BlueLion.

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I agree with you, and so does the greatest manager in world football. Personally, I'd take Gareth Bale because of his versatility and because he is exciting to watch. Cech Bosingwa - Ivanovic - Terry - Cole Mikel Ramires - Lampard Mata - Torres - Bale :eyebrows:

Not all of us are from or live in London, though. To watch Chelsea, I pay £50 for a ticket, have to do a round-trip of 300 miles (that isn't so bad, but it costs a lot of money in diesel), have to pay for parking, get food, possibly go to the megastore etc. etc. On a matchday, you can end up paying over £120 a person, so it does all add up!

I disagree with some of the comments made in this topic; I do not think he is our best defender, but neither should he have been made a scapegoat as he was by Ancelotti (one of the few things I cannot defend Carlo for). I believe that he has great footballing ability, but his defensive play is undone by his own ill-discipline. He has great potential and is already a wonderful centre-back, and we must accept that he is still adapting to a new league. I firmly believe that with experience, he will learn the discipline he currently lacks, and if he can improve on his concentration then he can become a consistently-brilliant defender, that is for sure. He offers a different dimension to our team with his attacking play, and he is a major goal threat not just because of his ability to dominate other defenders when attacking the ball, he also possesses great technical ability, which is rare in modern-day football. He still has much to learn, but we are blessed by having three different breeds of centre-back at this club - Terry and Alex are great readers of the game, and are strong and physical, whereas Luiz relies much more on his intelligence, anticipation and speed as a defender. Ivanovic is a mixture of the two, but that can only help us over the course of the season. Choosing two centre-backs isn't as simple as merely picking two out of the four, as each has their own qualities that you can play to, for instance Alex's strength and physicality was perfect for facing Stoke, but it was an ill-advised move to pick him against the pacey side that West Brom have (Ivanovic would have been a safer choice here). All in all, we have four wonderful centre-backs, and Luiz definitely have the potential to become a defensive lynchpin in this side, should he develop greater concentration and discipline.

Haha it's okay Artur, I've just merged them

Short and succinct, but to-the-point and I absolutely agree. Manchester has become the dominant force in English football, but this can work to our advantage - people have written us off while we're still only in second gear. I do not predict another Double-winning season but I see no reason why we cannot make good progress in terms of player development and in competitions. A top three finish, a run to the Champions League semi-finals and a cup win would make for a solid foundation to the Villas-Boas revolution, anything beyond that is a bonus.

If we avoid those teams, we'll be fine.

East Upper, north side is alright, I sit there if I can't get seats in the Shed Lower.

LOLOLOLOLOL, nah, heard it. If he's in the UK now for his medical... anyone else expecting a Blues News special tonight?

Results are up from the polls

It's official, the Man of the Match is Henrique Hilario!

Oriol, but I don't think he'll go anywhere.

Hi all, I'm looking for a graphics designer to help me out... a friend of mine is setting up a website and he would like a tarted-up version of a mock-up I created for him to be made so that he can show his website designer the sort of thing he is looking for. Basically what I need is someone who can get this done pretty soon... there will be some payment in the form of a little bit of money and a rep boost for anyone who is interested. If you are, PM me! Thanks, Alex.

In light of Mikel's situation, I think this is the perfect time to give John Obi a break and give Oriol his debut.

We can't congratulate RonRon for landing Mata, it's all to do with Torres. EL NINO FOR C.E.O!!

Or, hopefully, deduct him from the first team squad, sense permitting! I absolutely agree. Malouda and Anelka might be poor when off-form, but even when they are playing poorly they can be match winners, we saw it time and time again last season - they would score and win us games without playing well at all. Kalou can't even do that.

Very tight between Hilario and Nico, I'll keep this open a little longer!

And the winner is... Fernando Torres!

I have started a 'Mata for 13' campaign in order to keep Benayoun at the club.

We could swap Alex for Chiellini or Felipe Melo :eyebrows: Haha I joke of course, despite how highly I rate the two of them (I think Melo has been loaned out anyway).

Ridiculous if we let him go, he was our most inventive player last year whenever he played and he shone during pre-season, he deserves at least one year to prove himself. I have always liked Yossi for his tremendous ability and work-rate, and also his sense of humour, to sing YNWA takes both balls and a tongue-in-cheek outlook on life, although I obviously forget such a luxury has yet to be blessed upon certain members of our community. Yossi is a proven player at both Premier League and Champions League level; the perfect squad player who can fill a wide array of positions in the midfield. His creative spark and turn of pace are two things we have in precious amounts, and yet people want to sell him and keep Kalou in the squad I normally can see people's viewpoints on most matters and at least agree to disagree, but this is just mindless chopping of the squad just because we're signing Mata and possibly Modric. No-one is calling for Essien's head despite him now being surplus to requirements because of the form of Ramires and Mikel, but of course because Yossi isn't a household name, he is the one we should get rid of. This is another case of reputation affecting the team-sheet, perhaps Ancelotti never left after all. Pathetic.

I wish him all the best. He has talent for sure and he must have endured a frustrating time at Chelsea, but would he ever break in to our first team, I don't think so.

I've revised them into more rounded numbers, with new ranks added

Hilario/Turnbull Luiz/Ivanovic/Ferreira Benayoun McEachran Malouda/Kalou Anelka/Lukaku Drogba/Torres Job done.