BlueLion.

I don't want to incite the history lessons regarding this club wearing red. We have red in the badge ffs. I still maintain that after this season's blue-and-gold beauty (which is the best football kit I have EVER seen from adidas), the 10/11 home shirt with the red collar is the next-nicest home kit adidas have done for us. The 06/08 original shirt was nice as well, but it lacks the elegance of these later shirts. The 08/09 home was ruined by the awful collar; the 09/10 full kit looked beautiful but the shirt alone looks ridiculous (and I don't understand why adidas felt the need to install a mesh bra into the chest...); and the 11/12 shirt could have been beautiful before it was (in my view) ruined by the two-toned striped blue. That was adidas trying to be TOO original; the white shoulders and hips with the blue trim was revolutionary enough. Yes we want individual and original aspects to our shirts, but adidas are sometimes guilty of losing the plot. It seems to be a case of a beautiful kit one season followed by a "meh" design soon after.

Rumoured third kit (Looks more like a training shirt to me): HOWEVER it is the same template as RMCF's away;

Come on man, xPetrCechx posts every news item and video before it's even made it on to Twitter... he's like a multimedia stalker...

I was hoping for Toddy Kane to make the grade, but now we've signed a potentially international-class defender in Azpilicueta, he won't have a chance!

Should be going on loan to a shit PL team where he'll concede 70+ goals a season. Will be beneficial on two levels; firstly to bring him back to earth with a bump, and secondly to give him Premier League experience on a first-team basis. If he's as good as people say he is, he'll get into Arsenal's team, right?

Genuinely thought that was Piazon until I realised he is Kaka's clone!

If Courtois comes it will also mean Cech has to up his game. He is very comfortable in his position and there is no threat of him being replaced by the vastly inferior Hilario or Turnbull. With some competition, like he had with Cudicini, we may see Cech continue to impress.

Cech is becoming quite injury prone - he's had trouble with his right calf persistently since 2009/10 and he now has this problem with his left elbow. He won't be able to play at the very top level for too long IMO; van der Sar had incredible luck with injuries during the latter half of his career. From that angle we will need to eventually replace him in the next two to three years. Is Courtois good enough to replace him in the long term? Definitely. Is Courtois currently better than Cech? Not in my opinion. I can't see Courtois wanting to sit on the bench next season (2013/14), so I believe a loan to a PL club is necessary, before in 2014/15 inducting him into the squad.

Spot on. In all seriousness, I genuinely have to keep coming to this topic to see who people were, and it's friggin' annoying. Little changes are fine, but complete changes will now be done on a stringent policy of first-come, first-served, and at a maximum of 5 a month.

If it's all true, I'll be Sam's little bitch for a month.

Right now, Cech > Courtois. Anyone who says otherwise is either an idiot or blinded by the (unproven) potential of Courtois.

Happy Birthday Rambo!

^ changes like that are absolutely fine - I've still not got used to calling Kilimanjaro "Peace." yet and I haven't got a fucking clue who this "Steve" guy is... is it that St3v0 cunt?

Hilarious.

Okay guys - because I haven't got a fucking clue who anyone is on here anymore, I'm going to start limiting the boards to five members a month who can have their username changed. It's getting a little out of hand now; so this will be first-come, first-served. So from now on, regarding name changes, the above applies. Any problems - tough. The Emperor/Kaiser/Overlord/Almighty/Pope Alexander has spoken.

Yes, there are mods on this forum. I don't see what Juko has done wrong. The only fool I can see is you, for saying he should be banned. Leave those decisions to the people with the shiny gold and blue badges under their avatars.

Exactly. As good as an assist.

Torres should start this one - we can bring Ba on if needed. Ba needs to be fit and ready for the United game, first and foremost. Plus Torres has been good enough in his last two/three games to lead the line successfully, IMO.

I've noticed this thread has been quite quiet recently, and it made me think: Benitez coming out and saying he is leaving in the summer is the best thing he could possibly have done. I don't like him because of his Liverpool connections and what he has said about us in the past, however he is the best option we could have made after the calamity that was the dismissal of di Matteo. Since that Middlesbrough game, the performances and the results have generally improved. There seems a fresh confidence and belief amongst the players; it's almost that they're relieved Benitez is leaving in the summer, and they can just get on with things now instead of not bothering in some sort of stroppy-teenager-fashion and throwing their toys out the pram. The fans aren't on his back so much now. No doubt that will change should we go out of the Europa League or the FA Cup, but if he gets us a top four finish and wins us a trophy, then what? Yes he will leave, but will he leave in good grace and us Chelsea supporters thankful for his contribution?

^my reaction to Lampard's 200th goal

Let's try and keep things neat and tidy, guys. I love seeing people enjoying themselves and having a great time of things, but don't take things too far!

I basically read this post as: Eden has a fantastic backside. I agree.

Thought Ba played well yesterday - yes, he should have scored at least one of the opportunities he had, but he dropped deep at times and it was like we were effectively playing with Hazard and Mata exchanging roles as a false number 9. That's the difference between he and Torres; Demba is actually quite a visionary player and makes some very incisive passing and movement. I'd be more concerned if he wasn't getting into the goalscoring positions than by him missing them.

^ good post!

And who says that the future can't relate to the past?