The only place to be

FFP is to stop other clubs competing with big clubs (of which we are one) through means of outside investment. It benefits us long-term, but I agree it's a massive joke. Either way, it's the new reality and we're making strides to comply with it.

That's a good point. If you look at Mikel, Luiz and maybe Chalobah taking one spot (although that's all up in the air) then you're looking at McEachran, Oscar and Rami sharing time in the other position. Putting it into contest, Oscar will be 22 next season with over 100 club appearances and about 20 international appearances in the number 10 shirt for Brazil. At the end of next season you'll have the World Cup in Brazil and Oscar will need to be playing regular first-team football for us, and I guarantee that's something he was expecting when he came here. There's a notion that we'll be playing with kids next season if Lamps leaves - it's bollocks. Players like Cech, Terry, Cahill, Ivanovic, Mikel and Luiz are all going to be between 32 and 25. Some have League Winners' medals, some have Champions League medals, some have both and all have international experience. We're about as well positioned going forward as any team can be.

Behave mate. FFP is a reality. One of the people leading the charge for some form of salary cap in this country is Roman. IT'S THE NEW REALITY. It isn't 2004 anymore. We aren't going to simply dole out whatever wages Geremi or Shaun Wright-Philips wants anymore. He's being offered double his wage, which is in reality four-times his wage because he only makes the other £20K if he plays. As for him being big in Senegal, who cares? Half of their population is unemployed, half of them live below the poverty line and the rest earn on average $5 a day - if you want to open up a Chelsea megastore in Dakar to capitalise on Ba's popularity you're going to be seriously fucking disappointed.

He's been good, but he hasn't been at the level he once was. Yesterday he scored twice but his passing wasn't what it once was in my opinion. Fitness-wise he's always going to be up there because he work so hard at it, but I don't know if he's the best fit for what we want to be doing going forward. Mikel, Ramires, Oscar (the guy earmarked for that position), De Bruyne, McEachran, Luiz and possibly Chalobah. That's 7 players for 2 positions and I'm assuming Essien isn't coming back either. And we made just £1 million profit last year. When you factor in the cost of a new striker and a new manager then it becomes a signifiant amount although I do envy anyone who works in an industry where £5 million+ is consider an 'obscenely small amount'. The reality is that every penny has to be accounted for in a post-FFP football industry. I'd love him to stay but there are legitimate reasons against that happening. This club has been around before Lampard arrived (hard as it may be for some on here to believe) and it will be around long after he's gone. In terms of replacing what Lamps offers the team I think the board have done as well as anyone could have realistically expected in acquiring Mata and Oscar and at some point you have to trust them to put the club on their back and take us forward.

Yeah, but we're not talking about getting rid of Torres at the same time are we? They have different contracts because they're different types of signings who have different associated commercial benefits. Even if he could sell a ton of shirts, we make a third less on the printing don't we? The club has to take a stand on wages so that we can continue to comply with FFP - we've known that for a long time and there's no point in making these rules if you just keep breaking them. If he's really going to down down a very good wage with us to go and play in France, then do we really want that type of guy in our squad? This is completely ignoring the fact that he's got a knee so bad that Stoke backed away from a deal. This transfer has more hurdles in it than the Olympics.

We all know the club has been acting tough on wages. Ba's a good player but he ain't a marquee signing which means he has to fit into the wage structure like Mata and Cahill did. Ultimately, we're offering him double what he's earning and the chance to compete at the top of the table and maybe the Champions League. If he wants to ply his trade at PSG then he probably won't earn as much because of the new tax laws in place. Realistically I can't see anyone offering him £100K so this just sounds like his agents playing hardball. But if QPR do offer him £20K more and he's seriously entertaining it, you have to question his mindset. The best offer might actually come from Newcastle who just re-up him on a higher wage because it would probably cost them more to replace him unless Alan Carr's old man can work his magic again. Being honest, does anyone actually see him as a long-term option?

The over/under is based on how many Torres threads can run concurrently, surely?

