Chelsea Legend 11

Not at the reported fee. I love Shaw too but buying an 18yr old LB for upwards of 30m has Andy Carroll written all over it. If its closer to 20m sure, but overpaying for english talent is not smart in my eyes.

Had to edit mine! Realized I have 19 players who aren't home grown. Bye Bye Schwarzer hello Blackman... Bye, bye Eto'o, hello Ake.

You have 19 players who aren't homegrown BTW.

You wouldn't hear me complaining about that! Shaw seems overrated in my humble opinion though. English and Chelsea fan weigh in on why people want him

Because Mikel is a good change of pace guy who can recycle possession, not many can do the job he does. As a squad guy I like Mikel to sure up a midfield when we need to kill a game. Ramires I love but he's a bit too reckless and turns it over too much. I have no problem with keeping him but if we add someone like Vidal or Pogba he becomes expendable.

YIKES. I don't know what's more frightening this ins/outs list or the fact that this is deemed popular amongst other posters. Fellas we are in the title race till the last day! We just got knocked out of the semis of the biggest club tourney in the world! You want to make wholesale changes to this group? good Lord! And selling young english talent like Chalobah??? We need to tweak this squad not overhaul it. I'd be fine with INS: Rodriguez - LB, Pogba/Vidal/Kroos - CM, Costa - Striker OUTS - Marin, Romeu, Hilario, Ramires(only if we get one of the mids I mentioned), Torres, Ba, Cole, McEachran(because I feel Baker is looking much more polished) In this scenario we only add to what we've already built and the key pieces and squad players have increased competition. Luiz is a footballer, he is a valuable guy to have as a squad player because he's good in the midfield and also an adequate defender. My Squad will look like this if all things go my way. Goalies: Cech, Courtois, Schwarzer Fullbacks: Ivanovic, Rodriguez, Azpilicueta, Bertrand Centrebacks: Terry, Cahill, Luiz, Kalas Midfielders: Matic, Pogba, Mikel, Lampard, Van Ginkel. Attacking Mids: Oscar, Hazard, Willian, Schurrle, Salah Strikers: Lukaku, Costa, Eto'o No one can say a squad like that isn't one of the most feared teams in Europe.

And you know what? when we wait to find out his price tag doubles. Trust the scouts and the tech directors, if they see him as a guy who can come in and provide what we need then I'm all for it, they have a better eye for talent than we do that's for damn sure. Costa is a live body in the box, fearless competitor and a guy when given space will score. That is exactly the kind of player Chelsea need at this current moment, Cavani is 27 and misses boatloads of good chances to score, Falcao is 28 and coming off a very serious injury. Diego is 25 and just now entering his prime years, whether you've heard of him before or not is not a concern for me because now is when a striker of his pedigree starts to make a name for himself. Same can be said for Falcao(2011) and the same can be said about Cavani(2012) they were 25 and just starting to show the world what they are capable of. Also, lets not forget we have Lukaku to come back too! You don't think a strike force of Lukaku, Costa and even Torres would strike fear into opponents? I am very confident that trio(hopefully without Torres and with Eto'o) will be more than enough to provide us with the goals we need. If Spain have a good World Cup and Costa scores important goals his star will shine even brighter so meeting the buyout is paramount before we go into the summer.

He's at the age where the tag World class only starts to be labelled on him. These are now his prime years if we wait a couple more years to buy him the price doubles.

This is a serious issue here. Best player vs. iconic coach, never the type of showdown you want to see... Hopefully this is just a venting of frustration and they both can move on.

Its a public forum you moron! and just because you hear it everyday doesn't make it right! Have respect for everyone using the forum and keep you're ignorant rhetoric to yourself.

You clearly don't understand the connotation, and to go on and tell me to relax and not to be sensitive is naive and immature.

For the record I find this offensive. I don't care if you're black you're on the internet and there is no way to verify if you are. Keep this sort of shit off of public sites please.

I hope you're right. So long as we make money from this its not a bad thing, seeing him make two worldy saves to keep us from the finals is still leaving a bitter taste in my mouth. If it leads to us grabbing Costa at a discount I might not hold a grudge.

They were good but in the first half we got forward at will and had loads of space. The difference to me was the formation switch when Eto'o came on for Cole. we went from 4-3-3 to 4-4-2 and were punished. In the semis of the champions league you are never going to have it easy, we just had a few lapses and they made us pay for it. If I'm gonna cry I'd say UEFA fucked us by allowing Courtois to play. The save he made on Terry and the reflex on Luiz were the two keys to the game.

Its really quite simple for me. Ramires was bought to fit into 4-3-3 not 4-2-3-1... You play him with Matic and Lamps and his strengths come to the forefront. There's too much responsibility and it doesn't suit his skill set. I still like Ramires, just feel he needs to be complimented better than we have right now.

Anyone else think the substitutions were weird? At 1-1 we bring on Eto'o for Cole? changed the team shape and it burned us. The time for that move would've been later in the game I thought. If it were up to me I would've taken Cole for Schurrle and looked to play Hazard in the middle with Willian and Schurrle flanking. Then if its still not working you bring on Eto'o for Torres and Ba for Ramires.

Rightfully so! They had three men marking him all game. I thought it would've been better to have him play the 10 yesterday, less tracking back and able to get on the ball more. Oh well

Atleti(a well drilled team) beat us at our own game in our own backyard. Hats off to them and Simeone... The loan system burned us in the end, what a keeper Courtois is! good God the save on Terry and the one off the post took incredible reaction time to keep out. Had we got to the half 1 up I thought we'd win but Cole made a poor judgment and its 1-1. Proud of the squad though, semis of the Champs league, just outside of the title race and all that without a striker. We'll be fine! Carefree.

not anymore than gerrard does! 1 goal and 2 assists

Question: Does anyone know who Iago Aspas was "passing to" on the corner attempt? that truly was an Ass Pass

Martin Atkinson was man of the match +3 at the end of the first half was the key to the victory! Thanks Martin! hahaha

We didn't fuck up anything the League fucked up.

In fairness to him I thought he was pretty good against Atletico.

In my head I would LOVE it if Torres returned to Anfield and kept them from winning the title. I would forgive all his shortcomings and terrible performances if he could get the match winner that takes the title out of their clutches. Not holding my breath....

Mikel is a cool head, perfect for the European ties because the games are much slower paced. Its no wonder he can not play a 90 in the prem for months then step in for the semis of the champs league and have a blinder. He is a big game player no question about it... He's just not a premier league player.