The only place to be

So where does this leave Kalas and Omeruo? Zouma seems like a very promising player but we have two other full internationals who play in the same position who are one year older. What makes this egg any more suited to a Mourinho-led team?

I'm with you on that one. For me this year is all about the league. I have no real aspirations for us to win the CL because there are clubs further along in their development than us. I think one of the Madrid teams could actually win it this year, but I just want us to prove we're the best team in England first and then build from that. But hey, if we could do both by May then I won't moan.

The Premier League is weak and our Champions League group was amazingly kind, despite us losing to Basel home and away. Now you'll start to see the competition heating up and hopefully we'll improve. Looking back, we were a Europa League level side and we won it. That's not a bad result. Personally I'd like to see us building something, a new footballing ethos. That might take time but we've already fluked one Champions League - it would be nice to be the best team in Europe as well.

The guy is coming back from one of the worst injuries you can get and is just starting to get games. He's actually looked pretty good as well.

He got 10 minutes in a game where the tempo was poor before he came on and only got worse. The crowd was dead, the opponents were unmotivated and poor and his teammates were practically asleep so lets spend way too much time analysing his performance. He was a hot prospect, we loaned him and he impressed in his loan and then he came back to a manager who was unwilling to play him. He's not alone in that, he looks like a shell of the man he was a few months ago and he probably needs to do what Lukaku did and get as far away from this place as possible.

He'll be dropped as soon as he makes a mistake, mainly because Cech is a far better keeper. Used to be that keeper was the one position we were consistent in - now we can't even rely on that.

He won't make it as a midfielder at a top club, or he won't make it here? Everytime he got a chance last year, he did well and I don't think we lost a game he appeared in (might be wrong). This year he's been well and truly fucked over. Maybe we have to face facts - Benitez was better at giving young players a chance than Mourinho was. Fortunately we've got a sugar daddy with a fat chequebook.

Hoddle is one of the most progressive English footballing minds of the last 20 years....ergo he's fucked. The guy transformed this club and doesn't get anywhere near the credit he deserves either. If he was French then he'd be at a top club but he suffered after some admittedly weird stuff.

I've never had a problem with the backwards and sideways passes because that's what you need to do, but just do it a bit faster so that the opposition has something to think about. That's how you create space. We're usually already going at a snail's pace by the time it gets into the final third. He touches the ball more than almost anyone else in the team so he helps dictate the tempo, but he plays like he's got arthritis. He's just too fucking laid back. He was laid back in losing the ball last night, he was laid back in trying to chase after that lost ball and he was laid back when he was trying to chase down Ireland at the weekend. Serious question - has anyone ever seen him sprint?

Most left-backs have that problem and I didn't see anyone moaning about it when he was the best left-back in the world. Started off rusty but grew into the game although he's still far short of his best. Would still start him against Palace though, just to see if he can continue to improve.

Mikel does play it slow though. There was a break in the second-half that he simply killed and that sucked all the energy out of the air. He shows no ambition, no passion, no aggression, no emotion, nothing. That's why there's no love for him because he doesn't show anything for people to connect with. Look at someone like Romeu - he puts zip on the ball when he gets it. With him it's very much two-touch football whereas Mikel dawdles on the ball and that allows the opposition to re-align. It's been like that for years though and the constant has been Mikel. The only entertainment he provides is that he constantly makes those who defend him look like mugs.

What about Van Ginkel? What about Mikel? I just think it's such a slap in the face to every young player if they see us signing someone like Pogba. It tells them that the best way to get into the Chelsea first-team is to leave this club and go abroad....and they're not wrong.

Think this guy is the new Kalou - gets the third goal in a 3-0 win, will occasionally start and flatter to deceive but is ultimately nothing more than a seat-filler. The fact that we kept this guy rather than trust Lukaku makes it hard for me to warm to him as well and he's fortunate that we have such a paucity of talent up-front. He's also deceptively weak.

