capriccioso

Well, Australian cricketer Brett Lee was out for about 10 days with a broken toe in January before he returned, but thats a completely different sport and he got rushed back into the team despite being injured. Marin's signing might mean Tintin will be sent out on loan next season.

This Financial Fair Play stuff is rubbish, do you really think it will stop men like Silvio Berlusconi or Roman Abramovich, who have never failed to get exactly what they wanted when they want it? These are guys who happily evade tax and indulge in all sorts of illegal activities that could see them get some time in jail, if they can avoid getting caught over serious crimes like tax evasion and consorting with the Mafia, breaking football rules will be childs play for them. All of these tycoon owners probably already have hired platoons of creative accountants to mask any discrepancies, as if UEFA's financial investigators are going to be any better than those used at an international level.

Wow, the Guardian published that rubbish? Villas-Boas didn't buy Ramires

Just rewatched that game, I think its possible the fans were shouting 'Kalouuuu' when he came on for Sturridge.

Yep, motivation or no motivation Real Madrid would have battered us, because our strengths are nothing difficult for them to deal with.

As was Sebastian Deisler, and as is Gervinho. That's not a guarantee of a future world class player; for that; you need your head screwed on the right way, you need a good attitude to being benched and not being the main man, something poor Daniel seems to lack.

Wow, that thread is bitter. But fair enough, they consider us rivals but the fact that its been, what, 20 years, since we last played in the same division should kinda blunt that rivalry. Can't see Barcelona getting too worked up about Espanyol if they spent 30 years in the Segunda. Anyway, at least there was/is a rivalry, that puts them light years ahead of RAWK who seem to hate us for no other reason than that we 'stole' their God given right to win everything in England. Ironic of scousers to accuse others of being thieves. Cute, they pay attention to what we think of them enough to trawl through a 14 page thread.

Good point though, unlike theshedend this seems to be a rather foreign based Chelsea forum. Not that it matters, we're better than English fans anyway

I just have one, very small gripe about Marko (and no, it's not that he has effectively ended Salomon's career): I think he is just a German Daniel Sturridge. A great flat track bully (for non cricket fans, that roughly translates to one who has a blinder against lesser opposition or in favourable conditions such as playing at home but then bottles it away/against better teams) but he strikes me as the type to mope about if he doesn't get what he wants, and my German teacher back in high school who is a massive Werder fan who often criticised him for being selfish, though that was in 2009 so he may have changed.

I'm not taking anything away from Marin at all, I think he will be excellent when we're the bigger team and don't need to be defensively oriented.

The problem with Bayern being favourites are that Germans never bottle anything. Well, nearly everything, excluding invading a certain Stalinist country far to the east in winter Look we are by and large rubbish, but motivation can do funny things to players. Every one of our players, even the much derided Bosingwakalouda trio, are playing at maximum output, and that makes us nigh on unstoppable imo.

Nearly a month old, but oh yes http://www.metro.co.uk/sport/football/895046-chelsea-to-offer-salomon-kalou-new-contract-in-bid-to-fend-off-arsenal

Look, the fact that there are good clubs interested in Kalou makes me think it will be a huge mistake to let him go for free. Well to be fair, I think letting him go before retirement at the ripe old age of 45 is in itself a huge mistake More seriously, a player like Kalou who gets back and defends, and is somewhat consistent in his performances at a solid 6-7/10, is always preferable for me over someone who has periodical flashes of brilliance (e.g. Marin, Sturridge) but then disappears for months at a time. Marin won't be useful when we play away CL ties where the important thing is keeping a clean sheet, and without Kalouda we won't have anyone capable of performing a shut down job. Attacking fullbacks are one of the most important facets of modern football, and to counter them we need defensive wingers.

Either flank, though he prefers the left as it lets him cut inside on his preferred foot.

Well, why not: Ramires-Mata-Marin? That way we can play Ramires where he has flourished, and we get to keep the Di Matteo 4-2-3-1.

That was the tie of the entire CL season, IMO, 5-4 win to Bremen, just a shame that that was the playoffs rather than a knockout match as both teams deserved to go through.

The shots were impressive, but what I wanted to show there was his ball control and dribbling ability.

This is what he's capable of, lads:

It's over. Fourth is ours. So long as we beat QPR and get a result at Newcastle and then avoid defeat for the rest of the season. Spike is right, this squad is suddenly looking like being capable of beating anyone, which proves one of my points from the AVB 'era' that when we bother we're one of the best teams in the world. Tottenham are in crisis and won't recover, IMO, and Newcastle don't have much experience when it comes to squeaky bum time. It will be academic if we beat QPR and Newcastle.

Sure does. My point is, you cannot stop a man with an absolute cast iron will like that. Nothing, and I mean nothing, will stop him if he has his heart set on something. He worked his way up from the gutter to doing what he likes, when he likes.

Do not underestimate the power that Mr. Abramovich possesses. He has enough money to buy the entire city of London and demolish everything and build an enormous stadium if he absolutely has to. Being best mates with Vladi Putin probably helps as well.

Yes, it certainly is. We are one of the few clubs to have spent our entire history at one stadium, I would like that to never, ever change. Stamford Bridge is Chelsea and Chelsea is Stamford Bridge, we'll not move to Earls Court and play at Samsung Arena or whatever. Scouse fans can talk about their stupid fucking 18 leagues and whatnot, but you never spent your entire existence at Anfield so suck our collective West London dicks.

Fuck off QPR, you can't fill a big stadium. Stamford Bridge is all we'll ever need anyway. Forget the cuouncil, Roman Abramovich can buy what he wants, he can just buy the councillors and make them vote in favour of expansion.

Now, I have never seen Tintin play, but I'll wager that Sir Marko Marin is twice the player that he is currently. He has a wicked, wicked, long shot on him; he's probably a genuine challenger to Salomon's crown of best dribbler at the club, the only problem is injury and disciplne for me.

Marko, Marko, you're a don, and you'll always be a don, Marko, Marko, you're a don. (Sung to the tune of Gallas, Gallas, you're a cunt)