A Blue Tomorrow

First post ! Yeehhh

It seems Cappello is of the opinion Frank moving to the Serie A would not be a good move ! Clearly doesn't rate the Serie A as highly as the EPL...

LINK

On the post... how could you tip RM ahead of Chelsea for CL... we will win it this year... NO DOUBT !

KTBFFH

In my haste to finally being the first post I didn't read the article !

Just read it and would like to add my thanks to Maka and wish him well. You have hit the nail on the head with his professionalism as a player and a man and his ability to 'control' the play and be able to get away with some god awful tackles with barely a yellow card !

I am sure the players will miss his lampooning in the dressing room and the referees will miss seeing that beaming smile as an opposing player lays spread eagled on the ground followng a "makattack". Most of all the team WILL miss his presence on the field but as say we do have 2 very able and much younger replacements so hopefully they have also perfected the 'makattack'.

I did notice Essien was polishing up his innocent "who me" smiling technique last year. To be perfectly honest the thought of being tackled by Essien or Mikel (given the size of them) would fill any opposing midfielder with trepidation.

I hope TSSO won't forget that part of the game in his desire for flamboyant attacking football.

My Tips for 2008-9:

Premier League: 1st Chelsea, 2nd Manchester United, 3rd Liverpool, 4th Spurs, Portsmouth (Dark Horses)

Champions League: Winners - Inter Milan (Jose to prove just how 'Special' he is), Runners-up - Manchester United or Chelsea.

FA Cup: Winners - Chelsea, Runners-up - Liverpool.

Carling Cup: Winners - Spurs, Runners-up - Arsenal.

Nice season preview Tony, it's certainly going to be yet another roller coaster season, but hopefully without all the downs of last year.

I sort of agree with you about our home record, I hope it's one of the lesser teams that beat us and not one of the other three, this blog would be taking crap for days from whoever. But I don't want us to lose it at the start of the season, or any game I attend during the course of the season (selfish yes it's a long journey home for me) So perhaps the ideal scenario would be a game near the end of the season after we're crowned champions and losing would be just a minor inconvenience. Anyway my ticket is ordered and I'm getting excited about the first game which of course this season will be in the league as opposed to our annual jolly to the Community Shield.

My predictions for 08/09
Premier League: 1st Hull City 2nd Chelsea (on goal difference)3rd WBA 4th Stoke City

Champions League: Some obscure team that will come through qualifying rounds (Liverpool perhaps) Runners up: Man Utd just to prove that they can't rely on the woodwork again to save them.

FA Cup: Winners QPR as they're richest club in London, and just to prove that money can buy you success. Runners up: Looserpoo

Carling Cup: Winners Anyone that plays in the competition really same goes for the runners up.

Relegated Man: Utd, Arsenal and Liverpool for match fixing and financial irregularities.

You know it makes sense so start to queue up outside William Hill first thing and get your hard earned money on the above.

Most of the part I agree especially on Claude Makalele...he is pure genius in that role. Real Madrid is not as good defensively when they sold Maka to Chelsea.

Anyway, I hope this season will be more entertaining than last season. Our games against the other "Big Three" teams will be on our ground first with ManU is the first to come. I hope we can pounding ManU early on the season so that they won't be able to rise again.. :)

More info on Chelsea Asia tour? Visit my blog... thekakibangku.blogspot.com

On the Maka front, I think we just need to take a minute to reflect on 'that' penalty against Charlton. Not difficult to see why he never scores, my Nan would have struck it better. But what made it so sweet was how he mis-hit the follow up, sending into the turf and bouncing over the keeper. Sheer beauty. In an ugly sort of way.

I agree with Tony, I have a feeling we'll lose the first game. Then Fergie can wet himself about us being too old, Max and Arsene can get lulled into believing they have a chance. Then we'll kick on and win the thing in April.

And, shock horror, I'm going to try my damndest to get to the Bridge this season. It'll be a midweek game, so maybe a Champs League group game against one of the lesser sides (Liverpool, for example) or maybe the Fizzy Pop Cup.

LINK

Come on, lets not miss out on him for such a trivial amount.

With continued uncertainty over Lamps staying or going, and Ballack and Deco in their thirties, VDV is my number one choice in that position.

If it's left till the final year, I'm guessing he'd favour a move to Real, so lets get in there now and sign him up.

@ Tony

Nice review, but goodness me mate, how much holiday time do you get per year? ;-)

Maka legend, end of!

Have to agree with Greenlight (as usual) Inter ahead of Madrid to win CL if not us!

Clive, also agree with your second paragraph and as for the rest, LMFAO!

nice article Tony. and i sort of agree with the home record thing but i don't want to lose i just think we as a team should put less emphasis on it rather than hoping to be beaten to change it. lets go for the win at home mentality rather than Not Lose at home mentality.

Thanks alot Makka You ARE BRILLIANT!!! deffensive midfield role will ALWAYS be known as the "MAKKA ROLE"

poor Arsenal that damn stadium move transformed them into an Academy team LOL

*defensive

I also agree that Pompey could be the biggest threat to our home record. We alwyas do well against the crap teams like Stoke, and we seem to raise our game against the other "Big 4" teams. But Pompey, who were once fighting relegation every year, i would put as a team able to get into the top 4:

James
Johnson Campbell Distin Hreidarsson
SWP Diarra Kranjcar Utaka
Crouch Defoe

That is a pretty good team and will be a huge test in Phil's 1st game in charge.

My Predictions for the season:

Premier League:
1st - Chelsea (With one more signing our squad is ready to reclaim the biggst trophy)
2nd - Utd (Fergie to retire this season and usher in O'neill as his successor)
3rd - Liverpool (Only 4/5 points away from us, they'll be a big threat with gerrard, Torres, Keane and Babel)
4th - Pompey (Harry is building a great side and with a few more deals they could get 4th)

Champions League:
Winners - Barcelona (Guardiola has made some great signings: Alves, Caceras, Pique, Keita, Hleb and with Messi, Bojan, Iniesta and Xavi they look awesome)
Runners up - Chelsea (We're cursed in this competition and as i said last year, the only way for us to win it is to build the best team in europe, and that means Kaka and Villa)

Utd won't come close as no team has EVER retained the Champions League.

FA Cup:
Winners - Chelsea (We'll make up for Barnsley this season)
Runners up - Arsenal (Wenger to finally be criticised for not winning anything in years and could he get the chop this season?)

Carling Cup:
Winners - Chelsea (We always do well in this competition and i see Phil doing a Wenger and playing some youngsters all the way to the final)
Runners up - Liverpool (a repeat of 2005 and Gerrard to score again...for us)

Golden Boot:
Winner - Defoe
Runner up - Super Frank
Dark Horse - Kalou

Habs,

Not bad predictions until the last paragraph.

If that's your guess for the Golden Boot in the league, then the first 2 are not the worst shouts ever, but Kalou as a Dark Horse ? Seriously ? (Here I go with all the questions again).

The bloke makes Andrei Voronin look clinical. No chance. He'll be lucky to hit 10 in all competitions.

Isn't it too early for predictions? It looks like Chelsea could still add Robinho, United could grab Berbatov and Liverpool might have all or none of Keane, Barry and Riera.

