FA Cup: Barnsley 1 - 0 Chelsea

So please, for the love of all that is holy, can we end this ridiculous charade and get a manager who is at least qualified to do the job properly? The manager is responsible for preparing and motivating the players for every game and on the evidence available, he is simply not doing a good enough job consistently. Roman and co., you have made a mistake - please admit it and move on for the good of this football club.


That sums it up perfectly JD, not much else to add except we're fast becoming a laughing stock!

Spot on....

I have trouble blaming Grant for this. He brought players who should have been capable of winning. He brought players who made Olympiakos disappear completely. But somehow we lost.

Still, I find myself totally agreeing with your closing paragraph:

"So please, for the love of all that is holy, can we end this ridiculous charade and get a manager who is at least qualified to do the job properly? The manager is responsible for preparing and motivating the players for every game and on the evidence available, he is simply not doing a good enough job consistently. Roman and co., you have made a mistake - please admit it and move on for the good of this football club."

I demand a change. I don't hate Grant and I don't know whether or not he's competent at all. I just want him gone, and I want to forget he was here. I want to believe in my manager and my team.

Furthermore, if winning only the League Cup and the FA Cup saw Mourinho forfeit his job, does missing out on both of these with only an outside shot at the premiership (and an inevitably unlikely road towards the CL) mean Grant will be gone soon?

If you were talking about the manager of Fulham, or any team with limited resources and a managerial carousel, I could understand. This is the most expensive side in the Premiership. If you don't know if the manager is competent- then there is no doubt, he is not competent.



Jonathan, you said exactly what I was thinking. I don't care if Chelsea play attractive football. I know other people do, and that's fine. I'd rather see my team play tactically clever, winning football. If I want to see attractive football I'll watch Arsenal, and I won't cry if they lose. I want my team to win. But the killer instinct has been lost at Chelsea.

Last season this was a game where Essien would come through with a herculean effort and a magical match-winner only minutes from time. Today he is anonymous. I can't imagine that he has lost that much ability in the space of one off-season. What does that say about us?

I watched this game in disbelief!! This team is NOT performing for Mr Grant, that's for sure. Whether it is down to them or Mr Grant's lack of motivational power I know not but I have this awful feeling everything is going to collapse around our ears. Four years ago, it wouldn't have bothered me....... it is what we came to expect from our team. But after the heady success of the last three years, I, like many others I suspect, have come to expect us to destroy teams like Barnsley et al. We have the players .............. we obviously don't have the motivation.
But after watching the game and the tremendous effort Barnsley put in ....... that last 15 was the Alamo all over again....... they thoroughly deserved their win. As much as it hurts to say it, I am not overly disappointed in this defeat as I am now sure this will hasten the departure of 'The Normal One'.
At least that mob from 'ooop North' got turned over too.
Good Luck in the semi, Barnsley and enjoy your day out at Wembley.

I'm a long time reader of this blog (it's great btw)! I've just arrived home from the grim north and all I can say is congratulations to Barnsley. They were exellent and fully deserved the win.

I appreciate that against a Championship side you may not start with your best XI, (and I had no trouble with our starting line up). However, you always need the quality on the bench. When I saw Frank during half time yesterday at the youth cup semi I thought we could be in trouble. No Lamps, no Didier, even no Sheva on the bench. There was always a chance we could go behind, and when the best option from the sidelines is Pizzaro it becomes a massive cause for concern.

Unfortunately, today proved again that AG just doesn't have the managerial capabilities to take Chelsea where we need to be. Game for game his record may stand up against Joses', but in the matches that count he has once again been found wanting. Today it's not because of the team he picked, but the people he left in London. Every trophy counts Avram!

BTW, Miroslav Stoch is unbelievable. He may be very short, but i'd give him a run out over Malouda any day!!!

Balance of the team was all wrong. We were playing 4-2-4 with Essien a sort of holding role and Ballack (ineffectively) covering the entire midfield. We should have brought on at half time (or even earlier - like at the start of the game) Mikel for Malouda (who as usual was totally useless), and Kalou for SWP (who as usual was totally useless), restoring a 4-3-3 in which everyone feels at home. AG has had about 6 big games since he took over, and now he has lost 4 of them (Valencia away was the only success). This is not a good track record. Maybe JT will brain the useless man. It looked like it was on the cards at full time. This was a much worse loss than the Carling. Much. I'm totally devastated which is not what I expected for a birthday present. Ruined my day, ruined my season.

