Chelsea 14/15

Not too many youngsters.

Shows how much I care about the COC

Likewise #atrophysatrophy

How our group stage games are bracketed this season.
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Not the best, but certainly do able.

So from final 13/14 squad of:

Cech, Ivanovic, Cole, Luiz, Ramires, Lampard, Torres, Oscar, Mikel, Schurrle, Salah, Van Ginkel, Hazard, Ba, Matic, Willian, Schwarzer, Cahill, Terry, Ake, Azpilicueta, Eto'o, Kalas, Hilario, Blackman.

To:
Cech, Ivanovic, Luis, Fabregas, Zouma, Ake, Oscar, Remy*, Hazard, Drogba, Mikel, Courtois, Schurrle, Van Ginkel, Salah, Costa, Matic, Willian, Schwarzer, Cahill, Terry, Azpilicueta, Christensen, Blackman

Is a fantastic increase.

Luis for Cole, Fabregas for Lampard, Remy for Torres*, Costa for Eto'o, Drogba for Ba, and Courtois for Hilario are all improvements to quality and depth.

While Zouma for Luiz is probably a downgrade at present, Zouma has the potential to be far better than Luiz.

*Transfer pending.

What a summer Our squad is looking absolutely fantastic.

Massive Kudos to Jose, Emanelo and Roman.

Ah good job on the update Kick!

Yeah it seems like we've done really well in the transfer window this time. I really feel that this could be a start of a new era

Agree with the start of a new era.

It certainly could be.

Also, with MVG leaving on loan, Our EPL squad is basically ready:

GK:
Courtois, Cech, Schwarzer

DEF:
Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Zouma, Ake, Christensen, Azpilicueta, Luis

CM:
Fabregas, Matic, Ramires, Mikel

AM:
Hazard, Oscar, Schurrle, Willian, Salah,

CF:
Costa, Remy, Drogba

That is 23 men, 17 nonhomegrown, 3 homegrown and 3 U-21's.

It is possible that Baker and Blackman get added to the squad to make 25 but since we can have as many U-21's as we like, we're set

(That will be the same squad for CL, too.)

So our squad have been announced:

PREMIER LEAGUE (20+6):
Homegrown (3): Fabregas, Cahill, Terry
Non-homegrown (17): Cech, Ivanovic, Luis, Ramires, Oscar, Hazard, Drogba, Mikel, Courtois, Schurrle, Salah, Remy, Costa, Matic, Willian, Schwarzer, Azpilicueta
Under-21 (6): Zouma, Ake, Christensen, Boga, Beeney, Baker

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE (20+5):
Club-trained (1): Terry
Association-trained (2): Fabregas, Cahill
Non-homegrown (17): Cech, Ivanovic, Luis, Zouma, Ramires, Oscar, Hazard, Drogba, Mikel, Courtois, Schurrle, Salah, Remy, Costa, Matic, Willian, Azpilicueta
B-list (5): Ake, Christensen, Boga, Beeney, Baker

Due to the slightly different rules in the CL, Schwarzer is the only player who does not get named in the CL list.

José Mourinho lauds Chelsea's attacking style this season:
Blues boss José Mourinho says he is delighted with the stylish brand of football his side have been playing this season:
http://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/508432/Blues-have-quality-Jose-Mourinho-thrilled-with-Chelsea-s-attacking-style

"It's a direction we tried to establish since the beginning of last season but our squad now is different. We have different qualities now in our players."

"The second season normally is a good season for a manager because you come from one season of work and you can choose a better direction you want to go and we feel comfortable and we feel happy the way we are doing things."

"Are we going to lose matches? Obviously, yes, but in this moment we are getting results and we are enjoying our style of play."

Gianfranco Zola hails Chelsea's ‘clever’ summer transfer activity following signings of Diego Costa and Cesc Fàbregas:
Chelsea legend Gianfranco Zola believes his old club have improved considerably as a result of what he lauds as 'clever' summer spending
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2748308/Gianfranco-Zola-hails-Chelsea-s-clever-summer-transfer-activity.html

"I think it was very clever the way they used their money. They have a strong team, in every position they are very good."

"The quality of the football has been made better and I believe that Fabregas has a lot to do with that."

"Chelsea look like they will be one of the teams to beat - but the Premier League is long and the tough moments will come."

Well said!

John Terry driven by 'heartbreak' of Manchester City's title win as Chelsea bid for top honours again:
John Terry admits Manchester City's title success is driving him on to lead Chelsea to top spot this season
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/john-terry-driven-heartbreak-manchester-4208737

"No player should stand there when seeing another team succeed and not feel hurt."

"When you play all those games and just lose out at the end, it's disappointing, it's heart-breaking. I want to win trophies and last year we didn't."

"For me the hunger is there from not winning the league. We need to get back to winning the title. It has been four years since we last did it but I believe we have the squad to do it. We are so driven."

Chelsea are currently 5 points ahead of Man City.

Chelsea finished 4 points behind Man City last season.

We're actually slightly worse off than we were at this stage in our disastrous 10/11 season. Though we have a much better squad and a much more competent manager now and it's basically an irrelevance.

That season was hampered by Injuries to key players, the purchase of Torres and drop in form of Malouda, Anelka, etc.

I don't think we can really compare it.

Had we signed Aguero instead of Torres, we could well have won the title that year.

Oh Torrwretch

Still, it's a good sign, if we match City's results for the rest of the season, we'll walk away with the title.

I try not to take too much from the first few weeks of the season. We'll be much better positioned to judge in a month and a half or so.

Neither do I but the point difference already in fantastic.

Take TSO's advice :

"[It] has no consequence, no context. In this moment you just play, you can’t go to mathematics now. Mathematics is for 10 matches to go. At the moment it’s about playing and trying to get the maximum possible points."

Ok.

It's true though. Yes, our superb start and the early leeway between us and our rivals it's produced is exciting, but I refuse to get too overly-enthused by things until we have a larger sample to go off of.

Or a larger points margin?

Say, 8 points