For what its worth, as a United fan, you're obvious our biggest threat (if not the favourites) and its annoying Mourinho hasn't lured Carvalho. Bosingwa will improve you a lot against the middle to lower teams but I wasn't wholly convinced by his Euro 2008 despite the plaudits that went his way. Deco could go either way. But your squad looks powerful although if Cole and Bosingwa have poor days, your wide options are poor.

For United, I fear our tough start (particularly the three consecutive games away to Pool, somewhere in the CL and away to you) could be our undoing. But Berbatov would elevate an already strong attack even further.

But right now, with so much in the air, its surely way too early to make predictions?

So you say we'll lose again in the UCL final? If John Terry ever comes across your comment, make sure you wear shin guards.

If we're going to lose the home record -- and I agree it's become a distraction -- then the Pompey game would be a great time for it to happen, because I won't be there (have to miss the first game of the season as usual, and for some reason we're *always* at home on opening day).

My only prediction is that this year we won't have all those games where the team doesn't look like it knows what it's doing. I bet we'll be harder to score against than we were last year. If Wednesday's game is anything to go by, we'll be setting up a kind of 4-2-2-2, which should get rid of the yawning gaps between midfield and defence that were so prominent under Average. And somehow I can't see the players looking at the sidelines in resigned confusion when TSSO is out off his seat yelling at them, like they used to do when Average sent in his messages ("Play more attacking football! Save my job!").

Donkey's Ears - what about United's lack of cover in defence - are there any plans to rectify this cos at the moment all I see is Johnny Evans if Rio or Vidic get injured.

@ Donkey's -- The predictions thing is semi-serious at most (except for Clive's, he's putting his money where his mouth is).

I agree with you about the wide players. It looks to me as if TSSO isn't planning to rely on them (a major change from the Chelsea of the last four years). Instead of lobbing the ball onto Drogba's angry noggin, I think we'll be pinging it through Deco and Lampard to a pair of strikers (Drogba may well be one, but he'll get to use his feet more).

Nice to see an interested Man U fan here. I'm afraid I also agree that Berbatov would make the Mancs a lot stronger. He's a proper penalty-box goalscorer. The question is whether he'd feel like paying attention for the whole season.

@ Donkeys Ears - I agree it is a bit early, but as I'm off on hols soon I had to put something together. I'm not convinced many signings would change my view anyway. I seriously don't see Man Utd winning a 3rd consecutive title and something in TSSO's manner is instilling confidence in me. Far more than anytime under Uncle Avram for sure. I also didn't predict or comment on the Superfrank situation because quite honestly I'm bored shitless by the whole thing. Wake me up when something happens.

@ Habs -interesting point on Pompey - that team does look quite attractive, but it's the strength in depth that will go against them when they get a few of the inevitable injuries. I think Villa and Newcastle will suffer the same way and hence why I think Spurs, on the quiet, are building a formidable squad and may not be that far from honours and possibly a fourth place next year. If they can keep Berbatov and add Arshavin then with Modric in tow as well they have potentially a very good team.

@ PeteW - that's a good point about Manure's defensive cover, but I reckon there must be a signing or two to come. Johnny Evans might be getting the chance but I reckon Rednose will want an established 'safety valve' player there as well.

My crystal ball is very positive for 2008-09 season...

PL: Chelsea (unbeaten home & away)
CL: Inter Milan
FA Cup: Chelsea
League Cup: Chelsea

PL top scorer: Drogba

Real Madrid? You were drinking lol. My predictions are

Premier League : 1. Chelsea (1 more signing makes us pretty much unstoppable) 2. Manchester United (Yes Ronaldo wants to go and he definetly wont be in theformof last season but still they have proved that they can beat Arse-Anal and Loserpoo with ease) 3. Loserpoo (I think they will finish just above Arsenal, Despite who theyve brought in I dont see the challenging, Gerrard and Torres are their only flair players and Gareth Barry is a good yet average player to pay £20m for)
4. Arsenal (They dont strengthen, They use the same old strategy and with the loss of several key players such as Hleb, Flamini and Gilberto and with more eying the exit door such as Adebayor. I predict Whinger to struggle with the players he has.

Premier League top scorer : I think this is the year that Sheva is really going to show what hes capable of. I may get alot of hate for this but because we now have a manager who will give him a good chance and let him play more often I think he will thrive.

I think we can win the CL, JM has a strong team at Inter but hes only just getting to know the style of play and the players hes got there. I think he may meet a tough team in the QF like Madrid or Liverpool (Yes they are crap in the Premier League but almost invincible in this competition, GOD KNOWS WHY). Anyway I predict the team we have to win the double at least. I would love to see the lads play Spuds again and prove that he CC final was a FLUKE!

@ 21 - 13Joe13

"Premier League top scorer : I think this is the year that Sheva is really going to show what hes capable of. I may get alot of hate for this but because we now have a manager who will give him a good chance and let him play more often I think he will thrive"

Hate? Sympathy more like.

@21 13Joe13/ 23 ChelseaTony - maybe sympathy mixed with derision - though it's good to see someone sticking up for our pensioner most in decline.....

I think we'll win champions league meeting inter in the final, scolari will be a bit more comfortable in this area of our season.


I think we'll come second in the league, man united to sadly win it. However if we get of to a good start we still have a great chance of being 1st all season, and i think we have a very good chance.

then we'll win the fa cup and go out early in the carling cup.

top scorer: drogba if he stays, if not maybe torres (god i hope its not c.ron again)

our top scorer if drogba goes will be lampard, or a new striker depending on if we get one or not! I also think kalou will get a good amount and di santo to get a decent 5 or 6 if he gets a fair few games.

Can't wait omg

also i'd like to say how much im liking pompey at the moment too, was organising my guardian.co.uk fantasy football team a few days ago and i reached my limit of players from one team! i think crouch and defoe could make a great partnership when they're playing week in week out together (not like one game in ages for england), i admire SWP and think he'll do alot better at a 'lesser' club where the pressure and compeition isn't quite as bad, James is a rock and Johnson had a great 07/08 season.

They're my fav team behind chelsea at the moment, sad we'll have to crush them first day of the season :(

"Premier League top scorer : I think this is the year that Sheva is really going to show what hes capable of. I may get alot of hate for this but because we now have a manager who will give him a good chance and let him play more often I think he will thrive."

I hope this is satire.

Please put in a bid for this man:

LINK

and don't let him escape to the Three Point Lane.

Not a good move by the club, just when we seemed to have left the in-fighting behind:

LINK

Upsetting key players like JT is not what's needed at the moment. What's needed is a star attacking player but it's Spurs who are now being linked with players of Chelsea standard like Villa and Arshavin. I wouldn't be surprised, like everyone else if we started the new season with no more new faces. And that would leave us pretty bare up front with no Didier or Kalou for the first few games.

Ballack looking to stay with the Blues even after his recent comments about not signing a new contract.... LINK

As you say Maka, what a legend, defining a position for years to come, lets hope Jon Obi has learnt well. As for dark horses, well Ramos' teams seem well geared up for cup competitions only, so I doubt them pushing for the higher echelons of the league, but the Carling Cup would seem probable. I don't see Man U getting beyond the QF of the CL where they will get knocked out by Inter LOL. Real Madrid for winners? Sounds good, they have the squad for it, but their defense STILL hasn't recovered since Maka left! What chance then of an Inter Chelsea final!