The longer this goes on, the more our managerial saga reminds me of the sacking of del Bosque from Real. The same things are happening- the calls for style, the inclusion of flashy but inneffective players. Admittedly, losing Makelele didn't help them at all.

Still, I hope the utter embarrassment of this game leads to the appointment of a real manager who knows how to win big games.

Great article JD, think you worded what must be in everyone's minds perfectly

Agree with Groy, i don't care either if Chelsea don't play attractivee football. Although it may be exciting to watch, it doesn't win trophies, speaking of which, our trophy cabinet is starting to look a bit sick this season.
Hard to believe watching them earlier that we're the same team that everyone used to be scared of playing against. We seem to have gone to the dogs!!
It was bad enough losing to Spurs in the C.C but to be outclassed AND outplayed by a team that are some 30+ places below you is a tad painful and yes, very embarassing. I just feel sorry for any of our fans that paid to go and watch such a dismal performance.
Was deeply unimpressed with all the boys today, except Joe and J.T, Anelka had me literally screaming at the tv! Essien and Ballack weren't much better. In fact, i'd be hard pressed to say who i thought was the worst of a very bad bunch.
How i missed Didier, Maka and SuperFrank today..am i naive in saying i don't think we'd of lost if they'd of been there?
We have no chance of winning the CL when we can't even win Barnsley!
As for the Prem? Starting to doubt that one too at the moment. Much as i hate to say it, i think it belongs to Arsenal this season.
Credit to Barnsley for a great team performance.
Just hope they go on to lift the Cup.
It'll make this bitter pill a lot easier to swallow...

It was a great game to watch.
Cant blame the team because the opponents (and their fans) were far better than us.

Oh by the way, Why isn't anyone pointing out that the goal was a foul on the keeper??? (The same kind of thing happened to Anelka and foul was given!) I'm not saying this is an excuse but we have to mention it.

At least in my eyes, it was a foul!

I believe Grant did this with intent. Sometimes during the first half it looked like he had told the players not to try and score goals. Soon he will have gotten us out of contention for the PL aswell, and then he will go on and surprise us all by winning the Champions League! That's probably Romans secret plan..?

Anyway, I thought it was mighty more fun winning the Premiership and a cup now and then with Mourinho, than winning anything with that sad lookin guy from Israel...

Cheers

"This is the most expensive side in the Premiership. If you don’t know if the manager is competent- then there is no doubt, he is not competent"

Well said. Groy.

apparently malouda is not enough even to beat the crap out of championship side. No suprice though - we knew this all the time.. They've played so horrible i even found it hard to watch the game one more time and try to analize it..

Not even a 10% of bloody will and character amongst them tonight. and it's not about grant misteakes (which is obvious) or how clueless malouda (swp/pizarro..) can be - it was all about lack of commitment. Horrible, two weeks and we're out of two cups - wonder what Avram will say after another two? And for gods sake, he just can't say that we have more important things two win this season. The last one, we fought for all 4, till very very late into the april and the fuss about it spread all over the world. Now it will be done again cause we lost to Barnsley. Credit to them but our staff and players looked in 90% like academy team. Oh, i'm sorry, teenagers from Chelsea actually have the bloody will to win every game. And their coach looks like know what he's doing.

JD the good is that this team does not play for the "so called" manager
this cup was there to be taken, specially after the result at Manchester.
absolutely disgusted.
NO MORE COMMENTS.

THIS IS THE MOST EXPENSIVE SIDE IN THE PREMIERSHIP. IF YOU DON'T KNW IF THE MANAGER IS COMPETENT THN THERE IS NO DOUBT AT ALL, HE IS NOT COMPEENT"

Sorry, but that deserves capitalizing. F***ing perfect. These lines should win an award of some sort, w should frame those comment and hang it up somewhere for Eeverone to see...

