The only place to be

Sometimes he looks like he might be up to it, sometimes not. He needs a run in the team but we really need to tie up Ashley for at least another year. Going back to Lamps, I think the closest thing to him in the league might end up being Dembele. Shame we didn't go after him harder.

Honestly think that's complete bollocks. The split is still there, but both groups seem to be mellowing in their approach to him. But I've seen less 'discerning' fans in the crowds with their A4 printouts. :blue scalf:

Lampard might have been injured, but his absence didn't seem to affect us when we won at Spurs and Arsenal which are still arguably the results of the season. If you can't see any significant improvement, then that's fine. People I've spoken to all agree that we look a lot tighter and defend as a unit more. Look at Eden Hazard for example who has been tracking back a huge amount more and seems to be a much more rounded player than he was previously. Look at the experiment with Luiz who looks like he might become another option in the midfield. You allude to the lack of Lampard - one could put forward the point that Benitez has been missing Terry since he became coach. I've asked a few of the posters who keep referencing them for the original quotes and they don't seem to know. In fact the Mail said that the quote had different variations which suggests it's a little suspect. But for some, whatever the Daily Mail prints is gospel. Broken Britain innit

The majority of the youngsters have been around him for a while now. At some point you've got to put the ball in the next generation's hand and let them run with it. The guy is going to go down as one of our greats, but time waits for no man. We've just got to do what others have said here and give him a great send-off.

Hopefully he'll accept a one-year contract. Not at his best but still arguably the best left-back in the world.

I think it was in Football Manager 2010 that you could have an older player mentor a younger player. Essentially we need to have Lamps around so we can right-click on his name and have him mentor the youngsters (although most of our promising youngsters are out on loan). Decent article by the way.

And the point is that you can look at each of those games and see numerous other factors (Clattenburg) for our losses. Ultimately the club will decide. The best I can hope is that I've presented the counter-argument in a way that makes people think.

If we look at Mikel or Luiz taking one spot, then that's Ramires, McEachran, Lampard, De Bruyne and Oscar going for another in our strongest line-up. That's based on us not signing another player too or recalling Chalobah. You can say that it's 7 players into 2 spots if you want. Either way, the reasons for the board deciding to let him go are fairly sound. The experience argument is great but then you have to acknowledge when we've missed inexperiences players like Terry in the CL or recent weeks and survived or when experienced players simply haven't stepped up and 'transmitted' their knowledge to other players. Ultimately your argument is this;

I've taken swipes at competitors and then worked for them and I'm sure I'm not the only one in that position. Football is slightly different in that some people feel the need to take everything personally. It's a rather childish mentality, but then football is a rather childish thing to call someone a 'cunt' over. I go to football to enjoy myself - some people are just bitter souls who look to hold on to grudges.

I completely disagree with the Cole/Lampard debate. Cole is still one of the best players in his position and if his ankle is up to it I'd like him to stay. As for results, we lost against Corinthians, went down against Skahtar when he was on the pitch but won away to Spurs and Arsenal which were arguably our two best performances all season. This isn't a reliable way to assess his value apparently.

Can I ask you one question - have you booed him or chanted against him at any of the games since he took over?

Actually I was responding to your opinion on what Oscar is thinking with my supposition on what he would be thinking next year. I wasn't saying we don't need Lamps because Oscar is expected to lead his country - I said that Oscar would be happier without someone in front of him for a starting place. Ok? I thought the wider 'conclusion' was that he would take a pay cut. The simple fact is we don't know, but you keep on telling me our invaluable his experience is to the team - if it's invaluable, why would he take a pay cut? Again you're inferring conclusions that no-one is making. I've said from the start that we could have a scenario where we have 5 players after one spot in the team. Keeping him around because he's like a fucking mascot on Blockbuster is a little unfair on a guy who still thinks he has a lot to offer. Personally, I think the experience argument is a little overdone. We've done well without JT's experience and other players have stepped up when challenged. Sticking with Lamps might be comfortable and familiar, but I'd personally like to look to the future and give the three youngsters who cost less combined than Lampard's current weekly wage a chance to step-up. And I think the club might think the same.

