Chelsea Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2011/2012

GavRedKing

amiable wrote: »

I mentioned a couple of days ago that i heard Lampard himself say he'd be seeing out the final 18 months of his contract so i think that should put the Lampard story to bed unless AVB wants him to leave which i doubt as well.

Well Lamps has a few options, see out his contract for the money hes on or sign an extension for a year for less money or he could be sold / hand in transfer request.

I'd hope he would sign an extension for a year and take a pay cut. However, Lamps probably realises that he wont be playing 50 games a season and taking a pay cut for an extra year isnt worth it and as you said Amiable, could see out his contract at that stage he would be 35 and could retire or go across the Atlantic for a year or two.

GavRedKing

Well I was hoping we'd avoid AC Milan or Naploi and we went and drew Napoli.

With Lavezzi, Hamsik, Cavani as there main threats they're going to be a very tough test for us.

I always wanted to see Hamsik playing fir us, I think hes a wonderful player, now i just hope he doesnt knockout us out.

I think we'll still go through but its going to be very tough test for us. I'd take a draw over in Italy and beat them at the Bridge.

GavRedKing

Our own Italian job in the last 16.

http://www.chelseafc.com/page/LatestNews/0,,10268~2549414,00.html

Chelsea have been drawn against Napoli in the Champions League round of 16.

We will be away in the first leg on 14/15 or 21/22 February and at home in the return game on 6/7 or 13/14 March.

The Italians qualified second in their group behind Bayern Munich, coming through to the knockout stage at the expense of Manchester City, winning their fnial game 2-0 against Villarreal. Coached by Walter Mazzarri, Napoli are currently fifth in Serie A, and play an attractive brand of attacking football centred around the trio of Marek Hamsek, Edinson Cavani and Ezequiel Lavezzi.

Chelsea club secretary David Barnard was at the draw, and said: 'It will be difficult, we've seen Napoli in the same group as Man City which gives some bearing on the quality of Napoli.

'We all know Andre Villas-Boas has had experience in Italy with Inter and he will know the ins and outs of Napoli I am sure.'
The draw in full is as follows:

Lyon v APOEL
Napoli v Chelsea
AC Milan v Arsenal
Basel v Bayern Munich
Bayer Leverkusen v Barcelona
CSKA Moscow v Real Madrid
Zenit St Petersburg v Benfica
Marseille v Inter

Johner

That was the worst draw we could have got imo. Still fancy us to come through it but it wont be easy.

GavRedKing

Johner wrote: »

That was the worst draw we could have got imo. Still fancy us to come through it but it wont be easy.

100% agreed, its very possible to beat them but they're a good team and one of the teams I wanted to avoid really.

Sgt Pepper 64

AVB rules out buying a new striker

http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11095/7381246/

In fairness he's right, especially if we can get Torres stepping up.
However, I feel we still need to have a player like Drogba who we can look to to go and win those difficult games and make something happen.
I'm sure if a certain player comes up for the right price, we will make a move

pistolpetes11

Sgt Pepper 64 wrote: »

AVB rules out buying a new striker

http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11095/7381246/

In fairness he's right, especially if we can get Torres stepping up.
However, I feel we still need to have a player like Drogba who we can look to to go and win those difficult games and make something happen.
I'm sure if a certain player comes up for the right price, we will make a move

Torres need to grab his chance, I feel if he doesnt he may well rot on the sidelines.

Lukaku is waiting in the wings and doing very well in the reserves and I would not be surprised to see him feature some more going forward, after all we didnt pay 18 mil to leave him in the reserves .

Also lets not forget a couple of others looking to get there break :Lucas Piazon
,Marko Mitrovic, Milan Lalkovic, Adam Phillip ( Injured at the moment but looks a serious player .

I think we should take Kakuta back from Bolton and send him on a loan where he will get serious game time , unfortunately with Bolton's untimely demise Coyle can really be risking things and at this moment and time Kakuta would be risk or a gamble to playing week in week out as he is unproven at this level.

Luckily for Danny when he went there they were doing well and he got a massive chance.

McDave

amiable wrote: »

I mentioned a couple of days ago that i heard Lampard himself say he'd be seeing out the final 18 months of his contract so i think that should put the Lampard story to bed unless AVB wants him to leave which i doubt as well.

