manpe

Really? Too early to say. At the moment there's nothing to suggest he'd be a fitting candidate.

As far as I see, there are 6 candidates to be considered for various reasons: Cech, Cole, Cahill, Ivanovic, Mata, Luiz. I've thought about it quite a bit and, well, let me break it down for you. Cech - As some people have said, it's not ideal for a goalkeeper to be captain. There is a rule that only the captain can approach the referee to prevent players from ambushing and harrassing him. A goalkeeper can't stray off his line any time he has something to say. When things get heated on the other side of the pitch, he wouldn't really be able to stick his nose into it, but having been spoilt with Terry for so long now, I've gotten used to our skipper breaking up fights and telling off opposing players. What he has going for himself though is his stature, being the last surviving member of the "old guard", intelligence, composure. He would be the opposite of Terry, so it would need some getting used to. Cole - With his shady antics, his twitter rants and all that, he doesn't make a good fit as the face of the club. I'm pretty sure the board don't want any more bad press and "bad boy" image for the club, so he's not a serious candidate. And it's questionable how much longer he'll stay here, I'd rather someone got anointed long term, instead of someone who is well past his best and doesn't have long left. Cahill - Not a regular. Hasn't really done or shown anything to be worthy of the armband. If he ever breaks through to be a permanent starter, then I'll re-evaluate him, but at the moment it's not worth going in depth with him. Though he has some qualities and certain characteristics that show potential, like, eeeem... resembling Terry, being English, well-spoken in front of the camera and stuff. Ivanovic - He's a good shout only if he makes the centre-back position his own, which he has never done. He's always been a rotational option, he's the first one to make room and the first one to come in. If Terry leaves, there's a good chance we're gonna sign a centre back and this might demote him to the bench. For the next season I can see him being a regular alongside Luiz, but I don't know where he'll be beyond next season. But there is something that Brana lacks which doesn't make me see him as a good fit for captain, I don't know what it is, but I just don't see him as a leader. Mata - He's also a good shout. He's proven his commitment to the club, he's our best player, he's very likeable, he drives the team forward, he symbolizes what this club wants to achieve and become. The only thing that can be held against him is being too nice and not vocal enough, but who says a captain needs to be a loud asshole anyway? With him as skipper he'd be a stark contrast to Terry, our image as a club would probably improve too, because everybody likes him, even our rivals. It would also be fitting for a finesse player to be the new face of the club - Terry symbolizes the old physical powerhouse Chelsea, Mata would symbolize the new era of flair. Luiz - Everything I said about Mata applies to Luiz as well. The guy played through pain in the greatest night of the history of our club and he was ready to take responsibility in case we lost, what more is there to say? In conclusion: Luiz and Mata would be my prime candidates for captaincy. I would replace Lamps and JT duo with them, because they are great personalities, they drive the team forward, they will be our leaders regardless where the armband falls. I would feel bad for Cech though, he deserves it. Also, we shouldn't be afraid to give it to a non-English player. We're a multicultural club and we should embrace it.

Voted for Strike. A consistent and active contributor every month. I have one question though @. Mufassir, Styles, Milan.Cech and I got 2 nominations each. When several people get the same amount of nominations, how do you decide which one of them to put up on poll?

Was the goal really given as an own goal? Shocking if true, it was a pure Mata goal, the deflection was so minimal it couldn't even be seen without slow motion replay. Trivial matters aside however, it was the biggest win in the league this season. Winning against Spurs would be even bigger, fingers crossed.

I see @francozola has voted, but where has she gone? Where are you?

I am glad you joined. We're gonna have a wonderful time together

Diagnosis: Finnish

Deja vu What I love most about both of them is that they ran off celebrating before the ball hit the back of the net.

I've been informed that mods aren't eligible for nomination. In that case I nominate @Strike.

But in all seriousness, is it possible to nominate a moderator? If it is, then I would like to nominate BluesMaster.

