The Rising Sun

I get what you are saying about the Sturridge v 2 analogy, but the difference being that we got Lukaku for some 18(15?) million pounds a few years back, and he has had the chance to develop elsewhere last 2 years. At the moment, he is more than qualified to play in a 4-4-2, or as a second striker option behind costa or cavani. Thats the reason i say we should keep him. Even if we were to sell him, we would surely have to buy him back for a huge sum, much closer to a 30 million amount or so in 2 years time....maybe more if he becomes crazy good? Matic was a chelsea youth guy so he was for free when we let him go, and bought him back for 21 million or so. Anyways, i think he is ready to play as a second striker, whether its 4-4-2 regular starting position, or to be chosen among two strikers based on the opponent. I think all our 3 strikers scored a combined 17 goals this season, and as for Lukaku, he will cross that in the PL alone, even as a second striker.

he was jumping around and celebrating after their win, so hopefully its not as bad as it looked initially

We bought Lukaku when he was young, thats the difference, we have developed him into a beast. Why not use what he has an give him the opportunity to play with better players and see if he can cross the 20 goal mark om a season? Another year on loan is possible, but considering if we buy Mandzukic, i doubt he will want to come back then even if his first touch improves. In any case, we differ on where we rate Lukaku. For me, if we were to lose Lukaku and be getting another Striker, then that should be in Falcao Cavani level.

Id rather see Lukaku develop as a second option over buying mandzukic. No disrespect to anyone but this sort of new attitude of alot of our supporters saying : "oh xx million is a good price to sell" for any and every player. At even the slightest bit of transfer gossip, a price is put on that player, even the hazard thread had prices etc a few weeks ago, oscar as well. That is appalling and frankly, sounds like what you would hear from an arsenal supporter, which had been laughable the whole last decade. OK, so lets just say Luiz, even though i think he is fantastic, is going to be exchanged/swapped or sold. Lukaku is already becoming a monster. We are already buying a 1st Choice striker in Costa or whoever. Lukaku, after raping top teams last 2 seasons, and scoring well in BPL with the experience, must be given at the least the 2nd striker option for a season. What the fuck is wrong with everyone wanting to flush him out and bring in Mandzukic. For fucks sake. I really cant see the parellels between people going on the youth threads and saying chalobah swift baker stuff, and then another player who we have developed is in a position to get some action, that too as a second choice, and people want him to fuck off/be sold for another second choice who has nothing to do with us, has never played in this league and will not develop at all anymore? How on earth will these youngsters get a chance if supporters at the first chance of a transfer window, start wishing away developing players for fancy names from exotic countries. Rant Over.

Please lets make sure we DO NOT do a Matic V.2..... the only difference will be that we will be buying him back in 2 years time for 35 million, instead of simply DEVELOPING talent. Why cant we as a club simply do that? The problem with always trying to buy talent and develop them elsewhere by countless loans, is that most of the time, their loan club values them more than you in the end, and the player loses his connect with Chelsea, or simply develops to such an extent, where he is almost there as a player, but coming back to Chelsea would mean they would be sitting on the bench, and not 1st choice. Now, while no one just deserves to be first choice at Chelsea, other clubs in Europe rate this player as their first choice capable, and a player gets to flourish abroad in the CL, become a star, but alas, not at Chelsea. So we will buy early, loan him here and there, earn a few million when selling, and still be the side that is losing. Lukaku being sold or exchanged, or even loaned again will be a massive failure for us as a club. If no player who joins Chelsea when they are young actually make it in OUR OWN team, thats just an embarrassment for us. I.e. buying talent and assisting its development, then not having faith in that talent when it comes to actually using it for ourselves. Basically, just like it is with Managers in England, as Tim sherwood said, "he's not english", owners like going for foreign guys for whatever reasons. With us, it seems to be buying players who are not experienced in England, instead of giving someone who has done well in English leagues for 2 seasons in a row, and bullied the big boys in the BIG games. I know i have gone off point a bit at times. But Bottomline : Lukaku must be playing for Chelsea next season. Do you want to win the Title next season? If yes, then he must be a Chelsea player next season.

