Ahh I must've forgot about that one..thanks for the info.maybe we just suggested a figure without making an official bid?

A possible line-up and a good one too I might add!wonder how avb plans to utilise ramires.hope he'll get some time vs rangers.

barcelona will never have a shortage of midfielders. it seems that they're experts at developing them and this means there will always be tons of competition ahead of him, and this is good for us. it has to be said though, at 6 ft 1 inch, he's not your average barca midfielder and i for one don't believe the catalans will have a need for him within two years. its the fancy, flamboyant playmaking ones they usually make a big fuss over, such as fabregas, alacantra and iniesta i'm just enjoying the moment, and bearing in mind essien is still in the team.

when you put it that way, it does seem a lot easier to 'sort things out' if it ever comes to that (hopefully it doesn't). whatever happens, we stand to make a small profit instead of losing players for 'peanuts' as we so often do and i'm fine with that.

ahh thanks for the glowing review! sounds a bit like alonso..heheheh

wow...lukaku on the verge of signing, and yuri on the verge of leaving....things are suddenly happening so quickly!

read this interview guys. this kid has a BRILLIANT attitude, and i'm already totally sold on the idea of him signing for us. this is the type of character we want within our squad, which is so damn rare nowadays especially among young players. i say, get him in!

Lukaku ready for Chelsea

guys we now have the old drogba and the new drogba in our team. the lad still managed to smash in 2 goals in his first 2 games this season for anderlecht. watched the second one, and it really reminded me of didier in his prime. welcome to chelsea fc, lukaku! glad to have you with us

Chelsea Strike Lukaku Deal!

woohoo my sentiments exactly mate! great vid, he really showed that old man. lol

the rangers game was a good controlled performance, and sturridge probably guaranteed he isn't going out on loan this season. however, i think he looked mm..a bit too serious after each goal. (if that's a valid complaint..haha) he was much more cheerful when he smashed in that brilliant effort vs kitchee. just wonder what's going through his mind, and if it had anything to do with lukaku's imminent arrival. in the second half though, he did lose his way slightly.

ramires was superb, my man of the match. 110% effort as usual and will definitely reduce the blow of losing the bison. torres exhibited some brilliant skills and dribbling, and i'd say it was his best pre-season showing for us. ferreira really is AVB's favourite rightback at the moment and honestly, that worries me. paulo did have a flawless game, so i'm not going to take anything away from him. however it was good to watch bosingwa coming on and having a blinder as well, making fancy dribbles which were a trademark in his early days. if him and ashley stay fit and on form, it will help to ease our width problem a little.

kalou and lampard both had below average games, but the ivorian appeared to have won a legitimate pen in the first half which was waved away. lampsy's pen which was saved just epitomised the kind of game he was having. didier, nico and malouda combined for the best goal of the match, and did okay together on the pitch. nico should have had a double, after being setup twice for one v ones on two occasions. the second one created by benny, really should've ended up in the back of the net. josh did his job, nothing spectacular but made the intricate forward pass when he had the opportunity.

overall a good performance, but more clinical finishing would be most welcome. roll on stoke!

i'm itching for josh to get more minutes as well, but we have to be careful and manage our expectations here. like nanamiwashio said, one mistake and suddenly there will be fingers pointing towards him and the manager. there's also the risk of shattering his confidence.

we don't need to turn back the clock that far, just try and recall the aston villa game last season when nigel reo coker robbed him off possession. i'm pretty sure many sat there with their mouths agape, ready to except that this is it...our bright young hope just committed a huge blunder, and tomorrow the whole of england's tabloids will be busy highlighting his single mistake above everything else. thankfully, reo coker being reo coker, failed to punish us and we breathed a huge collective sigh of relief.

josh could use more playing time, but we shouldn't rush things. early indications are that AVB likes him a lot, and lampsy won't be busting his gut to play every single game, because the manager is not about to let that happen.

p. s: anyone notice how AVB shouts instructions and calls players towards him to tell them what to do? (lampard was called over during the rangers game) this is another i like about the gaffer. he's meticulous, and monitors our performance as it pans out, rather than just sit there like a passive observer.

This post has been edited by Kerplunk: Aug 8 2011, 10:53 PM

Van der vaart confident in saying modric will stay, and suddenly there isn't much noise now..hoho. alvaro perreira is a very capable player who can play at LB and left midfield. significant competition for malouda! i'd keep my eye on that rumour. oooo i like the freddy guarin stories...he was fantastic for colombia, and quite frankly i'm surprised it took this long for us to be linked to him. might take some time to bed in and if predictably spurs turn down our next bid for luka, i'd say we focus our energy on getting freddy.

so u guys noticed how AVB squats by the touchline as well...if he's not careful he might sustain a knee injury or something.

that's not a bad idea dude. drogba and lukaku combo, and we work the long throws like no tomorrow. stoke will find that its not nice to get a taste of their own medicine. haha. i can imagine how friggin' difficult it would be to deal with two towering strikers

its a ruse to attract modric. he can come join us and pretend he never left spurs whenever he pulls on the third kit. smart and effective.
rumours about di matteo being at the brazil vs germany game, scouting neymar. i don't believe that for a second because i think the lad's only weighing up two options now, in the form of madrid or barca. we were out of the picture months ago.

however, i have a feeling if di matteo was really there he might've been checking up on someone else!

We’re waiting to announce a double deal, to appease the fans. Score one for optimism!

Quite dumbfounded by our own fans having a go at torres today. Our best player on the pitch who had to go about trying to dribble past the entire stoke defense without much support.superb cross to setup our best chance which kalou as usual fluffed. Had a legitimate penalty claim as well.no offense,but u guys should work for the tabloids.they'd love u to death.

The foul on lamps was a stonewall pen which yet again,was produced by some posittive dribbling from our no.9. Our best attacker on the pitch today,period.for those of u screaming for didier,well he came on and didn't do anything of note.

considering he knew his father went missing, he put in an exemplary performance. i notice he seems to be doing more running to close down opponents since AVB took over, so i think that's down to the manager's input. it was evident vs stoke and on one occasion he tracked back and robbed pennant of all people, from behind. and that volley..wooot!

anelka in place of kalou vs west brom? definitely worth a punt. i expect west brom to park the bus, but i'm counting on our home support to spur us to that first goal!

oh and another thing, we've all been screaming for a creative midfielder and a winger, and that's EXACTLY what AVB echoed in an interview last week. i'm sure a lot of us read it with much interest, and it shows the man knows our problem areas. now let's just hope the board move quickly.
most pundits are screaming that we need modric, but i'm sure we're not limiting ourselves to just one choice of player. mata/nasri could do us a world of good too.

belgian hattrick! like the sound of that

he's primed to replace malouda, but still very2 young. probably not what we're used to seeing as chelsea fans, but u know what? if we don't gamble now we probably never will. let's start refreshing our attack before its too late. the learning process has to begin somewhere, and i have high hopes AVB will underline our 'transition' period this season by giving some minutes to josh vs west brom in our next game.

p. s: kakuta got the winning assist for the france u-20 squad, after having an awful campaign prior to that (according to vital chelsea). worse comes to worst, he comes back and battles malouda for that left wing position. if flomo continues in the same vein as he did vs stoke, trust me it wouldn't be too hard.

This post has been edited by Kerplunk: Aug 16 2011, 11:09 PM

haha its all about passion and i'm very confident that will rub off on the whole team, as the season progresses. i don't think AVB will be so 'accommodating' towards such lacklustre performances vs the big teams, ala last season. he'll go berserk by the touchline if the team go into zombie mode for even 2 minutes, and that will ensure we give every opponent one hell of a fight. looking forward to it!

classy player, but a bit too inconsistent to be a starter. love the fact that he doesn't complain much, but we just don't know which nico will show up during matches and that presents a certain level of risk. studge is ahead of him atm.

p. s: valencia claim we're interested in mata. confirm la the board have been reading LYN again.

This post has been edited by Kerplunk: Aug 17 2011, 11:41 PM

I think modric and maybe mata is more likely, but meireles is a bit of a long shot. Wasn’t he one of pool’s star men last season? Maybe champions league football can be our trump card but we only need him if benny goes.

well..the first half vs west brom was agonising. and that mistake by alex just after he made the comment about being interested in juve, was disheartening to watch. many observers will think its a direct result of his mind being elsewhere, and it is a viable theory.

soo who can emerge from the match with their heads held high, knowing they were close to their best? my picks are terry, cole, bosingwa, torres, hilario, and mikel. when i put it that way, suddenly it doesn't seem so bad eh

lampard has to do more, but to his credit there were two occasions he setup anelka and perhaps the frenchman could've done better. still looks a bit out of place, but dare i say he had one of his better games? having said that i'm with everyone here who are of the opinion that lamps needs to be used sparingly sooner rather than later.

on the really bright side, we came back from a goal down didn't we? bosingwa had one of his best games in a blue shirt although he would've been branded a villain, had odemwingie put away that chance at the far post. probably his only lapse of concentration throughout the game? if he stays fit he'll be a major force to be reckoned with.

can't ignore our latest signing juan mata! most exciting player to join our blue army this window and i'm looking forward to him getting at least one half vs norwich. finally malouda can't just lie down and take his place for granted anymore. he did well to get to bosingwa's lovely cross but other than that flomo wasn't doing much as a left-sided attacker.

i believe out of the wingers who've made the switch between young, downing and mata, we definitely secured the most talented one. at 23 years of age he's perfect to replace the aging malouda and he's creative enough to play in midfield as well. nando now has a new best friend..hoho. bring on the canaries!!

p. s: not many believe we need modric?

All the transfer rumours are good fun, but i'm also extremely happy for mikel, who's dad was found safely. Thank God for the nigerian authorities =)

No modric,no problem!mata is very2 creative as demonstrated through the number of assists he racked up last season.however,we will need backup so benny will have to stay if AVB decides josh is still too raw.time for that punt on moutinho or guarin.hoho

spot on. maybe its something mata could teach him. depending on the scoreline, mata might get anything between 15 - 45 mins. my head's telling me it'll probably be 15, but my heart wants to see 45! lol.

sneijder's an interesting shout, except for his wages. marvin martin anyone? 17 assists in the french league last season. woah.

attacking/creative midfielder as well?

i think pereira played left wing for uruguay in the copa? the lad whips in a mean cross!
what do u guys think of malouda heading to juve? rumours are getting more frequent..hmm.

it is! but AVB has just come out n declared malouda will stay with us. too big a risk to expect two totally new players to adapt to that left-wing position (IF we get pereira) of course. its good that he recognises that, and not get carried away with restructuring the team too quickly

update: early reunion for mata with his old team in the CL! seems...so...staged..

This post has been edited by Kerplunk: Aug 26 2011, 12:22 AM