LukakutoStamford

Romelu was always have flaws, but he's got something that you can teach and it can't be learned which is the innate ability to score goals. Think of all the games when Chelsea brought on a striker in the last 30 minutes and go zero production. Lukaku would have helped immensely but at the cost of his own development. The bigger problem is why the board only added Eto'o and kept Torres and thought BA was sufficent. Frankly only Eto was sufficent and in a home only role. There should be a top striker, 2nd striker who can provide coverage and spot starts, and third one should be a young player who cna inject youthful exuberence and learn to itnergrate into the system. Neither Ba, torres, or Eto'o fit those qualities. Next year I'd like to see a bonified #1 (Actually wanted Benteke but with the Achiies no so much) Lukaku, Eto'o/Piazon

Oh I didn't mean it like that. I just mean that Hazard needs some players on his level who are capable of understanding his brialliance and who can play an extremely high technical level of football, and because that isn't the case his goals and assist numbers are lower than they should be. I want him to stay at Chelsea I was just suggesting that if he had a stronger supporting cast his numbers (goals and assists) would be much better. He needs a couple of guys who can play the 1-2s but also make the strong runs and draw defenders away. Right now the other teams can afford to double and triple team him becuse other Chelsea players aren't creating enough to draw defenders away from Hazard.

I keep going back to the idea of what Hazard would be like if he played for Real or Barca and things start to get scary. It's not to say he can't be superstar player but he hasn't shown the ability to be consistently dominant game in and game out.. You put him on Madrid or Barca and his assist total would be about 20-25 right now. It's bordering on sickening in regard to how many glorious passes/crosses have been fluffed by Chelsea's shambolic strike force, and I'm not even getting into the poor/non-existent runs that are being made or the necessary runs that aren't being made. He's creating the most chances of any of the top players in the world yet his goal and assist numbers while quite good don't accurately reflect how good he has been. That being said he needs to be more selfish, he needs to spend the entire summer working on his finishing, and he needs to find a way to force his influence on a game. It's almost a case of him being too good at times and the others can't assimilate those ideas into their games.

I'd love to see a top world class guy not named Benzema (i.e Cavani), a good second option like Bony or Remy, and a talented very young 3rd option like Batyshuayi, Morata, Origi

It's always tough to decide when it's time to replace a legend. It's quite difficult to discern goalkeepers but like most discussions it comes down to performances in big games and recently Courtois has been unbelievable in Big games. He basically stole the Copa del Rey last year, and he's put Atletico in great position to win the Quarterfinal Champions League tie v. Barcelona. The PSG performance by Cech was shambolic and hd he had a decent performance we'd all be talking about having an excellent chance to advance based on a 1-1 first leg instead of talking about our 18% mathematical chance of winning the tie from 3-1 down. The differnence is that Courtois and Cech are heading in opposite directions and Courtois can steal more games than Cech can at the moment. Cech will certain be serviceable at a high level for several years, but why take that when you can get a top 5 GK in the world (some may say top 3) who's still a baby at 21 and still has so much more room to develop

Perfect example as to why Courtois needs to be manning the goal next year.

Need to upgrade on Ramires this summer. Love his industry hate his volatility and lack of technicality

Mangala in!

Terry out!

Is this the Loic Remy thread, the FFP thread, or the secondary striking options thread?

I think there are things Hazard does that are better than Messi, but he doesn't have the consistency of Leo and there's no shame there. As I was watching El Classico I tried to envision Hazard playing with Barca and frankly he would would put up insane #s because his style meshes very well with Tiki Taka. I look at his numbers with Chelsea and in a more offensive system he might have 25+ goals and 20+ assists. He's under appreciated because he doesn't have the big numbers, but I think it has a lot to do with the Chelsea system, but also the lack of having players on his level.

I think Athletico will be in the final

Still need moar goals

2-0 to the Chelsea!

And ................... here we go! . I don't care if you are racist or not, wouldn't be the first from Israel to be anyway.

All you had to do was look at Benteke who is on 60k a week to see what a proper striker (target man) does. Torres is committing grand theft.

The problem is that the first 11 isn't good enough. The back four are fine but only Hazard and Matic are good enough for the starting 11. Hazard needs better than pub league players to play with. Oscar has gone off the boil and looks nothing like he did earlier this year. Torres as always was rubbish Willian is what he is ... a Spurs level player Oscar is playing at League 1 level Ramires is a headless chicken If Chelsea wants to be a big time team they need to make serious upgrades all over the pitch.

Benteke would a great fit if Chelsea doesn't get Costa et al. Great target man and is technical enough to play with Hazard.

Oh and Torres is useless

Oh and Torres is useless

The goal was cancelled for a handball not offsides

Barbara you should try Timmemans Peche. Belgian Peach beer. You'll be hooked

Hilarious video of Vertonghen at Ajax where he gave his famous Het Zijn Maar Kut Kakkerlaken chant to the Ajax crowd. (He's calling rival Feynoord a bunch of cunt cockroaches). Also contains a giggling Luis Suarez

Yeah, but Wilshire is made of glass

Again completely blame Mourinho for running off De Bruyne and Mata as they were the only two who can pick a pass on a consistent basis. Hazard needs help he can't do it by himself need to spend about 150-200 million this summer.