How about we just go with Nat now, bring through Loftus-Cheek and maybe even Baker or Swift? That's an extreme example but the two players we're being linked with are one that United let for at 19 without giving him a chance (£30 million) and one that we let go for about £4 million without giving a chance (£25 million). You'd have thought the penny would've dropped that maybe it's worth giving a chance to a young player rather than wasting money spending tens of millions of pounds a few years down the line.

£25 million. Good player, but are we seriously going to buy back a player we let go for what worked out to be about £3-4 million? That seems utterly ridiculous and simply emphasises our lack of patience with young players. Be interesting to see if we chuck in a young player this time.

Give the kid a fucking chance or sell him so we can buy him back in 3 years time for £30 million.

It probably wasnt, but did people expect United to be 13 points off the pace by December or Man City to have lost HALF their away games? The league is fantastically weak this season yet we're bobbing along like everyone else with inconsistent performances and dropped points. I'm not worried about the Champions League this season because there are teams who are far better than us left in the competition, but we really shouldn't be 5 points behind Arsenal.

Seeing Juventus go out in the way they did.....just beautiful . Team of run by and supported by . Drogba still doing the business although that pitch was a disgrace.

I like Willian's workrate and I've thought he should be given a go in the middle more, but I just felt he was a little off last night. Maybe I dozed off and missed some of his contributions (which is possible because that match was a good cure for insomnia) but I thought he was a little up-and-down to be honest. I'll have to watch the game again....with some strong coffee.

I'm not sure if this is a new low for him because the Juventus, Arsenal and Rubin games were all pretty bad but he was terrible last night. He sucks the energy out of Stamford Bridge like no-one I've ever seen and seems to only be popular on social media sites with people who struggle to speak English properly. I can't think of another player who has made about 300 Chelsea appearances and been so poor and unpopular.

And play who instead? I'm getting tired of people bashing him when we lack other options. Last night wasn't a vintage performance by any means, but it was measured and controlled. He's still the only one of our midfielders who can play the occasional ball forward and provide some attacking impetus from that position. Every player was muted last night, but at least he didn't fuck up like Mikel did. How he gets caught in possession and nearly gifts Steaua a goal from nothing I don't know because the one thing he's supposed to be good at is 'shielding' the ball. Thank god we're being linked with Matic because this might signal the end of his Chelsea career. All in all it was a shit game to be at. No-one seemed up for it and once again the lack of quality in key positions was evident. Happy for Schwarzer to get a game because he deserves it after a great career, nice to see Luiz back in the team and put in a mistake-free performance under no pressure whatsoever, nice for Ashley to get back into the swing of things and grow into the game and that's about it. Not quite sure why Willian is getting so many plaudits because I thought he was pretty ordinary and wanted to see De Bruyne come on for more than 10 minutes. So we're through as probably the worst group winners in the competition bar United.

No links recently but am I alone in thinking this guy could do a job for us? He isn't cup-tied, he knows the league, he'll be 28 and he'd probably cost just shy of £20 million. He's being linked to PSG and I expect a few other clubs come January.

Just noticed the final is in Lisbon, about half-hour from where Jose was born. Maybe it's a sign.

Hopefully that dispute with Vasco doesn't prove to be a fly in the ointment. It's funny that we're actually looking to sign a striker named after a blood-sucking parasite when we already have Torres and Eto'o on the books.

Boga is a 10 or a left-winger, Traore (from what I've seen of him) is the same. Maybe Piazon makes it here as a left-winger but I'm just not convinced by him. He's a very nice player but he doesn't seem to do anything exceptionally. Nice vision, nice touch, nice movement....but nothing that makes you stand up and take notice and it was the same in the youth team. His problem is that Hazard and Schurrle are both only a few years older than him but far better on the left wing, and Oscar, Mata, De Bruyne, Traore and Boga can all play through the middle. He'd need at least one more year on loan somewhere of a higher standard than Vitesse, unless they get into the Champions League and he can show something there.