How good was the Barnsley rearguard though?
We never troubled the keeper. Other than Anelka's chance.

@Crjen Robben
Robben olympiakos, Schalke, the turkish champions would struggle to stay in EPL.
stop finding excuses to this "back stabbing", pathetic, clouless so called manager, this guy could not run a bath least a football manager.
It is time that RA ask the fans for a manager, since he took the decision to replace a WINNER, with all the YES men accepting, after all they are ALL in the pay roll............. geeeeeeeeeeeee b0i find it incredible.
This monkfish (AG) had the FA cup made for him, there are no decent teams in the finals.
How come a "peaceful man" after knowing the result in Old trafford, or whatever they call that s*hit road, can be knocked out?
Mr RA, do not get JM as I do not believe 2nd rounds work, but look at britain, spain, italy, france at top managers, do not play GAMES with the fans' emtions.
BE a MAN Mr RA admit you made a HORRENDOUS, DESPICABLE MISTAKE, by blieving this CRAP AVRAM GRANT.
I know he is your friend, but FOR GOD SAKE havent you got a typing job in your office to give him, so he can get busy, get rid of this BACK STABBING unachievable, incapable, well there are no adkjectives to qualify this clown.
Unbelievable Barnsley kicked us out, LOL.
furious

Hey Ramos
here the Barnsley manager
Ramos what you can do good I can do better,
and i am on peanuts.
Kissy kissy

Do any of you still honestly believe that Chelsea can will the Champions League this year? The Premiership?

One can only hope for so much.

TWO trophies that were THERE for us to take, Can anybody imagine TSO losing a Carling Cup Final or a game to BARNSLEY??????? We are still in 2 competitions SO WHAT? We have no hope in hell of winning the league and I dont see us beating a in form Liverpoo or Barcelona! We are in crisis!

Well what more can i say,We can blame the manager,we can blame the owner,heck we can even blame the players if we really want to,but facts are facts and the fact is,Barnsley 1 defeated /Humiliated Chelsea 0.
Before i get shot down in flames can i just explain that in my humble upbringing and sporting life,i found at an early age that the results on feild in any sport are mostly up to the players. No one can tell me that the players,,this bunch of overpaid,underachieving, bigheads need a manager that can sooth there huge egos by talking them into playing a good game,in other words not 1 barnsley player would ever be concidered good enough to get a game at Chelsea,yet they managed to humiliate this side made up of the highest paid players in the history of football.
How can this be,and how can anyone but the players be blamed ,this side should have been able to defeat barnsley without a manager ,by blaming the manager we are giving these over paid egos an out clause,so lay of the manager,and look at where the game was lost,on the pitch ,good luck to barnsley ,i hope you go all the way,i wonder what they really now think of this chelsea team that they would have admired prior to this match???? Disgraceful is a word that keeps spinning around in my head

JD, thanks for speaking out everybody's thought. Well written.
For the Grant thingy, not much to say, I only plead for something called "no more nonsense kind of rotation of your team". He should be blessed with "that" kind of squad in his team for him to pick, but he failed to make the most out of it. Bloody hell, he thought he used the lads wisely, but the try-and-error test failed to shine out the way he wanted. Oh com'on, enough is enough. He should have learned that Barnsley is not an easy opponents, why dropped Lampard? I was totally shocked by that.

Seriously, I am not very pissed at the result as the game proceeded, I know it is the best chance for Roman and Co, to see for himself what his good old buddy could do, by not even retaining the possibility of booking a place to Wembley for the semi-final this year. Sack him or we are definitely going down, a trophyless season.

yay!

I am glad I did not text those Man-chest-hairy goons after their loss .. I am so fucking glad !! .. or else I'd be joining JD in the back of the ambulance with 'that pie' shoved up my intestines.

With only the League and CL left, I think the chances of the pie - arse scenario are still quite high.

The Liver-fools are going to have a smug smile on their faces / feaces .. they look like shit anyway .. 'we told you Barnsley were good' !!

@Johnny the Lad
The manager is the brain, right? He draws the tactics, the ideas, the innovations for the players to implement on the pitch. I don't think Avram Ghoul is doing that !
Sure, the players should be blamed too, but we need a manager now !!