IMO Lampard's a politician. If he sees a future at Chelsea beyond playing, he will see out his contract. I can't see what LA Galaxy will do for him other than provide a transitional playing holiday before he makes the transition to coaching or management.

willmunny1990

pistolpetes11 wrote: »

Torres need to grab his chance, I feel if he doesnt he may well rot on the sidelines.

Lukaku is waiting in the wings and doing very well in the reserves and I would not be surprised to see him feature some more going forward, after all we didnt pay 18 mil to leave him in the reserves .

Also lets not forget a couple of others looking to get there break :Lucas Piazon
,Marko Mitrovic, Milan Lalkovic, Adam Phillip ( Injured at the moment but looks a serious player .

I think we should take Kakuta back from Bolton and send him on a loan where he will get serious game time , unfortunately with Bolton's untimely demise Coyle can really be risking things and at this moment and time Kakuta would be risk or a gamble to playing week in week out as he is unproven at this level.

Luckily for Danny when he went there they were doing well and he got a massive chance.

We have some potentially useful players coming through alright.

I think if AVB gets this team right we will be back up their fighting for the league and other trophies.

Mata, Danny, Romeu, Ramires, Lukaku, Luiz etc... are real talents, Mata being the crown jewel IMO. If we can sign a couple of players to compliment the talent we have we will be a real threat again. I just don't want AVB to be undermined by Roman, If things go sour again he might come in and start buying more Marquee signings that just don't fit, he has previous form.

I want AVB to stay in complete control of transfers and if so we may not be far off of building a real team again and being a proper threat.

McDave

willmunny1990 wrote: »

I want AVB to stay in complete control of transfers and if so we may not be far off of building a real team again and being a proper threat.

+1

I want Chelsea to develop as an institution. RA has been great for the club. But he needs to stand back and let football professionals build the future. There should be mega-players so associated with Chelsea that they go through the full cycle of involvement from playing, coaching and managing through to being elder statesmen. Playing roles like Beckenbauer and Rummenigge do for Bayern.

Step up Lampard.

Crann na Beatha

This post has been deleted.

MUSEIST

Napoli will be very tough especially away but if you want to win this cup you have to beat the best.

pistolpetes11

A Good but long read on Gael Kakuta :


In 2010, Chelsea’s French youngster Gael Kakuta was part of the victorious France U19 side that won the European Championship recently, where he was voted as player of the tournament, an award also referred to as the Golden ball. A previous winner of the award is his Chelsea teammate Fernando Torres, and big expectations are placed on those worthy enough to attain the title.

Today, on the verge of 2012, Gael Kakuta has not enjoyed the best of times since being crowned Golden Ball winner and is yet to feature regularly at parent club Chelsea. Gael Kakuta is currently on what can only be described as a second nightmare loan to another Premier League club. Gael’s first loan was at the turn of the year 2011, when he was sent to Fulham under then manager Mark Hughes who outlined from the outset that Gael Kakuta would be used sparingly even before his first training session with Fulham. True to his word, Gael largely remained on the bench at Fulham hardly figuring for the West London club.

Gael Kakuta’s second loan to Bolton was inspired by his Chelsea teammate Daniel Sturridge’s successful loan to the Northern outfit. Hoping to emulate Sturridge’s success and hoping for the same platform to show what he could do, Kakuta turned down a second loan to Fulham under Martin Jol to be under the guise of Owen Coyle, who had begun to make a name for himself as the perfect ‘wonderkid babysitter’.

Unfortunately, as this Gael’s second loan comes to an end, his fortunes this time around echo his past. He has again been used sparsely. When he did manage to get on to the pitch he managed to show glimpses of why he has been so highly rated, but for two mid-table teams to deem Kakuta not worthy enough to figure in their starting line-ups have many questioning the quality of Gael Kakuta.

Kakuta’s talented age mates include Thiago Alcantara, a player who has recently come into prominence, starring in the European under 21 Championships for Spain and also managing to breakthrough at Barcelona, an environment saturated with talent. Arsenal’s Jack Wilshere is another young starlet in Kakuta’s generation of talent. Wilshere was another youngster who had a loan spell under Owen Coyle, and along with highly rated Slovak wonderkid Vladir Weiss, Wilshere played most games for Bolton and earned the respect of the nation, whilst Vladir Weiss suffered a similar fate that Kakuta would later suffer and was rooted to the bench.