This time next year...... - Media talking about how important our transitionary season in 2013-14 was, for us to gain an identity again, which in turn allowed us to win a title so convincingly. - Mourinho losing the negative tag. - Free scoring team

Thank you so much Alex!! missed the forum the last few days! was having withdrawal symptoms!! Cheers!

For all those saying that Costa couldnt score against cahill, so he is not that good: neither could suarez and sturridge or aguero, dzeko and negredo or for that matter, ibrahimovic and cavani. Not everything has a correlation. That probably only means cahill, and our defense has been that good. Costa has scored against Barcelona, Madrid, and almost every other team in Spain, and in Europe as well. He isnt the perfect striker, but he is a damn good goalscorer. We need a player like him in our team, along with someone like Lukaku who is brute force and finish.

a few strides forward, a few strides backwards. Jose Mourinho finally has the time to sit back and have a good think about what the team needs to kick on, and of course, how he himself, as a manager needs to modify his style in certain areas. Glad this season is over. Lot of hope and expectation for next season. Looking forward to the WC now. Hopefully the world cup is a wake up call for oscar, who has had new lows from about the mid point of this season. Schurlle is an improved player, so can not ask more. Matic is already commanding, and has a good eye for a pass. He needs to build on his forward runs and be direct himself sometimes. Hazard needs to be told to keep going , as very often he slows down when in the final third. No walking pace from him, he has too much speed for this slowing down business. KTBFFH !! This was the last transition season!! Next season is game on, no excuses. Today showcased alot of what we lack as a team. In these sort of games, we dont usually play as a team, more like individuals. Big games we play like a team. Just an observation. Faster, Incisive and ruthless - 2014-15 season - Chelsea - 107 goals

Norwich fought to make sure they got relegated, at SB. Dont know what their manager was thinking.

dzeko would be a fantastic 3rd choice striker for us, Just as he is for city.

The Norwich manager is a tactical genius!! What a fantastic gameplan to come away with a result! We deserved to win because we got a clean sheet. Our problem is not a striker. That is one thing i have learned after all this time this season. Yes it will be good to have a WC striker next season but that simply is not the problem, its our system, and coaching, gameplan. Hazard is correct. We are not set up to play football. If there is one thing Jose has got wrong since he came back , its this. When the opposition manager sets his team up tactically so well, we have no answers. Fantastic performance by Norwich! They just didnt have a WC striker.

this is just sad really. players seem lost for ideas. we have become slower and slower as the season has progressed.

The reason i put tactical in " " , was to say that there is nothing wrong with being tactically set up. But less buses next year. Thats all. The 12 points we got off City and Liverpool were to my liking, but the way we got them can be better, and we have done it many seasons ago with Jose and Carlo, and drogba. We can win convincingly again, and that is why i said i hope the new players complete the puzzle for Jose, and we can be set up to play a little more in some of these games, rather than bus it. Progression and deadwood sold will give us the chance to think differently next season. The only thing i disagree with you is that yes, i would like us to win the league next year, and win it in a certain style. What is so unbelievable about that? We can play much better and dictate a little more than we have done this season. We wont play like Liverpool/city. and we shouldnt, but we can surely find a middle ground between our general gameplay and that of City/Liverpool this season. That itself will be enough to win us the league. And finally. we can stop using the transition argument next season onwards.

No buses next season. That is all i expect from Jose next season. Nothing wrong in being a little conservative in certain games, just no buses please. I do think he has figured out his squad by now. Lets just see whether he changes his approach to the game when he gets his players next season. Not winning a single trophy playing defensive football is the same as not winning a single trophy playing fantastic football. If we dont win a single trophy playing the way we did this season, and liverpool doesnt win a single trophy playing the way they did, it amounts to the same result. So lets win some trophies playing a bit more positive while keeping only the best bits of our defensive philosophy.

