The only place to be

I've mentioned it elsewhere, but Lukaku has already scored more goals this season (13) than Drogba did in all but two of his seasons for us. That includes the two league wins under Mourinho (10, 12). What's impressive about Lukaku's goals (7 of which came since the 1st of January) is that they've been key goals for his club. The goal at the weekend was the equaliser, as was his first against Sunderland. His first goal against Reading was the first in the match and the one against Liverpool was the one that secured the win for the Baggies. Saying we can't win the league with that strikeforce is unfair. I think we're always going to be a team that needs the whole team to contribute goals and we're fortunate in that we have the likes of Mata, Hazard and Oscar. What we need is someone who can lead the line, score the odd goal and create space for the players behind him. The Manchester clubs are nowhere near as far away from us as some people think.

Not sure if I agree that we don't have an ethos or formation. If you look at age group teams then they all play either 433 or increasingly 4231. If you look at our players out on loan a few of them have gone to teams who also play those formations at least some of the time, e.g. Lukaku at West Brom or Chalobah at Watford. The younger teams have tended to reflect Mourinho's formation since he left as well, which means they've played in 433 but with a greater emphasis on breaking with speed. In fact it's interesting to see that in the last couple of years both our club and Mourinho's Madrid have moved to a 4231 although there are subtle differences in the way each play. Our problem has been defensive stability - that's essential to the formation working because you do give your attacking 4 a lot of freedom and you also need width from your full-backs. Possession retention and transitioning into defence quickly are the most important things in this formation and it's something that Mourinho could probably be very useful instilling in our squad. It's part of the reason why I think he could be ideal for us - his ethos informed our youth development over the last 7 years and he could come back and 'upgrade' it, so to speak.

Bringing on Mikel for Lampard? That's an attacking change? I know they're both chasing the club goalscoring record but I really think that Lampard's lead of 197 goals might see him edge out Mikel. But who knows? Mikel has age on his side.

It's a but unfair to compare Kagawa and Hazard when Kagawa wasn't even playing. EDIT: Oh, apparently he was. I just assumed that was one of United's fans running around trying to get Chelsea players' autographs.

I hope that him and Chalobah get some time together in the summer so they can share experiences, discuss the game and in particular the attitude to the game. That would surely be beneficial for Mikel. :eyebrows:

I'm pretty sure that the player of the year ballots go out this week. Not a bad performance to put in and remind people just how good he is.

Yes or No - Did Robbie get credit for the adjustments made in the home league game against United? Whether people like Rafa or not, he came within a toenail's length of becoming the first coach to come back from 2-0 at United and win. I agree with most of the criticism that he gets, but you have to also give credit where it's due or you don't look that grown-up.

Running in a straight line is his best asset? I'm kidding. I agree though that it pretty much summed up what he can bring to the team. Unfortunately it's a risky tactic to play. You invite pressure on yourself by giving up possession and then have to be perfect in winning the ball from the opposition, hope they have over-committed and then fail to get back properly. It's a high risk, high reward strategy which is why I don't believe you can rely on it week-in and week-out to win a league. His presence in the squad would offer versatility for games away to teams who will dominate possession.

Deserves some credit for yesterday. He might have made the wrong choices with the starting line-up but he made adjustments and nearly became the first coach to bring his team back from two goals down and win at OT. I wasn't around here then, but i expect RDM got credit for the adjustments he made in the home league game when we went two down after some tactical mistakes so it only seems fair to treat Benitez the same. Plus he once again reminded us all what a classless cunt Fergie....sorry, Sir Fergie can be. Twice in one week.

Conversely, he could have the perfect game and you'd criticise him. The truth is that he isn't as bad as you make out and he isn't as good as others suggest. He's in between and yesterday he had one of his better games so he deserves praise for that whilst bearing in mind that he doesn't do it consistently enough.