We've also lost money in the CL, AVB's compensation was paid up as a wage up until the point he got a new job (so he cost very little to sack) and you also have to factor in the costs of a new manager and player acquisition in the summer. Like I've mentioned, understanding the club's finances is tricky but what is clear to see is that every penny counts in the modern game.

I can remember them being reported. But when I went to look for them being reported first-hand, I couldn't find mention of them. Now that doesn't mean they weren't said, but it's weird that we've all heard them but we're not sure where from. Here's the difference though - having seen them reported in the Mail, I didn't trust it blindly but looked for a primary source and couldn't find one. You've kept on mentioning them yet you can't give me your source either. I probably shouldn't respond because you don't seem to know when something that so enraged you was said. I've never seen such blind faith in the Daily Mail before.

You talk about the wages between now and 2010. Now not going to in-depth into the way FFP works with pre-2010 contracts I think it's pertinent to mention that in 2010 we made a loss of £70million and this year we made a £1million profit.

I'm sure Oscar is happy to have Lamps to learn for in his first year. In his second year, when he's expected to lead a country who lives and breathes football to a home World Cup he'd be quite happy with Lampard moving on. In fact won't Lampard's experience still be intact next year? There's always an argument to stop yourself from moving forward and stick with what's comfortable. It's why unambitious men have fat wives. If Lampard (and his experience) is unavaialble, why on Earth would he take a pay cut? Ferguson doesn't have an Oscar or KDB or a McEachran. Ask any United fan and they'll tell you they need a midfielder and that Scholes and Giggs are liabilities now. I don't want to see my hero sitting on the bench, getting the odd game here and there. Because he costs more than what he offers in the eyes of the board. That's how these things work. Now we can point to errors they've made, but we're replacing a legend and we have some of the most fantastic options any club could wish for. Oscar needs to play next year. This is a point that is going to be overlooked by a few and dismissed by more, but he's one of the hottest young prospects on Planet Earth and he's our's. He's going to be 22, it's going to be bumpy but I think he's about as good a replacement as we could hope for.

Torres usually waits until the game starts before he goes missing.

From that link you've posted. Other versions of this quote refer to ‘stupid plastic flags’ and end with the words ‘Chelsea fans lack passion’, but that will be largely academic when Benitez walks out at Stamford Bridge on Sunday . Now, I personally don't hold the Daily Mail in the high esteem you clearly do but it seems as though they're not too sure of the exact wording of this quote which has you so annoyed. Out of interest, do you know the exact wording of this quote and when exactly it was said?

He's also been given the Number 10 shirt for Brazil two years before they hold the World Cup, was MOTM on his debut in the Champions League and hasn't looked overawed at any point. In fact I think his workrate and toughness has surprised a lot of people. He'll never be useless, but it's about measuring his worth to the team versus the cost of keeping him in the squad be it financially or simply as another player in front of youngster who NEED a chance at some point. Against Corinthians he was anonymous. Against Everton I thought the goals masked a lot of not very good things if I'm honest. Was his 'experience' switch turned off in the first 30 minutes for instance? I think his problem is akin to what Carlo said about Joe Cole towards the end of his career - the ball tends to slow down when it gets to him. It's not about tika-taka but simply moving the ball around the pitch, and I defy you to watch the likes of Oscar, Mata and Hazard do it and not say that Lamps is a beat behind. I'm reminded of Hansen saying 'you'll never win anything with kids', except we don't have kids. Ideally we'd have the Czech captain, a former England captain, the most capped English left-back, Serbia's captain and players with enough medals and trophies to keep Arsenal fans sated for decades. As for the Arsenal point, we aren't going to be them if we lose Lamps. We've bought players with the ability to cover his absence. I've seen these kids play, I've seen them step up and I personally think the future is bright for this club with or without Frank Lampard and the fact that I can say that for the first time in a decade tells me that the club is doing the right thing.

