Blue-in-me-Veins

Fair enough.. However I don't think our situation easily compares to Man United. They had a clear "rebuilding and transition phase", that cannot be disputed. Everyone knew, they were clearing out SAF's old guard and making way for new targets. And they offered great wages and paid crazy transfer sums to return to the status-quo. We've just had a season from hell. No mass exodus lead to our demise neither was it a glut of ageing players. It was just a horrible case of many players out of form, bad luck, bad tactics and whatever else you want to add on. Will there be certain players who don't view us favorably in these next couple transfer windows, sure, no doubt about it. But I'm starting to believe that more often than not, most players will realize it was just a freak season, and that there's no way Roman Abramovic would ever allow this to happen again. I could be naive, but I think a majority of our future targets are smart enough to realize, we have a culture and owner who breeds success and one season doesn't mean now that Chelsea FC is ok with being mediocre and battling with the likes of tottenham/liverpool/west-Ham to "maybe" finish 4th every season.

It was straight from the horses' mouth mate. The latter may be true, but who's to say Reus and PEA won't stay at Dortmund for another 2 years, and by then the circumstances could be very different in Spain. They have no rush to jump ship is what I was getting at. Reus and PEA have incredible loyalty to both Dortmund and each other. That is all. I personally, don't envision either of them leaving any-time soon. And to put it bluntly, I'm not even a big fan of PAW, not that it matters in the grand scheme of things. lol

Aubameyang has stated that his dream is to play in Spain. He promised his now dead grandfather that he would one day fulfill his dream of playing in Spain. He's also said that him and Reus have an agreement that they won't leave each other unless both leave in the same transfer window. If you want to continue believing this rumor, go ahead. But those are just the "FACTS".

You think we'll be able to address critical needs in January? I'm not gonna place much hope in January because teams are very very reluctant to sell in January, and all the better options are Cup-Tied. So imo, i think the Summer window will be most pivitol. Not trying to come across as "plasitc" or "Football Manager XX" but we simply have to splash the cash. The only way to adequately recover from this horror show imo is to spend, and spend big. Stop with the penny pinching, and make up not only for the shit season, but our shit Summer transfer window in 2015. Show to the players still here, and those who we will be targeting that we're looking to emphatically return back to the status quo of competing on both the domestic and International level. We've gotten nothing in return for abiding to FFP; and I seriously just want Chelsea to break the bank in the summer and attain World-Class targets. Too many mediocre options on our bench. Ivan/Ramires/Mikel/Oscar/Falcao. Send the house to get Ruben Neves and John Stones.

We've taken over FC Bayern as the new Hollywood FC. It's been that way for the past 2/3 years now. But tbf,, isn't it kind of empty watching the BPL this season? Like I'll sit there and watch City lose to Liverpool 4-1,and i'll get all jacked up that we can close the gap 3pts and that they lost.. but then it hits me that it doesn't even matter. Title aspirations are down the drain. Can't even watch MOTD with all the constant losing aswell. lol

Well Toni Kroos and Modric aren't really the main issues. They both played in the last two el classicos IIRC, and Real Madrid certainly didn't deserve to lose the previous one in March where both started. They didn't help today admittedly, but the back-line was allllll over the place. Varane gave the ball away so cheaply, Danilo was losing every 1v1 battle with Neymar, and Sergio Ramos was abysmal in the back, for that second goal (asking for the offsides, and last goal (comes up to press Messi, who slots it in to Suarez). Marcelo is the key man, when he plays well, RM play well, and he was barely given the chance to get involved in attacks. IMO, it was their formation when defending and their defensive game plan as well. In the previous El Classico in March, RM played a clear 442 in defense and Bale (as you point out) was forced to track back, not so much in this 433. And the press was so ineffective, Barca kept playing out of it too easily. Almost like i was watching Chelsea in disguise. Have to say though,Bale produced some fantastic passes, Claudio Bravo played out of his skin. They just lacked a gameplan to put it simply. Or maybe they had one that was so awful. Is it hard? Absolutely. But this Barca team is just so adaptable, hard to know what to prepare for. They can play that possesion game on you (while being way more direct to goal than Guardiola's teams) or play on the counter-attack. Then you see them switch it up on you mid-game altering between the two. RIP.

Ruben Neves at all costs in the summer. At. all. costs. Jorge Mendes owes us this one after our charity service to Falcao.

How Rafa kept Danilo on I will never know.. Also,, pretty Sure Rafa spent all week planning for their game against Shakhtar in the UCL.. clearly wasn't gonna let the EL Classico get in the way of priorities now can we?

@DYC., but at the expense of Azpi? In any sane manager's mind, then Azpi should be our undisputed RB. But we all know that isn't, and won't be the case. This is why I can't even entertain the idea of Kenedy at LB. Because he's skirting around the glaring fact that Ivan is past it as a RB. The whole team is being catered around the premise that Ivanovic MUST START every match when fit. And granted he's not our ONLY problem, but it cannot be denied he's been a major liability.

Need to demolish them. I'm talking proper 4/5 open play goals. I know it's hard to demand such a performance, i really do, but our attackers need to feel that confidence. These 1-0 games are not helping. Our inability to finish teams off is so worrisome, and we ALWAYS look vulnerable to concede a goal. Also hope Porto take care of Dynamo Kiev. Need to have guarantee of progressing out of the group stage before entertaining possibly taking top spot.

Very good today.. But my days, he HAS to put away those chances. He did the same thing vs Dynamo Kiev away, drives through the heart of the defense, and shoots it so poorly.

Wonderful today. Will need him to put in a Herculean effort Next week against Tottenham.

r/soccer is your friend Edit: found it in Tweet form.

Can't get excited until I see this team win three BPL matches in a row. Pretty sure next week will be the case of 1 step forward (today's win) 3 steps back (lose at White Heart Lane.) Not falling into the trap.

Next up, Kenedy will be deployed as an Inverted RB.

He was being sarcastic mate.. DYC has been one of Hazard's defenders. lol

Danilo getting destroyed by Neymar..

What a joke of a performance from Real Madrid right now..

We need a second goal..

Final-Fucking-ly!

What a ball from Kennedy tho! Terrific break.

ARE YOU SERIOUS COSTA!!!

Ole Ivanovic! OLE!

Costa, SHOOT!! Stop looking for a Penalty every game!

HOW?!