Leif

"We won't use him." What, like Ake? Or we won't send him out on loan like Piazon, Chalobah or Lukaku? First of all, it's exaggerated how 'bad' we are with youth. Second of all, the club has to generate money. This is often done by signing young starlets and eventually making a profit on them or using them in a trade for a ready-made player. Would it be preferred by some on here if we stopped signing young players and just signed 40 year old wannabes to put in the reserve team? It's better to have a young talented player who could make it and could make us a profit in the long-run than to not have a talented player and thus zero chance of having a youngster breaking through and zero chance of making a profit this way. He's also a player the youth/reserve teams here at Chelsea need. A more direct version of Boga; A more talented version of Lalkovic. He'd improve the players around him and could be the difference between the youth team winning a trophy or not each season, which could have some say in whether the players get looked at by upper-management or not.

I must say, I think Gaitan is shit. I know it looked like an incredible flair performance from him, but his decision-making is awful. He seems to fail under pressure and his crosses are hit-and-miss. Bad finishing too. He actually reminds me of Robben only he drifts in central a lot more. . and isn't as good.

While Feruz has been missing chance after chance at youth level costing our team multiple games now with a huge part of the blame laying on his shoulders after the defeat to Norwich, Nathan Ake has stepped up to the senior team and impressed every time he's played. So I nominate Boga for Young Player Of The Year

Just did some research Apparently Roma fans are split. Some feel it's time to let him go so that Bradley/Florenzi etc. can start to flourish in their midfield as De Rossi is getting on in age (and has experienced a dip in form) and they need all the money they can get, while others feel that once they get in a stable manager he'll revert to his top midfielder status like Totti has been able to in his position. The guys saying they want him gone also add that he'll probably return to good form at another club. It's not really being said he's no longer a good player or anything. Also on numerous Italian websites, forums and the likes, it does indeed look like he will in fact be leaving; this isn't just a 'rumour'. This is a big concrete proposed transfer in my mind.

"But let's remember that we started to have a bad season even before he arrived." Despite the cups before the season properly got underway and the CL exit I thought our other cups and league campaign were going just fine. "3rd place, Europa League title." We're not even guaranteed 3rd place yet. "Made Torres look better, Made Luiz a world class midfielder AND defender (He wasn't defending well before)," What, helped him look better as in encouraged him to get a haircut? What? Luiz is far from world class in any position currently; he's too inconsistent. (He was defending well before. He simply defends a bit better now. Playing him in midfield was also no tactical genius considering how many fans have been calling for it since his arrival.) "Helped Lampard break the record." A complete fallacy. "Won us a very tough game. Everton and Stoke City away," And fucked up vs. the likes of Southampton and Reading. "He's done A BRILLIANT JOB." So it's gone from 'great' to 'brilliant'. . . for... what, guiding us to the 2nd-rate trophy in Europe? "Yea, He talked some shit about us, But it's from the past." Hitler did some bad things in the past. He shouldn't magically be forgiven or have his ways forgotten. (If you can't tell, I despise these Chelsea pages on Facebook which were started by people who became fans this year etc.)

Didn't Hilario, Blackman, Romeu and plenty players who weren't part of last night's action change into their kits too? This is only being made into a 'problem' because he is John Terry. If Scholes, Gerrard, Kompany or someone changed into their kit after not taking part you just know the opposition fans would be all "OMG HE LOVES THE CLUB, HE'D RATHER BE LIKE A FAN AND WEAR OUR CREST WHILE CELEBRATING THE WIN INSTEAD OF WEARING A FORMAL SUIT! ". This is nonsense.

Remember when people were saying Pirlo would be too old? Italians are like fine wine as they get better with age. De Rossi has never been a pace demon but still has the energy and determination he had as a youngster. That, plus his no-nonsense tackling, great interceptions + positioning and decent shooting from distance makes me question how anyone wouldn't want him here! He'd also bring experience, physical strength and a strong mental toughness to our squad which is desperately needed. He's also played very well in central defence for Italy as a ball-playing centre-back and has one of the world's best beards.