Actually if you include Mikel and Luiz then we could be looking at 8 players for 2 positions, although some can cover others. Experience is great but players like Oscar have over 100 league appearances and the guy has been given the number 10 shirt for Brazil - I don't think he's ever looked inexperienced (his first start consisted of him scoring 2 goals and man-marking one of the best players in the world). I made the point earlier but we made just £1 million profit last year and Lamps costs about £5 million p/a. That's not an inconsiderable amount. Yes his experience is great, but (and I'm purely playing devil's advocate here) but where was that against Corinthians? Conversely, did we miss it when we came back from 2-1 at Spurs or went to Arsenal and won convincingly? This 'experience' thing is like the Anfield crowd myth - when they win, they were the 12th man. When they lose they keep schtum. Cole is a different situation because despite him being more inconsistent than I can remember him being previously, he's still arguably the best player in his position in the world, Bertrand still has question marks and he's about 3 years younger. We aren't close to being Arsenal - their problem was underinvestment. We've actually invested in both the youth academy, as well as spending about £30 million on the likes of Oscar and De Bruyne, as well as Ramires. It's completely disingenuous to suggest that a team that could start with Cech (30), Cahill (28), Terry (31), Ivanovic (28), Mikel (26), Mata (24), Torres (28) and maybe even Cole (31) could be inexperienced. The simple fact is that despite people wanting us to be like Arsenal so they can moan about the board, we've actually got a nice average age in the squad (even without Lamps), with some of the best young prospects in the world and an academy that isn't living on reputation alone (like Arsenal's). In fact your point that all that's left at Arsenal is kids is' complete bollocks isn't it? Look at their signings - Cazorla, Arteta, Mertesacker, Podolski, Vermaelen, Gervinho, Giroud, Santos - and tell me that 'all that's left is kids'. Arsenal's problem isn't that they relied on youth. It's that they've bought shit.

Didn't Scholes come back precisely because they DIDN'T develop young players to take over? In fact didn't Scholes come through because United were prepared to sell players like Paul Ince? Didn't Neville develop because they sold Paul Parker (might have to check that one)? Giggs and Scholes are the exception rather than the rule - look at players like Roy Keane who they moved on. Sure you can argue that his performances tailed off but Fergie's success has been based on not being a slave to reputation. And that's a fair point. But that's still a possibility of 4 players for 1 position in the team (not including Ramires or Chalobah) in a season of about 60 games. We're still going to have the wise old heads of Cech and Terry around too so this misnomer of us not having experience in the side is a little disingenuous.

It's entirely possible he walks away from the game when he finishes. He's a very smart guy like you say, but he's invested his money well from what I've heard and doesn't need the game once he retires. He's not going to be doing tours like some ex-pros for sure. And I absolutely agree he's smart enough to manage (in a way John Terry isn't, for instance) but I simply don't know if he'll want to. Whatever happens he's going to be a legend though. Sure we could give him a short-term contract but will that be the best for the long-term development of players like McEachran, De Bruyne and Oscar?

Except James Joyce famously adored Stevie G and felt Lampard was overrated.

Actually we already had a bet on Chelsea to finish in the top four with Benitez in charge. If we do, he leaves. I'm just going to ignore him for 5 more months. I don't know whether he should leave at the end of the season or as soon as it's mathematically impossible for us to finish lower than fourth. But for his benefit and because I'm nice, I'll point out that Yeats is WB Yeats - one of the most important figures in literature.

Look at where he was for that goal....then look at the ball Azpi fizzed across the goal against Everton. I'm starting to come around to the view we should bring him back, although you'd still expect him to get more game time at West Brom and it's good to have him as an option for them against our rivals.....except Clarkey rested him against United. So conflicted.....