capriccioso

Yeah, who cares about Spain? He and his country can bomb out in the group stage or win every game 4-0 and take the trophy, I couldn't care less. Chelsea > International football (except for the Socceroos )

For the record I don't care if you're happy or sad. All I ask for is some respect. He's not Adrian Mutu or Winston Bogarde or William Gallas. A send off where he's wished the best and his accomplishments here are recognised and always a friendly reception should he ever return to the Bridge as a spectator or an opposition player is all that's necessary. Also I have this feeling he'll be a massive success at Feyenoord. Strikers score for fun in the Netherlands.

I am counting on Gourlay et al to make one last bungle and give him a deal. Though it won't be a bungle. You'll see. You'll all see!

How can you make such a sweeping statement? What if he scores a hattrick against Bayern Munich and is given a new 5 year deal? There's always hope.

Another thing, we've got quite a few Belgians here. de Bruyne, Lukaku, maybe Thibaut will feel more at home with his countrymen

Hmm. 38 in the Premiership, 13 in the CL, 5 in the Carling Cup and 6 in the FA Cup assuming we make the final of each competition. I guess we could divide that up like so: 10 Premier League matches, 3 CL matches, 5 each in the two cups for Thibaut- 23 starts. 28 Premier League matches and 10 CL matches, the FA Cup semi final and Final for Petr- 40 starts. As a goalkeeper though the only thing that will matter to him is game time. Man City or the two Spanish clubs could offer him that but we can't until Petr hangs up his gloves, which is still probably 8 seasons away. I think Cech can still be amongst the best in the world until 2018, it would be foolish to let him go before that unless we are 100% certain Courtois is better than him.

2nd richest as in we can outspend anyone and money is no object to us. He could run it down, yes, but how many years has he got left? Yes he may like it in Spain but he's never tried life in England so we can't be sure if he doesn't like it. We can resist those two clubs' advances, and besides, he's not Latin, he's not going to have a 'dream' to play for them like Ronaldo did, or want to 'go home' like Pique and Fabregas. Of course there is one easy solution to all of this, give him perhaps 15 games a season. Rotate the GK position a bit, he won't be happy with just keeping when Cech can't play and in the Carling Cup/FA Cup fixtures. Cech needs to be put on notice that one mistake will mean he'll lose his spot and have to earn it back in training. Thibaut needs to be told that the GK spot is up for grabs even if it might not be. Or we can give him a very rewarding contract.

What's the biggest game Ryan has played in before? u-21/19/17 Final's or something?

Apologies for going off topic but I think I may have answered my own question as to the death of full backs. Wingers these days are all goal oriented machines, all they want to do is cut inside and take a shot. It doesn't take a genius to defend against that.

How can you say such a thing, SHM? We all miss him as he was a quality poster and a nice person to boot. I do agree that this thread won't achieve much. He'll be back either way to celebrate if we win the CL

Torres is certainly poor in a defensive role but his workrate is unquestionable. Comparing him with Sturridge is unfair, at least Torres makes an effort to put himself in a position where he can defend.

Really? I always thought they had some calamari for lunch.

And look what happened to Paul. Eaten, poor thing.

Dafuq? Cech has been our best player since Di Matteo took over, edging out Ramires. Courtois sends shudders down the back of my neck. We could have here the greatest keeper of all time. Say that again and feel those goosebumps, greatest of all time. He could be better than Kahn, better than Yashin, better than Banks. He will certainly be better than Cech, and that's saying something as Cech is probably the best keeper of his generation. I also don't understand the "he'll be out of here" talk. We are the second richest club in the world. No one is going to make us an offer we can't say no to. He's only a keeper (sorry Alex ), no one will pay more than 30-40 million for him and thats peanuts for us as a club. He'll be a Blue for life, like Cech, I think.

It is a fucking travesty that Bertrand is already amongst the worlds better left backs. I'd have him in a heartbeat over second/third tier (first tier being Cole and Lahm exclusively) left backs like Evra, Marcelo, etc. Not that I don't want Bertrand to be the best, of course I do, I'm just lamenting the incredible drop in defensive skill full backs have suffered over the years. Too many attack minded idiots like Marcelo and Bosingwa think they're Cafu, what they're forgetting is that the likes of Cafu and Roberto Carlos weren't utter wank at defending. I think in the next 3-4 years, converted full backs (like Ivanovic and Gallas when he was with us, Thuram at Juventus) will become the general trend. These types are several magnitudes better at the defensive side of being a full back than those who have been full backs their whole lives, and don't offer significantly less going forward. Either that or we'll see defensive wingers e.g. Kalou and Ramires, that will put an end to this madness.

Question to the English posters on here, do you value the Community Shield? To me it's just a final pre season friendly.

This is insane. 151 pages and the match still hasn't started

Really, Emenalo is fantastic at signing players. We all thought he was rubbish but he's a quality Director of Football. Inb4 he spunks 300 million on a past-it striker.

Nothing is wrong, except Cole can take Robben as he's rather predictable and I do think Torres works hard enough to be able to at least follow Lahm around.

Good point, I forgot he took a knock against Blackburn. Less than 14 hours to go now. I'm so scared/tense

BERTRAND at left wing?! We would be much better off playing Torres or Malouda there.

It's alright, I must confess I had sinister motives. The moneyball theory was just to get you lot to support a new deal for Kalou

Was meant to support my Liverpool moneyball 20 million fee theory Why must you debunk it!

I think this obsession with having a manager the same nationality as his team is rubbish. It may hold true for countries that actually produce good managers like Spain, Germany, Italy, Brazil, etc. but it won't work when you're rubbish like Australia or England or... Estonia (sorry ) Our best manager by far was Guus Hiddink, we produce absolute dog shit in terms of managers like Graham Arnold, its the same thing as England only the players are worse. The only decent English manager I can think of at this moment would be Pardew (maybe Redknapp as well), and he's unavailable so why not appoint a foreigner?

Torres starting ahead of Drogba?