Off On a Pilgrimage!

Hope you have a great vacation

Merlin.... I miss your input here on match days... wish you was more conpicuous

Have a great time Merlin

Have a great time, merlin!

have a great time merlin. wish i could afford it!

Have a great time Uncle Merlin..sounds like a great vacation plan.

Enjoy mate. Let me know if you want me to do anything. Allianz arena is nice :-)

Have a nice time in germany, enjoy the time and come with more enticing news, by the way merlin, can u post my article? I cited the source for some of my fact findings and wrote it myself, so its never a case of plagiarism. Edit it as u deem fit or turn it over to gabeu if can't do that due to ur travelling, he'll edit it as he pleases

@Johnny Like what? Haha...bad thinking you old sire! He is going with the missus. Lol. Have a lovely trip Merlin.

Adieu sir

Enjoy your trip merl

Anytime merlin goes on vac, we tend to suffer for it!! Where can we suggest articles to, to keep the front page lively. Guys u can enjoy this read before we fix this boredom, m.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/21491399 www.tribalfootball.com/articles/radamel-falcao-nervous-about-antics-chelsea-owner-abramovich-3823801

@Desmond..thanks mate...I have been so bored...I needed a fix and you just gave me that..lool

Yeah @Layorh, we are behind them, but not far behind, just get quality pivot players and add depth to our wings and attack. Thats all. Thats the reason we must move on from Lamps and get genuine pivot players. Ikay Gundogan & Benat are cheap and available choices. Mikel & Romeu will also do well in the pivot. Josh and Chalobah are developing well. Rami will need to work on himself to play in the pivot. Getting players like Benat and Ikay with Romeu, Mikel, Rami, Josh will be so much depth and quality for the pivot. It will improve our all round play massively. The pivot is key in the 4-2-3-1 setup.

The only thing is our full backs must learn to attack down the flanks like Alaba and Lahm do and provide deadly crosses into the box. Azpi is gradually becoming something like that, PVA is an attack minded fullback already and I think Wallace should have that attacking mentality as he is Brazillian, Cole have provided deadly crosses for goals this season. Ryan should learn from them and improve.

As far as their CAM is concerned, lets be honest Kroos is not better than Mata or Oscar. He does not have the quality they possess, Mata especially should not be compared with Kroos, Ozil and Mata should be compared to each other as they had the highest assists in Europe last season, this season Mata is ahead of Ozil in both assists and goals. Oscar is a special player, full of creativity, skills, class, work rate, vision, goals, anything you can think of, this is his first season in Europe but he is already on fire, imagine what he will be in 2 years, Kroos does not possess half the skills and workrate of Oscar but since he is surrounded with very creative wingers and good pivot players, his deficiencies are hidden.

Rodriguez, Moses, Hazard & KDB will effectively cover our wings, they will all develop and get better and better together.

In CF position, we are behind, but we dont have to spend huge fortune like 46m pounds on a 27yr old forward. Bayern did not spend that much on Mandzukic and he is banging plenty goals for them. He is the 11th highest goal scorer in Europe @present. See! Lewandowski is another cheap but clincal forward, we can get him for less than 17m pounds as he wants to leave BVB and his contract will soon expire. Ba, Lewandowski, Lukaku & Son(possibly) will be enough to mount a serious challenge on the title and go far in the UCL as well as Fa and CC cups.

@NicciBoy..^^^thats sooo harsh...poor old Arsenal..Lmao.!

Nice convo between layorh and samex, I knew bayern was going to beat arsenal at home and my prediction along with the scoteline was correct, I am a lil bit disappointed in the porto malaga game, @samex and layorh, what is ur prediction for the two games tonight? Barca vs milan, shalke vs galasataray? I think shalke will win or nick a draw and I am sure milan can atleast nick a draw too

@Desmond Barca 3-1Acmilan....Shalke 1-1Gala....gala is very strong now with Didi and Wesley....let's wait and see....

Oh how i pity Arsenal fans....94pounds for that rubbish!!! Their match tickets are the most expensive in the country. I wonder how they get away with it.

We cant build a team without a manager. All weve been doing for the past couple of years is patching up and pulling through. That we have been this successful has been a miracle. Now the questions are being asked.......Stability is the only answer. Whats the sense in buying a Messi when our prospective manager rates a Ronaldo above him? We are just buying players without thinking of who to manage them and other tiny details.

