Blue Armour

The question in all this is why we never insert buy-back clauses in the sales of any of the youth players

Not bad making a debut, and helping the club to its first clean sheet in 10 games, eh? Was really looking forward to his start from the moment he got here...Ofc, there are tougher opponents than Villa, but really pleased to see this performance. Like manpe said, no signs of nerves despite this being his first game in the English league.

No ill-feelings towards Mourinho if he joins Man Utd. No ill-feelings towards Lukaku if he joins Man Utd. But if both Mourinho and Lukaku join Man Utd next season when they couldn't make it work here, then that's a different story..

After watching that match, and although its only 1 match, it looks like its going to be a while before we go back to where we where a decade ago. From the entire England starting 11, the only contribution from Chelsea is Gary Cahill who is not even the favored first choice for the club. Chelsea back in 2004-2007 almost always had 4 England regulars in the starting 11. Mentality and attitude towards games were obviously better for it.

Haha,..no doubt Mourinho lost a major ally in the dressing room with Drogba's departure.

Its only boring if you don't log in to post, Henrique

The funny thing is,..the current version of Oscar seems to seems to be lazy off the ball as well. The one thing fans could appreciate about Oscar's game, was his work rate off the ball. Now that he doesn't even do this, its only common sense bringing RLC on instead.

Have to definitely give credit were its due, and acknowledge that there's only so much that one can achieve with the crappiest tools at their disposal But can't believe people were actually clamoring for him to become permanent manager next season...

Watch the end of the video below and you might start buying into the conspiracies

Fully agree. Hiring the right manager is only part of the problem,...was just saying that hiring the wrong guy would probably set the club back even more.

Yes, I'll admit that I'm not clear how we would convince him to actually come here and take up just any role,... other than provide more assurances of starting more games/more playing time. My point was that its not unthinkable for Costa and Cavani to start together as striker partners, rather than competing for a single #9 spot.

A lot of people are fearing a Liverpool like decline, but you have to look at the managers that Liverpool hired since Benitez left to see why they have been in the doldrums for so long... They went for Roy Hodgson of all people, an outdated manager in Kenny Dalglish, and then an experiment in Brendan Rodgers...if they had hired someone like Klopp from the moment Benitez had left, I doubt they would have been in such a state they are in now. In this aspect, I'm glad that we're linked with the likes of Conte and Sampaoli instead

True, .. the same could have been said for Drogba and Anelka as well...however, players like Anelka and Cavani have shown their versatility before when playing in different positions from the front 3

2 strikers starting upfront perhaps? I'm counting the days till we start doing that again...Drogba and Anelka were the last pair to truly do that for us, and our goal threat has never looked as good since....

Same with us in 09-10....for example,...we had 3 options at RB, with Ivanovic, Bosingwa and Paulo Ferreira to come in,.. and each of them at the time were great-to-decent performers (yes even Bosingwa!)...I keep hoping that we can go back to having as much depth in the squad.

True...there are lot of things to be very upset about, but Lukaku leaving is one of the least... DeBruyne and Felipe Luis leaving was disappointing, but Lukaku... no, just no...

" "I think the first goal is the best thing, I didn't know where I wasGOING, but then I was in the box. I saw Gary Cahill not know where he was going so I shifted it onto my left foot. " lol

Games against Liverpool in the league cup semi-final last year? His performances were a big reason for how we went through... There are lot of problems in our squad, but I think the biggest ones are playing front of our goalkeeper.

Midway through the season I was worried about who we would lose from our squad if we failed to make top 4. Right now, I'm at peace with regards to this.

Disgusting act from Costa, even if I don't think it was a full-on 'bite'. Also Stan Collymore is a piece of shite....would throw him in the trash along with Dietmar Hamann

So he wanted to leave if he didn't get enough playing time did he...

Thought he was alright, plus he had a huge role in setting up the goal...winning possession in the middle of the park, and setting up Willian, in space with a backflick, who then made the pass to Costa

I'm not going to blame some fans for throwing flak at him for the shirt swap,...people are bound to be irrational and mad after the PSG game and the repercussions of the result... Bit tactless from Hazards side, but he can't be blamed either. He was never fully fit this season and went into this game with an injury. You can't expect him to perform at his highest level under these circumstances

Well, we were never really going to match their squad....given how FFP no longer applies to them or City, But yeah, the last two transfer windows (Jan 2016 and summer before) have been nothing short of shocking. We actually regressed in the winter window by giving away Ramires without getting a replacement

But would top 4 really matter for United or Liverpool? Qualification to CL through Europa is a strong possibility, and I wouldn't put it past one of them making i that way...