What really impressed me was the way he handled Sterling's pace. Sterling is insanely quick but Azpi simply positioned himself well and anticipated where he was going to close him down. Looking like a bargin for 10m.

Stamford Bridge pitch gifted to partners Aldershot:
Aldershot Town have an established partnership with the Londoners with many of the Blues' youth teams playing matches at the ESS Stadium, and the Stamford Bridge pitch will be transported there as a gift early next month with the London club set to lay a new surface in the summer
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-hampshire-27203974

Meireles lad

He's so weird

So much swag

Perhaps, but that beard is horrendous.

Storing my golden sig here. Lost another bloody bet

^ That's the best the winner could do?

Where's english_jewel/chelsea el fuerte?

Always goes into hiding when we lose

Just didn't want to say it myself

Lszantos sig is glorious

Why Sam Hutchinson was loaned to Vitesse
http://weaintgotnohistory.sbnation.com/2014/5/6/5683464/chelsea-defender-needed-painkillers-to-train

ccording to manager Peter Bosz, when Hutchinson arrived at Vitesse, he needed to take a lot of painkillers in order to train, and still couldn't manage a full ninety-minute training session. In addition, Hutchinson wasn't able to train on back-to-back days.

However, after spending five months rehabbing at Vitesse, Hutchinson was able to train, painkiller-free, for ninety minutes every day. In addition, Hutchinson was sent to Vitesse exclusively for rehabilitation and to work on his fitness. Neither Chelsea nor Vitesse expected Hutchinson to contribute to the first team, and Hutchinson's loan deal only ran until January.

Bosz explained that the only goal was to get Hutchinson fit, and they achieved that goal together. In addition, Bosz appears very happy for Hutchinson on a personal level and thinks the world of him.

Why was Vitesse the best place for Hutchinson to rehab, as opposed to staying at Cobham? The answer lies with Eduardo Santos, the former head physiotherapist at Vitesse.

The whole thing is well worth a read.

Interesting.

Happy about Rom and Thibaut, Thorgan is an interesting one though.

^^^Thorgan playing with Eden? They are playing similar positions right?

Thorgan is more of an AM, Like Oscar.

Sounds lovely.

what about Eden? We're not selling him are we?

No.

good then

Schurrle has been named in the 30 Germany man squad for Brazil.

He should make the 23 man final squad too.

On that topic, Kickster, I've been thinking for awhile. Feel free to shoot it down if you don't like it. But rather than sprawling news and discussion across a dozen different threads over the space of a month, might it not be a good idea, in around mid–late May or early June, to make a sort of 'Chelsea at the WC' thread? For updates/conversation on progress of our players' teams, their individual performances, performances of potential/reputed transfer targets, goals, form, injuries, etc.?


Would keep existing threads from being derailed/having spaced used up by something not related to Chelsea and, as I said, condense all discourse on what will be the same overall subject down into one location.

But as I said, feel free to shoot it down if you don't agree.

Yeah that is fine.

GL will soon have a section for the WC so we can do it around the same time.

Oh yea, I do seem to remember a Euros section 2 years ago.

However, by all means, feel free to make it after this weekend.

I will also create a Chelsea 14/15 thread pretty soon.