Blue Armour

Still, he was out for a really long time. He has to get his rhythm back, and that's no easy task,

ACL or was it his ankle? Either way, we'll see whether Wilshere and Essien have anything in common.

It will be interesting to see whether he can fire up in the first place. He was out for a long time. Good player, though.

And its designed to accommodate only the little ones

Lol, there's no pressure. Just wanted to introduce you to the "Blue Kenyan", who is very much a central midfielder BTW.

Ramires is a true box-to-box, good in attacks with his runs and great in defense with his tenacity. Never runs out of energy, and can maintain a high tempo when others around him start to fade. (I admit the last bit was borrowed from Fifa 12). Has a strong mentality, the sort of player which, according to Mourinho, belongs to a rare breed. A great option for any strong squad. Can be utilized in a number of positions.

Fair enough. That's your view, and I can respect that. However,if you're genuinely interested in learning more about Chelsea (like you said in your first post here), you'd do good to know that there's no love affair between Chelsea and "anti-football". Granted they were defensive against Barca in 2009 and 2012, as well as against Bayern in the final, but they don't hold the record for most league goals in a season for nothing.

So is their merit based on their style and their tag as best team, or is it based on effort? If its the former, then there is nothing more to discuss. If its the latter, I challenge you to explain how the Chelsea players fared poorly compared to the Spaniards.

Yeah, I suppose what goes around comes around. In 2009, they got past Chelsea despite having only one shot on target.

Barcelona pre-Guardiola, could be beaten otherwise...during Guardiola's time Arsenal did do it, at least once. Admittedly they were lucky with Barca not making the most of their chances (but that's not unusual is it?) but I'm positive if Arse had a better back 4 they could have done more.

Brilliant post in general Cap,..just disagree with the fact that Barcelona can be beaten ONLY by playing ugly.

My point is he isn't going to become tainted by going anywhere. If he moves for Modric (not that it will happen) so be it.

A year ago he was in Liverpool's shirt..so what's your point?

If a move was on the cards, why would they have to wait till he announced his Shangai move? They could have done this without all the furor and possible bad press.

Haha,..same.

But they do make more money as well.

Probably the only game where you'll see Drogba assist Messi, and Messi assist Drogba.

I mentioned Cole, because he rarely gets taken advantage of by the likes of Ronaldo or Messi but he struggles against Valencia. Look at Ivanovic for instance, he has no natural pace but he powers his way down the wing to put in crosses.

Agree with the majority of the above but having an explosive winger like Hulk (if he really is an explosive winger) can help. You only need to look at the recent battles between Ashley Cole and Antonio Valencia to see how strength and speed can be an advantage.

True. Despite his inability to play games every 3 days, he was still able to maintain his level in the ones he could start fresh.

Great read. And if we do go in for RB, it should be Debuchy. Very solid. On a side note, doesn't Real Madrid require a new RB as well? I just hope he doesn't catch their attention.

And would be real annoying as well. They refuse our offers, and sell to United at a cut-price.

And if he wasn't naive.

Also another important point. Its clear that if Ivanovic has to continue here, it has to be as first choice RB. We may be able to get someone better than Bosingwa, but who's going to come here and agree to be backup to Ivanovic? It seems wiser to hang onto Bosingwa as second choice RB.

I don't think he meant to say Modric by himself is a defensive liability. But if you group players Modric, Mata, Torres, Marin, and Ramires together the midfield could become a bit lightweight.