The only place to be

If there was a right-winger out there then I think Mata would already be gone. That seems to be the position we're lightest in although I think that Schurrle could do a job there. We've sold our 6th choice AM....selling our 5th choice to a team like PSG who are looking to win their league and might be looking for a boost in January isn't beyond the realms of possibility.

That much money for a player we don't really need is fantastic. Getting a player, loaning him out and £10 million profit...if we can do that a few more times then FFP shouldn't be an issue. To be honest we could 'flip' Courtois for a £20 million profit too in all likelihood. Luiz would probably make a few million whilst Mata might be close to £10 million in profit. That's the progression we needed to make, where we buy players who either retain their value or increase in value. The board deserves some credit for that.

1. He's fairly adventurous in his passing and he gets into advanced positions regularly. You're going to see a dip in pass completion and with the way we play football, possession isn't everything. The first thought is to get the ball forward fast, often in counter-attacks. If that doesn't work then we tend to pass the ball around and look for someone like Hazard to do something. His distribution will make us better at executing our primary plan of attack. 2. Meh. Form is temporary.

In that case so were Duff and Robben. So having a 20 goal a season striker isn't the be all and end all. Glad we got there eventually. Fergie got the most out of every player and he wasn't averse to throwing 4 strikers on at once, but the guy was just a great manager. Van Persie was what took them away from the rest last season but a striker isn't a guarantee of anything - Liverpool have two great ones but they won't win anything. Everton have Martinez to thank for what they're doing right now, not just Lukaku. 3 years ago we finished 2nd. The Torres signing was a mess but it's probably a symptom of the problem and not the problem in and of itself. There's no guarantees that signing any other striker would've been any better and hindsight is always 20:20. I just don't understand how with so much going right at the club right now people are choosing to look back at one transfer dealing. I couldn't count how many players I wish we'd signed be it Aguero or Neymar or Suarez etc....etc...etc...but I don't get the desire to keep rehashing it whenever they score.

Not our main striker. And nothing to do with Fergie retiring and players simply not performing? We won't have a 20 goal a season striker this year - do you want to write off our chances at the title? Either way I don't see why every time Sturridge scores or makes an assist certain people have to bait other supporters. They know exactly the type of response they're going to get and they know exactly why, so why keep doing it? Beyond being antagonistic it's fucking boring.

Us. We won the league in 2005 with Drogba scoring just 10 goals for us. The fact that we had the likes of Lamps and Gudjohnson is what took us over the line, much like if we win the title this season it will probably be down to the likes of Hazard and Oscar as well as a solid defence. It's not as simplistic as you're making it sound unfortunately. Torres has played under FIVE different managers here which points to larger problems than just him. We're finally signing a midfielder who can really play in the pivot. To put everything on Torres is just ignorant of the larger issues at this club or simply your agenda.

Like fuck is he. There have been plenty of other things, like the sacked managers, lack of advanced midfielders then lack of defensive midfielders that to point to Torres being the main reason is either rank ignorance or nothing more than agenda-driven bile. He left. Nothing wrong with that. He then slated this club and it's supporters. That's your fellow supporters. Let it go, pull your pants up and put the binoculars down....he ain't coming back

He's a great player and we shouldn't have sold him, but some of you guys need to stop popping up with a comment about him every time he scores a goal or makes an assist. It's fucking pathetic, although the commitment to doing that between stalking your exes is impressive. The guy was unfortunate that we bought one of the best strikers around at the time, and invested a lot of money in him. That's one of the realities of football. If you invest about £100 million in a player then you have to give that investment a chance to succeed and to be fair he's done well in his last 4 starts for us, yet he still gets abuse from certain people. The thing I can't get my head around is how people still come on to a Chelsea forum and praise Sturridge for every assist or goal when he's said shit in the press about our expectations as fans and how Liverpool is a bigger club than us. Fuck him. He left, we've moved on (well most of us have). There's bad blood after what he said and if you can't understand how some of your fellow Chelsea fans might be a bit miffed at you lauding him after every good thing he does then maybe you want to have a talk with yourselves about where your loyalties actually lie.

