BlueLion.

This.

I've said it before and I'll say it again... http://www.talkchelsea.net/first-line-of-defence.html Luiz should be shifted to right back, and Alex should be at the back with Terry.

I can't stand the little shit. As good a player as he may well prove to be, firstly his hair is woeful and secondly he strikes me as an arrogant, ball-hogging twat.

We should give fifty United fans and fifty Liverpool fans knives and pistols and let them hunt each other down, until there's one man left standing. Then, we'll send a fully-armed and armoured John Terry in after him...

@LDN, the winner should nominate the next month's people I think...

If I have to choose between Lampard hitting the knee of the first man with a feeble effort or Drogba at least giving the keeper nightmares with his unpredictable technique, I'd go for Drogba. Though personally any freekick in line with the area should be hit by Alex if he's on the pitch...

I can't blame them, the amount of sick fucks from Liverpool who celebrate Munich deserve this.

Probably how shit the writers on our official site are...

And by the same token, ask Alex Pato why you're at it. We can all be selective with our arguments.

It's been a tight contest, but TOMO-91 is the April member of the month! Congratulations - enjoy the badge

In fairness, McEachran has actually made 15 appearances this season... that's a whole host of opportunities in my book. We can't look to 'do a Wilshere' with him, because unlike Wilshere, Josh hasn't been given the virtue of a loan spell at Bolton or playing in a side under little pressure to win silverware, thus limiting opportunities. I think we've nurtured Josh well by giving him a taste of first team football - he now has to work hard to continue his growth and gain more opportunities.

I love Luiz but he is quite a haphazard defender... however he will learn in time to adapt to our style of football. Alex, however, is a typical English style defender. Both have futures at the club.

As many of us did. Giving up is not the right option when you have an inspiration talisman like John Terry in your team, a man who embodies fight and spirit. I'm a persevering sort of person, and I can take the hardships as well as I can enjoy the moments when I feel as if I could walk on water, because that is the sort of person I am. That rubs off on me as a fan as well. Granted that I often have knee-jerk reactions, but we could be 3-0 down, playing awfully and I would never give up. Because football is a game of 90 minutes - and those 90 minutes only. The previous match and the next match are of no concern to me, you get up and move on. Its how you respond to your shortcomings that defines you as a person, and its how you come back from defeats that characterise a football team. Keep the faith.

He's shown he can get a team going through the motions to compete. Perfect man to build a dynasty.

Great times. They'll be back, mark my words.

