capriccioso

I still can't believe it. The tears have dried up a bit as I understand he had to have left at some point. I will miss that sense of excitement whenever he got on the ball. I will miss that hope when we desperately need a goal. I will miss his arrogant swagger on the pitch. His amazing record in finals and against Arsenal. His ability to score from anywhere on the pitch, and his ability to destroy any defender in the world. Goodbye, Didier. I hope you return one day. Raised a weak smile

The greatest foreigner to play in England. Forget Bergkamp, Henry, Cantona, etc. This is a titan of a man who's sheer force of will carried Chelsea Football Club. He will be missed. 157 goals and 71 assists for 24 million pounds, what a brilliant signing he was.

8 years of wonderful memories. Thank you Didier.

I'm crying Fucking hell. What a player. What a man. Our best since Osgood. I can't imagine us without him.

Fucking hell Goodbye Didier. Thanks for everything. Legend.

His agent denied that.

Man United aren't done. Their squad which is a ragtag mix of teenagers and veterans still hasn't reached its potential. Sir Alex Ferguson is for a good reason the greatest manger in the history of this sport. I'm not going to write them off. The only difference is that Ferguson must take a more Harry Redknapp style scrambling around Eastern Europe looking for free agents, in terms of his transfer policy.

Sorry

I meant that they think that we have ruined him entirely as a player- which we haven't, we've just given him a new role and he has grown into it very well.

Well said. I think a lot of the indecisiveness from some members here stems from the fact that we have been very lucky in his tenure. While that is a valid point, that he got the players to perform somewhere near their best should be enough to convince everybody.

Not in the Premiership, TV rights are shared. He's been given 16 months now to come out of his slump but still hasn't managed to do it. At best we'll end up with a 15-20 goal a season player. He's not the guy for us to depend on, he is more like what Anelka was when he played here- get a few goals here and there, score some important goals, but a foil for a more prolific player.

No, it's not. They dominate because the system permits and encourages big clubs to continue perpetuating their imperialism over everyone else. How much money can Barcelona's army of fans make? Their stadium only holds 99,000. A very small fraction of those 'customers' actually give their money to the club. Buying shirts, merchandise etc. don't count. How many Messi shirts will one fan buy? Not that many, but how many games will those 99,000 attend? Probably all of them.

Spot on, Ron, Barcelona are one of the biggest in the world and they officially call their supporters 'customers' I hope that rampant commercialism never affects Chelsea.

I shall succumb to my mixed South Asian heritage here and say that cricket is the best of the lot, except football. Back on topic, he's having a laugh back in France. Seeing 3 clubs squabble over him like a bunch of drunks over the last slice of pizza. Basically him and his agent will make a huge packet whoever he signs for. Intelligent stuff.

No, no, Rami, your opinions are what you believe in and it's not our place to question them. We just disagree, is all. Anyway, back to Torres, I don't know what to do with him. He hasn't shown enough promise for me to put my trust in him. I really think if we don't retain Drogba we need to splash the cash on a proven goalscorer who's not out of form. Someone like Falcao. Or perhaps give Sturridge a tryout at striker.

Now you're hurting my head Good article here about Man City getting the 'Chelsea 2003-2006' treatment in terms of being forced to pay miles over the odds for players: http://www.independe...rs-7771301.html

To quote Jeremy Clarkson, precision and technicality will always be beaten by shouting and smoking and power.

We're going in too deep, I'm afraid, hypothesising about a hypothetical transfer.

I've had enough of this pretty football nonsense. Nothing is more beautiful than a wonderfully orchestrated counter attack.

Style of play and whether or not it is embedded in our club are moot points, anyway. The key thing is our way has brought us so much success. Why change something that works?

The banter . I do believe the chain of being goes like this: NSW>Queensland>England. Anyway, 200k a week? For a 20 year old? What are we going to do if, God forbid, he breaks his leg in his first training session and thus never reaches his potential? Absurd money for someone who hasn't even peaked yet.

Every player signed before 2011 is accustomed to this style of play and as evidenced by the Villas-Boas affair, go to pieces when its taken away from them. Short of buying an entirely new squad we can't change.

Australia . And KOF is right, regional NSW beaches are better than Sydney's. Queensland's beaches are great fun if you want to be stung by a jellyfish. Hazard should take note of the strong support Australia gives to this club as opposed with other clubs. Now, quick, hide this page before BlueLion see's it

The best for this club is 4-3-3 Mourinho style, with each manager adding his own tweaks to it. It's part of our DNA. We can't change it now any more than Barcelona can play like Stoke.

No, he's not the type of guy to carry a team on his shoulders like Drogba has done for years. I think he's better off being a star rather than the star.