Now we're going to have to discuss what 'best for the club' means. Okay. Like it or not, the investment in Torres was close to £90 million. That's not something you can write off in an age of FFP so the board felt he had to be given a chance up front without any pressure on him. It clearly hasn't panned out so now we're looking for an alternative route forward. I'm not saying whether it was right or wrong, just explaining why they felt that. Ultimately yes. Much like when he said 'Sack AVB' and then a few months later we got to go to Munich to see something we thought we might never see 15 years ago, or like when he said 'Sack Jose' and then we got to go to Moscow to try some lovely vodka and that was all that happened, and there definitely wasn't a football match or the most gut-wrenching experience of my life. Nope definitely didn't happen. What was I saying? Oh right....yes ultimately Roman has the loudest voice in the room because he owns the room. But he's not generally a stupid man. Stupid men don't tend to become billionaires, especially under the circumstances he earned his billions.

With it looking like this could be the last season for arguably our greatest ever player, we're obviously going to be looking to replace him. Now that's tough because he's pretty much irreplaceable in our hearts, but someone's going to have to take his place in the team as a double pivot/deep-lying midfielder/DM/playmaker/whatever you want to call it. Now we have a number of youngsters on our books who are all promising professionals. We also have Juan Mata who is right now having the type of season in terms of goals from midfield that you'd expect from Lamps in his prime. My own view is that the style of football that Lamps thrived in is one we're moving away from slightly, and what we need is someone who can just keep the ball moving and feed the attacking midfielders. 18 months ago a considerable number of us probably thought that would be Luka Modric but good old Daniel Levy solidified his record as an amazing businessman and managed to flog him for about £10 million less than we offered for him. Instead we bought Brazil's Number 10. Chelsea bought Brazil's Number 10, chief playmaker and arguably their brightest prospect. Except not only does he have great vision and beautiful technique, but he also works his bollocks off like a young Dennis Wise. The guy virtually marked Andrea Pirlo out of a game whilst also scoring two goals, both of which were vintage Lampard efforts. He's my choice for us going forward.

Actually I'd like to see us go with Oscar in the midfield alongside either Luiz or Mikel. If he is seen as the long-term option in that spot then this is the type of game he should play in. I've actually changed my mind on resting Mata too - just too important at this point in time and this is a game we need to win. 60 good minutes and then bring on Piazon when we're hopefully winning. Turnbull Azpi Cahill Bane Bertrand Mikel Oscar Moses Mata Hazard Torres

Not to be pedantic but isn't it the other way around? I mean, the moron element tend to categorise Torres as effeminate so wouldn't he be the bitch? I know this is like trying to tell someone who licks windows why they aren't a nutritious meal but let's at least be consistent with out stupid insults.

Robbie was sacked because Roman didn't want him in the first place. Robbie knew that. He also knew as soon as he got us knocked out of the Champions League, he was fucked. At that point there really wasn't a huge number of options of top-class managers (which Benitez arguably still is) available on short-term contracts to take over until Roman can have a run at Guardiola. As for Robbie, Roman gave the guy a job when he couldn't get past an interview at Birmingham fucking City. Now he'll be in contention for a mid-table European side.

You could write a song but you should probably stipulate certain things like contract length, wages, bonuses and maybe even appearance fees. The board know the feelings of the fans and they're going to do what they think is best for the club.

Underrated by whom? It's something that most football fans value immensely and Lamps has an uncanny knack to be in the right position at the right time. No-one here is doubting his abilities though. I've tried to ask legitimate questions of his and the club's future and some johnny-come-lately cunt has questioned my loyalty to this club and suggested I rape kids. It's a fucking joke in all honesty. The basic facts are that Lamps performances aren't at the level they were years ago, he costs a lot of money and the club have invested in a number of youngsters all of whom need to be looked at for that position. This isn't just about age because I think Ashley Cole should definitely be assessed differently, just a reflection of the situation as a whole.