Dinesh
I reckon your right mate to some degree,Ghoul makes the move and draws the tactics,but m8,in my mind i think it is a cop out to lay the balme squarly at his feet,,mind you i also agree he shouldnt be managing the team , so im not for him,,i just dont want excuses that let the players of the hook,,Think about it m8 ,the cup was ours,they were complacent and they payed a huge price,who was going to stop them had they won? So we have just basicly given a cup away.I am so dissapointed in them, for years we had nought,suffered big time for all those years and it just pains me to see them getting a chance to make up lost ground and they get so complacent and lose to ,,lets face it,a shit team,,no offence intended but as in big league teams they are not in the league,so our chaps think they have done enough lately,,good things dont last forever and one day it will all change as it always does,,so grab every chance while you can.
Do you think if chelsea hadnt of had a cup of any description in the cupboard and were so close to grabbing a FA cup for the first time,they wouldve let it slip?i dont reckon,and as they beat liv/pool just last round,then the taking it easy factor shouldnt have come into it,,,i think the players are big enough to question the managers views if they thought it was a poxy plan,so i just want blood,so out with manager if we must ,but the players are not to be let of and given an easy way out,,,im screaming inside so much,the kids and i just hate seeing oportunities like this wasted and it was wasted m8,,,how could they sink that low to lose to a bottom team from championship???unbeleavable,,our reserves shoulda been given the oportunity if the big boys heads werent on right,and yes the manager shoulve been alert to this,,,ahhhhhhh just bring on next year,,,and hurry,,,sorry next season,,,ahhhhhh,,oh and go barnsley now,at least ill get some satisfaction,,,god what a wasted chance m8

Good blog JD, your words that captured my main thought...

"I’m not so much angry at the result, more at the way the legacy of a team that not so long ago terrorised Europe’s finest is being squandered for the sake of the owner’s vanity and pride."

There's a scene in the LOTR Two Towers, where King Theodin has suddenly become aware of the gravity of the situation, as a million orcs are at the gates of Helm's Deep, and as he stares into the abyss, he says "How did it come to this?". The difference is King Roman is only under the spell of his own ego.

Joe Cole looked like the only player that actually wanted to win this match, and whether or not Carlo was fouled, he is a good stopper, but has always been a flapper at crosses, so I half expected Barnsley to score like that. In the good old days, going a goal down never really fazed me, knowing there would be a response, but those days are well and truly gone.

I started to have a bit of faith in the management when a few wins were strung together, but I couldn't help noticing the look on Steve Clarke's face as he sat there in the first half... How did it come to this?.. He looked resigned to some sort of scenario that was unthinkable in previous years.

Credit to Barnsley and I hope they get a day in the sun at Wembley as a reward for their giant-killing run. JM doesn't need to come back to kill us, Barnsley can handle it.

I would have been a willing consumer of humble pie like a few on here, but after seeing the two trophies that JM guided us to last year handed back already, I think the humble pie lorry driver will be looking for alternative employment come the end of May. I just hope to God that AG is too. FFS Roman what are you doing?

Johnny the Lad, why do you think every manager always praises the boys when they win, but takes blame themselves when they lose? That is what you do as a leader. You are responsible for the men and the results.

Look at the other side of the coin. Do you really think all the boys at Barnsley woke up one day and decided, "Hey, why don't we beat Liverpool and Chelsea this month!" To get that kind of result it takes unity and commitment. How often do you see Premiership sides closing down shots like Barnsley did? Do you think someone might have led and inspired them?

I remember a time when Chelsea could not be defeated, when leads were never safe, when a point at the Bridge was an amazing result. The players were inspired and committed. Then a certain manager left and now play is uneven. Just look at the difference between the two legs of Olympiakos.

Johnny, everything you want to scream at the team- who is the man who should be saying those things? Who is responsible for esprit de corps?

Groy, i see your Point ,but i should have said,even if the greatest of managers were put in charge of a team,any team,i would reckon his style of play would take a while to get through,maybe he has a style that they have not or cannot adapt to,but surely all the blame cannot fall at one mans feet,not when the gap between the 2 teams is so immense .

