different level

It was not so much about the mickey mouse cup. It was about sending a message and we were fucking brilliant! It sucked to be us in the end of the day, because It's never easy to lose on penalties (especially after you've conceded in the added time of the extra time) but I have a great feeling for the season! KTBFFH!

Welcome, Eto'o. Not really among our primary striker targets and he's not getting any younger, but I believe he can have at least 1 more season at the top level and that is exactly why we got him. Good luck to the guy and hopefully we'll see striker who set La Liga and Serie A on fire!

By the way I'll enjoy watching Arsenal getting knocked out.

Two of the teams we beat last year in our way to the EL trophy + Schalke. Nice!

Sturridge was never going to work out for us and it doesn't matter how well he does for liverpool. But seeing that you are a moron, who likes to insult nations, it gives me a hint that I shouldn't waste my time with you.

Let's see how long it's going to take until someone starts the "we shouldn't have sold Sturridge" crap again

Don't get all too excited about these friendlies. I have a friend who is a Madrid fan and he was trying to taunt me over the match we had with them the other day, LOL.

Whatever happens, I believe we'll deal better with him than Moyes and you won't be seeing public statements that Rooney is a firm second choice to Lukaku.

So what should I do?

This is what I get when I try to load the forum with Firefox. Works fine with Opera though.

Totally saw the coming with the signing of Van Ginkel and Jose's statements on the new signings that he's looking for an instant impact from them. I think that's good for Oriol, he should get some time on the pitch with Valencia, which is unlikely to be the case had he stayed with us (especially if we also get De Rossi). It's hard not to feel sorry for the lad though, his situation could have been entirely different if it hadn't been for that nasty injury.

With Cavani and Lewandowski apparently becoming unavailable, if we are to get a new striker it should be either Rooney or Ibra. If we fail to land one of them I'd rather we keep the current situation with Torres, Lukaku and Ba.

I really like Zlatan but he's 32 already and will be quite the short term solution. Anyway I'll still be very happy if we manage to bring him to The Bridge as everything about this guy screams world class!

Wow that came out of nowhere. A signing that is not only financially favourable, but makes perfect sense and solves our back up GK situation in the short term. Mark is quite an oldie, but I can really see him doing a decent job if needed to step up.

I will not lie, I'm really sad that it appears that we're going to miss out on Cavani as he is one of the best strikers in the world IMO. But who knows it might be for the better, I admit a part of me was relieved we didn't splash so much cash on a single player and our board is acting more rationally now and we didn't bow down to the ridiculous demands of that cunt ADL.

He looks a little shy in front of the camera

Can't wait to see his first match in a Chelsea shirt. I honestly think he is a great asset to the team and a nice way to create a quality depth in the atacking midfield positions. The upgrade from Marin and Benayoun to Schurrle and KDB really is indescribable. Just wait and see.

What's with these Suarez rumours? Wasn't the disgusting rat heading to Madrid?

Actually that's partly the case. You know Torres has (or has had) the potential that Ba (with all due respect) will never have. You praise Ba for his the way he moves off the ball and the great runs he makes occasionally, but they are not that often as you make it look like. Torres has had his good games too with his fair share of contribution to our EL victory. I just don't think that showing some good movement excuses his poor finishing, that's why I said that match wasn't the best example of good general play.

Chase is another way of saying we are highly interested to sign one of them if you go by the media reports.

Good luck to him. Hopefully he'll get some time on the pitch

I think it's too early to admit defeat in the Cavani/Lewandowski chase. It's surprising to see so many people appearing to have moved on from them when nothing has been decided yet and they are still with their teams.

I think the people who see Ba as a clearly better striker than Torres are just as deluded as those who are ready to jump in the Spaniard's defense at any cost. I wouldn't like to put myself into any of those extremes, but as someone stated above a Torres return to form is more believable than Ba becoming anything more than a squad player for us. Saying his general play was good in this match is quite a positive thinking considering his finishing was horrendous and he squandered 4 or 5 chances with only the keeper to beat.

Truth is Ba is at the bottom of the pecking order of our strikers atm, therefore it's not really a surprise Jose is looking to sale him, should we buy another forward. Lukaku did a fantastic job in WBA to deserve his place in our squad for this season, while Torres is kinda untouchable with his wages, which I doubt we'll find a team that is willing/have the ability to match them.

It's not like I am comparing Torres with some young striker with a lot of potential. Soldado is as old as Nando, he's at his peak atm and he won't become much better, especially if he's going to need time to get used to the EPL. It is stupid to compare the situation between those two with the one of Arbeloa and Azpi. The latter is young and has a great future ahead of him, while the former is 30 years old.