The only place to be

So his taking set-pieces won't have any impact on the number of assists or key passes he makes per game? What's the split in the numbers of key passes attributed to him between those from set-pieces and those from open play? How many set-pieces did Luke Shaw take last year?

Just looking at that and Pogba has a 7.51 rating. Mile Jedinak has a 7.55 rating. He also manages 1 more tackle and 3 more interceptions per game. Think we're missing a trick by not trying to sign a player who is scientifically proven to be 0.04 better, although his age might be against him.

Do whoscored factor in set-pieces as part of this statistic?

Cool dog. Then we'll just have to agree to disagree.

The level of opposition matters, as do the differences in the league. The Premier League is much faster-paced than the Bundesliga that has a big impact in my opinion. Quite frankly it comes down to individual opinions and I think they're both extremely promising youngsters but I simply don't believe there's a massive difference in the risk attached to buying either one of them. Shaw has proven that he can handle the Premier League and Rodriguez has yet to do that. Yes his whoscored rating is great, but so was De Bruyne's at Werder Bremen (7.58....coooo) and he struggled with the rigours of English football.

Exactly. He isn't the finished article so I don't quite understand the argument that he's far and away the better choice compared to Shaw. Shaw for my money is better defensively whilst also having a good attacking game. He's also starting in the toughest league in the world at the same age that Rodriguez was still in the Swiss league. Personally I'd rather spend a bit more for a guy who has the intangibles Shaw does. If you want the finished article the Luis is the man though, and he's cheaper than both. Actually I guarantee that every user on this forum is well aware that Chelsea use stats as part of their scouting and tactical analysis of their own players and their opposition. But they also realise that it's just one tool in doing this and that stats never tell the whole story.

It's a very different league and the demands are different, as Kevin De Bruyne's experience here showed. Some players can make the transition whilst others can't and whilst Rodriguez looks very good going forward I think there are some questions about his defensive game. That's something Jose won't accept. Not as popular as presenting them without context or interpretation. Stats on whoscored aren't the be all and end all. £20 million for someone like Rodriguez is still as big a risk as £30 million for Shaw in my opinion, and the potential rewards are probably greater going for a young English talent. Don't forget that Shaw is MILES ahead of where Rodriguez was at age 18. Development paths are not linear but you would hope that Shaw would continue to improve.

Stats never tell the whole story. They need context. As for Rodriguez being a 'proven left back', I don't quite see it. He's unproven in the Premier League, unproven in Europe and unproven at a top club. If you want a proven defender then Filipe Luis is the man.

He's not even the best left-back in Germany.

Shame he couldn't leave on a proper high note but he's had an astounding time in Madrid and hopefully he'll come back and challenge for the shirt. We can win the league with Cech as our goalkeeper but it would be nice to have our best players in the squad next season.

It's laughable that people are overblowing a grade 1 hamstring strain. Let the medical staff at Chelsea assess him and trust their judgment because it's infinitely more informed than your's.

They have got another youngster called Matt Targett coming through as left-back. Some fans down there rate him as being another Chambers so whether they'd want a Bertrand is debatable.

I'm not sure of there's a thread elsewhere or maybe a couple of disparate ones about certain members of the board/club hierarchy but I thought now would be a good time to post a thread giving them some credit.....because they got plenty of stick a while back, perhaps rightly so. But it's just been quite astounding to see how they've turned us from the club getting mugged off on transfers to a club who buy great players for value (Matic being the prime example) whilst selling fringe players not just for profit, but for fees bordering on extortionate (Mata, Luiz). Not only that but players like Courtois and Lukaku have doubled or perhaps even tripled in value whilst our commercial revenues continue to increase and we comply with FFP. So I thought it would be interesting to see what other people think, in light of the performance of people like Woodward at United and the criticism Gourlay, Buck, Emenalo et al received in the past.

Not really. Last season saw the groundwork being laid, a foundation for next season and the establishing of a new core of players. I think a transition season is essentially one where you not only change systems, but establish a core group of 7-8 players who probably start every match. We quite conceivably have that now (Cech, Ivanovic, Azpi, Terry, Cahill, Matic, Hazard, Oscar.....maybe Costa even) and these players know exactly what is required of them. We won't be making radical changes but simply looking to improve in certain areas. If you look off the pitch we've also gone from being a 'sugar-daddy' club to a club who are becoming quite self-sufficient. So if that's your definition of a transition season then next season definitely isn't one.

