BlueLion.

Don't underestimate Liverpool, especially under Dalglish and now Gerrard and Reina are back to full fitness. They will finish top four this season.

Average player worth £8 million at most.

Worst new EPL kit by some distance.

And we will. What were you all expecting, for AVB to come in and we'd instantly sign five or six players? He needs to assess what players he has so he knows where to strengthen. Be realistic, and be patient.

I quite like the conciseness of it... each to their own though, thanks for the feedback!

Thanks sweetie.

What do people think of the new site layout?

Kitchee and Villa/Blackburn, on the 27th and the 30th I think.

Will someone let PC know if it is on the C or the H of 'Chelsea,' as I'm unsure.

If it was PM it would be 2345 This is on CTV, Tom.

Okay, I've merged your two accounts and you have the same amount of rep (114)

I'm going to start updating the player profiles Going to start with the goalkeepers and then do the strikes. Everyone is entitled to do anyone and everyone else!

That limits some people from winning it then. No names need to be mentioned.

Your vested agenda against Madmax is more boring than Arsanal's style of football, pipe down. You're not helping your own cause. Acting pretentiously only helps in increasing your public appearance as being somewhat phallic.

Terminator X, you're a newbie, STFU. Term, why are you calling Madmax a newbie, whilst he has been here longer than LDN Blue? Is LDN also a newbie and thus not allowed to become a legend? And if we're following the same logic, does that mean people have to have been on this forum for years and years to be Legends, or even to have been on CFC-Fans before this for even longer? LEGENDS are promoted for the following reasons, in ascending order of importance: No gripes with forum staffActivity on the forumForum 'status' as being good-natured, kind and helpful Overall contribution to the forum (ie. through advertising, running of competitions, etc.)The increasingly-obvious fact is that you don't like Madmax, and you find it painful to your ego that despite allegedly being a 'legend' on another forum, a 'newbie' is a legend on TalkChelsea before you are. And while we're at it, in comparison to people like Ollie and Vedran, who were on CFC-Fans and the original TalkChelsea even before that, I'm a newbie. Does that mean I'm not allowed to be a legend despite all the stuff I've done for this forum? Kerry, Jaimin, Rishi and everyone else recently made legends have been made legends for the above four reasons. Maybe if you stopped acting with unbearable grandiloquence you'd be made the 20th TalkChelsea legend. Instead, that will most likely be Kostas.

Cheers mate we'll look into that!

I wonder if that's since you've become a Legend and thus changed group? EDIT. -- Haha, I'm a clever sausage, its for that reason exactly. Legends can now remove the 'edited by' bar from the bottom of their posts.

Now - Ferreira, Bosingwa, Ivanovic The future - Hutchinson, Todd Kane I think we're doing okay for RB, but certainly agreed on the other areas. At least GK is sorted now.

That's my favourite part too Thanks for reading everyone, its much appreciated. All criticisms welcomed as well! Josh gave the ball away a lot, however he seemed a lot more comfortable than most others.

He's as good as signed though! He better be, I spent 15 minutes doing some research on him haha!

:lol: Haha thanks pal! Going for a change in the style and presentation this season!

