The Big Drog

1. Chelsea 2. Man City 3. Man Utd 4. Arsanal 5. Liverpool 6. Spurs ----------- 18. Blackburn 19. Wigan 20. Norwich FA Cup- Chelsea Carling Cup- Sunderland Champions League- Real Madrid

Ye Kroos is a wonderful player and quite young too but much like Schweinsteiger, I doubt Bayern Munich will let go of one of their top German talents.

Would be a good signing but if it were a choice between Modric and Nari Id pick Modric everytime. If we end up signing both then its important that Sturridge starts on the right wing, Nasri is a technically fantastic player, creative and will probably link up well with our players but he is pretty similar to Malouda in that he wont skip past players for fun out wide, its important that on at least one of our flanks we have a winger who can actually go by a man.

Why cant we offload these players? Honestly if come the first game of the season against Stoke nFlorent Malouda is our starting left winger then that will be one huge problem in the squad not addressed. And if we do sign a winger by then but keep Malouda then Florent will be the second choice winger and it means significantly less chances to impress for Gael Kakuta, who Id much rather see given a chance next season than Malouda.

There was a couple of big problems last season that prohibited him from showing his best form. Probably the biggeszt of those was the niggling injuries, he has since let it be known that he was struggling with injuries over the course of the season that all stemmed from him being rushed back far too season in an attempt to play in the World Cup and then picking up an injury at the World Cup itself. That had a huge effect on his season. The other big problem was the shape and pattern of our play, at Liverpool he is used to a lot quicker phases and a more direct style, at Chelsea, with our long, slow passing phases and methodical approach, it was difficult for him to adapt. Also the lack of a playmaker in our side hardly aided him and the lack of real wingers in our side really doesn't help either, if we had true wingers it would stretch an opposition back four and create more space between the wing back and centre back for Torres to move into, unfortunately for us, too often Malouda and Anelka want to drop deep in behind the main striker and the opposition back four are able to tuck in together and create a solid unit. Other problems were Drogba's presence which can hardly have been good for his confidence and the scrunity of him from the media and Ancelotti who seemed to lose total faith in him in the end. Personally I think he will be a hit next season, this will be the first actual pre season he has had in a long time, he will have been able to have a long break to rejuvenate himself so I really expect him to start next season in the best physical shape he has been in for years. He will be working under a new manager so thats a new beginning and hopefully by the time the season starts we will have signed a couple of new players that suit the way he plays and he can start next season safe in the knowledge that he is Chelsea's main man. I dont think there is any doubting the class of Fernando Torres, its simply a matter of time until he reaches top form once again and I expect that time to come starting next season.

Not a lot of love for Pastore on this thread but Id love it if we signed him, yes he would cost a huge amount of money but then dont all top players cost huge amounts these days and he is young enough to be able to repay the fee with years of service at the club. Very skillful, very clever, technically superb and really creative.

I dont like the number 33, as a result I dont want him as manager until he turns 34.

You would have to think that this signing would be the end of Drogba and probably Nic Anelka too, especially if we also plan on signing Lukaku. I doubt he will switch formations from a 4--3-3 to one with 2 up top. I suppose you have to look at it as an insurance plan, if Torres starts next season in the same form he finished it then having Falcao ready to step in probably isn't the worst idea in the world.

What is the point of Kalou? Its like having the most biased, idiotic Chelsea hater on the planet and sticking them in our squad. He only seems to say negative things about us, if he were doing it on the pitch then maybe it wouldn;t be so bad but he has never lived up to the hype in his time at the club.

Ok one for Irish posters. If your living in Ireland and your with NTL and have the Sky Sports and Sky Movies package, can you apply to get Chelsea TV for free or what?

Unless there is a breathtaking improvement in him technically I really dont think he will be better than Busquets.

Magnificent is a bit of an exaggeration isn't it?

How many goals did he score that season in the Premier League? If I remember correctly he didn't even break the 20 goal mark. Anyway have you ever thought that maybe there is a reason why Nic Anelka has never been our main striker? Why he has been stuck out on the wing for the vast majority of his Chelsea career? Because the Chelsea team is set up around Drogba, its built to Drogba's strenghts.

I doubt you would ever have even to have watched a game of football in your life to recognise that Drogba is a different type of player to Torres, simply by looking at them you could get that result, Drogba is a target man, a big man striker, Torres is a predator. I think the saying is horses for courses and its a case of that right now with Torres, our side last year (and for a long time) lacks the creativity needed to supply Torres.

Why shouldn't he play at right back? Because he is the best young centre back on the planet, Im not sure about you but Id rather have a world class centre back than a fairly average right back. I like Alex too but Id much rather the Luiz/Terry partnership, Alex is too similar to Terry and partnerships at the back where both players are the same are never as effective as having one player attacking the ball (Terry) and the other sweeping (Luiz) which was the beauty of the Terry/Carvalho partnership, what an absolutely waste of a talent it would be if we flogged David Luiz out to right back.

