The only place to be

Spot on. Azpi gets love because of what he represents - a young, unproven, cheap buy who becomes a first-teamer. A unheralded guy with a great attitude that we help make a star. Not player of the year but an important example of what this club should be trying to do in future.

So I'll be the Rupert..... Rafa did well today. Swansea are clearly on their vacation but they were still pretty good in defence up until the goal. Losing Rami could've been a massive blow but Rafa made the right choice by bringing on Lamps and not Mikel. He provided that go-forward we needed and changed the game for us. Oscar took his goal beautifully and went well from then on but he was absolute garbage for most of the first-half. Just like the Fulham game, it was an old-fashioned Chelsea win in the end and it's starting to become a bit of a habit. A great 4 days for this club though. 1. A great win in Basel 2. Chalobah scores a screamer and grows his reputation 3. Lukaku gets 1 goal and sets up 2 4. Spurs drop 2 points 5. Chelsea get a nice win 6. Lamps gets his goal whilst looking like Frank Lampard 7. Bobby Tambling gets a great reception after his recent troubles 8. Arsenal drop 2 points 9. United can't get our record 10. QPR get relegated In a shitty season, a few decent days.

Did I say he would?

Tough to measure his success. Ideally we'd want to sell more than a million Chelsea shirts worldwide and gain greater following in the emerging South American markets. To help that we should print up lots of plastic flags with his face on....I really think the more plastic flags the better, maybe even sell someone like Chalobah who is completely unproven at the top level and use that to print more plastic flags. Also we need to include a clause in his contract about kissing the badge when he scores.

Nice litmus test today. Two players scored. One was someone we let go and represents our past. The other is a guy on loan from us who represents our future (hopefully). Some fans bitch and moan about us letting one go. Others celebrate the great job the other is doing and look to his return. :tophat:

The comparisons between Coutinho and Oscar are a little unfair. Coutinho is playing in a shit team, but in his correct position without anyone else taking up the space he occupies. Oscar is being played out of a position a lot of the time and in the same team as Mata who does a lot of the playmaking Oscar would do at any other club. He's also lacking consistent playing time in the centre when he gets the chance and he's new to the European game.

Where's 'there'? We have a pop at the board for not giving youth a chance, but I'm starting to wonder if the fans haven't got some part to play in it. He's scored 14 goals in his first season, created goals for his teammates and loves this club.....but when it comes down to it how many t-shirts will he sell? Now Falcao, there's a guy who can shift t-shirts. I bet fans will be queueing up to get his name printed on the back of their shirts. Shame we can't sign Shevchenko again because not only did he shift shirts, but he had that long name too which is where you really make money. That's why Ba won't last here. Nice player, works hard, scores goals but really how much money can you make off 2 letters? Thank god. There's no handshakes to talk about and that Lampard/ChelseaTV blunder really didn't have legs. Personally I couldn't give a shit. He's been given a chance by West Brom and then fans there are decent people who have showered him with love and affection. We're still not sure if we want him back next season because he's 'not ready'.

I thought we were sending all our young players to Swansea. We could send him to Watford. It's the easy choice and it saves us having to have some balls and give some young players a chance for once, and what could be better for a young player than a relegation fight to get him ready for the rigours of a title push and Champions League football? Personally I think the best place for him would be Man United. They develop youngsters well, they need a midfielder like him, they've got a good manager in place and he'll get European experience. Plus he'd have some company alongside Zaha in making the step-up from Championship to Premier League level.

Playing up top alone now that West Brom are down to 10 and doing a good job. Chased down a long ball from the keeper, muscled the defender out of the way, turned him on the byline and set-up a support runner for a shot which was defended well by Southampton. Bit of a beast. And just set up Long for the third goal - 1 goal, 2 assists. Can't wait for him to be ready.

14th goal of the season. :blue scalf:

Scousers looking on with envy.

This would probably be the first scoop Chelsea TV has ever had. But in all likelihood it's just a mistake in the graphics department.

I actually agree that he's done well, but we do have good players in Terry, Cahill and Ivanovic as well. The question is whether he offers more in midfield than we lose using another combination of defenders. It's a testament to how much he's grown as a player this year. If Mata hadn't been so important for us, Luiz would probably be my player of the season.

It's a discussion that has been going on for years in football circles. Saying he's 'miles ahead' is ridiculous. They have different roles in the team and I think you're completely underestimating how good Chalobah is. This isn't something new either - he's looked exceptional for years and even United fans who watched their youth games realised that. The better comparison isn't Wilshere - it's Pogba. If you want to discuss McEachran then put something in his thread rather than making half-arsed assertions in this one. McEachran has a completely different set of issues and I've explained my view on them before. Using that as an argument against Chalobah is absolutely ridiculous to anyone who has watched their development. Also there is a 20 year old in the Championship who is exceptionally talented and has been bought by Man United for about £15 million - I wonder if their fans are discussing whether to loan him to Swansea or Watford next season. Fortunately I have confidence in this guy. He's overachieved at every level he's played at and shows a level of maturity, composure and heart that we desperately need in our midfield.

