BlueLion.

He got the mixed reaction he deserved. Plenty of respect but also a few voices of discontent, which I think sums it up perfectly. He's still a legend, but we're not happy about what's happened. Hopefully that's the last we see of him in a City shirt in regards to Chelsea. I'm glad yesterday has come and gone, I was dreading what may have happened. Let's just move on and forget he ever played for them.

Chelsea did what they had to in yesterday's 1-1 draw with Manchester City - and man of the match Kurt Zouma was at the heart of everything good from a Blues perspective. The young Frenchman, a £12 million signing late in the transfer window of January 2014, has earned rave reviews for his exceptional performances in both the draw yesterday evening and Tuesday's Capital One Cup victory over Liverpool. For those who are not followers of French football, such an extravagant transfer fee for a 20 year old may have, at one point, seemed extravagant - but after usurping the experienced Gary Cahill and putting in a series of creditable performances that bely his tender years, Zouma is firmly establishing himself as a fans' favourite at Stamford Bridge. A young man whose middle name is Happy will be no less than delighted with the visible progress he has made since his début in a 2-1 League Cup defeat of Bolton earlier in the season. Don't let Zouma's size fool you. This man mountain is almost impossibly strong and possesses an incredible leap even from standing positions. His aerial hang time defies gravity. But he is also a technically adept and intelligent young footballer who compliments club captain John Terry with his proactive and aggressive style of defending. Whilst Terry, not particularly blessed with pace, is the ultimate "sweeper" centre half, relying on his reading of the game and instinctive intuition to snuff out danger, Zouma is a ravenous bloodhound of a defender who chases down the opposition with unrelenting fury. The Frenchman - unlike many young defenders who are too naive in their approach - demonstrated maturity in the way he dealt with a serious of threatening Manchester City attacks yesterday. The most tremendous example is his wonderfully-timed and -executed sliding tackle to deny the ever-dangerous Sergio Aguero a shot on goal in the first half. Rather than launching himself into tackles overzealously, Zouma has an aura of control about himself that even far more experienced defenders lack. And for a big unit - a massive 85KG of pure muscle - Zouma can shift as well. He is hardly a hulking behemoth; in fact he has a burst of pace that was visible when he matched speed king Raheem Sterling stride for stride to make up his own misjudgement in Tuesday's semi final second leg against Liverpool. Zouma is still very young and has time on his side to continue his visible improvement under José Mourinho, but he is already a very promising prospect. He compliments the likes of John Terry and Gary Cahill through his more aggressive and proactive style of defending. Also good in possession, he often channels his inner Marcel Desailly by striding out come from the defence and driving forwards with the ball. In - albeit temporarily - displacing Cahill, who has looked shaky at best for the large part this season, Zouma has broken into the Blues first team sooner than most people may have anticipated. After incredibly mature performances against two of the best club sides in English football, the former St Etienne man has shown he is more than ready for the step up from squad player to first team stalwart. Cahill, in being a wonderful servant to Chelsea, has put his body on the line countless times for the Blues cause, but his flaws as a footballer have been exposed by Mourinho choosing to utilise a higher defensive block this season. In his quest for a more attacking style, José has had to sacrifice some of his defensive solidarity and has instructed his rearguard to play a higher line by a clear 10-15 yards. Though that sounds negligible, it means that there is more pressure on the Blues' back four to step out and make that first pass to initiate attacks. For Cahill, this is problematic. Whilst Terry is more than competent at threading balls into the feet of Cesc Fabregas, Eden Hazard et al., Cahill regularly panics in possession and more often than not just hoofs the ball upfield, surrendering the ball to Chelsea's opponents. Zouma is a more deliberate footballer in possession, capable of making incisive passes into feet. Surprisingly so for someone of his age, he is not fazed when under pressure from the opposition, and whilst a fair number of his passes may not come off, he is confident enough to try and play percentage football - in the hope that one of those brisk balls into feet can instigate a Chelsea attack. And the way the young French constantly hounds the opposition makes him the perfect defensive foil for Terry, who, at 34, perhaps lacks that yard of pace necessary to close down an opponent. Most managers are keen for their centre-backs to take up different roles in a back four - "one hold, one attack" is a rule of thumb in the Mourinho school of thought, and whilst Cahill is more likely to back off and hope for defensive support to defend in a two-on-one situation, Zouma is happy to press and harry in his overtly more proactive style. Whilst further defensive reinforcements look sure to arrive next summer, with Real Madrid's Raphael Varane a touted target, Zouma has certainly seized upon his chances this season and has been more than impressive in doing so. A star in the making has been discovered. Click here to view the article

Apart from the fact he's injured?

the fuck is that bench?

Line-up has been leaked,

LOOOOOL Let's sell Hazard, Courtois and Costa and bring back Torres while we're at it. Get the hell over it.

A hurricane or typhoon is a system with sustained winds of at least 74 MPH. Maybe we've just signed a force of nature.

Hahaha Chelsea don't give a fuck. This is from the official Chelsea website's match preview: HAHAHAHAAHAHAHAH SCENES

In the 95th minute? In front of the Shed? A huge fucking deflection as well? DREAM.

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Emenalo could have sold Tal ben Haim to Bayern Munich for £100 million plus Schweinsteiger.

