CHOULO19

Press conference: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x28jql3_mourinho-diego-costa-has-a-little-chance-hd_sport

It's a .GIF, wait for it to load!

Like I said, that was about some saying that Iva/Cahill will have the band next season. What others?!

Fuck it, just play with 10 men. It's only united after all!

It is sooo adorable I just want to cry

How exactly did you come to the conclusion that I am upset? Am I not allowed to debate my opinion about the matter that we do not need a new Chelsea captain next season? I'm debating specific points in some posts. I realize we will eventually need to replace JT and I gave my full opinion on who it should be in the Fabregas thread. I'm no way discouraging debate here.

FFS, will you two stop acting like children? A handful of people are making this forum almost impossible to read because they want to be petty about everything. Next insult/childish comment is going to be a 5 day suspension. That goes to you too @iseah100.

I get all that, and there has also been plenty of examples to the contrary like the 2012-13 season where we had JT, Frank and even Cole out of the XI for much of the season and even last season in the league cup a few times (Essien wore it a couple of times, gave it to Ash once and Mikel another time). I'm just saying that we don't need to "appoint" vice-captains, even with Didier and Petr's departure because firstly that will hardly change anything regarding to our XI or even susbs since those two are the least used senior players this season along with Salah. Right now, when JT comes off, the armband goes to Iva, then Cahill then Mikel. After those are probably Matic, Azpi and Cesc. There won't be an issue with doing that next season unless JT is no longer first choice which is a long shot since he's currently our best CB.

I told you so! But honestly, the new contract changes little in the situation which remains the same: If he wishes to go, then he can leave for the right price. Juve have never stopped a player from leaving if that is his wish. But it does say, however, that Paul is not too eager to leave in the near future.

No of course not, but I was referring to some people saying that Cahill/Iva should get the armband "for the next couple of seasons" as if it has already been decided that JT won't be here next season. I think he was just asked about it and answered. Just like much of Jose's comments, you can probably read into them whichever way you want (which of course the media loves to do).

Not a chance in hell he will give anything away!

It's not about the others in his team, it's about showing the coaches back at Chelsea that he can evolve into a player that can be Chelsea player. But him to do that, he first needs to win a starting spot at his current team.

But we have NEVER appointed vice captains. When JT comes off the pitch, he simply gives the armband to longest serving player on the pitch. That's whoever is on from Iva, Cahill and Mikel. There's also Rami as well but his English is still not great. Btw, that is NOT what Jose said. The express were interpreting his comments the way that best sells papers. He said he understands why Cesc was captain at Arsenal. In that same interview they were referring to, he even said that here at Chelsea we have a culture of only giving the armband to players who have been here for years and years. So I doubt Cesc would be considered before 2-3 seasons.

You and I must have watched very different matches! He looks like he's really lacking confidence at the moment. Has moments where he shows what he really can do, but he just doesn't seem to have the self-belief in the final third right now. Wasted so many balls and really should have scored at least a couple (no, he didn't score, the 5th was clearly an OG, he was crossing). The miss was really bad as well. The opponent was very weak today and you can't really measure players against them, but I doubt he did anything to make himself a starter for them in the league. Needs to rediscover the Thorgan of Zulte.

Has JT announced his retirement?!

Lamella.....

Blahhh, he most likely won't!

The captain doesn't need to be a native speaker, but he does need to speak English very well in order to get his points across to the ref and his teammates.

Name: pouty Reason: Obvious Troll is obvious. Punishment: Content moderated permanentlyAbility to create content removed permanently.Suspended permanentlyAlso move to Banned

Because he still can't speak a single word of English.

Problem is, none of our 3 senior strikers are 100% fit and 2 of them might miss out all together with injury. We might not have a choice but to play Schurrle as a striker.

Both Schurrle and Rami training today. No news about strikers and I don't expect any to come out until the official XI is announced. Honestly, I'd give Costa a bigger chance of making it than Remy.

Not to take anything away from Iva because he has done very well this season, but the main reason why our right flank looks a lot more lively this season is not Iva himself, it's Jose. In attack, especially against smaller teams, our right wingers are instructed by Jose to make diagonal runs inside and Iva has full permission to actually take the right wing position without having to worry about the defensive side. In fact he has such full license to become an all out forward in our attacks that when the actual right winger does stay wide (particularly Schurrle) Iva is instructed to continue forward and make the diagonal run himself and actually become a second striker (goal against Everton for example but he's done it countless times this season). It's just a tactic to prevent us from getting too narrow in attack, something that really hurt us last season. And it works because most teams are more worried about stopping us than exploiting the space behind Iva and because Matic and Cahill know that they have to cover for Iva in almost every attack. But it is so much easier for any player to look awesome in attack when he doesn't have to worry about defensive duties, even more so when he is usually unmarked because he's coming from deep. Obviously Iva has great physical abilities and can overpower almost every fullback and even gives CBs trouble, and it takes quite the stamina to keep going up and down that flank for the 90 minutes. But in no way has his technical limitations just disappeared in midair (I can't believe that defenders still fall for the 'dramatic' cut backwards that he does with the ball 11 times out of 10! ) and there are certainly a lot of improvements that can be brought to that position. Point is, it's a new role for the RB position and Iva has done it well so far this season. But Azpi hasn't even had a chance to try that role yet so you can't really say that Iva is much better at it than him.

Really? Those were the 3 consecutive posts (both second and third post quoting yours): As I said, worried "we're gonna lose the title because of this" vibe, especially when you read them one after the other. Wasn't even aimed at you in particular. Glad you're not actually worried, but got absolutely no idea why (or how) you are taking this personally