Superblue

This better not mean PSG thinking they can come in for David Luiz now!

A lot less pressure next season IMO. Liverpool are in serious transition, Spurs could fall back into place now, and I don't see Newcastle doing as well as last season with europe a distraction. Top four should be easier next season. I would take a couple of cups, one definately being the World Club Cup (maybe with the FA Cup and Super Cup), a top four finish and respectable defence of our european title. And if the play is a little more pleasing on the eye and a few youngsters on the fringes, that too would be a welcome bonus.

Torres just showed his frustration when Xavi passed it back rather than a one-two. Our players like Mata and Hazard will be used to those sort of runs next season training with him and will find him. Have faith people!

I predict he'll get atleast double what he scored last season. Somewhere between 20-30 goals in all competitions I reckon.

A better run in at the end of the season would be preferable. Especially as we will have games in hand due to the Super Cup and World Club Cup so we are likely to be playing catch up and games every 3-4 days like this season. What did Robbie have, 11 league games? Within that we played Spurs, City, Arsenal, Newcastle and Liverpool. A home game is nice to start the season, and even more so this season as the feel good factor of being european champions and with Robbie at the helm should be at its highest.

Watching the Spain game, I know a lot of comments defending Torres have gone along the lines of 'he needs better service', but I don't think Spain's game suits him. I've watched a few times he's made runs or wanted the ball early and Spain are content with playing another few passes first. Technically they're on another level but it can be a hindrance - we showed that against Barcelona. What I think Chelsea are building for next season is a more creative and technical supporting cast behind him but also one which is explosive. Hazard and Marin have pace to burn and plenty of tricks to beat a man. Torres will benefit from a much more direct style of play than Barca and Spain play, but not the style of directness Chelsea have played under Drogba. Whatever people say about Torres, he still has some of the best movement in world football and with players around him who can find him early or open up gaps running at defences for him to move into, I really do believe that Torres can be a success here. I also believe such a system of play will be something that Sturridge can benefit from playing up front as well. If he's not too arrogant to learn from Torres' movement, his pace will be lethal on the back of the last defender. I'm really excited about next season already!

Real Madrid president Florentino Perez has put the brakes on a move for Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic. Real coach Jose Mourinho has been pushing Perez to splash out for the Serb. But El Confidencial says the president has ruled out a move over concerns Ivanovic won't be good enough. After seeing Fabio Coentrao flop last season, Perez doesn't want his fingers burned twice over a player he's unsure of. Fucking idiot!

Report in Spain that Perez is reluctant to sanction a move for Ivanovic. After Coentrao struggled for a big fee last season, he doesn't want to spend so big for a full back and is not sure Brana is good enough Hopefully this will mean he stays at Chelsea though

Would take jovetic if we drop our pursuit of hulk. Always been a fan since he terrorised the bin dippers a couple of years back!

I actually believe RDM can and will get much better out of torres.

Any news on Eddie Newton yet?

Why would silva leave milan?! I get that the money will be top whack but i assume he's hardly paid peanuts there.

A win percentage of 62% is admirable also considering we had a lot of difficult games within the 21 - Spurs twice Liverpool twice Benfica twice Barcelona twice Napoli Arsenal Man City Newcastle Bayern Munich 13 of his 21 games included either teams who finished above us in the league, and Liverpool who under Kenny Dalglish had never lost to us, and some top european teams.

Watched the 'legends' programme tonight on Chelsea TV with Michael Ballack. Fantastic player and man. He got a lot of stick from the media who felt he was a flop whilst at Chelsea but only true fans who watched him every week could see the influence and presence he had on the pitch. IMO it is no coincidence that we really struggled two years ago after he left, particularly coupled with Drogba and Lampard injured for long periods. He's always shown massive respect to the club and spoke warmly of us, despite surely having misgivings about how he was discarded from the club. Thank you Michael :tophat:

I thought Simpson was leaving, and Santon can play either full back role. Debuchy would be a real coup for them, because I would be very happy if we were to buy him ourselves.

I think if Hulk is brought then there is a spot this season for Lukaku as effectively third choice striker which will hopefully get him 5-10 starts during the season and about 20 games in total. Hulk will play on the right wing, but can give us an option as a striker if injuries/suspensions leave us thin. If however we sign a genuine striker then he is likely to go out on loan as he'll get very little game time as a fourth choice. I actually believe that RDM will give a couple of the youngsters a chance. It's easy to point to last season but at the business end of the season where every game was 'must win' he had to use tried and trusted experienced players. This however didn't stop him deploying Bertrand in the Champions League final. If players work hard and take their opportunities, IMO he'll put his trust in them. Lukaku had game time in the last couple of games and looked much better than when he first joined the club. He must build on that now in pre season.

Robbie has shown you can be BOTH a great man manager of players and have a fantastic tactical mind. On this basis thank fuck we didn't bring in 'Arry, who players might like playing for but doesn't have a scooby doo how to set a team up; the FA cup semi showed that in full!

Firstly congratulations to Robbie. He deserves this opportunity and for me was definately first choice. He will have the supporters and players backing straight away and hopefully this will help build momentum quickly and early in the season. A lot of people are worried at his lack of experience in rebuilding a team, but think of it on the flip side...if he could achieve what he did last season in the middle of a turbulent campaign, consider the potential he can achieve with a full pre season and summer to freshen up the squad! What I have found very interesting however, and not sure how much to read into it is that he has been appointed 'manager and first team coach'. Even Carlo wasn't 'manager'. I just wonder if this is giving someone they have confidence in a bit more air of authority and say so? Anybody know if Eddie is staying on aswell. I assume he will be, but this hasn't been confirmed.

Apparently it will be bellamy, giggs and beckham. I'm not complaining but i would have picked rio, carrick and lamps

This could be a massive disruption - david luiz and sturridge are definites, mata is a probable and if we do buy hulk he may go too.

That or he'll get the poor fucker shot or something for denying Russia the win!

I have been critical about people slating the possibility of buying Hulk because of the lack of suggestions of another right wing option of GENUINE QUALITY. However this lad looks very good. I still want Hulk, but Kuba is a much better alternative to the likes of Adam Johnson and, ahem, Jarvis (!) I wonder if Roman looks at a double bid for Kuba and Piszczek, seen as we need a right winger and right back?

Have people forgot that he saved three penalties out of six and a contribution just as important as any other member of our squad to win the Champions League??!! The guy is world class, but as some have said every keeper is prone to mistakes and will be under even more scrutiny when the defence infront of them is pure wank!

Are some people broken? Bosingwa was considered 'backup' yet made 36 starts and 7 sub appearances last season. A player would be coming here knowing there are a lot of games to play. This is even more important at RB as Brana will probably have to play at least 10-15 games during the season at CB.

Does jovetic play right wing though? Because i'm fed up with playing players out of position there rather than just buying and playing a fucking right winger! A lot of people are hesitant on hulk given the hefty transfer fee but until somebody gives me a natural right winger of similar quality realistically available this summer then i think we should still pursue Hulk.