remains of the day

JT and Ramires probably could have reacted better but the defining mistake was made by Cahill who left Benteke wide open to help Ivanovic. He was never going to get to Agbonlahor in time to stop his cross.What he needed to have done was stay put, cover Benteke and clear the ball. Also if memory serves me right, this is now the second time Benteke has beaten Cech in that exact same angle.

There just needs to be better movement by the front four. Ba did well to move wide to collect that pass from Mata, but after he did he had to pass it back because no one made any movement forward. Anyway, no need to panic.

The issue is not just what he said in this instance but what he's been saying all season long. During the whole Frank contract saga he continuously criticized the club and more than once drew unfavourable comparisons between our "classless" treatment of Frank and Man Utd's "exemplary approach" with senior players like Giggs. Of course, conveniently forgetting to mention that Utd also hadn't opened contract talks with Rio Ferdinand who like Frank had just one year left on his contract. I have way too much appreciation for Ray's part in the history of this club to ever knock him. But it's really sad when a past player - one who claims to be a supporter - feeds into the negative perceptions of the club rather than using their public status to challenge it. Just one of the reasons why I have a tremendous amount of respect for Pat Nevin. Publicly, he always sticks up for the club.

To say Torres is miles better in linking up play than Lukaku, is nothing but a gross exaggeration, I'm sorry. Lukaku and Torres are actually very similar type of strikers but Torres being nine years older then lukaku will naturally be more polished on the ball. And really this whole extolling of Torres' link up play by some fans is such a misconceived narrative. I think the people who say this fail to acknowledge that Torres has only just recently improved this aspect of his game, this is maybe something we should credit Rafa for. Before he came, Torres' link-up play was practically non-existent as he couldn't keep possession long enough. He was clumsy with the ball resulting in every single one of our counter attacks abruptly ending whenever the ball was passed to him. I think there're certain things Lukaku needs to work on, one of them being his fitness and I would generally agree that he's not ready to be the first choice striker come August. But really don't think Torres is any better at linking up play than Lukaku.

Dear. lord. Well...you know if you stare at those names long enough, they begin to look a whole lot less threatening. Just saying...

The London Evening Standard quoted his agent. Doesn't even look like he's considering us as an option. I suppose I can see why spurs would be an appealing option for him, but why the vehement aversion to joining us?

Seeing the pictures of Jose in the first preseason training had more of an effect on him than I thought it would. Maybe it's just a resulting cause of the 'traumatic' experience of having had to endure Rafa, but there's something that feels 'right' with Jose at Cobham. In spite of all the managerial changes, It almost feels like he never left. Actually just occurred to me, that Hull and Man Utd (A) would have been Jose's next two matches if he hadn't gotten dismissed in 2007 ....so in a way, he really is continuing from where he left off.

Perhaps. There are many motivating factors behind why a club would inquire about a player; it could be to keep tabs on him but most likely than not it's to find out if a player is available. In Cavani's case it just seems highly unlikely that we would inquire about such an in-demand player with a 63 million buyout clause just to "keep tabs on him incase of future interest". But who knows. At any case, given what credible sources have said, i think it's safe to assume that 1.) We were interested in Cavani and 2.) We're in pursuit of a striker.

Why would we make an approach or (as you say) an "inquiry" for Cavani if we weren't interested in his service, though? Obviously we're in for a striker. Many reliable and credible journalists (@_GoncaloLopes @dimarzio) have said that we're looking to sign a high quality, first choice striker and confirmed that we wanted Cavani but were unwillining to pay the buyout clause.

