CHOULO19

Except Frank Lampard.

20 millions? seriously? To put in perspective: We paid 23mil for Mata a player who has the assets to be one of the best in the world, 12mil for Meireles a proven midfielder.....Heck, Villa paid 1 million for shay given who is easily one of the best 3 or 4 goal keepers in the PL. Have we really gotten to a stage where no body values 20 million pounds any more?

Brilliant work mate.

The 2 goals you are referring to are at home against Genk, the weakest side we have faced this season. On the other hand, whenever Torres is on we would be practically deffending with 10 men, not to mention that he very rarely gets involved in build up play. At Liverpool he used to make up for all of that by having great movement off the ball and by being the best instinctive finisher in the world. While Drogba, even a past-it and not-in-his-day Drogba, offers some valuable assets for the team that no one else can provide. First he is our best FK taker. Second, and this is very important especially with our recent defensive issues, his set piece defending is second only to JT in our squad. Third, when we are off the ball, he is always closing down on the oppositions defenders, preventing their mid-field from making back-passes. And finally, and probably most importantly, DD gives the whole team the option of the long ball (this probably most helpful to Cech) which really gives our attack a new dimension. What Drogba still is, despite his age, is the best target man in the league; If a player is in trouble, he can just lump the ball forward and there is atleast a 50% chance that DD will get to it before the defender and use his physical strength to bring it down and keep possession. His first touch might be slightly off, but when he does get it right you get something like the goal he got against Bayern. Anyone who thinks DD can't benefit the team more than Torres needs to watch the Wolves game again, in my opinion. Well, you have to choose one of them, or at least AVB has to. Sturridge is a great striker, but cannot play alone upfront.

Maybe for 8m. But personally I'd take Michael Dawson over him any day. Yes he is 2 years older than Cahil (just turned 28) but he is, in my opinion, much more solid and very consistent.

I knew we were going to pay for that indifferent performance away at Genk. The chances that we missed were in excusable. That late header in Germany didn't either, not to mention Kalou's hand ball .So I don't blame the manager for being in this position. But I have faith the players will use their experience against Valencia.

Leverkusen are 1-0 up at home against Hoffenheim; Derdiyok just can't stop scoring!

Exactly he is average, might make a good sub if a main defender gets injured, but he is by no means, in my opinion, good enough to be a regular CB at a club that has tittle and CL ambitions. Besides, everyone is so hyped about him that we would have to pay more for him than we would for a world-class defender like Hummels.

Only group C looks predictable. France is so inconsistent but are capable of beating anyone, and Sweden have a thing of not loosing to England. In group B, I have a feeling it will be Germany and Portugal going through.

I want the same team that started vs wolves. I don't think Lamps should come back to the side, he had a very poor game in the CC.

He is so hyped by the media. I would prefer a player with less expectations on his back.

Well that would explain why he missed two 1on1 chances against Gigi Buffon.

That is very good news because it probably means that we will be getting a badly needed CB to replace Alex.

I have no idea what my user name means! It's just a nickname that a friend gave me when I was 12, I think, and it just caught on and ended up as my user name on most of my internet accounts. The 19 is totally arbitrary.

Since when are players buy-out clauses undisclosed?

The Japanese massacres where terrible, inhuman, -use any adjective you want- actions. I agree with you. And so were the nukes that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Difference: The Japanese regime that committed those dark actions fell during WW2 and the nation has not entered a war since. While, the US is still committing and financing massacres and crimes in the name of humanity every day. That is why people talk about the crimes in Hiroshima and Nagasaki more, because the criminal is still going around committing his crimes.

Any news on Josh's injury guys?

His luck has been unbelievable this season. I hope that just pushes him to prove his point more.

I think the problem is he was thrown too fast in first team football when he was not ready. I think he needs to play some time with the reserves before he can play for the first team even in the carling cup.

Make that one half against blackburn. Torres came on after halftime and he switched to the wing. But yeah, I totally agree, he deserves a chance more than Torres.

I don't think it's a matter of "does he want to return?" but rather "do they want him back?".

12 millions is a great price for the winger. I just hope the manchesters don't try to hijack the deal and raise the price.

Actually 10m is the Chelsea price!

I meant in the new system adopted by AVB, except in corners, I don't remembering him ever covering for the center-halves or fullbacks. This was most evident in our game vs Aresnal. He did nothing wrong in the second goal in my opinion. Ramires gave away the unnecessary FK and Lukaku was marking (or rather not marking) kelly.