francozola

And he completely bundled Cahill over during the celebrations at the final whistle :lol: Gary was on his knees celebrating on his own and then Azpi just attacks him out of nowhere with a huge hug and Gary falls over backwards, lol.

Up until the last few years, if you were overseas you'd get about 3-5 live games a week. It's only a recent thing that more matches are being shown live (we get all 10 Prem matches live here in singapore now). This obviously assumes that you pay for the ridiculously expensive sports television packages that are specifically catered to providing the Premier League to viewers. So for people who were just starting out to follow football, it would be difficult to get "hooked" to a club like Charlton, who'd be lucky to have one live match broadcasted a month. Also, the broadcast media in these countries mainly just focus on the 2-3 big teams (in those days generally Utd, Arsenal and Liverpool) so practically 90% of stories you read or hear would be about the bigger teams. When you're just starting to learn about teams and the league, this plays a huge role imo. Again, it's only a recent thing that you get a fairer representation of the smaller teams as well, since there are more dedicated football channels and more types of discussion shows. Previously there'd be like one review show a week so most of the discussion would be centred around the big boys Personally I started supporting Chelsea because of Zola, and also because my dad is a Liverpool fan and I desperately didn't want to become one as well

That would be ideal for me too. I don't think anyone is saying "CECH OUT", just that it's quite unlikely that Courtois would be willing to go on loan for the third season running. And so the ultimate decision probably has to be made this summer.. Petr is the more established goalkeeper but if it's between Big Pete and a guy who could potentially give us over 10 top class years, I choose the latter. It's a risk, but one worth taking for me

He's become a thug over the last few years. Always despise it when he has one of these outbursts. It's embarrassing and disgraceful. It's one thing to be strong with the officials, the way JT and co. are. It's another to behave in this manner.

Don't understand why he moved there without getting guarantees that he would be played where he wants and given the free role where he shines. I get that it's a goddamn World Cup year but ffs wouldn't it have been better for him to wait out the season and see if he could move somewhere where his talents would actually be utilized properly?! I don't think he had any chance in being a regular starter for Spain at the WC anyway. Why risk your club career? He's made a huge mistake in leaving and going to Utd. I hope he makes it elsewhere, but he's clearly paying for a decision he made in desperation...

In terms of going forward and creating chances we've become too reliant on Eden. Oscar plays extremely deep, unlike the way Mata used to, and Willian still hasn't found top gear yet in terms of creating clear cut chances. When playing Azpi at LB, we've got even less going forward as though Bran gets into attacking positions, his final delivery is not effective to put it mildly. Not complaining about any of the attacking midfielders, I'm delighted with the players we've got. But this kind of performance isn't surprising to me. Eden wasn't gonna keep up that breathtaking form forever. Tiredness, and a West Brom that were extremely up for it obviously had a huge part to play. Let's move on...

He's delivering a master class not only in tactics but also in media handling. He's been spot on in pretty much every single instance this season. He protected the strikers when they weren't scoring and went through that torrid dry spell, saying stuff like he's happy they're working hard for the team, etc. Even if he's unhappy behind the scenes, saying things like that has immeasurable benefits. He constantly mentions how fantastic JT has been, praising guys like Azpi and Luiz, who are not nailed on starters, and others too. He's always talking up our players, giving them all the confidence in the world. The way he's handled Eden is also masterful. First saying he expects much more, and now that Eden is performing consistently, Jose continues to say that Eden has the potential to be as good as Messi and Ronaldo. And finally, I love how he keeps playing down our chances to win the Prem. Everyone is obviously taking notice of us now that we're level with City, but we've pretty much been quietly chipping away and keeping just a short distance between us and the two above. Those draws away at United and Arsenal were slammed as awful, negative football. How fucking crucial do they look now?! We'll see who comes out on top in May. Jose is the best weapon we have. So delighted!

Get in west brom! Brilliant set of results thus far in the weekend. At least it allows us some breathing room from the teams below us.

Shit, so this is what we've been missing these last few years. He was boss in midfield. So mobile, athletic and a good forward passer to top it off. Can't wait to see him get comfortable with our team. Very, very promising.

Time to visit RAWK again for a laugh before the match starts

clearly a bullshit twitter account

RAWK is hilarious right now

Ah okay! My bad lol

Chill out Jason lol. I know a lot of us are upset over Mata but it's not as if Salah is directly replacing him if he does end up joining, which is looking increasingly likely. Give the guy a chance lol. Look how that initial Willian apprehension by some fans turned out.

Just want this to be announced so we can move on as a club.

We shouldn't be selling him within England at all. There are plenty of other European clubs who would be interested. Maybe they'd pay less... even if it's 10million less, what the heck is 10m for a club like us. The potential backlash that could happen to us if Utd (or whoever we sell to in England) get stronger is much worse as we are directly competing with them. This is absolutely ridiculous in my opinion. I'm not against selling Juan. He doesn't fit into Jose's plans and ideas and he deserves to be a starter. But I don't care if he wants to stay in England. For the good of Chelsea, he should not be sold to a direct rival. It's as simple as that in my eyes.

