The only place to be

Ok. How about a bet. I bet we'll win the league this season. You obviously think we won't because we need Lukaku. Winner pays the costs of running this site for a year.

We don't need Lukaku this season. We need players who don't quit.

Also soon to be known as the English Vitesse.

I agree that he's a complete pro in his dedication to his game and I've praised him for that. But he talks too much. Simple as that, from his press dealings to asking for a move away from this club. He's spoken when he shouldn't, said too much and alienated a lot of the support he had. Inside info....wow, a real ITK lads. So apparently the club are trying to make a £50 million investment pay off. Careful, that info is so confidential you might be assassinated for revealing it. What else? Demba Ba was going to go to Arsenal on loan for £3 million. Whose your source? Mr Dave The Sun Newspaper or Terry Daily Mail? So Lukaku was on the same level as Ba? Funny that, because technically he's on the same level as him too. And Azpi had to get into the World Champion's squad, but he didn't ask for a loan move. He didn't even get the chances Lukaku did. Instead he kept his head down, trained and then cemented himself in the first-team winning huge plaudits. He needed to prove himself to Mourinho and the Chelsea supporters first. Shame he still missed out on the world cup...oh wait, apparently he didn't. Just didn't notice him. He got increasing amounts of minutes blah blah blah....written it all before, you know the song. He should just go to Everton. He'll start every week there, score 15 goals a season and be a massive star for the second biggest club on Merseyside. Did he happen to tell you why Real Madrid haven't bid for him? Or Barcelona? Or PSG? Or Livepool? Or United? Or Arsenal? Pogba was missed because United struggled for central midfielders. The difference is that we replaced Lukaku already. Costa and Drogba are both better than him, whilst Bamford and Solanke have the potential to be.

He got increasing amounts of time against Hull and Villa, but he was unlucky in that against United we didn't use a striker. We simply didn't know that United were as shit as they were that early in the season. Then against Bayern he got another chance. He would've got more, but bear in mind it took until October for Azpilicueta to amass equivalent minutes on the pitch but he didn't ask for a move (despite the competition in the World and European Champions squad for a spot) and took his chances when they came. That's why Azpi is loved by the fans and Jose, and Lukaku increasingly isn't.

You don't mean 'given a proper chance', you mean 'handed the first-team shirt on a plate despite proving nothing'. He was given chances. That's a fact. He asked to leave.

It's overblown and always was. Jose is a manager who wants to stop the opposition from scoring first, but once he's got a team capable of doing that with relative ease then his teams become as exciting as any other going forward usually in his second season. In 05/06 we were amazing to watch at times and in his second season at Real he set a scoring record so it's quite frankly ridiculous. Mourinho isn't a one-dimensional attacking coach like Rodgers who is simply a reheated Keegan.

Cech is a veteran. He knows exactly what to say and he could be sat in front of a contract with PSG, pen in his hand and he would know that's the right thing to say. Not sure why you're having a go at Courtois. The guy has worked his bollocks off and exceeded every expectation to the point he has demonstrated he is the form young keeper in Europe right now, behind only Neuer.

Pretty much. Once you've got that spine established then you can trust youngsters and the older players will carry them. Keeping Ake around is fantastic because he's a wonderful young player, he's versatile and he's consistently improved in his time here which is exactly what you want from youngsters. Christensen needs to be kept around because he's just not ready to go out on-loan yet. He's a lovely player on the ball, he's got decent physical attributes but defensively there are still massive things to work on and I think Mourinho, JT and Cahill are great people to learn from. I just think it's a shame that Chalobah went from having a great season in the Championship to being messed around by the club last year and now we're looking for another loan for him whilst Mikel continues to earn £75k p/w despite being, well... him.

A whole season up-front for a decent team will be great for him. Stick him as number 9 and I think he's a 20 goal-a-season striker, although I think that he'd get 10-15 goals in the Premier League with the right team. He's also developing physically which he needed and he's a lot broader in the shoulders this season suggesting he's been working out over the summer break. There's a good argument he's a better footballer than Lukaku. His touch on the ball is better and some of his movement in the box is far more intelligent (or instinctual), but he's not as fast, strong or powerful. He's also got a fantastic attitude to the match and he's a very intelligent young man. That's why he's got a shot with Mourinho and why a strong season this year might see him elevated to the first-team squad next year.

And that means I have 'pure hate' towards him, despite me being quite clear about my issues with him and his actions?

No I don't. That's a ridiculous thing to say.

Not at all. I'm just saying that what you're saying about Chalobah was said about Pogba, and they're both players I felt were of a similar standard when they faced one another in the Youth Cup. You'll notice I'm not saying this about every young player and that's just a strawman you're usually better than. He's a top class talent who has a long association with this club, has shown leadership qualities at every age level, is homegrown but more importantly is an English national. Stuff like that matters to Chelsea supporters.

http://www.redcafe.net/threads/paul-pogba.278058/

Different players in different positions who offer different things.

They're very similar players. Pogba wasn't given a chance, left and proved himself at the next club. I wouldn't be surprised if the same happened to Nat.

Fact is he spent a lot of time for Derby on the wing too. Bamford just has that knack for scoring, but he's also a better footballer than Lukaku.

I think it's more that he'll be a victim of circumstance in much the same way Matic and Pogba were. Then it's up to him to make the most of whatever opportunities he gets after that.

I do agree with the first bit. The guy needs to start looking at his own career and really start making his mark but it needs to be at the right club. It is somewhat irksome that the unflushable Mikel is still going to be on the payroll next year purely because no team who could potentially pay his wages would waste that much money on him. Romeu could kick on but needs to be tested against better opposition. Nat's problem is that he has Loftus-Cheek coming through as well now who is a similar type of player with just as much potential, and Van Ginkel just ahead of him. On the one hand it's a nice problem to have but it's just one more kick in the bollocks for anyone who bothers to take an interest in the youth teams.

Italian football is finished. A boring product poorly marketed and shows no signs of changing.

He's like the opposite of Lukaku. Shows nice touches around the box but struggles to score, whereas Lukaku can be shit for 90 minutes yet still score the odd goal. Neither is the 'complete striker'.

Going on loan again. Shame because he's a massive talent but obviously the club don't think he's ready. Hoping he doesn't turn into our Pogba, the one that got away.

It's not something new to his game. I remember him doing the same thing in his first CL start for us and I'm pretty sure he got booked for it. He's very willing to go to the ground and some of his attempts are absolutely ridiculous, they're dangerous and if it was Ramires then they'd probably get more attention.

Looked good today but some of his tackles are dangerous. He's not quite Paul Scholes and most can be put down to over-exuberance but there was one today where he went through the back of one of their players with no chance of getting the ball. Needs to just relax a bit because he's a solid midfielder.