An interesting age mate of Gael Kakuta is Eden Hazard. Hazard is a Belgian wonderkid who moved to France when he was 14. he moved to Football Club Lens, where he has been able to command first team football, that has enabled him to show off his evident quality to world audiences on a regular basis. Gael Kakuta moved just before he turned 16 to Chelsea and as yet has not been given a platform at club level on a regular basis to show what he can do.

Having appeared in the same or similar tournaments to all of these success stories in his generation, some are beginning to form the opinion that Gael Kakuta isn’t the talent that they once thought he was. Arguments of Kakuta v Hazard or Kakuta v Thiago have ceased. Even Chelsea fans, once his most vocal supporters have begun to critique his ability and doubt his class.

I wanted to undertake an analysis on Gael Kakuta’s current situation to come to a conclusion on whether or not his detractors have just cause. Daniel Sturridge now, a success story, is the example that I’d like to start with. What a lot of people tend to do is rationalise a players quality based on managerial decisions.



Daniel Sturridge signed for Chelsea in 2009, the same year that Chelsea appointed Italian coach Carlo Ancelotti, although Sturridge was identified by the Chelsea board before Carlo’s appointment & Carlo admitted to having not seen him play. Sturridge marked his pre-season debut with a goal to win the game for Chelsea againt American outfit, the Seattle Sounders, and following a good performance and excitement by the press, Carlo Ancelotti tempered expectation by firmly outlining that Daniel Sturridge would be fourth choice striker, behind Saloman Kalou, behind Nicolas Anelka and behind Didier Drogba.

Daniel Sturridge’s first huge surge in his reputation among the footballing community was as a fifteen year old, playing amongst those that were three years older in the FA Youth Cup for Manchester City. Sturridge became highlighted along with Theo Walcott as the most exciting attacking prospects that England had. Walcott had already secured a move to Champions League regulars Arsenal and attended a World Cup at the age of 16; Sturridge even at 20 years of age hadn’t featured regularly in the Premier League and had not represented the senior National team.

Crtitics began to question Daniel Sturridge’s quality. “He (Carlo Ancelotti) picks much maligned Saloman Kalou ahead of him (Daniel Sturridge) so how good can he be?”, was what I would regularly hear. Surely, if Daniel Sturridge was as talented as everyone was making out he was, he could have been of some use.

However, littered around football are examples of the highest quality of talent for not being trusted enough by their managers, and not being given the platform to shine. Talented players under the wrong manager, no matter how talented, may never be given the chance to shine.

When given a chance Gael Kakuta shone at Villa Park for Bolton in September, scoring on his debut in a 2-0 victory. Owen Coyle gave his rationale behind why Kakuta is regularly omitted from the starting line-up.

The Wanderers boss believed that the 20-year-old, who was on loan from Chelsea, still had areas to improve on before he could be considered as a first-team starter.



“He’s a young talented player and he has a certain role to play within the team with the ball at his feet and out of possession,” the manager said.

“We know how talented he is with the ball. But there are areas of his game he can learn to improve to help the team.

“He did well at Villa and in the cup tie at Arsenal to a degree. He can beat a man but once he has done that you don’t want to come back and try to beat him again.

“Invariably at our level you get the ball nicked. It happened twice at Arsenal and they only scored two goals.

“He is always in our thoughts and possibly a bit unlucky. There are one or two like that.”

“So, we have got to give ourselves a chance. The margins are very fine and we have got to turn them in our favour.”



A significantly similar rationale was outlined by Ray Wilkins and Carlo Ancelotti on their decision not to play Daniel Sturridge.



Ray Wilkins, Chelsea’s then assistant manager, professed that they cannot trust in the younger players and that the older guys with more experience were the only ones who could be relied on. He believed Daniel Sturridge undertook too many risks when attempting tricks that might not always work. He went on to explain that in situations where every point was needed when fighting for the league title, or where you can get knocked out in an instant in cup competitions, such risks could not be taken. Despite pressure from hierarchy at the club, Ray Wilkins reminded the power men that they pay Carlo Ancelotti to make the decisions and that they should let him do his job.

Interestingly enough Chelsea’s recent cult hero Gianfranco Zola played under the management of Carlo Ancelotti, however, when I used the word “played” it might have been an ill pick, Carlo Ancelotti played under Aarigo Saachi who championed the formation 442. Carlo Ancelotti knew the formation inside out and a sa young manager he realised that it was difficult to fit Gianfranco Zola into his formation and so rather than finding the best formation to incorporate all of Parma’s best player he sold Gianfranco Zola and to Chelsea fittingly, Zola went on to have a glittering career at Chelsea and Ancelotti has since admitted that it was a mistake.