Normally I would agree with this and I've been very critical of the club's practice of stockpiling young potential talents under the much touted rationale of "buying for the future" despite there being gapping holes that need to be filled with players that can contribute immediately. And, if I'm being honest, there's just something that feels fundamentally contradictory & inherently flawed about a club centring their transfers around ideals of potential, development and the future but at the same time holding short term expectations and demanding immediate results. How exactly does that work, I wonder. But the signing of Van Ginkel makes sense on several levels. Some might disagree, but I think if we're looking to improve our centre midfield then more funds should be invested in a holding midfielder and not on a deep lying playmaker or the position that Van Ginkel plays. A holding midfielder I think is what is urgently needed and from the players we've been linked with (i.e De rossi, Matic, Kondogbia) the club & Mourinho clearly see this area as the top priority that needs addressing in centre midfield. I think they see the positon of a central midfielder/deep lying playmaker as one we can "make do" until next season when Van Ginkel will perhaps be more ready to play a larger role.

Wonderful to see the club involve ex players in the youth set-up. I had a tiny bit of a crush on him when I was 13. Okay, it was a little more than a crush. Fine....I named my goldfish after him! Anyway he was amazing in the Barcelona match at home and also loved scoring against spurs. Highlights of the 6-1 trashing at three point lane where he scored a hat trick. http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xac81s_1997-98-pl-tottenham-1-6-chelsea_sport

Agree completely, Choulo. He's normally dependable but for the past two seasons he's been on a gradual downward slope (still shaking my head at that 93rd min blunder he made in the Europe league final). Perhaps he's found it difficult to adjust to the new formation, who knows. But I can't imagine that at 29, he'll improve much next season. I love brana and he's been among my favourite players but I think that if we don't replace him now, then we run the risk of falling back into old habits of failing to clear out "deadwood".

I doubt that there are many wide forwards/wingers in the bundesliga with a pass success rate higher than 80%. Perhaps Ribery might, but my impression is that many tend to have an average of 78% pass completion. Regarding his shot conversation rate - I think people need to understand that shot to goal ratio can't be used as an indicator of a player's goal scoring capacity. I can give you several examples in which players have drastically improved their shot conversation rate within a span of one season. We tend to forget (or perhaps don't seem to realize) that last season bale had among the highest shots per game, even higher than that of Schurrle's this season. Yet he only managed to convert 10 of those shots. Also, Suarez as well took more shots last season than Schurrle but only scored around 11 goals. In no way I'm I saying that he'll reach the heights that Bale & Suarez did this season, however it won't be surprising at all to see Schurrle improve significantly in that area.

I don't think we should take the 'square pegs in round holes' approach by trying to fit Oscar in a position that he's clearly not suitable for, simply because he's a talented attacking midfielder that we feel shouldn't be left on the bench. If we wanted a player for centre midfield, then really the club should have invested the 19/25 mil spent on Oscar on a centre midfielder. As it is now, I think he should be used as a rotational option for Mata and maybe in a year's time he can displace Mata in the no 10 role, which he's quite capable of doing. Oscar, while very talented is still quite raw. There's really no rush to fit him in the line-up right now. At any case, I wholeheartedly hate the idea of changing Oscar's position, he's a gifted attacking midfielder and I rather see him develop and mature into that position. Thiago is regularly touted as the 'future xavi' and would be a far better option in a central role.

Hate to break up the party, but.....http://www.itv.com/sport/football/article/2013-06-20/chelsea-midfielder-job-obi-mikel-says-he-isnt-off-to-galatasaray/

A stat that might cheer everyone up about this signing - has anyone else wondered why we don't seem to do a lot of through balls? From whoscored, the top two players with the highest percentage of accurate through balls.... Cazorla 33 (accurate) - 66 attempts Silva 17 (accurate) 46 attempts Compare this to our playermakers - Mata has the highest, 8 out of 16 attempts and hazard 2nd highest, 5 out of 9 attempts. I checked the numbers for kdb & Schurrle to compare and even though kdb attempted more through balls, 18 to Schurrle's 12 however Schurrle completed 8 accurate through balls to kdb's 7. So my point in showing this is that while I understand why some people might question this signing and why people might have concerns, however there is clearly a different dimension that schurlle brings that our scouts believe would benefit the team. It might not be apparent to the untrained eye, but we only have to look at his stats to see that 1. he takes on players more often than any other player in our squad and 2. he's more penetrative and incisive with his passes than the players we have. Here's hoping that he'll surprise everyone.

