Jase

http://www.asm-fc.com/en/news/team/agreement-with-fc-porto-for-moutinho-and-rodriguez He and James Rodriguez has officially joined Monaco.

No. The CL final kicks off at 7.45pm while this friendly starts at 10.30pm. UK time.

Happy that he scored in the game. Can we just register that as his first official goal for us?

Seriously. Enough with the square pegs in round holes already. Playing Lukaku out of position isn't going to help him developing either.

Merged with the old thread. Why do we even need Benteke when we already have Lukaku? What we need right now is world class ST that can come in and do the job for us, not another young talent. Can't go buying all the young and upcoming players out there!

Agree. Ramires is a perfect option to have should we go 4-3-3 in or for games, if or when needed. And Mourinho would love his energy and pace in counter attacking situations, something of course Mourinho's teams tend to be good at.

Just because I mentioned PVA, doesn't mean I rate him. Never know what our next manager will do with him.

Great. Here we go with round 2 of the friendly. Don't forget that Cole, Cahill and Lampard will not be playing in this one as they will be flying back to UK today (IIRC) and join up with the England NT for their upcoming matches. P.S. Do note the kick off time. Will be slightly earlier this time (UK time).

Can't believe this friendly game's post-match thread has ended up with more posts than the Everton one last weekend!

Chelsea vs Manchester City PRE-MATCH DISCUSSION AND LIVE CHAT Post-Season Friendly Match No.2 25th May, Saturday 2013 Yankee Stadium, New York 22:30 Kick Off (UK time) [Match kicks off at 5.30pm local time in New York, 25th May]

Chelsea vs Manchester City POST-MATCH DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS Post-Season Friendly Match No.2 25th May, Saturday 2013 Yankee Stadium, New York 22:30 Kick Off (UK time)

Well, that was bloody annoying. Even though it's just a friendly, to throw away a 3-0 lead is just . And even in a friendly, we still can't beat City. Not even after going 3-0 up!

Chelsea subs: Blackman, Hilario, Ferreira, Luiz, Aké, Ramires, Marin, Oscar, Torres. We are allowed to make up to 8 subs. Suspect either Blackman or Hilario will miss out then.

We are playing City in US while Spurs are gonna face Jamaica in the Bahamas later...

As of now, we still have Cole and Bertrand. Could even count in PVA if you want.

The point being he didn't exactly became the beast that he was till around 30s, did he? Nice way of taking the middle ground there. The thing is why even bother buying Coentrao when we have good options available now? Other areas should be more of a key concern first as well.

Tell that to Drogba... Bertrand is not a flashy player but if he can continue developing with his already solid defending and improve on his attacking play, I honestly don't see why we should just dump Bertrand to one side. And sometimes, some players just need the right manager to 'unlock' them..

Does that mean Bertrand won't develop? No. Some players are late bloomers. Mourinho won't have 100% control in the transfers but he'll definitely has his say in it, which includes convincing/getting the club to get certain players in. He, after all, is still the manager. And besides, it's not like we haven't been linked with Shaw...

Funny. You said Coentrao can still improve because he's still young and not taking the same view on Bertrand and he's younger than Coentrao. The latter is better offensively but a suspect defensively and what you first want in a full back is the ability to defend properly, which Bertrand will give us that. And who's to say then, with Mourinho, Bertrand won't improve on his offensive play? As for Mourinho not having faith in someone as young as Shaw? Didn't he integrated Varane into the Madrid and eventually play him including trusting him in some of their big games as well? And also, Mourinho gave Davide Santon his full debut at Inter when he was only 18 and was played quite a lot till a serious injury hampered him. If Shaw is good and more importantly, a player that Mourinho likes, then he will definitely not be afraid to play him a lot in games.

We still got Cole for at least another year and Bertrand and even PVA as well. And if we are to get a new LB, would rather see us go get a HG talent in Shaw.

Does it matter though? It's not like we are in desperate need of a left back. Moreover, Mourinho is returning to somewhere very familiar with people that he still knows closely. Doesn't have to go bring an ally with him here.

From Alonso to Pepe to Ronaldo to Varane to Khedira and now Coentrao. At this rate, the media should probably just report that Mourinho wants to bring the entire Madrid team here.

Piazon linked with Liverpool... http://www.sambafoot.com/en/news/47379_chelsea_s_lucas_piazon_linked_to_liverpool_-_report.html

Deary me. One match (and a friendly at that) in the early hours of morning and you guys are complaining so much. Spare a thought for those leaving in Asia, Australasia etc who probably have to sacrifice loads of their morning days to watch us play in the Champions League every season..