English Freak

The choice is: A) You play Mata as the CAM, he links up well with Hazard and hence your team creates more scoring opportunities...however against the stronger teams, that also leaves you with a defensive hole. or You play Oscar as the CAM and limit the opposition's scoring opportunities. He just doesn't have that link with Hazard as of yet. In my opinion, with Mata, I feel we are more likely to score 4+ goals in a game (we'd probably also concede 1-2 goals) However with Oscar, we're more likely to score 1 to 2 goals in a game and keep a clean sheet. It's a tough choice for the CAM position..but you gotta love our squad depth!

I highly doubt that Courtois will agree to another loan spell. Why would Courtois wait for Cech to decline as a goalkeeper? He could be the starting goalkeeper at almost any top European side. If he's not a Chelsea player next season, Courtois will most likely be sold off.

You must have a weak bench..

Should be a very interesting game. Expecting a draw.. Hopefully we don't see Lampard starting in midfield.

Good to see Sturridge picking up the award. Hopefully he keeps scoring goals and proving the critics wrong.

Josh should be the first one to go out on loan...he's no-where near Chelsea's first team and if he had any ambition, he'd try to become a star in the English Championship...rather than sit around for Fa Cup/league cup fixtures. Chalobah should definitely be out on loan.

Courtois shouldn't be sold. He's a massive prospect and by making him Chelsea's #1 GK, we wouldn't have to worry about our goalkeeping situation for the next 10 years. Cech has been a great player for this club..but just like Drogba, he should consider leaving on a high.

I think England's current youngsters are alright...if you play the right formation. I wouldn't mind seeing this sort of team play for England: Butland Johnson - CB - Jones - Baines CM ---- Barkley ---- CM Zaha ------ Sturridge ----- Redmond/Sterling At the very least, this team would be energetic, and have some decent pace on the wings.

To be fair to Matic, he's getting regular football in the right club at that critical age of 24 years to 28 years. He's playing very well for Benfica because he's starting to mature as a player and he's got the confidence of the manager...but in saying that, spending 40 million on him would be a waste of money. I think if we put faith into Van Ginkel and he ended up playing 40+ games a season, we wouldn't need to worry about bringing in another midfielder.

http://www.premierleague.com/en-gb/news/news/2013-14/sep/west-ham-sign-croatia-forward-petric.html Good to see Petric get another chance to play PL football.

Not sure if that type of 'DM' is relevant in the modern game..but what I do know is: spending 40 million on Matic would be a waste of money. If we're looking to spend 40 million on a midfielder, I'd much rather Witsel than Matic.

Piazon and Kakuta can play through the middle, so I guess that provides some flexibility to their plans.

Josh should leave Chelsea for a smaller club like Shelvey left Liverpool for Swansea. At least as a lower level club, Josh would have the chance to compete for a first team place...whilst at Chelsea, he's no-where near the first team.

Whatever you say...at the end of the day, Bale is gonna be judged on his transfer fee. And the worst thing for Bale is...he's going to be directly compared to C.Ronaldo who is just a scoring freak. Imagine the media if Bale doesn't score 20-25 league goals this season...he'll be branded a flop cause of his fee.

Bale is overrated. He was a big fish in a small pond at Tottenham...he looked top-class amongst mostly average players. Now, he's gone for a massive transfer fee, to a club filled with huge ego's and 'star' players. I don't want Bale to fail...but if he does, it will be HILARIOUS. As for Neymar, he's already Brazil's golden boy...the next big thing since the likes of Ronaldo, Kaka, Ronaldinho....in a supportive team like Barca, he's only going to get better.

I like the fact that JT is still controversial, it adds some spice to football. If football had no controversial players, it would be pretty boring to watch!

Great news. He can concentrate on helping Chelsea win games.

The problem is, bigger PL clubs want a quick fix. The best way to a quick fix is purchasing foreigners rather than sticking with homegrown talent. For example look at Scott Sinclair, he was doing relatively well at Swansea..then City bought him, never played him and stalled his development. Another example would be James Milner. The big question is what do you do with players like Ryan Bertrand? He's 24 years old and doesn't look any closer to getting a chance in Chelsea's first team. Bertrand could be the starting LB for most EPL sides...yet at Chelsea, he's just sitting on the bench, hoping for an opportunity to impress as Cole's backup.

Completely agree. The fact that people on this forum would even consider the idea of Lukaku going to Watford for 90 days is very concerning. He had offers from Everton & West Brom and from what I heard Marseille, Valencia and Malaga were all interested. He's clearly a talented young striker...just needs more experience so he can better deal with pressurized situations in crucial matches.

Don't see what the fuss is all about. Keep the nomination process the way it is...just make a rule that no-one can be eligible for back to back MOTM awards.

Even though Matic had a great season at Benfica...Witsel is more versatile in terms of skill set and his ability to play multiple positions in midfield...hence his 'value' is going to be higher for clubs that want to buy him. In my opinion, Matic is only worth 20 million whilst Witsel is worth close to 30 million because of his well-rounded skill set.

Emenalo has done well in the role given to him at Chelsea. Pleased at the signings we've made in this transfer window...the only thing that doesn't make sense is Moses on loan at Liverpool. Our academy is finally heading in the right direction...with the likes of Nathan Aké getting opportunities in the Europa league and RLC getting some valuable pre-season games. Also, our club seems to have found better loan destinations for the young players..rather than sending players to the Championship or League 1. The Vitesse partnership will be valuable for both clubs (our fringe players get development time and Vitesse get the chance to play in European competition).

He wouldn't learn anything at Stoke. I can see why we loaned him to Everton, they play decent tempo football, pass it around, their creative players try to find good opportunities for the likes of Mirallas, Jelavic. At the very least, Lukaku should be able to improve on his technique, first touch..which will make him a better overall player

From the Bilbao games I've seen, there not that great to watch. The only team in La Liga (apart from Real and Barca) capable of making the top 6 in the PL would be Atletico Madrid. Bilbao and Sociedad are good teams but I'm not sure if they'd be able to handle the pace and physicality of the PL over a 38 game season.

If he keeps scoring goals and developing his skill set, he could eventually make it in the premier league. Don't see a future for him at Chelsea....hope we make a profit off his sale