The only place to be

JT!!!! Off a corner by Boga who nearly scored with a fantastic bit of skill just before. Looking very lively.

Great run by DaSilva, great control and great ball across. Beautiful ball over the top by Matic as well and a lovely finish by Brown. But DaSilva....who needs Shaw??

Bamford is such a lovely, smart lad. Really want to see him succeed. Dasilva next to JT - he's half his age.

He's looked tidy and played one beautiful through ball for Swift which he couldn't make the most of. He's just signed a new contract. Lord knows what you're basing that on.

Bamford with a brilliant, instinctive finish. Looping cross from the left by Ake and Bamford just sidefoots it on the full volley out of the reach of the keeper. Classy.

Salah IS on the bench apparently.

Could just be an injury. Would expect him to be involved but if he's got a niggle then there's no reason to push him this early in pre-season.

And here's a piece of trivia for you nerds. Jordan Houghton becomes the first player to wear the No.8 shirt after Lampard. Great to see so many youngsters involved tonight. Lukaku's not involved by the way.

Adams Park is a funny old ground. Middle of nowhere and every time I've been there (to watch Wasps) it's been pissing with rain. Don't think I've ever seen it this sunny. Bizarre that Salah isn't in the squad tonight. Hope it's just a little niggle. Jody Morris still rocking the beard.

He's not a nothing player, but fuck know's what role he plays for any top European club....and that was pretty much my view for the last few years when others would say that simply by virtue of being picked by a few managers (who were all sacked) he was one of the best holding midfielders in Europe. I think I've said it before but I'll say it again. He was groomed to be Makelele's replacement and he almost achieved that, but the game moved on and passed him by. He's become a weirdly one-dimensional player who offers stability over expansive, progressive play and there aren't many top teams who will want a player like that. £5 million is a surprisingly low fee which becomes less surprising when you actually look at what he offers.

Just added Chelsea TV for the pre-season stuff....still no HD??? At least proper football is back. Looks like Kane and Ake full-backs, Christensen and Chalobah centre back and then Bamford up front with the midfielders either going 433 or 4231. Not going to read much into this as I reckon a couple of those players could be off (Romeu and maybe Kane) whilst a few others will probably get loan moves. Nice day for Matt Bloomfield who is a very good guy by all accounts. Worth it just to see someone wearing the No.9 shirt who isn't Torres.

Good deal for all parties. He'll definitely play more and score more in Turkey, Beskitas get a good player and a good guy and we seem to have actually made a profit on the transfer fee at least. Great to see Jose continuing to mould the squad he wants and not just remove the dead wood but actually get very good money for it which we're investing sensibly.

None of our strikers last season actually stretched defences. They didn't push them back, they didn't play on the last man, they rarely had decent movement (Eto'o at times was criminal in just standing around) and they didn't bully defenders. Our strikers last season were woeful. Plus he's far stronger in the air than those three which is another thing you want when teams play deep.

Glad it's official although I've assumed he's been our player for about two months now. Be excited to see him finally take the pitch because I think he'll surprise a few people with his size and movement. If he continues to do what he did for Atletico then he gives the players behind him far more space to operate in as well as a target who constantly makes runs beyond the last man, as well as an obvious target for crosses. Personality-wise he doesn't seem the type to let his head drop and I can't think many defenders will want to face him. Still has everything to prove though and needs to keep on the right side of aggressive and not drift into dirty, but another nice bit of business by the club.

Interesting that people are talking about Lukaku in a thread about a striker who scored 16 goals for a mid-table Premier League team but wasn't good enough for us.

Always pissed me off that he'd do his little prayer thing before celebrating with his teammates. Hey Demba, you earn 70 grand a week because your teammates set you up to score goals. Say thanks to them first before your 'friend'. Beyond that he seems like a good guy and he never complained whilst also scoring some important goals for us on the odd occasion. Wish him nothing but the best going forward, but from our perspective he's dead wood and we save some money. Would give his spot in the squad to Bamford every day of the week.

I'm the same. It still doesn't seem real to me that we've signed him and until I see him in a Chelsea shirt on the pitch it's still going to feel odd. Think I'm going to be surprised at his importance to our team going forward.

Wankers. First day of the season is all sunshine and short shirts, not a fucking Monday evening trek to a shithole. Oh well. We'll sell out our allocation but that's a toughie on the first matchday.

So we sign a deal with Adidas, and a year later they ink one with United worth more than double that for roughly the same duration. Hmm....I think I might remain silent on this issue so that I don't say something rude about Gourlay.

Just out of shot is Romelu Lukaku trying to tell the tape recorder that he is a complete striker and still hasn't made his mind up where he wants to play. (Also, as Muzchap says, that's a radio not a tape recorder...so ner ner )

What a fantastic young man and what a great attitude. Fought for his spot at both club and national level, didn't moan or throw a strop when he wasn't first choice and brought the goods when he got his chance. In fact he seems to work harder when he has these obstacles put in front of him and will now be a key part of our squad going forward. Always says the right things too and got the rewards he deserved. An absolutely fantastic young lad and a great role model. EDIT - oops, should be in the Schurrle thread.

Offers so much when he's on the pitch and excited to see him next season. Think he's a proper Jose-type player and would even move Hazard to the number 10 position and let Schurrle have the wing for a few matches. The guy might not dribble as well as Willian but he has twice the end product. Feel so proud of him and he's only been here a year. Love him.

Do you think Big Phil wondered if that was a good decision after the fourth or fifth goal?

Yeah probably. I dislike the 'cult of celebrity' where we confuse sticking one's tongue out for 'personality'. Maybe I'm old-fashioned but I don't think influence and leadership should solely be measured on Twitter followers or Instagram images. I think he's well-marketed but hugely superficial. If John Terry is The Beatles, then David Luiz is an X-Factor contestant. Lots of glitz and glamour, bright lights and even a nice little backstory but where's the substance? He's a defender whose biggest supporters will wilfully ignore the defensive frailties of, looking instead to laud a well (and oft!) taken free-kick. He's a player built for a particular type of modern day fan and I do resent it somewhat.

Who was the other club willing to spend £30 million on him? Spurs? So in their view he was on par with Lamela? I'm not saying he's that bad, but using the market to determine a player's quality sometimes has it's pitfalls. Willian looks like an incredibly tidy player but it's just the end product that he's lacking. Schurrle got double the number of goals in fewer starts and offensively you can see how he'd link up with a proper striker next season. He has that innate knack of being in the right place to get goals and I'd bet on him to get into double figures next season whereas from Willian you're looking at him being at best a facilitator. It's just sometimes hard to believe he's actually going to be 26 before the season starts and that we spent around £30 million on him. I think it's sometimes overlooked just how bad a bit of business that might actually be.