It'd enhance them, IMO. I love Cesc but you have to field the eleven players most suited to the challenge. You'd swap Luis for Azpilicueta on the basis of needing a more defensive-minded full-back; why not change one of your pivot midfielders when one of them can offer more defensive support and has the legs to support us on the counter-attack? Against a team like City, Cesc will never have the space he needs to weave his magic. Even less so if he isn't 100% fit.

It'll be nothing but positive.

Brace yourselves - "de Bruyne is better than Pele" posts are incoming. EDIT - shit, too late. SAVE YOURSELVES. Yes, he played well today. But he wouldn't play like that for us. He isn't a Mourinho-type player. We can always re-sign him if we really want to.

It is inconsistency to the most extreme degree. Vertonghen throttled a defender on Wednesday. Where's his ban?

A Chelsea player could rescue a baby from the 15th floor of a collapsing, burning building and would be suspended for five matches for causing the child a trauma.

Diego Costa has been banned for his alleged stamp on Emre Can in Tuesday's Capital One Cup semi-final triumph over Liverpool. In what is quite simply a farcical decision, this move by the FA only serves to add fuel to the fire of José Mourinho's view that there is a media "campaign against Chelsea". Despite numerous pundits and former footballers, including Gary Lineker, Thierry Henry and Paul Scholes, all leaping to Costa's defence, the FA have, for some reason, viewed that Costa's movement was deliberate and dangerous towards the grounded Can, who was on the floor following a fifty-fifty challenge with the Spain international. In spite of the best attempts of the Liverpool bench to get Costa sent off, referee Michael Oliver - whose horror showing on Tuesday saw him deny the Blues two clear penalties and allow Lucas and Jordan Henderson to stay on the pitch despite an accumulation of fouls - did not include the incident in his match report, allowing the FA to take retrospective punishment. The 26-year-old will miss Saturday's Premier League clash with Manchester City at Stamford Bridge as well as games against Aston Villa and Everton. Costa can have the media, including brainwashed morons such as Stan Collymore, to thank for his suspension as his - clearly accidental - "stamp" was prominent amongst Sky Sports' and the BBC's highlights coverage of the match. There was, typically, no mention of in the first leg, or of Lazar Markovic's attempted elbow on Filipe Luis. Maybe José is right about a "campaign" after all. When Chelsea are on the receiving end, we all know nothing will be done. Just ask Sergio Aguero. Click here to view the article

https://twitter.com/Cuadrado/favorites

Could be registered and squad numbered for all we know. We all know how ninjaesque Chelsea are with transfers.

Juan CUADRADO A 27 year-old winger or wide midfielder from Colombia, Juan Guillermo Cuadrado Bello arrived at Chelsea in January 2015 for a fee of £23.3 million. A full Colombian international, Juan has made 37 appearances for his country, scoring five goals, including the opening goal from the penalty spot in a 4-1 defeat of Japan at the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Juan is an excellent and speedy dribbler of the ball, often winning fouls for his fleet-footedness, and is noted for trying his luck by shooting from distance - often with devastating consequences for the opposition. After weeks of persistent rumours, it was announced on January 30 that Cuadrado had agreed personal terms with Chelsea, and that the two clubs had finally agreed on a transfer fee, most likely to be around £23.3 million. Fiorentina could receive up to an additional £3.3 million through performance-related add-ons. His shirt number has yet to be decided, but it is highly likely that he will compete with Willian for a position on the right wing, or, could alternatively replace Oscar in the side and operate either in place of the Brazilian in a central role, or move over to the left to give Eden Hazard a more prominent role behind the forward. His versatility has seen him play in a number of positions for Fiorentina, including right-back and as a deep-lying midfielder, but he has been targeted by José Mourinho to offer a degree of dynamism to the Blues' attack with his explosive pace and dribbling. Everyone at TalkChelsea wishes Juan the best of luck in his time with Chelsea Football Club. You can read Juan's transfer talk thread by clicking here.

The transfer of Juan Cuadrado to Chelsea is edging ever closer, according to the BBC. Their reporter, Ben Smith, has today suggested that the Blues are close to agreeing to a £23.3 million deal to bring the Colombian winger to the club from Fiorentina. The Colombian has already agreed personal terms with the Premier League leaders and the clubs are concluding the final details of the move. The Fiorentina star fuelled speculation today by removing a link to the Serie A club's Twitter page from his Twitter bio, at the same time as favouriting a tweet congratulating him on a move to the West Londoners. The total fee, with add-ons, could eventually be £26.8m - a figure that matches Cuadrado's release clause at the Italian club. Mohamed Salah is likely to go on loan to Fiorentina as part of the deal. However, Egyptian winger Salah has yet to decide on a move to Serie A, with AS Roma ending their interest in the former Basel man last week. The Egypt international now appears likely to see out the season in Florence, with the Violas manager Vincenzo Montella apparently encouraged by his anticipated arrival]. He is a good player, a very interesting player", added the Fiorentina coach. He is a strong winger". If discussions conclude swiftly, the winger - who starred in last summer's World Cup - could even arrive in London for a medical on Friday. Cuadrado's imminent arrival also means Chelsea's 24-year-old German forward Andre Schurrle is now almost certain to leave Stamford Bridge before Monday's transfer deadline, with VfL Wolfsburg a likely destination. Until then we have some long hours and days to kill. Red flush casino has over 500 of the best Microgaming casino games to choose from, so it might help. Give it a try. Click here to view the article

According to SSN, he's facing another FA ban for having the gall to knock Liverpool out of a cup.