The only place to be

Nice end of season game in the end. Nice sunshine, people in their new kits and generally a good mood around the place. The videos seem to be popping up online of the lap and it was a beautiful moment for everyone. There's a real sense of family and pride at this club that's been enhanced by people like Lampard, and I'm so glad he's staying for another season now. Just compare it to the City lap of....whatever for a comparison. The match itself was a nice little contest in the end. Great to see Ake get his first full start and he really grew into the game as it went on. If bringing this kid on was Rafa's only legacy (which it isn't) then I think we'd look back in a few years and say well done (although some people never will because he said some mean words when managing a different club). Nice to see Torres score too and hopefully that makes him a little bit easier to sell in the summer. Part of me was thinking that he could stick around, but I think this recent purple patch is too good to cash in on. At least if he does go there will be better feeling attached. Had a tear in my eye when Paulo came out too. It's felt like he's been on his farewell tour for a few years now, but he's just a great pro who always gave his all for this club and seemed to enjoy every moment of it. There are certain players who might not have been involved yesterday who could do with an ounce of that type of dedication. So a nice end of term get together, played in relaxed conditions for the first time in six months and a nice way to put a full stop on this chapter of Chelsea's history before starting a new one. After moaning for months that I wanted this season over, now I just want the new one to start.

It's a tough one to explain, but the culture at Chelsea changed with him. That arrogance and swagger just fits Chelsea Football Club so well, and it endured after he left. It took us to the Champions League final in the season he left, and it was also evident last season in the Lampards, Drogbas and Cechs. That resiliency, that strength and that pragmatism were all something that Jose bought to the club. And there's still a strong bond with him that one might call love. You love your stats but this is something that goes beyond stats (although I'm sure Jose has some impressive ones still). It's about the emotion of sport, the unquantifiable and the intangible. What Jose does is he creates a team, a 'siege mentality' where it's us against them and that was something magnificent even when we weren't winning things. Things weren't perfect and that has as much to do with the board at the time as it does with Jose, but both those things have changed. We're not the club who buys Benayouns anymore (hopefully) focusing more on young players with tremendous upside and he is coming off a tough experience in Madrid (where he still has a pretty decent record). It's hard to explain, but this just feels right.

You're actually completely wrong on your appraisal of that incident. It was the perfect cross from Di Maria and Courtois saw it across the box perfectly. His first move was to try and claim it but it actually swerves across the box rather than being a straight ball. Perfect keeping. His second move is to meet it where the striker should be attacking it - between his centre backs. If a number 9 does what he's supposed to in that position, Courtois will meet him head-on. Again, perfect keeping. His final move is to cover anyone at the back post and as everyone can see, he does that perfectly too. Anyone looking to criticise this piece of play really needs to give up - this is football at it's finest. A perfect ball, a perfect back post run and a perfect save. Maybe stick to gymnastics where you can knock off a point for a person taking a step after doing a quadruple tuck somersault.

In years to come, Benayoun will probably symbolise everything that Chelsea did wrong in the first decade of Roman's ownership. I think that's why he gets so much 'hate' (resentment is probably more accurate though) because it was just such a 'meh' deal. 30 years old, cost a fair whack in fees and on big wages. Fortunately we've gone from signing Benayouns to De Bruynes (same price...ish, cheaper wages, massive upside) and I think what a lot of people who are nervous about certain things in our future (Mourinho coming back, some of the players we're being linked with etc) have their roots in this type of deal. Pretty much the same player at the end of the day. Busted flushes, no dynamism, no game-changing ability and both very much on the downswing. Joe Cole had the bonus of being homegrown and a Chelsea fella but he was pretty poor towards the end of his time here and it was sad to see. The ball would get to him and everything would slow to a crawl.

The problem we have is that no-one knows what he is actually earning, and how that money is actually made up. Is it a flat weekly wage or is it dependent on appearances, goals etc. Is the money itself coming out of the general wage budget or is it made up of his image rights and other such things. Lamps is still a very visible player in terms of our marketing (although he was left off the new kit ads for whatever reason) and he's a fantastic ambassador for this club. I've been conflicted about re-signing him because my head sees the 35 year old player who doesn't quite fit our system week-in and week-out. But for my heart, it's an easy decision. When you see him interviewed, he's just a fantastic guy and sometimes that's worth keeping around for a bit longer. He's also had five months where he's been able to sign with another team and there hasn't been a massive rush, whilst he's also proclaimed his desire to stay here. In terms of negotiating he's put himself in a rather weak position and the market hasn't exactly helped him. The club aren't fools - I suspect they've got him on a deal that reflects his actual market value.

He looked like a 30 year old who has had two bad knee injuries. Apparently West Ham are interested so now might be the time to cut our losses especially considering the wages he is on.

Youtube videos.... :lol2: :lol2: We get it...you really like Frank Lampard but this is getting a little silly now. It's like listening to a One Direction fan slag off Led Zep and pointing to their lack of Brit Awards.

My view on Madrid is that they don't really want a manager, and certainly not one with personality like Mourinho. They want an accountant, someone who just sits quietly in the background and let's the money do it's thing on the pitch. Despite this Mourinho will leave Real Madrid with the highest win percentage of all managers who have taken charge of more than 100 games. And being sacked by Madrid isn't the worst thing in the world - just ask Heynckes when he brings his Bayern Munich team to Wembley next week.

Before then going on to explain the differences in regards the fans and the media. We're also not in a league with arguably the greatest club side of all time, which helps.