I think many of the people on here who are calling him average probably didn't see a lot of him this season. He's actually improved quite a bit. I agree that 30 mil is ridiculous, especially since he only has a handful of apps with his NT (though I think he's had problems with the manager....?) and one good season at benfica, however, if we can negotiate for a fee of 25mil (pounds) then he'll be a very good signing for us. He has exactly what we need in center midfield.... big, strong, dominate in the air, great athleticism, bounds of energy but at the same time he also has a very good positional sense & technical abilities (particularly when you consider his size) he's very comfortable with the ball, good dribbling, has an eye for a pass (though at times he can be too ambitious).... miles better than Javi Garcia and probably around the same level as Witsel, although many benfica fans would rate him higher. He'll improve our midfield quite a bit....

Kind of strikes me as odd how a day after learning that Mancini might be dismissed, news surface that real madrid have approached PSG to acquire Ancelotti. Everyone seems to be taking this as some kind of indication that Mourinho is getting closer and closer to returning to the bridge, but I don't know. The timing of both pieces of news makes me think it might be possible that he and City have come to an agreement. I mean, think about it, If he was actually returning to chelsea, then why would he feel the need to be so public about it? If there's truly an agreement or talks in the pipeline between Mourinho and Roman, would he beat on and on about wanting to return? Why would he draw attention to it? Something just doesn't add up. Besides, how many times have we seen media outlets linking so and so to so and so club only for that person to end up at another club that they were never even linked to in the news?

Don't know if it's AVB's influence or the new players they've brought in, but spurs have looked a very different side this season. How many points have they now gained from losing/drawing positions?

Come on Rafa, do something. We're obviously struggling here.

Might be a good idea to bring on oscar or torres for mata. He's useless off the ball.

I couldn't believe it when he started speaking. He sounds very american. Odd

^That was just too adorable. "m..my...first.... goal...heading.." "yeahh! really!" Totally made my day!

A journo with an objective take on rafa's handling of sunday's game. I'm giddy. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2312885/Rafa-Benitez-reaction-Luis-Suarez-bite-showed-true-colours.html Interesting read and completely sums up my sentiments. The result was a really hard one to swallow ( embarrassed to say that I was a teary eyed mess when the equalizer came) but it was made all the more worse by Benitez's reaction to the whole thing. It's times like these you need the manager (regardless of his interim title and past affiliations) to stand tall and defend the team. After all, he coaches these players. He could not have been any more transparent with his adoring waves & freaking air kisses to the kop.

Agree completely. Some of the talks about mounting a title challenge next season (despite the possibility of us finishing 5th) is bewildering if I'm being honest. I mean.....I'm I just over-exaggerating the direness of our current situation or are people just not seeing what's being happening? We finished 6th last season, might possibly finish out of the top 4 again this season (despite a staggering 80 mill spent on players) and people think that we can somehow bounce back to win the league next season? I get that this is a transition period and I get that that many of our players are still very young, new to the league and still very much developing; but when 80 mil is spent in one summer on transfers and the squad is still short in depth, strength and talent in large areas, then I question whether we're really moving in the right direction. I also question if the person making all these signings has the slightest idea what they’re doing. I'm thrilled that we've shifted to a youth policy but as it stands right now I haven't seen any clear indication or signs that the club is moving forward and learning from past mistakes made around transfers dealings. We’re still doing the same thing as we did before; the only difference is that we’ve become singularly focused on signing young players while spending more. In fact, this fixation we seem to have with acquiring all the young talents in the world resembles a ‘youth version’ of that ridiculous galactico policy real madrid had several years ago. We keep on stockpiling all these young attacking talents with no clear plan as to how they would all fit into our formation. Call me a pessimist, but until I begin to see signs that this club recognizes that there’s more to building a squad than simply scouting young talents, won’t be feeling optimistic about the future.