The only place to be

I think you're on your own in that regard. The league has to be the priority.

Couldn't disagree more. The league is what you compete for week in and week out. It's against your closest rivals. It's the one you and your mates get up for. League first, Europe a very close second. As for Falcao, there are no certainties in life and whilst he is a fantastic striker he's completely untested in the Premier League. Saying he'll score 35 goals is a little....silly.

At the moment I'm excited but cautious. I think the reality is that we're going to get a different Mourinho from the one we had 6 years ago and that's not unexpected. People change and this experience at Madrid could be a humbling one in some ways. He's a great coach and a great leader, but he's still got to come here and do the job. The day we hire him (IF we hire him) will be a great day, but I'm looking forward to what he does the day after. I want to see what he says about our young players when he gets them together and I want him to be involved in planning the development of the Bogas and Musondas in our squad. The same goes for Falcao. Great player, great attributes, 0 goals in the Premier League. I'll be excited but until he starts scoring goals against Norwich and Newcastle I'm going to be a little worried. I'm not saying the CL isn't better quality, but the domestic league has got to be the first priority. I want this club to be the best team in Europe, and that means being the best team in England first.

I'm not talking about future superstars though am I. I'm talking about guys who are already at that level. It's true that Roman can spunk money up the wall, but you know who can't do that? Chelsea Football Club. If he wants to buy Ronaldo and Messi then he can, but unfortunately he can't put it on our books unless Gazprom are bankrolling us to the tune of £200 million per season. As for the Champions League it's a great competition but the league is the bread and butter. That's the true measure of how good you are in my opinion. For all the money, lustre and fireworks associated with the CL, it's still just a cup competition at the end of the day. We were the sixth best team in England and for all the excuses we can think up, the real reason was that there were five teams better than us. After all the millions spent, that is a total failure.

Except we don't and we haven't for the last two years. Look at our transfer record, the closest player to a 'superstar' that we signed was Hazard. In fact at the start of Roman's reign we didn't buy 'superstars' but players on the cusp, like Drogba, Robben and Cech. It's when we started chasing the Shevchenkos, Decos and ultimately Torres of this world that things started to fall apart. Oh, and last season we were the 6th best team in England. There's a massive difference between being the Champions of Europe and being the best club in Europe.

If Falcao leaves Atletico then they're in the market for a striker and they've been linked today with Suarez - I would love us to get Falcao and then be responsible for Suarez moving on. And if Suarez moves on then Liverpool are in the market for a new striker.....

I think people have reservations because they've seen what happens when you value short-term thinking over long-term planning and are worried that we're going to make the same mistakes again. Yes Mourinho is a winner, but the job he'd be asked to do here is something he's NEVER done before. We need to build something sustainable, incorporating young players and creating our own stars rather than buying them. I'm not saying he can't do that but there are certainly question marks. The same applies to Falcao. He's a great player but he's completely unproven in the Premier League, he's expensive and he's going to be 28 halfway through next season. Personally I'm not that keen on Cavani either and would've liked to have seen Lukaku given a chance to earn a starting job here next season alongside Ba and Schurrle.

My guess is that your dog is called Rafa and you make it lick peanut butter off of your nutsack.

The way I see it is that he got a 7 match ban in Holland for the same thing, didn't learn and did it again. When you throw in his poor record (the racism ban in particular) then I really don't know what the fuss is. For me 7 games was the absolute minimum, plus 3 for being a repeat offender. If they appeal this then they should add on at least 1 more game to his ban but I feel this will be reduced to 7-8 games.

Lads, get some popcorn. http://www.redandwhitekop.com/forum/index.php?topic=305346.0 And just to state the obvious, that's his season over plus the first SIX games of next season.

TEN GAMES Have it you cunt!! http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/22278258

I honestly think the idea of us using Courtois or De Bruyne as bait is reporters putting 2+2 together and getting a lemon. Like someone said earlier, if we trigger the release fee then they can't ask for Courtois - they could apply a monetary value to the year-long loan spell (Around €5 million at a guess) and then come back with an offer, but we're not obliged to countenance it. What I think is important to this deal is Torres. I'm not a fan of getting Falcao, but I'm even less of a fan of keeping Torres around next season and I've thought for a long time that Atletico is his only real option out of here. We can pray for a Russian oligarch to take him off our hands but that's unlikely, especially with his wages demands. Maybe his marketability sways them (he's still one of our top shirt sellers despite being shit for two years) but I think Madrid holds mutual attraction for the two parties. They might get the hometown discount, where the lure of sun and sangrias entices him to lower his wage demands or backload his contract with performance incentives. He's still a hero there and maybe he can do better in the Spanish league - he still scored on the biggest stage last year at the Nou Camp. What I think is fairly certain at this point is nothing is certain about this deal - like everything about this club I think it's tied up in where we finish the season. Falcao isn't a young man so every season counts. Until we know our situation next season, everything is speculation.