He's a 27 year old striker in the prime of his career, on form and this might be his last big contract - dude's looking to get paid and we aren't the pushovers we once were. Problem is I don't know if the market is as strong for him as his advisors thinks it is. If he's seriously entertaining QPR or Liverpool, fuck him. If he's thinking about PSG then fuck knows how much they'll have to pay with their new tax laws. If it's Arsenal then that probably makes us getting Walcott a near-certainty. I'm going to wait 48 hours before I decide to start panicking.

True, although we've got the two in the double-pivot/DM positions who contribute to that more now. This is why comparisons with what we had and what we might have are hard because we're changing the way we play. Maybe it'll be a case of us not replacing Lampard will a carbon copy (not that there is one) but sharing out his duties amongst the team. But purely in terms of goals from midfield, we seem to have something special in Mata.

I'm just scraping the letters off my HULK shirt.

I'd like to apologise for my part in that unpleasantness above. Anyone who knows Chelsea and their fans know we aren't the type of scum who throw around such vile insults. So for my part in apparently forcing someone to use something like that, I'm sorry. Anyway..... I posted this in another thread and I think it's pertinent to a future without Lamps. How do you replace a player like Frank Lampard? Simply put, you can't. The man is a striker and a midfielder in one; a player that has revolutionised the attacking midfield position. Juan Mata is on course for a 25 goal/30 assist season. Statistically that's better than any of Lampard's season and more than 3 times as productive as Lampard's season at the same age. (Eden Hazard is on course for 30 assists too with 10 goals although I think he'll kick on in the new year).

I'm not convinced, I'm just saying that I can see it from both sides and that we need to look at every factor. Although the discussion in that thread is some 'Chelsea supporter' calling me a paedophile. You've been around the Bridge longer than me - did you come across the type of thing in the 60s and 70s?

Here's a tip - don't call fellow football fans paedophiles. It's a cunt's thing to do.

By saying he's arguably the greatest Chelsea player ever? By saying that Mata, who is having a fantastic season and is probably one of the top 3 players this season, is replacing a lot of what he brought to the team? Lampard will leave Chelsea at some point. We're not simply going to turn the lights off and board up the windows. We'll move on, and by the looks of things we've made a decent start in that process.

Actually Juan is doing it at an earlier age than Frank, whilst offering more to the team in terms of assists. Lamps is a great player, arguably the greatest we've ever had, but we have to move on at some point and despite the despondency of some on here were actually seemed to have done it. He's also scoring some of the important goals that Lamps made his trademark - the goals at Tottenham, the winner against Arsenal, the equaliser at Leeds, the winner against Norwich, the opener against West Ham. How do we replace Lamps? Maybe we just open our eyes.

Here's a little tip - don't make sick comments like that to fellow Chelsea supporters. In fact don't make comments like that to any football fan because it's not how football supporters should handle themselves. We disagree over giving a footballer a contract. We disagree over his role in the side. For that you're going to imply that I engage in one of the most disgusting acts possible for a human being?? In all my years supporting Chelsea, drinking with fellow supporters and having a few disagreements and even having some arguments with opposition supporters (that were settled with a pint) I've never seen something so fucking disgusting. Absolutely cretinous behaviour.

Getting rid of players without replacing them was their issue, as well as underinvesting which is something we clearly haven't done. In terms of age and experience, we'll have a team of players like Cech, Ivanovic, Cahill, Mikel, Mata, Torres and Luiz who are all around 25-30 which seems a decent age for a squad. People want to talk about leadership and experience - where was that in the first 30 minutes today? Where was that against Corinthians? What we need is a team of leader, rather than pinning everything on Lamps or JT (Terry of course being the player we can't live without, except we seem to have done pretty well with Cahill and Ivanovic at CB, which has forced us to play Azpi at RB who it turns out is a real gem). I'm not against giving Lamps a contract extension, but he's going to be 35 at the end of the season and currently earns more than £100,000 p/w which is about £5 million p/a, whilst we also have at least two young players who we need to give a good look at (in a purely platonic way I should point out for the scumbag who wants to say vile things on here under the guise of being a Chelsea fan) and try to maintain a profit in the second period of FFP. We aren't Arsenal. We don't sell our best players and we actually have a very good spread of age and experience throughout the squad.

Wow, really?