't try to be competitive in midfield, they didn't try hard or press to get the ball back. A brilliant performances are what Moutinho did against against Czech Republic and Spain. In the Spain game he created the same amount of opportunities and equally effective attacking wise, but without looking as flashy. From a defensive standpoint he worked hard, pressed, and man marked his midfielder very effectively. It was a joy seeing him stick to Iniesta like a glue at times. In the Croatia game you couldn't say Modric was the best midfielder on the pitch, because Iniesta was clearly the best player on the pitch and Spain midfield was just dominant. Portugal game was different, you could argue Moutinho was the best player on the pitch. Spain only took control in extra time. I would rate Modric higher then Moutinho, he is better from an attacking standpoint. I personally believe Modric is more suited as a CAM or as CM in 4-3-3 flat like how we played in the beginning of the season then in a double pivot.Moutinho is much better defensively and work a lot harder for the team. No doubt Modric would make us a better team, but i don't think anyone is doubting that. It comes down to his price and the opportunity costs. Moutinho would cost half as much and fit our team much better and we have bigger need at RW. Anyway i still don't see how anyone can call Modric brilliant in big games, hoping for you to give better examples especially better then the Italy one. I don't know what people mean by saying Modric would take us to a new level. So vague, from a contender standpoint or playing style?

Brilliant logic. So because Torres time at Chelsea has been a disaster, every decent player should go for crazy money. By your logic Falcao and Cavani should go for 60? 80? maybe more. I guess having Ramires and Kalou on the wings had nothing to do with our tactics and parking the bus, because they are so good keeping the ball and as a passer. Btw beside the Bayern and Barca game what other game did we park the bus? Not many teams will have success against them in midfield, in fact they are 1&2 in possession in Europe. We didn't do that bad against Bayern at all, we had 45% possession. Not bad when you consider our players and especially Cech hoofed the ball back to them. It was their intention for Drogba to come down with it. We hoofed the ball a lot late in the season under RDM but we clearly did not park the bus, and that has nothing to do with Mikel and Lampard retention abilities. It was a effective strategy because of Drogba ability to fight for the ball in the air and make something out of nothing. The lack of forward quality was the reason for our conservative style, and it is more necessary in the future if we want to play more free flowing football. A RW like Hulk is what we need. AVB problem was a few, first he idiotically tried to play highline without pressing and we have never been a good pressing team. Second i would argue forwards were more important then midfield for his system. I find his system flawed because it relies too much on forwards play. Moutinho and Guarin were big part of AVB Porto, but they were detached from attack. It relied too much on Hulk ability to play the final ball and score goals, while with Falcao's amazing goal counts. Without those two he won't have made history. Those were two of the tactical problems, not going to bother with his players management issues. Sturridge has shown smart instinctive play in the box and good poaching ability through out his career, surely he is not brainless as Heskey. He is very selfish though. Part of me want to see him somewhere else because i am confident he will prove his doubters wrong. I hope he does succeed here but people need to be patent, because after all this was his first full season as a starter at Chelsea. I also remember Lampard early days, there were so much criticism and doubters. He is a good player but the EPL is probably one of the least technical league in Europe, just like your national team. So whenever a player flashes good technical skills they get extremely overrated. I feel any midfielder with quality technical skills would do decent and get quickly over hyped.

What is your thoughts on the new U-21 league and other changes they have made? Is it competitive enough to bypass loaning players?

So you you replay to a post i made three months go, just to say "lol no"? great work and amazing contribution Alba is having a good tournament, he is not good as this tournament shows.

Cap i think you might have missed Carragher point. What he is saying is that people like you are wrong, who believe technical ability and retention is overrated. That much prefer gritty and hard working players, like they are going to war. Carragher is absolutely right the English thinking is wrong, they need more technical players and that can actually connect more then 5 passes. At Chelsea we are producing a lot of technical players, so that is not a problem. The problem is the England football setup where the reserves is not competitive enough and to integrate them into the first team.

Very good article by Carragher, don't agree with everything but he is spot on for the most part.

I am not sure but didn't this whole Sahin leaving Madrid started because of Modric being linked to Real? I think it is fair to doubt Sahin future at Madrid if Modric arrives. I don't see why we are discussing Sahin in the first place, if he is leaving Madrid he is not coming to Chelsea. I don't think there was interest in Sahin a year ago either when he was Bundesliga player of the year, why would there be interest this time around? Sahin would be a good addition, so is someone like Ever Banega(huge fan) but pointless to discuss since we are not linked. Even more pointless when it is the reason for a 2 page idiotic back and forth. Isn't Javi Martinez close to signing with Bayern? Urrutia is not selling Martinez to Real, more likely Levy selling Modric to us.

Funny you didn't mention any of Real Madrid big spending.

Rondon? cant be serious, and lol for 20m. I personally think Malaga needs a better striker then him for their future ambitions.

