Eggman

indeed, very strange for Kevin. Sloppy passing, bad shooting. Tired? Lack of concentration? I can't imagine the latter being the case, considering the fact that he finally got his chance to play in his preferred position in the NT. Maybe a dip in form, shouldn't make too much of it...

he was decisive in the last 2 NT games. What struck me is that Eden needs quality footballers to interact with, to get the best performance. His best moments are when he can combine in small spaces with KDB, Dembele, Chadli,... That's why his partnership with Mata is so amazing at Chelsea.

In order to develop and be able to respond to tougher defences, he needs to play in Europe asap! Certainly if Brazil wants to win the WC2014 (which I don't think is likely at the moment), they need to allow their best talents to adapt to European quality play (as is already the case with Oscar and Lucas).

Perhaps, when he is matched with someone who has the play maker abilities (such as Modric, Xabi Alonso, Pirlo, perhaps Kevin De Bruyne?) he could be a good option for the pivot. But then again, in Belgium's NT this role is for Witsel, partly because he is better at sticking to the tasks (defensively) that are required of him. Fellaini has the tendency to break position in order to score goals, which makes him more suited as a box-to-box midfielder, as suggested by Mundaka, rather than a DLP.

In the international matches with Belgium, it becomes obvious how limited a player he is. Yes, he is strong, he has the velcro chest thing and he wins the second ball a lot. But he only performs well when the entire team is build around him, like at Everton. When he plays in midfield, he falls short in passing, positioning and overall ball control. Chelsea would do better to find a different type for the pivot; someone who can spot a pass and actually execute it.

Courtois has a big part in Belgium's first place in the ECQ at the moment. He saved us a couple of times last friday against Macedonia. Remember the world class save against Bale's effort against Wales? And numerous saves in the opening quarter against Serbia. And the free kick save against Schotland. Already he is not just playing well, he is winning points for the national team. Courtois is da shizznit.

I disagree. We saw the same thing with Witsel when he arrived at Benfica. His teammates did not involve him, as if they lacked trust (or sympathy). But then he scored some important goals and he was allowed to be the heart of the midfield of this team, which led to a big money transfer to Zenith. You can't actually "make" your teammates pass you the ball; how many times was he not standing alone with akers of space on the left, only to see play self-destruct on the right?

Hazard is reaching his top form, but this has also to do with the fact that he is involved way more by his team mates. Before new year, he was often completely free and the ball would never reach him (play always developed over the right hand side of the field, not the left). A player like Hazard needs to feel the ball constantly, he has to be fed the ball so he can dictate the pace. It seems that he has more respect from his teammates now, and they all start looking for him when in possession. If they don't know what to do: get the ball to Eden.

I agree. Although I'd love to see Lukaku in a Blues shirt, it is perhaps too early (that is, if you want to compete for the chamionship) for him to "carry" the attack as a 20 year old. It comes down to 2 scenarios: (1) give him one more year on loan at a more dominantly playing club to further develop, and thus buy another top striker for next season to replace goldy locks. (2) keep Lukaku as a second striker and buy a striker with ability who can immediately be called upon (ideally then, a striker in his thirties who does not mind sitting on the bench occasionely, who has experience and who is a killer). I wonder though, who this should be.

He has a lot of determination and will-power doesn't he? (something his little brother might well be lacking)

how bout we attack bad ideas. Or drugs. Or whatever you're having.

I do not agree with the crux of the article: that Roman alters the club to increase revenue, to attract customers and to discourage "supporters". If buying Chelsea was a business plan to make profit, he would surely be not much of a business man, spending all that money on players. In Belgium, one of the great old clubs, Standard de Liège, has been bought by a millionair type who aims exactly at making money out of it. He sold all of their good players instantly (to recuperate the money he invested) without replacing them by even remotely equal players. As a result, the club, who had just crawled out of a harsh 20 year period without trophees, has now been relegated to obscurity once again. This is not what Roman's "business model" for Chelsea has looked like. Not at all. However, what can be said is that Roman and the people he surrounds himself with know too little about football. Coming out of a different business, he would do well to attract the know-how he himself misses. RDM won the CL, by chance. This resulted in the fact that he was given the job of manager, without being the right man for the job. Yes, he is a club icon, and he did the impossible, and the manner in which he is treated (cf. the picture and all) is repugnant. But the football with him was horrible and lacked a whole lot, offensively. TFSW has not been able to turn this around. In sum: Roman cannot think of anything else than to "buy stuff" when it comes to building a club. There is no football philosophy or long-term strategy involved. However, I do not think that he is trying to milk the club to fill his pockets - on the contrary.

every week it's more of the same. How long has it been since we played a genuinely good match? Even if we win it's individual flashes but never a team effort (see Hazard's winner against Sparta). This season is a lost season - as defending European Champions... So painful. We can only hope that we qualify for CL, that we find a decent manager next year and that we add strength to our squad in the summer. But for the next few weeks, I pity the fans who bought season's tickets and spent so much money for having to watch this shit.

