TorontoChelsea

It's a joke. UEFA has a crush on Spain. I'm fine with Messi winning, it's most of the rest of the team of the year that's just insane. Real Madrid and Barcelona are two of the best teams in the world, but they are not light-years better than anyone else.

I never said they were and if we were buying a world-class midfielder, then that would be an upgrade. Do you really think that Taison who plays for the 4th best Ukranian team and has no caps for his national team is world-class? Hazard won player of the year in France two seasons in a row and Oscar is a starter with the Brazilian national team. Both are better than Taison (and both are considerably younger as well).

FFP is real and money matters. Otherwise, why not just spend 100M pounds on everyone? Who cares? And Hazard has been our second best offensive player this season. He has holes he has to work on, but saying that he's nowhere near Oscar is just ludicrous.

Umm...Where exactly would Hazard play then? Our starting front three is a combination of Hazard, Mata, Moses, and Oscar. For next season, we also have Ramires, De Bruyne, and Marin who can all play attacking midfielder. Even if we're replacing Marin, Marin has started two games this season. That's not exactly somewhere where we need to be spending millions to upgrade (especially with players like De Bruyne and Kakuta who would cost us nothing, capable of playing wings). Taison can play striker like Moses can play striker. They can, in a pinch, but if you want a striker, you go out and buy a striker, not someone who can possibly play there. (Taison hasn't played a game at striker yet this season.) And most people were not undermining Willian, they were questioning the reported 25M pound price tag on him which IMO, is still very questionable.

We'll see. Don't understand this transfer at all if it happens. He's been pretty good (hardly dominant) player in a poor league, and plays a position we don't really need. I could understand us buying a new winger/attacking midfielder if it's someone who is a clear upgrade on what we already have. If we could get a player like Reus, or Kroos (we can't), it's different because they are going to make your team better. Is Taison better than Marin? Will he be better than De Bruyne next season? Don't get it.

No, that's not even remotely "the line".. My "did he sleep with your girlfriend" is simply a way of saying "why the hell do you hate Frank Lampard, did he do something personal to you?" and it's pretty common way of expressing that. This is not about thinking it's time for Lampard to move on, this is a visceral loathing of Lampard. I understand fully how a Chelsea supporter can think that Chelsea will be better off without Lampard if his wage demands are too high. I can even understand those people who want to start building something new. What I do not understand is the several supporters on here who actually hate Lampard. I have friends who support Arsenal who respect and like Lampard more than some people on here. It's not only Lampard. It was the same with Drogba last season. I don't understand how you can call yourself a Chelsea supporters and actually hate any of our legends. It's just bizarre.

Jesus, did Lampard sleep with your girlfriend or something? You post about him like you really genuinely loathe him. Not giving the penalty to Ba is so selfish it makes Lampard's entire contribution to the club meaningless and you'd be happy to see him go and now Lampard wanting to stay at Chelsea is emotional blackmail?

Yes, but City play with 2 strikers so three of them play every game. They actually need four strikers. If they decide to replace Ballotelli, they'll need to buy someone. We need two strikers so we'd have to sell Torres in order to justify buying anyone new. Ibrahimovic is still class, but he's going to be 32 at the beginning of next season and PSG spend like drunken sailors who just got paid, so they might want to splurge on a striker. Real Madrid could also be in the hunt if they sell one of their top-two strikers which is a possibility. Only Barcelona, I don't see happening. They'll probably eventually get Neymar who fits in with their style much better.

Don't see that happening at all. Athletico can't even afford to keep Falcao. They'll settle for some cheaper striker as his replacement. Cavani's agent is quoted as saying "I’m sure there are clubs ready to pay that [63 million euro buy-out clause] in the summer, but only five clubs in the world can afford to do that - Barcelona, Real Madrid, Manchester City, Chelsea and Paris Saint Germain."

Link? Because I haven't seen him say anything like that. Sturridge said that Liverpool were a humungous club and one of the biggest clubs in the world. If he slags off Chelsea, we can be pissed at him, but any player is going to say nice things about their new club.

Not that I saw. He said something like "Liverpool is a humungous club".

Voted Pep, but I don't care all that much. They just need to get someone in who knows how to deal with players and has a say in transfer policy to let Roman stop interfering. Another possible manager not listed is Laurent Blanc. Fantastic with Bordeaux and good with France. (he quit after they lost to Spain, hardly a shaming defeat). And in managing France, he certainly is used to dealing with massive egos. Also, being a fantastic player in his time automatically gains you some respect from players (although it doesn't make you a good manager).

Wow...what a second half this has been. What a save!

Hopefully, Swansea will keep defending against us like they are defending against Arsenal.

And as I type that...

Can't believe Arsenal haven't scored. Swansea's defending is a joke right now.

That famous Welsh self-loathing?

Congrats Spike Spiegel. Well done!

And he wouldn't. This is his first season playing in a top league and he's playing well but he's playing the attacking midfielder in the 4-3-3. He has played in the centre of the park before, but he's had most success in attacking positions. He could possibly develop into a deep-lying midfielder, but that's a long-term development. The positions where KDB would play at Chelsea right now, we have a lot of depth and he would barely get to play. He's developing well at Bremen and it's better for him and for Chelsea if he stays there until the end of the year.

I went to England with my friend about 15 years ago. I had been before but he never had. He kept talking about his expectations of English sophistication. We got to our hostel and there was a Sunday Sport lying around. The headline "(some D-list cleb:) loves oral: she likes it up the bum too". The second page was a picture of some guy's severed head. That settled him down some. My guess is that Sunday Sport probably does not have any inside scoops on anything so I'd take this transfer rumour with rather large grain of salt.

Agreed. He brings a different element to the club, a directness of play and natural width that is sorely needed. Is he a perfect player? Of course not, but he's still only 22 and already a regular starter at Chelsea.

Who knows? Lots of rumours going round but we are not privy to what's really happening. I always assumed that Lampard would take a pay cut to sign a deal. He's going to be playing less, so he should get less money. From a footballing perspective, Frank is still plenty good enough to contribute on the pitch and it would be good public relations for the club to its fans as well.

You can see his confidence is crushed by not getting to take the penalty. He may be laughing and carefree on the outside, but inside, he's crying. Lampard ruined him for good.

ManU tie it...of course. What a pass by Giggs and that Van Persie fellow sure knows how to finish.

Most captains would but most captains aren't also the penalty taker who is chasing the club record in goals. If not getting a hat-trick effects Ba's game, then he has the sensitivity of an overly sensitive little girl. He had a great game. He worked well with his teammates. It was a great building block for future games. I fail to see any possible scenario where Ba not getting a hat-trick hurts the team. I can't even imagine of how Lampard taking it is a negative for the team in any way.