Oh don't worry,we'll replace them with some quality thereafter.

His dribbling and close control are unbelievable, he takes the ball into crowded areas with complete confidence - super buy.

It's no wonder he's called the new Messi

If we win the game in hand and the game against Spurs, then i'm pretty certain we'll finish in the top four now.

It really has been a very, very strange season that's been mixture of some super football and utter dross.

3 good results still doesnt hide our problems. Another loss and they will all come flooding back and im sure rafa will continue to get abuse. We are fickle really, but i guess we should enjoy it while we are winning.

(We diddnt even beat Utd!)

And i agree about Hazard, started off very well, slipped away abit over winter but he is really showing his class now. Probably been our best player in the last few games(when hes been on the pitch)

We're gonna need to win trophies to keep the likes of him and Mata at the club. Messi aside, Hazard is one of the best dribblers in the world game if not the best. Good enough to walk into any team in the world.

I have to admit that i was very sceptical about Hazard, but very happy to see that he's proving me wrong.
He's not only getting better but also working harder for the team which is great to see and just what we need.

It will be really interesting to see what's to come from him next season.
Mata had a good first season, but there's no doubt he's stepped up to another level this year season. Last season he faded a bit in the second half of the season, but this season he's looked fitter and stronger.

I've never doubted that, you could see from the start that Hazard could do things with a ball that mere mortals can only dream about.
Mata has continued to impress, and must be among the best in the world right now.
Oscar is incredible for his age, and more so considering it's his first season outside Brazil.

But keeping them is going to be the problem. We are still lacking a true holding player and a ball winner in midfield. We also need a world class striker to put away the chances we are creating.
Forget the money we are paying our stars, they won't stay unless we are achieving things. To do that, we need to have a complete squad full of quality..which we did have not so very long ago.

Well they are all young and on good (long) contracts. It is their first season in the big league and they will only improve and help chelsea win games.

Thankfully, if they do decide to go (and CFC have not suffered from this before) they will be at the top of their game and definitely go for double what we paid for them!

Lets just sit back and watch them for at least the next 2 or 3 years, we will never have it so good.

As talented as those players mentioned are some of our performances this season have been really dire - I haven't enjoyed watching us play at all at times. When we're on song though we're great to watch. To have it as good as you say we'll really need the right pieces to complete the jigsaw, not just in the team but on the managerial front. Fingers crossed for the summer.

I reckon if we bring in a few more class players this summer (1 forward, 1 defensively minded midfielder + 1 defender) we will be bloody awesome next season and barring injuries will win the league.

I'd still prefer to see Luiz permanently take over a midfield role though - he looks super every time he plays there and is wasted (and frankly not as good) in defence.

I'd like Luiz permanently in midfield (unless he's needed to cover in the event of a centre-back crisis), but still like us to sign a quality holding player to play alongside him. In addition I'd ditch the 4-2-3-1 and go back to a more conventional 4-3-3 with Oscar/Ramires/Lampard (if he's still here) completing the midfield trio. That should make us a bit more solid.

How do you think Lukaku will fit into your plans next season, especially if you say buy Falcao?

Will you send him out on-loan again?

I hope we don't loan him out again, though others here disagree. Personally, I think he would get enough games/part games to keep him interested even if we sign a super star striker.
I think a lot is down to how a manager treats players, someone like Mourinho has the knack of making everyone feel part of the squad..just look at the number of quality players he had to keep happy when he was with us before.

I was just trying to think of Lukaku playing upfront ahead of your very talented attacking midfielders, and it does at least on paper (or on my screen), seem to work very well indeed.

Plus even if you do sign Falcao, or another top class striker, surely you must have learnt that only having one or two strikers for a whole season, in which you are playing in multiple competitions, just isn't enough?

If for example next season's strikeforce was Falcao, Lukaku, and Ba, that I think would certainly lead you to be far more of a force in the league than you have been this season with at times just Torres, and now latterly Ba.

It is just about finding and being able to manage the players correctly, so that you can rotate then, without causing too many reductions in the squad.

I would rather we did loan him out again.

I see him as maybe being one of the best strikers in the world in 3/4 years time and although he would get cup games and make sub apperences I think he is currently at a age where even being on the bench for even half the available games (it would be more then that) would give some big clubs a chance to turn his head.

I rather we went down the same path as with are currently going down with Courtois and ensuring he gets a chance to improve season after season being first choice (something Luaku is not even at West Brom yet) and come to us as the finished product then learn his trade at the circus/mad house/powder keg that is Chelsea and our results now rather then results in 30 mins owner

I agree with you entirely. The don makes some good points, but I'm not so sure getting more appearances for WBA compares with being an integral part of the Chelsea squad..with all due respect to the Albion.
Courtois is different, Atletico have had a great season by their standards and he's enjoying critical and public acclaim. There are problems there of course, will he be tempted by a move to one of the Spanish giants ?

Being a keeper is very different to being an outfield player, it is easier to rotate outfiled players, then it is keepers, we have found this out first hand, De Gea's best form has been when he has been playing quite a few games together, and not when he was being roatated with Lindegaard.

