LukakutoStamford

I get why people get upset. I went through this same thing as a SF 49ers fan when they had to decide between Joe Montana and Steve Young. Montana still had some left in the tank but the reality was he had 3 years whereas Steve had 10-12 more years left. The problem is that if you keep Cech and get rid of Courtois is that you have 5 years of Cech who will be declining albeit at an unknown rate. Then you still have to find a replacement. Sure good goalies are easy to find but it's quite difficult to find a top 5 GK in the world let alone a GK who has world #1 potential. By choosing Courtois it's likely you are solving any GK questions for 10 years barring injury which allows you to focus on other issues and allows to look for Courtois's potential replacement. However you rate the two GKs there isn't enough of a difference to overwhelm the good business aspect of the choice. Sure it stinks to have to lose Petr but his replacement is youth extremely talented and has Europa Experience, Champions League experience, La Liga experience, international experience and World Cup experience. Sure he doesn't have PL experience but it's not like he's coming straight from the Belgian league or MLS. He's used to dealing with world class players. He owns Messi at the moment as well.

Penalty kick converted by Tielemans to earn a 2-2 draw against Westerlo in an away fixture to complete a 2-0 comeback

After watching the Real Sports piece on how the migrant workers are treated in Qatar, it really is a modern day version of Ancient Egypt with the migrant workers playing the role of the enslaved Jews. The only thing missing are the whips and chains.

Oh I didn't just mean Lampard I was thinking of list of players depending on the criteria that was suitable.

Unless it's against the rules why doesn't Chelsea put Lampard's tenure and his name in small print on the jersey?

Musonda with a 90+2 goal to beat City 2-1 in the U21 PL opener

Not much difference although I'd argue that Anderlecht has more young talent. Neither team is capable of more than winning their respective league. It actually could help Defour with the NT if he can develop good chemistry with Tielemans.

So can someone do some voodoo that protects Costa from serious injury? The gap between him and Fernando is that of a Champions League player and a League 1 player.

I could see Real going after Cech. Navas is a bit unknown and Casillas has been shambolic as of late in goal for anyone he plays for ...

He's played in Champions League, Europe League, Belgian NT, against Benteke, Lukaku, Fellaini in practice I don't think physicality is going to be an issue

It's 7 teams for 4 slots. If Chelsea can get another striker I'd be more confident about winning the PL, but if Costa gets hurt for any significant stretch uh oh. United should finish top 4 with city and L'Arse. Think City 1st/2nd with Arse 3/4 United 3/4. Spurs will be better under Pochettino Pool will miss Suarez and struggle with dealing with the extra Europe games. Everton is a bit of a wild card and they probably will be pushing top 4 but run out of gas towards the end.

Does it matter? He's only worth what someone is willing to pay.

Agreed I couldn't believe that Coppinger got a two year deal with Doncaster. I mean WTF

http://www.girondins4ever.com/breves/20140801/82179-bordeaux-supervise-en-belgique Looks like lots of the big names were in Belgium to watch Tielemans and Mitrovic in Anderlecht's 2-0 win over Oostende

I was conceived at Stamford Bridge so doesn't that make me the ultimate fan boy? Oh wait I wasn't conceived there but in California

Technically he's neither he's just short at 5'4

Just let it go people. It didn't work out and Chelsea turned a profit. As I mentioned numerous times before the only way I'm not fine with this deal is if Jose does not bring in another striker. This team is well equipped to have good chance to win multiple trophies and to fail to have a better back-up than a 36 year old with malaria and 30 year old who has scored 22 goals in 110 matches is just begging for abuse. I hope Costa can stay healthy otherwise Chelsea will just wasted money on these acquisitions.

I hope another striker is coming in otherwise Chelsea will win fook all.