Guys,i think this porto striker,Jackson Martinez,is a decent striker for us. At 26yrs,with 21 goals in 19 league games,nothing wrong with those stats imo. We can tempt them with 20-24m

I think the management have realized some of their mistakes and are making or will make effort to correct the wrongs. This I believe is why they were careful about signing new players during the Jan transfer window and brought in Demba Ba alone which was a good deal... Things will get better with time.....

I agree with you, Latunvic. Our major should be who will be our next manager and the terms and conditions surrounding his appointment. But i prefer to focus on the rest of the season and cheer on the team for the what's left of it.

@Kaku...Very good point. Bayern addressed their weakness. I'm not sure they really needed a midfielder,but the fact Schweinsteiger was in and out of the treatment table last season,they needed a top midfielder,got Martinez. They did brilliant business addressing where I felt they had issues the most (Defence) last season in the acquisition of Dante. That's what happens when your club is run by football minded people( Ex footballers,and professionals). Like I keep saying we need to address our weakness...Our major weakness is the board. A change in mentality and serious psychological work is needed at the top.

@don capon u beated me by a few minutes, I just got off the news grid now and caught up on it, m.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/21455163 Considering the fact that mikel have been available for the last 2 games and wasn't used, then I dread to think what will happen, it seem some folks @ wagnh are of the same mind too as they raised the same points about 2 days ago in an article there, @ohans and 3nity, remember what I wrote last week on twitter about rafa seeming to ostracize mikel just as he did with xabi alonso in his last season?

I'm with you on that @Ohans... I think continuing to cheer is as far as we can go and the best we can offer as fans for the rest of this awkward season... As for Adi Viveash, I'm beginning to have more respect for the coaching and tactical prowess of that man... He's managing a largely new crop of players this season and he is again through to the quarter-finals of the FA youth cup... is it our youth players that are so good or is it a reflection of Viveash's ability??? I don't want us to rush him but honestly will like to see what he can achieve in a higher level job, maybe the U21 coach or coaching a Championship side or even a mid-table EPL side...

Desmond.My heart is with Milan,but I see Farca battering Milan.They have become a pathetic side.Even,Malaga got the better of them.Maldini himself said that Milan have declined at a fast rate.And it wouldn't surprise me if Galatasaray make it to thesemis.

Guys catch a glimpse of the NextGen if you can...What a game just 15mins in.

The Barca vs Chelsea nextgen match is on already, I'm watching it on ChelseaTV......

The lads look pretty nervous...especially at the back. #NextGen

@nelyvanile Do you know some members on VC will even do a better Job than our board???

@Samex...I obviously can't dispute that mate...and am sure many wouldn't mind doing it for free as well. Lol

why malouda is not playing in the nextgen...he is also a whzkid..

yes...... 1-0, Boga is genius..... and that was a brilliant pass to Feruz from Todd Kane......

Boga is barely 16 years old???

@nelyvanile: HT Barcelona 0-1 Chelsea (Feruz 43'). Boga has been arguably the best player on the pitch,the lad has some brilliant foot work. #toptalent

Jeez this Chelsea squad has so much talent just need to be managed and transitioned properly.

Jeez. Hunte sent off for Chelsea after an absolutely needless tackle. We will have to finish the last 40mins with 10 men. We've done it before on senior level...come on lads.

@nely,thanks 4 keeping us posted 4 this game,keep it up.

I knew the ref was going to utilize any opportunity he finds to please the home fans... he's a local ref.....

Its one way traffic now and Chelsea sitting and defending deep,with Feruz uptop on his own. Nail bitting stuff as Barcelona make their 3rd sub.

Chelsea defending with 2 lines of 4...4 at the back and 4 just infront,Barcelona trying hard to break us down as they make their 5th sub(5 subs allowed in the NextGen).

Wave after wave of Barcelona attack...Chelsea lads riding the wave,this is absolutely a massive test. Isak Sse*****ambo on for Alex Kiwomya.

FT Barcelona 0-2 Chelsea. Chelsea lads go through... A draw for the quater finals will be done this friday.