Actually Bale has played on the left-wing, the right-wing (when Lennon was absent against City) and in the central free-role. As for the yardstick, I think it's right to compare Luiz to our current midfield because if they were doing a good job week-in and week-out (Ramires, Lampard and Mikel) then this wouldn't even be an issue. If Romeu hadn't been injured, this probably wouldn't be an issue. But it is an issue so let's not obfuscate the issue for the sake of it.

You realise we haven't sold De Bruyne don't you?

It's not unrealistic, it's just a long shot. Forgetting all your bs about me not helping him (he's been mentioned as a future England captain by people who know football for a while now), this kid is something special and is something that both England and Chelsea are missing at the moment. A good season next year will certainly see him being mentioned as a possible option for the World Cup squad just like Wilshere was in 2010 (and Wilshere was younger as well). Like I said it depends where he ends up next season, but there's absolutely no reason to think he won't be in the discussion. Who is his competition? Barry? Cleverley? Rodwell?? There's not really a single nailed-on starter for the World Cup except Wilshere and he's starting to get a reputation as being somewhat injury-prone. Who else is there? Gerrard and Milner? It's a possibility, but this kid is something special indeed. As for Jack Cork, if Leon Osman and Jordan Henderson can get England cap then anything is possible.

Depending on where he ends up next season, he's a possibility to be a late bolter for the World Cup squad. I also liked his post-match interview. He's a well-spoken young man and has a sense of responsibility that people twice his age don't necessarily have. This is a very special prospect and alongside Luiz, Lukaku and Mata we could have men that we can be truly proud to call Chelsea players leading this club for the next 5-10 years.

I think there's zero chance of us selling him for a bargain price when we have no reason to. If we do then I've drastically misjudged the people running this club.

Lukaku is a long way off is he? 13 goals in his first season is a long way off? Drogba helped us win two Premier League titles before he scored that many in a single season.

The kid deserves a chance to win the shirt. What pissed me off was the commentators saying he'll never do something like that again. Fuck off. He very nearly scored a volley arguably as good as that one for England U-21s earlier this season. The fact that he scores from that position is easily overlooked because we've been conditioned to think that DMs don't need to kick in with goals, but wouldn't it be nice if they did?

I'm not going to get into a debate about Allardyce or any other manager. I've said why I think Moyes is worthy of discussion if we don't get Mourinho and I've explained he's by no means the perfect choice. Neither is Pellegrini. Yes he did well to spend £200 million to amass 96 points and yes he's got experience in the CL, but he also has question marks hanging over him. That's really all I can be bothered to add.

The greater the resources, the more successful teams are - that's the general rule. It's why Rangers and Celtic dominate the SPL, Barca and Real dominate La Liga, why PSG will dominate the French league for years to come and why the teams who have won the Premier League have generally spent the most (United, Arsenal, City, Blackburn and.....um, there's one other whose name escapes me). Just to put Everton's finances into context, the teams either side above and below them in net spend over the last five years are Wigan and Reading - two teams almost certain to go down. Now of course there are exceptions (QPR have spent loads, Arsenal have made profits) but in general resources determine success. On paper, Everton have absolutely no right being in the position they're in and Moyes deserves credit for that. He's ready for a step up and if we're not in the running for a top, top manager then he's got to be in the discussion.

Cech Azpilicueta Luiz Terry Cole Ramires Lampard Moses Mata Hazard Ba Don't expect to see this team but would like to. A few players are penned in (Cech, Azpi, Luiz, Cole, Rami, Mata, Hazard, Ba) but I think JT, Moses and Lamps did enough yesterday to start on Sunday. I could quite easily see Ivanovic or Cahill instead of JT though, Mikel for Lamps and Oscar for Moses simply to keep things a little fresher and get Gary back to match fitness. But Swansea really didn't show much in the game at the Bridge and should be there to be beaten. They sat deep and allowed us possession which is why I don't think we need to go too defensive in the middle of the park. Goes without saying that we need to win this one and Swansea seem to be a level below where they were before the League Cup Final, so we need to take advantage and I think we need an early goal. Get that and the floodgates could open.

The beauty of a Liverpool player being banned, and then a Tory Prime Minister wading in and trolling the scousers.....oh it's so beautiful. Now they're moaning about him influencing the decision. What bollocks. Coincidentally No.10 have released a photo of him upon hearing news of the ban.