CHOULO19

And yet he scored more than more than any of our players last season.

But why would they WANT to trade a young talented Jovetic for an aging Benayoun?

@xPetrCechx, that makes absolutely no sense. I'd say it was the other way around, that we want Jovetic and are willing to include Yossi in the deal, but Jovetic looks Juve bound.

Mata will play in the middle as we saw in the CS. RDM changed our whole system just to play him there and even denied Eden hazard's, the man we paid 32m for and signed his younger brother just to keep him happy, quite public requests to play there. I don't think he's going to change his mind now, certainly not for Oscar who is miles away from our starting XI. Assuming Mata takes the CAM position, and Hazard one of the two wingers position, I think Marin put in the best application for the second winger position in the preseason tour. Although RDM does like wingers who defend so he could still go for Rambo, not that the starting XI is rigid and will remain the same for the whole season.

Well then Marin is a starter since Mata and Hazard take the LW and CAM positions.

Of course Lamps wants to finish his career here, but we'll just see how much he really wants to. That is, is he willing to take a HUGE pay cut and accept a smaller role? I honestly doubt it. But the important thing is that he is a Chelsea legend and where he finishes his career cannot change that (Unless he chooses to finish it at QPR )

And who, do you think, is our main winger if it is not Marin?

The Premiere League looks absolutely terrifying!

He'll come in handy when they play Barcelona....

No more games on Tueseday and Saturday?

I like the idea, but as Term mentioned it would mess up the promotions/relegations. I think it is best if we just get one more manager and have 4 divisions like planned.

QPR? Now I can't wish good luck. I hope you end up in the championship.

You can post all the fantasy lineups you want but on Sunday we will see the same XI that stated against City.

Maybe Alex can convince Jim to put some sort of announcement on the front page, something along the lines of: "The TalkChelsea Managers League is now recruiting managers for the new season" ?

Nour FC:

Cheers guys.

A couple of questions please: - Are suspensions and yellow cards cleared for the new season? - When is the change report?

I find the best way to deal with banter is to make it boring. When someone says something about Chelsea I just act like I didn't hear it.

My comment was actually more about Cole. Remember when AVB played him every single match last season? By Christmas he was our worst defender because he was simply too tired. Yes he managed amazing performances in the cups, but in the league he looked too tired to be bothered.

I really hope he starts getting solid minutes with the team. Whenever we have two games in a single week I think Ryan and Ash should get one each.

Those stats account for very little since the positions of the players, and consequently the types of passes they play are completely different.

I actually really hate the Syrian regime for the crimes they committed here in Lebanon, but I won't get into it's importance in the region. However it's not the interference that I was criticizing (not that I think they should interfere) but the ideology of the people they are using to interfere. They are practically starting a new Qaeda in Syria. This rise of Muslim extremists in the middle east is no one's best interest, not least the US.

There's also Oscar. And it would also solve the 'fight' over the place behind the striker. Anyway, I'm still not fully convinced with the double pivot.

Had a good game for England. Opta Sports ‏@OptaJoe 7 - Lampard set up 3 shots & had 4 himself in the 1st half, more than any England player managed in an entire Euro 2012 game. Missed.