Superblue

In an ideal world he would stay another season or two and Lampard would come in afterwards but if Sarri does not want to be here its pointless trying to keep him. Easy to criticise the board and say put up more of a fight to keep him but they'll have fresh in their minds last season dealing with Conte not wanting to be here for the whole year. I do think the club and board have softened in recent years over managers and if the right one was in place there would be a bit more stability. Mourinho was kept on as long as humanly possible and Conte effectively spat his dummy out and fell out with the board, and now Sarri wants to go. Also it should be noted that Sarri and Conte both had dreadful periods where the papers suggested they were as good as gone (Conte even had this in his first season after the Arsenal loss), and periods where managers of past haven't survived, but the club stuck it out with them. I think for the right man and a good, working relationship with the board an appointment could be made with a bit more of a longer term approach and patience.

Spurs also had to make do without their best striker and 'talisman' for a couple of significant stretches through the season. I would be amazed, unless a team jumped out the pack and just had a great season, if we still didn't finish top 6 next year regardless.

It would be ironic though the first time Chelsea could make money off a manager leaving and we let him go for free!

I hope their translation of "free" means compensation...

Liverpool have already won it enough times that one more win isn't going to make an awful lot of difference - all rival supporters have become used to blocking the bollocks they spout out. Spurs winning it will be the mother of all disasters.

I cannot see Guardiola leaving just yet. Maybe in a couple more years but everything is set up for him at City and he still hasn't won them the Champions League. They may be banned for a season, but I still don't see him walking out. Poch to Juventus I think is a very big possibility though. The way he's talked in recent weeks he sounds frustrated and I think he probably feels he can't take Spurs any further than he already has done. Despite the quality difference in the league, Juventus is massive compared to Spurs and would be a huge opportunity for him. I think if Juventus could get him they'd choose him over Sarri to be honest.

It's surprising how short term memory some fans will have though when a player is approaching the end of their career. Many on this forum were exactly the same recently about David Luiz, it happens with every club. The one thing I would say about Real Madrid is their fans are very demanding and there's no opportunity to build up credit with them. If Hazard had for them a season like he had for us in Mourinho's final season they'd be wanting him out the door whereas we could appreciate there were struggles that season and we knew the talent he had and he'd get back to his higher levels of performance again. The lack of patience they have provides huge pressure and will certainly take him out of the comfort zone he enjoys here and it's whether Hazard will thrive or struggle in such an environment.

It's my primary concern with keeping him. This Europa win may build up a little goodwill for him but a part of me feels the damage has already been done this season and I worry that he is one bad performance away from the fans on his back again. The atmosphere at times was toxic this season and it's not an ideal situation for anyone involved. Ideally he could really do with a transfer window to bring in 3 or 4 players to help reshape this squad because I do think there's a good core here and with a couple of really high quality additions the potential is there to kick on again next year.

Really pleased for him that he's had the opportunity to go out the way he has with this win. He's been a great player and a great servant for this football club and I've no problem with his desire for a new challenge and 'dream' of playing for Real Madrid. He should find the Spanish league far easier to play in than over here, although the demands from that crowd will be a completely new experience for him. I think he already realises that he won't have the same level of love and appreciation over there than he enjoys here but its obvious in his mind if he didn't play for Madrid in his career he'd probably regret it come the end of it. Even if the ban is overturned we have to make sure we don't try and replace him with another talismanic figure. I would far rather this team be built into a much stronger unit where we are far less reliant on one or two players (as is the case in recent times with Hazard and Kante). Going in for one big player (like Coutinho for example) is not the right plan in my opinion.

In the Abramovich era. Sexton and Vialli were both permanent managers when they won the Cup Winners Cup.

I think its a perfect example of someone needing time to settle and adapt. New style, language, culture, team mates, etc. The last few games he has been superb. He was phenomenal in the two semis against Frankfurt and excellent again last night. He's adjusted to the lack of time he gets on the ball and releases the ball much quicker than he was earlier in the season. It's also not a coincidence that his upturn in form has coincided with the team's overall improvement recently playing out from the back. He will always be exposed at times defensively because he has physical and athletical limitations but his reading of the game is very good (the number of tackles and blocks he makes shows this) and he has become much more aggressive with his overall play recently.

