The Mak

Can't argue with that really. I'll add your bench though! Howard, Azpilicueta, Lovren, Ramires, Lallana, Sturridge, Lukaku.

It's not as bad as it sounds. So it's actually -£34m, not 50. Couple this with the fact that we actually qualified past the CL group stages this year, which I think is £20m+ at least, and have a massive kit 10-year kit deal worth £300m (so another £30m per year) and we're fine. Big multi-million pound contracts will also be up in the coming seasons (Essien, Lampard, Cole and maybe even Torres). We don't plan to pay off anymore managers in the foreseeable future as well. Nothing to worry about.

I understand your sentiment, but I can still see Mata going for £30-40m purely based on his ability and age. A lot of the players you've mentioned were bought at around Mata's age, so they went for exorbitant fees and were sold for very little or nothing considering they were either touching 30 or on the wrong side of it by the time they were moved on. The exception is Zhirkov. You said he went for peanuts but he actually went for around £13m which was an exceptional fee considering we bought him for £15-18m and he was largely unimpressive. The purchase of Mata (and others of 2011 like Lukaku & Courtois) however signaled a significant shift in our purchasing behaviour up until that point as we had started to buy potential in the age range of 17-22 and not just established players or at youth level like the years before. Mata, Lukaku and Courtois have all flourished since their purchase (discounting this year for Mata) and we would not accept selling Lukaku or Courtois for little or nothing. Mata's first two years here should still stand as a testament of what he is capable of; it would be the main reason clubs want him after all. That, coupled with the example of Robben & Zhirkov - that being, if the right club wants him they will still pay a considerable amount - is why it's not totally unrealistic for people to imagine him going between £30-40m. Again, I emphasise right club because we're not going to transfer list him and expect £30m+, but If a club comes in for him it's the very least we should be looking for. This is all based on a club wanting Mata, not us wanting to get rid of him, which I cannot see. I think we would rather keep him than sell him for a little amount or, at the very least, for him to be used as a significant bargaining chip in an exchange deal.

For those who were talking about Mata's marketability affecting his price-tag: All i'll say is that, in the world of football, having 32 goals and 55 assists in two years is more important than marketability. When PSG have shit like Pastore soaking up resources they would kill to have Mata in their team because he is a proven player at the top-level, not because he has nice hair. For fuck sake.

Shut up, you loved it! I'll save the next one for you so!

A big fuck you to all the naysayers & negative nellys!! I said there's no chance of us getting hammered! José always gets his man! Delighted!

Please stop doing that Luiz.

What a fucking tackle!

How's your prediction now? Tit.

He certainly didn't help. His job was to mark Suarez, to make sure he didn't touch the ball and he didn't do that. I'm more pissed at Eto'o though. Another fucking goal conceded because of him and a stupid challenge.

Shut the fuck up.

Lol, I'm not deaf. I've heard the way commentators and pundits go on about him whenever he scores.

Lol, there, there mate. Everyone has players they dislike I suppose! Just in Manchester? His problem is his attitude: KDB was instrumental for Belgium's highly successful WC qualifying campaign while Ravel was fighting with his U21 teammates. No comparison. And I don't know how his cockheadedness, sorry, 'cockiness' would help the team if he was on the bench. Surely it wouldn't be a positive thing to have him moaning? At least KDB has been nothing but professional about the lack of game-time.

If we're not going to give KDB game-time, who can play in similar positions and is far superior, then there's no hope for Morrison.

Another overhyped English product who wouldn't be good enough for Chelsea standard. If we're not going to give KDB game time (who is far superior) then there isn't a hope in hell for him here. He'd only be here to fill the 'home-grown' quota and nothing more.

For all I've said, we would actually be doomed if that happened. It'd be like playing with 8 men if they moved the ball fast enough.

But sIgning Matic is so embarrassing for the club and its 'youth system'. I'd rather spend stupid money on Witsel instead of a player we decided to give away for practically nothing...

For all the complaining I used to do about Kalou I always said: "Kalou doesn't know what he's going to do next, so the opposition definitely don't know what he's going to do next!". His unpredictability was both bad and good. Even still, if you're saying Guarin is like Kalou if he was a CM, i'll fucking take it at this stage!

I hope you're right. A quality CM/DM/DLP would help immensely as well. If we had someone in the pivot with a good passing range it would also allow Eden to receive the ball further up the pitch, instead of having trackback most times to get a pass.

Fixed!

Desperate times and all, but I still agree. The utter embarrassment...

People thought we would get hammered by City. It didn't happen. People thought we would get hammered by Arsenal. It didn't happen. Some even thought we would get hammered by Tottenham. It didn't happen. Now people are saying we'll get hammered by Liverpool, and guess what? It won't happen. I don't know why people are so negative around here. For all the criticism we give Mourinho, he has not been out-thought yet; never-mind by one of his understudies. Bredan-fecking-Rodgers is hardly a master tactician. If Mourinho has a plan to stop another team playing, it usually works. Our problem has been being unable to finish our chances and not much else. Yes, we've conceded quite a bit against lesser teams, but it's down to the style Mourinho/Abramovic/the club wants. We're still creating loads of chances for a team that needs a few players and if we were to finish more of those chances it would obviously be totally different. Mourinho usually has a specific game-plan for those in the top 4-6 so I think it'll be a tight game. Could be end-to-end stuff and could be decided by a magic moment from Suarez or one from Hazard. But I certainly don't see us getting hammered like some people are claiming.

For some reason, I just felt like MVG would've been great to have for this game. Probably because of the intense fixture build-up. Even a semi-confident KDB in a 3-man midfield, but alas...

I don't know, some fans I talk to aren't so sure about him. However, others blame the defence. I think the general consensus is though that Reina wanted out and his form was dipping as a result, so Mingolet was the better option.

Decent enough game from him, but not great; nowhere near as good as his Sunderland game, for example, where everything he touched turned to gold. That said, he was really good at tracking back. You can really see José influence there. I can't help but think though that if anyone in the team should be given a bit more freedom it should be him. Maybe it's only for certain games though...