Of all the stupid things our club could do, moving David Luiz to right back would definitely be one of the stupidest ( fun word).

Its not as if we have no English players, we have England's captain at the heart of our defence. And I completely disagree with the sentiment here, why do we need English players? If they are good enough we will buy them ( as we did with Sturridge) if they are not then we will buy from elsewhere, its about getting the best players, not filling the squad with English players to give the fans a false sense of patriotism. Im delighted we signed David Luiz ahead of Gary Cahil,, thats has nothing to do with their respective nationalities but with their ability as footballers.

Henrique has already responded well to this post but I cant stop myself from commenting, seriously mate, wtf? Anyone with the slightest clue about football knows what Guardiola has done for Barcelona, how he has vastly improved that team, how he has given young players a chance and how his system has had a huge bearing on the Spanish national team.

What crap, pure and utter crap. Roman Abramovich villain of the season? Are you having a laugh? Far from giving him stupid awards like villain of the season, you should be on your knees thanking your lucky starts for what Roman has done for us since he has been at Chelsea and in particular this season. If you were to believe the media perception of Abramovich pre January then he was a man who had fallen out of love with Chelsea and out of love with the game, who no longer felt any need to pump any great amounts of money into the club and who wasn't far from walking away from it all, from taking his ball and going home. Keep in mind, at the time we had a real crisis on hand, some said we wouldn;t qualify for the Champions League nxt season and that would be an outright disaster for the club, Roman could have sat back and done nothing about it but instead he went into the transfer window and he paid 50 million out of his considerably deep pockets to bring us Torres, ok so Torres didn't really work out last season but he has given us a world class striker who will be the main man at Chelsea for years to come. Oh he also spent 25 million on young Brazilian centre back, David Luiz, arguably the best young centre back on the planet, he also found the time to spent 5 million on Lucas Piazon. 80 million not good enough for you? Try this. For some, second place and a Champions League quater final is good enough, not for Roman Abramovich, who had to pay 6 million to sack Ancelotti and will now pay even more money to bring in a top calibre replacement, some would have taken the easier (and cheaper) option and just left it as it is, Roman Abramovich cares enough about this club to realise that all wasn't right under Ancelotti and that a drastic change was needed. Far from chastising him, you should be applauding him for what he has done for the greater long term benefits of the club this past season.

What if your a muslim living in Britain? Does every muslim, jew or any religion other than ones that fall under the christianity umbrella have to become a christian or leave?

It also says Noah got 2 of every animal onto a single boat, lets have a think about it.

Are these sources reliable? Is there any newsite online that is reporting this story?

Not a great performance but he was involved in all 3 goals. Won the freekick fort he first, forced the defender to play the ball for the second that led to the horrific own goal and then scored the third with some nice footwork and a cool finish.

If we stick with the 4-3-3 then he should definitely be the first choice winger, the beauty of our 4-3-3 is that it will give him the freedom to come inside on his favoured left foot too.

I think Guardiola would be my first choice, though its pretty unlikely to be him. I cant believe how little credit he gets for what he has done at Barcelona, sure he has had a strong team to work with but he has done a heck of a lot in putting that team together. He introduced Pique into the starting line up (and he has been a big hit), he introduced Yaya Toure and then Sergio Busquets into the starting line up, both of whom have developed into fantastic players, he gave Pedro his big chance and the lad has shone, he is a wonderful player and now he has Messi playing through the centre and having his best ever season. Lets not forget, Rijkaard's last season was a disaster, the squad was split into two camps (Ronaldinho vs,. Eto) and the team disjointed, Guardiola arrived, got rid of some of the big names, introduced players from the academy and B team he had previously worked with and Barcelona have since flourished. His tactics are nothing short of revolutionary, the most obvious trait Guardiola has brought to Barcelona is the high pressing game and it was a masterstroke, defensively Barcelona are not that strong, so rather than sitting back when the opposition have the ball and wait to get picked off, they hunt the ball in packs very high up the pitch, the opposition never get a chance to breathe. He is also one of the first managers of a top calibre club to employ the use of a third centre back, which we see when Busquets occasionally drops in between Puyol and Pique to create 3 centre backs and thus allows the wing backs to push on and for there to be a reliable base to recycle the ball from. Another brilliant move this season has been the lack of a striker, watch Barcelona play this season and you will notice at various points during the game that there is no focal point to their attack, there is literally nobody occupying the opposition centre backs, Guardiola's team plays with such guile and cohesiveness that they are able to break through a back four without playing with an out and out striker. If (and its a massive if) he were available then he should be given the job, he ticks every box, young, succesful (Champions League winner), a track record of promoting young players into the starting 11. a history of dealing with big name players, tactically superb and humble, Guardiola is the perfect manager, not only for Chelsea but for any club.