CHOULO19

I do not think that he will play on the wing again, at least not under RDM. I am however surprised that he is yet to get a chance at CF, I hope he will start against Reading or at least get a good 25-30 mins

I just think it would be out of character for him. Jose is someone who is very passionate in what he does, he becomes a fan of the team and an instant club legend. I mean do you imagine SAF managing Chelsea?

How is internet explorer still the most used browser?!

Not sure how easy that would be. Already, half the managers in League Two haven't signed in since registering.

Can you really imagine him at any other club if he does return to England? It would so out of character for him to manage Manu for example.

He managed to sell Torres??

@, It seems you can't add any more friends but you still have the friends you had before. I agree though, if the feature is to be disabled it makes sense to remove completely.

2012-2013 Season Preview After a summer full of international football matches, that never seem to compare to proper club football competitions, the 2012-2013 season has finally arrived. For the blues of Chelsea it is no ordinary season, however, as they welcome the new season as the reigning champions of Europe. Consequently, the blues will be looking on to a hard and long season which they have fully prepared for by dominating the market once again, snatching some of the best prospects in Europe. So, with expectations higher than ever at the Bridge, how is Chelsea looking for the new season? Starting on a high: May 19th 2012 is date that will never be forgotten by the Chelsea faithful. For it was on that fateful day in Munich that the blues were, at long last, able to conquer Europe “when they least expected it”, to quote the great Michael Ballack; that turned Chelsea’s potential worst season in over decade into the best footballing accomplishment in London’s history. Another boost followed, shortly after, with the appointment of fans-favorite Roberto Di Matteo as Chelsea manager on a two year deal. The new-old Chelsea legend had replaced AVB for the business end of last season and managed the seemingly impossible task of turning the blues’ fortunes around and delivering the FA cup as well as Mr. Big Ears. Needless to say, this left Stamford Bridge at an all-time morale high, an aspect that RDM will be looking to fully exploit. The last time Chelsea won a double they managed to have the best start to the following season overpowering opponents with frightening ease. A similar start this time around can go a long way in lifting Chelsea’s whole season. An uninspiring preseason: After 2009, the US was again chosen by the Chelsea board to host the team’s preseason preparations. The season started with the players in the Olympics as well as the ones who made it to the knock-out stages of the Euros unavailable for selection. The first match for the champions of Europe was against a relatively weak MLS side, the Seattle Sounders. A very exciting match saw an excellent offensive display from the blues as they ran out 4-2 winners. New signings Marko Marin and Eden Hazard stole the show alongside Belgian young striker Romelu Lukaku. Our second match was against French financial giants, PSG who had been as busy as Chelsea in the summer market. The game came as a complete opposite of the one in Seattle, with the Chelsea attack failing to impress. Seventeen year-old Lucas Piazon stole a late equalizer to earn his side a 1-1 draw. Similarly, the third match against Milan highlighted Chelsea's offensive weakness as well as some shocking defensive mistakes. It ended in a 1-0 defeat for the blues. Chelsea’s biggest disappointment in preseason, however, came against championship side Brighton in the team’s final friendly after returning to England. An uninspiring performance by the blues saw them lose 3-1 and commit some schoolboy defensive mistakes. Despite the disappointing results in preseason, I personally don’t think you can read much into the matter. First, we were missing some of our best players to the international competitions. Second, and most importantly Roberto was not looking to get results from these friendlies, not that a win isn't better than a draw or a loss even in friendlies. But in preseason, the result is nowhere near as important as getting the fitness levels of the players. This was emphasized greatly by the manager’s choices to make 11 changes almost every match. Yes it was not the results the fans wanted, but ultimately the best we could do is take the best positives out of preseason and hope the team will get the results when it matters. A long season ahead: The manager would know that getting the players back to top form as fast as possible would be empirical in this season in particular. After all, being the champions of Europe comes with a price: Chelsea will be competing in 7 different competitions this season, more than any other team in Europe. First up is the Community Shield (1) which Chelsea qualified for by winning the FA cup and which we have already unfortunately lost to Manchester city. Our win on May 19th meant that we will be playing the European Super cup (1) against Athletico Madrid, the club world cup (2), and most importantly qualify for this year’s Champions’ League (13). Add to that the usual FA cup (11) and Carling cup (6) matches and of course the PL matches (38). That adds up to a maximum of 72 possible matches for the West Londoners. To survive this season the rule RDM must remember is: Rotate, rotate, and rotate! Of course we also needed plenty of squad depth, luckily RDM and the board were aware of this and invested greatly in the summer transfer market. Exciting Transfers: They say Roman Abromovich’s love of the game was reignited when Chelsea won the long-awaited Champions League, and if spending is the Russian Billionaire’s way of expressing his feelings then Roman seems to have fallen in love again. The 2012 summer market was financially dominated by the kings of Europe. With some very impressive work by the Chelsea board, the blues managed to snatch some of the best prospects in Europe: Kevin De Bruyne: Kevin was actually signed in January but was immediately loaned back to Genk. One of the best young talents in Belgium, the midfielder has great versatility and excellent technique. After featuring in the team’s US tour, the young Belgian was loaned out to Bundes Liga side Werder Bremen. Marko Marin: Former German international, the young winger was signed from Bremen with a fee of about 7m pounds, an excellent piece of business by the Chelsea board. The flamboyant German was by far the best player in Chelsea's preseason but unfortunately suffered an injury that will keep him away from the start of the season. Eden Hazard: The name says it all. Simple the most wanted talent for the last year or so in all of Europe. The best player in Ligue 1 for two straight seasons, the 21 year-old Belgian had all the top European teams chasing after him until he dramatically announced on twitter account that he “will be joining the champions of Europe”. Thorgan Hazard: Eden’s younger brother. Mostly thought to be signed to please his brother, the young Belgian went straight into the team’s U21 squad. Oscar: Signed from International for a reported 25m pounds. Already a starter for the Brazilian national team, the 20 year-old midfielder is one of the highest rated prospects in Brazil. Outs: The Blues lost several very influential players. First, Jose Bosingwa’s contract ran out before he decided to join QPR. Salomon Kalou’s contract was also not renewed by the Chelsea board, he chose to join Lille. Last, and definitely not least, the blues lost Didier Drogba. Arguably the best striker of his generation, the Ivorian spent 8 years at the bridge winning absolutely every trophy possible with Chelsea. DD joined the Chinese league though to Chelsea fans everywhere he will never be truly gone. The departures also included loans for Josh, Hutch, and Lukaku. A total of about 70m pounds were spent by the Russian billionaire this summer, and with ten days left on the market, the blues are still looking to sign one or two players: A right back to cover Bosingwa’s departure with Chelsea being linked with Marseille’s Ceasar Azpilicueta; and another forward to replace the irreplaceable Ivorian. Chelsea are thought to have made bids for all of Wigan’s Victor Mosses, Porto’s Hulk and German international Andre Schurle. Chelsea are not done selling either with all of Yossi Benayoun, Florent Malouda, and Michael Essien being linked with a move away from the bridge. High expectations: The cup double last season and the high profile summer signings worked magic on Chelsea fans who had almost lost hope at the start of March. The expectations of the Chelsea faithful go as high as being the first team to ever retain the Champions League title and winning the premiere league despite finishing sixth last season. Realistically though, the club is in a massive transitional period. The faults in the team’s transfer policies in the last half decade has forced a transformation that is probably too fast: A mass exit of Chelsea’s ‘old guard’ whom the team is looking to replace with young inexperienced prospects while implementing a change in the playing style. The new signings will inevitable need time to gel and build chemistry. In my honest opinion the team will need a couple of years to start competeing for the PL and CL again. Here are my expectations for this season: Community Shield: Already lost 3-2 to City after a silly sending off to Ivanovic. European Super Cup: I think our chances are good in this one. If we can keep Falcao under control we’ll have half the job done. Club World Cup: Not too sure about this one. I can see us losing to the South American champions in the final, unfortunately, since our defense looks very vulnerable to fast counter attacking teams. FA Cup: I don’t think we’ll be able to retain the FA cup, especially if we drop the ‘effective’ tactics that RDM has adopted in cup matches since taking over the team. Either way, if we do make it past the quarter finals we will sure miss Drogba at Wembley. Carling cup: Our best chance at real silverware in my honest opinion. Champions League: I think we have enough quality to make past the group stages but I don’t think we have much of a chance to retain our title especially with everyone fancying their chances against the champions. Quarter finals seems most likely to me. Premiere League: I think the 26 point gap is just too much to make up in one season. The Manchester clubs are too far ahead in my honest opinion. We will probably keep up with the top for most of the season, but the best we could do is challenge for second. To me, we will most likely finish comfortably in third. PS: If any admin wants to add some pictures for the main page, please feel free to do so.

