The only place to be

Actually you hear many European players who say they grew up watching the FA Cup. Maybe it's not as big as it once was, but I defy any Chelsea fan not to well up when they hear Abide With Me. I'm talking about sentimental value not as as Englishman, but as a Chelsea supporter.

Because the FA Cup is the FA Cup. It's the greatest national cup competition in the world and has a fine history. The Europa League is almost certainly going to be junked in the next few years, or become even more of a joke then it already is. For teams like us, it's a punishment for being crap in the group stages of the CL and now it simply becomes nothing more than a distraction.

I don't think that means he was tactically out-thought though.

But it's not a decent trophy to win, whereas the FA Cup is. The Europa League is won by teams on the way up (Porto, Shakhtar, Atletico) not by teams already at the top like us. Winning it doesn't really mean much - in fact it will just be a tangible reminder that we got knocked out of the Champions League.

My view is that we can't do both. I'd rather have a week's rest in between games to give us the best chance in every match. The FA Cup is slightly different because.....well that's a proper trophy. The Europa League is a silly little thing on it's last legs that will probably be shit-canned in the next 3-5 years. It's a pain in the arse more than anything and one of the worst things about getting knocked out of the CL is Thursday Nights, Channel 5. What makes it worse is that I've got a bad feeling the fat cunt is going to take it seriously and prioritise this over the top four, because the top four doesn't benefit him that much. He can't have his photo taken with a trophy for getting fourth, he can't really put it on his resume and it doesn't get as much attention in Spain. Fuck I hate Rafa.

No-one's going to disagree with you. He's one of the finest pure athletes this game has had in the last couple of decades and that's simply a sign of his dedication to his sport, which people sometimes want to ignore as they paint him as a diva or arrogant. He's football's Lebron James - a genetic (although there have been whispers) freak who is physically head and shoulders above the competition. Compare him to Wayne Rooney - a lucky chav who spends his off-seasons smoking and drinking whilst cheating on his wife.

Why? Just think, the next round comes in between West Brom, Fulham and West Ham. These are all games we need to win but the type we struggle with. I'd rather not have the distraction of a tough game against Ajax or a trip to Bucharest in between so the sooner we're out of this competition, the better. Oh, and if we win that then we have a quarter-final before the game against Spurs. Then the Semi-Final 1st leg comes before a game against Swansea, and the second-leg is a few days before we play Man United. And the final is just a few days before we play Everton on the last day of the season. I don't think the schedule could be tougher to be honest. We NEED to throw this game. There's no other way of saying it.

How so?

What exactly do you think Ron Gourlay has done wrong in terms of the remit of his role? Do you have a problem with the commercial deals he's put in place or the role he's played in the stadium issue? Are you unhappy with the part he played in our recent finances? What makes you think that 'people' don't know who they should report to? Why do you not criticise David Barnard in his role as club secretary? In fact why does David Barnard always get a free pass on criticism (not that I'm saying he should be criticised)?

Let's say.....two-four years down the line. Courtois Azpi Luiz Chalobah Shaw Fellaini Oscar Moses Mata Hazard Lukaku Blackman, Wallace, Cahill, Kalas, Omeruo, Bertrand/PVA (one sold), Loftus-Cheek, McEachran, De Bruyne, Piazon, Feruz, Markovic

I think JT is just being realistic. Top Four qualification is a must for this club and if that means sacrificing the Europa League and FA Cup then so be it. That isn't a small club mentality, but a realistic, pragmatic approach to our situation. I've seen you arguing the toss about the football we played in the CL last year, saying that it was the only way we could win and you're spot on. It was a pragmatic response to the reality that Barcelona were a better team than us. Sure we could've gone out and tried to outplay them but that would've been suicidal (as Wenger demonstrated not too long ago). Sometimes you have to take the long term view that a bit of restraint now allows you a bit of freedom later.

Really? Right now we're third in the league. Our main problem has been throwing away leads and leaking goals. Our main striker (Torres) has scored just 7 goals in the league despite a lot of playing time. Ba has scored 14 (13 at Newcastle) and Lukaku has scored 10 (the same number as Rooney). I'm not saying we couldn't use a 3rd option in the mould of Anelka or Kalou who could play on the wings as well, but I don't think we're quite as far away as you might be suggesting.

So you're saying an egotistical man is worried about what will happen if he gets sacked? In my experience, egotistical men don't tend to countenance failure when approaching a new task. I think he's the same. In fact Chelsea have gone through about eight managers since he left and finished outside the top four last year. The bar has been set fairly low. Roman is not a stupid man by the way. Torres cost £50 million so of course they need to try and make that deal work but he's shown he's capable of learning the error of his ways. In fact isn't every sacking of a manager a tacit admission of failure when appointing them? Wouldn't a man capable of admitting he made a mistake still have Scolari or AVB in charge? It may well be a slightly different situation, but there's still history with the Barcelona guys and Mourinho comes with a lot of baggage. They've shown a dislike for such shit with Balotelli, although they did stick with Tevez. I don't think Citeh are the type of club we are, or the type of club that suits Mourinho. We've always been a glamourous club who place a premium on style (which is why it pisses me off when people moan about us going for the glamour names or the drama attached to the club) and we've got that arrogant swagger that Mourinho has. It's why he was such a great fit for us in the first place and why someone like Benitez would never be right even if he didn't have his history with the club.