This is so depressing Balague saying that we're asking for 32m?! 32million is a joke, I don't care that he's a bench warmer for us atm. He's a fucking class act and Utd may be shit this season but they're still Utd for fucks sake. Can't believe we're even considering selling to them We are going to regret this in the future. When Utd sort their problems out, either with a new manager or with Moyes getting his act together, and they bring in some classy players to surround Juan, they'll be a danger again. And Juan is so young, he can be a star for 5-6 years. If we want to get rid, fine, but why oh why to Utd?!?!

This is a forum, I don't know what else you expect other that people giving their opinions about the club. I get that there can be a lot of over-reactions and things like that but just because you don't agree with posts doesn't mean the other person's arguments aren't valid. And it's just opinions after all, it's not as if what anyone is stating is fact. Don't get what you want in a forum other than discussion? Yep I acknowledged Bran's superior physical ability, just feel that the negatives outweigh the positives regarding him.Also I wouldn't really blame our strikers (i know you're not blaming them either) for not making more out of his crosses, since his are so horrendously off target and aimed at absolutely no one in particular. He just gets the ball on the flank and just hoofs it in basically. I'm intrigued to see Jose's ultimate plan: does he plan to convert Azpi to a LB, does he aim to bring in a top-class LB in the summer to be a starter (pretty much guaranteed to happen) and keep Bertrand as a back-up and whether Ivanovic will continue to be our starting RB or will he switch to Azpi once that happens. Thankfully the current dilemma in those two positions isn't hurting us that much as the players are still doing a competent job no matter who of Ashley, Cesar and Bran is chosen to start.

He's been consistently poor for such a ridiculous amount of time now... Years, to be honest. He gets beaten too easily on the flank and is frequently caught out of position when oppositions try stuff like one-twos as we saw countless times yesterday with Januzaj. Honestly, I don't really get what Jose sees in him over Azpilicueta. He definitely bombs forward much more than Cesar, but the final contribution that each player gives to our attacking moves is probably equal, since Branislav's crossing is atrocious and Cesar's is not too bad. I get that Bran is a much more physical player, with his heading ability etc but he gets the simple stuff wrong so often that it's just mind-boggling to me how he's a starter at RB.

It says a lot about his fitness, work ethic etc that despite not playing in ages, he went to a completely new club, started at Anfield within days and put in a solid performance. I've always liked him. He seemed genuinely grateful every time he was selected to play and never whined when he wasn't. Really hope to see him become a Premier League regular.

It was my pleasure! And thank you for that gracious offer! I will hopefully see you guys in Cape Town soon!

Ryan (@Drogzola) and his lovely girlfriend were here in Singapore a couple of days ago, so I met up with them for lunch! That's me on the left, Ryan, and his girlfriend.

Yeah agreed. When he got the spurs job I honestly thought it was a mistake for him to take it. He got eviscerated by the English press during his time at chels. To immediately jump back in without proving himself was definitely a risk. Let's be honest, we look pretty out of sorts even under Jose right now. Therefore to put so much of the blame of his terrible spell here is a little harsh. Of course, a lot of it was due to his naiveity in continuing to play the high line etc but there are deep structural problems at our club that have been there for a very long time. His arrogance is annoying, unlike Jose when he had first arrived in England, and that doesn't help either.

I'm curious as to whether Jose is saying some of these things to purposely lessen the pressure on the players and the club, or whether he really believes it.

Ivanovic was just shocking. Going forward, every single one of our attacks until we went 2-1 down, involved about a million passes around the middle, before giving it to Iva who then puts in an awful cross that leads to nothing. Ridiculously frustrating. Embarrassing defending for the two goals we conceded as well. Why does he start over Azpi? It's a fucking joke honestly. He's been brilliant for us in the past (especially with his countless crucial goals) but imo overall he has not shown any consistency over the past few years. Really want to see Azpi given a chance at RB. Also, Cahill comes off looking like a super defender due to his blocks etc but lets be honest, he is not even half as talented as Luiz. You can see him getting caught out due to his poor reading of the game time and again as well as his natural deficiencies as a defender. He is a great 3rd choice centre-back to have. He is not good enough to be a starter for a title-challenging side. Thirdly, I'm sick of Mata getting the short end of the stick when it comes to our group of attacking midfielders. Hazard in particular is simply not doing it for me. Not even close. I know he technically got a goal and an assist yesterday, but for fucks sake, given the talent this boy has, he is not even performing to 50% of his level. Not happy with him. Oscar is supremely talented but we are not direct nor incisive enough without Mata. Oscar makes about a dozen intelligent short passes that lead to nothing. Mata can make one incisive pass that leads to a goal. Some of this Mata & Hazard/Oscar frustration comes down to the bias that I naturally have towards Mata since I love Juan for everything he's done since coming to the club, but still looking at it objectively I simply do not agree with the position Jose has taken with him. Personally, I would drop Hazard for a few games in a row. He's a good lad but he needs to go through this phase IMO. He can't just think that he can do whatever he wants and because he is so naturally talented, he will still retain his place in the side. And finally, why are we still seeing the Lampard-Ramires pivot? Jesus Christ. Jose needs to figure this shit out