The only place to be

I'd rather neither. We replace Sturridge with Ba up-front and Moses on the wing. I'm happier with both of them instead of him. The team looks better with both of them.

It's somewhat humourous to me that we dropped points away to Swansea in the league after playing our main guys for up to 120 minutes in the preceding game against Man United in the Coca Cola Cup. Now we're going to play them again for 90 minutes before a tough league game against Stoke????? :banghead: :lol2:

You strike me as the type of person who would rather Sturridge scored a hat-trick against us and we lost to prove you were right, then us actually succeed without him. Danny was given chances but his attitude wasn't right in training. Now you can choose to believe me or not, but there's a very good reason why AVB didn't go after him for Spurs. There's a reason why Liverpool were the only club interested. Circumstances might not have been ideal at Chelsea but 90% of a footballer's success comes from how they react to circumstances. People seem to want to re-write history, but he got a reputation as a selfish player for a reason. It became a joke by the end of it and the groans he elicited in the ground weren't imagined.

I hope this is true. Beyond his technical skills and his strength, I love the fact that he's not one to shy away. He can impose himself on games whereas someone like Mikel needs people around him to play well rather than driving the play on himself. He needs to learn a bit of self-control but I like a bit of nastiness in that position. Plus he's a goal threat from midfield. We all laugh about Mikel's 200-something games without a goal and it's really not one of the main things he's asked to do, but with all the tools at his disposal (his height in particular) you'd expect the occasional one.

Based on the information available, both Terry and Lampard earned roughly £30,000 p/w more than Ballack did. Whilst their arrival did help him get such a wage, it was actually the leverage that his agent used of a possible move to Inter that led to such a wage hike. When does the club ever comment on these types of things? You make a fair point here. If we don't get Guardiola then that's a big blow to our plans and if they appoint Benitez on a permanent basis then all hell may break loose. I actually think there's a lot to attract someone like Pep to this club but that's a point for another thread. I've actually defended the board on a number of issues, this being one. We're in transition and that pertains to the tactics as much as anything. Put simply, Lampard's position (where he made that history) doesn't exist on the pitch anymore. More importantly, we've done about as well as any club could be expected to replace him with young players with massive potential. Just like when Frank joined the club and Wisey left, we'll move on (yes I'm aware of the difference in quality). This is what happens in football. It's what makes it great. Players become legends and then move aside. It happened with Osgood, it happened with Dixon, it happened with Zola and it will happen with Lamps. But they'll never stop being part of the Chelsea family.

You're wrong about what the club wants to do. They actually want a 'conveyor belt of talent' and we're actually reaching a point where the talent level is good enough to make that a reality.

He does drop deeper quite often. Watch the game against Southampton for a very recent example. Often he's on the edge of the box for opposition corners too. Not quite sure what you're on about to be honest.

I don't know enough about Taison to know how he will turn out. All I can go on is a couple of people's opinions (who I respect) and the board's track record in this area. With regards Lampard, I actually see the case for letting him go and giving the youth a chance. It's not simply about trusting the board in either case.

Makelele fouled quite a bit from what I remember. His passing stats are based on him playing in a more advanced position for a weaker team. He's scored a goal every other game and had 3 assists, although we don't need him to be creative in a holding role and his positional sense is very good in that position. Honestly, it sounds like you're simply making the right type of statements to discount him rather than judging his period in that position fairly. But I can see why you'd rather have Capoue with his 2% better pass completion stat and one less yellow card.

Bought him for £12million, sold him for £8million. In that time he played a role in our success. People like to blame the board, or doubt their acumen but you can make a case that they've done well in the last couple of years.

Don't know if he goes straight back into the team. Cahill and Ivanovic have done well in his absence.

Lukaku is 19, getting better week by week and cost roughly £12 million. At the moment it seems like a good bit of business. If he wasn't a Chelsea player, there would be a 200-page thread saying we should sign him up. Marin was a good bit of business at the time, but he simply became surplus to requirements after we qualified for the CL. I actually think one could argue it was a good bit of business that simply suffered due to changed circumstances. Cahill has been great for £7million and has really stepped up in Terry's absence (both this season and in the CL Final). It was a phenomenal bit of business. Luiz hasn't panned out the way anyone hoped, but he has shown flashes of brilliance, helped us win the CL and still probably has a lot of sell-on value. But Torres is the big black mark in the book, and that seems to have been one man's decision - Abramovich. In fact if you look at our dealings since Emenalo took over as DoF, we've bought players who are younger and with something to prove rather than established stars. Taison comes under that heading. He's the type of transfer we've done well in recent times, so I'm inclined to trust our scouts. The fact that Shakhtar were also interested goes a little way to making me more confident considering their track record with Brazilians (Willian, Fernandinho, Elano).