I know managers,(well good managers) take the fall when teams fail to do what he wants them to do or fail to play to the team plan he desires them to play.
However i cant believe that the gap between the 2 teams was closed so much by 1 managers thinking,maybe i would say yes if the 2 teams were of same quality,or even in the same level (premiership) but were talking a gap that is so big between the 2 clubs that you could drive a truck through ,it has to be more than just the manager.

Just for the record,,or for my anger at the players just now, can i just clarify what i think your trying to say,,,,are you saying that because of the manager Chelsea lost the game? That the manager is so poor and his strategy is so poor and lacking purpose that they lost?

This isn't a local team that has a team chucked together,and a manager that the guys have to have because no one else wants the job,,,were talking a professional club,professional players,,professional assistants and the best of the best in facility's doctors,team plans etc.

I am afraid "in my view" we have a team that got ahead of itself,thought they just had to show up on the day and march through to the next round, and they got found out,before they could rectify it,the barnsley boys had there tails up rode the momentum to win,,,

Do you think if the 2 teams were to play again tommorow that barnsley would win again? I reckon NO WAY,not the next 20 times they played would they win,why? because the Chelsea team has the better players and they would not be caught napping as they were,taking them lightly if you like, . As i see it the facts are still the same,the manager cant score or save goals from the sidelines,,that is up to the professionals that are paid huge sums of money to wipe the floor with sides they should wipe the floor with.

Thats my view anyways,maybe next week i will have unwound a bit but just now i am so hurt that the players picked to represent my club went out with an attitude that allowed them to be the laughing stock of world football this weekend,and unless it hurts us all to an extent that we demand that players who represent this great club put 100% effort into there play,then were gonna fall at the same hurdle time and time again,Change the maNAGER by all means if you think that will solve the problem,but dont let the players of so lightly by saying the manager is to blame.
We had 1 player that played to his potential,j cole and that is all,the rest follow suit,were not even debating the result as we wouldve done what we were supposed to have done...cheers

Losses in CC final, and FA cup cost a lot of $, and have impact on Chelsea's revenue. Grant can have any valid excuse, however, the book does not tolerate such blunders, and numbers will ultimately bring harsh judgment. AG should be replaced before further damage is done beyond repair. It takes years to bring a team to a winning momentum. See Liverpool, Spurs and the like, it is very difficult to get back and retain status once that winning mentality has been let to slip away. Chelsea must act now; changing team is not the answer. Building a winning team is a continuous process, and one should not allow any disruption in that process. History has shown, every time Chelsea had a winning team like in 50s, and early 70s, and early 2000s, once the momentum disrupted, the results ended in humiliation.

All this is currently proving to football fans that money doesn't guarantee you success, which most Chelsea fans knew anyway.
The remarks of "you bought your trophies" and "my grandma could manage Chelsea and win things" don't appear to be that accurate at the moment.
Lets hope RA (as JD said) will sit down Monday morning, and realise it takes someone with that little bit extra to manage and succeed with this team at this level.

What most of us want is our Chelsea back, that team who were for the last three seasons, feared and respected for their efficient winning football!

just hire the barnsley manager he can do better than grant with little money

Spot on JD,

Having got up ar 3.00 am to watch the games and seeing Man Ure out I thought this was going to be a good night. However when I saw the team old Boris had on the park I thought here we go again, as far as I concerned we played the first half with 10 men Malouda is just a waste of space, and how can you have Pizzaro on the bench. If you're going to rest players at least keep your options open and have a decent bench.

As I said earlier whist ever this clown is manager no trophies for the blus

A midweeek game against Derby. They better win it big to appease the fans.

I'm sorry guys to say this but I can't see RA sack AG that easily, a man with his pride won't admit a mistake, at least not right after he gives him a 4 year-cntract.
I'm afraid AV will stay for another season, and soon Buck will talk about how happy the board is with Avram for this "transitional season" and that next season they expect him to get "some" trophies.

Am I being too gloomy?