Falcao IS God. Imagine Courtois in training countering Falcao's efforts. That would be awesome.

jesus all this whining about our players - who are all crap I think this is complete bollocks. We have one of the finest squads available, and there are a lot of teams playing massively better football with far less talented players. So, if we do not win or defend well, or create almost no chances, this has nothing to do with the quality of the players - and will thus not be solved by buying another shitload of overpriced stars. It must be obvious by now that it is the lack of decent management that plagues Chelsea. And this has been going on for a long time: not just with the advent of that Spanish waiter. RDM may be a club icon, but as a manager he did not have any constructive ideas - safe relying on the individual class of other club legends. That might work, sometimes. But not in the long run, obviously. If you saw how Real played against Manure: pretty awesome. Constantly players making runs, infiltrating in the space left by another player who made a run, falling back, changing positions. That's how you create chances, as a team, not by relying on individual flashes (although Real could easily do that with the talent they've got). Too bad they didn't finish them off. Thus, untill we have a new manager, who gets the time to build a team and a style of play, there will be no improvement - except the occasional match in which one of our players has a good day.

I'm not convinced about Dries Mertens. No where near the potential of Hazard or even Kevin Mirallas imo. Is a nice squad player for the Belgian team, but will never amount to the greatness of Robben or Mata. Playing winger is difficult: you have to create. While there are a great deal of nimble players for that position, only a few really excell - and this is one thing that sepparates good teams from great teams. So if you want to compete with Barcelona and Real Madrid etcetera, you need wingers who are as good as CR7, Di Maria, Pedro, A. Sanchez and so on...

It is really messed up that Chelsea are struggling in the midfield area and to know that KDB could fill this in instantly. He has progressed much; in the last game with Belgium he worked defensively as well. With a vacuum cleaner playing alongside him (genre Dembele, Witsel), he is the man who accelerates the play and brings depth into it. I cannot for the life of me understand why they didn't call him back.

We'll see shortly. I thought Eden was getting up to speed in the last matches he played, taking on more players etc. Hopefully he can pick up where he left it.

Hmm I don't think Fellaini has the appropriate passing range in his game to fit the pivot role. Although he is strong and would bring that to the team, I don't think it's worth spending a whole lot of money on him (he will not come cheap) when his profile is not what is needed. We should have a deep-lying playmaker in the style of Pirlo to fit our style of play, and next to him a beast in ball recovery (which I also do not think is Fellaini).

Yes, they lost, but sometimes you play well and you lose, sometimes you play shit and you win. If they had played Ba (= if we had two strikers so they could be rotated) we would have surely won. We totally dominated. And personal mistakes, there is no way to prevent those...

We need a second striker, asap.

Chelsea played brilliantly, I think, certainly in the first half. Up til that goal, all looked impressively well. A shame we didn't score. However, the change Ba/Torres has shown what a difference a striker makes... Torres is, at his current level, not suited to be a first nor a second choice striker in a top club. He needs to go. Which means that a second striker has to be bought this transfer period! Ba cannot play all of our matches and Rafa should be allowed to rotate; it is sick that we only have one striker (although that's one more than the first half of the season). Don't you guys think it's kinda amazing how Chelsea still managed to win lots of games this season, playing without a striker? This shows the potential of the 3 supporting offensive players. Thus: we had bad luck, 2 individual mistakes of the same (normally most reliable) player. The football was good, but Ba showed that you need to play with a striker to make a serious goal threat. Hopefully the board picked that up.

I agree that his strength is something that the current squad is lacking. It should be used in the pivot role, but then you need someone who is better at distributing the game to play alongside him. Someone like Pirlo, indeed, or Gerard or (closer to home and better for the future) Oscar and Kevin De Bruyne. De Bruyne is the man who is needed to link up the defense with the attack. He plays simple, always vertically. He speeds up the game when necessary, and his passing range and vision are spectacular. Even in the Belgian national team squad, when playing with Felaini - Witsel - Dembele, who are all 3 of them excellent midfielders, the game tends to slow down; 70% possession but no infiltration or tempo to the play. This immediately changes with Kevin in the team. He is like a metronome, always dictating the pace. Perhaps Oscar can develop into this role too. He certainly has the skill and the vision, the speed of execution. Ramires, I think, is more of an infiltrating player and less of an architect. And perhaps even David Luiz can improve in this new position for him.

It's what it says in the article though: "With Frank Lampard leaving the club, Chelsea are looking for a central midfielder. It could be Marouane Fellaini. The 25-year old Belgian international would sign a 5-year contract with the European Champions this week. The player, who would bring in 27 million euros to Everton, would make five million euros each month there. Man Utd ponders about matching the Blues' offer to secure the deal." 60 million a year? Definitely an error

Erm... the fans? What's the point in having a forum for discussion if we can't judge the club's policy? But I do agree with your point that the interest in Taison is sparked by professional scouts who must be credited for knowing what they are doing. It would be refreshing to actually see a player blossom and reach his potential only at CFC, instead of buying the next alleged over-prized "star" who made it at an other club.