BlueLion.

If anyone truly thinks we don't need a striker, they're smoking ludicrous amounts of weed.

If anyone truly thinks we don't need a striker, they're smoking ludicrous amounts of weed.

Interesting, where are those stats from? I sourced mine from UEFA.com. And I'm including assists as "contributing a goal to the team".

Ba has scored 2 goals and assisted another in 327 minutes of football - meaning that he contributes a goal every 109 minutes. But when you consider that of those 327 minutes he has only made two starts; and a number of his sub appearances have only been for around about 10-15 minutes, with very little chance of scoring in that period, those stats actually make for relatively impressive reading. You compare that to Eto'o (4 goals, 2 assists) in 724 minutes - a ratio of contributing a goal every 121 mins; and Torres (5 goals, 2 assists) in 811 mins - a ratio of contributing a goal every 116 minutes, he is statistically, therefore, our best striker in terms of getting the ball in the back of the net.

Who the fuck are you?!

After the debacle with Barcelona inserting a right-of-purchase clause into Romeu's contract, they're the last club we should be dealing with.

Granted he isn't a Lionel Messi, but he is an excellent dribbler of a football.

Magnificent to see you still posting, Vincent! Hope you are faring well.

Change your location then, bitch.

Excellent option to keep on the bench as a plan B. Beauty (Eto'o and Torres as the silky forwards), and the Beast (Ba as the lumbering brute).

To be fair it says you live in Brisbane on your profile, which as a city has a bigger population (about 2.5 million isn't it?) than every UK city except for London, if memory serves! That's like me saying I live in Nottingham when really I live in a large village 30 minutes outside the city centre.... oh wait, I do...

We're not - and no-one on this earth - is that desperate Sammy

Cheers Tom! You're an absolute chap!

Hi all, Your continued generosity has helped make TalkChelsea the magnificent place it is today, but we once again need your help to keep the site running. As you will know, Jim has invested heavily out of his own pocket to move us to an impressive new serve which runs emphatically on match-days - but if that is to continue then we need a little help from yourselves! Anything - no matter how small - is gratefully accepted. Even £2 each month would go a long, long way towards us meeting the hosting fees throughout the year! It's ever so cheeky to have to ask you guys like these, but we have to be absolutely transparent and say that our funds are drying up, and we desperately need some help in keeping the site running as fantastically well as it has been for the last few months! Thanks for taking the time to read, and thanks in advance for any donations - no matter how big or small - you may make as a result. Donating is incredibly easy and all you need is a PayPal account, so please help us keep the site running! Yours very faithfully, Alex, on behalf of the staff team.

Michael Essien's return to Premier League football after an eighteen-month absence hardly went to plan - but his blushes were spared by a rousing Chelsea comeback to beat Southampton. After first a spell on the sidelines and then a season spent on loan at Real Madrid, the dynamic Ghanaian midfielder made an absolute mess of a routine back-pass to allow Jay Rodriguez to open the scoring after just thirteen seconds as Southampton made a lightning-quick start. After fine saves from Artur Boruc to deny headers from Oscar and Fernando Torres at the close of the first half, the Blues were finally able to restore parity through Gary Cahill's first goal in just short of a year following a goalmouth scramble. Juan Mata's delightful cross enabled skipper John Terry to then power home a looping header on the hour-mark, before the effervescent Ramires dribbled his way beyond a whole host of Southampton defenders to set up substitute Demba Ba, who prodded home Chelsea's third, and his fourth goal for the Blues in just three games against their south coast opponents. It was far from a routine win for José Mourinho and his side, who were under the cosh for long periods of the first half. Mauricio Pochettino's side were resolute defensively throughout and for the most part they were able to limit the influence of the Blues' flair players, but ultimately the guile and power of the West London outfit was too much for the Argentine's young, up-and-coming side. Next up for the Blues is a midweek trip to Sunderland before they take on Stoke City at the Britannia next weekend. With the curse of November now well behind them, the Blues' title bid may well indeed have seriously begun here thanks to a total transformation of the team at half-time. After all the press talk over how supposedly sensational title rivals Arsenal were at Cardiff yesterday, the gauntlet has most certainly been thrown down by the Blues - this was a battling victory against a very good team indeed. The Blues were ruthless in the execution of Mourinho's half-time switch in tactics, and a change in personnel at half-time - both Frank Lampard and goalscorer Ba were introduced at the interval - certainly helped fashion a most impressive win. The result is made all the more impressive considering the shock early set-back the side suffered thanks to what can only be seen as over-exuberance by Essien, who must surely have been trying to impose himself early on his Premier League come-back - thankfully, the experienced midfielder was bailed out by his team-mates on this occasion. After Essien's stray back-pass in the first minute allowed England international Rodriguez to steal into the box and prod home beyond Petr Cech, there was an air of disbelief about Stamford Bridge - but one that turned to delirium when first Cahill restored parity after the half-time break, and then Terry gave the Blues a lead their second-half showing warranted. There was a real sense of belief amongst the home support, that after the last-gap penalty heroics of Eden Hazard in the last league game at the Bridge, that the side would rally and move within four points of leaders Arsenal. The Blues duly delivered, and, to a man, they put in the sort of hard work that football fans expect of their heroes. Ramires, in particular, was magnificent throughout, and the return of Juan Mata to the starting line-up gave the Blues a more inventive midfield hub from which the basis of this win was crafted from. At the back, both Ivanovic and Cesar Azpilicueta were imperious, whilst Cahill's goal was the deserved reward for his composed performance. Indeed, his equaliser ensured he became the fifteenth different player to net for the Blues this term, demonstrating the real team effort that is required to fire a side towards title glory. But the headlines must surely belong to the Blues' captain, leader, legend; John Terry. In making his 400th Premier League appearance for the side, Terry notched appearance number 593 for the club - a tally that saw him surpass John Hollins to become the club's fourth-highest appearance maker of all-time. His majestic display, not only today but throughout the season as a whole, has therefore been made all the more poignant by such a landmark occasion. Whilst no trophies have been won today, you feel a real sense of significance to this fixture. Should Chelsea go on to lift the Premier League title in May, this fixture will certainly be looked back on as a major turning point - with the Blues now up to second and a top-of-the-table crunch match against Arsenal at the Emirates looming, this may well be the time for Mourinho's side to place their claim for the league crown.

