Superblue

There's always one

Thats a huge point to consider. Robbie has worked with the players for a year now and will know who is dispensable in the squad. The lack on continuity has allowed some average players longer Chelsea careers than perhaps they should have.

The club do need to sort this out sooner rather than later. I have said before, it's alright chasing Guardiola but Pep's success came within a football club he knows inside out and therefore feels comfortable with. You will find that extra passion for a club you truly care for aswell and go that extra mile for them. Would he ever be able to replicate this away from Barca, it is a risk! For all we know Robbie is our version of Guardiola. He has shown himself to be tactically astute and his own man in making bold decisions. The players love him and want to play for him, and he's Chelsea through and through and as a result will give that extra 10% for the club. Until he's been given the chance we will never know. People are getting caught up in the moment in regards to who we might now buy in the transfer market, but the manager's job is the most important decision the board need to make this summer.

Yes I think he's nailed on for United (although I still have my doubts about his playing time there) and we are nailed on for Hulk. The real question is who else will we add to that? I cannot see United buying Kagawa and Hazard, especially when a CM should be their priority. So maybe it will be Hulk and Kagawa?! As long as we improve our squad with 3-4 real high quality players, I'll fancy a successful season on the way next year.

I've just finished watching the highlights of the Napoli home game, two semis and the final tonight. Our run this season defies all logic and, admittedly from a biased perspective, is the most unbelievable thing I have ever witnessed in football. So many fine margins, last ditch blocks, great saves and goals at vital times. Just seeing the passion and spirit running through the veins of the Chelsea players during that run, the never say die spirit and attitude makes me so proud to be a Chelsea fan. Drogba has admitted during the final the occasion got to him a couple of times and his head dropped. Mata picked him up as they kicked off after Muller's goal and told him we could still win it and he was the man to win it for us, and when he gave the penalty away, David Luiz told him to believe. These are two players who have been at the club for 12 and 18 months respectively, coming from cultures which have been known in the past to lack the stomach for a fight when things are down. They've both embraced that Chelsea belief and spirit. I fucking love it!!!

Not sure my heart could take that level of drama again. Fuck me there's been enough this Champions League run and last week topped the lot. I'm just happy to saviour the win, watch it countless times over and over knowing what the final outcome is going to be :blue scalf:

If Bosingwa and Ferreira both leave, unfortunately we cannot pin our hopes on Hutchinson being the only backup RB we have because of his knee issues. This is even more important as Ivanovic doubles up as a fourth centre back and may be required their throughout the season. We have been linked with van der Wiel for a while now and I believe he will be the most likely RB signing we make. But I agree that there are other options such as Piszczek, Azpilicueta and Debuchy. We will definately sign someone at RB this summer.

Yes, I agree. My point is that people are taking the assumption that there is an end of an era from this, i.e. 2004 - 2012 winning lots of titles and this may well get as good as it can get. What I'm trying to say is the people have not appreciated the natural evolving of the squad over the last couple of seasons into a younger, fresher squad. With those players having tasted success this season with the FA Cup and more importantly the Champions League I'm saying the 2004-2012 success is only the beginning of an era which could last for many years of massive success for this football club.

The general consensus outside of Chelsea is that our Champions League win was a final hurrah for the 'old guard'. The final chapter in a legendary group of players. The end of an era. In my opinion, this my fellow Chelsea fans, is just the beginning. Two poor league campaigns, and constant media hype over the age of the squad has masked the job the board have done in quietly reshaping and rebuilding our squad over the past two seasons. A lot of people have questioned when are we going to have the 'big summer' of huge spending to get this squad back on track. We haven't so far required it because we've brought both in the summer and winter transfer windows in each of the last two seasons. Ramires, David Luiz, Torres, Courtois, Mata, Romeu, Lukaku, Meireles, Cahill, De Bruyne and now Marin. In this time Sturridge and Bertrand have also been integrated to within the first team squad setup. That is 13 players, with a decent blend of youth and experience, be it on the european or domestic stage, but with the oldest being Meireles at 28. The Champions League win is huge on so many levels for so many reasons but one of the biggest from a longer term outlook is that it has provided the club with a new set of 'winners'. Players such as Lampard, Drogba and Cole had been there before, played under the most intense pressures and come through to win the trophies, but a number of players within our squad hadn't experienced this. The likes of Cahill and David Luiz have never played on such a big stage and to play so well and win will give them huge confidence as a prominent centre back pairing for many years to come. Even the likes of Ramires and Meireles who were suspended for the final played their parts massively in the pressure cooker of the Nou Camp and also helped win the FA Cup. They will feel as much a part of the success. Add to this players who were already vastly experienced at this club but still with a number of years in front of them such as Ivanovic, Mikel and amazingly after 8 years, Cech and the club has the spine of a squad that could play together for many years which has already experienced success at the highest level. Some of the older players can also still play a part over the next couple of seasons assisting the younger players in their roles to effectively take over where they have admirably left off. This summer the club can add 3-4 quality signings in the summer to add to this group of players. Compare this to if our season had fizzled out. We would be panicking at our fall from grace, thinking we need 7-8 new players but with the FFP restrictions to consider and no Champions League money. A number of the older experienced winners will have left and made it much more difficult for a new group of players who hadn't won anything together to pick things up. You only need to look at our City limped over the line to win the title to know how important experience in such situations is. With the right additions this summer, and we don't need huge amounts, the Champions League win can be the dawning of a new era at this football club, full of more success and trophies we have become accustomed to winning over the last few years.

