TorontoChelsea

I agree. We have more than enough players. I think we bought too many similar players (would have loved a Jesus Navas-like player to actually stretch the field) which is a problem but the talent and depth is already there.

People have to stop blaming managers for everything. The team lost 7-1 at home. No team, with any formation should ever lose like that. People are complaining that Willian didn't start or why Fed plays or other changes. It would have made no difference. Brazil was destroyed. You think Scolari said "Hey Luiz, go walk around central midfield and don't mark your man?". "Hey Fernandinho, give the ball away to the opposition every chance you get?" Managers ultimately make very little difference overall. If a team loses 1-0, you can point to some tactical mistake or sub that seemed strange (which people still do too often) but at 7-1? It's 99% the players fault. They were, to a man, atrocious and they have to take responsibility for that.

He won't be the scapegoat, you can't give up 7 goals and scapegoat the #10 but he played most of this World Cup like he played the second half for Chelsea. Running around, pressing. It's all useful defensively, but as we saw last season, you need some creativity from the #10 or you won't break teams down. It's possible that this is what Oscar just is and that's still a good player but we had all hoped (and still hope) for more.

You don't think Pogba has the potential of Fellaini or Hulk? Pogba is probably a better player than either already and he's much younger. Pogba is being massively overrated for where he is right now, but he has tremendous ability and potential.

It's funny to me that people are more excited about a possible Pogba signing than the actual signing of an immense player. This is a player who can play multiple positions, was on the UEFA team of the year TWICE has won everything and is still only 27.

Pogba is most like Hulk. Sort of unknown quantity who people love way more than they should right now. (He has more upside than Hulk long-term though). I remember people saying we should bid 50M on Hulk. Similar to Fellaini. People thought 30M was a bargain! People get certain players into their heads and build them into players they are not.

Enough with Pogba already. He had one good season. We have 3 very capable central midfielders. He costs way too much money. Why are people so obsessed with youth?

I don't like getting into these arguments anymore because I am actually an historian and arguing with people on the internet is painful and for some reason, alone among all conflicts, people think they understand the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. If you ask people about Kurdish/Turkey conflict or say the plight of the people of Western Sahara, most people don't even know the first thing and would be happy to admit as much but for some reason, this conflict turns everyone into immediate experts. Anyway... Criticizing Israel is definitely not anti-Semitic but many anti-Semites use the cover of Israel to excuse their own bigotry and anyway there is a difference between criticism and virulent loathing. It's similar to the way people criticize Obama. If you want to say he's an ineffectual president or he is weak or something you would say about another President, that's a criticism and perfectly legitimate. if you want to say he's an illegitimate president who aspires to destroy America or other frothing nonsense, you can't tell me that there isn't racism behind that at least in a great many cases. Of course there is. Similarly, if you want to say Israel reacts way too harshly or Israel does the same stupid thing over and over, again, etc...that's criticism, all the spewing hatred about Zionist control over the media, comparing a conflict about land to the Holocaust, and using words that you would never use with any other country doing the same thing, that's not criticism, that is bigotry. @Mohammed-Your example doesn't work because Saudi Arabia is only one country. if someone only criticized Muslim countries and no other, would you not think (know) they had a bias? I have seen plenty of anti-Muslim bigotry and it is very rarely the "I hate Muslims" kind outside of certain scary circles Instead it is like this. A website will select all the bad things the Muslims in the world have done in one day and put them together. headline, Muslims kill Christians. Page 1: Muslim countries have low level of literacy. Page 2. Why Islam can't be true. Page 3, Muslim levels of sexual assault highest... Etc... There is nothing intrinsically wrong about any of these statement. Is criticizing a religion, a literacy rate, sexual assault, or murder wrong? Of course not but this is modern bigotry. Bigotry is a weird thing. This is how John Terry can say a racist thing and not be a racist and yet people can say non-racist things and be racist. The conflict is actually fairly simple at it's core and not that difficult to resolve.Neither the Palestinians nor the Israelis fundamentally recognize the others right to exist or attachment to the land. Both think they can drive the other away and both are wrong. It is a political problem that needs a political solution. The worst thing about this, the most frustrating, is the timing. If you had Rabin as Prime Minister of Israel with Abbas as president of Palestine, I think you'd have peace very quickly. It is sad to see extremism winning out and it is very hard to be optimistic about anything. Peace hasn't happened not because it can't but because neither side wants it enough. What will happen now is extremely predictable. Hamas was bombarding Israel, Israel will bomb Gaza, they will probably invade Gaza. They will kill lots of people. Hamas will fire lots of rockets trying to kill lots of people. Eventually, Israel will withdraw and both sides will claim victory even though they both have lost. Nothing but blood and idiocy.

We have spent about 50M on central midfielders in the last 6 months. We have Matic, Fabergas, and Ramires who will all play regularly and Mikel, and Van Ginkel who are also capable of playing significant minutes for 2 spots. We're not buying another central midfielder unless we are going to sell Ramires which seems very unlikely.

1 goal every 10.5 games and 1 goal every 11 shots games for an attacking midfielder is flat out bad but he's never been a scorer. He scored only 20 goals in 140 games in Russia. He is not a good finisher.

Willian does not have a decent finish. He had 4 goals in 42 games with us despite playing the #10 in most games. Hulk was overrated by many on here (who wanted to pay 50M pounds for him) but he can score. The way the team is setup, it is definitely understandable to go with someone who can score (and cut in from the wing) than it does a work-rate guy.

