The only place to be

Hmm.....

Sorry, but if you're going to have a pop at the owner who has taken this club to highs it could probably never dream of just a decade ago, you need to change your avatar. Seriously. :lol2: Agree. We can't leave out Mata in league games. He's too important and the fact it took until the 70-something minute is a fucking joke. Rafa deserves the blame tonight. As for your assessment of our board, I think you're way off the mark. I think we have amassed some of the best talent who are just waiting for a guy to lead them to a sustained period of success. I think Hazard and Mata fit the team perfectly and that Oscar can take Lampard's position in the squad long-term.

Right now it feels like one of the worst games I've ever seen. Benitez just completely fucked up the team selection in an important match. Right now, we can't drop Mata. He's our best player and too important to everything we do. We looked completely lost without him and he's become the lynchpin for that side, above any other player. Secondly, Torres is done. Just a gutless, spiritless, cowardly performance. I've said it before but he is a cancer at the club and until he's gone then we're going to be held back. Demba Ba may well be an improvement simply because he's not Torres and we won't be playing with 10 men. I will say that Cahill and Ivanovic were good again. The goal really wasn't their fault from my point of view and we really haven't missed Terry's presence in his absence, which bodes well for our future. Azpi had another decent game, whilst Bertrand didn't do anything particularly wrong but also nothing particularly impressive. Marin should've been off. Everyone in the ground knew it except the ref (who was shit). He made some nice runs after that but I would'e preferred Hazard to start whilst Oscar had a decent enough game for someone who seems to have had his confidence hit a bit. But the midfield really didn't offer much. We had so much possession but Lampard and Luiz were just slowing the ball down at almost every opportunity. Luiz did well at times to hustle back in defence and I still like the stability he can add at the back, but I thought he needed a rest tonight. Lampard on the other hand.... I've presented a number of points trying to understand why we're letting him go. I might as well have saved it all and just let people watch this game tonight. Apart from his goal, all he seemed to do was take turns with other players in losing possession. I've been told his value is in his leadership and being able to tell the other players what being a Chelsea player is all about and explaining things like local rivalries. Okay. All in all, fucking shit but this is a young group of players and they need to feel the pain of losing (desperately looking for an upside). One of our problem areas could be partially solved within days and we know that the club has a plan (sort-of) long-term. This is shit, but it will get better eventually.

So they let him go and they became one? We replaced him on the wings with Moses and up front (hopefully) with Ba. As it was he wasn't contributing to the team and was on a rather pricey expiring contract. This is a great bit of business.

For all those saying that the club have fucked up and he's going to be a star, do you not think it's odd that he's now been let go by TWO Champions League teams and the only team willing to go for him was Liverpool? He has potential, he's always had potential, but the reality of him is something rather different.

Sometimes you don't know how you'll feel about someone leaving until you see them holding another team's shirt or signing a contract. Seeing those pictures, I feel absolutely nothing.

Perhaps, but it didn't seem to help much against Corinthians did it? Personally, I'm going to hold fire on assessing him until the end of the season. He's an interim manager and I've said before that whilst he's here he'll get my backing because I'd rather focus on us having a bright future rather than cling on to old slights, and for better or worse we need him to do a good job for us to have a bright future.

I try not to make predictions, but in this case I'm going to stick my neck out, put my cock on the block, be brave and say....... better than Torres.

The original target was Modric, and when we didn't get him we went after Oscar so I really do want to see what he can do in that position because he's going to struggle to force Mata out of the number 10 spot. He has the vision and he has a surprisingly high workrate and level of toughness so it's just a case of giving him games there alongside either Mikel or Luiz.

There's still a medical.

It's fair to say he's played 800 minutes (if that's correct - I haven't checked). However, in his last 4 games.... Fulham - 90 minutes Man United - Sub; 26 minutes QPR - 76 minutes West Brom - 84 minutes It seems as though he's becoming a more important player for them as the season goes along so one could reasonably expect him to start more games and get more minutes than he would here.

Shame there was no-one there to record them for posterity.

I'm going to make myself unpopular by saying that agents are necessary to protect kids from being exploited by the clubs. If you're a player then you want a guy fighting to get the best deal from you, from a company who wants to pay as little for your talents as possible. This just sounds as though they came to us, heard our offer and then tested the waters elsewhere but found out that the market was pretty soft for him. I still think the biggest threat will be Newcastle re-upping for him.

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.