Strike

It's sad that the 2-1 scoreline flattered us more than Southampton

last time we rotated these many players was at home to QPR.

SinineUltra is right. I often find myself procrastinating but if I start doing the work, i get sucked into it. Also, try and cut down your distractions if it is possible. I clear my laptop of Movies and TV Shows before exams so as to not get distracted.

"Racism is not banter" coming from the man who recently called Ashley Cole 'choc-ice' Rio Ferdinand logic

Congratulations mate. Turning him blue early. Nice

stupid kickoff time tbh. never really liked lunch-time KO. i guess only Australians will be happy about it

Noticed FA's tweet.

Phil Dowd will officiate the replay source: http://www.thefa.com/TheFACup/More/match-officials

whoscored is a good site. get straight to the facts and an interesting thing to note - his crossing stat is better than the others there - even natural winger Moses. he can play anywhere across the attacking mid positions and RW is open at Chelsea atm. Moses is hardly first-choice and Oscar prefers the middle. de Bruyne can be moulded into a Right-sided attacker in addition to giving backup to CAM

McEachran has the eye for a pass unlike our current mids. In a few years, provided that he can cope physically, he can be moulded into starting material bit like Wilshere

not the locker room mate. i was talking about the board. under any other manager, Gourlay, Emenalo etc will be controlling the transfers. Jose is a bit more ballsy in that sense. he commands respect about Pep, i don't think many would have minded missing out on Jose if Pep was coming. now that Pep went to Bayern, Jose is the only other proven world-class coach left

this is to all those who argue that there are better managers out there or that Mourinho coming back to the club is a bad idea - tell me one manager who will have control at the club like Mou will? no-on else Yes, it is sentimental and yes that has driven Chelsea fans to ignore some of the problems that he has encountered at Madrid but that is because he is a proven World Class coach. He has been there and instilled team spirit at Porto, CFC and Inter before the Madrid job. that's why he should be on top of the interview list for Manager job not sentiments

that's the thing. i usually check the article section and not the Matthew Harding Stand section. would be helpful if you would place it in the Articles section. and btw, good read. sums up the situation with Mourinho neatly. Getting Jose here will instantly elevate us from 3rd best team in the country to being considered along with the Manchester clubs

@, I just watched the episode of Community where Abed says - "sounds like a Romper", is that what you mean by your username?

Usual whispers are much louder this year but still we will have to wait till the summer to see if this develops if Mourinho returns - what will he want to do with Lampard? with Torres?

Oh Hazard Hazard...You're better than Steven Gerrard....

Updated. Heaps further misery on the Cahill-Luiz partnership. 29 goals conceded in 17 games

been used only twice this season. could be good but i think David Luiz is first-choice ahead of themedit: even in one of those 2 games, Terry got injured early - (liverpool)

@Choulo What Romper posted. How many games can JT play next season? Can he play regularly week in week out? i doubt it. he should be used conservatively. also there will be games where ivanovic maybe forced to play right back. then luiz-Terry would be the choice and yes, agree with the midfield issue. A Hardworking Playmaker would be ideal.