Are we gonna have the mini Pele, Robinho, at Chelsea?

The Independent's story seems quite credible...

LINK

I think youse have took a risk wie Big Phil. Only managed a club side in Brazil so it may be a shock to his system the day in day out running of a big club.

But.....money and the players you have mean you could put Nick in charge and still win the majority of yer games!!!!!

From The Independent

"Chelsea are close to agreeing a deal to sell Tal Ben Haim to Manchester City for £5m, while a bid of between £8m and £10m is expected from Portsmouth for winger Shaun Wright-Phillips. Both players, along with Claudio Pizarro and Juliano Belletti, have been told they can leave as Scolari carries through his plan to trim his squad, while midfielder Florent Malouda can also go if Chelsea recoup the fee – £13.5m – they paid for him last year."

It's like my wishlist of players to go! Fingers crossed for Malouda. If I didn't know better I'd reckon TSSO reads what we write.

#34

Looks like we made quite a fortune from last summer's free signings. Thats 10m quid profit from 2 'unwanteds'. Now all we need is to fetch a decent price for Pizarro and Belletti. As long as Pompey offer 10m pounds and above, we should accept the deal. And wheres our long anticipated new attacking player? Kaka clearly is not an issue about money, but he seems loyal to Milan. The frustrating part is we are not trying for Silva and Villa. All Valencia want is money. We have enough ambitions to make them Chelsea players. Would be devestated if Silva and Villa waste their time at Merseyside and North London.

Watching the match against Sheffield United China right now. Very poor opposition but looks like a good workout for the lads. Anelka FINALLY gets onto the score sheet. Someone just reminded that the no.16 of ours is a cursed number just as the number 9. Just look at the injuries of Di Mattei and Robben. I hope that Dutch was the last. Hope Bosingwa changes the no.16 to 4 or 14. Cant see him for 3 weeks and we only saw him for 20 minutes. Irritating...

So, who'd be stupid enough to pay 13 and a half mil for Malouda? (well, apart from the club that paid the GDP of a medium-sized African nation for SWP and a Ukrainian geriatric).

Step forward please, Trashcan Sinatra up at Citeh!

Or perhaps Hearts, they seem to have plenty more money than sense up there.

@LotW (33): yes, we actually already tried putting a nobody in as manager, and still won a lot of games. But it wasn't much fun to watch.

... P.S. oh and remember, we're not a "big club"! Terribly important to remember that, it keeps the "big clubs" happy while they're losing to us.

Looks like our curse with injuries to defenders continues.
LINK

#38

Players that wore the no.16 past and present have injury jinx. I dont want Bosingwa to follow down that path. Im not being superstitious.

7 - 0 seems a reasonable stroll in the sun

Hello everyone, like the new site, hope all are OK

Videos of the goals scored in today's pre-season friendly, which I missed.

14' Anelka LINK
30' Kalou LINK
37' Lampard LINK
54' J. Cole LINK
65' Di Santo LINK
81' J. Cole LINK
83' Wright-Phillips LINK

J.Cole's goal was really cool. But Zola's backheel goal still the best. Classic.

Limetreeblower

Hearts are as skint as a 4 year olds knees after learning to ride a bike. Mair debt than a 3rd world country.

Nick @41 ............. I have clicked on those links and all I am getting, after clicking on 'play video' is poxy pop ups about Poker

@32 Simont

Is this bloke any relation to the herbert we are paying £80 to £240 million for depending which report you read earlier this week?

I suppose we manage with 2 coles in the same team so 2 robinho's won't be a problem.

We can call them dear robinho and cheap robinho.

Mind you we could get robbie keane for 3 million less and save the confusion

A lot of transfer activity could be sparked this week:

1 - Keane to Liverpool (£18m). That seems a lot for someone like Robbie Keane and hopefully it'll turn out to be another Bellamy signing by Rafa. A plyer doing great at a second rate club and as soonas he joins the Big 4 he fails.

2 - Tevez to Utd (£35m). Again that seems excessive but he is a very good player.

3 - Robinho to Chelsea (£28-35m). Our final signing of the summer looks close to being finalised according to the Telegraph but again that annoying tit, Ronaldo seems to have delayed it. Until Ronaldo decides his future we can't have Robinho and Utd won't know if they should sign a replacement.

4 - Kaka to Chelsea (£80-100m). This story just won't go away:

LINK

It seems cruel by the media to encourage these stories as they raise the faint hope of Chelsea being able to lure the world's best player to the Bridge, but in reality 99.9% of us know that he won't come. BUT... if somehow we could pull off another Sheva or Essien where the selling club keeps denying the stories, yet the saga rumbles on and on, we could have a chance at bringing in Kaka. Damn, the media seem to have got my hopes up.

A lot of papers assume that our final attacking signing will be either Robinho or Kaka. But i fear that we'll end up with back up Plan B. That's SWP. I fear that we'll miss out on everyone and be left with the guy who is only able to score against a bunch of Chinese amateurs by getting in the way of a shot by Malouda. Anyone else see his blazed efforts wide of goal in the match? He's just not a good enough player for Chelsea. He never has been in in the past 4 years and he never will be.

Some worrying stories coming out of Spurs. Selling Berba and Keane for £45m will enable them to pick up Villa and Arshavin. Both players are way to good to ruin their careers and 3-Point-Lane but it still baffles me why we haven't bid for them or Silva?

That was supposed to be "at 3 Point Lane."

@ 45. BlueBayou

There's one and only Robinho! LINK

I think we'll probably have him... When Roman wants it, he will get it!

It's all becoming very tedious now.

"This next week will be key in terms of my future," Drogba said in the Sunday Mirror.

"And I am currently injured. People who say I am not don't know me at all because I always want to play.

"As for my future at Chelsea, well I have a contract with the club that is clear.

"But my agents will have a meeting in London and then it will be known once and for all."

LINK lampard officially staying?

So, the start of another yawn-fest of a week full of transfer speculation.

As I've mentioned before, I dont think we'll be signing anyone else. According to 'sources' Robinho wants to join TSSO, but I reckon those sources are his agent haggling for better terms. In fairness, how is the 24 year old Brazilian expected to cope on £30k a week. Barely minimum wage is it?

No, he'll stay at Real, with a new deal, and be joined by David Villa from Valencia, and probably Rafael Van Der Vaart in a years time. Both players we should be ripping clubs arms off to sign. We're still desparately short of a finisher. TSSO has said Di Santo's not ready yet, and scoring 11 in 2 games against teams who showed the same sort of footballing talent as your Nans friends from bingo is hardly proving otherwise.

It's a worry that the attentions seemed to be focussed purely on Robinho. He's a creator, noy finisher. If we sign him, but DD finally leaves, we have no-one to profit from the wide men.

I hope to God there's a lot more going on 'under the radar'. But I fear not.