Jeremie Boga steals the winner surely for us with an 'amazing' footwork. We will be looking out for that talent.

Woah,it sound nice.come on lads beat them.

https://mobile.twitter.com/CarefreeYouth/status/304303298637352961/photo/1

People have forgotten the fact that Luiz and lampard only outclassed a lower division team.i also think Benitez is high on some cheap weed.he better know what he's doing.we can only have a chance if we field a pivot of mikel/oscar,mikel/luiz,luiz/ramires,mikel/ramires.i fear yaya toure and his entourage is going to run the midfield show with Lampard on the pitch.

Well he is going to have to do a lot of writing and make lots of notes. Going to be a long day for him.

I'm glad we dealt with Barca... we have a great crop of young players, how I wish these guys can all be groomed and promoted into our 1st team, these lads play with solid understanding which is one thing money can never buy... We don't need to waste money buying some expensive useless player, just add a few more quality to this core of players and we can have a winning team in few years from now without spending crazy money..... I know this will never happen though....

Hahaha... San Siro boiling Barca.... 2 - 0 now....

Good play from milan 2nite.

Messi fails,barca goes barcaless.milan 2 barca 0

It's not over yet though, It's going to be a fight to finish at Camp Nou....

All ferrari cars were packed at milan. We packed our buses,will milan be blamed for playing a defensive game??

Barca can be clueless at times. Once you stifle their passing game,they never manage to cook up a plan B. When it was clear they weren't making any headway with that tiki taka to the 18 yard box,the best option would have been to switch over to a more direct play. Although they lack the exact personnel needed for that,Villa comes close and should have replaced a hidden Pedro early enough. Am glad about the result...nobody gave Milan the chance,and i thought they played very well. Would easily have been 3 or 4 goals to nothing. Talk about getting the positive out of negative. RDM the genuis!! No copywrite licence needed for this one i think.

Guys here is a little gift from me....anyone who cares to see just how well Paizon did in his first start for malaga can enjoy it from this link, which shows all the touches he made through out his time on the pitch...http://www.dailymotion.com/user/dm_51252cfc4093b/1#video=xxnmci......for me I learnt three important lessons...1. Piazon and Isco are developing a very interesting partnersip..2. On evidence from this match (which is a small sample size of course)..I will not swap Piazon for Isco for any reason....Piazon is a different type of player (more similar to Kaka in his prime) and we will need him at the bridge in the very near future...3. if Piazon carries on at this same rate, we will have a world class player (better than EL Sharaawy at Ac milan) sooner than we expect..similar to the Courtouis situation...exciting times indeed...you guys can enjoy the link!..KTBFFH

Great week for Chelsea youngsters...Piazon daring at malaga, Chelsea making to FA Youth cup QF, Beating Barca in NextGen and making to QF....wow wow...I always believed that we had enough talents in Academy, and this particular week just showcased that to the entire world...Now big burden lies on Roman's shoulder, in what will be the biggest decision i.e the next manager of chelsea...We need to be very careful with that, we need a person who can integrate the best of these youngsters into the first team seamlessly...we dont need to buy everytime, we have what we need in our club itself, but no one just realises that....I am eagar to see Lukaku, KDB, Josh, Chalobah, Courtosis, Piazon, Feruz, Bamford, Kane, PVA, Baker, Ruben at chelsea first team....

*articles from other websites, of course.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2281875/Chelsea-beat-Barcelona-2-0-NextGen-series.html

Yeah the U-19's really laid it down, really proud of the lads.

@BlueABS, tottaly agree. But it is difficult to pint point our best players, Nditi was facing barca's best player, our CB's and kane, they all had a top game.

@layorh12, thx for the Piazon video.

If roman wants a football that will please the world, then its pellegrini, if he wants trophies, definitely not pellegrini, u cannot eat ur cake and still have it, roman needs to choose wisely our next coach. For me, I'll take laudrup if he wins the COC trophy, or mou (he plays good footy too) downside is just youth development. Pellegrini will play football that is admirable and pleasing to the world, can make chelsea a darling team, but trophy wise, I aint sold out on him "yet"

@Desmond...my gut tells me we can actually eat our cake and have it if we bring in hiddink as DOF and Laudrup as manager and then ease the pressure on the young coach give him time to instil his style into the team and integrate youth...Laudrup's footy philosophy is clear, its an hybrid of barca's tikki takka with more direct play...its a bit of a gamble yes., but hiddink as DOF will give the required wise old head and should guide us through....thats my thinking but i do think with the rumours flying around, the board has other ideas...i hope they get it right...let me say it again for the purpose of saying it, tubby should not stay here beyond this summer...and its not only for footballing reasons...