Chelsea have used an astounding 6 different Central defensive pairings this year. In 52 games this season, the defence has kept 17 cleansheets (11 in the league) and conceded 61 goals with a 2nd best defensive record of conceding only 30 goals in the Premier League. However, the pressing concern for Chelsea is the constant chopping and changing of the centre-back pairing from one game to the next which is part of the reason for the instability in defence this season. Number of games started at Centre-Back Gary Cahill – 37 David Luiz – 30 Branislav Ivanovic – 20 John Terry - 17 John Terry is nearing the twilight of his career and has lost a yard of pace but still relishes defending against big centre forwards. Gary Cahill,brought in as 3rd choice has started the most number of games at centre-back but that is more down to circumstances than his defending skills. David Luiz, a bit erratic at times, has matured remarkably as the season has progressed while Branislav Ivanovic, the big Serb has done a good job of filling in when required. So what is the best centre-back pairing for the club going forward? CAHILL-LUIZ – DISTORTED The defensive pairing used in the Champions League final last season has failed to renew the same faith in their partnership since that glorious night in Munich. They were helped heavily by the midfield putting a real shift that night but have looked below average when exposed this season. The clash of styles in their defending is painfully evident – Luiz is an enforcer who likes to come out from the defensive line and intercept passes while Cahill prefers to back off until the penalty area and then block shots. This has led to an unbalanced back four often when these two have played together. Their deficiencies as a pair was brutally exposed, first by Falcao in the 4-1 thrashing in the Super Cup and then by van Persie in the 3-2 loss against United at the Bridge. It’s maddening to see that they’ve started together in SEVENTEEN games this season – the most for any pair. Games Started:17 Cleansheets:4 Goals Conceded: 29 Best Performance: Chelsea 2-0 Newcastle United CAHILL- IVANOVIC – SOLID IF NOT SPECTACULAR Surprisingly used 14 times this season, Ivanovic and Cahill played together at Centre-back mainly in the winter when David Luiz was covering in midfield and John Terry was out injured. They were manhandled aerially by West Ham United in the 3-1 loss at Upton Park earlier in the season but got better as the winter progressed. Ivanovic has long been touted as a better centre-back than a right back where he is sometimes exposed for pace. These two together have kept 4 cleansheets in 14 games but it is worth noting that the cleansheets were in relatively easier games against Villa, Norwich , Sparta Prague and Swansea (2nd leg of League Cup semis) Together, they make a good pair with Ivanovic as the muscle and Cahill doing the sweeper’s work but then again, nothing to get excited about. Games Started: 14 Cleansheets: 4 Goals Conceded: 13 Best Performance: Chelsea 2-1 Arsenal LUIZ – TERRY – AERIAL DOMINATION David Luiz and John Terry was the first choice centre-back pairing going into the season. They looked good on the opening day of the season dealing with a futile Wigan attack but with Terry’s recurrent knee problems and Luiz’s switch to midfield for the winter season has seen the pair start only 9 games together this season. Luiz-Terry is a good robust centre-back pairing which will be especially effective while dealing with teams carrying an aerial threat as both are more than capable in the air. But for all their aerial dominance, the partnership of Luiz-Terry is susceptible to teams that play on the floor. Juventus exposed this weekness in the 2-2 draw at the Bridge earlier this season where John Terry was guilty of ball-watching while David Luiz was the culprit at the Emirates when he took up a deep blocking position for Gervinho’s goal. With Terry in his prime, these two together would’ve been a fantastic partnership but now, I think they are best used against teams like Stoke City and West Ham United. Games started:9 Cleansheets: 2 Goals Conceded: 9 Best Performance: Wigan 0-2 Chelsea CAHILL- TERRY - STATIC The All-England defensive pairing of Gary Cahill and John Terry was used in only 6 games this season. (Reading, Brentford x2, Wolverhampton, Sparta Prague, Newcastle) shipping 8 goals and keeping only 2 cleansheets which is not much of an achievement when it was against Brentford and Wolverhampton at home. Apart from Newcastle away, there is no game of real significance that they’ve been used together and it is quite alarming how we’ve leaked goals against the likes of Sparta Prague, Reading and Brentford with these 2. They are both consummate professionals but have been rather erratic in their time together on the pitch. They’ve often been found guilty of backing off from their man – a classic example is the Pogrebnyak goal at the Bridge earlier this season where Cahill was marking thin air when the cross came in. Also in the recent game against Newcastle, we let in a remarkable 19 shots, 13 of which were on target – more evidence of their conservative defending. Both Cahill and Terry are good central defenders on their day but with Chelsea looking for defenders to win the ball back and give them control of the game, these two just don’t fit in. Games Started: 6 Cleansheets: 2 Goals Conceded: 8 Best Performance: N/A LUIZ-IVANOVIC – BEAUTY AND THE BEAST The defensive partnership of David Luiz and Branislav Ivanovic was used in 4 games this season – especially early in Rafa Benitez’s reign and in those 4 games they’ve started together, they’ve kept THREE cleansheets against Man City, Fulham and recently vs West Bromwich Albion. Ivanovic has looked good at centre-back whether it be with Cahill or with Luiz. He is physically dominant and rarely allows forwards to get past him. He has made the most successful tackles among our defenders – 41. His physical strength gives Luiz much more defensive security than Cahill or Terry. Luiz is our only genuine ball-winning defender. Games Started: 4 Cleansheets: 3 Goals Conceded: 1 Best Performance: Chelsea 0-0 Manchester City In my opinion, Ivanovic and Luiz is the best centre-back pairing among the club’s current defenders. I’ve long said that Luiz makes too many mistakes to make the centre-back position his own. The lunges on Walters and recently Rafael in the FA Cup game did him no favors. Also, he has a tendency to get caught trying to play himself out of trouble – it happened most notably in the League Cup against Manchester United and Leeds United – but Luiz gives Chelsea the ability to recover the ball and control the game. He has made 51 interceptions this season – more than Terry(9) and Cahill(22) combined. His high foul-count of 33 should be taken with a pinch of salt because his role of an enforcer often entails him to make challenges.At 25 years of age, Luiz is entering the prime of his career and with more disciplined performances, he should rightly cement a centre-back position for the next few years. Ivanovic is now a seasoned Premier League defender and at 29, he still has 2-3 years left in the top level. Moving Ivanovic to centre-back will leave Azpilicueta as the only Right Back at the club but we do have Tomas Kalas and Kenneth Omeruo on loan in the Eredivisie who are developing well and can provide cover next season. Gary Cahill is a solid 3rd choice defender to have and his role should be restricted to 3rd choice and nothing more. John Terry maybe 32 but he is the leader in the team, the sort of guy his team-mates look up to. His presence in the dressing room will help and he should be retained next year but in a restrictive role. A 4 man centre-back roster of David Luiz, Branislav Ivanovic, Gary Cahill and John Terry in that order of preference would be ideal next season.

the midfield is where we've changed the most. We went from Essien/Makelele/Lampard/Ballack to Mata/Oscar/Ramires. Much lesser reliance on Power

in next month's ridiculous schedule? yeah. right. squad will be exhausted after the first week with 4 games then they'll fly to Russia for Rubin Kazan away, come back for Spurs home, then Liverpool away. Worrying schedule

if we get out of EL to Rubin Kazan, it will be in the midweek between Spurs and Liverpool games

We could say Borini, Di santo etc but would they have developed that way here? Doubt it. Hernandez had ridiculous pace and thats a big part of his game. Borini, Di santo etc were good but relied on trickery which was developed over time.

Bayern are ahead of us i think. They'll want a striker because Mandzukic, while surprisingly good, is not world-class and Gomez is showing his true colors this season. slight chance of Lewa rejecting Bayern out of respect to Dortmund? doesn't happen much in Bundesliga. Best players jump-ship to Bayern but can't be too pessimistic - Lewandowski might want to go outside Germany. England is an attractive destination and Chelsea will be the leading club in England as City and United are stocked up on forwards while chances of Spurs/Arsenal/Liverpool signing him are...wait..BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHA