Chelsea Legend 11

Agreed! Boga looks more like Del Piero to me in terms of style. Hard to really draw accurate comparisons this early into his development. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqoMlIrSpEo

Van Ginkel in the mix too... I like him but lets be honest he's not really squad player status right now. He needs to play a lot at his age and with Matic, Ramires and Cesc, I doubt he gets a lot of looks.

I think this needs to be looked at again... Goalies: Petr Cech; Thibault Courtois; Mark Schwarzer Defenders: John Terry(HG); Gary Cahill(HG); Cesar Azpilicueta; Filipe Luis; Branislav Ivanovic; Nathan Ake(HG) Midfielders: Eden Hazard; Oscar; Ramires; Nemanja Matic; John Obi Mikel; Andre Schürrle; Cesc Fabregas(HG); Marco Van Ginkel; Oriol Romeu; Mohamed Salah; Willian; Forwards: Diego Costa; Romelu Lukaku(HG); Didier Drogba; Fernando Torres This just doesn't seem to make a hell of a lot of sense now does it? 19 players who count as foreigners the max is 17.

You'd be extremely hard pressed to find 5 strikers who can play with their back to goal as well as Drogba even at 36. He's still incredibly strong and provides us with something we don't have.

And you are Lukaku? I like Romelu for his potential, not because of what he's accomplished on the pitch. Costa, Torres and Drogba is a very good strike force when you think of where we finished(4pts off the title, semis of the CL) Its not like we need boatloads of goals to reach our objectives.

I feel you're right.

This is just fucking awesome! I don't care if he never plays so long as he retires in Chelsea blue and can act as a mentor/ambassador for the club. Drogba doesn't have to even step on the pitch to have an impact at the club, if he can get Lukaku to understand what it means to be a Chelsea player it will go a long way to improving his production on the pitch. At the same time those thinking that Drogba's return will help Lukaku with his technique and back to goal play I would advise you to temper your enthusiasm. You can't teach a giraffe to kill like a lion.

So Jose confirmed that Costa, Fabregas, Torres, Azpi and Cahill have trained well enough to get 45mins in the squad for this game! I would imagine that means Swift, Solanke and perhaps Bamford are done for the preseason?

I don't think you'd find one Chelsea supporter who would be upset if this proved true, its precisely why this idiot keeps posting this nonsense all over twitter.

We're speaking hypothetically. I have every belief Costa will succeed but I'm not dumb enough to think his position is guaranteed. Jose Mourinho is a results driven manager, those who deliver the goods will have no problem with him

You think so? What if he goes on a run of 5 games where he doesn't score or impact the game? meanwhile Torres scores goals as a sub in each of them, you still feel his place is safe? Its all about form, 1st choice only gets you the first look not the day in day out role

maybe not every but when you're further down the pecking order than say... Hazard, you have to do much more to impress the manager. Salah to me is in a similar position to DeBruyne as far as where he is in the pecking order. He needs to show that he can be a big time player before he gets week in week out chances.

Bottom line is you have to take your opportunities when they are presented when you are fighting your way into a top club. Its an extremely high level where no one is safe and that includes the likes of Terry as well as Costa or Salah... You have to use every opportunity given to you to impress the manager.

nah... Most of Hazard's successful dribbles aren't direct. He'll cut in from the left and not incisively cut towards the net, he'll beat one or two in his venture to the middle of the pitch but won't beat many going towards the goal. His dribbles are more about keeping possession rather than beating someone to create a threat at goal.

Wrong, well at least under Jose you are. Last year De Bruyne was given every opportunity to succeed and failed... He started the first game of the season and then again in a big game against Utd, he failed to impress and then was dropped.

Why? because he looks shit! We have more options in that position than any other. We will see... Right now I have Salah as my 6th choice attacker after Hazard, Oscar, Schurrle, Willian, Fab... Ramires might even get a few looks there as well.

So at what point does Jose decide who is in his plans and who isn't? Its more than fitness its a chance for fringe players to make a case to be included in the squad. Salah isn't making a case for himself at all... Yes fitness but lets not forget its fucking RZ Pellets! I would be surprised if anyone even knew this team existed before we had the game against them. He's been poor twice now.

He looks like he'll need LOADS of time. Just looks extremely uncomfortable with the ball and doesn't seem to possess the type of agility needed to play at a high level. I hope I'm wrong but this doesn't look like a solid buy...

Move Hazard to the CAM and sell Oscar to PSG use the money on the Oscar sale to buy Reus and play him on the left flank.

Hazard isn't the most direct attacker there is and I think that's what Jason is alluding to. He weaves in and out and doesn't directly attack the defense like, say Messi, or in this instance Boga.

That's not entirely true. The parent club doesn't just send you on loan without any objectives, they give you aspects of your game to work on and they also discuss with the club how that player will be used/deployed in their system. Piazon went to our best feeder club with free reign to work on his game and failed to adapt... Lukaku went to Everton and although he still has aspects of his game that need serious attention continued to progress in a meaningful way(He may think he's complete but its not entirely true) He went to work on his back to goal and to get opportunities at a bigger club, he's done reasonably well.

Courtois can't be used as an example because he excelled in his time at Atletico, they wanted him back. The same can't be said for Piazon, he did well in the early part of last year and then tailed off. Loans are about giving the opportunity to players to get some football in when your parent club doesn't have room so as a footballer you have to take the opportunities as they are presented. Situations change all the time, I'm sure the loss of Zola effected the Chalobah situation greatly.

from 2009 till now how many managers have CFC had? I think you guys need to pay attention to what's happening off the field a bit more. Without stability there will be no promotion from within.

Very tough comparison. When Sterling got his chance, Liverpool were midtable with little hope for much else. Its very hard to make that comparison with Boga mainly because we're competing to win the Champions League and also the Prem. Even if I agree with you, and I do, that Boga shouldn't be playing u-21s where in our midfield does he get a chance? Hazard Schurrle Willian Oscar Fab All seem to be locks in those positions the only chance he would probably get is by beating out Salah who I doubt would get a lot of looks anyway. And by contrast Sterling was competing with the likes of Coutinho Enrique Downing Assaidi Suso Piazon probably walks right into that team! I would love him to get an aggressive loan not to a bottom feeder, but to a squad that needs cover and competes. He doesn't have to start but 15-20 appearances in a squad like Marseille would do him a world of good.

My problem with Zouma isn't the mistakes he's made, its more to do with his footballing ability. He seems to be lacking in agility and technique.