dumps

No disrespect or anything, but i dont think the players you think will be sold, will be sold. I also think Jose has changed in his approach, 04/05 saw us with quite defensive FB's. these days its all about the attacking FB's and Jose was all for that at Madrid. Also, i would argue that the players we have today ARE better than those back then. of couse the ones that are still with us have deteriated a bit, but the main thing we had back then was good team spirit and strong tactics. This season, we have the better players, we just need them to be tactically sound, and thats where Jose will come in! secondly i thought this might look at the entire squad, and go in to detail on the depth available and the quality of that depth from this season compared to the 04/05 season, that would be a very interesting read!

I think Mourinho would love a player like Luiz. He may get frustrated with him if he spends a lot of time out of position, but hes a player i can really see mourinho wanted to mould to what he wants. I really see Mourinho pushing Luiz further up the pitch as well. and im sure there were quotes (flase obviously, just like these reports) of Mourinho saying he sees Luiz as the future captain of this club... sick of all the media rumours during the off season. does my tits in. come on EPL! return!

Lamps is on Sunday Brunch on channel 4 (UK) for a chat. should be a laugh. not sure exactly when but in the next hour or so he'll be interviewed.

When i first heard about this whole Mikel going, my first thought was "Luiz is moving up the field" i think it makes perfect sense. I still wouldnt be suprised if we did by another DM, but i honestly think Luiz wont be playing much at CB next season.

He said "1 or 2" signings is normal. with 1 signing made, and we are still weak upfront and specifically CDM, do people think we will see more than "one or two signings" or are we going to just see one more signing (my priority would be CDM, im happy with promoting Lukaku in terms of a new striker). like everyone else, im so bored with the lack of club football! all the same questions are going through my head: what formation will he play, will he promote some youth players, whos going to go out on loan, whos he going to sell, who would be jose best xi, are KDB and Lukaku going to be in the team and who are we going to buy!!!!

Lampard is going to be on UK TV show "Sunday Brunch" the coming sunday (23rd June) - with Tim lovejoy!!! ex soccer am host and a massive chelsea fan. should be good!

firstly, the money involved suggest this isnt a buy just to add a bit of depth. with that money, we'd expect him to get some significant game time. secondly, we have a lot of attacking players, anybody else think he could mainy be used as a striker? or we could see a hefty change in formation to accomodate all these players... I dont think we'll see much of Moses next season and depending on how it goes he'll be sold in the near future. A very useful player and a good signing, but not sure he's worth that amount of money.

he was so cheap/expensive what a great/bad signing! the pricetag will really determine whether it was a good or bad signing.

I cant see any dramatic changes, just some depth and maybe an already proven midfielder such as De Rossi (i wish). not sure to whether we will buy another striker or bring back Lukaku. according to the papers, Mourinho wants to tutor him and mould him in to what he wants, so if he does that i think for the second part of the season we may see a lot of him. or maybe he will just go out on loan again for the last part of hte season, but i wouldnt be suprised to see Lukaku stay with us until January. If Torres is sold, then yes i see us getting another striker, but dont see it being a huge one like Cavani. probably someone like Dzeko or Gomez but i dont think we will sell Torres. personally for me, id say bring back everyone on loan and promote some of the youth players and help merge them in to the team.

Although we all know its bullshit that mourinho would sell Juan... hypothetically speaking, if he were to sell him would you be outraged? if he were to sell a star player, you can only assume he knows what he is doing and thinks it will improve the team, but how many of you would actually trust in him and not kick up a fuss?

Jose will want to keep him. same with lamps which is why i think he got a new contract. the relationship with jose, and their status amongst players in our squad helps the relationship for the team overall. Jose will want them around for their presence even if they dont play week in week out.

after seeing the interview with Jose im going to go with him. he says he wants to improve the team and i will be satisfied with that. if we win nothing, but have played good football and look like a much stronger team i will be happy, it will be the season after id expect a trophy. I think there will be a lot of pressure on us to win the league next season as we now have 'the best' manager in the league, but i dont expect the win. i do expect us to be up there for the league and to put up a fight for all the cups given the team and manager we have, but mainly i just want to see us improve and become consistent. very excited for the new season!

