Chelsea Banter Archive February 10 2013

10 Feb 2013 18:17:02
I know it was mentioned last week but have just been watching highlights of mikes for Nigeria at acon. He looks a completely different player, bios singing and bullying the midfield and stepping out from the midfield and feeding the striker!

The standard of football is a lot lower. come on faso got to the final.

11 Feb 2013 11:48:10
Mate, very recently Nigeria defeated Argentina 4-1 and Mikel was man of d match. They deafeated Ivory Coast where d likes of Cheik Tiote, Yaya Toure, Drogba, Gervinho, Max Gradel and a host of other good players playd. At least 5 of those Ivorians can play for Chelsea at d minute. Not to talk about d Keita-led Mali. And who says Faso are not a good team? Very soon, Chelsea will be bidding 30m pounds for Johnathan Pitroipa.
SpursMe.

11 Feb 2013 14:28:10
And against Ivory Coast, Kenneth Omeruo single-handedly caged Drogba, Mikel nullified Yaya Toure and masterminded the distribution from deep; Moses was constantly a thorn on the Ivoriens.

11 Feb 2013 14:40:53
The simple truth is Nigeria play a 4-3-3 where Mike is more effective and used to, so he doesn't have too much space closing down (like in a 2-man midfield) when Ramires or mostly Lampard drifts away. That's the same reason we've been so vulnerable to counter attacks, especially more recently.

If mikel is all of a sudden this superstar where the hell has he bedn the last 7 years? its bs he's crap. its the afcon these african squads hardly play a game together, which is the reason its so bish bosh. yaya toure has bedn poor recently.

10 Feb 2013 12:12:17
Not sure how accurate if accurate at all are the reports in the press on our offer to Atletico for Falcao, but if this involves Courtois, i'd be really dissapointed.

I understand that no keeper carries the value of a striker, but loosing our best young player to get the hands on Falcao is wrong, in my modest opinion.

Atletico are interested in Torres. I understand those are unrelated, but why can't we offer Torres and cash, instead? Getting rid of Torres guge salary is a must come summer, anyway. We have a commitment of nearly 30 million pounds in salary to him over the next three years.

What's his price in the market? People say 20 million. But apart from Turks or Russia, noone will pay this much and take on that salary. Is he ready for those kind of leagues? Would he move there? I doubt it.

Spain is the best option, but neither the top two will be interested in him, so it only leaves Atletico. He'd be ready to take a paycut an a chance to feel loved and appreaciated again, is my guess.

Therefor I say we should bid those 50 mil euros and Torres to get Falcao. It's like an Eto'o and 50 mil for Ibrahimovic. Makes so much more sense on our part.

JG

Totally agree with your post. Athletico sold their young keeper to man united for 15 mill or so, Courtois is easily worth that now and will only get better. Sign him to a longer contract if Cech is the number 1 for a year or so. Why sell such a talent, we will only have to start looking all over again, great keepers are few and far between.

Bluetrick

10 Feb 2013 09:47:44
Eds, when do we expect our Nigerian troops back? {Ed002's Note - It depends on the result today I understand.}

10 Feb 2013 08:10:51
If Chelsea are really considering using Courtois as part of any Falcao deal then the negotiators need to be removed from the club. Goalkeeping talent is one of the hardest to come by so why allow probably the best young keeper worldwide to leave the club, especially when your no. 1 is no longer in his prime. Falcao is obviously an amazing player, but at 28/29 (im not too sure of his age) he isn't getting any younger with only three more years maybe at the top of his game. Bare in mind he might take a while to settle in, the reported £47mil seems an excessive amount. I still don't understand why we never wrapped up a £35mil deal for Aguero when we had the chance, but maybe that deal wasn't as clear cut as it was reported before we bought Torres.

Rowan {Ed002's Note - The Aguero situation was perfectly clear and I explained it at length, and repeatedly, at the time.}

10 Feb 2013 09:54:05
Totally agree. If Courtois is involved, forget abt Falcao. I'll rather Cavani anyway, as I think he'll be more suitable to our style.
BB

Falcao is 27.

Cech is still in his prime.

10 Feb 2013 01:04:29
Ed - Can Demba Ba play in the Europa League {Ed002's Note - Not if he has already played in it.}

This is great news has Torres will play these games and BA will take over prem Duties and IMO top four this year is the most important thing.

Blueben