Barbara

some people can't read or are just stupid. Well, the answer is quite easy on this one (about members, not Oscar although that is obvious too). Too stupid for words.

keep the trend, Ron, and bet for Everton too

people are missing the main point here... We let go of Torres. We... let... go... of... Torres. That's the main thing. I don't know Remy but there's no way he's as bad as Torres. And while I know the purpose isn't only getting rid of Torres, if we have a decent guy - doesn't have to be a top player, we're set. I said it earlier today when someone (don't remember who) questioned Pat saying we have depth in all positions. Nobody in the league has as depth as we do. Having depth isn't having a player to replace players like Hazard, Cesc and others like I read. That's not possible in the real world, I know I sound an entitled bitch when I say it, but I blame this nonsense on Football Manager. A lot of people play it and they still have a good grasp of the reality, but some just mix real world and game and think that clubs in the real world can replace their stars with as big stars. First thing you should know, there aren't as many world class players in the world. They're named world class for a reason, they're a level above top players and they aren't that common, so there's no way a club cans for have high profile backups in all positions. to put things in perspective, last season we were this close of winning the league without Cesc and Costa. With the two of them not only we'll have enough to win, but exceed. So the players that almost did it last year are good enough to be the replacements this year. I still believe Eto'o would have been enough of a backup, so even if I don't remember anything about this Remy, I suppose he's an improvement to Torres and Ba. If he can offer as much as Samuel did (even if they differ in style) we're set... Second thing, no team in the EPL have those world class or top players as backups in the striker position, except City. But all of them (maybe except Dzeko, can't remember) have been injured considerable time last season, which means City have them, but can't count on them because at least last season at least one of them (sometimes two) was injured at all times. I don't remember Pelegrini having the four of them available. Also they play with two strikers, as said before, so if we're going to compare us to them, we have to compare who we have playing instead of a second striker, and that's Hazard for me. So is Hazard + Costa in any way inferior to Aguero + Dzeko? I don't think so... it's at least a draw, but I'd say our partnership is better and that's the only comparison we can do because we play a different system, so we have different profiles in the first team... So if there aren't many WC or even top players available, if no team has them piling up in their benches, why should we? We needed a decent backup for Costa and based on people's assessment here (the ones I trust) we now have one. So Pat is more right than ever. Who has Cech, Luís (or Iva or Azpili), Willian (or Schurrle or Oscar), Ramires (can be useful, although also dreadful, but great squad member imo) in their benches? Of course, if we bring MvG, Mikel, Zouma, Salah, Rémy (supposing he comes) we won't have the same level as JT, Cesc, Matic, Hazard and Costa, but that's not attainable anyway. We already have more than most have... and most of all, we have balance. That's not that easy to achieve and something most people underrate.

sometimes people can only value a player if they're expensive. It seems like with the inflated marketing only expensive players are useful players. We've had a few cases of good business like the ones you've mentioned and even Diego Costa for 32m is good business compared to what others have paid recently. I also agree with your point about him being a second option, a bench player. All the examples given by people here are from 4-2-2 or 4-3-3 where the teams play with two strikers... If we're going that route than we could say we have Costa and Hazard or Costa and Schurrle or Costa and Oscar because those are our AMs and we have three compared to two most of those teams have with their systems (sometimes only one). In the real world a striker like Cavani or Falcao won't seat at our bench happily. Cavani already complains a lot about playing wide so PSG can accommodate Ibra... can you wonder what he'd say if he had to fight for his position with Costa? Or even if he grabs the first position, do people believe Costa will be happy to sit in the bench? Those are the top strikers in the world, they want to play and to add goals to their names and for that they can't sit in the bench. I thought such things were obvious and common sense, but seemingly, they aren't.

this thread has more than 10 pages made only today, I admit I was a bit lazy to go check and see if any of the guys I'd like to know the opinion had posted or not. Thanks and sorry for making you repeat yourself.

are you and your wife Italians? Or Spaniards? or are you English?

I just asked you something else in the other thread because you're still in my cool people list Sorry, but Forza Inter always and forever And I'm a RM fan too, so yeah, we only have Chelsea in common and the year we were born if your id says anything. But in all honesty for a couple of years the only team I've been following is Chelsea. I've been an Inter fan for almost 30 years and while I've been a Chelsea fan for only a little bit over a decade, it took my heart. I'm a football fan, and in Brazil is common to support teams in Europe because we watch the leagues here. So yeah, I chose a couple of teams as I've started watching their leagues, but now I'm done. I still follow the news about Inter and RM (actually I went to the movies theater to watch the UCL final last season and RM made me lose my voice for a couple of days), but it's all about Chelsea and I don't see it changing. I love the Premier League, I'm passionate about everything in this country regarding football, so my connection with Chelsea is much stronger than the rest, but they'll always have a place in my heart.

@Jype, @The Skipper, @, @Daniel1980, I don't remember Remy even in his matches against us last season. It's a player that completely faded in my memory. What do you have to say about him? Asking you guys because we tend to assess players in the same way...