Would be a great end to an amazing week. Wouldn't surprise me either because the one thing we can say about our club is that they don't fuck around.

He's the prototypical modern midfielder. Physically strong, technically sound, solid defensively and explosive going forward. He's also 21 and similar in style to Chalobah and Loftus-Cheek. Obviously he's further along in his development being older but also being exposed to a higher level of football at an earlier age. But he's excelled when given those chances which there's no guarantee our youngsters will. The thing is whilst it would be great to get him it's also worthwhile looking at what happened to him at United. They neglected to give their young star a chance (he was no more highly regarded than Chalobah and probably less hyped than Loftus-Cheek) and lost someone who has the potential to be one of the best midfielders in the world. He's an exciting prospect and a cautionary tale.

I was listening to Pihl Vickery talk about Johnny Wilkinson. He was obsessed with being the best player he could, working tirelessly on the training pitches to arguably become the best rugby player of his generation. He also made mistakes. Every sportsman does. But Vickery said that when he did, you didn't blame him or fault him because you knew how hard he worked and how much he would beat himself up for that error and learn from it. JT is the same. I would never put Luiz in that category.

I've never been his biggest fan but he deserves many thanks for his time here. I think he got the most out of the chance to be a footballer at this club and there was some genuine affection between him and the fans. He'll go down in history as being part of some wonderful moments. As a squad though, we're neither stronger nor weaker than we were a couple of days ago. We've sold a player who wasn't a key member of the first-team for a stupendous amount of money and the club deserves a huge amount of credit for not only getting the absolute maximum amount of money for a squad player, but for also putting him in the French league where he can become vastly overrated on the flattest of flat-tracks. I don't think he improved as a defender between the time we bought him and the time we sold him and if we can invest that money wisely then he won't be missed. This is just another great day for us as supporters as it's another endorsement of the faith the club has in Jose Mourinho to build a new team, whilst also being another reminder that we have one of the best boards in the business when it comes to negotiating deals.

Because we sold Mata and spent it all on Salah?

It's not about Excel sheets though. When Arsenal were selling players it was to pay off a stadium. We're selling players who aren't needed to buy players who really are. It's actually remarkable that we're selling players that the manager doesn't really want for a profit, and using that money to build a team that he does want. For the first time in years it feels like everyone at the club is pulling in the same direction.

Arsenal had to sell first-team players like Fabregas, Van Persie, Clichy, Adebayor etc. We're selling out fourth-choice CB for an astronomical figure. Hardly comparable.

In the latest instalment of Fuck The FA Chelsea coach Rui Faria has had his appeal against a six-match stadium ban and £30,000 fine in relation to the Sunderland game on 19 April 2014 partly upheld by an Appeals Board. Mr Faria was handed the punishment after he admitted using abusive and/or insulting words towards the Fourth Official and that his behaviour following the Match Referee's request that he leave the technical area amounted to improper conduct. The Appeal Board ordered that the final two matches of the six-match stadium ban be suspended for 12 months and so they will only be invoked upon a proven breach of FA Rule E3 during that period. The £30,000 fine he was given at the original Independent Regulatory Commission hearing remains unchanged. Read more at http://www.thefa.com/news/governance/2014/may/rui-faria-appeal-partially-upheld#fbQxxUyqDp3P1J0d.99 Meh, not too bad.

The thing is there's no set pattern to developing youngsters. Each one is different, but luck/fate/whatever plays a large part in it. Kalas was unlucky with his injury at the start of the season, but then got a bit back when other players were unavailable for Liverpool. Windows for players to get a chance can be small and there's no guarantee they'll come back round again. Romeu is a perfect example of this. He had a perfect chance to stake a claim for a first-team spot but suffered a knee injury. He almost certainly won't get a chance at this club again. Sturridge was a victim of the constant merry-go-round of managers who each had different ideas for him and the team. Zouma seems to have actually been chosen by Jose which is why he might have a better chance of stepping up (plus his physicality suits our team and the league quite well). I also don't have a problem with us 'stockpiling' talent. I think in a post-FFP world it makes sense to try and acquire as much young talent as possible either to use in the first-team or sell. Courtois could net us a £15 million profit. Lukaku could get us a £10 million profit. De Bruyne got us about £8 million. Kakuta could keep the vending machines stocked at Cobham for 3-4 months.

Da fuck??? Hutchinson, Schwarzer and Hilario too apparently? Shit way for this news to come out if it's true but apparently it's just routine when contracts are being negotiated.