Matterz

I agree, young players should be given time, but unfortunately he was an exception and while they were waiting for him to blossom they won pretty much nothing. We as Chelsea fans arent the most patient and I find it hard to believe that we would tolerate poor performances from a 40 million pound singing for a few years. Thats of course not to say that he wont be an instant sucess, I actually think he would be but its all"if's" and 'buts".

I think Villa, Anelka and Drogba all offer something very different to each other, I would play Drogba and Villa up front with Anelka at the tip of the diamond and let him and Villa drift into wide areas. I would then drop Joey further back onto the right of midfield where Ballack is at the moment and rotate the midfield, that way Kalou will still be back up striker when he returns and Sturridge and Borini can fill in while he is away.

Having read Blueman's poll on older players and seeing the David Villa vs Aguero transfer rumour threads and the opinions on these players it has got me wondering if we have been too spoiled as Chelsea fans. I mean I dont for a second believe that anyone in their right mind on this forum belkieves that Villa is not an exceptional player, but from the sounds of it not many people would like to see him in a blue shirt. My personal opinion is that we should be so lucky to even be linked with the likes of Villa, and so should any club in the world. I almost get the impression that many would be disappointed if we signed him, mostly because of his age. I remeber when we first signed Sheva how good it felt that we had signed one of the best in the business. But we all know how that turned out and we seem to remind ourselves of it every other day here. Maybe it is time to get over it. Sheva was an expensive flop, he never reached the heights we expected him to. But that is not to say someone like David Villa wont. For those of you who beleive Aguero is the answer as he is young and could play for many years, I couldnt agree with you more, but what is to say that he wont be a flop, or injury prone, or wont adapt to England well. For me I would like us to sign the best possible players we can to do what it is that we need them to do, which is win titles and it honestly doesnt matter how old they are when they do it.

I dont agree, I feel that when you pay that kind of money for any player, regardless of their age, they should make an instant impression. Im pretty sure that if we were to buy Aguero and he in turn produced the same sort of performances as for example Kalou has over two or three years he would be considered a flop.

I couldnt agree more, fuck Torres he is a prick, let him rot with Gerrard and the rest of his useless team mates at Liverpoo

Look, in all honesty this is a massive tie, but this is the Champions League and to win you need to beat the best. Ive always believed that the only teams capable of beating us this year are Barcelona and Man Utd. Italian opposition just doesnt seem to bother me too much. Just looking at the two sides we are stronger in almost every position, we have more depth than Inter, and thats before we possibly make signings in Jan. There is a reason why we have been in 5 of the last 6 semi finals and I see no reason why we wont do it again.

I think people are looking too far into the Carlo vs Jose side of this tie, personally I think we have a far better team than Inter and we should progress as a result

To be fair to Mikel the holding midfielder position is probably the hardest position to play in football, especially in the diamond. I think he has played some really good games and some poor ones, needs to work on his consistency. He is definately improving though imo. Perhaps they should try playing him in a different position in midfield?

I still think that every Chelsea fan in the world is hoping for Aguero, but I wont be too unhappy if we sign this guy.

I do believe its still a bit early to be so cynical, but at the same you do have a valid point. Yes we have finish top of our group in the Champions League and yes we are still two points clear at the top of the league. I think the point you are making is complacency. Typically Utd only get stronger from christmas and the lead we do have is only slim. Still I feel there is no need to panic but it does highlight that we might not be as invincible as first thought, but nontheless I still reckon we have played better football than any other side so far this season without maybe hitting top gear. I do believe that we should take Sundays loss as a kick up the arse and perhaps step it up a little. Perhaps now Carlo will think a bit harder about strengthening the squad come new years with a few new signings.

I dont think so, he will a few good years in him, and the publicity, marketing potential and shirt sales revenue will largely make up some of the fee, I would rather we sign him than leave him to Man Utd

Well generally after 27 you turn 28 but he might as well be 24 and he would still be too old for you, fact is he is proven quality in a world class league and has consistently performed for a very mediocre side for the past few seasons, let alone his goal scoring record for spain. Fact is that this man is one of if the the best stiker in the world at the moment and will score goals where ever he goes, id rather spend 30 million on a player of proven quality and ability than one that is simply an exciting prospect ie: Aguero or Benzema, not every 30 million plus sriker needs to be compared to Shevchenko and to be honest im actually quite tired of hearing about it

I agree, we have tremendous depth, and highly talented youth players that even Arsenal might be a bit jealous of. I just think that if we are going to sign anyone in Jan it should be future stars and not "Marquee" players, if we really do need a more experienced striker then perhaps a loan deal would be a better option?

i really dont see how 27 is too old? If im not mistaken Anelka was 27 when we signed him?

