Chelsea Legend 11

Feeling like this thing has died down enough to be likely now. No talk of an extension with Juve, Nedved and Marotta are making it very clear they have no intention of selling Vidal. Seems like Pogba is less of a certainty there seeing as there isn't even whispers of an extension... Maybe Lukaku is on the outs and Pogba coming in?

Maybe for you... Not for me. And besides what's wrong with projecting what type of player a near 18yr old could potentially be? Are we to wait until he's 27 to make a prediction? Nobody's putting any unjust expectations on him, he looks a fantastic prospect whether he reaches his potential is completely up to him.

I was waiting for this response. LOL as if I don't know that, we're speaking of his movement on the pitch not the type of player he is going to be.

The best way at looking at homegrown status is like this. You can only have 17 foreigners on your roster, the rest have to be homegrown. So technically we can have a squad of just 17 foreign based players and no homegrown players. 8 roster spots are reserved for homegrown you don't have to use them all. I really like Van Ginkel but with Romeu just signing an extension and Mikel being a vet I still feel he's at risk. I agree though, if I had my choice he'd be ahead of both of them. There's only room for one more anchor type CM's with Matic here.

I don't know what his status is for the season he'll be 22 in december and i'm not sure how it works to be honest.

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.