Blue Armour

Really? I thought Arsenal had pretty good back-up goalies like that whatsisname Schezny....but then again all their keepers are only fit to be back-up goalies...

Good Topic...I was surprised with Ash Cole in particular, that he kept playing game after game despite his well documented ankle problem....Might explain why he had trouble in defence during some of our matches...I really hoped Carlo would have rotated him with or at least tried out Van Aanholt for some of the matches in midweek,etc...

But those were England internationals leaving from clubs lower down the table...

Knowing our club, this could well be a long summer...the Robinho and David Luiz deals are good examples....

Our midfield passing is also lacking speed and decisiveness at times...Don't know what happened this season, but our play seems a far-cry from period in early 2010, when we used to score from one touch passing.... don't know if its because of new tactics, new players or if the opposition have just figured out our act.....

At least the agent says that the deal isn't dependent on De Bruyne.

Mikel's only problem as far as I can see, is the occasional loss in concentration,.... which is draws a lot of flak because he often happens to be part of the last line of defense in our games when the rest of the mid-field and the fullbacks stampede forward, leaving him in charge at the back. But that shortcoming can be easily overcome with time..Remember how fantastic he was when this season began?

What I don't get about this "sell mikel/essien" argument is the fact that we're trying to add something that's missing from the team and not trade parts of it for something else. If we were giving up someone who was no longer contributing/contributed like Quaresma or SWP it would have make sense to sell them...

He did say have a great weekend...

With De Bruyne reluctant to moving to a rival Belgian club, Chelsea could loan out one of their own youngsters instead....

That's because Real can afford to sign flops....

(Since we're still talking abt Mikel in the Sneijder topic ) I always felt it was weird that Mikel plays holding mid for us, when he plays/used to play a no. 10 role for Nigeria. He could have been used in the position behind two strikers when Carlo was trying the failed diamond formation. Think about it: quick short passes, and can hold the ball great with his strength. Cant shoot for nuts though....

Agreed. For now, the focus should be on good players. At the moment, with Lamps, JT, Ash, Sturridge and Josh there is no shortage of English talent in this Chelsea side.

Irrespective of what happened this past season, I don't see Essien or Malouda leaving this summer. They were after all, given contract extensions just before this season began...

Hope Liverpool paves the way for us...you know we can always buy from them later

Sounds like a good theory, but I don't think our board was pinning their hopes on him losing one game against Belgium to get him for free. The 4m clause was always going to be a risk from the beginning

I always thought there was some underlying logic amongst all the madness that we have seen at our football club. But I find it pretty hard to explain some of the decisions made since Ron Gourlay came along. From Roman's perspective, look at this way...I don't think he attends or watches all the games, so unlike the fans he does not observe some of the little things, like the players losing form, or unfortunate incidents taking place during the game which can affect the course of an entire title race. In a business its all about results, and so for him, his big investment and double winning team, which cruised to a domestic double last season, is unable yield even one trophy which even Birmingham city could manage to. And then he feels ok, lets get the holy grail instead, and here's 50m quid for your trouble, and even that falls apart (albeit under unfortunate circumstances). That's probably why Roman and the fans don't always see eye to eye, with the Carlo sacking, etc. On a side note, I just think he's getting bad advice at times..well,.at least this season.

I thought that transfer fees wasn't an issue? Only the player wages matter...

Look's like its Turkey vs. Chelsea over Drogba and Hiddink...lol