It is important you learn from mistakes, Carlo Ancelotti went on to manage Juventus, Ancelotti secured Zinedine Zidane and managed to find a space for the mercurial wizard in central midfield, so the formation was not the problem, however, Carlo Ancelotti let another hugely talented star rot on the bench. Juventus had bought a player from Arsene Wengers’ Monaco side, his name is Thierry Henry, Henry endured a forgettable time in Italy under Carlo Ancelotti and once again he oversaw the sale of a frustrated talent to the Premier League, selling Thierry Henry back to Arsense Wenger, but this time to Arsenal football club. Ray Wilkins asked the Chelsea board to trust in Carlo Ancelotti, who was against playing Daniel Sturridge, Daniel Sturridge who today has outscored all of his other strikers that he trusted in combined!

Now, it is just not Carlo Ancelotti, Alan Pardew was the manager at relegation candidates West Ham when he was gifted two supposedly wonderfully gifted sough after talent in Javier Mascherano and Carlos Tevez, however, after assessing their quality Alan Pardew deemed not good enough in comparison to the other talent that he had at his disposal to aid West Ham with their relegation scrap. In time Alan Pardew finally gave in to giving Carlos Tevez a chance and people largely believe that he single-handedly saved the club from being relegated that season.



A talent that has all the worlds biggest club sitting up in their seats today is Gareth Bale, Bale was brought by Martin Jol from Southampton to Tottenham Hotspur, however unfortunately for Gareth, Martin Jol was sacked and Bale despite great performances had the unenviable “jinx” statistic, where Spurs for an amazing stretch did not pick up 3 points whenever he was in the team. Gareth Bale was dropped from the starting line up and was resigned to the reserves for a significant period under the following manager Juande Ramos but, also the incoming manager Harry Redknapp. It was only when Gareth Bales competition Benoit Assou-Ekotto suffered an injury that Gareth Bale came back into the fold, and he has not looked back ever since. Another reject, Kevin Prince Boateng struggled to get a game under a succession of managers at Tottenham Hotspurs, yet today he finds himself being adored by Italian fans at AC Milan with his reputation never better.

Edgar Davids, Patrick Vieira there is a lengthy list of talents who have been under valued by a manager or managers, I urge football fans never to use a managers decision to decide the quality of a player. They make mistakes, they are in a high pressure job, and many of them do not want to take risks, or even perhaps you know better. One thing I strongly believe is that it is never a good idea to write off a player when he has not been given the platform to prove that they are still golden.

Essien

Walking through a shopping centre in Brisbane today wearing my '08 jersey and I got a verse of "Carefree" from a random sales assistant. Cheered me right up

amiable

Essien wrote: »

Walking through a shopping centre in Brisbane today wearing my '08 jersey and I got a verse of "Carefree" from a random sales assistant. Cheered me right up

I thought you were at the darts yesterday?


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/othersports/article-2075370/Phil-Taylor-eases-round-darts-world-championships.html

Sgt Pepper 64

Wonder if Torres will start today?

Ashley is very impressed with Bertie

http://www.london24.com/sport/chelsea/cole_predicts_bright_future_for_talented_chelsea_youngster_1_1156430

Essien

amiable wrote: »

I thought you were at the darts yesterday?


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/othersports/article-2075370/Phil-Taylor-eases-round-darts-world-championships.html

That was yesterday, I plan on flying back to have a look at the Wigan game as long as my arms aren't too tired from swimming all the way here.

Johner

Hopefully Torres starts today, Wigan's defence is woeful. Somehow they will probably stay up again though.

Gonzovision

Chelsea team for Wigan: Cech, Bosingwa, Ivanovic, Terry, Cole, Romeu, Lampard, Meireles, Sturridge, Drogba, Mata

Crann na Beatha

This post has been deleted.

Panthro

Sgt Pepper 64

wow no luiz or torres. good to see a settled team with romeu in though, cmon the blues

homer simpson

I don't know what AVB was at today, all 3 subs were strange for me, if it wasn't for that moment of brilliance from Danny we would likely have lost today.

Johner

Ramires was badly missed.