Props to the person who started the website, its a wonderful and compassionate act to get her help and awareness. Hope she enjoys her vacation and use the money to enjoy retirement. Bullying is series stuff, i knew a girl who lived in the same block as i did growing up who committed suicide because of bullying. She was consistently bullied in school and i am sure the bullys didn't know the extent and damage of their act. It was heartbreaking and most of us wasn't aware of the bullying and her suffering, and overlooked something horrible enough to make someone commit suicide. The stories of people who are bullied are awful and heartbreaking and it is an issue that doesn't get much awareness. I hope Karen can do the same for others, since she has been blessed by the help and compassionate of others. She can do a lot by spreading her story and donate to a awareness program that helps against bullying. no one should be condemned for being compassionate and helping another. Any good act should be praised. There are definitely people across the world in worse situation, but everyone who is in need should be helped and deserve others compassion. Whoever one choices to help, should be praised and respected because they made a positive difference in the world.

beastly performance for Portugal, he was the best player on the pitch. God knows how much of a wankfest this forum would be on if Modric put this type of performance.

Josh is ready for the PL and he will prove that, he would have played if we didn't stall and sent him on loan earlier. Rodgers took him, not as a necessity because he already signed Gylfi. Hope to see RDM be more decisive then AVB, hope he has a clear plan for McEachran. If he is going to use him like Bertrand that would be preferred, if not hope he send him on loan early like sometime between now and before August. Swansea is still a very good option under Laudrup, he will keep Swansea style and formations which is preferred for Josh. They will be looking for a midfielder with Gylfi most likely signing with Liverpool. Laudrup was my favorite player growing up, and one of the best midfielder of all time. Hope he does well with Swansea. It would be ideal for Josh to be managed by him.

I don't care what Malouda has done in the past, especially five years ago lol. I am rating the current player, he is not good enough and not useful. Most Chelsea fans realize this, and i don't see how it can be argued. As him being a regular for France, that also means nothing. One he plays better for France and has quite done well for them as a CM, second France are not really loaded with attacking midfielders. International selections are not always deserved. Malouda like others are living off past accomplishment and that he plays for Chelsea. He is not even the most shocking choice for France, how Evra is the starter for France is bewildering. Cabaye only had 1-2 appearances for France before coming to the EPL and to Newcastle. Now he is a regular for them, he didn't become world class over a few short months. He isn't any better then he was playing for Lille, but certainly is getting more recognition playing in a better hyped league. Kalou is not the worst player neither is Malouda, but the point is they are not good enough for Chelsea standard. That is why Kalou is being let go, and if a club is stupid enough to take on Malouda wages then he is also off. Meireles was ahead of Moutinho two years ago in Portougal setup. But that was two years ago, and the same time Moutinho completed a transfer for around 6m to Porto, now he is worth four times as much. Was Meireles really that better then Moutinho two years ago? i don't think so, the fact Meireles played for Porto and more experienced helped his case. Moutinho was playing for a underachieving Sporting Lisbon. I studied abroad at Lisbon when Moutinho was still there, watched him live on a number of occasions he was fantastic. He would have been a class signing two years ago. I have rated him for a while and wasn't surprised by the acclaim he got in his first year at Porto. He is much better then Meireles and ever was. poor statement and complete untrue generalization. Never rated a player based on youtube, and many don't. We didn't go all or nothing, we favored the FA and CL. Mata, Drogba and Lampard were rested for our big games. Torres actually made a good case to start, especially after his game against QPR. Bertrand was quality enough and good enough to play and rest Cole. RDM has a lot of faith in him, and which is why he started in the CL final. We didn't give up, still played some of our important players. no one has suggested that though. I have to be honest you are one of the worst posters i have dealt with. Completely all over the place with your argument. Some of your argument and logic is really baffling. Like in the Hulk thread how you tried to point out how poor the Portugal league is because of the lack of International Goalkeepers. I think i will take a break from this forum for a while.

Yes i expect to beat Arsenal when they were on poor form and beat Newcastle at home, while we were on top form. We didn't give up on finishing in the top four, we prioritized FA and CL more but no way we gave up on the PL. Very rare? 08/09 we were in the FA Cup final and CL semi-finals 09/10 Fighting for PL title in tough games and competing in the FA cup final. Not rare at all, it is Roman and the club ambition to have a squad capable wining in every competition and be in that position. 4-5 years ago we had an amazing squad, where our 2nd tier were capable and looked like our first team. We have not had that in a while. We realized this and that is why we signed Hazard and most likely Hulk and possibly others. The bolded part: I don't know what you are getting at and what is your point. You should look at the fact Johnson and Tevez are two of those players with less then 20 starts, and those players would easily walk into our starting squad(Hazard and our new signings are excluded). If Tevez was available mentally one of Balo or Dzeko would not start 20 games. Depth is not about quantity, its about quality. btw there is little chance yossi will be with the squad next season. Not every situation in the Pl is ideal, and all clubs face this. injuries and suspension are the causes. My point is Essien, Malouda, and Kalou are not useful. Meireles is borderline.

I think you are missing the point of squad depth, For Meirleles, Essien(add him to the list) Malouda, and Kalou to provide depth they need to be useful and contributes to a good result. How did they do against Newcastle, Arsneal, and Liverpool when the likes of Mata,Mikel, Lampard, and Drogba were rested for FA and CL games? poor result in all of those games, the point is to give good results when the better players are rested. That is squad depth and that is what what we need for next season.

He also scored 12 goals in the CL, also there is slight difference between Bundesliga and PL. The nonsense on this forum is ridiculous at times.