No more Torres!!!!!!!! I've been saying this to everyone and their mothers, randomly, I'll try a post next. I can't get over it. :woo: :woo: :woo: it was earlier today when WHS said he was feeling it in his balls it was going to happen and I said I was feeling in my tits it wouldn't and then he said he hoped I was flat-chested The thing is desperate times call for desperate measures. Any anti-jinx is welcome when a deal like this is about to happen. So if I have to swear on my tits, I will, as long as I'm not jinxing the move.

new? He's been a member here for longer than I am... I don't know, I say this kind of stuff all the time in real life, for men and women, it's about being careless and a bit nuts, but not attention seeker. Earlier today I posted a pic to illustrate my non-flat chest, he probably thinks I'm trying to get sex proposals in my PMs. Good things I've only ever once received them... and that was out of the blue, lol. Guys here are classier than that...

oh I should edit my post because according to some guy I'm seeking attention. Which is probably why I talked about this for 10 minutes with my female dentist today and used the same expression, saying if she could excuse me while I went running naked around to celebrate it. I'm fed up with those people that think only men can make certain jokes. To the hell with this fucking sexism, they can all fuck off.

Oh I've noticed that about you since the first time you were here, but thanks for drawing it for us yesterday a guy here mentioned the same, me and my girlfriends say things like this all the time. All guys here know me already, so yeah... but thanks for being so rude

you know what's the best part of this business? I'M AN INTER FAN!!!!!!!! Double satisfaction! I hate AC Milan more than I hate any English team... Excuse me while I'll run around the block naked, brb.

My boobs are never right... good thing I don't use them to think [emoji13] [emoji13]

I just keep disappointing then... I'm humble and modest in the boobs department as Shakira would say, but thankfully not flat chested. I'll leave this place and pray for the best

the thing is I can feel it in my boobs nothing will happen. Sorry to (double) disappoint.

and who can replace Silva, Alonso, Schweinsteiger, etc in their teams? The fact that we have so much quality in our bench shouldn't be overlooked. Also while I do think we need reinforcement in the striker department sometimes it's overrated how much it defines a team's campaign. We had in the first half against Leicester some of the same behavior we had last year when we struggled to beat small sides. What has Costa done in that first half? We would have done better last year with a striker? Probably, but that wasn't entirely our problem. We had creative problems and above all, attitude issues at some points when the players didn't look at those matches against smaller sides the same way the looked to the big ones. We don't have a super replacement for Costa as it stands, but we could work it around with Fabregas, Schurrle and to Drogba (better yet if with the three of them in the pitch). I've been saying since we've signed Diego that we need another striker, and that it could affect us if Diego went through a lengthy streak without playing. But for a couple of games or weeks? I think we've got it covered. As a team we should work better because when you have the talents of Hazard, Cesc, Oscar (when in form), Schurrle - you shouldn't have major problems because all of those guys are more than capable of scoring goals and most of them should end the season with double digits if they have a good season. I still believe while we needed a striker last season, we mostly needed a change of attitude in the team. Mourinho talked about it in one of the first PC since official competition started when he said we've been too long without winning the league and the younger players aren't in that level yet, but it's almost as if he unlearned how to win week in and out, especially against the smaller sides, to make it count at the finish line. That was as big of a problem (if not bigger) than not having a striker. If your team doesn't enter the pitch with the right attitude and motivation, maybe there's little the striker can do because the ball may never reach him in the first place, just like it hasn't in the first against Leicester...

but that's mainly true except for the striker position... so I don't blame him. While some of those teams only have depth in the striker department, we have everywhere but there. We could be close to solving that too if we let go of Torres and bring someone else. We definitely have more squad depth than any other side in the EPL now if we think about the whole team, and not just the striker department. Some of our bench players are better than some of those in the first team of other title contenders...

my eyes, my poor, innocent, green, big eyes can't handle it. I don't want any part at all on this. No even watching.

Well, given how we'll hopefully be strong title contenders again in both competitions, I'm very happy with the group. The longest we'll travel is 3h30, we could decide our quali to the R16 after the 4th match because I can see Sporting and Schalke splitting points among them, which means we can focus on the League, play some of our younger players in both competitions and not worry about a terrible November. There's no way to have a bad november with that group. We easily dominated Schalke last year and I think our December schedule in the league is also very nice. And Schurrle is trolling - although I'm sure he's just being the humble great guy he normally is

now can we announce Torres as this other news of the day is already behind us?

very easy and doable group for us. That's good.

why would they consider his stay? We went for Costa because our strikers didn't score. If Costa is injury prone or just injured it opens our eyes that we still have a problem. If anything this would make us look for a striker even harder. Torres isn't the answer and Mourinho knows it. There's a reason why he kept saying last season we didn't have strikers...

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/aug/28/chelsea-diego-costa-injury-hamstring well, we've been talking about it like broken records. If Costa gets injured or suspended we're fucked, so maybe it's a good thing this happened while the window is still opened and Mourinho, the board, or whoever didn't bring a second striker for us yet have this wake up call. I'd play Schurrle instead of Drogba against Everton tbh, with Cesc to provide him balls, he won't be as ineffective as he was on the few occasions last season when he played as our #9 - false or not. If we don't bring a new strikers in the last four days of this transfer window, well, we could jeopardize years of good business by the board because it's been overdue for Chelsea to win relevant silverware again.