Chelsea 2013/14

All about football back in the Maldives, and the timezone makes it all the more perfect to relax after a long day

Right! CL matches are a pain though!

iNFINITY9910 wrote:

Uncanny wrote:^^ must be great to live in nations where soccer is a passtime haha.  The only games i get live here are stupid MLS games and CL games that start in the QF, unless I have the premium package and get FOX soccer with useless american commentators hahahaha

Not exactly like that tbh, its all about Cricket in Sri Lanka. In Malaysia of course football(soccer) is widely watched. I also have to pay in SL to watch football, well it comes as a whole sports package though.

Yea I agree, I used to live in India growing up as a kid, and it is all about cricket there too. Funny I wouldve thought Premier League games would show in regular sports channels there, but makes sense though, India, SL, & pakistan are all about cricket.

iNFINITY9910 wrote:Right! :DCL matches are a pain though!

That's true!

Juan Mata laughs off talk he was ever to leave Chelsea this summer:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2385113/Chelseas-Juan-Mata-happy-club--Blues-dismiss-Barcelonas-David-Luiz.html

"I was so relaxed about all the speculation about me leaving. I spoke to the club and spoke to the manager who said I was very important to them. So there’s nothing to say about it."

"It’s always very good to hear you are important to the club. Everyone wants to feel they are important."

"So I’m very happy. I’m training with the new manager and we want to improve on last season."

10 days til Hull

I cannot wait!!!  

Expect the official match thread out imminently



First of the season

It better be good

As long as we get the win I will be happy

Brief preview and predictions for the season ahead from Graham Stuart, Cundy, Frank Sinclair, Clive, Pat, and Kerry Dixon.

Very interesting.

I'd like to expand on their point about Hazard. I think he could well be the best player in the EPL come the start of next season.

I, as have most Chelsea fans, have always been under the impression that he would one day become one of the best players in the world and leave for Madrid/Barca for Uber money, Since Barca have Nerman and Madrid are getting Bale, Do you guys think that will still happen or is Hazard likely to stay at Chelsea for much longer than expected when he signed for us?

Think he'll be at Chelsea for 3, 4 more years max should he really become one of the best in the world, I'd say. Didn't he always say it was his dream to play for either Barca or RM one day? Can certainly see one of them coming in for him if his career in England goes the way of, say, Ronaldo.

Shed wrote:Think he'll be at Chelsea for 3, 4 more years max should he really become one of the best in the world, I'd say. Didn't he always say it was his dream to play for either Barca or RM one day? Can certainly see one of them coming in for him if his career in England goes the way of, say, Ronaldo.

Yeah I think he always wanted to play in spain. The only thing I see with that is Messi will still be around, Neymar will be beasting it (probably) and Madrid will have the likes of Bale, Isco and Ozil. Not much room on either team for Hazard.

I can't see either team splashing mega money on him to bring him to their team with those kind of players. Of course if any of them flop, I could see him leaving.

Ronaldo will be what in 3/4 years, 32?

Yeah thats why I left him out.

I think Madrid will get Bale and add Ozil and Isco to that and there's not much room for Hazard tbh.

If history has told us anything, it's that Real Madrid's transfer activity is not dictated by necessity...

No but will Hazard want to go there?

I guess time will tell.

If they wanted him, hell yes he would.

Depends really, right now Chelsea are a cut bellow Bayern, RM, Barca, and to an extent even Juve (the lack of domestic competition really helps them), although if we are able to push up and re-join Europes most elite clubs over the next three of four seasons then there may not be much reason for Hazard to move on. That said if we were going to be getting 60mil+ for Hazard in three years time it could allow us to bring in the new Neymar as well as imporve depth where needed.

I think its the type of decision you cant be sure on untill the time comes to make it

Mourinho to take Chelsea players on tour of Stamford Bridge:
José Mourinho will take his players to Stamford Bridge Saturday on the eve of their first league game of the new season to get them in the mood for the task ahead
http://www.fulhamchronicle.co.uk/london-chelsea-fc/2013/08/16/chelsea-players-to-get-guided-mourinho-tour-of-stamford-bridge-82029-33737004/

"We will train there tomorrow because I want some boys to adapt and know where is the dressing room, where is the dug out, how they go to the pitch and where is the tunnel, because some of them were never at Stamford Bridge."

I was gonna say, Most know all about it, it's really just Schurrle and MVG who don't, and even Schurrle has played there before!

José trying to turn Lee Probert into our own Howard Webb?

Jose's learning from Fergie, it would seem.

Chelsea have submitted our provisional Premier League squad numbers for the 2013/14 season.

Chelsea have so far registered 26 players, with the numbers below. The list is provisional and is not representative of the list that must be submitted by September 4, 2013, 48 hours after the summer transfer window closes.

1 Petr Cech
2 Branislav Ivanovic
3 Ashley Cole
4 David Luiz
5 Michael Essien
7 Ramires
8 Frank Lampard
9 Fernando Torres
10 Juan Mata
11 Oscar
12 John Mikel Obi
13 Victor Moses
14 Andre Schurrle
15 Kevin De Bruyne
16 Marco van Ginkel
17 Eden Hazard
18 Romelu Lukaku
19 Demba Ba
23 Mark Schwarzer
24 Gary Cahill
26 John Terry
28 Cesar Azpilicueta
33 Tomas Kalas
34 Ryan Bertrand
40 Hilario
46 Jamal Blackman