The only place to be

He's really not that type of lad. He's very meek and that is part of the problem because I don't think he's got that nastiness in him. If you look at his background, he didn't grow up in a rough neighbourhood where football was his only way out. He's had a fairly comfortable life and sometimes that can be to the detriment of a player's fighting spirit. Now there are obvious exceptions and I'm by no means saying all footballers grew up on the wrong side of the tracks (Frank is a fantastic example of a person who came from a good background but still had an almighty hunger and developed a great work ethic) but Josh really needs to get some swagger and act a bit of a cunt. He's got fantastic technique on the ball, he just needs to fight a little bit harder to get on it more and create space. Oscar manages it - he really muscles people off the ball and uses his arse to create space for himself. Josh needs to watch him a bit.

Finishing is something players can work on - having an ability to get into goalscoring positions is something far more instinctive.

Maybe Cavani not coming forces us to use Lukaku more and this guy surprises a lot of people. He has a maturity and commitment to his game that belies his age.

That wasn't really his fault. He arrived in January when the Swansea team was settled because AVB insisted on keeping him around to use him, which he didn't. Josh isn't the type of player you can throw into any team because you've got to build around him and that takes a pre-season in my opinion. Piazon doesn't have that problem.

I haven't read the whole post (yet) but I actually agree on this point. Mata is phenomenal but he's weak at defending and can disappear sometimes. When I've seen Oscar given that main playmaking role, as he is for Brazil, he links everything together from deep plus he offers a lot more energy and hustle in defending. The problem is that if you move Mata wide then you can also expose one of the full-backs because he doesn't track back like Hazard does. I think Mata is going to be a problem for us going forward which sounds absurd because he was our best player last season.

It's potentially an Azpilicueta or a De Bruyne. To be fair, he done us pretty good at Villa Park. He's raw and he's a bit messy but he's also £30 million less than Cavani. Plus he's Belgian - you can never have enough.

I actually agree with much of what you're saying about our tactics (who knew I could understand tactics??). The best performances this season were when the team was actually 'joined up' - where everyone defended and attacked together and there were a few performances like that (off the top of my head Fulham away, West Ham at home, West Brom at home and points within matches like Spurs at home). But in those games we relied a lot on Ramires to join up the play by bringing the ball forward and players like Mata and Hazard dropping deep. It's those links that we built a lot of our good stuff on, whereas Mikel really didn't help at all in that way in my opinion. We talk about his passing a lot, and I actually have no problem with lateral passing. It's key to possession football because it forces the opposition to move, and it's in those small transitions that spaces open up and we create chances. The problem is Mikel doesn't do it with any urgency. If you watch him he doesn't do a lot of two touch passing - it's always a little laboured. Now that has the other effect of allowing players to close him down, but that's not the worst thing. It's the fact that it slows down ALL of our play and he's not the only talented player we've had do that to us over the years. Joe Cole suddenly went through a phase of being ponderous and slow on the ball. Now we can criticise other elements of his game and his mentality, but purely from a tactical point of view I simply think he doesn't suit what we've been trying to do either under Benitez or even AVB.

Jesus, you say something in private and then someone has to go and make it public. Seems to happen a lot nowadays. Why the fuck is his mother getting involved in this? This transfer just gets more tedious by the day.

I don't need 8 paragraphs to tell you to fuck off. But I was glad Frank stayed. I explained all the while that I was conflicted between Frank the footballer and Frank the legend. Ultimately his performances improved and I was relieved when he stuck around. I'd tell you where you can stick those little quotation marks of your's but I don't really consider myself a fan. I've always called myself a supporter, because that's what I do - I support this club. And to the OP, Choulo and I had a little spat and it got out of hand. Don't think it deserved this level of attention then and I don't think it needs discussing now. It happened, we cried, we hugged, we moved on. Feel free to name my name if you want - I'll just point out I never said that and don't believe it. If you actually want a proper discussion about how I view this club's fanbase then just ask though. I'll be honest - it saddened me to see some people who I've seen supporting this club for years unable to get tickets for Munich when gloryhunters who couldn't tell their Ambrosettis from the Bonettis were mumbling along with the songs. But that's not got much to do with where they're from but what they think supporting this club is. Those decent blokes also weren't the type to make private conversations public and they didn't shy away from saying what was on their mind either, but times change.

