Still not sure what a team scrapping for 4th place has to do with us but then again the resigning of Mata has rarely had anything to do with facts or reality

My head is suitably hanging, but my neck is beginning to ache. The sackcloth and ashes are beginning to itch as well. How long do I have to keep this up ?

Mata had a great game yesterday, it was good to see him back to his best. But he didn't fit into Jose's system, and still wouldn't. If he came back tomorrow, where would you play him ? We looked vulnerable in midfield yesterday against a Hull side fighting to survive in the PL, adding Mata to the mix wouldn't have fixed that.
I wouldn't argue that if other areas of the team were improved we could perhaps use Mata, or a player like him. But we need another DM player and CB (perhaps two) to give us more freedom up front. Currently players like Oscar and Willian continually have to track back to cover deficiencies in defence, Mata would be a luxury we couldn't afford.

I don't get the love in for mata, I'd rather have schurle back.

We need Pogba, not mata.

Why would anyone hang their heads in shame? I don't recall anyone disagreeing with Zouma and Remy playing more?

As for Mata, how many more times are you going to talk about bringing him back? It's not going to happen so really, what's the point?

Well he could play on the left instead of hazard... No wait, the right instead of Willian to run back when brana gets forward....no wait, he could play up top instead of Costa....

I'm like lots of people, even if we had him still, he would be on the bench. It's only a few days ago he was linked with a 20m move away from united!

I would love to see us take a gamble on Pogba, but the prices being bandied around make that unlikely. Matic does need some help, he's been a fantastic signing but a drop in form was almost inevitable after such a long run. William Carvalho of Sporting Lisbon might be a cheaper alternative. He's only 22 and Arsenal appeared to be close to signing him. He wouldn't be anything like the danger Pogba is going foward, but he's a better ball winner, a quick and powerful box to box player.
I've been a big supporter of Ramires but now even I have to admit that he's not the player he was. He relied on his tremendous energy, closing opponents down and breaking up play. That's much less evident these days.
Mikel can do a job, but he's very one-paced and slows us down. A useful substitute to bring on to close a game down, but is that enough ?
I don't think playing Fabregas in the pivot of a 4-2-3-1 really works. It's not his position even if we have frequently got away with it. He can still play a deeper role in the current system as part of the AM trio, alternatively revert to 4-3-3.

The only issue I have with buying more players is that we just never give any of the young players a chance. What are players like Ake and Loftus Cheek to think seeing expensive players continually brought in.
United always seemed to find a way of at least giving them a chance and still won trophies.
Having said that Pogba would be awesome

Think we will see more of Ake and Loftus Cheek next season.

Much like we have done with Zouma.

But we should not expect to see them as much.

Think Zouma was a nice surprise with regards to how well he settled into the first team.

That's not to say it wont happen again but I think the original plan for Zouma was to bring him in same doses this season and next he would get the sort of playing time he did this season

Finally RB, Fabregas, the crux of the issue! Very straightforward, and thanks pal for agreeing with me. He is a good player, but not as good as JM. Now if we can just get that doon character onside, we'll be really motorin'!

By the way everyone, I've reviewed the stats on the site. Chelsea are top of the league AND we topped our CL group. BUT! while Man U have over 530 k views on their thread and the gooners have way over 400 k, WE have a mere 87 k. Is that doon character scaring off debate? Let me know, and keep me posted..

Come on the Chels'!

One thing Mou has mentioned when coming back here was more integration of youth. Jose has talked a lot about Loftus-Cheek this season and I hope he backs his words up next season. He's tall, strong physique, agile and he can distribute play with his runs in midfield - seems like a typical Mourinho player and I hope he makes it here.

Yes, Loftus Cheek, Ake, Bamford and Kalas should be next in line. Then there's Van Ginkel, he's not had much luck at A. C. Milan, partly due to more injuries.
Bertrand Traore could be the most exciting prospect of the lot, but at only 19 I would expect another loan. I've not heard much about the rest, but Romeu hasn't been doing so well apparently.
It's difficult for all the big teams in Europe. There's very few games where they can afford to experiment with a youngster or two. These days a young player really has to hit the ground running when he's given half a chance. If we're honest, as fans we wouldn't want it any other way. I doubt we would be very forgiving if a young, inexperienced player cost us points. We all want to win every game and expect to have two top quality, experienced players, for every position.
But we have to try to give some of these young players a chance, attracting future young stars will be easier if we can show that at least a few can make the grade.

I don't think we can afford to promote more then two players a season to the senior team otherwise we run the risk of leaving ourselves short of options when going for trophies. We need to look at which two would benefit more from being around the first team and for me next season it's Ake and Loftus Cheek.

It's tough trying to break into the Chelsea team and so it should be. But Zouma has shown it can be done.

