Barbara

well, first I found out I don't usually make predictions. Second, the ones I do (player related) are way off the mark, so I should stop there. Third, I honestly have no idea what to predict about us this season. I was quite certain I had predicted us to win the title last season, but couldn't find a post to back me up. I was certain we would win. But this season seems so open, I don't know what to expect. I think we won't end the season trophyless but I don't know if we'll win the league either because the competition is tough. For the sake of trying to predict I say we'll win the FA Cup and will finish either 1st or 2nd in the league.

couldn't find any prediction by me here either, except I boldly predicted Oscar or Schurrle to score more than 15 goals in all comps. I'm so lost, lol This was to answer one of MrBlueGuy whatever posts, first, we did win a domestic double, but the troll didn't say a word about. Second, the bold part remains true even one year later This was to answer how many goals Costa would score in all comps. How many were at the end?

I was trying to see if I should give a go trying to predict anything, couldn't find my own predictions in this thread, but congrats to the three of you. Most people had United third and Arsenal fourth, but you three nailed it I still don't have a clue if I'm good at predictions or not.

He looks great in blue. Our kit is class, no matter what people say love it on the players and will love it on me too

I don't think his quality has ever been questioned. This is preseason, not the right time or place to evaluate players' quality.

because 4-3-3 is exactly to give the three attackers more room to attack. How can he be that if he has to limit his actions to be able to cover Iva? He has great stamina and is very fast, but still, it'd be counter productive. You have a more solid/stacked/robust midfield behind you so you can focus more in the attacking. If we have a player like Willian among the attackers, the interchange could also happen between him and one of midfielders. I agree the game itself is more fluid and not as fixed as the system, but it's still the team's philosophy. Of course they'll switch positions and of course at moments we'll look like another system, but 4-2-3-1 and 4-3-3 are worlds apart in how the team is organized in the pitch and what is expected from midfielders and attackers. It changes their roles. As long as we play with Ivanovic in the RB I don't see how we could master 4-3-3 as neither Oscar nor Fabregas are fast and imposing enough to stop wingers before they're faced with Iva doing his ridiculous man-marking. Had we had Luis and Azpili (will never understand why we never tried that), they could alternate going up, or even be a little bit limited (especially Azpili), but Oscar and Cesc would offer more options going up. They could try more vertical football (Oscar would need to keep up with the good passing, and we all know he switches between good and awful with the frequency he breathes in and out), they could link up with Hazard, alternate between going up and staying put all while without having to have Iva at the back of their mind. The problem isn't how much Iva goes up, it's how he comes back and how he decides to mark his man in the defensive phase. In a perfect world, Oscar would be able to play his Lampard part, Cesc would have more freedom and room to spot runs, to link up, to put in his mesmerizing pass and use that superb vision of his. Hazard would have a little bit more freedom to attack, Costa could be more well fed and we could have Willian, Remy or even Falcao as the other third attacker. Those three in the middle would have to ace their pressing, it wouldn't expose our slow midfield/defense as much as it is exposed sometimes and we wouldn't be held captive of a defense that is easily exposed if not protected by 3-4 players. I don't know, I see a lot of benefits coming from switching to a 4-3-3 and few problems. The thing is imo is impossible to do it for long amounts of time (most of the matches, most of the season) because of how Iva plays. Iva isn't the only problem we have, but Mourinho's insistence on playing him, especially partnered by Cahill as the RCB, really costs us, but he just won't think of something else because of Iva's personality, his goal contribution and set-piece presence. If it wasn't for that and he actually stay put more times and had a better approach on how to mark his men, he wouldn't cost the team. Cahill just costs for the lack of technical quality to an independent CB. He needs as much protection and support as possible to look good.

lol, you made me laugh for real I've been saying for a while we work better in a 4-3-3 and that I can see Oscar growing into our new Lampard (not as a legend, I just mean the position and role in the team) and that maybe that's what they have in mind too keeping him with #8. He gives more options and protection and pressing quality to our midfield (compared to a Matic-Fabregas pivot). With Cesc having someone else by his side, not only he has another outlet for when he's pressed by opposition, but he also has a bit more freedom, as Oscar could protect him the same way Matic protects our defense. Oscar is very effective decreasing opposition's space and that could feed our counterattacks pretty well. So in an ideal scenario, Cesc plays ahead of both Matic and Oscar for some matches and in other matches by Oscar's side in front of Matic. Oscar's good reading of the game defensively as well his never-ending willingness to press (something we've been lacking from the whole midfield as a whole, I don't get why), relieves Cesc's job, as it's shared by three instead of two, but it also gives Cesc more space (which he needs) and freedom. If Oscar improves his passing, we'll have not only Cesc feeding our attackers, but eventually Oscar too. In possession we have more options coming from the deep and without the ball we have a more effective pressing. He needs to improve his long range passing for him to be as effective as Lamps, but he showed some glimpses of it before. As always stated, what he misses the most is consistency. If he doesn't get it, it won't get him very far. But the reason I don't see us playing 4-3-3 is once again our right side. If we play 4-3-3 who's going to cover for Ivanovic? Mourinho needs Willian attached to Iva's hip so we don't have a highway for opponents in our right flank, in a 4-3-3 is nearly impossible for Willian (or anyone else) to do that effectively. A midfield of those three (Matic, Oscar and Cesc) should be enough to give us stability to defend well, if we didn't have a kamikaze RB, who defends with his arms behind his body at at least 2m away from his opponent. I'm depressed.

