The only place to be

Looked like he was in a couldn't be fucked mood right up until a moment in the second-half when he was one-on-one with Lukaku and decided AGAINST taking him on. Then he exploded with the run against McCarthy which led to the Coleman own-goal and then he came alive, before being subbed....which is basically 16 minutes of him doing what he should be doing for 70-90 minutes. Ultimately he contributed to the win but he can do so much more.

I said that adding a quality striker can completely change the way a team plays. He just helps every single player out, not just with his goals but at one point he put a world-class slide tackle in at left-back. 4 goals in 3 games, our most important player.

Without him on the pitch it was far too easy for Everton to isolate Fabregas and we lost any distribution going forward because all we had in the first half was Ramires, and Matic was off-form today. I think we missed him big-style today.

This match summed up Ramires perfectly. Sloppy in possession a lot of the time, struggled to control the game (although not alone in that), gave the ball away, missed his man....but when the game becomes stretched and he has space he can make barrelling runs forward and get a goal. When you win a game you can smile at his 'quirks', but when he loses a game then you'll find plenty of faults to pick out.

They've absolutely done a job on him. Need him to find space. Again, that's where we're missing Oscar.

That's where we are desperately missing Oscar today.

Not every piece of criticism is scapegoating. Let's all be fucking honest - Hazard has days where he just doesn't turn up. Now he can give himself a kick up the arse and light it up this half, but that's down to him. When we do recover possession, there is ACRES of space but no-one seems willing to actually take control.

Swings and roundabouts to be honest. Howard should be off, but we should be 2-0 up. If we attack with pace when their attacks break down then there's miles of space, but we're content to go slow.

Let's be honest....Eden looks like he's in one of his 'can't be fucked' moods today. Needs to step it up in the second-half. As it is he's showing why he'll probably never be spoken about as a top, top player.

Be inclined to take Hazard off and put Schurrle on. Besides that we started off fantastically. Everton have had the best of the match since then but we've still created chances.

Because we're probably going to use more than 11 players over the course of the season, and we want to have tactical flexibility when playing different teams. Pretty simple really.

Think I've found the problem.

Earlier you were saying that City had 4 near world-class strikers....and they lose at home today. I think people need to relax on demanding 'name' strikers (because that's what Falcao is until he proves he's fully recovered from a bad injury) and trust Jose and the board.

But City have 4 top strikers. I was led to believe that their abundance of striking talent guaranteed them the league.

The important thing in this match is not to lose. Tough place to go, early in the season and a niggling concern over the fitness of our main striker mean 3 points certainly isn't a given. For me not dropping 3 points in these types of matches in the run up to Christmas is the most important thing. As long as we're within 5 points of first spot by the West Ham game then we're golden.

For the price, he's a great option. He's in his prime, he scores goals and he's not a guy who will expect to play every week (a la Falcao and Cavani). Tactically he's a bit different from Costa. He's a busy little bundle of energy, he can run at players and he has a decent shot on him. The variety of options that he, Costa and Drogba offer is fantastic. Drogba for me is still the first choice off the bench against teams that defend deep but Remy can legitimately start and play 70-90 minutes. So he fits the profile, he's available, he lives local presumably (no relocation issues), the price is pretty much ideal and he makes us a better squad....plus it'll annoy Rangers fans which is always fun.

Ultimately whether you like the guy or not, it's a relief for all parties that this is now over. The constant discussion about him, the heightening of hopes when he scored a goal or the blaming of him when things went wrong was simply a distraction for everyone associated with the club. Financially it was a massive cloud hanging over the club. He's the biggest player expenditure we have on the books each year and he simply didn't justify that position. Not only was it £18 million per year down the drain, but there was also the money we weren't making off a different investment. We could afford almost any player in world football with that money, and that has an effect both on the pitch and off it. The player was wasting his career here, the club needed to move on and we as fans have a huge weight off of our shoulders. Happiness at this deal is understandable, but it's the relief that should be cherished.

Uh oh, two posters are trying to get a reaction again.

Ticket news released http://www.chelseafc.com/tickets-membership/general-ticket-info/all-on-sale-dates.html Wed 17 Sep FC Schalke 04 Tue 2 Sep (S/T Holders) Friday 5 Sep (Members) Mon 8 Sep (S/T and Members 2 extra) Tue 9 Sep (General Sale) Tue 21 Oct NK Maribor Mon 8 Sep Mon 15 Sep Mon 22 Sep Mon 29 Sep Wed 10 Dec Sporting Lisbon Mon 27 Oct Mon 3 Nov Mon 10 Nov Mon 17 Nov

Would be made up if he actually made the squad tomorrow, and even the bench.

Here he just looks like he's given up. When he has a bad touch, it's like he expects it now. He overthinks things, takes an extra touch when it isn't necessary and mentally he looks shot. Physically he's not got that electric pace he once had, although he's a bigger lad than you might think....he just never really uses it. Technically he's average. He doesn't have a massive shot on him either. But he does have a good record in the Europa League and Serie A might suit him better than the Premier League. A whole new environment might be just what he needs and he might even smile once in a while too. But every sensible Chelsea supporter will be happy to get rid of him. Financially he was a catastrophe and he's like a dark cloud hanging over the club, from a time when we were rather irresponsible in the transfer market. Honestly it will be massively cathartic for us when he leaves because he really doesn't offer us anything, and he costs a lot. So I hope he does well for you, I thank him for his contributions (he gave us some nice moments) but I'll be so happy when he's gone.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mattia Thought this was a football forum.

The £20 million is wages as well, so it's the equivalent of him costing £60 million on a 5 year contract paying Torres-esque wages. For a player who will be 29 before the season ends, would be second-choice and is coming off what is often a career-changing injury (usually it takes another 12 months to get back to where the sportsman was before the injury) it's an insane amount of money. It's one year. £12 million for the player, plus wages according to reports. FFP isn't really an issue because we're very savvy in the market. It's that savviness that makes it unlikely we'll do a deal like this.

I don't think the two are linked. Torres needs to go whatever happens. Paying £20 million to rent a player who is coming off an ACL injury at the age of 28 is not good business.