Leif

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not trying to be a cunt, but Cahill being injured (hopefully minor) could be a blessing in disguise. Terry should have started IMO despite the rape from Carroll last season. Shame it'd use up a sub though.

Mata is better than Silva, Cazorla, Fibreglass, Isco, Nasri, Pastore, Gotze, Turan, Vaart, Moura, Eriksen, Kagawa, Kaka etc etc etc. The only players on his level or ahead of him in this position in my opinion are Ozil, Kroos + Iniesta (although he does play quite a bit deeper.) Just take a moment to let that soak in.

I like Hazard sooo much more on the right I think... maybe... but he's good on the left... very good... oooooo I really do need to enjoy him while I can. Would hate for this to just all be nostalgia one day.

I always see Luiz pointing, shouting etc. when he's going forward. Good communication skills! Too bad this is a football game and he shouldn't be up there in the first place.

I make so many orgasm noises when Hazard's on the ball.

We kill strikers.

What was that from Ba. Honestly. Just... what?

Falcao doesn't have the skill-set required. Cavani does, only he'd been out of form - which every striker experiences.

Maybe Terry was dropped since Benitez saw the rape Carroll gave him last season.

Torres is shit for so many games - Rafa starts him. Torres finally has a decent (for his standards) game - Benches him. Heh.

At least the "If Mikel is so bad why does every manager pick him?" argument can't be used now

That's our worst centre-back pairing and worst central midfield pairing. In our game vs. West Ham earlier in the season, we were either crying out for Mikel or Ramires to come on, they did, and then we took control for some of the game. I can't remember which one of them it was, but I think it was Mikel.

I think Baker is our best English midfielder in the youth ranks (aside from Chalobah/McEachran if they count) followed by Loftus-Cheek. Baker reminds me of Lampard...and Wise...and even Cazorla in some ways. It's really odd. He's versatile. L-Cheek reminds me of Essien/Ballack. Heh. Hope at least one of them becomes a PL player.

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Just went into the Galatasaray dressing room to wish luck to the players ahead of their game today (he's there to scout them of course before the CL game.) Very nice of him though. I wonder how many other managers do that, if any.

So - how do we react if Joe Cole scores today? Assuming we win I'll be extra happy. If it causes us to drop points though... EDIT: IS HE INJURED!? I HEARD HES INJURED. I DONT WANT HIM TO BE INJURED

He scores. That's it. He offers nothing else. Our team doesn't need JUST a goalscorer though. Porto and Atletico played FOR and TO Falcao and DEPENDED on him - hence his high goal output. We never do that though. We never depend on our strikers like every other top team seems to do. We've always had goals coming from midfield; from Di Matteo (not so much), to Lampard, to Mata. It's what makes us Chelsea - everyone chips in; just like Ramires's goal vs. Barcelona (PUN INTENDED!!!) The reason lots of us seem to desire Falcao is because he scores loads compared to Torres who just doesn't score - and also offers very little else. But what happens if Falcao comes and goes on a dry-spell of not scoring? He can't hold up play like Drogba, dribble and assist like Zola, bully defenders like JFH etc. Without his finishing, he will offer the same to us as what Torres currently offers. When it comes to other players though; Jovetic is more the Zola type who can contribute with assists, taking free-kicks etc. if his scoring boots just stop working. Lewandowski helps build-up play tremendously. Cavani is the closest player to Drogba I've ever seen - He works tirelessly, bullies the opposition, wins aerial duels, helps defend set-pieces etc. We simply must invest in a complete player again to, not replace Drogba, but fill his void. We can't put all the faults on Falcao (in theory) though or even Torres. Any poacher-like player at this club is destined to fail - for the exact reason I started with. We play for eachother on the pitch and not solely for the striker. The only way a Falcao-type player will work here is if we invest in a proper playmaker to play central, get a top class winger for the right hand-side, and our players learn how to get the ball to the striker more (which we fail to do even with Ba up-top.) Cavani would be at the top of my list IF we get someone and don't throw Lukaku into the deep end. Failing that, I'd want our scout team to grow some balls and gamble on lesser known player perhaps from Ligue 1 or Holland who fits the bill.

He's too inconsistent to be an automatic first choice amongst our youth, but when he's at his best, he's head & shoulders above the rest. It's like everyone else is normal and mortal...Boga is a Super Saiyan... but then Musonda is Super Saiyan 4. heh.

I followed Juve for a bit last season and I noticed they invested a lot of time & money in their youth. I'd have to rate them amongst the top 5 youth teams in Europe alongside Ajax, Barcelona, ourselves & Arsenal/Man City/Man United/etc. Surprised this seems so easy (so far).

Loftus-Cheek reminds me of Essien a little. Just less beefy.

Nah, don't worry guys, I doubt that story has even a pinch of truth in it! I mean c'mon - how many guys within Chelsea decide how much we sell our players for? Now; with that in mind, would those people spread around that information giving it the chance to leak out to such a crap paper? Doubt it!

I just had the best moment of my young life. It's a steak pie... but half of it is a chicken pie.

Harry Hampton

Ake has surprisingly flexible legs..