Against teams like this he can shine, but I still think we need to replace him in the team with someone able to control the tempo of the game better. That is not, and will never be his game. He has a particularly skill set and that can garner results in games like yesterday's where teams put pressure on you and leave gaps when they transition into defence. That's EXACTLY how he scored his goal and was also how he scored against Barcelona and Tottenham. I like the guy, I like his commitment and I like his engine. He's like a terrier who will chase the other team all day and you can certainly win cups doing that. But my opinion is that to win the league you need someone who controls the game and forces the opposition to run around for 90 minutes. That isn't Rami and we knew that when we bought him. So he may well have a place in the squad but if we're going to challenge for the league I think we need someone else to play the majority of games.

This is one of those games that just confirmed a few things for me. Firstly, we aren't as bad as some people, even on here, think. Football fans can be prisoners of the moment and will take the last game's performance as the ultimate measure for how good a team is. We were appalling against Steaua but clearly the players weren't up for it which reflects badly on their attitude, Benitez's skills but most worryingly, the influence of two men - Lampard and Terry. We espouse their experience and influence, but do we sometimes overstate that? On the evidence of this season, there's certainly a case for it. Anyway, we're not the team who played against Steaua - we're closer to the team that played West Brom and yesterday. What we have is a good team in the making who just need a good manager to organise them. The amount of times Mata, Oscar and Hazard drifted into the same 20 square foot of pitch space robbed us of width which wasn't helped by Ashley Cole at times. Not as bad as some people might suggest, but not as good as he once was. Luke Shaw, start packing. In the first 20 minutes we lost the midfield battle. Carrick was dictating the play but then United sat back. Maybe it was complacency or maybe it's just that they're not a very good team but what this again showed is that we're not that far behind the top teams - games like this come down to 1-2% extra in a couple of areas and that's something we can surmount next season. Ba made a difference. He was by no-means perfect, but simply having a striker who does the right things enables the trio of Hazard, Mata and Oscar the space to do their thing by keeping the defenders honest. Bringing on Mikel behind them does the same but I still don't think he's got the right intangibles to be the guy for us long-term (Chalobah, dat's you bro). He does have a skill set that no-one else at the club (currently fit, Romeu) does though and for that reason he's important. Hopefully his recent benching has opened his eyes a little. This was also the type of game Ramires can excel in, where we can exploit teams on the break who don't transition from defence to attack fast enough. His finish was sublime, but if you look at the goal he essentially outruns Cleverley and Carrick when we break from defence. It's simple and that's when he's at his best. You can win cups with that technique, but I don't think you can win leagues like that simply because a lot of teams will defend first and look for you to break them down. That type of game constitutes about 75% of domestic fixtures, which is why we need a playmaker in that position. Cahil is a good third-choice centre-back - unfortunately so is Ivanovic and increasingly JT. What we need is a first-choice centre-back to go alongside Luiz, ideally someone less adventurous than him and closer to JT. I don't know who that is, but he's becoming something of a priority next season. So all in all, not bad. A game that highlighted the green shoots of recovery that I've been talking about for a while now. It's easy to become pessimistic but I always thought we could get something from this game simply because I knew that we weren't the team who travelled to Romania on Thursday. Sometimes we focus too much on our weaknesses and need to get an outsider's perspective on where our team is. Just talking to some United and City fans made me re-think just how good/bad we actually are as a team. Sometimes you forget just how good Mata is (player of the year is never to far from any discussion about him) or how unique Hazard's talent is (yes there are United fans still gutted about not getting him and he gave them another reminder why yesterday). I started a thread about us giving the youth a chance and the need to move on was re-confirmed for me yesterday. Seeing Lamps taken off was a sad sight. The fans chanting 'you don't know what you're doing' was misguided in my opinion because this isn't the Frank Lampard of three years ago anymore. He may well have a role to play in the future but he's loved at this club and there's always going to be murmurs from the crowd when he's not in the team. The practical reality of keeping him is the chants everytime he warms up during a match - it's got to be the new manager's decision whether or not he can live with someone held so warmly in the fans' hearts which is why the contract situation probably can't be resolved until he's appointed. So am I disappointed that we didn't win the game? Sure. But what we showed yesterday was more important than a win or a loss. We showed character on the toughest stage and it wasn't coming from the old guys but from the young bucks who will be the future of this club for (hopefully) many a year. There is something special bubbling under the surface of this club, waiting to be unleashed by the right man. We need to support that, not just when it's going smoothly but when there are stumbles on the way. 'We want our Chelsea back' was the cry yesterday - that Chelsea is gone. What we're getting is hopefully something better. :blue scalf: Oh, and I thought Webb handled the game perfectly yesterday. Saw a few people moaning about his appointment but he can be one of the best refs on his day because he let's the game flow. The fact there were more people bitching before the game than after it suggests he was impeccable.