The only fear I have, and that's if you can call it a fear, is that we will do what Liverpool did and fluke the Champions League. All that's going to do is paper over the gaping cracks we currently have, I suppose similar to what Liverpool have now with Rafa, as it seems to be buying him more time. That's not to say he's worse than AG heaven forbid, he's much better than AG, but perhaps not quite good enough to win the league.

If in all likelihood we win nothing this season and finish third, or even fourth as Liverpool are only two points behind us, and I know we have two games in hand but we still need to win to get the points. What message does it send to RA about how we've progressed (regressed is more appropriate) under AG?

JM going is looking the most foolish decision in the history of our club, whether you love him or despise him, there was, and is no doubt to the majority of football fans he's one of the best managers around, not exactly rocket science is it Mr Abramovich!

Spot on Clive, the Liverpool situation, this is what I see us going through, unless RA is ready to admit his mistakes.

But then again, what message will sacking AG send to other managers? A nagging club that has no loyalty wants a win-it-all-or-get-sacked manager?
who will risk coming to the Bridge? maybe only those who look for big time money.

Is there any light at the end of the tunnel? or am I being naggy myself?

When will they realise Essien is never a holding midfielder? He's been poor this season, but the only way he should be playing is if Ballack or Lampard are not.

Also, hats off to the Barnsley boys, they were brilliant. And Joe Cole, who didn't deserve to lose

Grant cannot motivate the players, thats obvious. His low prestige, and the fact that he cannot assert himself, is damaging the team. We all know, that in football, you need trophies in order to gain prestige and fame.

I admit that sacking him at the moment is unwise, but Chelsea fans, bear in mind that this season is may end TROPHYLESS.

GRANT and TEN KATE, should also know that playing ATTRACTIVE football is not the only quality, a manager should have, but he should have the ability to read the game, make the right decisions, and be able to manage human resources succesfully.

We, definitely miss JOSE's managerial qualities.

Last nights humiliation left me in much the same frame of mind as I was for a weekend after we contrived to lose to West ham at home some years back, a defeat that cost us our chance of the title that year. This morning I feel no better but I think for all the contributors on this blog its time to move the debate on from whether Grant should go to whom we feel should replace him.

What we have is a high performance F1 car in the garage that in the right hands will win most races the problem is the man in the cockpit is used to driving round in a vauxhall astra. So who is our next Michael Scuhmacher. Its clear now that we should have been looking at Ramos a while back if sacking Mourihno was as inevitable as it now seems. I'm not in favour of O'Neil because I don't believe he is a tactition - more of a motivator - we don't lack confidence or motivation (I exclude Malouda and, on current form, Essien from that statement)- we lack direction. Is Rijkard the answer? I would need to be convinced that he has the ability to change the course of a game from the bench. Big Phil Scalachi would seem a very plausible candidate but outwitting Erikson is maybe not a complete enough endorsement of someones managerial credentials....Erikson - there is a thought - probably a workable solution for the club and has a CV that suggests he can deliver championshps in the top leagues in the world.

Saying all this the outstanding candidate is, obviously that Portuguese fella, whatsisname ....Mourihno - and I hear he is available..... never say never in football.

And well done to Barnsley - enjoy the win because you deserved it!

Think JOHNNY THE LAD hit the nail on the head when he said "they thought they just had to show up in the day and march through to the next round"

Chelsea are a squad of big name players with a record that's enviable. Maybe they thought, albeit arrogantly, (as i did) that "it's only Barnsley, we'll fly this." Letting their reputation precede them as such..
Just goes to show that over-confidence is more often than not a weakness.
You only have to watch England play to see that!!

Bet Mourinho's laughing his bollocks off!

I'd direct you all to Harry's comment further up the page (7.12am) - well worth reading and right on the money.

Bet Mourinho’s laughing his bollocks off!

At least that's something else we can attribute to his abilities, because AG doesn't appear to have said anatomical parts to laugh off!

Well done Barnsley, and well done Roman!

On the plus side, at least we didn't lost to United or Spurs, and at least none of the other 'big' clubs can win it. The semis should be fun, although a Portsmouth-Middlesbrough final doesn't fill me with enthusiasm.

If Grant is still in charge in August, we're in big trouble.

