Reddish-Blue

Luke Shaw is better and has more potential than van aanholt. He's 18 & holding down a regular place in the EPL. Van Aanholt would be a solid wingback for alot of PL clubs...he's eager to get forward, has pace, endurance...but he looks a bit susceptible in terms of defending his direct opponent.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/middlesbrough/10448167/Chelsea-manager-Jose-Mourinho-helped-me-decide-on-Middlesbrough-says-Aitor-Karanka.html Jose Mourinho's Madrid assistant Karanka becomes Middlesboro manager. Expecting to see 1-2 Chelsea youngsters going on loan to Boro sooner or later..

That was the same Benfica game Luiz talked about in an interview after signing for Chelsea. He said he wanted to play CB in that game but due to injuries/suspensions, the coach put him at LB..and the opposition's winger had a field day.

As the premier league states: Home-grown players are defined as those who "irrespective of nationality or age, have been affiliated to the FA or Welsh FA for a period of three seasons or 36 months prior to 21st birthday" If things go well in 2-3 years, we could have Feruz, Chalobah, Ake, maybe McEachran, even Todd Kane as homegrown players in the first team squad.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/24929877 Meulensteen joins Fulham as Jol's assistant. Under-rated coach in my opinion

I'd rather see Chalobah given a chance after his Nott. Forest loan spell..cause United won't sell Jones to us. Maybe I'm just overrating Chalobah's potential but he seems to have a level of maturity and calmness that other youngsters don't possess.. In terms of English players, I'd take Luke Shaw right now.

To be honest, I don't think the spending figure matters.. Our major problem has yet to be solved. We still have no link between our CB's and the attacking midfielders. You can't win games if the opposition park the bus and your CM/DM is not creative enough to find a gap and exploit it...

Some of the posters on TC hate Mikel a bit too much...(not gonna mention names) Lampard has been a wonderful player for Chelsea..but unless your blind or don't understand football, he's clearly NOT suited for a deep midfield role. If Jose wants to stick with Lampard, regardless of his poor performances, maybe we should switch to a 3-man midfield?

I'd rather see a naturally left-sided player at the LB spot. I know Bertrand will never be a 9/10 player...but he's a dependable, solid LB who likes to get forward and help out the LW/LAM.

Yeh but to be fair, if the attacking midfielders keep changing, how do you expect them to perform consistently? Jose needs to pick his best three AM's and stick with them. Personally, I'd go with Schurrle - Oscar - Hazard/Willian

totally agree against the weaker sides, wouldn't mind seeing De Bruyne - Ramires.

If Mata was to leave, Reus would be a brilliant addition. LW: Schurrle, Hazard CAM: Oscar, Willian RW: Reus, one of Moses/Atsu to be backup.

He's a traditional defensive midfielder, future Portuguese international. He can shield the CB's, play a simple pass and join in the attack when needed.

In the past, there used to be players like Eto'o, Essien, Drogba, Kanoute.. What a poor list of African nominees. Voted for Toure, the only top-class player out of the 5

Well..Cole is coming to the end of his career...its only natural that older players are on the bench in certain games. The media are more interested in De Bruyne, Mata, Hazard's passport...

He's not going to leave Everton after half a season...

Azpi is a much better crosser of the ball than Ivanovic. He's also good at linking up with our AM's Well if the central midfield can't provide the link between defence and attack, it doesn't matter how much you spend on attackers.

absolutely no one to cross to ? in recent times, all i've seen is Ivanovic try to run forward, lose the ball under little pressure..and then suddenly the opposition counter with Ramires, Willian tracking back

Completely agree, I feel the home support could be a bit louder in tricky situations. The flipside is that our new players haven't created that connection with the fans yet.....the process will take time. Hopefully we stick with Jose, build some stability and recreate the atmosphere we had a few seasons ago!

Thats why we need to find a new midfielder capable of linking defence to attacking midfield. Our buildup from the back is slow..but thats because none of our midfielders know what to do with the ball.

I would add Cabaye, even Southampton's Schneiderlin to the list. I really like Schneiderlin's energy, physicality in midfield...wouldn't be a bad partner for Ramires.

To be honest, if you can't handle a bit of winding up...then the forum wouldn't be much fun. As for the whole Mikel debate...at the end of the day, he provides cover so that Ramires can push forward and join the attack.

Nope. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2263227/Michael-Johnson-reveals-quit-football-mental-health-reasons-club-admits-defeat-gambling-alcohol-addictions.html He was a very promising talent in midfield. Had all the tools to be great, just couldn't handle the pressure Sometimes you wonder how England manage to waste so much talent..

Decided to sub out Agger & Mignolet...both of them end up getting a clean sheet

If Courtois was joining Chelsea straight from Genk, then I'd be worried about inexperience... However, due to his progress at Atletico...it'd be stupid not to give him a chance at Chelsea. Either he comes back to Chelsea, earns the #1 spot or leaves...(I hear Barca are looking for a keeper) As for the comparison to De Gea..he conceded a similar goal this season...but all the media attention went to Januzaj for scoring the winner with a volley.