MUSEIST

Can someone explain those second half subs to me please, especially mata and danny, WTF

willmunny1990

Strange and negative substitutions cost us this game.

Lampard should never of started, he shouldn't start any game if it can be avoided at all.

Romeu off for Kalou was simply insane.

Drogba left on when he was offering nothing.

Danny and Mata off was so outrageously negative it was disgusting.

Lackluster performance after a great result last week was so disappointing, why wasn't Torres brought on for Drogba?

Torres is being frozen out and isolated from the first team, its despicable of AVB to treat him this way. Bringing on clowns like Kalou and Malouda ahead of him is a joke.

jcf

AVB out

Paully D

Thoughts on Petr Cech please lads? Arguably the best keeper in the world before his accident, and whilst he's still capable of some great saves, he's very inconsistent as far as top goalkeepers go these days.

greendom

willmunny1990 wrote: »

Strange and negative substitutions cost us this game.

Lampard should never of started, he shouldn't start any game if it can be avoided at all.

Romeu off for Kalou was simply insane.

Drogba left on when he was offering nothing.

Danny and Mata off was so outrageously negative it was disgusting.

Lackluster performance after a great result last week was so disappointing, why wasn't Torres brought on for Drogba?

Torres is being frozen out and isolated from the first team, its despicable of AVB to treat him this way. Bringing on clowns like Kalou and Malouda ahead of him is a joke.

Just what has Torres done at Chelsea to elevate himself above the clown status you give to Kalou and Malouda ?

willmunny1990

Paully D wrote: »

Thoughts on Petr Cech please lads? Arguably the best keeper in the world before his accident, and whilst he's still capable of some great saves, he's very consistent as far as top goalkeepers go these days.

I assume you mean very inconsistent?

Tbh Paully, today was a joke and he does screw up too often for my liking these days.

In fairness to him though he still goes through spells of being a top consistent goalkeeper, but then goes through a few months where he is dodgy again.

I'm not sure how long more he'll last at the club tbh. I think there's doubts there.

willmunny1990

greendom wrote: »

Just what has Torres done at Chelsea to elevate himself above the clown status you give to Kalou and Malouda ?

Nothing much at Chelsea, as of yet but those two haven't performed in a long long time. Torres has done a lot more than those two throughout his career and is only 27.

He played well at stages this season. The first game at Stoke and then against Man U. Then got stupidly sent off while the going was good against Swansea.

He has shown he still possesses his ability and should be at the very least be given minutes from the bench, especially when Drogba is playing so crap and Malouda and Kalou are being brought on ahead of him.

It's a joke.

greendom

willmunny1990 wrote: »

Nothing much at Chelsea, as of yet but those two haven't performed in a long long time. Torres has done a lot more than those two throughout his career and is only 27.

He played well at stages this season. The first game at Stoke and then against Man U. Then got stupidly sent off while the going was good against Swansea.

He has shown he still possesses his ability and should be at the very least be given minutes from the bench, especially when Drogba is playing so crap and Malouda and Kalou are being brought on ahead of him.

It's a joke.

Torres is obviously not in the right place at the moment.You don't keep a 50million player on the bench without good reason. Seems to me that AVB sees him as more of a clown than Malouda or Kalou.

greendom

It was poor by Cech for the goal but I think Cole was partly to blame too.

Paully D

willmunny1990 wrote: »

I assume you mean very inconsistent?

Tbh Paully, today was a joke and he does screw up too often for my liking these days.

In fairness to him though he still goes through spells of being a top consistent goalkeeper, but then goes through a few months where he is dodgy again.

I'm not sure how long more he'll last at the club tbh. I think there's doubts there.

Yes, I mean inconsistent, I'll edit now

Johner

Paully D wrote: »

Thoughts on Petr Cech please lads? Arguably the best keeper in the world before his accident, and whilst he's still capable of some great saves, he's very inconsistent as far as top goalkeepers go these days.

He had a very bad game today, but to say he is inconsistent is a bit harsh. He's been very solid generally with the odd mistake. I'm not worried at all about Cech, he's still a world class keeper imo.

Sgt Pepper 64

Johner wrote: »

He had a very bad game today, but to say he is inconsistent is a bit harsh. He's been very solid generally with the odd mistake. I'm not worried at all about Cech, he's still a world class keeper imo.

Cech is suffering because of the poor defence\tactics in front of him, and the defence is suffering because we only have 1 striker who is in any kind of form!

