CHOULO19

Dan Levene has got the answer for you: http://sulia.com/channel/chelsea-fc/f/3cdf8a18-a7f6-4015-bc77-ba122969a4fd/?source=twitter By offloading Essien, Meireles and Benayoun, we saved 8.6m in wages and gained 8m from selling Meireles. How much is our squad weakened though is something that will be revealed in the future.

Or we could just stick with two central midfielders.

Me at work (I'm the one on the left):

I completely agree with Greg. I don't think we will miss him because of his abilities or talents, but we are likely to miss another body in midfield, especially if we get hit by injuries.

We don't have the players for 4-3-3 either. We have only 5 CMs: Mikel, Lamps, Oscar, Oriol and Rami. You can't go for a whole season with only two players as cover for three positions.

I'm sorry, but unless you know him personally, your judgment accounts for absolutely nothing. On the other hand, there are numerous character witnesses by people who actually know him that point in the opposite direction: http://www.whoateallthepies.tv/chelsea/109807/former-chelsea-youth-players-candid-account-reveals-another-less-gimpish-side-to-john-terry.html

Well this match is only 4 days before the one vs Juve, so rotation is not exactly an impossibility.

Until Jan, he is probably our only option, unless you another ex-worldclass CM who is currently a free agent. I don't that anyone is saying that he can be a starter here, but we can't go on for 3 month with only 3 real CMs (Mikel, Lamps and Oriol). Whats wrong with giving him a 3-4 months contract just so we'd have a back up if we a get a couple of injuries in the middle?

Dafaq did I just watch?

I posted this in the Meireles thread: http://thebluemark.wordpress.com/2012/09/03/bring-back-michael-ballack/ And it might be just my sentiments talking, but I find it hard to argue with the reasoning behind that article. We are clearly short on cover in the double pivot, saying otherwise is just kidding ourselves. And since the window has closed, we really don't have much choices. Yes, he way over his prime and probably can't play more than 3-4 matches a month, but he showed last year in the CL that he is still more than capable of producing world class performances, just rewatch our game vs Leverkusen at the bridge and you'll see what I mean. He is also a great personality and influence on the pitch. He knows Chelsea very well, is a very loved character at the club and is still in touch with everybody here (He was at the Super Cup "Supporting my friends" as he said). Of course this is just us fans discussing this, for all we know the board might not have even considered the possibility or resigning Michael.

I think you mean Romeu. Romelu is currently tearing up the PL defenses at WBA I think that we are, as always, too quick to jump to conclusions here. For all we know, Oriol could be behind all of Lamps, Mikel, Ramires and Oscar for the double pivot. He is a great talent, there is no denying that (and a great spot by AVB if I may remind a few people) but I think the next step for him is to realize that he has a great opportunity till at least Jan, and he needs to seize it by winning RDM over, something I don't think he has managed to do so far.

I can't believe he still plays for England after all the FA has done to him. And yet the British press still has the nerves to portray him as immoral character.

I agree. He still has some world-class performances in him, he showed that last year in the CL.

I honestly think he is an 'okay' temporary solution till the Jan transfer window.

Chill people, I've got the answer for you: http://thebluemark.wordpress.com/2012/09/03/bring-back-michael-ballack/

Exactly! Baines or Ryan should be more than capable of handling the Ukraine match, no need to risk Ash.

Well he does look like one!

How is this even possible? The window is closed. Besides if we were going to sell Meiriles we should have at least kept Josh. I'm not a fan of the thug but if this is true we are really lacking numbers in the middle.

Juve are in a league of their own. I know it's early days but I just can't see them not retaining their tittle.

Agreed. Cahil has been out of form since the preseason. I also think he plays much better when partnered with JT.

I on the other hand blame Luiz's abysmal positioning and (lack of) marking. For both the first two goals his bad positioning played Falcao onside. Not to say that he was the only one who played badly. Iva was playing as winger which left Cahil stranded. Ramires looked lost as did Mata. Lampard and especially Mikel were our best players on the field. To single out one or two players from that terrible terrible night in Monaco does not make any sense to me.

I'd work on my English if I were you!

No worries mate, a mod will merge the two threads. Cheers mate, will be looking forward to your updates on Sam

Malouda can play there too, if you act now we'll throw in Turnbull for free! Seriously though, can't see how this can happen since the window closed and the club didn't announce anything. Probably just a twitter rumor.

Welcome friend, other fans are always welcome at TalkChelsea Thank you for sharing the goal, we're very glad Sam is doing very well at Forest, he is kind of our little miracle and is regarded by many fans as the next Chelsea captain. We'd really appreciate it if you could keep us updated with his performances. Just a minor note, if you could please use the appropriate player thread in the player database section: http://forum.talkchelsea.net/topic/5449-27-sam-hutchinson/ Keep posting and please feel free to join any discussion you find interesting