Keepers need that stability, whereas outfield players (whilst also needing stability) can adapt to changing circumstances far more easily (or should be able to anyway).

Yes, I agree with you..again. A few weeks ago I was saying how great it would be if we could get Courtois back and rotate keepers next season. Mainly because I don't want to see us lose such a fine young keeper. But I've been persuaded by other posters that it's not such a good idea.

I just can not think at the moment when a 3rd choice striker (which he will) has become 1st choice. In theory i would agree but i have found in football theory rarely works (less so at Chelsea).

I do think we will buy a new striker but even then we would have to get rid of Torries which would be a hard sale (given wages and current form) so coming back from loan could even find him 4th choice (unlikely but still a possiblty at least till first transfer window). I just worry there are too many clubs with shed loads of cash out there with very smart agents who would take advanatge of him more so at a club where there we dont have a manager with enough of a connection with him to convince him to stay and a idiot in charge of running the club day to day who would find it hard to convince me today was Monday.

Am more confident Steve Clarke at West Brom could keep him grounded and he has a place at Chelsea in the future then anyone currently working at Chelsea

West Brom are apparently after loaning Kalas next season.

That's a move I'd love to see. Haven't seen him since before Christmas, but he looks a great prospect. Easily good enough for West Brom's first team....possible replacement for Ivanovic after next year,

I'd bring Lukaku back for next season or risk losing him. He came to us as a Chelsea fan and spoke of boyhood dreams, playing with Drogba etc His more recent interviews are already showing some disillusion with the way he's been handled and he will be catching the eye of other clubs.

You could be right, only time will tell. I think Lukaku is experienced for his age. He made nearly 100 first team appearances for Anderlecht who are a decent outfit, and he has a number of full international caps.
I agree, he's not ready to be our Number 1 striker, but he would have to wait a long time for that position anyway if we did sign Falcao..unless he turned out to be another super-star flop.
I think Lukaku is probably on a par with Demba Ba already, but perhaps I'm being optimistic there. As for Torres, I'm expecting him to be gone, hopefully in a part exchange deal. I can't believe those 20 minutes last week were anything more than another false dawn..but of course, if I'm wrong that would change everything entirely.
But, as I've said many times before, the whole concept seems wrong to me. We appear to have gone loan crazy over the last couple of years. Other top teams are keeping (and playing) their exciting young talent, why do we insist on sending them off to finishing school. I'm not saying it doesn't benefit some young players, but I do think we are too quick in loaning out players who could be contributing to the team immediately.

But other clubs have something called stabilty. If we had any form of long term plan I think we could have worked the loan system in the right way. Other top teams keep their talent because they have the systems in place to do so. In the past our way was "lets chuck cash at it". This buying of young talent is a new thing for Chelsea and us being Chelsea we went for over kill and went too crazy.

I would have thought we might have had some luck in making Torries as part of the deal for Falcao but know i starting to wonder, Madrid hold all the cards they doing well in the league so should be able to offer Champions League Football and can court 4 or 5 clubs who can offer 50/60/70 million pounds cash deal.

Personally I think in 2 seasons ( more likely 3) Lauku could be better then Falcao, I would have hoped we would have enough goals in our current teams (Hazzard,Oscar,Mata and if we was a well run club Lampard) with Moses,Ramires,Luiz all chipping in along with Ba and another semi top top player then for us to spend 45 million plus wages but who knows

lukaku will be awesome at chelsea when he gets his chance

it will be next year or the year after(that would be my preference if i was in charge at chelsea)

Nice win at the weekend against West Ham. Eden was top class yet again, as was Mata. Our creative midfield is certainly improving as the season progresses.

In regards to our strikers. Really can't decide if it would be best to loan Lukaku out again or keep him at the club.

Maybe the club should discuss it with him and see what he wants to do. If he really wants to stay and fight for a place in the team let him. However if he still feels he wants to go out on loan to get more first team action, again maybe we should let him do so.

If Lukaku does go out on loan again, then we have to bolster our striking options, which we should probably be doing anyway.

Whether Torres stays is obviously up to Abramovich. There has been no indication that he is looking to get rid of Torres apart from the rumours he could be used as part of an exchange deal with Falcao.

If we really do want Falcao, I think we have to let Atletico keep Courtois. Apparently they are really interested in keeping him and so we may have to include him in any deal instead of or with Torres.

Ultimately if Falcao does come, Torres will probably have to leave the club, as we shouldn't be paying two top striker wages when one will always start games whilst the other will be on the subs bench.

The only definite for next season is Ba. There are a lot of questions regarding everyone else. Who's to say Roman won't go after a totally different striker like Cavani, who obviously is seen as the alternative to Falcao.

If you look at the rumours currently, Roman wants Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, but looks like he may go to PSG.

As mentioned, with Lukaku, let's see what he wants. If we want to keep him happy and at the club we should work with him to develop his career so he can reach his full potential.