Wigan should have been killed off with 2 or 3 goals in the first half.
Look at the amount of possession we had - you would have thought we were the home side.
AVB needs to cop on and either play Torres (he wasnt in bad form prior to getting sent off ages ago) or go out and buy another top striker because we DO need one.
Drogba cant play consistantly every game, to the level he played against Valencia. Luka just isnt ready yet and apparently there are doubts in the chelsea camp if he is good enough
Kalou will be gone - unwanted (So why play him instead of Torres?)

So an honest assessment of our strikers

Danny - Yes
Torres - Yes
Drogba - Maybe until a similier replacement, may be leaving anyway
Kalou - No
Luka - No, too early for anything other than sub
Anelka - Gone

So, Danny and Torres upfront, with Drogba maybe alternating

We need a Van persie, Aquergo type. Maybe torres could be that player but he needs to be played, which he will in Jan when Drogba goes to ACN

pistolpetes11

Paully D wrote: »

Thoughts on Petr Cech please lads? Arguably the best keeper in the world before his accident, and whilst he's still capable of some great saves, he's very inconsistent as far as top goalkeepers go these days.

Terrible let down he was yesterday , he will win you more points than he will loose you .

Has had a poor season , inexplainable really .

Always filled me with confidence seeing him between the sticks , but lately there has being doubts creeping in.

Sgt Pepper 64

pistolpetes11 wrote: »

Terrible let down he was yesterday , he will win you more points than he will loose you .

Has had a poor season , inexplainable really .

Always filled me with confidence seeing him between the sticks , but lately there has being doubts creeping in.

probably his poorest season, and has admitted he should have done better for the late goal

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2075809/Petr-Cech-accepts-blame-mistake-Wigan.html

But...I repeat, we really should have killed that game off in the first half.
This season is going to be a battle to finish top four for several reasons.
AVB being new to the league and still learning his craft, coupled with age finally catching up with a few players.
But...if we can hang on and AVB stays, I believe he will learn and be a much better manager next season.

(It is annoying though that we have dropped silly points as much for the players not performing as for managers tactics\naviety\not fully knowing his team yet)

jcf

Surely thats the league challenge well and truly over ?

GavRedKing

Johner wrote: »

Ramires was badly missed.

From the weekend, this is the main point. Watching the Chelsea 11 that started against Wigan, even though it included Romeu, Mata, Sturridge, Meireles it looked like a Carlo team that was too slow to build up and lacked any drive.

Ramires showed his worth to the team by not making the squad, hes a huge influence on our tempo and drive from the middle. If he doesnt play against Spurs we'll get turned over in CM, Rmoe and Meireles are fine fottballers but they dint have the bite or drive that Ramires brings to our CM.

Cech should have done better, no doubt, its surprising seeing him make such a rookie mistake but every keeper makes them. AVB could very well get rid of him at the end of the season and go with Delac and Courtois but that remains to be seen, Cech is by far and away our best option at the moment.

I can see what AVB was trying to do with the subs, kee the guys fresh for Spurs. romeu ahd to be pulled off, he was offering nothing to us, he wasnt playing bad but Wigan were so deep we need an attacking option and when Romeu came off we went to 4-2-3-1 with Mata behind Drogba and Kalou and Sturridge wide of Mata.

It didnt really work, we need another wide option apart from Kalou/Malouda and Lukaku espeically if we change to a 4-2-3-1. Drogba went from been a beast against City to a shrinking violet against Wigan, he really is like Dr Jackel and Mr Hyde at times, ya never know which one is going to turn up.

That leaves us with a dilemma for Spurs on Thursday. Do we play Torres who might turn up and offer plenty to the team or Drogba who may or may not turn up and be as ineffective as he was against Wigan.

Worse thing about it is we beat City Monday night and draw away to Wigan, in effect, only gaining a point on City.

If Spurs beat us, we're in for a race for 4th, maybe 3rd at best.

SlipperyPeople

i love how you always have a reflective post every monday morning when you get into work :pac:

GavRedKing

hungoverbunny wrote: »

i love how you always have a reflective post every monday morning when you get into work :pac:

Mon - Fri 8:00 - 4:30PM is my internet time :pac:

Nah, I try stay off Boards for the weekends and match threads because I know I'll end up getting infractions / bans.