I actually do think we could, and perhaps even should sell him. Finding quality goalkeepers is relatively easy. Obviously it will be extraordinarily difficult to find one with the same ceiling as Courtois, but goalkeepers are most definitely replaceable. Goalkeepers aren't worth £25-30m, even in their prime - there are only a very few number of examples. It is simply too competitive a position, there will always be others coming through the academies. For me, if you're going to get offered that amount of money for a goalkeeper, you should definitely consider cashing in. But that is only one option. Whilst I don't want it to be the case, I think Cech will leave in the summer and Courtois will come in as the number 1. I fully agree you can't loan players out forever - so we either have to sell, or have him come into the side. But if he comes into the team and sits on the bench because of merit, and Cech is playing better than him, what will he do then? Moan, because he isn't playing as he isn't as good as the man he thought he'd replace? For me, it would be easier to sell him and bring in another goalkeeper in 2-3 years' time. But, as I said, what I think is irrelevant. I think he'll come in this summer and force Cech not; not necessarily through his ability, but through his obviously-huge ego. His attitude worries me. He doesn't want to spend a season on the bench - understandable. But it's as if he's scared of the competition from Cech.

Hmm, I'm not sure. Cech was the indisputable best goalkeeper in the world between 2004-2006. Courtois right now has competition from Cech himself, Neuer, Weidenfeller, Lloris, etc. In terms of their abilities at the corresponding age, they are probably very similar, like you say. But that debate is irrelevant to my point - people are overestimating Courtois at the same time as not realising how good Cech still is. It amazes me how some supporters can underrate a player who has 450 appearances for the club! Is Cech as "bad" as some people make him out to be? Absolutely not. Similarly is Courtois as good as a lot of people make him out to be? Again, from my point of view, not quite, not yet anyway.

I agree. You can't deny the fact Courtois is a talented keeper - but I think many Chelsea fans are being blinded by hyperbole in terms of how good Courtois is, at the same time of suffering from a case of "don't-know-you've-got-something-good-going-on-until-you-lose-it" in regards to Cech.

Well, looking at the stats, he's started 17 times, and come on as a substitute on two occasions - that's 19 appearances from a possible 20; and he's only missed 169 minutes of competitive action for us this season. But, again stating my earlier point, what other option do we have but to play him? We have four fit CMs for three positions in the 4-3-3, but with Essien out of the UCL squad, we only have the three! And it's not like we can move Luiz there, due to injury.

^ Cech was good last night. His distribution was better than normal, and also a little faster. I wonder if Jose wants him to instigate attacks more often, because he is very conservative and prefers to let the play calm down rather than bowl the ball out immediately. His save from Stocker (?) when he was on his backside was brilliant. How he had the strength in his wrists, whilst falling backwards, to tip the ball over is beyond me. But I suppose that's why he's a professional and I merely play for my university!

Asbolutely. That is how he should be being utilized, but unfortunately one of the club's failings this summer was to sign the experienced, established CM we all wanted; ie. Alonso or de Rossi. Yes, we signed MvG, but the issue was he was only going to play every now and again as a young man learning his trade. I know he is hardly a midfield saviour, but I do feel we should be playing Essien more to relieve the strain on Lamps. The less he plays, the fitter he'll be; and it is when he is performing his box-to-box role that he is at his best. We can't expect him to put in the lung-busting shifts he was able to do before his lengthy lay-off in 2010/11. He's an old man, in footballing terms, and we have to respect that. Sadly, we have to play him because the club made a bad call in leaving us with just five recognised CMs this season for three positions in a 4-3-3, or two positions in the 4-2-3-1.

Anyway, back on topic, anyone wishing a player to be injured is shocking, in truth. Lampard should not be playing as much as he is, but we're not exactly inundated with CMs right now, so it's little surprise he is featuring so heavily.

With that sort of childish attitude you can't really call anyone a "fucking idiot", Ron. Blatant disrespect. I don't know why you have it in for certain members of the staff team, but if you don't like the way the forum is run, you know where the door is.

The save he made when he was on his arse, going the other way, was simply brilliant. Unbelievable strength to palm the ball over from that position the way that he did.

People are over-analysing this, big time. We've seriously, genuinely got away with this one, because we're through. Simple as that. No-one will care come February and we enter the knock-out stages. We have to consider the positives because we are through with 9 points. Last year we had 10 points and entered the Europa League... Yes, we should have performed better and gotten at least a point in this fixture to relieve some of the pressure on the final game (which we must now win to be sure of top spot), but it's not like we've dropped a place or two and are now entirely reliant on results elsewhere.