Well I'm sorry, but if you can't find enjoyment in watching the likes of Hazard, Willian and Oscar then I don't know what I can say. To me football is about the contest, about the tactics not just about sticking 10 Matas out on the pitch and seeing a 5-4 scoreline. There's great beauty in seeing a side execute a gameplan where they soak up pressure and then hit teams on the counter, like we do. I was entertained by us beating Man City and Liverpool at home, but I was also thrilled with the way we played against Arsenal despite some people accusing us of parking the bus (when we actually created more chances). It just looks like you're looking for something to moan about, a bit like those moaning about the game yesterday especially this one called lionsd......oh wait.

If we get 3 points then what's the problem? Personally I think we'll look to improve on that over time, but if we don't I honestly don't see the problem.

That's if we go for one. We could stick with a stronger midfield like Matic, Mikel, Van Ginkel, Ramires and maybe introduce Chalobah. I don't see a problem with that, but then I'm not hung up on us being Bayern or Dortmund or Barca.

Probably not because he doesn't suit their style. Not sure what your point is though, unless you're simply raking over our past transfers in order to find something to moan about. If that's what's left for fans like you then that bodes well for our future. You're moaning about our lack of a ball-playing midfielder in a thread about us signing a ball-playing, defensively strong midfielder.

Fucking gutting for Newcastle and that ref wants investigating. Absolutely disgusting.

They played with pace, power and pressing and that's what we're looking to try and do. That's my point. That's the style we're trying to develop.

It's also not our approach. Should Bayern have emulated Barca's style last season? Or should they have gone for that style that saw them win 7-0 over two legs. We're developing our own style. If that's not a style you like then I've not got much more advice except for two words and the second one is OFF!

Mikel can do that. Lamps can do that. Van Ginkel looked capable of doing that and now we're looking to sign another midfielder who can do that. You can either moan about what we should've done (because we have made mistakes) or you can be hopeful and happy about what we're trying to do going forward. The fact that we have a clear gameplan that suits the majority of our players and gets results, and also looks like it's being implemented in the youth ranks and we have young players who it suits should be cause for optimism.

Toure off for City and Newcastle looking dangerous. Come on.

And we have to play like every other 'top team' because?? Look, I don't disagree that Ramires shouldn't be replaced in the future but if we get Matic then I can certainly see him being retained in a midfield that is more defensive and allows the 'donkeys' like Hazard, Oscar and Willian to do their thing. To be honest I'm enjoying watching us play with a clear philosophy that seems to be working against most teams. I'm not going to bitch and moan because we aren't trying to emulate Barcelona or Bayern.

Sorry but you said that Mourinho likes his 'donkeys' which is really only half of the story. He likes his water-carriers but he uses them to give the magicians a chance to do their things. For every Makelele there was a Robben. For every Costinha there was a Deco. For every Cambiasso a Sneijder.

Meh, we've had some favourable decisions and now they've got one. What's encouraging is that City away from home look nothing like City at home. Newcastle deserve something from that first half, plus there's something I really don't like about Pellegrini. Would've loved Pardew (who is also a cunt) to have chinned him.

I don't think it's beyond the realms of possibility that Matic could get a start if he was signed in time. Mourinho does like to throw in the odd curve ball and it's not like that midfield couldn't do with improving. Plus Matic wouldn't be asked to do much more than he's already doing. The question marks would be over him dealing with the pace of the game, but it's not like he'd be facing Toure or Ozil in his first game.

And Ronaldo. And Deco. And Sneijder. And Hazard. Donkeys the lot of them.

All the reports I've seen suggest RVP is out for a while and Rooney is touch and go for this game, so try and cheer up a bit.

7 goals conceded away from home against Swansea, Fulham, West Brom and Southampton. To me this guy presses and distributes the ball better than Mikel and is more composed and has better positioning than Luiz.

Just saw Barry's goal for Everton. Lukaku controls a hoofed ball forwards nicely and then with his back to goal lays it off for Barry to score. He can do a lot of the things people seem to criticise him for not being able to do, but it's simply consistency that he needs. That will come with age. Also unlucky not to score himself, but took his 'goal' well.