Blue Armour

No, Mikel cannot and will not be a replacement for Essien. But can he cover for him? Absolutely, though I will agree that there's scope for improvement. Some people here have mentioned that he flops during a big game. He does make mistakes, say for example when he failed to close down Sneijder in the 2nd leg of UCL in2010 in a move that led to goal. But in the leg before that at San Siro, Mikel was performing an A-game and Sneijder was nowhere in sight. Thus in Mikel's case, its not incapability but inconsistency that's a problem... Can Chelsea do better than Mikel? Maybe. But there aren't too many options out there, and considering the kind of crap that passes for a holding mid in other teams, I'd say we're lucky to have him...

If this deal goes through, then we won't be seeing much of McEachran this season....

I don't mind if we enter the market this season for a new defensive mid, but the priority should always be for a creative attacking mid and a winger... As for Essien, I'll say what I posted earlier...It'll truly be a brave decision if he decides to continue playing at the top level..

If Tevez leaves..there's every chance that City will go for Sergio

Its only pre-season and no-one (well almost no-one) has seen the entire first match to make a judgement... As it stands...from the highlights: Drogba with an assist and Torres with a goal..... Hopefully in the coming matches I will hear about Drogba and Torres from now on...(and if anyone says that's impossible I'll just ask them how good the Drogba-Anelka partnership was when Nico had just arrived in a similar Jan Transfer)...

Maybe in the short term...but consider this: If Parker does come he's not going to sit around in the bench...If we wanted someone to play from the bench we would rather choose a younger option like McEachran (after all its in situations like this that youngsters get opportunities) If he plays a regular role (that is if he plays well enough for that), he will definitely become part of AVB's NEW system...After his loan period expires, we will have the additional trouble of adding someone to take his place during the most inappropriate part of the season

Sneijder edging towards Man Utd? The article is from the Sun...(not exactly the most reliable) No quotes, but they've been spouting stories related to this in quick succession now and claim that a deal could take place in the next couple of days.. If its true, we could be in for a rough time next season...

Maybe till Essien get's fit... These journo's think of everything....

Or good ol' Lipton, live from the bin....

Squad depth is useful in the league maybe...if only to maintain consistency... But the way barcelona play, it doesn't matter who fills the front three as long as the players have speed and decent quality... What I'm saying is, irrespective of their styles, a front three of ronaldinho-henry-eto or messi-pedro-villa have always been getting the job done..Adding Sanchez might give them an edge, but the fact is their front three were always too much of a force for most teams to handle...

Might not be serious...the lads are pretty used to this sort of thing...

He said he would love to stay in Italy..not that he's hell-bent upon it...

That sort of practice has been carried out at Cobham for quite a while now, even before AVB came along... About Mikel, I'm looking forward to see him this season. He was fantastic when last season began, as he started playing more forward passes. Also note that he tends to play well in a slightly advanced position (even though as a defensive mid) or higher up the pitch...With AVB's purported attacking tactics, its highly possible we will seem play in such a role. I don't think Essien's presence or absence will affect Mikel much, as they both bring something different to the game...For me the only reason a coach would drop Mikel for another DM would be to inject pace into the game....The number of mistakes he makes in a game has been drastically reduced over the last couple of years as well...His acquired experience is no doubt helping in this regard...

Frankly, I'm not too worried about Barca getting him...I mean, there is very little you can add to improve an already good team...

Ok forget the last comment..even Cech wasn't used... Was just a test run anyways....but great start...hopefully we can grab a video of it somewhere

Lampard wasn't used at all....was he unavailable for this match?

More lazy journalism..I mean look at this quote from the article: " Chelsea want another English defender at the back having grown increasingly concerned by the kind of goals they conceded last season, especially from set-pieces." What goals? We never had a problem with set-pieces last season...that was in the season before that...and even if there was a problem why would an "English" defender necessarily be the solution... Terry was probably just asked what he thought about some of the other English defenders in the game, and the press think he's already given his official stamp of approval....

Exactly..when everyone is crying out for the injection of some thing new..why go for something used and old.? I mean we were linked with Guus and got Andre, why should it be different in the case of a new player?

good posts

Damn..its the same right knee again... Sounds like he wants to continue playing as well, very brave.....hope Ess recovers soon....

Can't wait to see some attacking football!!!!

At least he's in form off the pitch...

AVB has taught him well....

Hah..so that's why .... Anyway...if Slam Dunk's right, its navy blue not black... Will wait for the official release and picture of a player actually wearing it....

Felt the same as well...