have I been summoned? Hater is a big word, but I really dislike his and Bertrand's football, so yeah, here I am They're both very limited, their football is basic and they do the basic well, although they also struggle with their passing - which is basic. So I guess, in their good days they do the basic well, on the other days, not even that.

not the visual kind of gal

My goodness @Pizy, use spoilers tags, my eyes are burned. And now I haven't properly seen his junk, but the other day when someone posted some pics and you guys talked about his pink shoes, all I could see was his crouch... and that's normally an area I don't often notice, but it was hard not to (no pun intended)

He's okay overall but A+++++++++ for the junkYou asked [emoji12] [emoji13]

This team would be outran, overpowered, easily dispossessed and every other opponent's dream come true. If we play 433 with Fabregas we need two good defensive players behind him, a B2B might not be enough (unless is one better defensively) and Willian definitely wouldn't be the answer at all. Those kind of teams work only in video games....

Well, so they won't be singing any time soon. Cech will retire before they can sing his name all night... poor arses

cute English https://vine.co/v/egizMW6BTw1

sometimes it seems people expect managers to be nannies, instead of your boss who doesn't have to justify his every choice. Do their bosses do that in their work? Managers aren't babysitters and if someone's so fragile he can't handle being dropped once, well, then there's a further problem. I do believe Mourinho could have showed more patience, but the kid wanted to leave and Mourinho - being proud the way he is - didn't bother to talk to him and convince him to stay. That's the conversation that could have happened (the one when Kevin asked to leave), but I agree with you, having to justify his choices all the time isn't something any manager do. I don't get this idea that good managers would have done that.

Absolutely. But he also doesn't like to go against players' wishes. Most of those guys weren't happy with their sub status in the team, especially ahead of the WC, and Mourinho is just too proud and has a big ego, so he won't try to convince them to change their minds. I actually believe we made a mistake letting Schurrle go (even if he asked to leave) and I think the timing for Kev was off. He'd really fit our system, but his personality and Mourinho's wad always going to clash. Had he come later, more mature and established, I think it would have worked. Mourinho may need to be more flexible.

That's only my opinion about the few facts that reached us, knowing many things don't. It doesn't mean it's the truth. My main point was that even before Mourinho said that, many people already thought it based on what Kevin and even his current manager said throughout the months. In no way I'm saying that's the truth, just my perception.As for Belgium, I watched at least 75% of their WCQ, and that's how I know the team was built around Kevin - on merit - the WC itself he faded into a shadow of himself, also showing he isn't as ready to deal with pressure as he might think he is. The only occasion he played in the big stage he failed, which is why I said I'd love for him to play in a team full of stars and see how he does because it means that's a team reaching the last four in UCL and if the country is England, it may also mean fighting neck by neck for the title. I also think Mourinho did nothing wrong playing Mata against Villa. Mata was the team's best player the previous season, he deserved a chance . No reason for Kevin to sulk about it. Had he sucked it up, the story could have been different. He thought one match made him entitled to claim the position, which never is the case, especially when a manager has just arrived and naturally is going to make a lot of tests and is getting to know his players.

A lot of people - me included - have been saying that the reason he asked to leave is because he needs to be THE guy in a team. He needs to have free reign, be assured of his importance. I'd love to see him in a team filled with stars. His problem isn't even about only being a titular in the starting XI, it's entirely about having a team around him. As Mourinho said, it doesn't make him a bad guy or player, it's the way he is, but don't try to pretend many people weren't saying that was what was going on mostly based on what Kevin had said himself (as Mourinho hasn't said much about it). He had made it crystal clear he needs to be star #1 in a team, or at most #2, otherwise, he gets frustrated and it affects his play, simple as that. It doesn't mean though Mourinho shouldn't have given him what he wanted, maybe he was worth the exception, but when I look to Belgium NT where he is the star and not Hazard and when I look to Chelsea where Mourinho chose to make Hazard the team's star, I don't have many doubts about what the right decision in this situation was given the scenario Kevin needs to perform his best. Yep.

