The Mak

It seems it's all a little too late for KDB. A combination of lack of game time, lack of enthusiasm and a want for the January window. Sad.

He'd still get a great reception and If we're knocked out by Gala, then we'll probably deserve to go out. Shit happens. I wouldn't get hung up on it just because our former player did it. Personally, I love that it'll be a competitive match instead of a testimonial or something. Just view it as destiny like that night in Munich and try to enjoy it as much as you can, because Didier won't be around forever... That said, this tie is still ours for the taking. Our manager and defenders know Didier inside out. Remember when Lucio put Drogba in his pocket? A lot of that was down to Mourinho. I'm sure there's no one better to mark Didier than JT. And Didier can't help their back line or goalkeeper. We'll be absolutely fine if our boys show up.

Because it's not just about what shirt you're wearing. His shirt may be red, but we all know his heart is blue. He is a Chelsea legend and made history for us with his last kick of a ball. Many fans didn't get to properly thank him for that and now they'll get that opportunity; I expect nothing but a fantastic reception for him before and after the game.

Barca aren't what they once were, but they should just about beat City. I expect City to score, I just expect Barca *cough* Messi *cough* to score more.

Let's go lads!

So many things to be happy about right now!!

That's hilarious! There's not a chance in hell you'd get him for that now, especially to another PL team! Maybe during the summer, but even with his contract down another year, you still wouldn't get him for that price now. Especially when you think about Van Persie being sold for £25m with only 1 year remaining on his contract. Suarez is younger and is single-handedly dragging an average Liverpool up the table. He's scored 17 goals in 11 games for Christ's sake! No one can deny that it's Messi/Ronaldo territory. It doesn't matter anyway, if he keeps going like this Real will be in for him during the summer for at least £60m+ (He won't go beyond Bale money though, he is nowhere near as marketable as Bale).

Iva - Luiz was done before and it was absolutely horrendous. No communication whatsoever. Must be the language difference. This is what I was saying last year when there was talk of £40m from Barca. It's hard to imagine anyone here would not even consider selling Luiz in the region of £35-40m mark. It's insane money for a player who has honestly not dramatically changed a vast amount since he arrived from Benfica. He's improved, but we're still waiting for this consistent world-class defender to show up.

Just thinking back to the amount of abuse I received for saying I'd much rather we signed Suarez instead of Rooney...the arguments against me was that Suarez was 'too much of a cunt' and Rooney 'would create more'. How times have changed! £50m looks like a steal now eh?

Suarez is single-handedly dragging Liverpool up the table, it's insane. They just have one ridiculously good player and it equates to our team in the table....crazy. If they were to get a CL spot they better just give all the extra cash to him and have the Liverpool players agree to give him sexual favours on a daily basis because Real Madrid will definitely come after him at this rate.

There's only so much he can do by himself. He plays in an absolute wank team yet he's currently dragging them up the table single-handedly. And despite the fact they've lost 2 of their best players in Sturridge & Gerrard, he is currently managing to bum Spurs at the Lane by himself practically, something our whole team couldn't do....

I'd put up a picture if I knew how!

That's a fucking disgrace. Do they think they can get someone better? Enjoy the Championship WBA you wankers.

It's smells an awful lot like the Sturridge situation this time last year; is he injured, is he not? When the truth was that he just wasn't fancied and the protocol was to get the best out of Goldilocks. Worrying to be honest.

All I can say is thank fuck Ivanovic is finally getting benched for a game.

I'm sorry, but could you please stop with your absolute bullshit posts. In the match thread you said "Pellegrini > Mourinho right now" and now you come up with this shit. I'm pretty sure Mourinho would be top of the league with players like Toure, Fernadinho, Aguero, Negredo & Dzeko instead of Mikel, Lampard, Essien, Torres, Ba & Eto'o. If it really was "Pellegrini > Mourinho" they'd at least be above us in the table with their amazing squad, but they're fucking not.

There's a correlation alright but you're confusing it with causation. You can hardly point to the majority of those goals as Azpi's fault can you? A few have been shipped due to Brana getting caught out of position and not closing down crosses (like today), the DMs abandoning the defence (like today) or JT/Cahill/Luiz not commanding the area (like today). Haven't a clue how Cole alone is supposed to help 4-6 players defending like shit....

No more goals conceded against shit teams please Chelsea, that'd be fucking great.

One clean sheet Chelsea? Just one, no? For fuck sake. Absolutely ridiculous. Where were Ramires and Essien???

Lol at opening this thread up again!

Ahh, there's nothing like visiting the 'Choulo Vs. Everyone else' thread! Seriously though, I don't think he's Chelsea standard in terms of starting. Good squad player for us, but that should be it. I'd like to think my club is a little bit more ambitious than 'Mikel'. That said, he is our only true DM at the moment and, like it or not, the Rami-Mikel partnership is one of the best as it allows Rami more freedom compared to being paired with Frank.

All passes made by Mikel and Frank last night...ponderous is one word.

His physicality. Simple really. As much as I want us to promote youth development, Zouma is a boy in a mans body and that stands to him tremendously in comparison to Kalas and Omeru, who you even say are older than him. Quite similar to Lukaku actually... That said, Zouma is a prime replacement for Distin. :eyebrows:

Great shout. Anytime Aké had performed last season I was very impressed. I thought he offered just about as much as Mikel did while also giving us the chance to develop youth. He had a couple of loan opportunities this year but was convinced to stay to be counted as a home-grown. Sadly, that's all he seems to be to the club at this moment: one more name that fills the home-grown quota. José talked about becoming a 'nurturing dad' to the young players at the start of the season. Well, if he says that again I'd kindly tell him where to shove it. If he really wanted to nurture youth he would've at least allowed him to go on loan to further his development. Will he have as many loan opportunities after another year of sitting in the reserves? Maybe, maybe not. But making him stay did nothing of benefit for his development, only for the benefit of the club. But imagine there was a rule where a club actually had to use their home-grown players? Maybe that they had to start a set number of games a year for them to qualify? Woah, hang on. That seems a bit too radical. Shoot me now for even suggesting such rubbish.

Mourinho wants to face Galatasaray for 'King Didier's' sake http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11945/9068895/champions-league-mourinho-wants-to-face-galatasaray-for-king-didiers-sake Well José agrees with me, so