The only place to be

I don't think he's too casual at all. I think that's simply patience on the ball as opposed to absent-minded dawdling like Mikel does, or lazily giving the ball away like Josh does. But you're right that the jump is big. Have you seen anything in his game to suggest that he couldn't make it though? It won't be without faults, but that's what happens when players learn and let's not pretend that our current options don't have a multitude of faults in their game despite being 6-7 years older.

I would happily play Chalobah next season. The easy thing to say is that he should be loaned out because that requires zero knowledge of him as a player. All it requires is an ability to read his date of birth. Technically, physically and mentally I'd back him. Capoue could be a good player for us, but I personally think he'd be competing for a spot with Chalobah alongside a playmaker and I don't think he's any less of a risk that Chalobah. He's unproven in the Premier League, he's unproven in the Champions League and his form has dipped. He'd also cost money, take up a non-homegrown spot and cost more in wages than Chalobah.

It really doesn't matter until that midfield gets sorted. Against West Ham we saw just how much space Lampard and Ramires can leave behind them and I still don't think Mikel handles pressure consistently enough to be relied upon (the most recent example being the Steaua game) so without that midfield protection it's really hard to judge who would be the best pairing. Personally I think Ivanovic and Cahill are good back-ups, whilst Luiz is good enough to start so long as he has a strong presence next to him. If that isn't goint to be JT them we probably need to go into the market for someone. But I think any pairing could well flourish with someone like Chalobah in front of them. Yes he's young but that doesn't mean he isn't good enough.

We need stability - so let's hire the guy who doesn't stay at clubs for more than 4 years and give him complete control like Sir Alex has (ignoring the fact that Sir Alex didn't win anything for 5 years). When you say stability, how many years of that are you actually talking? So we give him control of the academy? Why? Are they not doing well enough? Are we not seeing players starting to come through and develop better? It's perfectly feasible (to me) that we could kick off the next season with Courtois, Azpi, Bertrand Chalobah, De Bruyne, Oscar, Mata, Hazard, Lukaku, Moses and maybe Piazon in the first-team squad. That's almost half the squad under the age of 24 who arrived at the club through scouting other clubs or developed internally. We suffered because we didn't do the right things from about 2004 to 2010 - who was in charge for half of that? And what happens if he leaves after a couple of seasons? Where's the continuity in the club? Or do we rip everything up and start again with another manager? People always throw up examples like Fergie, but the guy is an anomaly.

I actually agree with Cahill being a good third choice, alongside Ivanovic who can back up Azpi at right-back too. In that sense the squad has a nice balance about it, but we probably do need that main guy to play alongside Luiz if we're accepting JT is coming to the end. I've said it before, but I'd love someone like Kompany who has it all but can be no-nonsense when he needs to be. It just seems as though there's a dearth of top-class defenders right now and the ones who might fit the bill are off-limits. The same goes for defensive midfielders and a lot of the accusations levelled at Cahill can apply to Mikel (physically and technically sound but lacking in the decision-making department). Funnily enough the answer to both those problems could be young Chalobah, but there's also Omeruo, Kalas and Ake who could step-up if given the chance. Rather than breaking the bank in pursuit of Falcao maybe we could look at someone like Hummels. He might not sell as many t-shirts in Asia but he'd probably win us more titles in the long-run. You'll get about a dozen different answers to that one. Personally I think it's redundant unless the midfield offers them protection.

What I said about Capoue was half in jest, but he's still completely new to the Premier League and has absolutely no Champions League experience. Fair enough he's picked up 5 caps for France, but that's 2 less than Sissoko who went to Newcastle and is a year younger. He's also been dropped from the latest French squad because Deschamps said he hasn't been good enough.....for Toulouse!! And who replaced him? Pogba - a player who I always thought Chalobah outplayed at youth level. Here's a kid who has been given a chance by Juventus (a pretty decent team I'm sure we'll all agree) and rewarded them, although until he's had a season on loan at Watford it's hard to be certain.

What does he have to do exactly? I hear a lot of people say we should go for Capoue, but don't you think he'd need a season in the Premier League first? Maybe a loan to West Brom to prove he's up to the standard we need?

They're going to reduce the capacity and cover the running track, but it's going to take a lot for that stadium to be a decent football stadium. It's strange to think of clubs moving away from Olympic stadiums into more intimate arenas, and West Ham going the other way but beggars can't be choosers.

Maybe he could ask Hazard for some tips.

