OneMoSalah

Napoli really looked shit in the first half... Roma albeit having to make 2 earlyish changes with Totti (their best player) and Gervinho whos been good, still looked comfortable except for 15 minutes in the second half. Wouldn't say Roma are title contenders but you never know if they keep this run up... Also Pjanic's freekick was great

Its Juve I bet they will get away with it... they seem to get away with most things

Kalou was released!

Does anyone else think he could perhaps be reverted into a striker like player? or used as a false 9? Can't see him playing as a #10 or winger for us tbh. He says his style is like a midfielder upfront, likes to pass and then make runs as opposed to hog the ball and do flashy moves. I don't know though...

Since when did Chelsea use release clauses? When has any other Chelsea player been reported to have a release clause? Its just bullshit media reports I reckon, many clubs in Englands don't include such a clause in contracts, its more a continental thing as we've seen in Spain, France, Portugal and Italy in the last 10 years. Plus Chelsea aren't a selling club as well, we've seen that. Bar Robben who was the last good player we sold?

He never did much off the ball anyway, at Inter, Madrid and Ajax it was the same

Third goal was a beauty, just looked so easy, touched the ball inside and let rip.. great goal

Work rate? Sneidjer has always been a lazy bastard...

Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. Still gutted we let him go, sure he wasn't in his prime or that but his performance vs Bayern? Probably one of the best in his career.

Could just be a coincidence, 33% of the population of Poland speak English. Could also mean he wants to play in England so learned how to speak English too though... Also video title is very very misleading haha...

Why would Pep have seconds thoughts on a player at least 10 times better than Mandzukic? He'd be perfect for Bayern, don't take some ridiculous AS article seriously haha, if he was having seconds thought why did Lewa say he will sign for Bayern in an interview. It will happen.

http://squawka.com/news/2013/10/09/chelsea-linked-with-new-makelele-do-the-stats-stand-up/2013100924867 Seen him play three times for Marseille already this year (games against Guimgamp [his old club], against PSG and against Monaco). He looks a decent player; strong, calm on the ball, good at tackling.. obviously being French and playing a holding role hes compared to Makelele but he could be a good signing for us. Guy Hilton has confirmed our interest in him and also the Marseille president has said that they beat us to signing him in the summer. I'm unsure about paying €30 million but hey, who knows.

Fantastic take there, reminds me of Bergkamp somehow.

Like Pogba hes an all round midfielder... who is better in the box to box role where he can be more effective for the team, getting into positions so he can arrive late in the box as he has done for the last 10 or 11 years at Chelsea. Hes not mobile enough to recover as quickly as Rami due to the fact he is 35, he leaves whoever his partner is exposed 9 times out of 10 when they switch roles and their is a turnover of possession...

Lampard is useless anywhere in the pivot, he doesn't tackle as we seen against Spurs several times, hes just glided past easily by more mobile players, his positional sense is also quite bad. When we are under pressure he is careless in possession, sloppy passes that lose the ball. He isn't a deep lying playmaker either... the sort of player we need to play next to Mikel/Rami/whoever has to be able to break play up as well, Lampard doesn't do a lot of that in my eyes. He claims he is trying to play a more disciplined midfield role but he is like Yaya Toure, he is closer to the opposition box than his own half the time.

It would be difficult because it will be similar to when Lampard is steaming upfield because of his goal threat and then Ramires is left playing a role he isn't accustomed to. Sure Pogba is an upgrade on Lampard but I can't see it working imo.

Well if you'd rather see one of Ramires or Pogba potentially used in the wrong role then maybe it would be a good deal but still...

Nobody of the class we need is available in my eyes. In fact any of Modric, Pogba, Alonso, Montolivo, De Rossi, Gundogan... whoever else you name will cost a shit load of money, their clubs want to keep them.

The 2008-09 season where they won the treble Busquets (his first season in the senior team) and Toure started more or less the same amount of games, Toure played at CB in various games too due to Puyols dodgy fitness. Season 2009-10 where they won 6 trophies, Busquets made 51 appearances and Toure 36 appearances, then the season after he was sold. Watch how he plays for City and how Busquets plays for Barca, watch how disciplined and aware Busquets is, Toure is never like that. Toure is a box to box, Toure isn't a DM. Hence Mancini using Barry to cover for his tactical and awareness faults next to him. Anyway to answer your question, Modric or Mateo Kovacic (has so much potential, can be a magnificent player).

Toure is a terrible DM. Hence why Guardiola got rid of him from that position as soon as he took charge. He lacked discipline and tactical awareness, hes a box to box midfielder, he likes to push up and support attacks, hence why Mancini played Gareth Barry or Javi Garcia or Jack Rodwell next to him; to allow him to go and play further up. Same with Fernandinho partnering him under Pellegrini. I've been watching Juve this season, Pogba is better suited to the box to box position he usually plays for Juve. Sure hes came in for Pirlo and played in front of the back 3 so Andrea can rest but hes not a natural fit there, not yet anyway. If he was to become more accustomed in that role for Juve over the next few year then sure why not but we should not be spending anything over 30m for a player whose best in a box to box position to retrain as a deep lying playmaker. It would be like spending 40m on someone like Julian Draxler to turn him into a striker because he has a good long range shot from distance, decent finisher in general, good link up play and he's 6 ft ....

If hes offered a big salary he will sign it, his agent is a money grabbing bastard who ultimately told him to leave Celtic where he was going to be given first team football for more money and reserve football at Chelsea. Hes a talented kid but he would have been better at Celtic for now than Chelsea.

Rami is only no longer wanted due to him bad mouthing his coach and his colleagues like an idiot. Decent defender, will suit the Italian league too where its much more slower so his lack of speed will not be noticeable. Zapata is terrible though at Milan, absolute shocking CB.

Exactly. Nate is the future, hes only 19 or 20, we need a midfield player right now, Lampard/Essien are on their last legs, Mikel seems to have fallen slightly out of favor and Marco is out for the season. Mourinho has made it clear he wants Nate to play for us, hes sent him on loan to prepare him so hes good enough to play for us, I personally believe next season he will get regular game time, but still we need a midfielder of equal quality to Rami who can help us right now. The midfield was the weakest part of our team last year defensively, wingers didn't work back, our 10 didn't press the oppositions 8 and we don't have a proper partner for our best midfielder yet. Rafa and Jose have sorted the wingers coming back to help the fullback in different ways and Jose has moved Oscar into the middle as he is a runner and will press the oppositions deepest midfielder when he gets the ball. He needs to get the next part right because a good midfield player next to Ramires will allow him to do what hes good at, breaking up the pitch causing the opposition problems.

Well one he isn't a defensive midfielder. Hes a box to box midfielder, we already have the second best one in the EPL imo so why buy another? We need a suitable player to play next to Ramires, signing Pogba to be that player would be the same as playing Lamps there, someone who is used to going up and down the pitch supporting the attackers. We'd effectively be filling a square hole with a round peg, we need to get someone to play next to Ramires or play Mikel more frequently. Gundogan on the other hand is perfect for what we need, he plays as the deepest midfielder for Dortmund effectively, hes the hub of their team, keeps them ticking, controlling the tempo, we need someone like that. As talented as Pogba is he isn't the answer.

Guardiola would probably ruin him anyway like he did with Ibra and Sanchez. Would probably end up playing him wide....