His inability to remove the hopeless Essien or Malouda at half time and get some support for Anelka was unforgiveable. The man is out of his depth. He has to go.

There is no way we will fluke the CL, simply because Benitez is ten times the manager Grant is. Yes, he's that bad. Go!

On a positive note, Grant has convincingly proven that money does not equal success and has given us a flux of empirical evidence to refer to, should there ever be any doubt about it... Now he needs to go though.

and well done Roman!

Yes that alone says enough, he gave every opposition team, manager and fans reason to celebrate back in September!

comrades, i am sorry to say this but this team is not in contention for any award this year..none, zero. and we would be lucky if we were in the running for anything next season, with this type of bench.

"THIS IS THE MOST EXPENSIVE SIDE IN THE PREMIERSHIP. IF YOU DON’T KNW IF THE MANAGER IS COMPETENT THN THERE IS NO DOUBT AT ALL, HE IS NOT COMPEENT" well put, nothing more to say. and nothing more can be said.

I have to say, even Ranieri wasn't this bad. I actually feel nothing at the moment. I couldn't care less because I've already accepted the fact we're not going to win anything this season, but still, BARNSLEY!? Surely you're having a laugh. Just when you think Cech was bad, Cudicini proves he's worse. I mean, what happenned to our goalies? We had the best first choice goalie in Europe and the best second choice goalie in the world. Now? Well, I dont know what we have now.

At least one good thing will come of this, Grant will be going. Hopefully. I mean, Roman has to sack him! We've already been kicked out of both trophies we won last year. The Premier League is over. And does any of us think we're going to win the Champions League? I dont think so. I live in hope, not expectation.

And yes, I agree with all of you. We've become a laughing stock. Everything we've built in the past three years have gone. Sad, but really, I dont know why, I DONT CARE! I just can't wait for the end of this season.

And Bravo to the person who wrote this comment:

“I’m not so much angry at the result, more at the way the legacy of a team that not so long ago terrorised Europe’s finest is being squandered for the sake of the owner’s vanity and pride.”

I could not agree more.

Great report as always. I'd only suggest that in the list of "The Good" we should add -- The FA Cup. Ok, it's humiliating for us, but from the point of view of lovers of football, how cool is this? Seeing all those people tearing onto the pitch at the end of the game reminded me of the feeling when we won the Cup in '97 -- not that that was any sort of upset, but there was a still a magic about it that not many other competitions have.

Grant will not be fired at this stage of the season, so there's no point clamouring for that. To be honest, I don't think one can really blame the manager for a defeat like that: the team he picked should have been perfectly capable of doing the job very comfortably. But it does add to the overall feeling that he simply hasn't earned the respect of the players (which was always the worry when he took over from a charismatic and brilliant manager whose players -- well, most of them -- would have walked through fire if he told them to).

He's not the long-term solution for Chelsea -- that would have been true even if we'd won that game, and it'll be true even if we do somehow fluke the Champions League. The fact that we lost one game we should have won doesn't make him a bad manager, any more than the 6-0 thrashing of City made him a genius. What matters is that he'll have no trophies to show at the end of the season, which will make it much easier to get rid of him. That's all that matters.

All I care about now is that we get knocked out of the CL by Barca or Roma, and not by You Know Who.

The FA Cup suprises continue; Cardiff are leading 'Boro 1-0, controversial but nice goal nonetheless.

Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink almost got a diving header but it went just wide.
I've always had a soft spot for Jimmy, him and Eidur were great. Miss them both.

Friggin' hell! 2-0!

What a weekend!!!!!

I, like all of the TRUE BLUE was gutted by yesterday's result. It just makes no sense that a team with the roster of Chelsea is not dominating the Premiership, Champion's league, and all domestic cups. I am sure Mr. Grant is a nice man (so is my uncle BUT he can't manage a good crap let alone a Premiership side). Mr. Ambramovich has let his billionaire pride cost us our manager (Jose, I miss you!), and now 2 trophies. If RA could just see to find an administrative job for AG, something with a nice office, with a nice view of the area, maybe a nice discount in the Chelsea Mega Store, then we got get a FOOTBALL manager and get back to winning! Although I am an American, I have been a Chelsea fan since the 1970's. I love the Blues and do not want the confused, lost, half-witted, muppet, mentality of AG to bring us down any further.
Come on the Chels!