That's a great way to ruin two keepers in my opinion. What's the criteria for rotation? He's too good to be an understudy anymore so we have to make a choice.

Sometimes things just don't work out. Sometimes you enter a situation where the things that need to be changed can't be and when you try, you burn your bridges. Real Madrid is a very tough club to manage, almost unlike any other. Here at least he will get the support from the supporters and also the media and in reality, who else is there at this moment in time?

Not sure what the future holds for this kid. Two great keepers, one with maybe 3-5 years left at the top and one with 15 years. Can't keep loaning him out for the next few seasons.

I agree. I just don't agree that we need that if it costs £50 million. I'd much rather build a team with cheaper parts like a Rooney or Lewandowski.

Fair enough. Maybe listen to the people who watched Scholes in the decade before you started following the English game.

How many assists is that this season? 2? 3? He's a great player no doubt but is he the best for this team, for this particular set of players and at the price quoted? £50 million for a 27 year old who hasn't played in the Champions League for 3 years is a massive risk.

Why do you feel the need to denigrate a player like Scholes when you've admitted before that you really haven't seen him play that much? Are you that insecure about Lampard's legacy that you have to attack someone that most of us wouldn't consider a direct rival? Trust me - Lampard is a great enough player in his own right for you to ease off the quite frankly ludicrous attacks on Scholes.

I was going to say you were going a little bit overboard, but he's a young, English left-back and that's something we've always had trouble with. Coley has been the main man for years, but before that it seemed like we were buying a new one every week (Doriga, Hall, Dow, Barness, Phelan, Baba) and apart from Soxxy it's been a tricky position traditionally. Plus I don't particularly rate either Nditi or Wright so why not go for it? Berts is a capable deputy and Van Aanholt holds some promise but if I had to put money on which of the three makes it then I have to go for Shaw both right now and in the future, which is something considering he's the youngest of the three. Plus if we can get him now it saves us the trouble of tapping him up later.

Everton is a tough game, but there are a couple of factors in our favour. They've got very little to play for as winning or losing doesn't affect their league placing. They also blew their emotional load last weekend with that great farewell for Moyes, and whilst they might want to give him a result as a send-off I think that last game took a lot out of them. Still, it'd be nice to win this game. I'm not averse to playing in the qualifiers because it adds some competitiveness to your pre-season and that sets you up well for the new season, but that can come back and bite you on the arse a few months down the line. I also think something could still happen with Spurs and Arsenal (reading the reports of Arsenal's spending, I think it's better for us if they do miss out on the CL because I don't see Levy spending whatever happens). So it's got to be a pretty strong team Cech Azpi Ivanovic Cahill Cole Lampard Luiz Moses Mata Oscar Torres Gone more for the team I think Rafa will pick than I would pick. Back four picks itself really, if we go with Luiz in midfield which I think he'll use to combat Fellaini. Rami is out and I don't see him giving Mikel any game time. Up front I've got a sneaky feeling he'll give Torres another run-out considering his performance on Wednesday and also to try and end the season with a couple of goals. Ba hasn't been setting the world alight in recent weeks and whilst it might be his 'turn' I do think Torres will get the nod. The bench will be interesting. Would love to see Romeu get 15 minutes at the end if we're leading and maybe Ferreira too but that's a big if. Think Benayoun is also nailed on for an appearance whatever happens. Just want a nice victory, in the sun with the trophies and maybe even the youth team getting on the pitch at some point, so that we can actually enjoy the lap of honour in what I really hope is the last game of the season.

And now look at the odds of a move to United start to lengthen. £300 quid to shift the odds. £3000 on United at 4/1. Well played sir. Well played.

So some bloke on Twitter puts a £300 bet on something and that makes it true? Another 0 on that and I might give a shit. Plus, we've got Hazard - I thought we were about making stars, not buying expensive ones.

Interesting to see AVB say that. I've given him some stick before, but I reckon he should come back to the Bridge and work in the scouting department. Might be the only way he gets to see Gareth Bale next season.

Never really hated him. There are people I hate in football, some for personal reasons, but it's something I try to avoid because life's too short. The comments he made were when he was in charge of another club and they have a fanbase that needs constant reassuring because they're fragile souls. As a manager, I've come to realise he's somewhat limited in his tactical approach to games. His unwillingness to tinker with his setup is something I've criticised a fair bit, but he has also had moments where he has got it spot on. The team that Robbie put together this season was always going to struggle in my opinion. It relied too much on individual brilliance and lacked cohesion. Rafa didn't improve upon that much but there were games where we looked like a proper team (Fulham, Swansea, United and a few others). I'm just relieved that we're reaching the end of this sorry little chapter in our history in relatively good health. There are players who have grown in stature under his tenure and whilst that may not be down to him, the next manager will certainly benefit from their improvement.

I would love to see him tried in the double pivot. HIs vision and passing sometimes go to waste in wider positions and he's actually quite a tenacious little tackler for a 'creative no.10'. He could be that link between defence and attack that we sometimes miss and which forces us to resort to long, speculative balls forward. You'd want someone a bit more sturdy beside him (like a Khedira or Martinez) but I think he could be great there.

Weren't you the one who passed a comment on Scholes before, and then admitted you hadn't seen him play much? Look, I get that you like Lamps and you're trying really hard to let everyone know but his record is fantastic enough that you don't need to make comments suggesting he's better than Scholes or Giggs. They were different types of players for one thing, but all absolutely phenomenal in their own right.

Sorry mate, but I don't think you'll find a single football fan who thinks that.