I will however be on for the Spurs games, cant leave an opportunity for that much banter off.

SlipperyPeople

yay christmas drinking and christmas football time is upon us

GavRedKing

hungoverbunny wrote: »

yay christmas drinking and christmas football time is upon us

And dont gorget its only 12 days until the January transfer window opens so Roman can go get his considerable cheque book out again.

What I want to see, Marek Hamsik, he would be a great buy not cheap though and Napoli will surely not sell to their UCL last 16 opponents.


Eden Hazard , more wishful thinking on my behalf but would really add to our play, fantastic talent.


Kevin De Bruyne, looks like he could be real value if we get him for realtively cheap and nearly joined us in the summer.


Gonzalo Higuain, well we know Roman likes to splash silly money and thats what it would take to sign him IMO.


Gary Cahill, if we really want to go and get a CB he looks likely to be our first target if reports are to believed.

SlipperyPeople

gavredking wrote: »

And dont gorget its only 12 days until the January transfer window opens so Roman can go get his considerable cheque book out again.

What I want to see, Marek Hamsik, he would be a great buy not cheap though and Napoli will surely not sell to their UCL last 16 opponents.


Eden Hazard , more wishful thinking on my behalf but would really add to our play, fantastic talent.


Kevin De Bruyne, looks like he could be real value if we get him for realtively cheap and nearly joined us in the summer.


Gonzalo Higuain, well we know Roman likes to splash silly money and thats what it would take to sign him IMO.


Gary Cahill, if we really want to go and get a CB he looks likely to be our first target if reports are to believed.

i agree with all of those players but maybe a slight question mark over hamsik im still not sure about him...ya higuain would be class i like that transfer rumor...also i think we were trying to sign some chilean winger called vargas or something but apparently he decided he wanted to go to napoli

in other news we should also sign adam johnson and balotelli :cool:

GavRedKing

hungoverbunny wrote: »

i agree with all of those players but maybe a slight question mark over hamsik im still not sure about him...ya higuain would be class i like that transfer rumor...also i think we were trying to sign some chilean winger called vargas or something but apparently he decided he wanted to go to napoli

in other news we should also sign adam johnson and balotelli :cool:

I said it before Balotelli went to Man City that he'd be a great player and someone I'd like to sign, it was an old Chelsea thread but not many agreed due to his temper but its impossible to deny his talent.

AJ would be a decent signing if we could tempt him for about £10-12 million tops, anything over that would be ridiculous.

I'd love to see Higuain but unless we pay crazy money it wont materalise and I cant see Real and Mourinho wanting to sell him.

Well if it came down to either Hamsik or Pastore I would have probably went for Pastore but he decided to head to PSG for the €€€€€€.

Any wide player and a CB and I'll be happy.

SlipperyPeople

check out my post in the balotelli appreciation thread pretty damn funny

GavRedKing

gavredking wrote: »

Well if it came down to either Hamsik or Pastore I would have probably went for Pastore but he decided to head to PSG for the €€€€€€.

And just to prove my above point. Reports here of Pastore apparently looking for out of PSG.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2075961/Javier-Pastore-wants-bigger-club-Chelsea-Arsenal-alerted.html

Arsenal and Chelsea have been put on alert after Paris St Germain's £35million playmaker Javier Pastore admitted he wants to sign for a bigger club.

The Argentina international was chased by the London duo last summer before electing to join the Ligue 1 outfit from Palermo.

Patore has scored six goals in 15 appearances so far this term, but the 22-year-old has admitted it would be hard to refuse if the advances of a bigger club.




He told Radio Radio: 'I train with great conviction in order to realise my dream of playing with a big team.

'If I want a team bigger than PSG to contact me, then it depends on me.'

PSG suffered a double blow on Sunday as they missed the chance to move to the top of the table - and David Beckham wasn't there to watch them.

Beckham has been strongly linked with a move to the French capital and it was expected that he would attend the 0-0 draw with Lille at the Parc des Princes, but he was not spotted in a packed and expectant crowd.

The result left PSG in second place with 37 points from 18 games, behind Montpellier on goal difference after the leaders drew 1-1 at home with Toulouse on Saturday.

SlipperyPeople

haha they aaaaaall come craaaawling back

GavRedKing

hungoverbunny wrote: »

haha they aaaaaall come craaaawling back

If we had got Pastore, I dont think we would have gone after Mata so every cloud has a silver lining.