This running commentary you'd think we'd signed Hazard!

Bad moments in Chelsea's history have healed over time, but I was never able to watch any highlights of anything to do with Chelsea - United final in Moscow 4 years ago. For fucks sake i even have the season review DVD and turned it off when it got to the final. But now I don't mind. It just feels so like it was meant to be, and those knockbacks we suffered so many times has made this triumph so much more special. People can talk about the money spent, blah blah, but it really feels like we fucking earnt it!

The guy makes perfect sense as a primary option on the wing, and a world class player in that position no less. But it's the option that he can play as a striker which is just as important to me and one of the big positives I put over him compared to Hazard. I'm all for Sturridge and Lukaku being given chances next season as understudy's to Torres but I can envisage now as soon as the season kicks off Torres gets crocked and huge pressure is suddenly placed on Sturridge and Lukaku to lead the line and score goals in massive pressure games. At least Hulk has the experience to be able to fill in and take on the responsibility if this were to happen.

Agreed no need for left back but I would keep A Cole another season at least. His experience will be key for Bertrand's development as he is still very inexperienced at the highest level. Going on the basis that we should play somewhere between 55-60 games next season, I would like to hope Bertrand gets somewhere between 20-25 games, with Cole getting 30-35 games. Cole has clearly benefitted from not playing every game at the back end of this season, he has stayed fresh for the big games and performed in them. And in doing so Bertrand had a chance to play some big games such as Liverpool and Arsenal away which put him in decent stead for the Champs League final.

Quality! I have an issue though in that i can't get on Talk Chelsea on my laptop. The internet page stops responding. Any suggestions what it might be? I use my phone to write posts on here.

The media have seemingly as one treated it a schweini miss rather than a Cech save, bunch of mugs!

I hope they do with the full game and after match celebrations, trophy presentation, etc. I recorded the game on virgin but cos it went to extra time and pens it stopped just at the end of the pen shoot out. Obviously celebrating with my dad i didn't take in player celebrations, etc at the time too much and the highlights sky and itv showed later in the night was abysmal. Hopefully it would also have sky commentary on it - neville's goalgasm for Drogba and Martin Tyler when Drogba scored the pen are classic! On a side note has anybody brought the souvenir magazine they've released? Is it worth £5 of my hard earned money?!

It may now be out of his hands - cahill and luiz were superb in the final particularly when considering both weren't fit. They have felt the big game experience now and the feeling of winning and puts them in good stead for our future pairing. The big issue will arise if Terry is found guilty this summer because if he is the FA will throw the book at him - probably looking minimum 8-10 game ban. By the time he's back IMO he is no longer in a position to walk back in our side and will struggle if luiz and cahill are pushing on and playing well. I love John Terry and he will always be a legend but i do feel unsympathetic towards him and his off field ill discipline.

Ahh sorry. Oh well fuck it champions of europe

If you catch the angle of schweinsteigers penalty when its facing Cech full on you can see he gets a touch on it which i would argue helped the ball onto the front of the post. As opposed to the inside of the post which could have gone anywhere then.

The difference... Gerrard has always been a big fish in a small pond. Lampard has been a big fish in a big pond!

This changes everything. Roman will move heaven and earth to bring him here, everybody knows that.

Anyone considered us changing to a 4-2-2-2 formation like City. I'm sure in an interview Gourlay hinted we may have 2 strikers here next season who could score 25-30 goals each. Could you imagine mata and hazard behind falcao and torres. Wishful thinking and i prefer the 4-2-3-1 anyway but wow.

He did chip the keeper with his right peg against Leverkusen...but that one doesn't count because we then dismantled them on route to becoming champions of europe

Obviously not at professional standard but i was left footed growing up. My football coach abd dad both pushed me to use my weaker right foot as much as possible and now i feel comfortable with both feet. If i'm striking a ball with power such as shooting or a long pass i still prefer to use my left but if i'm playing a short pass i actually prefer my right! Weird that!

I saw the Guillerme Balague interview on sky sports and the media, as ever, blew it out of proportion. It's up to Torres, he either sinks or swims. He knows the support he'll get from us. I feel though the motivation and effort i've seen from him this year that he's going to have a big season.