OneMoSalah

No way Ramires will be benched. He brings the athleticism and energy to the midfield that Matic and Cesc in particular can't offer/match. Sure Matic ran the most kilometers in the games vs City and also Liverpool but still hes not the same as Ramires in terms of mobility. Also if we are going to play with high pressing, Ramires is a must in my eyes. Cesc is also a must in our team high pressing or not because he can control games like nobody else in our team in my eyes even if we line up playing him as the furthest forward midfielder in a 4-3-3 or as a number 10 in a 4-2-3-1. I personally think Oscar could have his work cut out to be first choice number 10 in a 4-2-3-1 or as a more advanced midfielder in a 4-3-3.

To be honest this guy could end up as a regular for us in a few years as a LB, CM or possibly even CB if he decides to bulk up a bit. Where is he going to be at his best though?

Italian football should suit him. Lots of space and a slow tempo, will give him a chance to shine if he can stay injury free. Hopefully get a decent loan so Fiorentina will buy him, pity his spell here turned out to be quite bad (even though I didn't have much high hopes) as he did have a decent reputation in the Bundesliga before coming here.

Mans an absolute brute, I know its pre-season but I haven't been as excited about a striker we have signed since Sheva (who let me down with his poor record haha), can't wait to see him in action in the PL.

Tbh Demba was one of my favorite players here when we signed him, mainly because of the whole strawberry syrup thing hahaha and the fact he scored that beauty vs City. Good to see him doing well albeit for a lesser club against a lesser team.

As long as he doesn't get booked for being a diving shitebag I couldn't give a fuck. He wont either because that is one thing he isn't.

Chelsea to score at least 1 goal. Not much bolder predictions. Hopefully win the PL and also another domestic cup competition. CL last 4.

Well look at what he does for the team in our system. Hes the perfect player for our system; aggressive, powerful, occupies defenders, drops in to help out the midfield, runs the channels, clever movement and also starts the pressing off. Cavani is an exceptional striker too in my eyes, who also works hard and is very clever in his movement but I think Costa's brute force, on top of his direct, aggressive and workman like approach evidently suits our system much better than Cavani. He makes things happen out of nothing - like the assist for Matic vs Vitesse. Its blatantly obvious he will be our main striker for the next 5 or more years if Mourinho stays and goes for the approach he wants. Mourinho said he identified Costa as 'our guy' 7 or 8 months ago, he done his homework, didn't sign a CF in January so he could get this specific player. He will be our main man no matter if we do get Cavani, trust me

Honestly I hope we get another striker, don't think Cavani would ideally be the right guy though hes not gonna want to sit on the bench or play wide because its pretty easy to see Costa is our main striker. Someone like Loic Remy would be better and much cheaper and ideally you couldn't imagine he would demand a starting place either.

Exactly this is a guy who has won everything in England and Europe basically and has over 250 appearances here since he was 19 or 20 but yet there are some morons who think the 8 managers who have used him are stupid and know nothing about football.

Well they already have 3 out and out wingers in Mirallas, McGeady and Pieenar as well as Naismith who can play on the right side or the left so it would be pretty stupid to put him there I think. Anyway Martinez kinda annoys me already with this constant loaning shit he does, it works but hes the manager of Everton a club aspiring for top 4 or top 5 doesn't constantly wanting to use the loan market not seem a bit degrading for Everton fans? Or is it just me that thinks that it would for Everton fans lol? I know we've loaned a few players in the past but still I would find it weird if we looked to do it consistently.

This has got to be the most ridiculous stupid friendly game I've ever heard of. Why are we playing 45 mins vs two different teams?? Fuck logic, just play one team for 90 mins.

Don't know why but I have a feeling this guys gonna have a good season. First seasons are always tough but he was getting there in the second half of the season.

Pre-season is pre-season, I'd rather lose 3-0 to Bremen in a pre-season match than win every game comfortably then see us get beat 3-0 by someone of a similar level in the PL because pre-season was a doddle and didn't challenge any players or whatever.

He played him in midfield in the Club World Cup because we were short in midfield after Romeu's injury. Lampard, Mikel and Ramires couldn't play every week, especially as well since we played with 2 defensive midfield players every week. For that system to work you need at least 4 players who can play those deeper roles so if you get injuries/suspensions your well covered. If Romeu was fit I'd imagine he would have stayed in contention for those games and not Luiz in midfield. It had nothing to do with Mikel being shit as you said.