Attacking fluid football. Quick fast paced football. No Buses. No "tactical" wins. Good footballing wins. Striker with 30 goals. Less talk of defensive group responsibility, and more adventure. Jose is good enough to make that possible too. He isnt a one trick pony. Counter attack becoming a part of our play, rather than the sole approach to a game. Lukaku being retained. Courtois No. 1 Choice. Cech kept as no, 2 or sold for good money. 2 Strikers upfront please! Lukaku Cavani No costa!! change in formation. We dont need 2 players sitting deep. Matic alone in that position! Change our image as a Boring, Bland football team. That is also important. Win the League and COC/FA cup double. Youngsters must be integrated in some real way. Good players will eventually stop coming to our Youth academy knowing that no one gets in.

Its been a good season defensively, but a massive failure offensively. We have been able to create a system of counter attack that only works against the big teams, but falters so often against smaller sides. A striker not being WC must be mentioned, and that might change certain dynamics next season. We have become slower paced throughout the game, this season, which is a massive negative. Counter attacks rely on alot of things happening simultaneously, which makes this style wrong as a sole approach to a game. People should be saying we play really good football, and then saying that when we counter attack, we are an unstoppable force. At the moment, Jose's style is to try and be both, an immovable object, and then transition into an unstoppable force on the counter. You cant have both, A bus and a ferrari. OK. Bottomline for me. The questions that will be answered next season are 1. Does Jose even want to play attacking good football 2. Roman wants good football 3. When we come up against a top team, will we always sit back or actually beat them well, not only tactically. Its not wrong in a few games to take a certain approach, but please god, i dont want to watch any more buses being parked, we are a billion pound team, surely we can play footy, to beat someone without buses being involved. That is my only wish. Simply because of that, this season is neither. Benefit of Doubt goes to Jose. Next season, no benefit of doubt. If we keep parking buses, then thats a failure for me.

More coaching in attack as well for next season please!! It was important for us this season to get everyone to become defensively solid in terms of understanding their responsibilities when we lost the ball. That has been accomplished! I would hope that our ENTIRE game approach is not based on only counter attacks, as we do have some amazing footballing players. We can surely do both. This game had many errors of judgement from both manager and players, so we just have to move on. I only hope that we become a little more adventurous in our game, as this style of counter attacking only works against gung ho attacking teams in the PL, but even if we buy a striker, when teams come to SB and park the bus, we will not be able to break them down as we cant counter attack. Tactical tweaking necessary this summer. Roman wants attacking footy, and will get it. Mourinho is still the man to do it.

i sincerely hope we dont buy costa

It was all about the Eto penalty. incredibly stupid tackle. From there it was all downhill

you should be bbc then i guess.

We started off with Major attacking players under roman... Duff Robben drogba Joe cole lampard and co...that time we were hated for our money, Now its our football.

We are hated because we accumulate quality players by buying expensively. then dont play sexy football. We havent brought through any players from our academies, since John Terry, even though we are one of the highest spending clubs in terms of our youth setup. The day we start playing positive football, the world will be singing praises for us, but till the time we play bland footy, neutrals have every right to hate us, and rightly so. Its not like we fans revel in this style, we too are waiting for that change towards sexy football. The fact is that we know it will come eventually, and wait for the final puzzle every season. Rebuilding takes time, but i think at this point, apart from a World class striker. we have all the tools to play good football. Its down to tactics. We choose to play this way, and i cant get my head around it, why. I just hope the "striker" coming in means we will play more positively, in general.

we have earnt it

Wasnt the most pretty game to watch. Nothing wrong in playing a defensive game away, since this is 2 legged CL football. What is disappointing though, is when watching the highlights of the game, we did not have even one attack. That is rubbish. Defensive game - tactics. That is acceptable, but not having a single proper attack the whole game in a CL Semi final is not something we can be proud of. Just Saying!