That's fair enough, I didn't see this. Ironically he's probably in the greatest position of strength any Chelsea manager has found themselves in under Abramovich. I believe what is in the media, that Chelsea want Lampard to become manager but not yet. In their ideal world Sarri will probably take us through the next two years of his contract, continue to evolve and develop a style on the group of players and leave the club to Lampard in a better shape than what he found it in. But with Juventus seemingly sniffing around and Sarri possibly viewing that as a better opportunity than what he has here, it may be the board that need to do the convincing rather than him which is crazy to think 3 or 4 months ago.

Certainly in RLC's case, he only had surgery a couple of weeks ago. The players will have been advised whether they could go or not. Rudiger is probably much further along with his recovery and his injury I assume is not as serious as that of CHO and RLC.

Knowing how the media operate and the interview being conducted in his native Italy, I wouldn't be surprised if the quote has been wildly taken out of context (i.e. him making a passing comment about Napoli which is fair enough as it's a club that means a lot to him and helped put him on the map in terms of international recognition) or there is more to the interview but Sky Italy have gone with the bit that they want to go with. He definitely should have done an interview for English media last night though or straight after the game. I know its clearly something he doesn't like but if he stays on here, he needs to build a better relationship with the media. It shouldn't work in that way, but it does and is half the reason why you hear no criticism of the likes of Poch and Klopp despite years without a trophy.

I agree he hasn't pulled up any trees this season. He seemed to play the second half without any shackles on, I'm not sure if that was because the game opened up significantly more. Sarri said at half time he wanted the team to play with more bravery in their play and they certainly showed that. I feel Barkley has been in the same boat this season where both have seemed to play within themselves, seemingly scared to make mistakes. That's why when RLC caught fire it felt like such a breath of fresh air. If Sarri remains, you would hope that he can get these sort of performances (not just Kovacic but the team as a whole) on a regular and more consistent basis. The problem the club has with the ban next season and RLC out long term is without Kovacic still there we literally have 3 senior midfielders in a 3 man midfield. I want to see more young players blooded and given chances but it would be suicidal from the club to be left so thin in such an important area of the pitch.

He was excellent tonight. I've said previously if the ban remains it's a no brainer to buy him for the right price else we're going to be alarmingly stretched in the middle next season. Our midfield trio dominated Arsenal in the second half tonight.

Great result and a very good second half performance. The game opened up so badly and I wasn't overjoyed at us still going gung ho at 4-1 with 15 minutes to go but some of the football was very good to watch and ironic that the final game of the season was where it all seemingly fell into place. Hazard was superb and is a great way to sign off, but really pleased with some of the other players stepping up. Kante played with an injection and his mere presence in the midfield helped. Jorginho has come on leaps and bounds the last month or two and looks like he will be a big player next season. Pedro and Giroud stepped up in the second half, Luiz, Christensen and Azpi put some important tackles and blocks in too. And Kovacic probably had his best game of the season. I'm really pleased that Sarri got the monkey off his back with a first trophy. He hasn't been everybody's cup of tea and I've found myself torn throughout the season between 'backing and sacking' him, but that was great tonight. Will be interested to see what happens now. If we had a transfer window and could bring in 3 or 4 players to fit his system then he could really kick things on here even without Hazard. Something to think about over the coming days, nothing to worry about tonight. Get in there Chels!

I believe this 21 day rule is actually once FIFA provide us with the written reasons for rejecting the appeal and from what I understand they haven't provided this yet.

It's not ideal and I must admit I'm not overly confident about tonight but I do think Arsenal are being talked up like they're prime Barcelona. The two strikers are a huge goal threat but beyond that Ozil is very hit and miss (and will they even risk playing him) and Ramsey is a big loss too for them. The rest of their team is pretty average - even with the losses in our midfield I still wouldn't look at Arsenal's and think it's any better than ours. We should still be capable of dominating possession against them in the middle, especially if they play with two up top. And that defence is pretty woeful. If Cech plays, he isn't the keeper we remember either. Beyond Hazard, our attacking options aren't consistent but Giroud can be a handful to any centre back who tries to go toe to toe with him (which Mustafi will try to do) and Willian/Pedro on their day can do some damage to that back line. It's all about our big players turning up like you said, especially Hazard, but also a couple of others putting in a big performance that they're capable of but just inconsistent in doing (Willian/Pedro, Luiz, etc)

Tonight could be the making or breaking of Barkley tonight. He needs to show up massively and give us an attacking threat from midfield. He needs to stop playing within himself, which I feel he has been doing most of the season (too worried to make mistakes rather than taking the game by the scruff of the neck like RLC has done in recent weeks) With Loftus-Cheek out long term and the ban, this could be the start of him nailing down a pretty regular role for next season and we need him to perform.

