BlueLion.

^ get me Hazard 17 instead and I might just not burn it.

Fernando Torres, take a bow. Easily his best performance for us. Forget the goals - as well taken as the second was, and full marks for persistence for his first, mind. His hold-up play was brilliant, absolutely top notch centre-forward play. Linked the play very well considering he had no support from Lampard and Ramires, he wasn't afraid to take on his man and showed some excellent ball control. I'm delighted with the win, but even more ecstatic about how well he, Moses and Mata played tonight. Really positive performance and two big wins in two quarter-finals in four days; you can't ask for more!

Don't give them any ideas, ffs.

Oh look, another one of these topics. Merged with the thread called 8. FRANK LAMPARD.

Overall this is an horrendous effort by adidas. The away kit is passable, but can't we just have a PLAIN white away kit for once, ffs? The third shirt is basically the 06/07 third shirt without the collar and the vertical stripes and the home kit is the 09/10 template with the 11/12 two-tone blue and the yellow piping from the 08/09 shirt. Absolutely fucking awful, I won't be buying any of them. As for the blue one... adidas themselves say "who cares when it's Blue?" - that seems to encapsulate their thought processes. A very lazy and uninspiring effort.

CON LOS TERRORISTAS Loved the Harlem Shake thing, reckon we should now get a gif of Jim going the Gangnam Style every time you submit a reply to a thread.

It was a good save and the best he's pulled off this season, but it doesn't even come close to his greatest saves for us.

Just means we'll see Paulo on the bench a little more often as an auxiliary left full-back.

Absolutely. I'm one of his critics but I have never called him "rubbish". I honestly don't think he'll ever be more than a squad player for this club, but let's give him a couple of weeks in the side in his actual position and come to conclusions afterwards.

Might mean we see a bit more of John Terry then.

Beautiful goal and a wonderful celebration from Demba. 5 goals in 15 matches (10 starts) is actually a very good return considering he has been rotated ridiculously. It's not easy coming to a new club; especially a club like Chelsea that doesn't even properly use strikers. Our forwards act more like attacking foils, so for Demba to score five goals in ten starts is nice to see!

I could play for England though, they're that bad. Bertrand just isn't good enough. Average at best. Bring back van Aanholt!

People flock to this thread the one game in 20 that Mikel plays badly in. It's quiet the rest of the time.

I respect your opinion and you offer a very good argument but I disagree. Goalkeeping on the continent is entirely - nay, "fundamentally" - different to goalkeeping in the Premier League. In Europe, the goalkeeper effectively acts as a utility defender and as a sweeper for the back four; in the Premier League he very, very rarely leaves his penalty area. The style is totally different; there are no Stokes or Boltons in Spain that will pump long ball after long ball into the box and send burly big centre forwards like Lukaku and Grant Holt to stand on the goalkeeper, because in Spain to even touch the goalkeeper is an instant foul. In the English game he will have to learn to be far more physical and stay on his line more often. A prime example is Hugo Lloris - look at how often he races out of his box to come and punch a cross, only to get blocked off from it and then be stranded in No Man's Land. In France, this is acceptable as like as not, the referee will give a free-kick for the goalkeeper being impeded. Most important however is the ideology. Flying around making camera-saves and punching all the time might be the bread and butter for La Liga goalkeepers, but you'll be laughed at in the Premier League. You have to catch the ball. Thankfully Thibaut has very good handling, but my point here is he will have to adapt parts of his game to this new league. Look at these goalkeepers who have come from Spanish clubs; the like of De Gea and Reina may be magnificent shot-stoppers but they seriously lack in strength compared to the likes of Cech and Begovic, who are not only taller but physically far bigger. Thibaut will no to undergo a serious training regime to improve his strength before tackling Premier League sides. The English Premier League may not be the best league in European football any longer, but the style of play does not suit those who are not used to physical play. The ball may indeed be round in both countries, but the average defender for a Premier League side is half a foot taller and substantially more physical than those in Spain, Portgual, France, etc. People underestimate goalkeeping. It's far more difficult than you would think. Why should we allow foreign outfield players to adapt to our league, but not our goalkeepers, when they face a far more difficult series of obstacles? If your new star midfielder fails to make the grade instantly, you give him the benefit of the doubt. If a goalkeeper fucks up in his first game, he's on the bench for the next few matches. Thibaut needs to be blooded into this league, especially when you consider our defence itself isn't as physical and tall as it was with Carvalho and Alex in it. There is a reliance now on Cech to come and claim crosses, and that is one strength of his game that puts him ahead of Courtois. Thibaut is a good goalkeeper in Spain, but goalkeeping there is an altogether different beast.

As I said, someone who can cross and can defend as well Dani Alves is a superb attacking full-back but I've never rated his defensive qualities.

Exactly - name me one full-back who can cross AND is as good a defender as Azpilicueta? (If anyone says Leighton Baines, I'll fucking ban them).

Is there really any fucking need?