We do have some amazing youth at Chelsea and hopefully we have taught them patience as much as anything else.

It's not about getting into the first team it's about staying in the first team. It's not a race. Being able to play at that level is one thing and is fine if you trying to get into teams like Spurs and Liverpool but to get into the top teams you need professionalism and maturity just as much as you need talent. That has to be be taught and only comes with time

Great to see terry signing a new 1 year deal.

I hope there are not too many changes over summer

http://www.chelseafc.com/news/latest...-and-back.html

He's here for another year at least, and rightly so. A rock for the club still, but who will partner him?

Delving into the Chelsea archives, it's clear imo the type of CB that plays well with JT. William Gallas. The team lost virtually no games when the two played together. Ricardo Carvalho was also a very successful partnership. Since then, the side's defence hasn't always been watertight. The David Luiz partnership was not always great, Alex was a good partner although was regularly injured and Cahill? Let's be honest, the side are leaking far too many goals, and imo Zouma should come in straight away.

Why? Gallas, Carvalho, Luiz were / are very quick across the ground, and let's be honest Terry is no sprinter. He brings other qualities that make him first choice but speed is not one of them. A CB partnering for JT HAS to be very quick, and Zouma at the moment fits the bill. Cahill is still a very good player, but him and JT are looking a shaky partnership, and leaked goals at crucial times could prove very costly.

You obviously watch and study the games, however it is no co-incidence that cahills apparent loss of form, correlates perfectly with the gun-ho nature of Ivanovic pushing right the way up the pitch.

Teams have learned this and will now exploit the huge gap left by Ivans absence. As Cahill plays on the right side, it leaves him hopelessly exposed.

Tiptop, can you explain why this is cahills fault?

Cahill is a decent enough player.

Is he a defender for a team that is a title contender? I not so sure. Not saying he has not impressed me during his time at Chelsea as he is a much better player then I thought when we first signed him.

He was a very important player for us for the last couple of years but that was then and this is now.

I just not sure if he is at the level needed going forward.

Zouma on the other hand is looking like the type of player who could turn into a player of that standard

Cahill has been a rock for Chelsea and has been England's best player.

Can you see how ivanovic has left Cahill exposed?

I would expect any Chelsea player to shine for a average (I think that's generous) side.

While he has been a rock for Chelsea our realistic ambitions are different now then during his time with us.

While he has been left exposed I expect a player of the standard we are at to deal with it better

England's best player?

Yes,of course he is!

They need to bring back the roll eye smiley,it's seriously missed!

certainly is, he should be the captain

Why because he plays for Chelsea ?

Personally I think he looks all the better for having a very good defence around him (Chelsea's).

I wouldn't be suprised if Jose was already looking for a replacement.

I don't think Cahill is Englands best player but i agree with you about Ivanovic leaving him exposed for Chelsea.

You put Terry next to Ivanovic and i guarantee he would struggle as much as Cahill. A lot of people think Ivanovic is the best RB in the league. I think they just look at his goals and not his actual performances because i think he is awful defensively from RB. He is becoming more and more of a liability from that position. Just look at the area's where we concede most of our attacks, it's on our right.


I think with the way we have dropped off in the second half of the season and how early we have gone out of the Champions League, a few changes will be needed.

I personally feel we need to upgrade on Mikel, Ramires and possibly Oscar. I wouldn't sell Oscar though, i think his best years will come in his late 20's, right now though i don't think we can carry on with a player who can only give us 3 months of decent football.

Ramires and Mikel are obvious ones that need replacing though. They simply ain't good enough. We may need to upgrade on the right wing again too. I'm not a fan of Willian at all, he offers close to nothing in attack. Hopefully Cuadrado works out, because we have wasted so much money on the right wing in recent seasons.

I don't see what it has to do with anything if he is England's best player or not, England are totally irrelevant.

The question is if he is one of the best defender's in football today? I am talking about the top 4 or 5? That's the level we should be looking at.

I just don't think he is anywhere near that level. He does a decent job and the last few seasons we have got by on that.

That is changing now

In my opinion, until his recent loss of form Ivanovic was the best RB in the PL..along with Zabaleta. We already have Azpil who has to stay back to cover JT, we shouldn't need it on both sides. We want Ivanovic marauding foward, don't we ?
Cahill is a decent player, but I'm afraid he doesn't work alongside John Terry. I think it's become a situation where you can play one or the other, but not both.
John Terry is still one of the best readers of the game in the business, a great captain and organiser of the defence. But he's never been particularly quick off the mark and injuries have taken their toll. Cahill is solid but slow, I like him as a player but for the first time in many years ( discounting the times when Luiz had a crazy ten minutes) we are looking vulnerable in the centre of defence.