He's up there regardless of tonight's result. I'd say after Drogba he's probably been our best buy under Abramovich. Difficult to make judgements like that though because players like Cech and Ashley Cole were snips and unbelievable but completely different positions and roles in the team.

I've got no problem with this from the players, it shows there's a bit of an edge to them in training which there should be before a final and disagreements, players leaving one on each other, etc happens a lot in training it's just media don't get to see it. What is the problem however is Sarri having a tantrum over it. If it got diffused and that was it, it's a nothing story but the whole situation is exacerbated by Sarri's reaction when he knows it's an open training session. I've worried in recent months about Sarri's man management style and ability and this does nothing to alleviate that.

I hope we milk them as much as possible. If we want £130m and Madrid are currently at £88m I think a deal will probably be struck at somewhere between £100 - 120m but we should make them sweat. His arrogance should cost Madrid at least an extra £5m if I was the decision maker at Chelsea. Real Madrid, Barca and Bayern Munich are horrendous for using the local media (which they pretty much control), club officials talking publicly about other teams players, etc. If it was an English team they'd be strung up for tapping up.

For me, I see next season (assuming the ban is enforced) to be the perfect opportunity to set in motion a rebuild of the squad. With the inflation of transfer fees over the last couple of years, if we were to rebuild fully through the market it could take years. We have to create pathways for some of our academy to break through to alleviate the pressure of rebuilding through the transfer market. If there are other players like CHO and RLC who show real potential to become important first choice players at the club, then that is phenomenal but ultimately we need to be finding 4 or 5 players who at the very least can become good, dependable squad players. This will prevent us squandering more money in the future on the likes of Zappacosta and Drinkwater and instead be able to use our resources to buy higher quality players because less are required. If we are ever going to get the ball rolling with this, then this coming season is the one to do that in. My concern with a manager like Allegri or anyone really on the continent with limited or no experience of English football is would it simply present yet another chance for players who haven't been performing? Would someone like Allegri be prepared to give sufficient game time to CHO and Pulisic who should be afforded that next season, or will the reliance be on the experienced, well renowned names of Willian and Pedro? Would Reece James be given first team opportunities or would Azpi be heavily leaned on again to play 50+ games? Would Tammy be given a go over the likes of Morata and Batshuayi? This is one of the big reasons why if Sarri were to leave, I would choose Lampard. I've said before that I believe Lampard would manage the club with the club coming first as opposed to any manager who would come in with no prior links to Chelsea and put themselves first. I think Lampard would be prepared to give younger players opportunities and freshen up the squad where he can in that regard, even if he wasn't here to 'finish the job' because he would want the long term success of the club. The return of Jody Morris should also not be underestimated as part of such a move either. If Lampard is the man prepared to offer these opportunities, being able to lean on the man who is the most experienced coach in dealing with these boys would be a huge coup. There's no one better placed to offer an expert opinion on all of them from ability to character, strengths to weaknesses. Next season could be and I think will be rough regardless of who is in charge. We're poised to start next season without our talisman, and question marks over the long term fitness of our best centre back and two best young players. At present there are so many gaps within not just our starting XI but our whole squad but a (forced) year of true transition could answer some of these question marks within the squad and even find another player or two who can be last seasons version of CHO and RLC. I worry that the wrong move (which ironically may be deemed the safe and less risky option) would waste an opportunity to potentially come out of the mess this transfer ban is leaving us in.

Modric's was less about his performances that year, and more an appreciation of a number of years performing as one of the best midfielders of his ilk this generation. Difficult to say whether this justifies his winning of it. I think this whole generation it's difficult to look past Ronaldo and Messi at all with the numbers they put up. In any other generation, Modric probably wouldn't be argued.