I'm willing to start Lukaku over Cavani because I believe in him. I think he's got maturity and experience that belies his years, he loves this club and he scored 17 goals last season. That's more than Drogba got in his first two seasons with roughly the same playing time. The second point is ridiculous - you're saying that a strong defence with a fast counter-attack and goals from deeper positions 'won't work anymore', despite that being (broadly speaking) the way Bayern Munich beat Barcelona 7-0 over two legs. Well if signing Cavani is the only way we can win trophies then we should definitely do it. People saying 'just pay it' remind me of some spoilt rich cunt princess who has just got her hands on daddy's credit card and is determined to by the most expensive sports car despite her living in roads covered in speed bumps.

Benteke could be. Personally I think we can win the league with what we have up front now, if we strengthen in other areas. We won the league with Drogba scoring less than a dozen goals (I know I'm repeating myself but it's important) because we had goals in other areas, and a solid defence. Getting a 20 goal-a-season striker isn't the only way to build a team capable of winning the league, especially when you have players like Hazard and Mata.

The two teams in the Champions League Final started with strikers who cost less than we spent on Shaun Wright-Philips. We won two league titles with a striker named Didier Drogba who scored less than a dozen goals in each season. This fascination.....no, obsession some people have with us buying the most expensive striker around is bewildering sometimes. You left off the two strikers who started the Champions League Final. Madzukic - £12 million Lewandowski - £4.5 million

You're definitely not alone in that. I'm not saying we should copy Arsenal but there's a middle ground between chasing £50 million strikers and shopping in the bargain bins, and the funny thing is we seem to be pretty fucking good at spotting value. Mata was relatively cheap but he's been a revelation. Azpi was about £7 million but it's conceivable that we've locked up the right-back spot for the next five years, maybe more. Then there's the likes of De Bruyne and Courtois who are worth at least triple what we bought them for. Even Lukaku looks like being a bargain in hindsight. Personally I'd be happy never going above the fee we paid for Hazard in terms of marquee signings, whilst continuing the policy of buying young and looking to develop that talent both in-house and through loan deals. If you look at our record transfer fees over the last 20 or so years, it doesn't look good for Cavani. We've broken the record to sign Fleck, Furlong, Casiraghi, Sutton, Hasselbaink, Drogba, Shevchenko and Torres. FOUR of those players were arguably unmitigated flops, two were meh (Casiraghi's injury was harsh and Sutton was shit, but we managed to sell him on for only a £4 million loss). Hasselbaink was a success in a weird period for us and Drogba became something of a legend BUT in his first two seasons, when we won the league no less, he scored less than a dozen league goals in each. Lukaku scored 17 last season. Two things - people want to see the club self-sufficient and healthy. Yes we have Roman but the guy has done more than enough for this club and I don't want us to have to be relient on him forever, which is why fiscal responsibility and the stadium are such key issues. Yes it's great now, but this club isn't just for us to enjoy. It's for the people who come after us. People before you and I fought to keep this club alive yet there are some people who are happy to run around like a madman with the credit card. The other point is about Cavani and his peak - if he's at his peak, then by definition the only way is down for him. We've actually spent the last couple of seasons buying players on their way up. It's been far more sensible in my opinion.

Bearing in mind Sturridge was on about £60K, then £80K for a bloke with Champions League experience and more than 20 German caps is actually about market value (and again that's without knowing the other things in his deal - no-one has mentioned signing fees and a friends of mine more familiar with these issues suggested that it may be beneficial to clubs in terms of FFP to eliminate one-off payments and spread them over the course of the contract). In the grand scheme of things, he's £105,000 p/w less than we were paying to Malouda and Benayoun last season and will take their roles in the squad. From that point of view it's hard to complain. Now I just want us to let him play. Finally we seem to be understanding that it's depth, rotation and competition that wins leagues and we're starting to amass that in some areas.

Move over Ron, Bruce and Michael - there's someone new to blame when we concede late goals away to Reading. But oh no, she isn't a football person. And she's a woman.

