Strike

Even Lampard. Neuer almost knew that Lampard was gonna put it there but the power in the penalty - absolutely brilliant. Just smashed it in

i think a box to box like Ramires will be good alongside a creative deep player - Lampard or Moutinho/Cabaye. Mikel and Fellaini is too negative imo. we have only 4 attackers then, much like this season

The signings made so far have been fantastic. Good to see that we arent just spending truckloads on expensive attackers. Marin and de bruyne are good additions to the squad as well. The new manager will have a balanced team to work with if we get hulk and dembele/moses now. Di matteo wouldnt have to chnge much. Just attack a bit more and reduce the long balls from defens to attack

Yeah, would take moses or dembele over willian. We need quality backup attackers unlike kalouda in the past. Willian will want a starting role and in the midst of hazard hulk marin mata,i dont think he wil start oftn

If the club plugs the backup attacker role with either moses hoilett or dembele AND signs a creative mid like moutinho or cabaye , this will turn out to be the perfect summer imo

benayoun is a good midfielder to have in the squad. he links up the mid and the attack brilliantly and it was painfully obvious through out the season that chelsea have a one dimensional attack - dump it long from the CB's or the Fullbacks. even when Mata got the ball in the space between the opposition defence and midfield, he did not have enough options to use. Kalou is hardly the player you would spread the ball to on the wings and drogba was usually marked by opposition defenders. lampard and mikel rarely involved themselves in attack. maybe ramires was the only option that would be open to him often and that has to change next season i say move ramires to the double pivot rather than have him on the bench behind hulk. ramires will give us a lot more going forward than mikel but at the same time is not a defensive liability. and the attack will be much better when mata has hazard, hulk, ramires and torres as options to look to next season where does yossi fit in all this? benayoun is the perfect backup to mata. mata, as we know, can't be asked to play 50 games in a season. he's no ramires. and whenever mata sat out last season (arsenal, newc, liverpool), we were clueless in attack. so, we need a good rotation option to mata in case he is injured/suspended/rested and i can't think of a better option than benayoun. he is good, underrated and would agree to 20-30 games in a season, something similar to the season he had at arsenal. de bruyne and marin will be viable options but banking on them to come good instantly is insane. new signings need time to adapt and i think benayoun should be kept around atleast until de bruyne is settled here.

Best Moments

Should have made a CM as the priority this summer. Hopefully we dont end up signing another meireles

Congrats Ollie. Fully deserved Spike's eusive quest continues.

i was saying in terms of what chelsea need atm. i think a creative mid should have been our priority just like last season and kagawa was the best option in that - skill, cheap and asian expansion. sad to see united nick him

kagawa is better value for money and kinda like exactly what we need - a creative CM. We missed a trick by not trying for kagawa here

welcome to tc there are a few chelsea fans from wales on here, i believe

You can add records to the ex-blues section yourself. i will add Bosingwa in a bit but anyone else, try and add more ex-players to the section. looks really short

we, members, have to cut mods/admins some slack. after all, they have worked hard without pay to maintain the site and also, they are humans and make mistakes as well BUTsome of the recent restriction placed recently are not clear. as capri said, what constitutes thread derailing? is it taken in terms of a whole page or post-by-post? also, the offensive word use thing, what is the limit you are proposing? if the restrictions are forcing us to be careful of what we type, i think we will lose more members hope things clear up on the forum fast.

welcome to the site good to see a wide range of posters here

i can't seem to be able to access the ex-blues section. is it being edited or something?

i have to say i will miss the days when lampard or drogba would turn up and drag us out of a hole but all things must come to an end i guess. i hope the new chelsea has as much character as the talent because that is what defines a football club imo

don't see the need for him. however good he maybe, there are better players at chelsea who look set to hold on to the striker spot for 5-6 years (sturridge and lukaku) and with Piazon coming through the ranks, the wings too have adequate backup. would love to add a CM ahead of a CF or LW atm also, please rename the thread to just "Lazar Markovic" for ease of use and uniformity.

Hazard's dribbling

actually, they would be better off getting martinez

aston villa are not much bigger than norwich right now although villa have room for improvement plus the budget to achieve it i guess

i thought swansea were speaking with graeme jones?

that is the only reason that could explain this. transfer funds to improve

Can't see what he can achieve at Villa that he can't do at Norwich. The Villa squad is the weakest in a long time. Darren Bent and maybe Albrighton are the only quality players