As wonderfully talented as Aguero is and as much as I would like to see him in a Chelsea shirt, perhaps now is not the right time to sign him, he will be cup tied for the Champions league, we only have to do without Drogba and Kalou for a few games and we have Di Santo returning with some experience under his belt. lets not forget the promise shown by Borini, Sturridge and Kakuta, im pretty sure Carlo will use his youngsters or use a different formation, as fo rthe transfer ban, since the ban was issued Chelsea have seemed very confident that it will be overturned so I cant see us making any signings really unless we sign youngsters like Alan Dzagoev

He could be a longer term replacement for Ballack, Mikel still doesnt convince me enough but perhaps he will come right

Fantastic striker, and at 27 could be for a good few years to come, wont be cheap though and personally I think it will disrupt the team too much, if we bring him in we would have to change formation to accomodate Drogba, Anelka and Villa or someone would have to sit bench so whilst I believe he would be excellent it would a very unecessary signing.

It all depends on who replaces him really, he has done tremedous work for the club, albeit he screwed up some high profile potential signings, but he also negotiated some great ones. I hoipe he doesnt end up at Man City tho, im pretty sure he has learned from all his mistakes at Chelsea and could use what he has learned with great effect there. Hopefully the next appointment can take us to where we want to be and maintain it

I for one am not too concerned by this matter tbh, in all likely hood this ban will either be overturned or reduced to 1 transfer window. I am pretty confident that Chelsea had no intention of signing any players in the January window dispite the ACON anyway. So if this does get reduced to 1 window then it shouldnt affect us anyway. The only reason we would need to bring in any players is if we have serios injury concerns, if that is the case then we have many players out on loan that we can recall, ie Di Santo, Stoch, Mancienne, Sinclair to name a few, these would cover the players that leave for the ACON. Lets not forget the signings of Sturridge and Matic who are very promising young players as well as the very strong squad we already have. So I dont really see an issue here. If anything this should worry other big clubs who could face similar punishment who do not have the same squad we do. As take into account the work that is to be by Bruno Di Michaelis who was brought in to specifically reduce the number of injuries we might suffer. This is a very harsh ban in my opinion so am quite confident that it will be reduced or overturned, however if FIFA or UEFA feel so strongly about the tapping up of young players then perhaps they should look at the way they govern the matter instead of making examples of clubs. As far as I am concerned what Chelsea have done is brilliant business practice and not in anyway violating in laws. But once again the incompetance of FIFA and UEFA mean that we must bear the brunt.

I find it very strange that we get penalized so harshly for trying to sign a 15 year old unknown, however Fifa seem to think that Real Madrids efforts to sign Ronaldo last season are acceptable. It reaaly boggles my mind, especially seeing as clubs like Man Utd have been doing it for years. But once again I have to applaud a footballing governing body for being completely biased and incompetant.

Personally I still think we are too narrow, we need more width to stretch teams like Hull otherwise I fear we will be very frustrated this season.

I reckon this was taken a bit out of context, I reckon what he means to say is that if none of our current players leave then we dont need to bring in anyone else which makes sense, however if someone does leave then its a different story eg. Sheva and Pizarro, he quite cleary says that we dont need anymore signings because the squad is already very competitive but there is still about 25 days left til the market is closed so expect movement

I never buy any of the kits tbh, I never find an occasion to wear them. But that doesnt make me any less of a Chelsea fan. Id rather spend my money on club dvds and memorabilia.

If we sell him id replace him with Matthew Upson I think he is much better than Lescott personally which is why I cant really understand why Man City havent bid for him yet instead

Somehow I find it hard to believe that a man who has won two cham,pios league titles as manager of a massive club doesnt have a plan B or even C, or that he doesnt know what he is doing with the diamond formation. Just because Scolari was an idiot doesnt mean Ancelotti is.