The Rising Sun

No problem with the idea, but its about where you would rate Lukaku. I would have Lukaku as our second choice over Mandzukic . Loaning him out and letting him develop further at another club after 2 years already on loan will either mean that we will lose him in the end or that he will demand coming back as the first choice, which for the next few years is going to be diego costa. What can be the harm in developing him here now that he has proven himself in the PL already?, that too as a second choice. We have the capability of developing players here, lets develop him into the finished article He has already terrorised the PL, and its not as if he is like that arsenal french striker guy who is crap.(the african-french one)

Forget him being sold, the idea of a loan next season without a proper second striker at Chelsea is wrong

Unless we are buying one more striker, letting him go is the dumbest thing i feel we can do. Dont know how everyone, including Jose is forgetting last season, where you couldnt trust any of the 3. We need Lukaku to be second in Line after Costa. I really dont see Torres or Ba coming on in the 75th Minute when the scores are level and winning us the game. With Lukaku, its much more possible. These are rumors in any case, but if we go into the season with Costa Ba Torres, PL wont happen.

1 Goal per Million Please! Every Season!

Doesnt mean anthing, but he took this selfie on their flight to brazil yesterday

haha have loved the Game of Thrones GIFS and a few others as well, had some stupid laughs sitting alone hoping no one around thinks im a psycho..... Anyways, while everyone having different views on this forum is a positive, it is quite amusing when everytime we are linked with a player, the negatives for some take such a different level, its just nuts. People should just think of the bottomlines when it comes to speculation.... will this person improve us as a team? If yes, then think of the personal feelings. But you have to level out your subjective feelings with objectivity. Objectivity always wins. Ashley Cole has been amazing for us the last few years. He was Arsenal too. Not relevant : Almost every other Bayern signing is a Dortmund player.

Matic - Fabregas does indeed sound really good. I am generally not as passionate about certain thoughts that i had 5-6 years ago even if there was bad blood then. Simply rating Cesc on his ability and the likely partnership with a defensive minded player like matic, and it sets a good balance for that position, and the rest of the team setup as well. I am glad that as a second option to our defensive 2, we are going for an attacking intelligent option rather than a defensive option again. We need an attack minded player to be able to do smooth transitions, so either fabregas or a player with those sort of characteristics is what i feel we need, We dont need another defensive rock next to matic..... we need the transitionary playmaker with a few goals.

and then people ask why england doesnt produce much talent.

We should sign him, even if it is for 25 million. He is english, and he is a fantastic ball player as well as a defender. he CAN cross the ball really well. We need a player like him, as a successor to Ashley cole. 25 million for a 7-8 year stint is worth the money. He isnt even at his peak yet. And when he plays with the WC players we have, i can imagine him becoming that much better instantly.

Glad QPR is back in the PL. It is the ONLY real derby we have, and the atmosphere is electric. Fulham for some reason is boring and slow, no passion atmosphere. They Hate us And we hate them. Lets have them back, and show them the door.

IMO, England's entire world cup relies on their first game. Win it, and i think it will give them the confidence to go till atleast the semi's.... then anything can happen. Anything other than a win in their first game and they wont go longer than maybe the first knockout fixture . The players are all there.... Rooney Sturridge is a formidable attacking line up Henderson sterling Lallana will do the quick bits. Gerrard is gerrard so he will do his long ball stuff. Its actually a really good team, but the confidence must come from the first game, and build from there onwards. Anything but a win, and the pressure will be too much.

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.