The only place to be

Frank is doing a job for the team because we really don't have anyone else who can do it. He's learning a new position at the age of 35 and needs time like other players learning this new system. He's also got to build that rapport with Ramires so they can get used to managing their responsibilities better. Rami doesn't have Lamps range of passing from deep and Lamps doesn't have Rami's defensive workrate. The one thing he never does is duck out or disappear and that is massively important for the other players on the pitch and the fans in the ground. Of course we need reinforcements in that area but that's not going to be solved any time soon.

Beating them still nets you three points, just like every other team in the Premier League. But you have a point - they really are the Basel of the league....oh.

Good point...I bet United feel really stupid not loaning this kid out. How do they expect him to grow like players like Scholes, Giggs and Neville if they don't loan him out?

How much time does he spend in the gym? In fact what type of workouts is he doing in there? People who say stuff like 'he spends too much time in the gym' are the type of people who have never set foot in a gym. I'm also fairly certain that you have no idea about his training regime.

Januazj did well, scored a couple of goals and may win United the match.... but he really isn't ready and needs a season-long loan at someone like Everton to really prove his worth. I mean what do United hope to achieve by just throwing him into the first-team?

And there in a nutshell is what I think is at the root of this issue - young players need support and he put in a fabulous performance against Newcastle, but in the next game he 'struggles' (scored a goal and I think people are being overly critical where they wouldn't with other players) against one of the best teams around so fans say he needs to be benched. That's the same type of 'support' that Jose gets from people saying he was the wrong choice because of a few tough results at the start of the season. For most supporters the prospect of someone with Lukaku's potential is enough to stick by him and support him - we managed it with JT and other young players in the past but nowadays that seems to be asking too much of certain types of fan. Until that is remedied then I think we're going to struggle to develop talent in any meaningful way.

Because he's quite simply not good enough yet. He's done well at the lower level but needs to prove himself in the Premier League before he can.... oh wait, I see what you did there.

Most of the time it is. He's a striker and he scores goals. That's what he's always done and I'm firmly of the belief that he would've done that in our side whilst developing the rest of his game. It's a shame that our club seems unwilling to take a chance on our young players and I think it's something that Chelsea supporters have to ask questions of. Too many new fans who want instant success.

Not talking about Josh. He's shown nothing as a professional as of yet and I don't think he'd have the mental strength to succeed being thrown in at the deep end.

John Terry made it after a dodgy start but we stuck by him and he grew. We seem reluctant to do that with Lukaku in the belief he won't struggle when he becomes a first team player for us.... He probably will however old he is.

Eto'o looks like a 32 year old striker who has spent a couple of years in the Russian league. The brain is still sharp but his body looks a little behind right now.

You're right... players need experience so they don't lose their heads in semi finals, get sent off and let the team down. With that in mind where would you like us to loan John Terry to? Lukaku is remarkably mature and grounded. I don't think he'll have any problem with the mental side of representing this club.

Clarence Seedorf had tons of experience... Should we replace Ramires with him? Or is what a player does now more important than what they did?

Why wouldn't he get that opportunity here?? Which of our strikers is in form? What about champions league experience? Surely he needs that too. There's always an argument not to do something.

We don't ask him.... We pay him. It's his job. I genuinely believe he has the quality and attitude to survive and thrive.

We're a top 6 team... why can't we give him 90 minutes? Isn't he good enough??

The reason he's starting games at Everton is because they don't have anyone better.... Do we??

Ivanovic has been fantastic this season and Jose trusts him whilst azpi really hasn't looked all that good in his limited appearances. Is argue bane is the form right back in the league and this notion that he's a centre back masquerading as a right back is about as accurate as calling Gary Neville a centre back in 1999.

The simple fact is that at the end of this loan he still needs to be given a chance by this club. He still needs to prove himself in a Chelsea shirt. That requires a leap of faith from this club and I don't know if they'll take it. They could've taken it this season and we might have had a striker who can score goals.

Mark Hughes coming on in the second half at home to Liverpool in the FA Cup. Not a fantastic technical performance but a heroic one that lifted the whole stadium and led to one of the greatest comebacks that I've seen. Flo and Zola against Barca put on arguably the greatest first half performances that I've ever seen. Never thought I'd see a moment like that at the Bridge and still one of the best memories I have.

The guy made the right choice in going on loan because he saw that this club wouldn't give him a chance. That's a shocking indictment of the culture at this club and I'm not entirely sure where the blame should fall. Are we too demanding of instant success as a fanbase? Looking at some of the reactions in the Mourinho thread then I think that might be possible. May sound harsh, but way too many spoilt babies who want all the glory without suffering any of the growing pains.

Dropping our three best performers this season (Ivanovic, Oscar and Ramires) seems a little extreme for a tough game. I wouldn't even make that change. Just replace Torres with Eto'o and let the guys start to build some chemistry.

Some people want strikers who can score goals, others want strikers who can sit around the camp fire and regale you with stories of when they won the Champions League....maybe even show you their medals. Who here doesn't enjoy watching Eto'o play and thinking 'Three years ago he would have scored that'.....worth the price of admission on it's own.

Great player, fantastically important for us and really stepping up and carrying the team in a way nobody probably imagined BUT still needs to eliminate those bad touches he has because when he loses the ball it's in the most dangerous area of the pitch 9 times out of 10. Sounds harsh and probably is, but I've praised this guy before only for him to either lose his head (Villa away) or the ball (Everton away, but by no means alone in doing that and the goal was about 5 players' fault) and have it cost us. He's relatively young though so hopefully these will become more infrequent as time goes on. But we definitely can't afford to lose him at the moment because he really does knit the team together simply through his workrate enabling him to join up with attacks as well as get back and defend.

Wankers.