Blue Armour

Haha.,tbh...Torres is genuinely playing well right now. Several levels above the Torres that joined us.

Haha, I was thinking I was the only one who thought the same...Not sure why they went for that background pattern... Also, that red 'Y' in front of Yokohama has got to go,...or at least made white like in the previous pics.

No more shenanigans JT. Just come back fit.

He got a few chances in Carlo's last season in 2010-2011, after which he was shipped off on loan and never heard from again. Beautiful first touch and a nice pass for a 17 yr old was pretty good for me,.at least that was something he could have built upon. On the other hand comparing with RLC, I'm not saying he's a bad player, no.. But apart from his physique, what really are his strongest qualities? I'll admit I haven't seen much of him outside of our senior squad games, but based on these games I haven't seen anything in his game that particularly stands out.

Wish McEachran and Kakuta had got the same level of game time RLC ,Traore and Kennedy are getting right now.. To be blunt about it, those two players at the time looked more exciting than the current youth members playing in the senior squad.. But, then again, RLC, Traore and Kennedy may just have better attitude and perseverance in comparison to those two and might be why they end up doing better in the end.

I always considered his tackle on Fernandinho as a sign of frustration with the jokers in front of him.

Interesting...

Another stop-gap fix if true.

Despite the flop show in the past 2 windows, I would still say that Jan 2014 and Summer 2014 involved good signings with Matic, as well as the early deals for Costa and Fabregas. Key additions to the squad at the time.

That's enough for me.

Yeah, I agree there are things he definitely should have done better....like not trying to recover Matic like he's trying with Oscar atm..and not giving Begovic chances earlier on. However, the next big mistake he can make is dropping Courtois from the starting 11 entirely..if he wanted to give Begovic chances, now's not the time...especially when you are trying to retain as many quality players as possible for next season.

Even Oscar of last season was better than this season's Oscar... The guy has actually regressed this season and can't even press as well as he used to.

Well at least Mikel is doing his job., but on the other hand you have Oscar who is doing next to nothing by sitting deep in today's match, then you have to wonder why Matic doesn't even get a look in. Full credit to Guus for saving the club from an even bigger mess, but the lineups and substitutions have been really wanting.

Haha, was about to say that they could keep Toure and just give us the time machine. Prime Essien and prime Drogba. That's all we would have needed to squash the rest of the league

This. No matter what else.

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