HAHAHA FUCK OFF ARSENAL HAHAHA

Cech is my favourite player, everyone knows; so I am always going to be very defensive of him. But that doesn't mean I am being ignorant of Courtois' potential. I just want what is best for this club. Right now, it is Cech between the sticks. But the season after next, it is most definitely necessary for Courtois to replace him. Petr Cech vs Courtois Both goalkeepers very good shot-stoppers. (Cech 1-1 Courtois).Cech probably the better dealing with crosses (Courtois has a tendency to try and punch rather than try and catch; should be the opposite way for my money). (Cech 2-1 Courtois).Courtois quicker at distribution which would improve our counter-attacking policy; Cech prefers to take his time and prefers long clearances upfield - 90% of the time just returns the ball to the opponent. (Cech 2-2 Courtois).Cech has the massive advantage of experience. Firstly, he has a reputation. You see PETR CECH on the team-sheet and it instils confidence in the team; conversely, if you see TURNBULL, opponents will target him as a weakness. Courtois will come here needing to forge a reputation as a great goalkeeper. Secondly, experience is key when it comes to anticipation and positioning, which are a goalkeeper's two most-important assets. Young goalkeepers are sometimes overly-brave to the point where they are kamikaze; Cech has the level of restraint to know when to come out on goal (as seen from his absolutely incredible shots-to-saves ratio when one-on-one, which was the highest out of any of the Premier League goalkeepers last season). Cech 3-2 Courtois. In terms of longevity, Courtois wins on two counts. Firstly, he is young. Secondly, Cech will not play until he is 40, like some people think. He will be lucky to see to 35. He has a chronic elbow injury (due to repetitive strain; only giving up the game will allow it to heal), has a history of problems with his left calf, and of course there is the psychological aspect of his skull injury. A second lofty blow to the head could end his career. Courtois, on the other hand, is younger and physically the more impressive. From what I've seen, he is just as strong as Cech, although I don't think he's quite learnt to use his build to dominate his area (like when going for crosses, he prefers to scoop the ball rather than catch it at mid-day, as Cech does). Cech 3-3 Courtois.From this crude little experiment, I give the impression there is very little to choose between the two, which is correct. Cech is the better keeper at present, by my making, but for the good of the club, it is necessary for Courtois to join either this summer, or the next. We can hope for four more seasons from Cech, whereas we can get 10 from Thibaut. Furthermore, if Cech was to leave, you could reasonably get £10 million for him and the wage bill would be massively slashed. In the long-term, as much as it may be upsetting, Cech will have to leave.

Absolutely. No stupid experiments - Scolari and AVB failed miserably. Bring a winner in who the players will respect yet be fearful of.

As much as I rate this young man, I can't ever see him playing for us. He has the quality, but if he isn't part of the management's plans for THIS season when we've needed CAMs and wingers more than ever, will he get a game when the inevitable multi-million reinforcements come steaming in with a new manager in the summer?

I think sentiment is clouding a lot of people's judgement. Me most definitely included. I would say that Courtois isn't as good as Cech right now, but it would make sense in the long-term to even bring him in this summer (more likely in 2014/2015) and allow Cech to leave. It would be unfair to play them off one against the other, in my view. It will be a sad day when Petr Cech leaves, but even the greatest goalkeepers can be replaced.

As a goalkeeper I'll be the first to admit we can get lucky very regularly; but this is normally down to instinct and down to positioning. I will be honest and say I have not seen that much of Courtois this season (only when Sky Sports have shown Atleti games) so perhaps my judgement isn't the one holding the most weight, but right now I can't see how he is as good or better than Petr Cech. Maybe in two or three years he will replace him - if he is happy to move from club-to-club in the meantime then great but we CANNOT afford to let him go. To give him a PL loan would be mutually beneficial as it would give Petr the notion that he needs to prove himself.

Di Matteo was always technically tactically "weak". If you want a tactician, go and find Mourinho or Mancini or even our dear old Rafael Benitez. Di Matteo is a man-motivator; something we had missed since Hiddink left in 2009. As much as we loved him, I don't think any one of us dared label him a "good" manager. He is a lucky manager, and in my view a lucky manager is better than a good manager. Just look at his match-ups in Europe last season we we overcame all the odds. That was down to luck and grit; two things he instilled in this team. As for Pep, I think we all need to withhold our views for some time. That Barcelona side manages itself. If it wasn't for Mourinho and Real, Pep would have won everything going for four straight seasons. If anything, from the fact he "only" won three league titles and two Champions Leagues in that period could even be marked as underachieving, considering how good his players were! The same will apply at Bayern Munich. He will win the Bundesliga next season and the season after that and the season after that - unless Dortmund pull their acts together. He'll also be a regular in the semi-finals of the UCL, and dependent on the draw (as good as Bayern are, I don't think they have the resilience when coming up against the best sides) he might even win the thing during his stay there. But again, it will be largely dependent on that strikeforce at his disposal, and the supporting cast of Martinez, Schweinsteiger, Neuer, Lahm, Kroos, Muller, Alaba, Ribery et al. I for one am quite glad he didn't come here as he would simply crash and burn, and failing here would probably be the death of his career.

A goalkeeper is only as good as his defence. Look at Julio Cesar and Brad Guzan, for instance - they've conceded more than 50 goals and it's still only March! If you send him to a club like Wigan or Southampton he will concede bagfuls of goals. That is no reflection of him, but of his team. The opposite can be said of Atleti - he is profiting from playing behind a very potent back four, which is exactly why he needs to be absolutely bombarded to prove his worth.