capriccioso

Only 3 more days. Only 3 more days until it finally happens.

You're on to something here. We've let go of 3 and replaced them with 2. We're looking like letting go of another 2. So there's probably 3 signings left for us to complete before September.

Bringing this out again, are you?

I never said that. I said he wasn't the best player in the world. Lionel Messi is and he's not a right winger. Besides, you forget that we're Chelsea. We don't have to play Clasicos twice a season so unlike Real and Barcelona we don't have to stack our squad with a world XI. All we need are a few good players that can beat Man City and Man United.

Correct me if I'm wrong but your opinion seems to be that we can do better than him, which we can't. There are few right wingers on the market that are genuinely worth paying that much money for as a real improvement on Ramires.

He's not the best option at right back. Let's put all this unpleasantness behind us and come to a statement which I hope will appease everyone: While Ramires may not be the best player in the world he is certainly a vital part of Chelsea and based on his performances in the last 18 months should not be replaced.

I wouldn't say mastery. Any team that fluffs that many chances is undeserving of both victory and claim to mastery. Though this is all semantics.

I don't think Essien will be here for long.

Not really. Ramires is a very effective winger because he puts a lot of pressure on the opposition because of his pace. It forces them to sit a little deeper, allowing us more possession, and his backtracking nature negates an opposition attacking threat in case they have a good attacking left back. Also you did say "think about success", which I interpreted as Ramires' at right winger will not be as successful as Hulk or Sturridge. Some people on this forum have considered Ramires at right back. But I think except in extraordinary circumstances (like Barcelona 2nd leg), we would be wasting his potential if we play him there. Also KOF, stop insulting him. I don't think he's seen enough Chelsea games to realise how important Ramires is to our team, so cut him some slack.

If Madrid/Barcelona are after a Man City player they could do well to get Tevez (if he's still wanting to leave) or Adebayor. Adebayor could provide a good Plan B for Barcelona.

Ramires is funnily enough an excellent right winger. His only weakness is crossing, he's one of the fastest players in Europe, he's a good dribbler (as evidenced by his Man City goal last year), he's intelligent and he will get back and defend every time we lose the ball. He's much more preferable to Hulk and Sturridge who are better than him in terms of attacking technique (i.e. shooting, crossing, dribbling) but are slower than him and don't have his stamina or work rate. Also I think it's unfair to say that playing Ramires will lead to long term lack of success. He was, along with Cole, Cech and Drogba by far our best player in Europe and on par with Mata in terms of overall season performances.

Keita isn't bad, but he's no Toure. It's all academic though, Toure plays for Man City and they don't sell anyone if they need them. Real and Barca can have a bidding war but no matter what sum they fax in to Etihad Stadium, I think the Sheikh will just laugh it off.

I don't know what you mean by narrow minded but I would rather have Ramires than Modric in my team. But then I'm in the "don't sign Hulk leave Ramires on the right wing" camp, which means there may be a place for perhaps M'Vila to serve as a backup for Lampard in centre midfield. But then we've already got Romeu, McEachran, Meireles and Essien and Malouda (lol) waiting on the bench. 8 players who can play at centre midfield is too many for just 2 positions. 6 is probably a bit too much, as well, but we'll have quite a few extra games next season so I guess we could use the depth. The main argument against signing a new centre midfielder is that Lampard and Mikel, off the back of their recent few months, deserve to be among the first names on the teamsheet. They also work well together, and if we bring in someone expensive then that'll mean either Mikel or Lampard will be undeservingly sent to the bench. There's no need for backups either as we have 8 who can play there and only 2 available positions.

I just found out that there was once a country called the Serbian Despotate Despotate! The rulers weren't even trying to pretend they were nice, fair people

Isn't Keita going to be sold soon?

Malinformed is not a word. Just thought I'd cut the tension

I don't think anyone's had much success, particularly in the Champions League, beating them any other way: 2008 Man United knocked them out by playing defensively. 2009 Chelsea ...'lost'... but still played with a very defensive mindset and only conceded one in 180 minutes. 2010 Inter knocked them out by counter attacking and then defending for their lives. 2012 We knocked them out by defending for our lives.

I meant you, not the club. I'm talking to you as a fan, not a technical director at Real Madrid. Why is it you prefer playmakers to workers if not to usher in an era of possession football at Real Madrid?