Is it only me who trusts our scouting network in this transfer? When was the last time we spent around £10 million on a player for him to turn out to be a flop? Azpi, Moses, Ba, Cahill, De Bruyne, Courtois, Lukaku and Marin all cost around that much and I'd only call Marin a flop so far. Even Meireles did a job for a while. Then there's the Matas and Ramires of this world who cost a bit more but seem to have worked out. Could it be that the scouts know far more than people on here do and that he might be a useful player for us?

Talking me down from the roof :tophat: Cheers. I think a large portion of those people who haven't jumped on the Rafa Out bandwagon have only done so because of the 'interim' title. If he actually got the job full-time then things could get nasty. Unbelievable how important this summer is going to be.

Contradicting myself how?

If that's true then we might be fucked. Either stuck with Benitez or going after someone who probably won't have the stature not to be sacked within 6 months. FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK

Stop opening it then - you only do it so you can moan about the same thing over and over again.

Robbie was a temporary manager in reality, so is Rafa. We all know who the real target is so I'm not too bothered what happens in the meantime so long as we finish Top Four. We were already out of the Champions League under Robbie so one of the main targets for this season was already gone. I have no problem with us losing Drogba (perfect ending), Anelka (simply wasn't performing), Kalou (hated him playing for us, hated him coming off the bench, glad he's gone) or Sturridge (most selfish player I've ever seen, better in theory than reality). But if you want to criticise the board, I'd suggest you also credit them for astute signings like Azpi, Moses, Cahill and also investing in some of the best youth players on Earth (Courtois, De Bruyne, Hazard, Oscar, Mata, Lukaku), as well as developing the youth academy so that we have some really exciting youngsters on the cusp of breaking through. Letting Lampard go when his contract expires at the age of 35 and his position in the team doesn't really exist anymore (he's not a deep lying midfielder nor is he good enough to oust Mata behind the striker) and we have a host of youngsters fighting for his space is not the worst thing in the world. Calling for a boycott of games when you have absolutely nothing invested in such an action is fucking ridiculous in all honesty.

Apparently Liverpool are the biggest club in the Premier League according to old Danny. :lol2: Even the Liverpool fans might start to think he's laying it on a bit thick.

I'm not getting into a debate about fandom, I'm simply saying that it's easy to call for a boycott when you don't actually have to do anything about it. If people don't want to go to a game because we're letting a player's contract run down then that's their choice but an organised protest is a little bit silly in my opinion. My attitude towards him is simple - he's been a great player for us, one of the best ever, but we're moving on. If that makes you want to 'question my longevity as a Chelsea supporter' then that's fine, but you know it won't mean much coming from you - no offence.

That's not very nice. Although being told by someone who doesn't go to matches that I should consider boycotting a match because a 35 year old's contract is running out and the club aren't renewing it has given me something to laugh about this morning. :lol2: :lol2:

Not to have a dig at Robbie, but wasn't the last job he was linked with the Nottingham Forest one?

A boycott of what? :lol2:

He played as a DM before he signed for Everton and started there as well if I remember correctly. We were tracking him and were interested in signing him, primarily because De Visser was very high on him. At Everton, he began to impress in that role too before he suffered an injury (again, this is from memory so might be slightly inaccurate). The reason Everton are using him there is because that's where they have a need for him. It's not that complex a notion that one team might use a player in one way because they have a need there, whilst another might use him in a different position. £22 million for a proven, top-class (in my opinion) midfielder is about right considering that's roughly what we spent on Essien. As for what he is, I think people are judging him too much by how Everton have recently used him. Like I said above, we first became interested in him when he was a DM but Everton got him. He's moved forward for Everton, but I still think he could be an excellent DM alongside someone like Oscar, De Bruyne or even Ramires or Luiz. Beyond his obvious physical gifts, he's very good technically and he has a certain steel about him that I like. His versatility and ability to get goals in advanced positions would be a bonus. Look at the QPR game for example, where we struggled for penetration. Pushing him forward when we were in possession would have caused problems in the QPR defence, and that's something that can get you a couple of invaluable points a season.

Courtois - already arguably one of the top 15 keepers in Europe. Blackman - a decent English backup; Hilario's replacement probably Ake - Looks like Ruud, moves like Ruud, has all the talent just needs a bit more nastiness/alertness about him Chalobah - just a class above at every level he's played at. Has the 'x'factor. Hopefully a future Chelsea captain. Sky's the limit. Kalas - Assured, classy player. Very similar to Ivanovic and probably needs a loan in this country for at least a season. John Swift - seems to get overlooked by I've always been impressed with him. Reminds me a little of a young Lamps. Loftus-Cheek - Looks a bit like Chalobah but not as good in all honesty. Could still be a good player though. Feruz - Another player with 'it'. Confident, fast, strong, hard-working, good finisher. Could live up to the Scottish Rooney tag. Plus you've got the De Bruynes and McEachrans who could all be top class but are more established. There's also the Bogas, Huntes and Musondas who are all still young but are very highly-regarded. The key to all of this is getting a system that promotes and trust the young players and for that we need stability and a manager prepared to put them in the team.