CHOULO19

Hart. Speaking of which, hart and Walker are just hilarious to watch

That was a pen for Ukraine all day long.

Gerrard?

Looks like Switzrland will be the first to make it to the WC. EDIT: On closer inspection, they'll only be the first if Iceland and Albania draw. But they're as good as there.

I read this morning that we offered a 10m/year contract to Valdez! Journalism can be so hilarious some times.. Not necessarily. He will come if he wants a chance to be first choice for us. He can come, and if he out-performs Cech he can get the starting spot. That's what happened with Petr. No one just gets a starting spot everyone has to fight for one. Every professional knows that.

Not necessarily. Coutrois can have the FA and league cup matches which should be about matches plus he can fill in if Cech get injured or needs resting. Just like it would be crazy to let Courtois go, it would be equally insane to get rid of the best keeper in the world atm.

I disagree. At WBA he always had tons of space to exploit as they played on the counter. Clarke even used him as a "super sub" in all the big games because he's have more space in the second half but also because, despite his physical strength, his hold-up was well below average. That just won't cut it here at Chelsea. At Everton he will be playing with a team that keeps possession high up the field. So I think he'll learn and develop a lot. Martinez is also one of the best managers in the league tactically so he will help Romelu develop his hold-up play and movement which he will be required to do at Everton. I think this will be a crucial season for Romelu.

Interesting point about Vitesse always giving our players the game time they promise. Hopefully that means that they intend on somehow fitting the four wingers we currently have on loan there into their plans.

I don't think it is aimed at any market in particular, it just means that one more match gets televised. If you move the Monday night match back to the weekend it will most likely coincide with some other match. So having games on Monday night get more overall viewers in the UK and Europe.

I don't know much about Billy Davies though. You want a good manager who will look after him and give him confidence like Zola did. That's just as important as game time, imo.

Is Oscar crying? EDIT: Never mind, DJames answered the question above.

But you have to admit that we are "leaders" when it comes to this issue and not followers.

HAHAHA I genuinely LOLed at this! The irony is just too much! HAHAHAHAHA

I like you Term, but you need to see a shrink...now!

That's an interesting point. I think the point behind "likes" or rep points is that they are kind of like "retweets" on twitter. One posts who represents the opinions of many people gets voted up instead of having people repeat the same opinion over and over again. But then again, many, if not most, forums don't have that feature and are doing just fine. So it's definitely an interesting idea. The problem is, usually what is "wrong" and who "deserves respect" is defined not by one man, but by the majority of the public. This is true not just for forum but for society as whole. The theory of people who only post GIFs and jokes winning it fails when you look at the names of the winners: http://forum.talkchelsea.net/topic/10101-member-of-the-month/ Tell me who there falls into that category? Skipper? Strike? Stingray posts a lot of GIFs, but go back to June when he won it and you can see that he was one of the most active members, especially in the players threads where he was constantly making debates and discussions. WHS? I've never seen him post a GIF. TOPTB certainly didn't win it for posting jokes. Same for Skipper (again) and Peace. Those are the winners of the last 7 MOTM awards. They just don't back your theory and I struggle to think why any one of them would not deserve the award.

You were naming people who do not deserve to win MOTM and making a "category", as you put it, of people who are stealing the award from the people who deserve to win it. You're assuming that just because you think someone deserves or does not deserve to win the award then that is a fact or at least objectively acceptable by everyone else. I'm sorry, but that is arrogant beyond belief!

So you basically want the people you like to win MOTM and place the people you don't like in a category that is eligible to win it even though most members don't agree with your judgement. The only way we can meet your 'demands' is that if we make a format where you simply unilaterally assign the winner of the MOTM every month. Shall I add that to the poll?!

I don't think he's arrogant now. Last year a fan posted a picture of him where he stayed after training while it was snowing to sign some autographs for fans who had come to watch..with no shirt on!

Fair enough, but I think that he has grown and matured since and the fact that he admits that shows that.