If you're not going to play them at their own game why insist on signing Modric ahead of a worker? And what is irrelevant? The main goal of Real Madrid at this point is surely to overtake Barcelona as the leading club in the world. As Zinedine Zidane said (I paraphrase here), why put on extra layers of gold paint on the Bentley when there is no engine? Also, the Basques are far more violent in separatism than the Catalans. They are somewhat similar to Sri Lankan Tamil's. I take that back, as a Sri Lankan Tamil I hate how people automatically assume I support the LTTE. Not one member of my family supports the Liberation Tigers, and neither do the majority of Sri Lankan Tamil's I know.

We should move this discussion to Football Banter. I suggest the three of us head here: http://forum.talkchelsea.net/topic/8222-the-primera-liga-thread/page__pid__447833__st__1188#entry447833 I shall begin the posting by quoting your above post

Cricket, you mean. "No, we can't play test cricket with these slow, shit, defensive openers! Let's just clone David Warner 5 times and let him dominate our top order!"

Of course he'll stay here. As I said, we are owned by a very generous benefactor who only sells if he doesn't like the player in question (see also: Arjen Robben). No one can deny that Mourinho loves players in the Ramires mould. He adores hard workers. Mourinho does not merely coach or manage teams - these are such insignificant words when compared to the effect that he has on the very fabric of the club, from the humblest car park attendant to the most elevated muscular lone striker.The intensity and sheer charisma of Mourinho is sufficient to extract more effort and ability from any player than they thought possible. Just imagine what he could do with 4 hardworking midfielders and a muscular lone striker. He has always shown a preference to have just one playmaker and then surround him with workhorses, Deco, Lampard, and Sneijder. He has been forced into playing differently at Real Madrid because of the players he has available to him, and delusional fans thinking it's 1956 and that Barcelona are a nothing club who are awaiting suitable punishment. Also, please, stop thinking you can take on Barcelona at their own game. There will be scenes of mass hilarity around the Camp Nou if Real Madrid show up with Modric, Alonso and M'Vila in tow as a 3 man possession dominating midfield. Xavi will probably complete 300 passes or something should such an event take place. Does this look familiar? That's what happens when you press to win the ball back against Barcelona.

I'll stay away from brash and stick to blunt. You can't beat Barcelona without playing ugly and you can't play ugly with a trio of playmakers in midfield. You need guys like Geremi circa 2004, industrious workers, not footballers, to play ugly. I advise that Real Madrid should just sign up Alexey Stakhanov. Mining 102 tonnes of coal in under 6 hours, he'd be perfect as a midfield worker!

Ramires is ahead of three of the 4 you've listed. M'Vila is an FM god and nothing else. Modric is a rich man's Mikel. Yaya is a monster though. Mourinho has always valued energy in midfield over technical ability. Modric, to him, will be nothing but a distraction. He loves packing his teams with guys like Muntari, Mariga from his Inter days, Essien, Geremi from his Chelsea days. He's always been about industry and versatility in midfield. I imagine he see's a glut of playmakers as an aberration that must be destroyed. Technique is overrated, and Mourinho recognises this. There's no point in buying technically great players because you look over at Barcelona and no matter who you sign they're still laughing at your midfield technical ability. If you want to beat Barcelona, physique is where its at and Ramires has a bigger engine than the 4 of them combined. He's the perfect, typical Mourinho signing. He is far from unnecessary, players who can cover more than 10 km a game and keep it up for months without needing a rest are very rare. Barcelona don't have anyone comparable to Ramires in terms of sheer athleticism. Instead they have wankers like Busquets who play at centre back and have the speed of an oil tanker resulting in quicker players doing this to them: Stick him alongside a good passer like Alonso and win La Liga. It's that simple. The only problem from Mourinho's perspective is we are Chelsea, not Arsenal or Tottenham or Manchester United, we don't sell our players unless we want to. Real Madrid can offer 80 million pounds for Juan Mata or whatever and our resident Nigerian technical director will instantly put that fax in the recycling bin. That and Roman Abramovich would send him off to his evil mountain lair in Siberia if he ever dared to submit a bid for one of Roman's players Your ideals of winning by playing 'attractively' (before you jump in saying "I never said that", it is implied by your preference for playmakers vs. athletes) will never come to fruition. Real Madrid will always remain behind Barcelona, until La Masia goes on a drought in producing first teamers, Lionel Messi stops being the best player in the world and Barcelona do not adequately replace their ageing players like Puyol and Xavi. It's highly unlikely that the three factors come to pass simultaneously, for that reason there is absolutely no way Real can play possession football and still beat Barcelona to trophies. And for that reason Real will continue down the Mourinho blueprint of buying engines not footballers. Better get used to supporting 'anti-football' every single Clasico.

Hi