Doubt it will happen. also, he's 29 now so only has 3 or 4 top seasons in him, but for 15m that would be a bargain. would be a great signing for us, especially if its for 15m, but doubt he'd want to leave.

you have no heart!

Nobody jokes about such things. NOBODY! if she were to be replaced i honestly would be angry and lose interest in this club. i realise im learning a lot about myself as a chelsea fan as i type this. and i am not ashamed.

Is Eva's job going to be safe?

I totally agree. we arent good with youth. and you cant even say we are doing it for buisness because we are paying top dollar for these young players that we most likely wont make back. you're right about the loaning system. maybe one full season is good for development, but ideally maybe half a season loaned out, then used off the bench or in rotation will really help settle them in to the TEAM rather than just develop them as an individual. We have never really been that good at getting youth in to our team. Maybe its hte pressures managers feel from Roman - he always wants a top performance, playing a youngster adds a risk as they are not going to be consistent. Unless tehy are a really talented player like Hazard, they dont really stand much of a chance and thats a real shame. players like KdB, Lukaku and Piazon have real promising talent that should see them having a part in our current squad, but who is going to risk taking out some of our bigger names to give them a chance?! frustrating as funk!

well be a hell of a game. without the sense of a champions league final i dont think we will have that unity and drive and cant see our current squad winning it. i cna see us getting a goal, but i dont see us winning it unless we bring in some players, so just like the next season predictions and predictions for this, need to wait on summer signings!

In Mourinho i trust. if he saw fit to play Essien then why not? i like him, on his day he is superb. he attacks and tracks back, hes versatile and he has experience. Having said that, i do only think he was playing so often in Madrid due to the amount of fall outs within the squad... Essien played RB towards the end of the season... Still waiting for the confirmation, although everyone is 99.9% sure, im not resting till i see him in blue! Well excited for the transfer window as well, keen to see who he brings in and lets go. with Paulo, Malouda and Yossi going, itll be interesting to see if he's going to buy some able players to add depth or if he will put faith in our youth and promote some of them. also very interested to see what happens to Lukaku and KDB.

Football Manager can define technical ability for you in terms of who has it, every single player in our team as it to some extent, just in different areas. You wouldn't make it as a professional footballer without any kind of technical ability. some people are just more creative and have more flare than others. look at Hazard, hes got tricks and step overs coming out his ass, Then you got John Terry. both top quality players but with a different style and technical ability. How i personally define it? im not really sure, i think its to do with how a player is with the ball, and how consistent they are at doing something positive with it. Mikel, on the ball, 9 times out of 10, will pass backwards or sideways, thats not very positive BUT he is consistent with it. Luiz, very positive on the ball, but not very consistent. Mata, Hazard and Oscar are all good on the ball and are positive as well as consistent (if you exclude pressure and challenges form defenders).

Match of the day looks like it'll be worth watching for the first time in a few months... 36 goals today. On reflection, is it me or has it been quite a tame season for goals? i remember the days when there were days like today everyday! high scoring draws, hat-tricks, goals goals goals, red cards and good goals. This season, seems like everyone has been really cautious, and attacking in small numbers, playing way more defensive - i blame the 4-2-3-1. a lot of teams have been doing it, with their 2 wider players in the 3 being really defensive.

25 million > 12 million im not saying they are offering him 25million, im just saying, they could if they wanted to realy annoy us.

perfect. do my last bit of uni work on wednesday and i can celebrate with a nice late night on friday! any news on whether our players currently out on loan will be available? would love to see the likes of specifically lukaku and de bryune damn With such a small squad and so many games this season, we have no choice but to field a team of youngsters. Paulo will hopefully get a solid 90minutes though. Malouda? Marin? will be good for the youngsters to play against Man city who will probably field a mixture of youngsters and first team players that didnt get that match game time this season...

^ he's 20 now. officially of an age that becomes to be taken seriously in the footballing world! 19 = he's a kid and got lots to learn. 20 = he's a fantastic young player with a good 10-14 seasons in him.