Strike

Hiddink is past it I'm afraid. He's 66 and close to retirement and I would love to have a younger manager with new ideas here rather than go back to Hiddink

i would accept Mancini if it came to it. As for Klopp - yeah - he stayed with Mainz eventhough they got relegated to the 2nd division but i will still wait till the summer to see if anything happens Jose Mourinho - 1 major advantage we have over City is we are in London. He has property in London and would ideally love to manage here. Ofcourse it is easy to have his house in London and commute between Manchester and London but I'm just clutching at straws here I thought we shoulda hired Hiddink when instead we hired AVB. Now, it would be a step back imo

Did not consider their availability but I think Mancini - if sacked by City - would love to come here. He's Benitez 2.0. Desperate for a top job. Mourinho has stated he wants to come back to England. 50 % chance that it is Chelsea. Moyes - slim chance - may want silverware, you never know but still unlikely he'll come here Klopp is the flavour of the month and we know Abramovich likes flavour of the month (AVB) and if he is going to lose his top players at Dortmund, he might consider the Chelsea job. I don't buy the media's story about how Klopp "rejected" Chelsea job. We will have to wait and see in the summer. No possibility of Low coming though. He will stick with Germany till the 2014 WC. Hiddink's contract expires in the summer. I am not sure how I would feel if he took over.

well, as interim managers go - di matteo > hiddink > grant > fat Spanish waiter

Cech Ivanovic Cahill Terry Bertrand Ramires Mikel Marin Oscar Benayoun Ba Rest for Lampard Mata Hazard please

As we approach the business end of the footballing calendar,Chelsea fans, myself included, can’t help but think beyond this season. Out of the Premier League title race, out of the Champions League and with nothing but a top-4 finish to play for, Chelsea are facing the very real prospect of going trophy-less this season. In short, we need to rebuild yet again. So, here’s who I would put on top of my list in the search for a new “permanent” manager. Honorable mentions: Manuel Pellegrini, Guus Hiddink, Diego Simeone 1. Jose Mourinho Pros Pretty self-explanatory really. He is adored by the fans and respected by the footballing world. Wants to return to England and coming here offers him the possibility of building a new team and possibly fulfill his self-proclaimed dream of winning the Champions League with an English club. Tactically astute and a great motivator. Shares a great bond with his players. 2-time Champions League winner (with Porto and Inter) and 7-time league winner in Portugal, England, Italy and Spain. His teams are instilled with a sense of professionalism. Stamford Bridge was a fortress during his time at Chelsea. Used to the English game and will return to England with the same swagger that saw him christen himself “The Special One” in his first stint at Chelsea. Will command more patience from Roman than any other manager. Cons Ignored our youth academy during his time here and focused on signing rather expensive foreign imports. Slightly erratic in the transfer market. To every Drogba, there was a Shaun Wright-Phillips. Prefers powerful players (Drogba/Essien, Eto’o/Cambiasso) to the young skilful players Chelsea signed last summer. His teams are known to grind out wins, something that Chelsea have struggled with the current squad. Friction between him and Roman Abramovich led to him leaving Chelsea by “mutual consent” back in 2007. 2. Joachim Löw Pros Head Coach of The German National Football Team since 2006 and has continued the philosophy of predecessor and long-time friend Jurgen Klinsmann. Germany is associated with vibrant, counter-attacking football which would suit our current batch of players. Avid promoter of young players. Has taken Germany to 3rd place finishes at the 2006 and 2010 World Cups and also to a runners-up finish at Euro 2008. Considered unlucky, especially in the 2010 World Cup when Spain narrowly edged Germany out in the semi-finals. Would open up the possibility of signing the top stars of the Bundesliga. Mario Goetze and Marco Reus will no longer be distant dreams if we do hire Löw Cons Inexperienced in English football and may take a while to get used to the physical nature of the English game. Lack of any real success despite reaching the semifinals of the last 4 major International events is worrying. German team is associated with a lack of character, especially in the latter stages of a tournament. Youthful nature of Löw’s teams maybe a reason Virtually inexperienced at club level having managed the German National team for the past 7 years. 3.Roberto Mancini (This is assuming that he is sackedby Manchester City) Pros Guided City into the Champions League and then to the Premier League title in successive seasons after a similarly successful spell with Inter Milan in the Serie A. Especially impressive in dealing with the trouble-makers in the City squad. Went toe-to-toe with Robinho, Adebayor, Tevez and Balotelli at City and remained unflinched. Sold Robinho, Adebayor and now Balotelli, while Tevez was barred from the team and forced to pay a fine for refusing to come off the bench. Credited with the rise of Manchester City, he is now experienced in English football and his Manchester City team has overpowered the Premier League while playing some good football. Built the current City team from scratch as he has signed Yaya Toure, David Silva, Sergio Aguero among other key players. Cons To say he's been a disaster in Europe is a gross understatement. Failed miserably with Inter and was dumped unceremoniously from the Champions League by Benitez's Liverpool 3-0 on aggregate. City have failed to clear the group stages of the Champions League for 2 seasons in a row now. The 3 league titles he won at Inter were marred by the match-fixing scandal which affected Inter’s direct rivals AC Milan and Juventus. Has had his problems managing a large City squad. Reported bust-ups with numerous players are evidence of that fact. Also, he doesn't really give us a boost in the transfer market. Lack of squad rotation has seen promising prospects like Adam Johnson and now Scott Sinclair limited to the substitutes bench. 4. David Moyes Pros Long-time servant at Merseyside club Everton and has managed to build a dynasty at the club. Took Everton to the UEFA Champions League (on a shoe-string budget) in 2005. His Everton team is known for it’s work ethic but in recent seasons, Moyes is gradually shifting Everton’s style of play to a more expansive counter-attacking model. Excellent man-management and an experienced campaigner. Known for digging up gems in the transfer market. Could be tempted by the prospect of silverware here although he has expressed an interest in managing a Bundesliga team in the future. Cons Inexperienced at a big club. Enjoys a healthy working relationship with chairman Bill Kenwright at Everton, something he can’t possibly expect from Roman because of his lack of “pedigree”. His prowess in the transfer-market will be of little use at Chelsea where the transfer targets will be radically different to the ones at Everton. His conservative style of management will not work at a big club like Chelsea 5. Jurgen Klopp Pros The bearded genius behind Dortmund’s recent dominance of the Bundesliga. He took over a Dortmund side rooted in mid-table and within 4 years, transformed them into the best team in Germany. He rid the team of old players and incorporated young blood. After finishing 6th and 5th in his first 2 seasons in charge of Dortmund, Klopp led Dortmund to a 28-game unbeaten run on their way to a historic Bundesliga title in the 2010-11 season with a German record points tally of 81 points. He went one better the following season when Dortmund retained the Bundesliga and thrashed Bayern Munich 5-2 in the DFB-Pokal final. Behind the beard and the touchline antics (The German Martin O’Neill), is a shrewd tactician. Uses a counter-attacking high-pressure system although he may tweak it to adapt to the English game. Hiring Klopp, much like Löw, will help us delve into the German market. Young (relatively) and innovative and will come in with fresh ideas to improve the team. Fond of the rotation policy Cons Again, practically no Premier League experience means Klopp is a risky option. He is yet to be tested out of his comfort zone and so there is no guarantee he won’t end up like AVB. Has a good record in the transfer market but his knowledge or preference seems limited to Germany