Not really because if we move into the 4-3-3, we can add Oscar and even Willian to the central group which would give us 4 or 5 regular starters for 3 positions and Van Ginkel as the 5th or 6th player and Mikel as the 6th or 7th. I doubt Chelsea see Fabergs as the #10 if we keep the pivot because we have Oscar, Willian, Hazard, Schurle, Salah, and Moses as attacking midfielders already. Anyway, if Mourinho didn't want Mata in the #10, not sure why he'd want Fabergas.

have Matic, Fabergas, Ramires, Van Ginkel, and Mikel right now as central midfielders. Matic and Fabergas will play almost every game and Ramires will play a lot. Even if we sell Mikel, we really don`t need another central midfielder (5 players for 2 positions is too much). Besides, what would be the point of selling Mikel to buy Song? Mikel makes more sense for us as he can come in and cover for Fabergas late in games as a defensive specialist.

Central defenders were a joke but they are more established and Spain have fewer options there. Casillas should never have been starting anyway. De Gea is a much better keeper than he is right now and has been for a couple of years.

Had an awful game as did all of the Spanish defenders. In normal circumstances, one bad game wouldn't matter, but in the World Cup, he could be benched because of it.

Not sure if he fits our system perfectly, but he is an absolutely fantastic player. He was one of the best players in the world for years with Arsenal but never quite fit in with Barcelona. He's versatile and extremely talented and for less than we paid for Willian, it is a brilliant signing.

Win the league. The CL is a bit of a crapshoot so it's hard to say. (Is losing say, in the quarter-finals to Bayern a worse season than losing in the semis to a team we should beat?) but at least QFs. Domestic Cups? You expect at least a QF in both but I don't care nearly as much. (If it were me, I'd play mostly young players and subs in the League Cup). League is key to the season. We've spent way more than anyone except City in the last while and we've finished 3rd, 3rd, and 6th in the last 3 seasons. Enough already!!!

He only played younger talent because we had so little depth and even then it was exaggerated. Josh had one premier league start in 2010-2011, it wasn't like he was a regular. You can't win in football playing a bunch of young guys and teams wanting to win the Premier League. Take someone like Januzaj. ManU fans love him, consider him a bright star in a dull season but he scored 4 goals in 35 games with awful defence and tons of turnovers as an attacking player. It's how you know ManU had an awful year. Someone like Januzaj got to play a lot. At a team like Chelsea or City,, he wouldn't have got any playing time. You know how many players on the top CL spot teams who played at least 15 games this season had fewer than 25 games in the Premier League or another professional league previous to this season? Jon Flanagan. That's it. Out of 70 or so players on the top 4 teams, only 1 semi-regular was what you could consider an inexperienced youngster. Chelsea's method is to buy players who are already ready to play or to buy young players, loan them out, and sell them for a profit. It works. We're not suddenly going to be regularly playing youngsters. (Although we can do more to bring one or two along a season and get them into 10-15 games a year.).

Not true about Drogba but Costa had one good season. He had 10 goals in 31 La Liga games the year before. He scored a bunch of goals against poor sides in the Spanish Cup and the Europa league though. It wasn't a bad season by any stretch of the imagination, but not the kind of numbers or performances that make you stand out at all. Drogba actually played 2 years in League 1 (and 11 games the previous year). His first full year was good, better than Costa's year two seasons ago (1 goal every 2 games to 1 goal every 3 games). I wish people would keep repeating the same nonsense about Drogba. He finished 3rd in Ligue 1 in goals in back to back years. How is that one great season?

OK signing I'd say. He certainly fits our system but I am a little wary of a player with one great season in a very striker-friendly team/league. There is risk here. His holdup play is also not great as he gives the ball away an absurd amount. (6.5 dispossessed and turnovers a game. Hazard led our team with 4.2 of those a game). Still, he is a legit striker who can score... (finally!!) and a definite major upgrade on what we have there. Bottom line is he makes our team better.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMaDBlgp2zY&feature=kp Way way too many moments to even pick a few, but this pass was something else.

Exactly. You can't have a top backup for every position. Every club has players that are irreplaceable. I like Fabergas a lot but I like him more with a different manager/different system.

The greatest Chelsea player ever. Consistent, hard working, and at the centre of our team for over a decade. A true Chelsea legend.

Massive and ludicrous exaggeration. The team is owned partly by Man City. That's it. They are not Man City. They are a separate entity and if City wanted Lampard to play for them, they'd have to give him a contract and he'd have to agree to it, the same as with any other team in the Premier League. He's not playing in the Premier League or even Europe, so who cares if he's playing for a team with some Manchester City ownership?

I get where you are coming from but I disagree with one part of it. The goal of a club like Chelsea is to win every year and Luis would likely be a better player than Shaw for the next few years. .However, 20M pounds is an insane price for a 29 YO fullback. Of course, 30M is an insane price for almost any defender especially an inexperienced one like Shaw. I'd rather we go a different route like we've been doing recently and get a good young player elsewhere. Layvin Kurzawa from Monaco Ricardo Rodriguez from Wolfsburg, etc...I'm not a scout so I don't know I just know that teams can get too hung up on names and end up overspending. We got Azpilicueta for what, 7M pounds? He was a solid player in a pretty good league with lots of room to develop. There are players like that out there!. Alternatively, if we are going to spend big, why not on someone like Coentrao who is only 26 and a top player. Madrid has Marcelo already and wants to spend big bringing in players (Aguero is the latest rumour.) I think we have options.