BlueLion.

Salomon FUCKING Kalou gets in ahead of Lukaku, no justice in the world. Talk about good ways to rock someone's confidence, not happy with AVB on this one. By all means, have Kalou's experience for the knockout rounds, but what's the point of playing a team like GENK and not playing someone like Lukaku, or even Bertrand? Fucking bollocks, not at all happy with AVB here! Putting Ferreira in as well? We have Bosingwa and Ivan at RB, and then you can have Cole and Bertrand at LB, whilst Bosingwa can play there as well. Seriously, what the fuck? Really pissed off.

And I know he's a very reliable source... cheers Sam!

I've heard he's only playing reserves football to gauge how much physical activity he can partake in, his first team career is moreorless over unfortunately. Normally van Aanholt and Kakuta would have been part of the homegrown contingent but they've of course gone on loan. I wouldn't worry though, as we have an unlimited amount of U21 players we can call up if needed.

Now we've missed out on Modric I don't think Mata is exclusively going to be used as a winger. I expect him to play CAM with Malouda and Sturridge out wide just as much as I expect to see him in a winger's berth.

Yup, I was being optimistic any deal would be announced in the early hours on Thursday, but since we're now on Friday, this is just a romantic thought.

I agree with this, because you have two starting line-ups there. 1: 4-3-1-2 Cech Bosingwa - Luiz - Terry - Cole Ramires/Meireles Lampard - Meireles/Lampard Mata Sturridge - Torres 2: orthodox 4-3-3 Cech Bosingwa - Luiz - Terry - Cole Ramires/Meireles Lampard - Meireles/Lampard Sturridge - Torres - Mata

Ferguson very rarely makes bad signings in fairness, the man - as much as I hate him - is a ridiculously good manager. I have a grudging respect for the bloke.

Hi all, Just want to do a quick demographic survey of our members - namely who and where you are. Please vote in the relevant polls above! The polls are totally anonymous so don't worry about privacy!

Josh will get 10 starts and about 20 substitute appearances. Anyone who thinks otherwise is either deluded or thinks they support Arsenal. At a club that demands silverware, you can't play a youngster every match, as good as he may be. I have great faith in Josh but even I don't think he is fully ready yet - he needs to go on loan for the second half of the season, like Sturridge did.

My favourite Chelsea player of all-time is Frank Lampard. His importance to this club cannot be described in an infinite quantity of superlatives. He embodies everything great about this club and he is one of the finest English midfield players of all-time, and at his peak he was possibly the best attacking midfielder of his generation - and this is something only Chelsea fans and level-headed rival fans can acknowledge. The great thing about Lampard is that he isn't just goals - he is also an understated creative player, his assists record suggests that, and his range of passing is also outstanding. He may have lost the ability now, but he was also once a brilliant set-piece specialist, and his variation on corners and free-kicks has been a very potent weapon for us over the course of the last decade. I think because he is such a club legend who has been so ridiculously consistent for us, it's hard for us to accept and realise his best days are behind him now. He isn't as fast as he used to be - he's never been blessed with pace but he once had quick feet and he was able to use his strength to shield the ball. Neither is he the same potent goalscorer, but in fairness, thirteen goals last season is still an impressive haul considering his lack of fitness. It is time that we move on from Lampard-Terry-Drogba-FC and let other players come to the fore - now is the time for Sturridge, McEachran and company to shine. But we have to be gentle with our legend, our Frank. A squad role will suit him perfectly over the next couple of seasons. But remember this - when you go to slag him off, remember what he's done for this club, and what he will do. This man could quite possibly become our highest-scoring player of all-time; he has 171 goals to his name and needs 31 to level with Bobby Tambling. All you can say is - WOW. What a man, what a player, what a legend.

Turnbull Ferreira © - Ivanovic - Luiz - Bertrand Oriol McEachran - Ramires Sturridge - Lukaku - Mata

Please God, let Petr Cech be fit. Love from Alex.

I think this may just be the product of Twitter bullshit, at first I was optimistic because deals have been announced up to twelve hours after the deadline's closed, but no way will it happen now, it just seems infeasible.

So, the time is upon us again to nominate our August member of the month. As with last time, I'll let you guys decide who you want to nominate, and the four or five most-nominated members will be put up against each other in a poll. Myself and Jim said it is best for non-staff members only to be nominated, as although its nice to be recognised in terms of achievements and contributions, this award is all about the members - so, no staff nominations please!! We're going to do two nominations per member, and I'll add them to the list. If you add more than two, I'll just pick the first two written down CURRENT NOMINATIONS: LDN Blue - as ever, LDN's activity has been excellent. An all-rounder with posts across the whole boards, a great contributor. - OllieCFC - increased activity this month and some good old Arsenal bashing has seen this young man's stock rise once again. 2 Madmax - 3 Ulsterchelsea Styles - 5 Killamanjaro - 5 DYC Lionsden - 3 EskWeston - 2 Zolayes - 6 BLionHeart - 2 Tomo-91

Agreed, Jim's done brilliantly to set the new site up! But we did agree we wouldn't have staff members winning it, as this was intended for the regular forum members to get some of the limelight, a lovely suggestion though zolayes!

He has a lot to prove before such a bold statement can be made, although JT is clearly just trying to encourage him.

http://www.eplindex.com/raul-meireles-fit-chelsea/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Juliano Belletti did that for Barcelona and became a Chelsea legend. The difference is, Kalou's shit.

Liverpool are one of Europe's big projects at the moment. Plus, its Liverpool, the club with 5 UCL titles and 18 league championships, any footballer would want to play for them.

Yes. As long as the Premier League were notified of our intention to sign the player and a fee was agreed, we can negotiate personal terms and announce the deal at any time.

Who remembers his goal against us for Porto in 2007? Superb goal.

Supposedly so, I was flicking between SSN and CTV so if it was said I missed it.

http://www.chelseafc.com/page/LatestNews/0,,10268~2438494,00.html Been given the 16 shirt.

Official - number 16. MEIRELES TAKES 16 Posted on: Thu 01 Sep 2011 Raul Meireles has taken the squad number 16 after his deadline day transfer from Liverpool. The midfielder wore the number for Portugal at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, and regularly wears it on international duty. The last Chelsea number 16 was Scott Sinclair, now with Swansea City, and the number was previously inhabited by both Arjen Robben and current assistant first team coach Roberto Di Matteo.

Welcome