francozola

well he was probably at 70 or 80% fitness and was named there as a precaution in case things weren't going our way. We were relatively comfortable until the final 10 or so minutes so there was no need to risk bringing him on. haha what game were you watching? He was superb.

Even after our board makes a smart decision, they manage to do something stupid to balance it out. Typical.

^ I believe he's being unveiled on Monday

Didn't think we were that bad but honestly our final ball is so god damn awful. We should have wrapped up that game early in the 2nd half but no, we felt like being generous and let them slowly get back in it The final 10mins were ridiculous in terms of the excitement that Sunderland and their fans had of trying to get an equaliser. We simply cannot allow this to happen time and time again. Midfield is again at fault. Meireles - AWFUL. lampard - okay but not doing enough. Romeu - decent. Ramires - poor. Mata was poor today as well. Ashley was good in the first half but got caught out too many times in the second. Luiz was superb. JT was alright. Bosingwa - clown as usual. Torres did well but the lack of support he gets is unbelievable. Still, I'd like him to stop moaning and get on with it. I UNDERSTAND that he's frustrated but I simply hate when players start throwing their toys out of the pram when they don't get the pass that they wanted.

Essiens on the bench!! Can't believe it! So great to see him back.

Yeh think that line up is confirmed. Not sure about subs Disappointed that Sturridge didn't make it

Think it's real because Dan Levene confirmed it and he's a legit Chels source

Really looking forward to this! Feel surprisingly optimistic! We'll probably lose 3-0 now

Yeh looks like it's confirmed now. They're saying the signing will be announced pre-match

Thought so. What actually happened? lol

was it in the 'Anelka moves to Shangai Shenhua' thread? Because I can't seem to find anything there lol

haven't the posts been deleted?

Er... Any chance we could have an individual option to turn the "Live Match Feed" off? It's really slowing the site down for me and I have a slow enough connection as it is

Me too. Why hasn't it been mentioned before if it's true??? I have a feeling that it's just a twitter rumour that everyone started spreading as fact

I don't watch the Italian league but the EPL is a very poor league atm. The reason why 'anybody can beat anybody' speaks volumes about the "stronger" teams rather than the weaker teams. Out of the top 6, only city and spurs are better than what they used to be 7-8 years ago. And the only reason city are there is because of the money they've spent. Even then, they don't hold a candle to our 04/05 title winning team IMO The football might be more entertaining, but I am not sure that the teams themselves are actually better.

He would still be a good squad player to have. Plenty of improvement on Kalouda

I haven't read much of Stephen King before this one (always wanted to start but for some reason never got around to it) but am enjoying this one very much. Only about 1/5 of the way through though. But yeah, really liking it

I'm going to screen-shot this post, Alex.

I think I'd die of happiness if this actually happened.

Like I said it's cause Fergie and Wenger (up until this season or maybe last season too) had complete job security. Whereas that isn't the case here Edit: Oh, you meant loan deals that they make. I agree with what you say then. We definitely need to improve our choices when it comes to sending players on loan. McEachran to Swansea hopefully will be a step in the right direction Re: McEachran. It's not that we expect him to score a hattrick after coming on a sub. It's the style of football that he can play. He is creative and is certainly capable of producing something. Lampard and Meireles have been awful at times this season and our football has been utterly devoid of ideas which Josh can bring. Again, it's not that we expect him to do it. But give him a chance at least! Because he's shown glimpses of quality every time he came on as a sub last season.

imo that's not really fair because both Utd and Arsenal have had their fair share of shite youngsters come through that they initially built up as the next Beckham, Ronaldo, etc. but I do agree that we're the worst English team when it comes to using youngsters. But plenty of it is down to the pressures that our managers have of having "instant success" or facing the sack/getting attacked by the media. Also, we have a shit board.

I know I'm being rude but please stop posting in bold. Mentioned it in another thread but you probably didn't see it. It's quite annoying.

That's true. But hmm Cahill isn't that great a defender anyway so I'd still take Samba over him!

Curious as to why this is taking so long. The agreement of the fee between the clubs was announced on the 27th or 28th I believe. It's now the 12th. Two whole weeks have passed. Why are we not going after Samba instead? He's a much better defender than Cahill and even though he would cost a bit more, would be worth it

Welcome but you don't have to open up a new thread just to express this opinion lol and it's only the 12th day of January. Be more patient.