Annoyingly I don't think much of that is true. I think he's got a ton of ability and fantastic physical tools. For me it's all mental. He was a 19 year old with attitude issues and sometimes people don't change from that. Stick him alongside good players and he'll look good but I don't think he's the type of person who will put teams on his back and make the person next to him look better (the usual argument against this is something to do with us winning the CL - luck had more to do with that). It's why I don't think the fans have ever really taken to him. People like Maka, Wisey, Spackers etc. all gave their all and left everything on that pitch. They tried to realise their potential. It's why I love Lukaku - he is all about football. Look at what he said about the Champions League, how he felt like he hadn't earned it himself. Now look at Mikel after what he said, after that performance against Rubin Kazan....just unbelievable.

If you want to discuss the performances of other players then do it in their thread. You bought those performances up in reference to Mikel. He played poorly. Looking further into the issue is pointing out that other people played poorly too? Look, I'm just pointing out what Mikel's performances were like in those games. I'm not going to excuse the pivot - neither Lamps, Rami or Mikel covered themselves in glory last season. But Mikel was the only person I saw who shirked responsibility in games. Lamps never did that and Rami (who I criticised and then said I had been wrong about, because I have that ability) simply isn't as consistently technically proficient as one would like. Mikel is simply someone I'm pretty fed up with. I don't like seeing him wear this club badge anymore and I long for the day he leaves, if he's going to persist with this current level of performance. Fortunately we've got players like Chalobah, Ake and Loftus-Cheek coming through who I actually enjoy watching and consider proper Chelsea players. They look like they give a shit and I value body language and attitude in football - as someone who coaches kids I'm amazed you disregard this so quickly.

Southampton away and West Ham away were utterly atrocious performances by Mikel. Diame dominated him in at Upton Park and Lambert had him in his pocket at St Marys. I agree that bleeds blue was a little unfair in using those stats, but if you're going to just re-write history then you're not much better.

Not said the former, very rarely said the latter. Either way, you need to change the title of this thread to 'Look what TOPTB said' otherwise we're going off-topic.

Right.....there are now more people viewing this then there are the Schurrle thread. Choulo, I'm sorry I called you a cunt on numerous occasions. But this thread is an embarrassment to everyone concerned, and to this site. There was personal animosity between you and I but there was no need to take it further than that, but equally I shouldn't have started it. We've all had a bit of fun but let's just all cower our heads in shame and shuffle off.

Sorry, but the first two people to have a pop at me in this thread were both English, and both accused me of dismissing their opinions. If you can find a single person whose opinion I've dismissed because they're foreign or live overseas then go for it. I suggested this month that an English-based fan (very much in a Chelsea stronghold) shouldn't have won MOTM but that other people (at least one of whom lives abroad) should've. At worst I'm a bit of a cunt, but very much an equal opportunities one.

Another young guy as well, but with good experience for his age. Could see him going well in this league too. Not the type of signing we really make anymore, but for a club like Villa it's pretty excellent.

So is this thread going to stay open until I crack and go on a rant about 'foreigners' supporting Chelsea? I spend a lot of time on here conversing with 'international fans', celebrating with them and praising their points in discussions. I also get on pretty well with 'international fans' (stupid term but it's your's so why not?) in everyday life. Please don't try and make out like I was doing anything except giving you a chance to say something to my face. I was laughing at the fact you brought it up in the first place. The comment after that was a bit unkind but I thought it was a good way to needle you. If I wanted to have a pop at international fans I would, but I don't want to. They come in all stripes. I've had great times abroad with 'international fans' and I love the ones who turned up in moscow when we played Kazan and managed to out-sing the home team. The only international fan I have a problem with is you, but that's not because of where you live. It's because you're such a dick.

Learn to read douchebag. I was offering you the chance to talk shit to my face after you decided to call me names in another thread. I've said exactly what I meant to say in both the private conversation and this thread. You're the one trying to make it sound like I was trying to have a pop at 'international fans' in order to garner sympathy for yourself. It's a pretty pitiful attempt because it's so obvious. I think you're forgetting that I've had no problem in the past saying what I felt about certain fans, so if I really wanted to have a go at certain fans or groups of fans I probably would. But today the only person I'm really having a pop at is you, you spineless little turd. Seriously, this whole thread is a fucking embarrassment. Personally, I'm good with calling you a cunt for the next few hours (I'll even hashtag it) but does that really do this site and this community any favours? In fact does anything regarding this thread add to this community (a community I've praised on more than one occasion? Bellend.

Okore gone to Villa. Know a lot of people thought we might be in for him but apparently not. http://www.avfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10265~3208897,00.html