Taking off my Chelsea hat for a moment, a move to Dortmund makes perfect sense for De Bruyne. He doesn't seem to be in our immediate plans, Dortmund need a replacement for Gotze and the player gets to play in a strong team under one of the best coaches around currently when it comes to developing players. However I think we need to be selfish here. Leverkusen is still a very good team and with Dortmund seemingly losing key players, they may have a good shot at the league next season (although Bayern are clear favourites). Clearly we've seen something in Schurrle and getting him whilst retaining De Bruyne's long-term services seems a fantastic use of our resources. De Bruyne is a fantastic player and I'm usually the first to call for young players to be thrown into the team, but I actually think that this might be the best way. I really want to see Oscar given time in a deep-lying playmaker role whilst Mata is very much our number 10. That leaves Schurrle, Moses, Hazard and possibly Piazon on the wings although as I type this I realise just how much we could do we De Bruyne as another rotation option for all three positions....Hmmm..... It's frustrating that the guy who is probably the most ready for the first-team is also key to us making other signings. Looking on the bright side, whatever happens the club should be commended for getting a young talent early and cheap. The worst case scenario is that we sell him to Dortmund and TRIPLE our money - this is very much a first-world problem as far as our club goes. What I think is most likely is that next summer we bring in a guy with a season's more Champions League experience, a season of chasing the title in a competitive league, coming off a World Cup into a squad with a season's stability under a new manager. That's not too shabby.

Who did you want to be like? Maradona? Because you sound like you're on drugs. There were two footballers I wanted to be like. Andy Goram and Andy Goram.

Are you serious?

I was wrong about Marin. I apologise. I made a mistake. Torres had a good game I thought. Ake was impressive and did more than Mikel in trying to defend the Rubin second goal when Mikel couldn't be bothered to mark his man. Benayoun and Azpi were okay. Mikel's performance was disgraceful though and one of the laziest, most pathetic I've seen in many years of supporting this club.

Really? Marin was terrible, and needs selling. Who are the other 4? People making one sentence statements and being able to actually have a proper discussion. Oh, there you are.

And this is the key point. Teams defend TOGETHER and our double pivot has been weak for most of the season. But some people are blind to any criticism of certain players when the priority should be what makes the team better.

Sorry, are you saying he didn't have attitude problems when he joined the club? This is you all over - talk shit and then wander off when people get into specifics. Put me on ignore and I'll do the same for you.

The Rubin Kazan game...ya know, the Europa League one that he made the comments before.

Cech got involved too, but if you're happy to say that Mikel is a leader at Chelsea then you're getting the season you deserve. Me, I think we're better than that and fortunately we seem to have players come through who are born leaders. Anyone who has played team sports knows what a leader is and Mikel ain't. He never was (attitude problems when he first came here) and sadly I don't think he ever will be. He's a boy with phenomenal physique and good technical skills.

Engouh of this cunt insulting and winding up Chelsea fans.

He still has to wear that shirt and represent us fans - isn't that a big enough honour? Did you see his performance in that match? He was an utter disgrace to this club.

I see Mata as a 'spine' figure because I think he's become someone who has stepped up in tough games and lifted the players around him. I also included him in the spine of the team because he plays in the centre and is a nailed-on starter, and if we're talking about Mourinho teams then he's like Ozil in that sense. I wouldn't call Mata meek, but he's one of those guys who is a leader in our team simply because of the example he sets. As for Mikel, I don't know if he was effectively talking to the ref but he went missing in the second-half (as did Ramires for the first 10 minutes). I don't rate him as a player and I don't rate him as a leader but I think you need to learn to read because I specifically compared him to the people who have played in HIS POSITION. That position requires a leadership and a sense of responsibility that he simply doesn't exhibit on a consistent basis. You go to some extraordinary lengths to disagree with me on things but at least try and understand what I'm saying.

It is amazing to think isn't it. One is a man, a leader in our team and someone we can be proud of. The other is Mikel.