- Nigel Spackman, former Chelsea midfielder

Who cares if you're glad the board pulled the trigger on RDM?

I refuse to say he's done a decent job simply because of the loss to Swansea in the cup. If we'd won that cup, the Europa League and got top 4 then I'd give him credit. I feel he's done nothing special and I don't buy that idea that our bright start in the league under Di Matteo wasn't going to last. I genuinely believe it was.

Porto's Atsu:

If Ba plays 90 vs. Everton this could potentially (finally) be the last time he plays for us. But, alas, he'll probably be here next season.

Mikel seemed rather eager and happy to be lifting the trophy for someone who came out and conceded he found the Europa League nothing but an interruption to his week..

Time to visit a Tottenham forum again?

Falcao isn't allowed to lower wage demands I think. When he signed his original contract with the 3rd-party group I believe they got the rights to dictate how much he'd earn above a certain amount. From what I understand he genuinely does not have a say in what happens in his career until his contract with this 3rd-party group expires or they decide to let him go - unless he breaches his contract. Same with Hulk and probably plenty other players but it's just not reported because they're not high-profile.

If Mourinho was a 'failure' at Madrid then just about every manager at their helm in the past decade has been a failure. So I don't really see that as a blemish on his career.

Well to the likes of Swansea City, Lazio, Stuttgart and Real Sociedad it may be a major European trophy, but when you've won the Champions League trophy just the season before the Europa League, it's a minor European trophy, especially considering they're the only 2 we can even compete for and you have to fail in the Champions League or fail reaching the top 4 in this country to even be put into the competition. I'm sure he'll be smiling loads from the bench enjoying a rest.

It's not like he's missing out on the CL final vs. some huge European powerhouse team. I doubt he had dreams of starting the Europa League final. Chill.

I have no doubt at all that he's the most 'complete' striker in world football currently, but with that said, he does have his drawbacks. He's known to go on goalscoring droughts (although he does make up for this a bit with his excellent all-round game) and he's only ever performed well in counter-attacking teams with lots of space behind him to work with. He won't get that space here with Mata and Hazard crammed up his bum. Hopefully he can adapt his game a bit. That said, he did quite well here and it wasn't exactly a blistering counter-attack for the first goal! The 3rd goal is how most his goals happen though. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EJtkuUi-6s

Why the fuck would he choose City, who just lost to WIGAN in a final, over us? The same City who are now infamous chokers in Europe? Where is the logic? They can't exactly out-bid us on any players, we have more history and more specifically a history with Mourinho himself, and have you seen the points on the PL table? It's not exactly like there's a chasm between City and ourselves this season. Honestly it's like all logic goes out the window here sometimes. Edit: I also believe City's policy is similar to ours. The board buy the players, not the manager. This is a huge reason as to why Mancini was frustrated during his time there. They sound worse than our own. There are zero positives in picking City over ourselves.

Could see them getting Frank de Boer actually. City want to get their youth in the team more (apparently) while still staying somewhat successful. He'd probably be the best candidate for that.

If Manchester City get Pellegrini they're getting a mid-table specialist. Manchester United just hired a mid-table 'specialist', yet despite having talented teams he's failed to win a single trophy (with Everton). If we get Mourinho the league is ours.

Who would I rather manage City - A manager who failed at Madrid (in a way) and has an Intertoto Cup, Copa Chile, Argentinian league title from over a decade ago and a league title with a team from Ecuador, or - A manager with numerous Coppa Italia's, numerous Serie A titles and a Premier League title, numerous Supercoppa's, a Community Shield and an F.A. Cup? Manchester City's players are underachievers and the weak ones, not Mancini. Mancini was and is a great manager. Pellegrini is in no way shape or form an upgrade just because he got 2 teams to surprise positions in Europa/the league. I don't see Mancini leaving being a bad thing for us at all.