there is a very real possibility that Jose would want a new adventure. City or P$G offer something fresh for him to take up ...build a new team there.

Tom Ince is overrated.he's tricky but a little one-dimensional in his dribbling. would rather have Reus/Schurrle or any quality option. would need good cover

GK:Cech Sorensen Blackman RB: Azpilicueta Ivanovic CB:JT Luiz Cahill Kalas LB: Cole Bertrand CM:Fellaini Ramires Mikel Romeu Chalobah RM: Moses Reus CAM:Mata Oscar LM:Hazard Marin ST:Cavani Ba Lukaku Manager:Mourinho Rsv: Turnbull Omeruo Piazon edit:Reus in place of Schurrle

Well taken goal but I liked how he set the tempo sitting in front of the back 4 and driving Watford forward

@CHOULO19, I wrote one when i found time... something about the magic of the facup and how we should defend it with pride...no time right now. maybe in a couple of days or so

i think the system focusses on getting first throw-in, first free-kick etc because fixing results is a lot tougher in football. Cricket has had a lot of match-fixing in the past and that's because a single person can affect the result of a game. Azharuddin, Cronje anyone? But I dont think this has anything to do with Ovrebo. I would love for this to be about Ovrebo though!

If you had asked me at the end of last season, I would have put Joachim Loew, Jurgen Klopp, Diego Simeone and Brendan Rodgers ahead of Jose because the platform was there to build a new team, a new era. Drogba had left along with third-rate players like Kalou and Bosingwa. Quality players like Hazard had been brought in. I thought a new manager with fresh ideas could build a team around Oscar-Mata-Hazard But Now that we're shambles again, Jose is the man to pull us back up

Whispers getting louder by the day....I like this. He's surely going to get sacked at Real in the summer or even before the summer if United or Barca do a proper job on Real. Mourinho can take this squad to another level

who says we need 2 defense-minded midfielders? 2 in the pivot need not necessarily drop deep and shield the back four. we have done well with only Essien as our DM not so long ago 2 CDM's maybe necessary for the current team, but when things are not working out, change is needed. go back to Carlo's 4-4-2

wide diamond with Hazard on the left and Oscar on the right. don't think we can leak more goals than we already are. also, playing 2 strikers doesn't mean, we are gonna get ripped apart in defence. Our problem with protecting leads is that we go deeper and deeper late in the game when Hazard or Oscar would've been subbed for Ryan 'Winger' Bertrand. 2 strikers can keep the pressure on opposition. Don't see why we can't make 4-4-2 work. No harm in trying when we've been pathetic of late.

Cech Azpilicueta Ivanovic Terry Cole Ramires Oscar Hazard Mata Torres Ba Bench: Turnbull Cahill Luiz Bertrand Lampard Benayoun Marin Diamond 4-4-2. Convert to 4-2-3-1 with Oscar in pivot and Torres on the wing if we need to consolidate. Torres can't do worse than Marin on the wing

Even if we scrape 4th, i don't think Falcao or Cavani would leave their teams to join our circus Imo, we should dig deep in the market. Go past Falcao/Cavani and have a serious look at the likes of Lewandowski or even Luis Suarez for that matter

i think they terminated Harry Kane's loan deal at Norwich.

@, Although, he's mostly rambling about Rafa or about getting KDB back these days or Only Place To Be

Cech Azpili Ivanovic Terry Cole Lampard Ramires Oscar Mata Torres Ba

Nothing seems to go right for Chelsea. Wins over Arsenal and Stoke aside, we've been pathetic this year. And to think everyone were so happy back on boxing day weekend when Lamps stirred us to a 2-1 win at Goodison.

slightly better imo. yes, he's shaky but he had a Good game in the FA Cup semi-finals last season against rivals Everton. can't imagine Turnbull pulling a blinder....ever

but Lampard at DM alone means we could get caught out often. Ramires more mobile

it may offset our system but in essence, what it does is that the opposition defenders will have to deal with both Ba and Torres. Ofcourse, for this to work, the supply from midfield must be good and we should have a certain degree of control over the game