Good against United (although had no pressure put on him), was responsible for at least one golden opportunity for Steaua from (guess what) dawdling on the ball and getting caught out, not missed against West Ham (who had no midfield to speak of). It's funny that one of the things he does is get caught by surprise by players putting pressure on him. I guarantee it will happen in the next 12-18 months and this time someone's going to knick his shirt off him. His name? Chalobah.

I'm another one. He was sensational last night and ran the show in my opinion. This kid needs a challenge because everything just looks so easy for him, and I'd back him to step up (like he has done at every level) if he was thrown into the first-team next season. Yes he's young, yes he's comparatively inexperienced but just watch him. He has something that 99% of players would give their left legs for. However, Watford's Nathanial Chalobah, who can play at centre-half or centre-midfield is someone I would put in the England squad now. He is elegant, athletic and has a great temperament, while he has also excelled at all international age groups he has represented; he reminds me of a young Yaya Toure in that he can influence a game from any position. He is THE outstanding talent in English football and could POSSIBLY replace Frank Lampard in the Chelsea's engine rom next season but will DEFINITELY play for England.

Thought he was fantastic last night and the standout midfielder in a team that had Shelvey and Henderson in it. His reading of the game is just miles ahead of other players and he moved the ball around beautifully. I just want to see this kid thrown in the first-team ahead of Mikel because he seems to step up to every challenge thrown at him. Not for the first time this season, everything just looked easy for him.

Anyone who has been to that stadium will tell you that it's going to be fucking awful for football unless it changes dramatically, but it does bring up the fact that we do need to do something about our own capacity issues.

Started for England u21s against Romania tonight.

He's clearly a troll. I've seen him laying out the most rotten bait in match threads and in each post he tries to aim a dig at Chelsea supporters either on here, or those who have spent their hard-earned money going to support the team for many years. He might talk about being a supporter and having lived in Chelsea (might want to say Fulham to make it a little more believable) but he goes out of his way to denigrate decent supporters. And he doesn't have to be a Liverpool supporter - there are many mental deficiencies that are often mistaken for being a red.

I've actually seen people have different opinions, argue them intelligently and respectfully and agree to disagree at the end of it. Maybe you're not doing one of those things.

He makes more sense than Falcao.

You're overreacting. He isn't bigger than the club and if he doesn't come we can still move forward and succeed.

Yeah, they should smash the system because their elected officials clearly aren't listening to them by going ahead with this unpopular bank levy...... Oh wait, what's that? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21875246 Political leaders in Cyprus have dropped an unpopular levy on bank deposits in a new bailout plan. There was outrage over an earlier plan to tax all bank deposits.

Bush might be religious (fundamentalist even) but he's also a capitalist and capitalism is predictable. War may well be profitable, but nuclear war isn't ergo it's not a prudent course to take. Is it fair to say that Iran has leaders who follow a different ideology? That's perhaps why we in the West are loathe to let them develop nuclear weapons. Their ideology is far less predictable.

Mortgaging our future to sell t-shirts. If we actually do this then Gourlay and Emenalo want shooting.

I meant their midfield as a whole hasn't been good enough, and his absence has been one of the reasons. He looked decent against us, but he's also looked dodgy in others. They also suffered from Toure's absence at the ACON, much like we did with Mikel's.

I said he hasn't exactly had his best season and I stick by that. One season isn't a definitive indicator of a decline but combine that with being 30 and the financial package he would need and that's enough question marks for me to be hesitant about him signing for us. Personally I think they've had the same issues as us with their midfield simply not being good enough, in particular Garcia, Barry and Rodwell. But when you look at how we handle players who are already at the club over-30 and our contract policy, I simply can't see the logic behind us giving him a minimum contract of three years.

And apparently people who disagree with the idea that Chalobah could be as good as Toure are worthy of derision? People on this forum are capable of talking about players in a fair manner I've found, and the only 'mentalists' are the ones who ignore that and simply insult other people (I'm talking about you by the way). For you to then bitch about that is a little hysterical and shows a complete lack of self-awareness, which is a shame because you're missing out on a pretty funny joke. People aren't saying he will be a superstar, but that he has the potential to be and has shown a lot in his first season. They're also not saying that we shouldn't buy any new players, just not one who would be 30 when he signed, cost a bomb and hasn't exactly had his best season.

Connor was no better than Michael Wood in my opinion. A nice touch when given time but found that time and space evaporated as the competition got tougher. That's almost exactly the same problem Josh has found himself facing at times at Boro, although I will say that some of his teammates movement off the ball simply isn't good enough. Writing off a kid when you can't either find a reason or explain your reasoning is massively unfair and adds nothing to the debate.