Mr_President

His tackling and break-up of play (sometimes by fouling) has been pretty impressive in pre-season and if his passing improves he will be a v. good midfield signing. I think the combination of him, Ramires and Lampard in the midfield against Madrid probably didn't help him shine to be honest, all three of them miscued passes and looked uncomfortable under pressure which ultimately kept inviting more and more pressure onto us.

Letting my (now ex-) girlfriend drive my car

what it is with these fucking pre-season games.. can't start on time. I'm already knackered and my laptop isn't fully charged and I don't want to get up to chart it!

Have stolen my Dad's mini-fridge (usually used for beers) and put in some red bull and some snacks to keep me up till the end of the match. I can't go downstairs to eat without waking the whole house up so I brought the fridge to me

I agree with the UTD fan. At the moment Bale is the more effective of the two, but I believe it is clear to see that from a technical point of view Hazard is already ahead of him. I believe this, compounded by the fact that Hazard is younger and a Chelsea player being discussed on a Chelsea board, is why many people suggest he is better than Bale or at least has a higher 'ceiling'. Hazard already gave an interview himself a month or two ago about how he wants to be more clinical and start scoring like Ronaldo rather than looking to do something flashy or make a pass, so I think we may see exactly how talented he is in the coming years.

It's just not how the modern game is anymore. Chelsea, and many other big European clubs, have an 'international following' and sponsorship arrangements which mean they need to go and promote the game in other countries, who happen to have different time zones. I actually think it's good they're going to the States to help promote football and it is also a great opportunity for American Chelsea fans to see the team live (whilst also serving the function of pre-season and raising the club's profile, revenue streams etc.. (which is what it is about).

Doubt he would move to Russia. He is on great wages here, gets to live in London where I assume he is fairly settled with his family (unless they are back in Spain?) and I doubt it would help his WC chances if he is in Russia, although his WC chances won't be great if he is on the bench here either..

o wow

Chalobah has looked tidy, what does everyone else think of him?

JT what a pass

so close chalobah!!

looking forward to seeing this, looks like a 4-3-3.

Have to agree, even as a Chelsea fan I just burst out laughing when I saw it. Not because of the attack, just because of the sheer ridiculousness of a grown man chewing his way into another grown man's arm.

Thanks mate, this kid this super talented. I remember watching the Barcelona NextGen game and he really stood out as technically brilliant. Wonder what the state of play will be with him this season, maybe another year in youth/reserves (maybe even cup appearances) and then loan to champ/lower PL side the season after. This guy must succeed here, but I remember thinking this about Josh McEachran when he was younger.

Those of you living in England and Wales, get your porn in now. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-23401076 I am finding it harder and harder to take Cameron seriously. He manages to escalate from talking about cracking down on child porn (as he rightly should), yet he goes further to say porn will be banned in all households and people will have to OPT-OUT (i.e. call up their ISPs and say "sorry, I am a compulsive wanker and need porn unblocking on my computer, thanks".) Does he seriously think that banning porn and using this ridiculous OPT OUT system will do anything to stop teenage boys from watching porn? All it will do is potentially create some awkward conversations and a hassle for responsible people who just want to watch a bit of girl-on-girl or whatever floats their boat. The problem is, it wont even work anyway. Even my younger brother, who is in primary school, knows how to circumvent blocks (not for porn, I might add), and teenage boys will find a way to watch some porn whether it be through proxies or torrents or whatever else, which could lead to them seeing something potentially more 'vile' because they are not using safe, regulated streaming sites. Then there is this massive assumption that porn actually hurts children? Sure, some violent stuff might but they are more likely to be exposed to that if they have to circumvent ISP blocks than if they can use safe sites. Anyway, whatever happened to parenting? If parents don't want their kids watching that stuff, monitor their computer usage; we don't need a nationwide fucking blackout of porn just because some parents are too lazy to monitor their children's internet usage. Finally, to end my rant, if I (at 18) am old enough to serve my country in the military, vote and pay taxes, I sure as hell am old enough to know what is 'appropriate' and 'safe' to watch on the internet and I don't need the fucking government blocking sites for me. Wearing my tinfoil hat, I might suspect that this isn't about porn at all but is about the government setting a precedent for blocking and censoring the internet - this isn't fucking China or North Korea. Sorry for the long post but I really am amazed that the Tories are stupid enough to suggest this kind of bill and if, by some miracle, it goes through, I can't see myself voting for them ever. Off to pornhub now.

Generally, the most reliable papers/sites tend to be the BBC/Sky Sports - But they only tend to report on stuff when it is 99.9% done. (EDIT: Having said this, the BBC are in serious decline with their standards of sports journalism, not just in football but F1 etc.) Then come the papers such as the Telegraph, Guardian, Times and Sunday Times which are more reputable than the likes of the Sun, Metro, Star, Express, Daily Mail etc.. which, quite honestly, I would not use for toilet paper. Though, most of these papers have 'gossip' or 'rumour' sections which they will use to post far-fetched transfer rumours or just re-hash another story from a different paper - bottom line is take everything with a pinch of salt.

http://firstrowuk.eu/watch/195975/3/watch-thai-star-team-vs-chelsea.html

Taking swipes at Benitez's 'achievement'? http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/23330815

yes, but should we shame the other 83,975 who were convicted of the same offence in 2006 (couldn't find more recent stats) just in England and Wales? (source: http://www.drinkdriving.org/drink_driving_statistics_uk.php) I agree, shame on all of them, but not in public, unless you do it for the other 80+ thousand. One rule for 'celebrities' and another for regular people? I'm just baffled by the number of people that read this stuff about drink driving, affairs and minor convictions of celebrities. Anyway, I suppose we're derailing the thread.

I still believe in privacy. I don't believe that because these lot earn more money than most they should have every aspect of their lives under media scrutiny. I also don't think publicly shaming people for drink driving will have any effect on reducing the rate at which people commit the offence because, when one is drunk, they do not think about consequences.. as i'm sure Mr Wilkins will attest.

can't believe shit like this gets into the news and is read by so many people. Drink driving is wrong, of that there is no doubt, but if he was not 'famous' this story wouldn't have been printed. Nearly as bad as all those stories about players having affairs etc.. who gives a shit

I know this shouldn't be taken too seriously but I have seen quite a few comments recently from, supposedly, Chelsea fans who are suggesting that we need a new first choice RB in order to strengthen our team. Now, unless Philip Lahm is willing to come here and Bayern Munich want to sell us their captain, I can't really see the point (There is no chance of that...). Azpi is extremely young and with defenders they take time to develop into great players, experience matters a lot in his position. This was also his first season in the PL so hopefully he will push on. Does anyone on here think that we need an upgrade on him for next season (whilst suggesting reasonable targets?). I don't think RB is an issue for us and am confident in his potential.

At the very least, Italians can play for ever!

Special Juan. I don't come on here that much but he seems to make sensible posts when I am on. ETA: The Skipper also seems to be a great poster, but I assume you can only nominate one person?

lmfao Ramos