I would go with the same line up as you Desmond, but I am sure tubby will go with Lampard and Rami/Luiz in the pivot, Hazard and Mata will play for sure, as for the player along them, I have no idea what is tubby thinking: Oscar, Ramires or Moses. And I bet Torres will play as well.

Allegri for chelsea manager.

@layorh, if we have that combo of laudrup and hiddink, I am sure we'll be up there with the best in the world in the next 3-4 years, but would roman be sensible enough to trust laudrup? Would he bring hiddink as DOF as opposed to grant? There are so many variables in this managing dilemma, as for the city game, our best chance is to keep city quiet from the midfield, we can outclass them with that midfield up there ^^, the midfield is of both steel and creativity, city won't be able to punish us from the wings as they don't have natural wingers there. Only nasri who is creative and silva who is also creative but without pace. Our subs can be lamps, rammy, and moses in the 2nd half when they tire out rammy/moses with pace to burn would do them damage most definitely

@Desmond, i beg to differ from that notion that Pellegrini cant win trophies. That he has not really been fortunate enough or maybe not adequately supported for that doesnt mean he can never make it. Laudrup who you favour more tasted the same league where Pellegrini has only coached in Europe and you know how far he faired. Laudrup is on the verge of lifting his 1st ever trophy,not in the same league in question,but in another league. Which you will agree with me wouldnt have been possible in the other the former league with similar club. Dont get me wrong,am not saying La liga is superior,but there is greater tendency the philosophy will record more progess when applied to Bpl. Southhampton are evolving along that mindset and philosophy in Bpl in a way that will be relatively insignificant in La liga. So with Pellegrini obviously being a better coach in terms of experience and pedigree as well as managing at the top and handling big egos...he suits Chelsea more and that will ensure we ride on a superior wavelength than Swansea,Soton and pool who are also thinking in the same direction.

it may well be that we already have our manager in place as there was an article in the sunday times on Pellegrini rejecting City as 'he has already commited himself to a club' for next season. maybe hes behind the Cuevas deal!!!

I understand your point,Desmond,and although you sound sure about what you re saying and stats may very well support your arguement,it doesnt always work that way. Stats,as goes a saying,is like a bikini: shows you alot but not the real thing. And besides,its a different league we are talking about. Laudrup didnt do all that well there too,remember?

Blue1989,can you post us the link pls, lemme take a peek on that.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Laudrup www.goal.com/en-my/news/3890/england/2013/02/17/3757851/laudrup-could-follow-rodgers-path-if-manchester-city-come?ICID=HP_TS_3 www.eplindex.com/26691/detailing-swansea-progression-michael-laudrup.html Enjoy! Later guys

@ohans,and layorh, arun and co, go to go guys, my mobile is out!!!

@desmond,to add to Ohans' post,i think your notion of pellegrini not bein a winner is completely wrong,the man is a champion and he leaves success trails where ever he has managed,he won leagues(amongst other trophies) in chile,ecuador and argentina,his 5years stint at villareal was an historic one,although he didnt win the league in spain but he won the defunt UEFA intertoto cup with villareal in 2004 and took them to lofty heights far above the average team they use to be,he was the 2nd most succesful south american manager in laliga back in 2007..although he didnt win the league with madrid but he amassed a record breaking 96points only to lose out to an extremely brilliant barcelona team that won 6trophies that season..

Thank alot Ken et Blue1989. Just made my day.

Milan could have scored even more goals, but Alegri knew how to win only by two goals, because of copiing Chelsea U19 win over Barca B. Lol

Ohans,u are welcome

'his loss'

If Wenger becomes available, I would sign in up...Manager like him is the need of the hour for us...We dont need to win any trophies for next 2-3 years, Just need to remain competitive and integrate the youth into the first team...Who is better at it than Wenger