@PETEW - I think we're not planning to make any signings at the back. Silvestre and Neville are back plus Evans from Sunderland. Only Pique has gone. Which gives us Brown (CB and RB), Neville (CB and RB), Vidic, Ferdinand, Evans, Evra, O'Shea and Silvestre. Evans is very highly rated although obviously unproven at the highest level. We don't have Chelsea's strength in depth in this area but overall there is enough cover I think. Early on we were linked with Richards/Lahm/Bosingwa etc but its gone quiet on that front now and I think Berbatov (if it happens) will be it.

@LIMETREEBLOWER - Hopefully actually playing for something will keep Berbatov more interested but his attitude is dividing United fans I know at the moment. Personally, I think he could bring the best out of Rooney which will make up for any inevitable downturn in Ronaldo's goal tally. I think you're right about "TSSO" probable team but can Drogba play effectively with a partner? Also if you're playing a four-man midfield with Deco and Lampard, to which presumably you can add Ballack and Essien, then surely you're asking a lot of your full-backs? I was wondering if he would stick with Drogba by himself and use Cole and Deco behind a midfield of L/B/E. I don't rate Scolari's judgement on wide players tbh - his continual preference for Simao amazed me. I think Robinho could be a very good signing by you - he would fit the wide/central role so much better than Malouda or Kalou. He actually has a real eye for goal.

@CHELSEATONY - I think signings could make a big difference. Right now - I fail to see how Arsenal can match let alone improve their performance from last season. But add a midfielder and perhaps a defender and the picture changes. No signing for United and I think we might fall into the 1999 trap again. But add Berbatov and I think Rooney and Tevez move up a big notch. While Robinho could be a very good signing for you I think.

One last signing to go. We have 3 weeks to seal a deal. No, its 2 weeks infact. We need the new signing to sing us a song and get onto the pitch to familiarise with his new surroundings. Who might that be? Looks like its 75% Robinho. Somehow im hoping its Silva or Kaka.

Donkey's Ears - hmmmm, not sure about this. United looked half the team every time Vidic or Ferdinand (or Rooney for that matter) was injured and I think you've been so lucky with injuries recently you're going to have a sticky time this time out. Lack of decent cover at CB really could be crucial. You know your team better, but for me it seems this is the area you should be looking at, as well as a proper poacher rather than another fancy dan like Berbetov (potentally a Cantona, or Ginola).

Regarding formation, it does look like we're going to be playing a strong four in midfield and overlapping full backs (like Brazil in 82!). Hence the key signing of Boswinga, who could strike up a barnstorming partnership with Essien. Also, Drogba, like any striker really, is twice as effective when he has a partner so I'm hoping he'll have Anelka or Kalou next to him next season. Robinho would be the icing on the cake.

Oh, and totally agree about the bizarre love of Simoa (who worryingly reminds me of Malouda).

@ Fifty/Fiftee

Regarding our striker situation I have to say for the first time I feel rather confident that Anelka is up to the job now (for the first time since he arrived).
I know it's only been a couple of preseason friendlies (anecdotal), but he had a spring in his step in both games and looked very comfortable in the team/system.
He did not look the lethargic disinterested he was self under the toad!

Amazing what happens when you're played in the right position!!!

I hope Drogs stays, but even if he goes I think Anelka will prove a different player than the one last term. Having said that we need more depth should Drogs leave.

@ Donkey's Ears

It's good to see a rival's supporter with proper contribution to the blog.

Celery,

You're right, and despite me mentioning it in a post earlier this week, I completely forgot about him. Again.

Clearly that's a reflection on how memorable he has been to me thus far in his Chelsea career. I hope things changes.

Anyone else thinking £18m for Robbie 'More clubs that Tiger Wodds' caddy' Keane is a bit steep ???

For comedy effect, my previous post should have contained reference to Tiger Woods' caddy.

And not Tiger Wodds. Whoever he is.

@ Fiftee,

A friend of Woddy Allen, maybe?

@ CELERY/ Fiftee - would agree if we have a fit and mentally focussed Drogba we can certainly give Anelka and Kalou the chance to show if they can operate as double striker with him[and each other]against real defences. If Drogs is off or going to be up his own orifice half the season again then we ought to be looking to strengthen to give us more alternatives.

Nick - have OleOle given up on trying to sort the edit function? It's lack is stifling the comic flow of our resident wits now......

Yeah, Robinho would be the winger we badly need. Someone who can go past a fullback. It gives us options. I always reckoned this was going to be the position the club hierarchy would go for broke to fill, no matter who de boss.

By the way, no one knows the Prem better than Sir Red Nose. He's already identified the threat to his bunch of scammers. He knows only our own foot-shooting has gifted them the last two titles AND the Champs Lge which we contested without a manager to all intents and purposes. Those he praises he doesn't fear (Arse and Scum). Those he attacks he secetly fears...it's simple psychology. What fun we shall have with Le Grande Fillipe staring him down.

Curretnly abroad on extended holidays (as per most academics), and unable to access friendlies. This blog is invaluable to an old Blue addict like me. Nice article Tony. But I think, if we have the sense to leave the reserves in the League Cup and properly contest the rest, we could have the squad to do the treble.

@PETEW: I agree we look much weaker when either is injured but that is partly a reflection of their quality. Who would step into Rio's (or Vidic's for that matter) shoes properly apart from maybe Carvalho or Terry? Apart from Chelsea, I feel we have as good a defensive cover as anybody. But that said, we are all acutely aware that a big injury to either (particularly Rio) will leave us much more vulnerable. Personally, I feel Chelsea are similarly vulnerable to an injury to Carvalho who I rate very highly indeed. Ivanovic (sp) might step up I guess but Alex for me is good but not in the same level as Terry or Carvalho.

And if Euro 2008 taught us anything its that good defenders are tough to find at the moment.

@62 dannybrod - I know LGF has been making noises about the quad even being possible but I don't think any English side will ever do the EPL/CL/FA Cup treble again.

Even in an international tournament-free summer season like the one coming up any side still involved in all 3 competitions will have at least a re-arranged league game from FA Cup semi weekend to fit in to the run-in and face an FA Cup final 3 days after the CL final. That's going to stretch any squad beyond breaking point surely?

BBD

Anything is possible with Chelsea and A few good signings. And Everyone is Complaining about our Midfield being so crowded but we need a strong bench if we are gonna win anything.

Look at 2004/05 squad, we had good players and good back ups 4 every position.

Liverpool have signed Robbie Keane. Thats arguably the biggest transfer in the top 4 so far. Im having some waiting problems already. Wheres our new attacking player signing? It better be a proper winger this time. I know this sounds crazy but Robinho is better suited to a Zola role than he is on the wing. David Silva is waiting for us to get him but i dont know what Kenyon is waiting for.

@ 66. JANG

I'd give up waiting if i were you babes!
As FIFTY has said on numerous occasions, it's looking increasingly unlikely that there will be any more new signings between now and the start of the new season..and i'm inclined to agree with him.
Perhaps RA and Uncle Phil don't think we need an attacking Midfielder?.. I personally think the squad we have now is good enough to take on anyone.
Uncle Phil has been quoted as saying we're gonna win the quad this season and you know what? I believe him!!
I can't believe how negative i was when i heard of him being our new Manager because i've grown really, really fond of him. And i'm starting to take his word as Gospel!! LOL :D

Saw him in a press conference this morning as well on SSN saying that he wants SWP to stay..

