The only place to be

Spot on. I swear some people just look at the stats from games as if it's Football Manager rather than actually watching what happens on the pitch.

You say it's a 'nice improvement' but we've been doing that for a while now. Azpi, Cahill, Moses, De Bruyne....all bought around the £10 million mark and three of them are long-term options. This will be the new reality of Chelsea were role players are bought at reasonable prices, one or two marquee signings come in, the wages are lower and we have a production line of young players coming through. Relying on Roman is yesterday's thinking and it's pretty stupid in all honesty. We're not going back to 2004 levels of spending. We're going to start using young players in the first team and as someone who grew up seeing the likes of Jody Morris, Mark Nicholls and John Terry come through I can tell you there's nothing better than that. That's why people want to see the youngsters given a go. We did also win the Champions League.... But the problem goes back to the short-term thinking of the first few years of Roman's reign. We spent big money on established players and we suffered when they either grew old or moved on and we didn't have replacements. Transitioning to a new way of running a club was always going to be painful and we lacked the stability in the manager's role to cover up the cracks. Now we're actually positioning ourselves for long-term success which is why some people think the board are doing a good job. The amount of talent we have in the academy is somewhat astounding and the amount of talent we have between the ages of 18 and 25 is amongst the best in Europe. The biggest handicap has been the Torres deal though. It was a massive financial commitment and it's had massive effects on our on-field performance. It's hard to overstate the amount that this one deal held us back and until he's gone, we'll struggle.

I would certainly like to see a lot more of this. The simple fact is that what we've done in the last decade hasn't worked. John Terry had one loan spell in which he played 6 games for Forest. Lampard had 9 games at Swansea. What we need is someone prepared to give them a chance. I've been happy with the loans Chalobah and McEachran got because they simply won't see any here, but we have to really start using the academy effectively.

AVB lost everyone at the club, from the youth players to the reserve team right up to the senior squad. They had no option - it was his personality that fucked him over. Now that might be something he learns from and becomes a better manager for, but he simply wasn't a very good man manager in his time at Chelsea. His position became utterly untenable. I think the re-adjustments for the long-term have been pretty good actually, although it's hard to judge it properly until summer. It's also very easy to say we should make a profit when we win the CL, but we have had huge outgoings for the last decade so there's really nothing to say we should be profitable especially when you compare our revenue streams (particularly matchday income) to other clubs. He plays his best team, focuses on the league and then leaves. He also has to bring Terry back into the team as soon as possible I think and marginalise Torres.

Someone with ambition who wants to work with some of the finest young talent in the world and have a large transfer budget to work with. Here's the thing people don't understand about a lot of football managers - they're competitive and self-confident. The best ones back themselves to do well in jobs and if we're being honest, Roman very rarely sacks managers who are doing a great job. Now it's not an easy job which is why it pays well. But some people need to put the black clothing and Radiohead music down, and try and think not just positively but realistically about their football club. Some of the shit that gets posted is laughable.

See I think it's very easy to blame them when things go wrong and not give them credit when they do something right. I also think football fans are by and large prisoners of the moment and very reactionary. A few months ago they were brilliant after they acted decisively to remove AVB, put in place someone else and won us the FA Cup, Champions League and FA Youth Cup, before taking the club to profitability. Now they're like a 'cyst' (apparently) and need to be attacked with cricket bats. Of course no-one can actually say who they'd put in place instead or what they'd want done differently. Boards are very rarely popular at clubs and that's not likely to change anytime soon. The best thing they can do is ignore the criticism and stick to their long-term plan.

I don't know who you'd want to hire on the board who you think could do a better job. Look at what we've done in terms of youth recruitment. Look at what we've done in terms of making a profit. Look at the corporate deals brokered in just the last year. Look at what the club has done to try and find a new location for a stadium. Oh, and look at last May. Like I said earlier, it's very easy for football fans to say 'sack the board' but unless they know exactly who they want gone and why, and who they want to replace him then it's utterly meaningless.

Personally, I don't have a massive problem with the 'hired hands' getting on with the business of transfers, but I'm pretty sure that there's a way for Roman to stay in touch with people in London (and maybe even around the world) whilst on holiday.