I'm of a different opinion. I have faith in this kid and I think they are good enough for us to fulfil our aims of winning the league next season. We showed today that we're a good team with goals in the team. What this comes down to is needs and money - we need a midfielder desperately. Spending £50 million on a striker when we have Lukaku seems like a reckless use of what are now limited funds. So you're not saying that Cavani is this 'proven striker' (because he isn't proven in the PL and that is our bread and butter), so who is? Who is the mystery man that we should sign? Has he scored more goals than Lukaku this season? Hasn't Lukaku proven himself yet? I've said that we should get a third in, but that it should be a versatile option like Kalou was. What I don't want is this club putting a massive price tag in front of a player who has done exactly the right thing, with the right attitude this year. I think he's earned a shot. I think it's the fair thing to do, I think it's the right thing to do and I think there's something pernicious about the desire to go out and buy a big name guy who probably isn't going to be proven in this league. But if you're saying that we should sign someone like Cavani and loan him out for a year to a club like West Brom so he can prove himself, then you may have a point.

We'll have to agree to disagree. I think we can win leagues with Mikel and a deep-lying playmaker alongside him, but I don't think we can win one of Ramires is playing regularly. I don't dislike the guy, i just don't think he's that good. It's not his fault and I admire his tenacity and workrate and that could be something we utilise from the bench of against weaker teams. I just think we need more quality, more composure and more control in our midfield.

Normally I'd be a little frustrated at the performance he put in today. Instead I just felt sad. I love this guy, but something's just not the same anymore.

Against City he moved inside after the first couple of subs, and wasn't that good. I like the guy. I like his attitude, but I think he's technically weak. I know he's chipped Valdes at the Nou Camp but I think he's at best inconsistent. He's perfect for these types of games where you're under pressure and counter-attacking. I just don't think you can win leagues playing that style of football. What you need is someone composed on the ball who can dictate the tempo to the other team rather than reacting to them. He probably has a place in the squad but I'd still be looking for us to sign someone to play alongside Mikel/Romeu/Chalobah next season.

He was good, but let's not go overboard. His goal was classic Ramires - us under pressure, breaking and him busting a lung to get forward. It was a great performance and we all know he's capable of doing that once in a while. The problem is he's equally likely to put in a performance like the one against the other Manchester club and we still need to buy someone who can orchestrate the play better from the double pivot.

Footballers never stop developing. What we have here is a full international with 19 caps who has scored 13 goals in the Premier League in his first proper season. He's got 10 more games this season so he could end up on 20 goals if things go his way. I'd love for this kid to come back because I love his attitude and his attributes. We're going to have to agree to disagree because there's no way I'm not going to back this kid. I love that he cried when he first came here because that's what I've done many a time. I love that he didn't take so much joy in last year's Champions League win because he didn't feel he earned it. I love that he gave the finger to all his detractors both here and elsewhere with his performances for West Brom. And I'm going to love it when he does that again next season at this club. I see no reason not to back this guy. He might not sell as many shirts as other players but he'll be proud wearing the one fucking shirt that matters. Every one of us that went to the Bridge in our kits because we thought we might get a game - this is your guy. Start backing him.

Same here. Let's put his performance in context - United in the second half were poor and didn't put any pressure on our midfield. But Mikel did come on and he did do fairly well (although he still had moments of dilly-dallying). Comments like 'he's the best midfielder we have' do carry water, but a more accurate description would be that he's the only midfielder we have who has his particular skill set. He's not an exceptional player by any means, but he is essential to the way we want to play football. I'd like to think that the shift he put in today was a reaction to his benching in the last few games and that he's realised he can't become complacent simply because we're so poor in that area. I hope he continues to buck up his ideas but I still think he's on the clock with Chalobah coming along nicely.