So what we lost? Its pre-season and Mourinho's side is always better in the second season. Always is. He gave our team a balanced system last season, with clear instructions for the wide players to help the fullback and also off the ball work in a high block as well as a low block unlike what we seen from anyone before Rafa who vaguely set us up with 2 lines of 4, Mata free as well as Torres/Ba up top as a target man. We conceded the least amount of goals in the PL. Sure if you want to outscore teams you can do that like Liverpool but personally I'd prefer us to keep clean sheets as well and you can't outscore teams forever. Look at Liverpool's balance last season, you could score goals against them for fun because they committed both fullbacks high up the park as well as having two central midfield players who could go forward as well as either two wingers and a CF or two CFs and a 10. Also Jose knew we were missing players last year, like Costa and Fabregas but also he was trying to improve the defensive side of our team and find his best team. Anyway I think we will be a bit more useful with possession and in transitions with Costa and Fabregas in our team but that doesn't mean we are gonna see us playing 4-3-3 like Barcelona or Spain or Bayern or whoever else, with a very high line, both full backs very high and very little protection in midfield if we lose the ball. Not a chance but thats not a bad thing, Chelsea will always be very hard to beat under Jose and we all know that, he is in my eyes the best coach in Europe and tactically he usually gets it spot on. Even when we are chasing games he goes either 4-4-2 or 3-5-2 but its always got its defensive instructions as well as offensive ones (ok maybe not the 3-5-2 because that was usually Willian and Hazard as wingbacks but still). Attractive football is really a term that annoys me sometimes, football is full of variety, there is not one way to play football and there never will be. People think if you play very very openly and have lots of passes and ball possession you are playing attractive but I watched a lot of Jose's Madrid team the season they broke the record for goals and Klopp's Dortmund side and the way they played intrigued me, maybe you won't consider that 'attractive' football but it was efficient and effective football. Also Jose's first spell here we were something different, 3 man midfield, very direct, very hard to beat, very physical and nobody could better us. I just want us to go back to being a ruthless team that is very quick out of the blocks and will beat whoever the fuck is put out in front of us. We used to be like that, we've lost that 'ruthlessness' over the years that teams like Manchester United and now even Manchester City have got.

Just making a mockery of a PL legend really using him for 'homegrown status' he will never be a regular for City. Why would he want to go to City as well? What the fuck...

To be honest though, Jose talked a lot about our low block the other day and Diego's movement into the channels to receive a long ball which created a goal. Hernandez is very similar, hes always on the shoulder always looking to move run behind/move into the channels. He could have a similar effect, moving wide to get a long ball then ending up 1 v 1 with a defender/goalkeeper. Also I don't think hes limited either, he didn't often have to link the play for United with Rooney in the team as Rooney normally did that, sure hes not exactly an all round player like Rooney perhaps but Hernandez is clinical, guaranteed to score goals, unlike Torres and who even knows what Drogba is like now. I don't think we'd get him, maybe Remy would be a cheaper alternative and perhaps has more to his game but still I wouldn't be surprised if Hernandez was sold by United but went somewhere and scored lots of goals.

Hernandez is a decent shout, as is Remy in my eyes. We could do worse than spending £8.5M on a guy who has a decent PL goal record and would be willing to be a number 2 striker at a big club. Hes different to what we have to, a genuine pacey striker, hes very very quick, quicker than Costa.

Giroud is miles better than Carroll, Carroll is utter shite.

Hector Moreno are you joking??? Short sighted? Most of the squad is young, we need players who are in their best years to help the team get better and also pass on experience and help the younger guys. Hes being anything but short sighted.

4-2-3-1 according to the Chelsea FC twitter account.

28 fucking million pounds, hats off to Mr Mourinho.

Thank fuck your not in charge of transfers. If Andy Carroll ever ends up in a Chelsea shirt I'll shoot myself. I hope Jose recognizes that going into the season with Costa, Torres and Drogba as strikers isn't good enough imo. Its basically the same as last year but we have one genuine 20 goal a season striker. If Costa gets injured or doesn't adapt, then what? Throw Torres or a 36 year old in?? No fucking way man. I can see us getting another CF yet.

Fortunately for my FM career I still won the PL 6 years in a row. Fuck Jose.