P.s I'm also shocked that Spurs have sold Keano.
Why would they sell their best player?

I don't want Silva. I think he's ugly. Robinho is ugly too, and that thumb sucking routine is simply absurd, so he can stay away too.

For me, Malouda, JCole, SWP, Kalou, Boswinga, ACole, Bridge, and any young player ready to step up are power aplenty on the wings when properly managed/coached. Let's not forget that everyone's favorite manager, TSO, signed Malouda. So there must be something worth liking there. Anyway, I would much rather spend a second season getting Malouda into premiership shape than start all over with a skinny-minny like Robinho. I fear that if we do that, we'll want to replace him next season as well.

I hate the transfer season. People act like Chelsea is a session of Football Manager. That approach doesn't necessarily work in real life, as Sheva and Madrid have spent lots of money proving.

spurs didn't want to sell keane, the ol' scouzers pracically stole him, spurs have said it was forced with keane's love for liverpool used as blackmail.

They're going to risk it by replacing keane with arshavin though i think.

You'll never fade alone, Robbie Keane... Fade away like Craig Bellamy!

I agree with Fiftee - no more signings before the end of August. Do we really need any more players? We have a decent enough squad, especially if Malouda and SWP pull their socks up and perform. Malouda's agent has said his client's definitely staying, and Scolari's confirmed that SWP is in his plans, therefore we don't really need Robinho. Real seem determined to price us out of a move anyway.

@blueboydave - I've heard nothing new about the edit function. Hopefully it'll return in the not too distant future.

Right - back to moving all my data on to two new 1TB hard drives. My primary drive failed early Friday morning for the second time in less than three years. Fortunately I learned my lesson and had plenty of backups this time around. Still, it's a pain in the arse. I'll be back online in time for tomorrow's friendly - live text commentary if Chelsea TV Online's picture holds up.

Oh, £18m for Robbie Keane?! Rafa's finally lost it. Spurs to sign Fiftee's fav, David Villa? ;-)

How on earth can Rafa and Gerrard blast us for blowing money on players? They just doled out £19m on a 28 year old whos only succeded at a small club

By far the dumbest transfer move so far this summer. It wouldnt half be funny if Spuds finished above Loserpoo next season.

Keane and Berba have been Spurs best players for a couple of seasons now and this year they're taking a big risk by cashing in on them. Replacing their understanding and goals with unproven talent like Bostock, Dos Santos, Modric and failures like Bent could backfire. Although if they plow their money into the unlikely signings of Arshavin and Villa, then we should start to worry. Where any fixture against Spurs used to be a guarenteed win, now under Ramos they seem to have found some form. I hate to say it but with some new attacking signings could they finally oust Arsenal into 4th. Wenger's policy seems to be get rid of anyone over 30 and replace them with any youngster under 21. Their squad looks embarrisingly small and i predict that without a trophy this could be Wenger's last year. He may be seen in the press as a god for the way he trains youngsters, spots talent and plays the 'beautiful game' but another failure this year could see him return to France. Possible successor to Raymond Domenech?

As for us, i'm also slightly worried about the lack of activity. So far Kenyon and the board have performed well at doing deals on the quiet. Suddenly a new piece of news is announced by Kenyon, whether it was the signing of Scolari, Bosingwa and Deco, the handing out of hundreds of 5 year contracts or the sudden cull of rubbish by quietly leaving behind 5 or 6 players from the pre-season tour. But for all his good work behind the scenes, i hope we don't do a Man City and put all our eggs in one basket by hoping that Robinho will arrive. As many have said, the likes of Villa, Van der Vaart, Silva and Arshavin are all waiting to be picked up by Europe's elite and so far every other side seems to have passed on these players. We definitely need one more attacking player because so far Maoluda is still looking shit in pre-season. Whereas Anelka seems to have realised the need to put in effort to secure his future, Malouda is still barely getting into a sprint

KTBFFH

Finally got around to setting up a profile... a bit rushed as I am at work... Now I don't have to enter those annoying hidden codes...

It seems likely that Frank will now sign on his return which will be good news as long as he stays injury free !

Now back to work...

KTBFFH

Habs,

" Replacing their understanding and goals with unproven talent like Bostock, Dos Santos, Modric and failures like Bent could backfire."

I went to the real Theatre of Dreams last night to watch Spuds stroll past a fairly methodical, but not really dangerous Norwich side.

Modric and Dos Santos were frightening to watch in their time on the pitch. It wasn't so much finding 'that extra yard' that we hear of. They seemed to find extra acres. Admittedly they weren't up against the sort of midfield to be really tested but I was a little bit envious at least one of them wasn't signed to reduce the average age of our squad.

Berbatov was on the bench but didn't play. And while the press will tell you Darren Bent was 'awesome' or something similar for his 4 goals, the truth is that it was 1 - 1 and shaping up to be a close game before our own Ryan Bertrand got injured, left the pitch, and got replaced by the most non-left-back left-back ever. Spurs obvious capitalised on this, all Bents goals came from that side of the pitch. Before his injury Bertrand was causing Chris Gunter all sorts of problems on the left, looking a really promising left back. Definitely one for the future, despite my Norwich mates telling me he's moving there permanently ;-).

@ 75 Habs - Yep, a quiet-ish revolution is going on a t Spurs with a lot of departures. I find it hard to believe Berbatov will go after the selling they've done thus far, but there's no doubt Ramos is pretty much tearing up Jol's squad as quickly as possible.

@ RadicalEvan - what the hell has 'ugliness' got to do with capability? I couldn't care less if a player looks like a box of fireworks has gone off in his face and then someone tried to put the fire out with a shovel as long as they're good players.

What if Malouda and SWP continue to play like amateurs when the new season begins? We would be ranting on and on in this blog. A new attacking signing is very important. He must fulfil a few criterias that our wingers currently lack on a consistant basis:

1) Beat defenders
2) Good crosses into the box
3) Pace
4) Creativity

I think Silva and possibly Robinho can do it. Pricing Kaka from Milan is a tall order. At the moment, Scolari seems to be blinded by Brazillians in the transfer market because he doesnt fancy the likes of Silva, Villa or Van der Vaart who IMO are very good quality players that can further improve our team. Just one last one damn it!

Sorry about the mess in the page footers - somebody's broken the blog. Nothing to do with me. I'm also having some trouble even getting to OleOle - page time outs, 500 internal server errors. Anyone else having this problem?

Afternoon Nick

Kept getting the "closed for scheduled maintenance" page for most of the morning. Someone has let the hamster off the wheel by the looks of it.

Who are we playing today? Xian Select Human Rights Abusers XI?

Spurs are looking pretty good especially with the news that they're going to sign Bentley:

Gomes
Hutton King Woodgate Bale
Bentley Jenas Huddlestone Dos Santos
Modric
Berbatov

So far this Malysia XI look a lot tougher than previous games. It's going to get more difficult with us playing Lokomotiv Moscow, Milan and Sevilla. And when in Russia Milan say that they could take Sheva off our hands:

LINK

With Sheva going it looks like we are definitely going to sign one more attacking player. Our negotiating tactic of saying that now we could pull out of a deal for Robinho and give SWP a chance, despite his awful finishing, could speed up a deal for the Brazilian. Although if Sheva goes and Spurs sell Berbatov, it could be a straight race between us for David Villa.