Not going to make a long post because I don't have time, but we don't have to do things the way other clubs do. We have goals from around the front four like we did 8 years ago. Then our main contributor was Lamps, yet it worked. What Drogba did was bring other people into the game and made them better players and we can do that again. Hazard, Moses and even Oscar are capable of contributing goals whilst Lukaku has shown a knack of scoring goals too. People keep saying we need a proven striker, and then thrown in names like Falcao and Cavani who ARE NOT proven in the Premier League. Yesterday Lukaku made Ashley Williams his bitch - this is a guy Arsenal are seriously looking at and who has been a form player all season. Lukaku has done exactly what was asked of him and I don't see a single reason why he can't be our main guy next season. I want this guy to succeed, I'd be excited turning up to see him play every week because he loves this club like every single supporter in the ground does. He's stepped up and met every challenge thrown at him with an impeccable attitude and amazing results. He deserves a chance, he deserves us supporting him. What he doesn't deserve is people saying he isn't good enough before he's had the chance to prove it. That's not supporting him.

Well apparently we're going to go after Falcao using Courtois as bait. Great. Put a high-priced striker in front of a young man who has done well, loves Chelsea but unfortunately won't sell as many shirts to people who couldn't find Stamford Bridge with Google fucking Maps helping them whilst also cashing in on someone who could live between the sticks for the next decade and a half. Fucking ridiculous.

Lukaku has scored 13 league goals this season. When we won the League in 2005, Drogba scored 10 league goals. When we won the League in 2006, Drogba scored 12 league goals. Now he did score 29 in 2010, but that was only the second time in 8 seasons at this club that he got more than the 13 league goals Lukaku has already scored this season. And let's also remember Demba Ba has scored 15 or more goals in both of his last two seasons in the Premier League which isn't bad for a stop-gap.

Spot fucking on! This kid is a scary talent, yet there are people who are still scared to give him a shot next season. Apparently he's not good enough to lead us to trophies. He'll have played 150 professional games by the end of the season. He's got 19 international caps. He's got 13 league goals in 26 appearances. He's a model pro who loves the game and cried when he first came to Stamford Bridge. In sport, in life, there are people who come along and you have to have a bit of faith in them. I understand the trepidation some might have in doing that with this kid.....no, this man, but isn't that what sport is? Isn't that why we like it? This kid feels like one of us, he loves the club like one of us and he's done more than anyone expected to achieve his stated goal....to come home. He's saying the right things and he's doing the right things.....all he deserves is for us, the club and the supporters, to do the same thing. And he might start slow...that's when we support him. He might fall....that's when we support him. And he might lead us to new glories....that's when we support him. That last one is easy, it's the first two that take character.

So signing an expensive striker is going to be the solution? Lukaku did cost £18 million by the way. We've seen what happened with Torres - the price tage guarantees him TWO FUCKING YEARS in the starting line-up whilst we sell promising youngsters. Discussions like this add validity to your signature.

How many Premier League goals has Cavani scored? Ba is a stop gap who has scored 15 league goals this season. Lukaku has scored 12. The truth is you don't know how good this kid could be, but right now he's surpassing everyone's expectations and we have other areas we need to fill. But you may have a point that Roman won't be willing to change his ways. Yay. There was this other successful team by the way - Chelsea 2005. Drogba scored 16 goals that season but he was a facilitator - he brought other players into the game because we had goals from the likes of Lamps and Duff. We could have that next season with Mata, Hazard and Oscar getting goals elsewhere whilst Lukaku creates space and chances for them. It's very easy to say we should spend £50 million on a striker like Cavani because he's proven but he's still a risk. We did that before when we signed someone called Fernando Torres and Lukaku has done everything asked of him. People willing to write him off using jaundiced logic when they won't apply it to their own suggestions really does piss me off.