I don't think we should integrate youth at any cost. We're talking about 2-3 players. We were the champions with quite the distance, both in quality and competitiveness as points. the time to start integrating those kids is now, as we just won a title and have a very good starting eleven that will back those kids up when they do play. There's no pressure... Yes, we want to win UCL, but that wouldn't be easy with a couple of new signings anyway. Us winning it in 2012 and many other times when better teams didn't win just prove that anything can happen there. José is keeping his word, and if we're here to support the team, we'll support something like that. What's one season anyway? We sent 5 without winning the league and we were up there in the UCL a couple of times and won it when we expected the least. Football is unpredictable, and a few gambles, especially with such a solid first team, are normal and expected. I completely disagree with you about Barça and Bayern not having players from their Academy. They have tons of them, and then they add the stars they got somewhere else, but their players are there in the mix. Even RM have many of players from their academy, the thing is they sell them at early age when they don't fit and then buy a few years down the road for much more money. Just like we did with Matic.

I don't get TalkChelsea, I really don't. The same people screaming at the top of their lungs we're wasting such an amazing generation of young players (which I don't completely agree with, but it's the absolutely truth for many of you), is moaning now even louder because we don't sign new players although our manager said if some of the English young talent we have now don't make it to England NT in five years it would be on him. Mourinho couldn't have been more honest and straight with us since he's arrived back. First season he said wasn't for titles, we weren't ready, small horses and all that while also saying the following we'd be ready. He kept the speech throughout the whole of his second season and started talking about developing youth. Do people expect those kids to magically be integrated in 2020? So you either defend youth development and integration and accept the onus that comes with it: making room for them to play in the first team as subs somewhat often (starting with matches far and apart and progressing from there) or you keep bringing players either on their peak or about to explode, with tons of professional matches on their belts. We need more depth on the bench, I fully support the idea, but if Mourinho and the board want to use our loaned players and youth to gradually become our bench, it's a gamble most of people here should support as they don't cease to give Mourinho stick for not integrating young players. Also there has been some pressure on us to use our academy players and people are start to raise eyebrows on our loan system, I think we're going to start justify both.

http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11668/9920342/jose-mourinho-says-chelsea-do-not-need-to-make-big-signings?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=Twitter I especially like the part where he says I love unpredictable teams and I think we should prepare ourselves for something along the lines of our first half of last season. I believe that's where we're moving. None of our key players played during off season, so I expected a rested, confident and in-form team. The only first team player who's missing part of pre-season is Willian. Give him a proper rest, start playing him a couple of weeks into the season and we basically have the first team rested and prepared. I'm confident we'll win titles again even if it feels a bit underwhelming to know we didn't sign any first team player.

Why he wouldn't? He won it by some distance, dealing with important injuries of two of our best players. What has changed? United signed a plethora of players? The same they did last year. City made astronomical signings? They do it every year. Arsenal solved their GK situation? They still have a couple of areas to improve, not to mention the manager. I'm not opposed to us signing an expensive guy that could be useful to our defense or RW. I just feel most people want us to make those flashy deals just because others have. We already had one of the best teams around and giving those guys another season together, now with more chemistry and understanding of each other gives me hopes we'll be able to emulate our first five months of last season longer... I think we should definitely improve our bench: we were short of proper replacements for Cesc, RW, Matic and that fired up guy that comes from the bench and wins you matches. I have no hope regarding Iva leaving the team, no matter who we sign, so as Mourinho will insist on this compromising option, we don't need much reinforcements in the starting XI. We have one of the best GK in the world, a couple - if any - CBs had a better season than terry. It doesn't get more trustworthy than Azpili. Matic might be the best or second best DM in the world. Cesc is world class, Hazard is phenomenal and although many disagree, Costa is the best striker for our system and imo one of the best in the world. Oscar and Willian had great halves of season and just need to be more consistent to make it last longer... Which leaves us needing improvement only to Cahill (as Iva won't leave or be displaced) if things go as Mou is planning and the players improve... Because I definitely feel some of those guys, including the best, still have room for improvement and/or higher ceilings.

I guess I haven't, can't be sure because I think it's one of his best features (if not the very best). He would only have competition if it had been us who signed Schneiderlin. Morgan is a damn fine man. [emoji4] [emoji5]

Eden's is actually much better. I'm the Azpili kind of girl [emoji6]

That's how he normally arrives for preseason... Last season he was shirtless in a video I commentated on his round belly and people thought I was enjoying the view [emoji23]