CHOULO19

In theory he should be able to do what he wants in his free time, but players know that they should have the club's image in mind whatever they do. Because doing something silly like attending Arsenal's party a few days before we play them gives the media something to write and make stories about and you end up discussing the event and not focusing on the game like we are right now.

That's the key word there. Without JT our back four five look unorganized and clueless.

Can't compare Kevin to Sturridge. Danny was by far our best striker when we were refusing to play him and then sold him to protect Goldilocks's "confidence" Kevin, on the other hand, just can't get enough playing time with all the talent we have in his position. We should have realized that he will be gone the moment we signed Willian.

Atm, we just don't look secure at all without him. Against Sunderland, the shape of the back four was so bad on so many occasions. Do they not speak with each other when JT is not on the pitch?!

It's not as big a deal as it's being made out, imo, but he should have asked Jose before going. I think Ash is on his way out of the club soon.

He's more than earned a shot at the first team. That said, I don't think Bertrand has showed anything to suggest that he should leave and I don't think there is any chance we will have both at the same time.

Can't believe Vitesse blew that 2-0 lead. They'll lose their first place if Ajax win today.

I'm sure there's something missing there...something like a 5-0 home defeat..who was it against? Oh right, it was against Chelsea And guess what? We're going for an encore in February no matter how you cheat and mess up the pitch you will lose

Although, tbf, Chelsea only played for like 80 minutes of them.

Dunno. Maybe something to do with your browser having issue with the page layout. Have you tried if you have the same issue on a different browser?

The issue is on your side. Try using the built-in paste button in the reply box.

That's who I'd go for. Ultimate counter-attacking team with pace that will really cause Arsenal trouble.

I imagine his great form is only adding to Jose's selection headaches. Another player who clearly plays best in the number 10 role. Will it be him, Oscar or Mata vs Arsenal?

I thought he did well in the first half and the start of the second but got tired as the game went on. Was non-existent during extra time, but tbf so was the rest of the team except for Schwarzer and Willian.

You need to ask TheOnlyPlaceToBe. I'm just the translator here

I count the most advanced central midfielder as an attacking midfielder like Lampard, Oscar..ect and Guarin. The reason for Guarin having so many successful dribbles is that he usually is the one who takes the ball forward for Inter (due to the lack of creativity they have in the middle. That is also part of why Inter fans want Kovasic to start in his place) but that does not make him a good dribbler. He loses the ball way too often while dribbling and that is in Italy where most teams don't press in midfield, imagine what would happen in the EPL!

I don't want to sign him now. In fact, I don't want to even sign him in the summer either because we have our own young talents to bring through. But I'm saying if we want to do business with Inter, then Kovasic is 18/19 and is already better Guarin and closer to what we need here at Chelsea..

Yeah well theoretically, Essien can play Ramires' role as well. Not available? He'd kill himself to get a move to a club like Chelsea. What about the other two I mentioned? What about someone like Ki who has been fantastic this season? What about some other CMs from the Serie A who are also not cup-tied (although I don't imagine that is something of great importance to Jose and the Chelsea board as the main concern is the league)? Players like Pjanic? Ilicic? If we want to do business with Inter then why not get their best CM and one of the most promising young play makers in Europe: Kovasic. I'm sure you'll find the Inter fans reaction to be much stronger if we are linked with him instead of Guarin.

But that's it. How "safe" will Freddy Guarin make us? What does he offer that is better than the other options we have. To me the difference is the same as between having Torres and Ba or Torres, Ba and Eto'o i.e. not much at all.

An 18m stop-gap? Plus, the last stop-gap we got isn't really working too well right now. If a stop-gap is what we want, give Chalobah or Josh a chance. Or even Ake who has already fllled in as a stop gap last season and did pretty well.

Well from the EPL alone, I'd much rather someone like Schnielderline, Cabaye, Morrison..etc off the top of my head. All would not go for more than the rumored 18m and all would be dying to make a switch to a team like Chelsea. The Guazette who are the ones reporting this story say 15m plus bonuses = 18m. And again, this is my opinion from watching Guarin and I don't think he can play in a pivot and if memory serves he even played in a 4-3-3 with Porto so he hasn't played in this role before.

But you can argue that all of our options at CM atm should be squad players and what we need for that position is a world-class player. Plus 18m for a squad player? Then there's that he doesn't really fit a 2-man central midfield, and that there's better options available for about the same price or even cheaper...etc

He and Essien were at fault for both goals. Made a few other mistakes as well. Saying that you can't criticize his performance yesterday is just ridiculous.

Probably loan him to the championship and see how he does there. Would be the logical thing to do.