This all sounds like some weird 'Brazilian victimisation' which I don't think there is. David Luiz could be from any country in the world and I'd still expect him to make the odd brain-fart. Ivanovic doesn't. He's been one of our most dependable players for years and he's one of the players who every fan in the ground respects. He puts everything into his performances and has been dependable for over 150 games. He's proper Chelsea in my opinion and the fans giving him shit need to have a real look in the mirror.

Mata was rested against QPR. If we're going to go with Marin on the wing I'd love to see Oscar start alongside Luiz in midfield. If not him then maybe Ramires.

Feruz is just a natural.

Cobham. I disagree that he's better than Moses. Moses passes for a start.

Who's the best DM in the world?

They might lack goals from midfield, but they've scored 54 goals in the league this season which I think I'm right in saying is the most in the league. If you actually talk to United supporters who know what they're talking about, they'll tell you that what they're lacking in midfield is a more defensively-minded presence especially since the absence of Fletcher. Lamps will be 35 and I don't know if he directly addresses a specific need of United's squad.

AVB lost the changing room for a number of reasons, so his position became untenable and the Ibrahimovic deal was seemingly a big mistake all round. Pretty much everything else I've heard about Guardiola's man management skills is positive.

They already have Carrick, Cleverley, Fletcher, Kagawa, Anderson and possibly Giggs and maybe even Rooney. Plus they've got young Nick Powell who will be looking for more game time next year. They could go for Lampard but I don't know if they'd want or need a 35 year old Lampard.

I think he's the best choice all round. I think we're set up for him, I think we've planned for him, I think he's the one guy Roman might give enough time to and I think he's probably the best man manager we will have hired since Mourinho. If we don't get him, I don't know who else is available who we don't repeat the same old mistakes with.

I'm not going to boo him because I don't think it's his fault. I think his injuries have robbed him of whatever it was that made him special. To me he's like Tiger Woods, where circumstances and injuries just robbed him of that 'x' factor that made him so successful. That's lasted for two years now and he's lost all confidence in his abilities. So I'm not going to boo him simply because I pity him more than anything. I've called him a cancer in the past because his presence is detrimental to the club, but that's not something he has much control over. We signed him, we've kept faith with him and unless someone comes in with an offer for him, we're lumped with him. But I've always thought the booing of our own players is classless. I've booed the likes of Saunders and Hunt because they were cunts. Torres isn't - he's just not very good.

That's bollocks and massively unfair. He was probably our worst player other than Ivanovic and offered absolutely nothing. He has his place when we're counter-attacking against stronger teams and need to hit them on the break or work hard for 90 minutes, but when we've got plenty of possession and need something from midfield he can look a little bit lost.

If it was going to be anybody promoted from within the club then first name on my list would be Steve Holland. I do wonder what his career path will be like and if he could one day be not just a Premier League manager, but our manager but that's a long way down the line. I hope whoever comes in this summer keeps him around and involved. But I honestly don't think we're going to make any moves until the Summer. A lot depends on the next 3 games but if we start like we started last night's game and have Ba in the team then we've got a chance in all 3 matches.

I've been impressed by Ake, Feruz, McEachran and a couple of the younger ones. The problem isn't just a Chelsea one when it comes to developing talent, but a league-wide one.

I love when people say 'sack the board' but don't say exactly who they want to sack and who they want to replace them.

We started with the major investment when Roman became owner - now we're seeing the results with the likes of Chalobah and McEachran. We just have to start utilising them effectively.

We really didn't. We lacked a little incisiveness but that comes from having Torres up-front. We actually had more of the game then a pretty good Swansea team. Their goal came against the run of play and as I've said already, both goals came from individual mistakes. If we play like that against Stoke and have Ba up-front then we should be able to get a result. I can imagine quite a lot of matches. Who would you look to to solve the problem now then? And what problem is it that you actually think needs solving?

Again, stop looking just at scorelines and watch some of the games. Swansea are a good team and we outplayed them last night. The problem came down to one man not doing his job (Torres) and one man making two mistakes. The managerial issue is a problem, but it will hopefully be solved in the summer. The Lampard situation is a cloud that will be gone in the summer too. Hopefully we can move on Torres at some point, whatever it takes but let's not get too maudlin about the situation.