I nominate zolayes

True. His role in the team is very uncertain, hence his uncertain performances. Nobody really knows where to play him, his preferred position is occupied and everything else just isn't for him. He's not a winger, not really a deep midfielder yet. He's a playmaker but he can't play like one because Mata and Hazard are on the ball too much. Will be interesting to see where the next manager sees him.

Bla bla... just admit you enjoy tits and you're too lazy to search them yourself.

Disgusting Millwall pricks.

Nothing wrong being ambitious

Will there be member of the month for April?

To be fair there are signs of Barcelona slowly fading away, they may not be such an alluring destination in five years anymore. Xavi isn't getting any younger, neither is Iniesta. Messi alone won't be enough to keep them at this level. Busquets and Faberglass will do their best to carry the torch, but it won't be enough imo. Puyol is already out of the picture and look what kind of effect it has had on Barca's defense. This kind of talent is hard to come by even in La Masia so I think that in five years they won't be this desirable Barcelona they are now. This current crop is their golden generation who everybody wants to play with and once they are past it or retired, they will once again become a so-and-so club and so will Spain. Real on the other hand seems to always attract superstars, no matter if they win anything or not, so I agree that they could be able to get Hazard if they really wanted to. I'm worried they could target him as a replacement for Ronaldo, but £100m and we can talk The prospect of having Hazard at 27 years of age around his peak, is a very mouth watering thought indeed. Unless he gets major injury problems, there is nothing to suggest he won't reach the biggest heights for a footballer. Hopefully the club recognize that and keep hold of him whatever it takes.

There is a thread about TC player of the year, but since it's very one sided, I thought why not make one for the newbies. Now I know this poll will probably be leaning towards Hazard as much as it is towards Mata in the other thread, but the main point of this topic is to discuss our newcomers' debut seasons, because we've had quite a few this year. The poll is a bonus, it is primarily a discussion topic. Who was the best? Who was the most disappointing? What could have been done better? Were they worth the money? How do you see their future at the club? Etc etc...

Oh, so Hiddink isn't retiring? I would probably prefer Mourinho and him equally then. The short time Hiddink was with us... well, I wanted to see him longer, still do. He was the only manager post-Mourinho who commanded respect and authority in my opinion. He had this leader's presence about him. E: On the other hand it would feel more right if I saw Jose in the dugout shouting and waving, so I guess I prefer him a bit more than Guus.

I wouldn't see anything wrong with that if that happened. I can't see him stripping Terry from captaincy like, how to say, definitely, but since he wouldn't probably be a regular anymore, it would make sense to give the armband more permanently to a regular starter. Terry would still be the overall captain, or "the general", but Luiz would wear the armband most of the time. Although where would that leave Cech? But I think Luiz is more of a captain material than Cech is.

Are there anymore "reliable" and "unreliable" sources? As much as I know very few papers are considered reliable, and even those which are are printing shit now taken from unreliable sources (for example Sky Sports used to be reputable, but they've been printing bollocks taken from tabloids for a long time now). I think we should drop this "unreliable" and "reliable" bullshit and take everything as is. The press always have their agendas, which makes them all unreliable to a degree, until they have trustworthy and confirmed sources. 95% of articles don't have that, so in that sense Sky, BBC etc. aren't better than all the Bilds, Marcas and Daily Mails of the world. Tbf I'm sick of reading all the comments like "Goal.com? bullshit. Daily Fail? bullshit." and so on, everybody knows that already, there is no way for us to distinguish what's truth and what's not... it's hit and miss and always has been. Discussing rumours has never been based on reliability to be honest. It's partly entertainment, partly wishful thinking, very rarely the truth.

Looks easy to do... but no, no, no. By the way, how he is chubby again? He was pretty lean one month and a half ago: How in the world can you become fat while being a professional athlete? How much do you need to eat to actually achieve that? Sent from my GT-S5660 using Tapatalk 2

So everyone is a fool? Haha, you crack me up Henrique. Never change. Actually no, he said that people who are sure that Mourinho will or will not come are fools. This is self irony from his part because he's repeatedly stressed his certainty that Jose will not come. Sent from my GT-S5660 using Tapatalk 2

Alonso, Modric