Thomas Williams

For every good football prediction I've had, I've probably had two or three very wrong ones (thought Kagawa would be a star at United his first year, a good recent one, lol) But I'm an absolute wizard at spotting good music before it becomes popular. Well "good," meaning it becomes very popular on the radio, etc. But I attribute it to the fact that I must have the most mainstream American music taste, so whenever I hear a band just starting out, if I like them, probably everyone will. You'd think I'd be able to profit from that somehow...

I understand 45m is a WHOLE lot of money, but I don't like when we fans try to play our team like an account on Football manager. Luiz is over half of the heart and soul of this club, not to mention our only good center back who isn't quickly on the decline. Not to mention all those players you listed could all easily flop in the EPL, I don't like when we are so quick to want to sell our club heroes, but I understand the desire the reinvest in the club. Maybe I'm just biased because I really like Luiz..

We were just as guilty back when Abramovich first became our owner, I feel hypocritical to criticize the current City, PSG, and Monacos when were probably even more responsible for the extraordinary player inflation of the mid 2000's. I do hate it though, I'd hate it even more if we were a smaller club on a very tight budget. The only positive is it creates an even stronger demand for smaller teams to create good academies and to scout up and coming talent.

an excellent talent who was better than all of our players besides Mata this year, and was still very close to as good as him. Could walk onto every team in the world, and I hate to break it to you guys, was a better player than Hazard last year. That said, I believe Hazard has more potential and will become a better all around player, but Bale was special last season and made a very average Tottenham team make us sweat it out for Champions league football.

Man city's team looked twice as good player for player as United's last year (Cleverly, Jones, Evans, Evra, etc.) but they still finished FAR beneath them. Ferguson was 10 times the manager Mancini was, and i'd say Jose is a way better manager than Pellegri. People often forget the impact of a manager, but I think it is more important a role than any individual on an opposing side. If Chelsea make a few good signings this summer, we have as good a shot as City, although that side is looking unreal in terms of finished product talent. (They'll be ridiculous on Fifa I imagine).

I was surprised the commentators did not mention it, that first touch was absolutely superb, it is what set up the goal.

oscar thinks he's hazard now, lol

good play by city, but Luiz could have done better

RLC looking realll good

We never have to worry about City stealing away Chelsea supporters, Chelsea are well and away the #2 BPL team in the U.S. (only behind United) I think Chelsea are catching up as well, and I'm glad, because even though American Chelsea fans are typical awful (excluding those on this site of course) the more supporters means more money for the club! I know of about three guys who have recently bought official Chelsea kits but haven't watched a match in months...the Champions League win helped us a bunch!

We can all grovel at Ba's disappointing performance for us, but interesting statistic---here are the points of some teams since Ba joined us in January Chelsea-----------------37 points Manchester United----37 points Manchester City-------33 points Tottenham--------------33 points Chelsea were much closer to the top since his arrival

Don't you dare jinx him!

Almost as happy about signing him as signing Hazard, He'll be one of the top RB's in the world in a couple years and we got him for peanuts in terms of what Chelsea normally pays.

Don't you guys think spending BIG on a pivot player and perhaps a CB and then keeping Lukaku would give us a better team than spending big on a striker and having to purchase a mediocre pivot player? Of course, if we could somehow do both, then no problem.

We COULD play Lukaku as right winger, he'd be decent offensively but I imagine it would be atrocious defensively

loftus looked really good to me actually

I don't think anyone (or at least most people) are saying that. I think we all know he is still very rough and far from a finished product. He definitely has a lot to work on, but I think a lot of what he has to improve on is coachable (while his athleticism one can only be born with) But 17 goals speaks for itself a lot, especially in as few minutes as he's done it. If he improves half as much next season as he did this season, I think he'd be fine to lead the Chelsea attack. That said, there is a lot of risk choosing him to be our main striker, and I'm honestly very much less than sure that he could handle UCL football at the highest level. I think we all understand it would be a huge risk to make him our main striker, but a lot think it would be worth it, and a lot think it wouldn't, but I can certainly see both sides.

I disagree, we would need at LEAST one phenomenal DLP/DM (preferably two) along with a really great CB in order to win the league, and with the purchase of Andre Idon't think we'll get all that, hopefully I'm wrong though.

Premier league: 1)City ( I could see them splashing big cash to have even more talent-laden team) 2)Chelsea 3)United (always relied on Fergie to succeed, I say it takes a while for them to adjust) 4)Arsenal 5)Liverpool 6)Tottenham (bale leaves) UCL--Bayern, I can't see them as anything less than unstoppable for years now, I always believed Barca was overrated, I think if anything Bayern is underrated, close to the best in the world at every part in the pitch, and their cover for every part of the pitch is still world class, they're enormous. If they really do get Lewan....(shudder) as for all the cups, who knows..

Everyone calls him slow, but he's a lot faster than most give him credit for. He has long legs so its more stride-like when he runs, but he can cover ground quickly and he is a surprisingly good dribbler. That and his crossing and shooting would make him much better on the wing than moses IMO and of course he could cover mata's CAM position if we play a 4-2-3-1. If we move to a 4-3-3, he would make an excellent RCM and with oscar on the left and a good true DM in the center. I think we'd have a formidable midfield. Regardless, he could cover almost all our attacking midfield positions and be as close to as good or better.

Today Torres scored in the 75th minute to give chelsea their 75th premier league goal and ensure the win to give Chelsea 75 points for the season. 75 + 75 + 75 =225 2 + 2 + 5 = 9 El Nino is back!

How about 25 an hour, not to mention great benefits and a generous pension program, because he's worth it

I am EXTREMELY skeptical over the reports of 120k a week. I'm sure it is much closer to half of that. If they are even close to the real contract though, it finally makes sense why it was such an ordeal to get him a contract, if he was demanding about twice what Mata earns (almost all reports say 70k a week). Not to mention I've heard Ivanovic earns under 40k a week. Surely Lampard would be willing to have just an average salary if it meant playing for a club so dear to him? I mean, he is about to be closer to 40 than 30 in a few months...

^This. You would think it would be possible to coach out of him, I don't think it's an ability thing, at least to the extent he does it. He's obviously a good tackler, he just needs to be coached to come out and disrupt play more. Maybe Mourinho could fix 'em

I think he has the talent to become and out and out winger on the right, and if he works on his crossing a little he could give us a lot of the width on the right side that we could really use. He has a much higher ceiling than Moses IMO, and at times he could cut in and use his excellent shooting to catch a goal the opposition isn't expecting. Would be a lot better than putting oscar on the right. However, I think he's only really necessary if we keep up this 4-2-3-1, if Mou comes and switches us to a 4-3-3, we'd likely see mata on the right and hazard on the left and Schurrle would just be some very welcome but not as needed cover for either one. No matter what, at worst he's providing a cover for either wing, which we've sorely needed as evidenced throughout the year with the likes of Marin, Bertrand, and Benayoun having to play it. No club anywhere near our stature should play those players on the wing (except marin, I feel like he has must have more promise than he shows, its just untapped). Anyway, I think our conclusion is we're OK/Happy with the deal, but I doubt many of are jumping up and down happy about it. I can almost certainly guarantee you at 26-27 we will be able to sell him for a profit if we want, so its not a horrible financial venture at the worst.