CHOULO19

He's our only pure winger, so tactically, he provides something that none of our other players provide. I am confident he'll get game time next season.

I don't think Jose himself knows what his plans are atm, he still haven't had a single training session with any of the players yet.

I still say we should sign him up!

Plus he is highly rated by most football fans (I found this out when doing opposition views) so we should be able to get a decent fee for him now. His price will drop significantly when he reaches 30-31 though.

Don't remember hearing anything about him last season. And I'd rather give Omerou a chance.

It was just the first post I saw, there are plenty of other, and the point was you saying that "no one shed a tear" when AVB left when in fact everyone was completely outraged, even more than when Robbie left. What Robbie and the team achieved had absolutely nothing to do with the decision to sack Andre unless you are implying that the board foresaw that sacking Andre would win us the CL!

How he went about things? He chose his best team and set the tactics for his team. The nerve on that guy! I don't give a shit why the players decided to be cunts, they are getting paid a whole lot of money when they consciously and deliberately put their best interest ahead of that of the team, they take the blame. Robbie achieved more at Chelsea but in no way was he a better manager. Under him, especially this season, our team lacked any form or system. It were just 11 guys kicking a football around. And for the record, if you go back to AVB thread last season and the RDM thread this season, the outrage was much much more when Andre was sacked because the club was basically giving in to player power. A lot of people forgot that we were all backing Andre back then:

Great is very subjective so I won't argue with you there but what I found very surprising is the claim that RDM is a better manager!

No he failed to do it because Lampard and co decided to be absolute cunts and put their own best interest ahead of that of the club. Now AVB made a lot of mistakes tactically but ultimately he, and the club, failed because of the players. How is it the manager's fault if Frank and Ashley start wasting time when we are losing to Everton?! I'm sorry but I am very 'old-fashioned' about this player-manager relationship and for me, it is very simple: If you are professional football player getting paid 100+k/wk to play football you have to do your job which is to shut up and do as your manager says and if you think you be in the starting lineup you work your ass off and prove it in training! The situation with Benitez was completely different because the group of players that had the power under AVB was broken with departure of some and the shifting of the core of the team to our new players. Besides, JT was injured for the most part of the season under Rafa and even then we heard a lot of reports of bust ups between the two over JT not starting enough games. Lampard was bound to get more playing time after we let Essien and Raul go and he could not afford to moan to the media about not starting in big games because he was on his last year on his contract and was using the fans and media to pressure the board to giving him a new contract. It's unfair to say that AVB benched anyone over 29; from our last 4 managers he was actually the only one who had the balls to bench Torres for an older Drogba.

Yes he made a mistake by trying to do the job he was brought in for Don't be so naive Jay jay, he's just trying to win back the media support.

Money is a powerful thing, my friend.

No I don't think it is that simple. You are forgetting that there were tons of other factors involved like the practical mutiny by some of our players against AVB who was, for me, rightly trying to replace them (Don't even try to mention the "bad man-management skills" BS). For me AVB is on a completely different level because he is superior tactically. He can actually build a system around his team. If you want to talk about "Big Clubs" AVB can be a long term manager at a big club while Robbie simply isn't good enough.

Question remains who are they going to bring to replace him. I doubt they're going to get Cavani. Somehow I see them hijacking the Lewandowiski deal.

They got Tevez and Llorente for a combined 12m. Now that is some great business!

Really? That's like saying Wigan are a better team than Arsenal because they won the FA cup last season. Unless you meant who was a better manager for us.

This is exactly why I was saying I am all for selling Iva when Monaco were rumored to be interested. He is 29 now and on the decline and we need a new CB with or without him. I always say Cahill has the physical and technical ability to be one of the best CBs in the world, but he is tactically weak and his decision making is atrocious. He's an excellent squad player, but nothing more, tbh. Keep in mind that Jose is our manager next season, his CB pairing has to be the best in the league because his teams always build from a solid defense.

Another good loan. Best of luck, Todd.

Who of those is good enough to be a starter for a team that wants to challenge for the title? For me, it's only Luiz. Cahill is simply not good enough, JT's injuries are finally starting to catch up to him, and Iva had 8 bad months and one good last season.

What was Yossi wearing last season, though?

Please continue the discussion in his thread in the Current squad section here: http://forum.talkchelsea.net/topic/16313-14-andre-schurrle/#entry708037 Locked.

Just watched the rerun of Ita vs Bra. Can I have some of what that ref was smoking?!

We paid a lot of money (can't remember the exact figure now) for SWP, if Jose did not want him, he could have got a pretty good player for that same money. And even when Jose had money to spend, he still made some bad ones like Kezman and Diara. This is no way takes away from his ability as a manager, but just begs the question: Should he have total control on transfers?

Completely agree. He's not going anywhere so atm the best we can do, imo, is to have some hope that he continues his scoring form of the last 2 months of last season. We can have all the criticism about his general play (and trust me I have quite a few) but you just can't argue against that scoring rate if he does manage to recreate it.

Very true but my point was about not just the players that worked out here, but more about the ones that did not. Yes, Jose bought us people like DD and Ricky, but for every Drogba there was a Boulahrouz(if that is how you spell his name) or a Wright-Phillips.