And Deco looks really good so far in today's match. SWP still looks erratic and Bridge has confirmed his position as Ashley Cole's reserve.

Yeah, was having a lot of trouble earlier getting to anywhere that wasn't the OleOle homepage.

Seems to be fixed / better now though.

Anelka looks on form. Nice finish. Although this slightly plodding performance shows the importance of Kalou to our side. He's a lot more important to us than SWP.

Whats going on in the match?

It's nice to see a return to some set-piece routines. We seemed to score loads of goals from set-pieces in our League winning seasons but since then we seem to have forgotten how to cross the ball. Now we've got Deco who has the best technique of anyone at the club.

We're back. Hopefully somebody will fix the page footers soon.

I've got Chelsea TV Online playing on my second monitor. Deco's one hell of a player when given time and space - but will he find it as easy in the Premier League where there's very little of either. Anelka looks up for it. SWP is still frustrating to watch. Essien at right-back again. Feel sorry for him. Pitch is really bad.

@Mike - You're not missing much. Really poor opposition again. Poor pitch. Most of the play in the Malaysians' half. Only the one goal so far - Anelka. I'll post links to goal videos after the match.

Deco went to the Paul Scholes School of Tackling - I predict a few suspensions next season.

#82

Gotta agree. Our rivals are constantly improving and Liverpool look strong and good for the new season too with a potential and deadly partnership between their new no.7 Robbie Keane and El Nino. Thats why i hope we dont loose out to them. We are in desperate need of a new winger. Just look at SWP today. Absoulutely shocking. And Anelka needs to practice his heading 1000 times per day. He simply cannot head as in the Euros. Perhaps Ballack can give him some coaching on that.

I think Deco seems to have learnt the art of the "Makelele tactical foul" which doesn't seem to result in yellows, just like Scholes. All of them seem to do 'clumsy' or more likely 'calculated an cynical' trips and kicks without getting booked.

Soxy and Cundy taking the piss or are they really this horrible on the golg course?

Bloody hell.........

After Kenyon called on the other sides to improve and push on in the league, they seem to be following his advice. Spurs look a good bet for 4th and Pompey are building a really good side for a team more used to fighting the Bolton's and Fulham's against relegation. If Spurs get Bentley and a striker then they could oust Arsenal as the number one side in North London. I hope Kenyon hasn't forgotten that whilst Spurs, Pompey, Liverpool have all be strengthening, we still need one more siging. Although if Robbie Keane costs £20m, how much will a David Villa or Robinho cost.

And Malouda's on. Expecting absolutely nothing from him.

golf that is!

Can somebody do some running commentary?

And whos playing?

Sorry, at work...

@Celery - I used to hack my way round golf courses in much the same way. I was a danger to both flora and fauna. I blame it on a badly broken collar bone I suffered a few years ago. ;-) Haven't played for years.

Ashley scores. That's why he's our no.1 left back. Great pass from Lamps.

If Spurs get Bentley and a striker then they could oust Arsenal as the number one side in North London

Whilst they are building a decent side up at the Lane, Habs, I've lost count of the number of times that I've heard Spurs fans make similar proclamations over the years. The Spurs push for fourth place (reliant on a lot of ifs, buts and maybes - will King and Woodgate both stay fit being a big question mark for me), the Liverpool title challenge (more or less likely now that Rafa seemingly has more options to tinker with? Hmmmm....). They're all fairly mythical beasts for the time being. They are getting closer, as are others in the chasing pack) but purely in terms of strength in depth and ability to find the right level of consistency over the course of a season, there is still some way to go.

So are we playing on some sort of 1917 battlefield that is masquerading as a football pitch then?

Habs

Good news, Seems we are bombing Forward like the last game.

So Lamps IS performing!:)

@ Nick

LOL...

You would think some of these retired footballers have the time to get on more often to be a bit better hacks, yeah? :-)

@JD - All pitches look like 1917 battlefields when watching Internet-quality video.

The Malaysians are putting in some tasty tackles - no way can they blame the state of the pitch.

Whats the score?

I know Spurs may not have the best squad but have you seen Arsenal's lately. They seem to have lost loads of players and replaced them with only Ramsey and Nasri:

Gomes
Hutton King Woodgate Bale
Bentley Jenas Huddlestone Dos Santos
Modric
Berbatov

Almunia
Sagna Gallas Toure Clichy
Walcott Fabregas Diaby Rosicky
Nasri
Adebayor

I think that Chelsea, Utd and Liverpool are locked in to the top 3 positions but looking at those sides, Arsenal fans should be worried.

Back to the game, Sheva and Di Santo are on. And as you would have all guessed, Malouda has been shocking. Expect Sheva to make a better contribution than this waste of money. If i were Kenyon, i'd bring in Ashley Young ahead of Malouda.

Habs

thanks.

I want to see how sheva is doing but also want to know how Di Santo is doing.

I'm coming round to the opinion that Malouda doesn't deserve another season to prove he's got what it takes.

Malouda's performance is verging towards embarrassing. Can't dribble, pass or shoot. And Sheva's touch seems to be as bad as last year.

Forgot to say that Malouda can't cross the ball either. Or tackle. Or head the ball.

Yay, Sinclair's coming on. At least he has pace. Another thing Malouda doesn't have.

On this performance, it'll be a blessing if Milan take Sheva off our hands. His performance is at Malouda's level.

Essien's now got the captain's armband. Sinclair and Ivanovic on for Lamps and JT.

Correct that, Essien handed it to Ashley after Lamps went off.

Yay good for Essien, I would rather him as Vice-Captain than SuperFrank to be honest.

Hmm.....Saw that, I'd prefer The Bison for stand in captain.........

Damn!Please ignore my last comment.

So now Ashley is 3rd in line to be captain.

I think Ballack is,

Sheva has got worse as the game has gone on. Malouda seems to be avoiding the ball in order to prevent any more embarrassment for him/

@JD,

Re: your point on false dawns eminating from White Hart Lane, see my earlier post.

After the game it was like Spurs thought the Premier Legaue may as well not take place next season. They're really going 'to mix it up' apparently.

They were decent if unspectacular last night. Granted only a pre-season friendly, but they only came to life once Bertrand went off. And other than Berbatov, they were pretty much at full strength.

Gomes looks about as reliable as, um, Paul Robinson. Wouldn't be happy had we shelled out £10m on him.

An efficient 2-0 win.

MOTM: Deco was our best player by a mile. As soon as he left our football became slow and predictable.

Worst player: Choice between Malouda and Shvea. I'd give it to Malouda.

Goal videos:

26' Anelka LINK
53' A. Cole LINK

What are your thoughts on Ivanovic? I cant tell whether he's good or no good.

Wow.

Their goalkeeper was awesome. In a not at all sort of way. Hit it at him and it's in.

Interesting from the clip of Ashleys goal that Malouda 'gets' the ball to Lamps in exactly the same way he did for the goals he created in the other 2 games - the ball drilled low, and at pace. That's all he seems to have as his final ball.

We're looking worryingly short of a wide-man with consistent delivery - Malouda, SWP and Kalou all blow hot-and-cold, Joe Cole seems to be the safest bet.