Of course that would be a better option. But how did you manage to bring him up from 4 to 8 in three years? My U20 players with the usual dev. value of 11-13 usually only level up every other season

I'd disagree with that. He hasn't got many good players by the sound of it so those young players will be starters, so even if they were rated at 3-4 bars I'll say they will gain on average 2 skill levels every 3 seasons or so so they will become good players with 8 bars at the age of 26-28.

I'd start with mixing up the tactics if I were you mate

@, I'm going for Ingolstadt for the PL.

I really hope so mate.

Yes but you're assuming that he will be a starter for most of our matches, does he still have the legs for a 50-match season?

http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11668/8007076/ I think we should be able to sign him in the next few days especially that the we are the only team in for him.

That formation will dominate any midfield! Though I wouldn't play it against Reading at home. I think Robbie has the tricky task of rotating players while still managing to put out a strong side. For me the musts are a rest for Mata, and a start at CF for Danny and Cahill at the back and Romeu (remember this guy?!) in the middle.

Doesn't matter much if Messi can do what he did on Sunday.

So you're basically saying that a pass is good as long as it is an assist and I have to disagree. There are many other criteria to judge a pass such as ingenuity, accuracy, technique, difficulty...etc Even if Iva had missed the target or had his shot save by the keeper, it would still have been a brilliant pass by Hazard because he managed to put managed to put the whole Wigan defense out of the equation with that turn and perfectly weighted pass. Similarly, Mata's 'okay' corner should not be called brilliant just because Drogba managed to score from it. Back on topic, despite scoring at the weekend, I don't expect Lampard to reach his usual double figures if he continues to play in the double pivot.

A deserved win for Everton, completely dominated the match, should have even scored more imo.

Just blow the whistle!!

Btw it's good to see Evra is way past it. Getting skinned by Hibert every single time.

I meant we as Chelsea fans in general as I'm sure that not all the Manure fans are praising Kagawa for this sub-par performance.

Can't really complain, we do pretty much the same for Torres if not worse.

And I've also seen him waste tens of corners last season by hitting the first defender, one corner does not make him a good corner taker no matter how important that corner was. Even the one in Munich wasn't the best corner in the world, he aimed for the near post as usual and it really should have been a defenders ball if it weren't for Drogba's sheer physicality and will power.

Fellaini is just too much for Utd to handle, great headed goal.