There are some serious exaggerations going on around here. First, I've been a member here for over two years and since I have joined I've heard older members saying that the forum was better in the "old days". When I joined were complaining from the departure from CJ Revo (who is back now) and Aesthatic Relic and eldo(?). Then we moved to the crisis when Kilimanjaro (peace) left (before he came back). This happens before the start of every season. But in reality, this a forum and members will come and leave. Change is inevitable. Yes we lost some amazing members like LDN and Kostas who are both busy and can't post a lot anymore, but since I joined we've also gained some great posters as well like Skipper, Strike, TOPTB, Rmpr..and the list goes on. People are scared of change and like to talk about the "good ol' days" not just on here but in general, but the forum has grown and developed and I honestly believe that we have more quality members now than we did when I first joined. Not because those members were not great, but simply because we have more member now. As for the GIFs, I'm all for restricting them outside the General Chat area, but they are no where nearly as frequent or disturbing as some are making them out to be. I've never posted a GIF, and in most cases I frankly hate them because I have a slow internet connection and the page takes forever to load. But I just ignore them and stop the page loading before they completely load. I don't find it very annoying because in the football related sections, you generally get one every few pages, which isn't too bad. But this isn't just the forum, it is the whole internet. GIFs are the trend right now and there is nothing to do to stop it. I just can't understand how someone would say that the jokes are stopping the discussions. In fact, the days that everyone is talking about were not just "serious", they had just as much joking around as now if not more. Ask Kojo, he won the funniest member of the year award about a year and a half ago. If there is anything that is taking away the quality of the forum and stopping proper discussion it is all the fighting and insults aimed at people for having a different opinion. Funnily enough, when we tried to address that issue, some of the members who are now complaining about the quality stood against the Staff's efforts to stop the insults and fights. The staff are busting their asses trying to make the forum as enjoyable as possible for everyone, but you guys are making this near impossible at times.

Of it has. You brought up the Suarez comparison and even if you did not compare their character, just their situations with opposition fans, I wanted to make a point about why even though they have similar position with fans they cannot be compared and so I quoted your post since it had the Suarez reference. If you believe it has nothing to do with you, then why are you being so defensive?

Stick around, we always appreciate a different perspective to things around here

Peace gets some nominations almost every single month. He is probably one of the members to make it onto the poll the most times. He's one it twice: once before he 'left' for a few months and another after he returned. Only one of 5 members who managed to win it twice. Another member who has won it twice is SeB who has a very low post rate in comparison to other 'regulars'. The theory of "quantity over quality" fails when you look at the list of members who have won MOTM since it was made. And so does the theory about members who only post in the pub or funny memes. Not that there is anything wrong with either if that is what the community chooses.

There are also variables that have nothing to do with the player performance, like what club is buying him? How bad do they need him? How many teams are in for him? In which window is he being transferred? How much time is left of the window? How happy is he at his current club? How eager is he to join the other team? Does he want to force the move? How good are the negotiators of each team? What is the selling club policy about selling players? Are they Porto or are they Chelsea?...etc and tons of other factors that you just can't measure. But even if you put all that aside for a moment, this is football, not baseball, for example. Stats can help you show a certain point but they account for very little of the game. No stat can integrate player movement, mentality, decision making, leadership...etc So I disagree. I don't think that those numbers on the sight can be used to predict the fee that a certain player may be sold for nor is it a good way to measure and compare the skills of football players.

And, exactly, who put you in charge of quality control?! No, I do not think that there is anything wrong with the current format. The MOTM is a feature that adds a some banter and fun at the end of each month while giving some members who others think they contribute to the forum a little moral boost. There is no set of restrictions over who gets nominated and rightly so. Everyone should have the right to choose freely who they think should win it. How much a member is "worthy" of winning it is determined by how many votes and nominations they get; that is kind of the whole point behind democracy. So for this purpose of having some fun and democratically electing a member who most people think should get credit for their contribution to the forum this month, the current forum is just fine, imo. The problem we'e having, however, has nothing to do with the system itself, but rather with some people mistaking their opinions about who deserves to win MOTM for facts. You think someone deserves to win MOTM? Nominate him/her and if they make it to the poll then vote for them. If other people agree with you and nominate the member as well, he gets on the poll. Then if he gets enough votes, he wins. Simple as. Similarly as simple, if someone you nominate does not make the poll then that means most people don't agree with you. That does not make them wrong (or make the member unworthy of winning) it just means they have different opinions and think someone else is more worthy which they are perfectly entitled to. Just because someone moans about something, it does not make their opinion more important or worth more than other people. I personally think that BluesChick deserves to win MOTM this month and I just can't understand why someone else's opinion is more important than mine and can overrule my opinion by creating a format that makes her (or any other member) ineligible for winning member of the month when she is a member of this forum. (PS: I know you won't appreciate me dragging you again into this, Kerry, but I really believe you deserve to win it).