BlueLion.

I take back what I said. We're going to finish in the bottom four if this clown stays. GTFO.

The poll is up. You have until Tuesday, bitches.

The official match report starts: A late goal once again was the undoing of Chelsea, this time costing..." Hope it continues to say "... that fat cunt his job after Roman said 'enough is enough'".

Bye Rafa. No way he can't be sacked after this.

Quiet or I'll ban you. In retrospect it is a bit late. I'll probably put it up tomorrow.

If we do sign someone it will be a Meireles-type, last-minute panic buy (even though I loved Raul and think he'd be an important player for us this season). I would put good money on there being no ins or outs today!

Malouda, Benayoun, Hilario, Turnbull and Ferreira all going in the summer. Talk about driftwood.

So, we are again at that point where we ask the members of TalkChelsea to nominate those who they feel have gone beyond the call of duty this month. Is there someone you reckon has been even more brilliant than usual this January? In the Benitez-inspired lull Chelsea Football Club currently finds itself in, have you found illumination from the incessant ramblings of a certain individual? Or perhaps there is a member you just think is incredibly charming, intelligent and good-looking... in which case I have to remind members that though I welcome the compliment, you won't be able to nominate me or the other staff members. We already know we're awesome. The usual rules apply - nominate a single member or a handful: its entirely up to you. One of the moderators will then sift through the mire and determine who are the four or five most-nominated individuals and then whack a poll up. We'll give you until Wednesday the 6th of February to put your nominations forward, then we'll put up the poll. Remember, you can't nominate yourself. That's just cheeky. Good luck to you all. (You'd need it if I wasn't an Admin )

2-0 up with 87 minutes played. End up drawing 2-2 with a mediocre club. Reading, in that last eight minutes or so, completely outdid us in every capacity. Greater belief and determination to succeed. We totally dominated them but they did not back down and in fairness that team spirit is commendable. Showing that sort of determination is what earns you results. I don't recall the last time we showed any real fight. You'd have to go back to the 2-3 game against United, I think. We really dug in deep, even with nine men. Made you feel proud despite the result. This is just something else. This is possibly the lowest I've felt as a Chelsea supporter. Lower than Moscow, lower than Cardiff 2002 when we lost in the FA Cup final to Arsenal, lower than the Monaco 2-2. In those games you saw the want to win. Get this clown out of our club. Please.

Not worth anything over £18-20 million. Two good games against us in the UCL is not enough to suggest otherwise. In that case, if £29 million is what it is costing to sign him then this is a bullet well dodged, á la Pastore.

Would rather have Shaw to be honest. More of a gamble as Baines is obviously the better player at present, but Shaw is raw talent right now. Incredible potential.

Oh look, another impulse buy. £40m should do it Roman. Fucking ridiculous. Don't get me wrong he's a very good player, but is he what we need? I don't think he is!

This is absolute bollocks. We need a midfielder or six, not a fucking goalkeeper.

After last night I've changed my mind from 'undecided' to 'YES'. Emphatically.

No. The damage was done under AVB. Then we made the UCL and FA Cup the priority, at which point it became clear we would not secure a top four finish. Things were even more hopeless this time last year. Cech and Drogba papered over them cracks pretty damn well.

Yes. Third. And comfortably. We may be shit but as long as Spurs, Everton, Arsenal and Liverpool are taking points off one-another, we'll be fine.

Genuinely can't see us winning tonight. Reading are in good form and playing with confidence. We're playing poorly with no confidence or belief whatsoever, and we're horribly inconsistent. You can be glad we're away but considering how shit our last two away showings have been I'm hardly bursting with positivity right now.

They're playing the Ivory Coast in the next round so we'll see them before long.

Sky Sports understands Chelsea have made an approach for Birmingham City goalkeeper Jack Butland. Butland's future has been the subject of intense speculation during this month's transfer window with a host of clubs chasing his signature. The likes of Liverpool,Everton,Newcastle and Southamptonhave all been credited with an interest in Butland, but Chelseahave now jumped to the front of the queue for the keeper. Birmingham boss Lee Clark has admitted that they could be forced to sell Butland due to their ongoing financial concerns. Despite having Petr Cech as No.1 and Belgian youngster Thibaut Courtois impressing on loan atAtletico Madrid, Chelsea see Butland as a long-term investment. It remains to be seen if Butland would make the move to Stamford Bridge as he is thought to be keen on moving to a club where he will be playing regular first-team football. http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11668/8452057/ Also being reported by: The Mirror

Credit where it was due, it was a super goal on Sunday. If Torres is putting the ball in the back of net, even if he is putting in non-performances for 85 minutes he is still making more a difference than we are used to!

We had a smaller squad in 2006/07 in size terms. Remember Michael Essien playing everywhere but in goal; having Hilario as first-choice goalkeeper and having the legendary Magnus Hedman as our number two; Wayne Bridge playing as a striker against Wycombe...? However back then we had more 'utility' players, like Diarra, Essien, Joe Cole, Kalou, Boulahrouz, Wright-Phillips, etc., who could play in a variety of positions. In the current set-up, we only really have Luiz who you could qualify as being a utility' player. We have so many like-minded players (Hazard, Mata and Oscar are all number 10s, for instance) now that whilst the squad is bigger in terms of numbers, it is smaller in terms of its overall utility. That is not our biggest worry, though. Our biggest worry is Benitez and the board won't do anything about it. We've gone one-in-one-out. We need another striker, a central midfielder and a winger, in truth. But of course the board think otherwise and that 2-2 draws with Southampton and Brentford are acceptable.

GTFO Superb article. For the most part, spot on. The thing you get across best is our own over-expectations for the summer. After our successes in the FA Cup and of course Munich, the natural line of thinking is to expect bigger and better things. The way the first ten matches went, the more you thought that would become a reality. Yet this was always going to be a transitional season, as no matter the good work RDM did last year it was merely - as you say - papering over very large cracks. Finishing sixth in the league last term is the biggest indication yet, and whilst we are currently doing substantially better in the league this time around, the fact we have only the FA Cup and Europa League to choose from in terms of silverware (having already thrown away three trophies, been unceremoniously dumped out of another on a technicality, fucking up a semi-final and then being out of league contention by November) shows the dire straits we are in right now.

Extremely underrated player. Would be a good replacement for Essien in the future, however when you have a fully-fit Mikel and Oriol, I don't think he's needed personally.

Can imagine this place in 2060 when me, Jim and Steve are all grandparents but still running this place like bosses

That guy was the best member this forum has ever seen. Wonder what he's up to these days.