1. It's hard to say what his role would have been had he stayed at Chelsea for 2013/2014. At Everton he played 2598 minutes in 33 appearances which comes to 78.73 minutes per appearance. He missed 5 leagues games due to injury but my guess is that he would have had an additional 350-400 minutes from those games. Yes the Striker core was poor last year, but I think it would have been a terrible idea to have him leading the line at 20 even if he was the best. Remember that Mourinho was really trying to land Rooney as the #1 guy up until the deadline. 2. It's not an assumption he wouldn't play but rather he'd play a less than he did at Everton, which isn't the steam cooker that Chelsea is in terms of pressure etc. I think this would be a much better year for him to step into the #2 role because he can get acclimatized to Chelsea plus he's not the #1 but he can get 1500+ minutes and take over the #1 duties should Costa get hurt. I don't think he's being handed anything. I think it's more of a bit of apprehension from happen when he was 18 and AVB didn't loan him out and he sat at Chelsea doing very little. Each player is different some can handle working from the bottom getting nothing and some need to be coddled more. You can choose to get rid of those that needs to be coddled but players do need to be treated based on how their personality works and within the framework of the coaches system. If Mou think that can't work then he should get rid of Lukaku and I'm behind that. 3. It's not about treating a player badly as it is not falling prey to salary and shirt selling pressures. Unfortunately it happens in soccer and all other sports. Players that teams invest in get much longer leashes and they aren't easily displaced by less heralded players because of egos. 4. I don't think he's adverse to coming off of the bench, but I think it's a question of being able to see a future and I'm not sure he sees a future at Chelsea under Mourinho just I don't think Jose sees a future with him leading the line at Chelsea. It just needs to be someone who can give quality minutes not need to start and be happy that he's playing for a big club and has a shot at trophies. Ideally a younger guy 23/24 would be good but lots of players at that age have starting ambition.

Why United spent the money on him rather than Rodriguez is beyond me. I have no animosity for Shaw but he has bust written all over him.

1) I think this is a bit silly really. He was 20 he needed to be loaned to get play time so he could improve. There's no real point to playing him 10-15 minutes a game with an occasional start. As for Benteke you're dramatically underselling him. He wins nearly 8 aerial duels a game and is one of the better target men in Europe. I've always lobbied for him to come here because he can play with Hazard and his ability to flick on his top notch. I like him better than Costa. He had a poor year, but I expect him to bounce back. 2) I think he just wants to play and not see a sport start here and there and sub for 10 minutes a game. He's still only 21 so he needs to play. Sitting on the bench doesn't help him any and it really doesn't serve Chelsea well either. If he were to sub for 30 minutes a game and get more than a start every 5-7 games then perhaps that's enough. Stamina is a weakness and it's something he has to improve. 3) I'm not a huge Sturridge guy myself but yes he's shown he's clearly better than Lukaku. 4) I can agree he's not a fit for how Jose wants to use him and he's not a great target man and he struggles is certain aspects of the game; however, he's got the goal scorer's instinct and he's a devastating closing option against tired defenses. I agree that's it difficult to see him turn into a world class Striker because of his deficiencies. 5) I don't have a problem with Mourinho selling him, but I do take issue if the resulting striker core is Costa, Drogba, Torres. That's an unacceptable strike force and makes Chelsea reliant on Costa's health. Drogba is 36 has malaria so I rather doubt he's going to be able to give the full 90 needed. Torres has been an abomination against top teams. Mourinho has to acknowledge that had he had a decent/good strike force last year Chelsea would have won the title. Failing to address the issue this year would be a slap in the face. I agree with you here. If Lukaku goes then a striker with experience in either La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A, PL, or La Ligue 1 needs to come in ... Perhaps steal Jay Rodiguez from the Saints seeing as they are liquidating their assets for a sale of the club. Perhaps Bony, or Klass-Jan Huntelaar

I blame AVB the most. I think Lukaku was a bit screwed up by being kept at Chelsea for his first year and barely playing, which would make him understandably skittish when comes to sitting on the bench. Sure it's easy to say to get over it, but it happened at about the worst time in his development and stalled his growth when he needed it the most. If you can deal with his limitations and accept them he can be a 2nd striker and help the club quite a bit. However, he's never going to be confused with a target man or the most technical striker in the world.

I just don't see with Oscar or William in terms of clicking with Hazard's play. Maybe it's too much playing with Fred, Jo, and Hulk . Hazard needs the type of player who can play triangles and flick through. It worked well with Mata because they have similar mentalities about moving the ball quickly. Willian and Oscar are more contemplative which is fine but doesn't always mesh well with Hazard's speed of play.