Strike

yeah. i dont want to miss out on football just because india is playing a day-night game in bangladesh

yeah. i dont want to miss out on football just cause india is playing a day-night game at bangladesh

but espn bought laliga from next season. should have bought the fa cup as well

they are supposed to be a god-damn movie channel

i am not sure yet. they haven't released the schedule for sunday and i have long lost faith in pix. their coverage is abysmal and they wont show a majority of the games. saturday's merseyside derby is being aired, so i am not sure of our game on sunday. Hope someone knocks sense into them

are u sure? fuck this shit. why couldn't espn-star buy the rights for fa cup instead of the la liga?

Wembley will be something special. I hope the semis is broadcasted in India

I said 'MAY'. big difference. It depends on his love for Ajax

As good as rdm has been with rotating the squad, romeu shud hav started few games. or maybe rdm is holding back to unleash him vs barca ( he playd ramires and luiz vs benfica bcoz they knew abt opposition)

Nope. Eriksen will Qualify for CL with Ajax. We still may get him but Lucas is different. He's in the Brazilian League and any good club in europe is a step up

I think there should be one more passer along with Mata. Because against fulham, everytime meireles, mikel got the damn ball they passed it back to cb's and every time we were in their half, a long range shot was taken But later on in stoppage time, Mata received the ball in midfield. He did a nice little turn and took off leaving Diarra or whoever it was behind. With Oriol Romeu, Lampard and Mata in midfield, our game will not only speed up but also we can depend less on cb's playing the ball long or full-backs crossing out of play. That is if Rdm still doesn't persist with Mikel and Meireles

yeah.but he is a good enough squad player imo. doesn't have to start the big games but wil do a good enough job when called upon. look at mata this season. he has played almost every game. i think with benayoun around, he doesn't have to play every single game

YOSSI BENAYOUN –THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY We have debated about Lampard, Meireles, Mata and the other midfielders’ contributions this season, quite extensively here on TC but what about the one that got away – Yossi Benayoun. Mock me all you want but Yossi Benayoun could have been the much needed link-up player between midfield and attack Benayoun joined Chelsea from Liverpool on a three year deal for £5.5m after the League and Cup double in 2010 as a direct replacement for the departing Joe Cole who coincidentally headed in the opposite direction. He had a great debut, coming of the bench to score the final goal in a 6-0 thrashing at Wigan. Things were looking good for the little Israeli midfielder whose link-up play and quick feet were hailed by the media. On 22 September 2010, he ruptured his Achilles tendon in a Carling Cup game against Newcastle to be forced out for most of the 2010-11 season. He did not return until April when we played Wigan again. At the start of the 2011-12 season, he gave up his no.10 shirt to Juan Mata and took over the no.30 shirt saying – “I decided to give Mata the number 10 – his favourite. For me it's just a number, not my lucky 15”. He had a good pre-season – scored a wonderful cheeky goal against Wycombe - and thus it was a surprise when he joined Arsenal on a season-long loan late in the transfer window. Most Chelsea fans did not give much thought to this strange move simply because Arsenal had just been thrashed 8-2 at Old Trafford and were nowhere near the top 4. But Arsenal recovered and as the season progressed and Benayoun is increasingly becoming a crucial part of Arsenal’s attack. He started the crunch games against Tottenham, Liverpool and Manchester City repaying the manager’s faith in him with no-nonsense performances. “Yossi knows the job in this position,” said Wenger. “He is also highly focused in the big games – that is a massive part because you cannot switch off. So we have a good balance in the team with him and good focus. And he has quality. In the games he started, he did extremely well and the team did extremely well as well. That is never a coincidence”. Although he has scored only one goal this season, it came at a crucial time – a late winner away at Villa Park. Judging Benayoun by goals is harsh on him. He is a player in the ‘Dirk Kuyt/Park Ji-Sung’ mould. But given how Chelsea midfielders have performed this season, I think AVB missed out by letting him go. Meireles was recruited on deadline day and apart from the odd good goal, he has been a major disappointment. Meireles, Mikel and Essien are the exact same type of players. They are typical holding midfielders. How many times have you cursed them when they got the ball and passed it straight back to the centre-backs? Most of our attacks are either crosses from the full-backs or long balls from the centre-backs. That is where I think Benayoun would have been a more than useful addition to our squad. He gives the holding midfielder an extra option and his link up play with the forwards is much better than anyone else at Chelsea. Sure, Lampard scores goals, but he has lost a yard of pace and is increasing playing alongside the holding midfielder now. Benayoun, Mata and Sturridge in the 3 attacking midfielder slots would have been a much better attack than Kalou or Meireles playing as one of the attackers. Moreover, Benayoun has played with Torres at Liverpool and I think Torres would have scored atleast a couple more goals with him around as long balls from the CB’s and crosses from full-backs does not really suit his type of play. Torres loves a playmaker threading balls through to him and sadly, apart from Juan Mata, no one is capable of doing that in our squad. Even though he is growing old, I hope Chelsea retain Benayoun next season. He will be a handy squad player who will do a good job when called upon

I hate to sound like a broken recordm but NONE of the Top Players will join us now. Forget Eden Hazard, forget Gotze, forget Modric, forget Eriksen The only players who will join now are those that didn't qualify for CL or those who see the PL as a step up We should rather look at quality clubs who failed to make CL like we didn't. Newcastle United - Cabaye, Ba Napoli - Cavani, Lavezzi, Junior Hoilett - free and as for the CAM position - Lucas Moura, (Kevin de bruyne) Willian Leavin aside all that, we must focus on getting the Manager in place BY the end of MAY! We simply can't lose out on any bargain signings before Euro 2012 just because we didn't hire a manager.

they did get involved in the napoli game. made an incorrect penalty decision

what happened to the poll? I would really like to see who the members of TC vote for as manager next season

Video refereeing will slow the game down. With some of the games being played at rapid pace, using 'hawk-eye' for every petty incident will kill the game. Goal-line technology on the other hand would be a good addition to the game although Uefa's idea of a referee near the goal-line is not bad since it gives extra eyes on the game and not just on the goal-line. Having said that, the goal-line assistant ref failed to give a clear penalty against didier drogba in the napoli game

Give it up. Eriksen, Gotze, Hazard, Ozil and the whole batch of exciting European youngsters will not come to Chelsea this summer. And even Jurgen Klopp will be mad to leave Dortmund(which is currently first in the Bundesliga) and join our madhouse. We'd rather look at bargains from Newcastle, Napoli and other quality teams that did not make CL

cheers, mate

i hate how the media thinks that Chelsea is the bully in the playground

just sayin, if it comes down to it, i would rather have a go at barca than spuds

The Barca game is MUCH more important. I know ppl are not giving us much of a chance but that is the game we have to go after. We have won enough FA Cups in the last few years and the Champions League is the Holy Grail for Abramovich.