It has been a season of contrasting emotions - from ecstasy to agony and back again, with frustration, anger and disappointment all woven in between. Yet it has been a campaign that ultimately leaves a Chelsea fan feeling downbeat. And, perhaps, with good reason. Chelsea set the bar high last season with a deserved League and FA Cup double. It would seem that the bar was raised a little too high in retrospect, but the season nevertheless began in stunning fashion on the domestic front as well as in Europe, with a stunning blitz of our Champions League group. Enter Winter and its ensuing horrors, however, and we may now look back on the time where we all dared to dream that this could be the season we ended our European hoodoo and continued our domination of English football with the wryest of half-smiles. Sadly, it was not to be - and instead of contemplating silverware, some of us were anticipating tuning into Channel Five on a Thursday night to see us play on a sodden, freezing pitch in the middle of Lithuania against a team that only a handful of people will pretend to have heard of. Fast forward to March and that looked a reality. Labouring in fifth place and looking nothing like a team that could pose a challenge either in the Premier League or in UEFA's premier competition, you could, in fairness, have been justified to wanting blood - namely that of Carlo Ancelotti. A horrific showing at home against Sunderland was what set about the rot, defeat to a combination of the crossbar and Ben Foster at St Andrews and then a Fernando Torres double at Anfield (which remains the only thing he's done this season...) saw the writing on the wall for Ancelotti and his men. Move the clocks on a little further to early May and a disappointing performance has consigned Chelsea to the confines of second place - no mean feat considering their predicament just a couple of months beforehand. And yet, all of a sudden, Chelsea fans are disappointed. Memories come flooding back of 6-0 demolitions, thunderous freekicks that keep Arsenal in their rightful, tropyless place, stunning volleys in freezing cold Russia and a seemingly invincible Chelsea side that look to be cruising towards the title. The romantic thought that Chelsea may well come full-circle and improbably pip Manchester United to the Premier League crown emerged out of nowhere. The Blues were fifteen points behind Manchester United in early March and most supporters would have given an arm, a leg, and a possibly a few other unnamed body parts to end up as runners-up to a side - though average for their own high standards and without at all playing well, one 7-1 thrashing of Blackburn aside - that will deservedly be crowned champions next week against the same Lancastrian opposition. Add in the fact that United also rightfully dumped Ancelotti's charges out of the Champions League without really playing at the best indicates the best team has once again won this marathon war of attrition. Afterall, football is a game about winning, and not necessarily playing well. José Mourinho's Chelsea side was testament to that fact. Take note, Arsene Wenger - for your side have now gone more than three million minutes without lifting a trophy, or, in simple English, nearly exactly six years. But how are we Chelsea supporters supposed to feel? Happy that we were able to claw a semblance of respectability back after a woeful mid-season capitulation, and proud that we were still ultimately in contention for silverware - and, theoretically, still are - come May, despite thoughts of Europa League mediocrity? Or instead disappointed after a beginning and end to a season filled with so much promise and possibility? One can argue that a combination of the two mindsets can be adopted here. True, with the way in which Chelsea started out this season - scoring seventeen goals in four games as well as demonstrating the same defensive mettle that has personified the club since the days of Mourinho - you have the right to be disappointed that this side will end up trophyless, especially after experiencing the promising prelude that came before a devastating self-destruct sequence. With the squad of players we have at the club, and also the money paid out by Roman Abramovich on Fernando Torres, David Luiz, Ramires and Yossi Benayoun over the course of the season, you would certainly expect better than to end up without silverware, especially considering last year's Community Shield, FA Cup and Premier League triumphs. And yet as I sit here, I don't feel disappointed. Nor, of course, do I feel elated. I feel an overwhelming sense of satisfaction in again finishing above Arsenal despite vociferous claims that this would be 'their season,' to put the final nail in the coffin on Tottenham's Champions League hopes and to be the side that effectively relegated West Ham thanks to a 3-0 hammering (no pun intended). I feel satisfied that this team was able to claw its way out of nothingness and into semi-contention for league honours. Moreover, I feel moderately pleased that Chelsea, for once, were knocked out of the Champions League by virtue of the opposition being the better side, as opposed to fielding the referee as a second striker. This season will end trophyless and quite probably with a scrappy win over Newcastle and possibly even a loss at Goodison Park, but I can guarantee that we will look back on it as the 'transitional season' some of us were predicting - but, more specifically, the season in which we began to build towards the future. Success after success has been won with the Drogbas, Terrys and Lampards of this world; our future triumphs will be won by the contributions of Luiz, Torres and Ramires, and - eventually - the Kakutas, McEachrans and Sturridges we all crave to see given a chance. This season will be the precursor to future glories. The last dozen matches has shown Chelsea can still compete despite an ageing squad, but it has also shown more needs to be done in the transfer market to see us return to former highs. Like during the Hiddink 'era' (perhaps the wrong choice of word, considering he was caretaker manager for 23 matches only), this end to the season will be viewed as laying the foundations, the building blocks for next season. Exciting times lie ahead, and though things may seem all doom and gloom, at least we have emerged out of this with a bit of pride still intact, and a healthy synthesis of youth and experience in our squad that will no doubt be complimented in the summer by more young talent - as well as hopefully more chances for McEachran, Sturridge and Kakuta - and we may well see us regain the title at the first attempt next term. This season will soon be forgotten as soon as the whistle is blown after stoppage time up at Everton. But let us not forget the times when we were a mid-table club with aspirations of experiencing seasons like this, to be in the Champions League, to be in contention for silverware. That does little more than disguise the fact this has been a disappointing season considering the successful 2010 Chelsea had, but it is still naive to think that season after season, we could look to contest for honours in spite of an ageing squad. Every dog has its day, and the Chelsea jigsaw assembled by Signor 'the Tinkerman' Ranieri and the Special One - with Scolari, Grant, Hiddink and Ancelotti offering the final pieces - has been outdone by the ever-evolving dynamic of Manchester United, the spending power of Manchester City, the resurgence of Liverpool and the emergence of Tottenham as a Premier League force. As previously said, work must be done and must be done quickly. Exciting times lie ahead for Chelsea Football Club. A new era is upon us, and once the dust has settled, plans for a stadium move have been announced and another £100 million has been spent by Mr Abramovich (possibly wishful thinking, though the gaffer will definitely open the chequebook up once again this close-season), we will look onwards and upwards. The future is a very bright one indeed... just remember to keep the faith even when things aren't going as we might envisage. We will be back.

Ancelotti has nothing to redeem himself for, the players however, do. Carlo is playing the formation we wanted, and the personnel we wanted, ie. Drogba. We're being outdone by an average side who want to win this more than we do, and that's what hurts most. If we were 2-0 down having tried our hardest I'd say 'fair play' to United, but we're making them look good. Unacceptably slack performance, but in a way this is a blessing in disguise. If we were to win the league, it would merely be paper over the cracks. This season has shown we need a more competitive squad, and we need to spend in the summer. However, what this good run has shown is that we can still compete despite all the problems we've had, and win or (far more likely) lose today, I'll be proud of the way we fought our way back, yet still disappointed about a shocking first half performance which puts the final nail in the coffin. Lets go out and play for pride and at least play like CHAMPIONS in our final two and a half games of the season. Play for the shirt, play for the fans, and put up a fight. By the way, our fans have been superb today - as they have been all season. Keep the faith, this title race isn't over until the Fat Lady sings... and United still have to play two sides battling their way away from the relegation zone, while we're facing two sides with nothing left to play for. It ain't over yet, and neither is this game! Keep the faith!

I sincerely doubt it... but if they did, it would be in encrypted format.

Absolutely. People will no doubt say that statistics are misleading, but what endears Kalou to me is his faultless work ethic and his dedication to the team. His all-round contribution is also good in terms of goals and assists, and I think he is the perfect sort of player to have as second choice at the club.

That's true, I don't normally get anxious about games... there was definitely a nervous energy about me that game. It's fair to say that I'm bricking it today as well. Hopefully a good omen?

We could probably fill a 60k stadium week-in, week-out, I'd wager. That's because Chelsea is a global brand and being in an affluent area of London, we'd get a lot of fairweather 'tourist supporters' coming in with their prawn sarnies.

I don't think it was done through passwords, I think it was most likely an IP hack.

Looks like we'll be able to get him at a reduced price with only one ankle left. Charlie Adam attempted to settle the debate on who has the best left foot in the league by snapping Bale's off.

Sony strike back...

Indeed, well played Jim.