Portsmouth 0-1 Chelsea Ben-Haim blunder signals new Blues beginning 17th Jul 2011, In Match Reports, by Alex Hinsley In a game characterised as a typical pre-season friendly between two teams more concerned about gaining full fitness than playing exhilarating football, it is perhaps no surprise that such a horrendous error – namely ex-Chelsea defender Tal Ben-Haim's comical own goal – would settle this contest in the south of England. Unfortunately, the game did not do justice to the wonderful atmosphere inside the minuscule amphitheatre that is Fratton Park. A near-full capacity home crowd was in fine voice; the Pompey faithful evidently missing their football after a gruelling first season back in English football's second tier. Chelsea's equally-vociferous backing of more than 3,000 travelling supporters were at least treated to a winning start to the new regime under Andre Villas-Boas – but this should not be seen as the precedent to anything. José Mourinho's first game in charge of Chelsea was an uninspiring 1-1 draw with lowly Oxford, whilst Villas-Boas' predecessor Carlo Ancelotti saw his side just about dispatch a resolute Seattle Sounders side as part of our 2009 tour of America. With that in mind, the only thing that can be taken from this is the composed performance of Yossi Benayoun; recently returned from injury, and a host of Chelsea youngsters including 16-year-old Nathaniel Chalobah impressing having been given a rare taste of first-team football. Josh McEachran and José Bosingwa also impressed for the Blues, who donned their new home kit as Portsmouth opted to showcase their slick new away jersey in front of their home supporters. There were a number of similarities and differences between this match and Chelsea's last game against the South Coast team; the 2010 FA Cup final. On that wonderful May afternoon under the Wembley arch, a magnificent Didier Drogba free-kick and a sublime penalty save by Petr Cech helped the Blues to their maiden Double on a day where both teams gave everything in an exhilarating contest which belied a final score of 1-0 in Chelsea's favour. This time around, however, Ben-Haim's howler and Henrique Hilario's penalty-saving heroics were the only memorable moments to arise from a relatively dull encounter. As is the norm with pre-season matches, the intensity was outdone by the passionate support of both sides – though it is a shame that such a brilliant turn-out for a friendly match was not rewarded by more moments of quality. Besides the own goal and Hilario's excellent low save to deny Luke Varney from the penalty spot, the only other real goalmouth action saw Fernando Torres head wide from a Yury Zhirkov corner, whilst at the other end, Hilario did well to smother a sweetly-struck free-kick by Hermann Hreiðarsson. The goal itself had shades of Jon-Arne Riise's ridiculous own goal at Anfield in 2008 – Fernando Torres' delivery from out wide took a slight deflection and Ben-Haim failed to adjust correctly; sending the ball careering into the roof of the net. One may argue that was the Israeli's first significant contribution to the Chelsea cause – other than giving Petr Cech a mouthful of studs and a gruesome scar on his chin in a training ground incident. On occasions, Chelsea played some nice football – particularly during the second half, with the composure and creativity of Joshua McEachran being complimented by the tenacity of Yossi Benayoun and his trademark inventiveness in the midfield. In fact, the duo were at the heart of anything good created by Chelsea, and though both Nicolas Anelka and Didier Drogba had a number of long-range efforts out of anger, the only time Chelsea came close to adding to their lead was when Benayoun or McEachran stepped to the fore. A nice bonus came through the form of José Bosingwa – a long-term absentee through injury, missing most of the 2009/10 season and a hearty chunk of last term as well – the Portuguese was enjoying a splendid second half performance. Though at fault for one glaring error borne through a communication break-down between goalkeeper and defender, his performance promised a return to the consistency of the rampaging full-back of old. Portsmouth gave a good account of themselves and but for Hilario's splendid penalty save, they would have had a frankly deserved share of the spoils. The spot-kick incident itself was dubious – Hilario guilty of tripping Varney in the box, though in fairness contact was minimal. Refereeing inconsistency ensures that far more aggressive challenges in the box will go unpunished this term, but any aggrieved Chelsea fan will have seen justice done with Hilario expertly tipping the ball around the post. Yet it would not be a Hilario performance without a heart-in-the-mouth moment or two; and on top of his mix-up with Bosingwa, he had earlier seen Nathaniel Chalobah come to his rescue when the duo found themselves in a similar muddle. Besides those two moments, Hilario was his usual calm self between the sticks. Nothing out of ordinary there, then! In a game defined by one moment of madness and another of miserly goalkeeping, Villas-Boas can at least take a small handful of positives with him on the Asia tour – besides Petr Cech's slight knock and long-term absentee Michael Essien, Chelsea retain a relatively clean bill of health as well as a second clean-sheet in as many games. Impressive performances by the youngsters will ensure that Bertrand, McEachran et al continue to see their stock rise amongst the Blues faithful, perhaps heralding a promising future for this club under Villas-Boas' tenure. The Asia tour, which includes games against Malaysia, Thailand, Kitchee FC and either Aston Villa or Blackburn – and a friendly at Ibrox with Rangers – will give the management team more clues about what this team can do the direction that needs to be taken. Needless to say, don't take anything too seriously from this match – it literally was just a formal kick-about. ____________________________________________ Portsmouth (4-3-3): Henderson (Ashdown 46); Ben-Haim, Halford (Pearce 50), Rocha (Williams 63), Hreidarsson (Magri 69); Norris, Mokoena ©, Mullins; Ward, Kitson (Stockford 80), Varney. Chelsea (4-3-3): Turnbull (Hilario 46); Ferreira (Bosingwa 46), Kalas (Chalobah 46), Ivanovic (Terry 46), Cole (van Aanholt 46) (Bertrand 71); B Clifford (Benayoun 46), Mikel (Lampard 46), Zhirkov (McEachran 46); Sturridge (Anelka 46), Torres (Drogba 46), Malouda (Kalou 46). The TalkChelsea 'star man' was Yossi Benayoun for his superb second-half performance – hopefully heralding the first of many equally-composed performances in the foreseeable future!

I love how Tommy automatically gets rep no matter what he says. LEGEND.

Thailand All Stars vs Chelsea FC 24 July - Friendly - 1145 BST kick-off :cfc: MATCH CHAT HERE :cfc:

Malaysia XI vs Chelsea FC 21 July - Friendly - 1345 BST kick-off :cfc: MATCH CHAT HERE :cfc: