mikuz: why on earth did goal.com describe the move as ridiculous? Mtchew

High_Chief: Hulk, Jovetic and Debuchy and we are good for next season. Am sure about 6-7m will seal Debuchy's deal.

Andre Uweh:

In my opinion, I would like RDM use Ivanovic as Chelsea's right back as there is no better right back out there. He is the best. With that, we can bring in one more central defender probably Collocini.
Felaini, Ben Arfa and Paizon will be good additions.

dyabman: But there will be some instance whereby we need natural RB for our attacking options not just crosses alone . .

El Guapo: Ashley Cole didn’t hit his penalty with as much venom as he did in the Champions League final shootout. I wonder if he was thinking that Gianluigi Buffon had seen that penalty in Munich and was in two minds whether to change his approach?

Buffon was magnificent all match. He is a top, top keeper who stays on his feet until the last possible moment. If Ashley Young had scored his penalty, I think Cole would have taken his much more confidently.

Shape played into Pirlo's hands

England’s shape allowed Italy to have the ball too easily. They were set up to absorb pressure in a rigid 4-4-2. Surrendering so much possession sapped England’s energy and Italy had a player to do real damage to a tired side.

The three teams England had played previously didn’t have a deep-lying midfield player with as much guile as Andrea Pirlo. England couldn’t pressure him on the ball and played a high line.

That played into his hands with his raking passes. If you allow him time on the ball, the back four have to drop deep to cover the runs of Mario Balotelli.

FORZA ITALIA

El Guapo: Ashley Cole didn’t hit his penalty with as much venom as he did in the Champions League final shootout. I wonder if he was thinking that Gianluigi Buffon had seen that penalty in Munich and was in two minds whether to change his approach?

Buffon was magnificent all match. He is a top, top keeper who stays on his feet until the last possible moment. If Ashley Young had scored his penalty, I think Cole would have taken his much more confidently.

Shape played into Pirlo's hands

England’s shape allowed Italy to have the ball too easily. They were set up to absorb pressure in a rigid 4-4-2. Surrendering so much possession sapped England’s energy and Italy had a player to do real damage to a tired side.

The three teams England had played previously didn’t have a deep-lying midfield player with as much guile as Andrea Pirlo. England couldn’t pressure him on the ball and played a high line.

That played into his hands with his raking passes. If you allow him time on the ball, the back four have to drop deep to cover the runs of Mario Balotelli.

FORZA ITALIA

When you play football without a plan of attacking, you deserve to lose.
Italy in red shirts yesterday could have been confused for Spain.

1025:

@nateevs,
your types were busy listening to jonathan yesterday talk about cassava bread only to come here and discuss football more than those who watched the game. if you say italy played better than england, i will accept that but if with what italy played yesterday, you term them spain, then i will have reasons to think that you watched ur own game on a 14 inch, black and white tv.
italy with what they played in 120 without a goal cannot stand the fire power of germany unless they have other plans.

Dude read what I said well. I didn't say Italy were Spain but that they could have been confused for Spain.
It was an indictment on the set up of England rather than the inherent ingenuity in Italy.
What makes you think I didn't watch the game by the way?

@1025,
What nateevs is saying is that England allowed Italy so much time on the ball that one would have thought the Italians were the Spanish national team.
He was not, in any way, equating Italy with Spain.
@Nateevs,
You sef, your oyinbo too much.
Write the one wey evryone go fit understand

1025:

@nateevs,
your types were busy listening to jonathan yesterday talk about cassava bread only to come here and discuss football more than those who watched the game. if you say italy played better than england, i will accept that but if with what italy played yesterday, you term them spain, then i will have reasons to think that you watched ur own game on a 14 inch, black and white tv.
italy with what they played in 120 without a goal cannot stand the fire power of germany unless they have other plans.

Ma Fellow KTBFFH Mates Lets Think this Up -- Do we really need another Center foward? I Mean amid reports that Falcao, Rondon, Lavessi are all targets.

IMO -- I don't think we need another striker at the club this season.

We have seen over recent seasons the introduction of rotation within our squad. Look at Didier Drogba for example. Towards the end of last season, with a run of games and big games at that, he found his form and scored important goals.

When he was being chopped and changed from week to week, it was difficult for him to get going. Look at his last couple of seasons at the club. In our double winning season of 2009/10 Drogba played 44 games and scored 37 goals in all competitions. He was the main man here and virtually knew he would be playing week in, week out.

In 2010/2011 he featured in 46 games and scored only 13 times and you have to remember this included the arrival of Fernando Torres at the club and he wasn't starting every week.

Finally last season, Drogba featured in 35 games and scored 13 goals, again rotating with Torres.

The case for sticking with a main man is there for all to see and this is the time I really believe that Fernando Torres will really bed in at our club. He has received assurances from Roman Abramovich that he IS the number one now and I am 100% certain that Torres could go onto score 25-30 goals this term.

Obviously, we need to keep him fit but the reason I believe that we do not need to go after another striker is because we have the raw talents of Danny Sturridge and Romelu Lukaku backing him up and giving Di Matteo other options.

Sturridge wants to play through the middle and I believe he will get his chance but playing second fiddle to Torres. If we need a game changer, then Sturridge is the man to come on and use his pace to give us something different in that way.

n Lukaku, we have his physical presence up front and he will provide something different to Torres and Sturridge completely.

For me it seems as though it's the right time this season to focus on Torres as our main striker and giving the other two the knowledge that they will also feature this season.

Whether or not both of them will be happy being on the bench is another thing, but with Lukaku especially being more involved, this season could provide us with a major breakthrough in the lads confidence.

So what do you people think? Am I talking complete nonsense or do I have a point?

You made a Salient point when u noted that we'll be involved in more competition than anyother European team so there's a need to beef up -- Tactically/Practically, RDM Would start each of those games with a Lone Centre foward [Probably Torres] with two Wing players Supporting from the Flanks thereby, leaving two Cfs On the bench Dani and Lukaku. [Yet u'll have millions of Cfc fans around the globe clamouring for the Young lads to be given chances to prove their worths].
Hence we're rebuilding a team for the future doesn't it Jxt seem Ideal that we start up somewhere with Dani n Lukaku like providing cover for Our hitman El Nino.

3 Centre fowards in a team that Plays more of a lone attacker aint too bad even United who usually go with 2 front men only boast of 4 strikers and they're not Complaining.

More attention should rather be channelled towards the Wings, Rb and Midfield Positions. . . And Plz am not Sir, El is Jxt 20!

1025:

[b]@el,
if u are 20, you are a grand father be that. be comfortable with sir and learn to use it more in public forum like this instead of what some ppl do calling others guy. God bless u sir. when someone calls u sir, it does not mean u are older than him like in my case, i am x 2 of ur figure but as long as we are not close friends, i won't feel comfortable addressing u anyhow i like.
chelsea is great for one thing and that is why i am still a chelsea fan. you may be asking what is that? it is the fact that you can't predict them.you have teams like arsenal and barca who even when rain or sun dey up, na the same thing them go play but we are not a club of one striker like u said. many times u see daniel and torres on the picth at the same time. in 2010 season, chelsea broke epl goal tally of a club in a season with 105 goals. we did not do that with one striker.
if we have 4 strikers on the bench and we are loosing a match at 80 mins, we can unleash the 3 strikers so that fire go catch fire.[/b]

1025:
finally, if at 20, u are blessed with the wisdom of choosing chelsea, ur happiness will not have end. u will not suffer heartbreak. you are in a club where too much money meets too much trophies. what a great decision you have made.

Supporting Chelsea has been a Mystique One i must say considering the fact i Used to be a Die-hard Catalan, one must have Xpected me to join a team that shared same Football Philosophy with Barca [maybe Arsenal, Bayern, Milan or Real then] but i decided to pitch tent with this West London side [2006 - Counting back i was 14 then] and inexplicably got engrossed into SW6 System. [Well Sure, ma Doctor confirmed that i've got blue blood running down ma Viens lately! ]

Itz cool been Blue - Anyway u must also not forget that we've had more agony than the triumphz. . .but who Cares!

KTBFFH

If i didnt know better i would say 1025 is Switch supporting chelsea lol. Ninja always itching to argue