We need Robinho. And David Villa.

If we dont sign one of them, it'll be a struggle.

Great commentary from everyone there! Again, i missed the game with being at work but it sounds like it was another walk in the park for the Chels. Which is to be expected after all.

Not a shock to hear that Sheva was shite.
WTF is he still doing at Chelsea?!

@Jang - It's difficult to judge new players based on three matches against poor opposition. It's not difficult to judge the likes of Malouda and Sheva because they were crap last season and they still look crap now, even playing against poor teams.

I'm officially withdrawing paragraph one of comment number 72 - we do need another quality winger. Robinho will do. Roma can have Malouda on-loan - I'll chip in some of his weekly wage if you will.

Far East tour over, Railways Cup up next. Scolari's happy that the players are getting fitter, while Kenyon's rubbing his hands together at the prospect of selling a few more shirts.

Sheva and Malouda's performance was actually so bad that it became quite enjoyable to watch them try and avoid making another mistake. If the board want that kind of entertainment then fine, but to everyone else we should flog them to Milan and Roma and bring in a real world class player. I still can't beleive that we decided to sell Robben and replace him with this idiot.

Cannot beleive how bad Wright-Philips is, another awful awful performance, the boy is useless, cant shoot, cant pass, cant tackle, id take Malouda over him any time.

You can bet TSSO is already telling Kenyon who he wants out and who he wants in based on what he has seen on the training ground and against safe opposition where no player has an excuse not to shine.

The whole point of these friendlies is for the players to play themselves in or out of the squad.

For me, it looks like SWP, Malouda and Sheva have played themselves out.

I won't be crying for them that's for sure.

I hope Ivanovic doesnt turn out to be another Ben Haim because he looked alittle sluggish and slow. Praying that Scolari realises the liability of SWP and Malouda because if he were to keep both of them, we will be in trouble, especially in the big matches. Lets hope Harry Redknapp and Luciano Spalletti come and get the both of them quick. Then we can fund a mega bid for Robinho or Kaka or whatsoever.

I still dont understand why Kenyon and Scolari or Roman dont fancy David Silva. He's an obvious choice with Valencia struggling financially. Yet they were left short sighted, failing to spot this talent. He's arguably the best left sided player at the moment. And at the age of 22, he has the world underneath his feet.

#122

How did Malouda turn bad overnight. He had a decent start to the season until injuries kicked in. When Grant took over, he became a different player totally.

@ Jang

I think the main reason we're not going for Silva is that he signed a seven year contract with Valencia only last summer. The amount of money it would take to buy such a massive contract out would be extortionate.

Why would anybody spend £7m quid on some s***head. it puzzles me.

Keep it up Sch..I love all this decoration, and ship out all that *** lump.
Cheers.

You can give out new contracts just becoz somebody chiped some Chinese midget.

can't

:-?

Another beer, Henry?....!

'Scolari sees Malouda as key to the flair that Chelsea want' LINK
'Florent Malouda faces make-or-break season' LINK

The Keane transfer is hilarious. 19m for a guy thats only succeeded at Spuds and failed everywhere else. When are they going to realise that they need good midfield players. Their strikers isnt a big area in need of strengthening. Their midfield is sheit (only good player is Gerrard). As for us, I havent been on here much recently because of a problem with my computer but its good to see what my fellow bloggers are up to. Malouda was so awful last season he DESERVES to be axed. Robinho, Arshavin whoever. Anyone is better than him. I dont understand how they are willing to offer £29m for Robinho but only £12m for Arshavin. Sign him up, Spuds are the only other team interested and he would surely prefer us.

I dont understand how teams can claim we "bought" the premier league when lots of teams are blowing ridiculous money. Look at Spuds, They have a brand new team. This will proberbly be their 1st team next season.

Gomes (Signed from PSV in the summer for £12m)
Hutton (Signed in January for £6m I think)
Woodgay (Signed in January for £5m I think)
King (Captain)
Gilberto (Signed in January for £6m)
David Bentley (On the verge of signing)
Luka Modric (Signed in the summer for £16m)
Gio Dos Santos (Signed in the summer for £4m)
Dimitar Berbatov (If he stays if not then they will sign Diego Milito)
Mystery Signing.

So if Spurs finish in the top 4 then we should all say that they "bought" it

Mmmm something happened to my photo on my profile which I created yesterday... so just added it back.

On Malouda, yes he has been crap last year and during the Euros but I reckon he was unsettled with the change of manager and was probably on the outer in the dressing room which would have affected his game. With Average Grant in charge I reckon the dressing room closed ranks around the core group of established players and the likes of Malouda and Anelka were probably left on the fringes to fend for themselves.

I expect to see a different Malouda and Anelka this season otherwise they will definitely be out the door next summer.

KTBFFH

As for SWP, he has already had enough time to establish himself and he has failed... time to show him the door to a club more at his level. Clearly his time at Citeh was a false dawn or was it the standard of his teammates at the time that showed him in a false light... which gave us all false hope ;-))

@ ChelseaBlog (134) The article is a bit harsh on A Cole me thinks... I thought after his injury problems he was getting back to his best in the second half of last season. He still remains the best English LB and up with the best in the league.

The others mentioned definitely need to lift their game and it is refreshing to see the manager is not afraid to call a spade a spade, something AG could never hope to do.

Should be interesting to see if Sheva gets a place for the AC Milan game in the Russion cup comp assuming we play them ?

Another 5 year deal on the cards...LINK This is one player who has earned the right to stay given his performances, although like all 'wingers' or attacking midfielders he can still blow hot and cold at times.

Good to see the club is looking to keep its established players onside with all this talk of bringing in new stars.

I guess from the reports on Malouda that TSSO sees him as a stayer then. He was bobbins as last season progressed, so I'm not ready to completely disregard him like Sheva and Pizarro. Just yet.

Things are so bad in 'transfer window silly season' that we're not even being linked with anyone now.

Time's getting on as the new season approaches - looks like we'll be waving bye-bye to one or two more players, but not saying hello to any.

Maybe the club realises it's been burnt badly by recent signings (Malouda, Sheva, Pizarro, TBH - Christ, have we actually signed anyone good lately?) and so we're saying if we can't sign the real cream of the crop, we're not bothering?

I hope not, we're definitely 2 players short of where I think we need to be.

Looks like Malouda is being pinned as this season's hate figure then. Let's at least wait until the campaign kicks off before giving him the boo boy treatment.

Did a tour of Stamford Bridge yesterday. Guess which player's locker is full of cute little pictures drawn by kids of 'Chelsea Champions' and kindgarten drawings of the player in question...

And which player's is full of page 3 pin-ups.

@ PeteW

Cute kids stuff - Frank Lampard
Page 3 cuties - Joe Cole

Nope, try again. clues if needed... (the first splits opinion; the second looks as if butter won't melt).

@ PeteW

Cute kids stuff - Dider Drogba
Page 3 cuties - Claudio Pizzaro

Didier - bang on. Very touching and I thought revealing to see pics sent in by little Chelsea kids on display from a supposed mercenary.

The Page 3 fan is English...

"The Page 3 fan is English..."

has to be SWP! lol...

@PeteW - One of the Coles?

