The only place to be

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.

Let's put Harry's 'achievements' at Portsmouth into context. In the season the won the Cup he had a net spend of £21 million. The season before he had a net spend of £13 million. Winning the FA Cup was a fantastic achievement (although the semi-final was against West Brom and the Final was against Cardiff, but they did beat Man United as well) but look at where Portsmouth are now. To use a financial term, they are fucked. Now you could look at his transfers and admire the way he bought players in cheap and sold them for more, but you have to look at the totality of his tenure and where he left the club. But there's no getting around the fact that Moyes doesn't have trophies to his name yet if that's all we're going to judge managers on then we should discount Pellegrini too. In fact Redknapp has a better record than both of them but I wouldn't want him near this club. What Moyes does is surpass expectations. It says something that you think Everton should be doing better than they are. The reality of the situation is that they should be nowhere near where they have been for the last half of a decade. They've spent less (net) than over 75% of the teams currently in the Premier League in that time. By all rights they should be fighting relegation, not for a Champions League spot. I can't give you a stat that tells you he's the best we can do. But can you give me a single reason why Everton should be in the position they're in right now? It's a phenomenal achievement by any measure.

Not to be the grammar police, but I've always blamed Becks for popularising the surname 'Loos' and thus confusing people. Damn you Beckham!! Actually I reckon if Cech got sent-off then Luiz would be the first to volunteer to go in goal. He's just that kind of guy who steps up when it counts. He's not a midfielder, but he does a better impression of one than Mikel. I'm not defending him, just pointing out a few facts. Yes he overran it a few times, but he also brought it out of defence well at times and some of his one and two touch passing was not just accurate but quick too. I'm not saying we should keep him in midfield. He's our best defender right now, but when you look at the other options we have right now there's a good argument to be made for keeping him there. He's not a natural midfielder and right now he's not a great midfielder, but he might be better than the people at this club who put 'Midfielder' down on their CV at least for the foreseeable future.

I thought Frank had a good game. Some of his passing from deep looked almost Alonso-esque, but in the second-half there were periods where he was slow to get back and Luiz covered. However, there were moments when the opposite was true and he was defending on the edge of the box against a Basel counter. It was his best performance for a few months in my opinion (since Stoke away probably) and he should've got a goal too. Hazard was hit and miss, but the lack of support from Torres was abysmal. This was Fernando back to his worst, unable to hold up the ball and being less useful than a brick wall when it came to one-twos. Still, he took his chance that hit the post well and was unlucky on that occasion. What is encouraging is that we never really got out of second gear, and essentially coasted for much of the second-half. But when we actually needed a goal we applied pressure until we got it. Basel are not a great team but it was great to see us step up at the end and get what we needed and for the first time this season it came from the double pivot (Ramires winning the free-kick, Luiz scoring it).

Mediocrity last season was one spot behind us with a net transfer spend of MINUS £12.5 million. Just to put that into context (in case anyone doesn't realise how spectacular an achievement that is) we spent £60 million to finish one spot ahead and Liverpool spent £35 million to finish one spot behind. Then realise he's done something like that every season for the last six and the word 'mediocrity' is a tad unfair. Can you give a single justification for his achievements at Everton being in any way, shape or form mediocre? It would be like me asking you to go off and build me an F1 car that can compete at the top end of the sport, oh and I'd like change thanks. Oh, you only came 8th in the British Grand Prix?? How mediocre.

Wow, all that and I still wouldn't swap them. Baines is a great crosser of the ball. Ashley Cole is a once in a generation left-back.

Criticising a midfielder who isn't Mikel. Shocker! Luiz isn't a midfielder. He's a defender. But yesterday he put in a proper shift, moved the ball well (and quckly too, something we don't have when a certain player plays) and got stuck in. He actually looked like he wanted to be on the pitch (on a Thursday of all days) and didn't hide away. Most importantly, he stepped up at the end of the game and showed the guts to take the final kick to win us the match. Americans might call that being 'clutch' and we'd just call it having balls, but whatever you want to call it it's clear that this guy is becoming a real leader for this team wherever he plays. Was his performance perfect? No. But he's played less than a dozen games in midfield at this club so anyone with a modicum of sense and objectivity would say that the odd mistake is understandable. But even if his technique lets him down, he's got more than enough heart and character to carry him through and make sure he contributes to the team. Unfortunately there's no stat for that, but the supporters notice.

In fairness Luiz was lucky to be on the pitch to score that free-kick, but Sturridge and Suarez should've been off on Sunday so maybe these things have evened themselves out. Overall, wasteful. Should've been 3-0 at least and Torres had a shocker. Everyone else put in good performances to be honest, although Cech's distribution was appalling. Azpi seems to be back in form and it was never a penalty. Ivanovic and Terry were solid at both ends and Ashley's return was fantastic. Sometimes easy to forget how good he is. Lamps distributed well and got in the box well whilst Luiz was a hard-working yet calm presence alongside him. Hazard worked hard behind a striker who gave him absolutely nothing, Rami put in a decent shift and Moses was at his direct-running best again. So all in all, a solid performance with a bevy of wasted chances.....again. The tie should be over although I don't know what else Basel can really bring to the Bridge and Benitez rotated the squad well enough that we should be able to carry this momentum into Sunday with players like Moses and Terry pushing for a start.

Feels like the first Nordsjaellend game at the moment. Should be at least one more goal up but pretty good performances all round.

Unfortunately Mikel finds it hard to get up for games on Thursdays.

I'm very aware Chelsea have worldwide support - they've been coming to the Bridge (that's in London, England) for many a year.

I think Martinez is an interesting manager. Like Moyes at Everton, he's probably overachieved at Wigan although they look to be going down this season. But he also begin the transformation at Swansea that Rodgers and Laudrup have built on. The problem he has is being a bit more pragmatic and grinding out results this season.He deserves to stay in the Prem with another team but I think he's got zero chance of coming here this summer. If you look at Moyes this season, he got Everton pushing for a Champions League spot despite making a profit in the transfer market.

Two pensioners who have either stated or suggested they're retiring....Neither is really a long-term option if we're being honest but if you want to throw their name into the ring then go for it. Who would you like us to hire 6 months after we hire them? In the last six season he hasn't finished below 8th despite having almost nothing to spend in the market. That's a remarkable achievement however you want to look at it and he is probably the best available manager in this league so of course he gets a mention.

Let's not pretend that there's a clear standout after Jose and Klopp. There's a bunch of managers at the level below and off that lot Moyes has one of the more compelling cases. He knows this league, he's overachieved as manager of Everton and he's shown a willingness to be pragmatic with his tactics. He isn't the ideal choice by any means, but I really don't think there is one if we discount the big two.

And we're an English club. Look, you're entitled to think what you want and prioritise which trophies you want. You're just in the minority when it comes to Chelsea supporters. And now you know.

I remember well, and long may it continue but there were some very special events that helped us make a profit last year. As for my concern, it's purely for the future of this club. See I care about this club and want to see it run sensibly so that it's around when I want to take my kids to games. I also appreciate Roman enough to not want to see him bankrolling this club again. I want us to continue the good work we've done in the market over the last two years and start giving youth a chance. And why do you call him Ferda? Is that short for Fernando in Spanish?

It's Juan Mata. Sure you could make a case for players like David Luiz (most improved) or Eden and Azpi because it's their first season, but it's Mata. In fact if we're doing a top three I'd have it as 1. Juan Mata 2. Daylight 3. Hazard

You don't seem to understand that people who support this club want it to be run efficiently. We don't want Roman to keep having to dip into his own pockets - we want to be self-sufficient and run sensibly.