I'm not entirely sure he knows what's best for his development. I think he would be best served by coming back to Chelsea and joining the first-team squad.

There's plenty of doubt about potential. Right now I'd put Chalobah ahead of him in all honesty and he's an example of a guy who has taken that next step comfortably. Josh needs at least another year out on loan and he needs to step up his intensity and aggression and maintain focus for the full 90.

1. How many rich, powerful men do you know who aren't prepared to put success before their egos? Because they aren't going to be rich men for long. 2. How much control would he have under Begiristain?

So he wasn't consistently starting in his 30 odd internationals or the 150-odd games for Barca? :lol2: You know Messi was the long-haired short-arse right? As for Josh, I've seen him at least half-a-dozen times this year and each time he's looked tidy but failed to really control the game much of the time. He's got all the skill in the world but he doesn't seem to have that drive you see in the big players like Lamps or Wilshere or Gerrard or even Iniesta and Xavi did at a similar age. Look at the way he moves around the pitch - he looks like a little boy and he needs at least another year out on loan. Compare him to someone like Chalobah who is a year younger but has taken his step-up with comparative ease. It's way too early to write him off but let's not pretend there aren't serious question marks hanging over him.

Wait..... So Messi wasn't starting full games until he was 22? You're saying Messi didn't start a full game until three years ago??? So the 150-odd games for Barca were all substitute appearances? What about his 30+ international caps?

Yes.

He hasn't been considered an attacking midfielder for about 3 years now. Carlo saw him as the next Pirlo and if we're suddenly deciding he's an attacking midfielder then he's pretty much fucked at this club. And he absolutely does need some aggression in his game. He's been such a lightweight in every game I've seen him play for Boro that he struggles to impose himself on games which is a problem when he's supposed to be the one who sets the tempo. He needs a bit of aggression and a bit of arrogance because he's going to be playing in a league that is physical. I do agree he is absolutely one of the best passers we have, and I think he has tremendous vision but he struggles to actually show that in most games because of his attitude and his physique. How many times has he been pulled off in the 60th minute this season? Also, look at the way he carries himself around the pitch. He needs to puff that little chest out a little bit and just have a bit more about him if he wants to lead this team because he certainly has the talent in his feet but I have serious doubts about everything else.

How many minutes will he play for us next season? With Ba and him to share minutes, I'd expect him to get a lot. Of course we probably won't do that but it doesn't mean we shouldn't. There's always an argument not to do something, to hold back on taking a chance on someone but at some point you have to do that and he looks ready.

True, but you're shit at darts. Australia is exceptional when it comes to sport though.

And why is he better placed to do that at West Brom then at Chelsea? People want to give him time and be patient - isn't that what we've done for the last decade? And how's that working out for us? So we give him another season on loan, what's the argument against giving him another one? It's the same argument that it is now isn't it, that we don't know if he'll be good enough for us. I think what people are trying to say is that he needs a loan not to the Midlands or Spain, but somewhere a bit further afield. That's right.... he needs a loan move to a parallell universe. He needs to spend at least a decade on Earth-2 where he will play on exactly the same team as he would here, but without the risk to our own title chances (because we'll have them won't we?). Only then, at the age of 29 will we know if he's good enough to play for us and then we can obviously use the time machine to travel back in time to the summer of 2013 and take a chance on him. In the meantime, let's just throw some money at Falcao or Cavani or *insert flavour of the month's name*.

That's an interesting debate for another thread. What I will say is that a guy at the gym said something similar about rugby. We have the largest number of registered players in the world, but seem to struggle producing players. But I've also heard the same thing about cricket, athletics (although that's changed a fair bit) and many other sports and I think that's part of the issue - we try to compete at a large number of sports which means people who might've become great footballers instead go into other sports where they have decent but not world-class careers. Of course there are a myriad other socio-economic factors as well as well as governing issues (the gap between academies and first-teams is absurdly large and there's no B teams in this country like there are in Spain).

The problem is that we've not given kids like him a chance in the past, but maybe we should now. He looks ready to contribute in a meaningful way to our team so long as we don't go chasing another high-priced striker like we did two years ago. What exactly does he need to develop that's best served at West Brom? Physically he's looking great, so it comes down to technique and tactical awareness both of which might be best served at Chelsea so long as we get the right manager in. Loans are designed to get kids used to being part of the first-team - that seems to have been achieved at West Brom so why not bring him back? So which team?