SWP is right! Apparently he used to have a pic of Cheryl to wind-up Ashley. Other interesting thing - all the English players sit together, but with Alex and Ivanovic in-between so they can pick up the lingo.

Some of the subtle changes JM made as manager were brilliant. Anybody who doubts what he did for this club really is a bit of a fool.

SWP is right!

He is allegedly one for a pair of charlies or two - didn't he invest some cash in one of the more "special interest" channels somewhere further down the Sky programme guide a while back?

Maybe unrelated, but there was a diary snippet in Four Four Two this month about Premiership player who has had a cinema built in his already palatial pad in order that he and his mates may indulge in their collective appreciation for a wank flick or two. Putting two and two together...

@ Herr KaiserJonny-II

"Maybe unrelated, but there was a diary snippet in Four Four Two this month about Premiership player who has had a cinema built in his already palatial pad in order that he and his mates may indulge in their collective appreciation for a wank flick or two. Putting two and two together..."

A BlueBayou moment?

Scene 1: A darkened mini cinema in a mock Tudor mansion somewhere in Surrey. A group of supremely athletic, but cerebrally challenged young men are sitting in gaped amazement at the Super Hi-Def screen in front of them. Each is wearing the same Lion Rampant standing proud crested Royal Blue shirt, each shirt with the words "Team Spirit" printed on the back.

A Beatles song is playing in the background......

The light is dimmed, but through the gloom the right arms are visibly moving in synchronized backwards and forwards motion in an almost perfect harmony that brings to mind the perfection of a drum duet between Phil Collins and Chester Thompson. The sound is low, the moans of pleasure emanating from the screen accompanied by a growing slapping sound.

Camera pans away and focuses on a solitary, angry looking Gene Hackman figure silhouetted in the doorway....the camera closes in to a Spaghetti Western close up, the moustache twitches, the eyes squinting, the beads of sweat slowly moving down the forehead, the Beatles tune builds in the background......the figure speaks.......

"Boys, when I said we needed to come together as a team this was not quite what I had in mind"

Cue the chorus.......

"Come together right now over me

Oh
Come together
Yeah come together
Yeah come together
Yeah come together
Yeah come together
Yeah come together
Yeah come together
Yeah oh
Come together
Yeah come together"


This is why I never worked in Hollywood.

This is why I never worked in Hollywood.

But for the life of me, I can't think why ;-) Could be a tricky passage to film - you'd need a Steadicam of some sort...

Will drop you a line about pre/post game beer or two when you get back from your vacances en Francais, TG...

O.k, I am starting to wonder if Roman's lost the cheque book. Or his marbles.

- Bentley's having a medical at Spurs and will sign in the next 24 hours. Would be an asset to us, and more consistent than Malouda. And SWP. And Kalou

- Spurs are also now in talks with Arshavin.

- Real are about to unveil Rafael Van Der Vaart, signed for a measily £10m. Bargain

- Real have also confirmed Robinho is staying.

- Liverpool have already signed the slightly-better-than-mediocre Robbie Keane. Who, lets face it, we'd all have instead of Sheva or Pizarro.

The argument may well be that discussions with 'X' and 'Y' are ongoing behind the scenes (if 'X' and 'Y' exist that is) and are being kept out of the spotlight, but you'd have to wonder exactly who those players are based on the above.

Transfer rumours today aren't that positive for us. Spurs want to buy Bentley and Arshavin, whilst Real Madrid want to leave Ronaldo sulking in Manchester and pick up Van der Vaart for only £10m and David Villa for £25m, whilst we want to keep Malouda.

I just can't understand why anyone should give Malouda a second chance. If you still look awful against 3 sides on an Asian Tour who have conceded 13 goals between them, then i think that you're always going to be awful. Combined with the fact that our other reserve winger is SWP, then you start to see how we don't have the best squad in the world. Far from it, when we're relying on Sheva as our back-up striker. Although if we had to get rid of a winger we MUST dump Malouda. Both can't cross the ball, shoot accurately, tackle, head the ball, but SWP has pace unlike Malouda, SWP is also English which we need if we are going to fill the Champions League quota and SWP can also play in centre midfield unlike Malouda. Malouda must be up there with the Sutton's, Bogarde's and Pizarro's in terms of worst buys. As a winger, he couldn't be further away from the man he was supposed to replace, Arjen Robben.

And if we let Spurs get Arshavin, then we must be mad. We seem to be hoping that Robinho will be the solution to our problems on the wings, but this saga, i fear will end up as another Dani Alves. Last year we were told that Alves was certain to be ours, but then Sevilla kept raising the price until on one of the final days of the transfer window we pulled out and brough in Belletti for £2m. I fear the same will happen again. Whilst we sit back and watch Spurs snap up Arshavin and Bentley, Madrid purchase Van Der Vaart and Villa, we wait for Robinho, until we finally back out and get left with a reject. Seeing as we already have that reject, masquerading as a left winger, we should expect to be disappointed in the transfer market.

Would you all Get over these fears! We have a great squad with(on the most part) decent players! Also Malouda has picked up 3 or 4 assists in 3 games so he obviously isnt as bad as you all say.

We only just lost in 3 competitions last year and that can be Attributed more to Avram Grant and, admittedly JM bad signings (Pizarro,TBH, Sidwell).

So please get over it, we have a decent right back, a strong looking bench, And a creative midfielder. We Would benifet from a new signing, but if we dont get one, it isnt the end of CFC.

Bentley - not good enough and big head. I'd take Kalou over him every time.
Van Der Vaart - yeah, we really need a creative attacking midfielder in case Deco, Lampard, Ballack, Cole or Essien get injured.
Keane - average and overpriced. You really shouldn't be jealous of Liverpool about this one.
Robinho - I wouldn't believe a word anybody at Real Madrid says about anything.

Habs - you are seriously overdoing the Malouda hate. The bloke had a poor season but he was clearly knocked by the Mourinho sacking and also got injured. He deserves a bit of backing rather than pointless abuse.

Quite right Mike.

Hold on a minute, i thought we were going to win the treble!!!

I wouldn't like to predict. I am not entirely convinced that Deco has got what it takes for the PL - at the very least he may need some bedding-in time. Still, fingers crossed Lamps and especially Drogba will still be here. Without them i would be worried.

We have a great squad but success is never a gaurantee. As long as we are up there challenging on all fronts like last season then that - for me at least - will be enough.

Think we'll win the CL though..!

@CT #151

I could almost feel myself there

Well that was awkward...

Good news though
LINK

LINK

bye TBH

What, am I just talking to myself here?

@ MIKE12

I'm starting to think we may of had a lucky escape in not signing Sparky as Manager if he's making dodgy signings like that!!! (TBH) :D

Totally agree with PeteW.....

How many players do you want? If Drogba and Lamps are staying, we need one winger to complete the squad and that is all. Unfortunately we let Robben go... Big mistake, which is why they are not prepared to release Drogba or Lampard.

Rest of the squad is fine.

You can't collect players just so other teams don't have them. Most of the Arshavin hype is based on 2 games where he did play moderately well. But remember, he also had that stinker against spain. The midfield is already so crowded, I don't see the need for another body into the mix.

And I think Robben has played in a grand total of 15 games since we sold him, so I think we parted at just the right time.