A load of toss.

Really unimpressed with Chelsea yesterday. With ManUre getting sent out, this could have been our year ago, but no, we couldn't even see off Barnsley.

Barnsley thoroughly earnt their win.

Grant out.

Seeing that JC, Ballack et al played and we still lost...the grounds for argument have completely left the altar of team selection and now resides in the domain of AG motivational skills...

When we beat the hammers and olympiacos, some said it had nothin to do with AG's managerial input...that the lads motivated themselves to win...

Funny the same lads could not motivate themselves to win against lowly barnsley...some of you guys here should be bold enough to maintain a line of thought/argument and stop 'swaying with the direction of the wind'

> Johnny The Lad
Thanks for your perspective to this whole conversation...Some fail to look beyond AG's feet whenever the team falters, and it shouldnt be so...more worrying is when this same lot refuses to give him any credit whenever the team wins...it sucks!

Odebiyi played like DD and i'm surprised that JT and Riccy got bullied by him throughout the entire match when they should have been used to the 'bully' approach by now, having been training with Drogba all these years...The fact that it was obvious that Odebiyi was having his way with them encouraged barnsley a lot and they kept floating the balls to him...wonder if Alex would not have done better containing Odebiyi, given his size and strength...but then, he's not as good as JT as some here would have us believe...rubbish!

Sad to lose out this way...really sad

Always Blue!

I think the fact that West Ham having lost their third game by 4-0 this week says it all about how shit they are, and probably Barnsley could beat them by the same scoreline. Olympiakos didn't even turn up which made our job that much easier, so perhaps the last two emphatic victories are more to do with the fact that they made us look even better than we actually are. And after witnessing yesterdays performance and the three previous before those two victories just shows perhaps we are declining a bit quicker than people think.

We used to be feared, and used to be consistently very good, how times have changed!

At least Arsenal slipped up? Haha. If we win our two games in hand, against Derby at home and Tottenham away from home, we'll be one point behind them! Wuhoo!! But of course, I'm being over-optimistic here. After yesterday, you never know what's gonna happen. Even against Derby County.

But I think we'll win....hopefully

Oh yeah, and I'm really hoping Inter knock out Liverpool!! It's very unlikely, but I really think it could happen. Interesting fact I found on UEFA's webbie.

The only time Liverpool FC have relinquished a two goal lead in European club competition was in the 1964/65 European Champion Clubs' Cup semi-final against FC Internazionale Milano. Liverpol won 3-1 at Anfield but were hammered 3-0 at the San Siro. FORZA NERRAZZURI!! Source - [LINK=1/newsid=660945.html]

Plenty of reasons for us to find comfort in this week....Well, again, hopefully...

@Harry
I think Derby will come to the Bridge with lots of confidence, they know they're relegated and having nothing to lose. Would it surprise any of us if they get a huge scalp in beating us, and being the first team in 70 odd games to stop our run.

If we have any title aspirations this is a huge game, but then again if the teams above us are going to bottle it on the run in, then I'm sure we'll all be happy.

But it doesn't change the fundamental feeling, that whatever happens now, AG isn't the man for the long term.

We used to be feared, and used to be consistently very good, how times have changed!

You said it Clive!!

Why has it happened though? The team is no different..so rumours of conflicts, unsettled/unhappy players must be true when you take a step back and look at the situation.
It's so easy to say "they're paid good money, they need to stop moaning and knuckle down." I used to be in a well paid job (not £130k a week i must add) that i hated but turned up every day for 13 years, fell out with my boss almost daily, until one day i decided that enough was enough and got out.
Same thing seems to be happening there. Hence rumours of mass exodus of players in the summer..could be?...time will tell...
Suppose what i'm trying to say is that if you're not happy in your job, it has an effect on you personally and you don't perform to the best of your ability.

Some people have been quick to compare A.g's results to T.S.O's.
We have the same team now who turn up for games every week (barring Anelka) as when T.S.O was with us but when you look at how the team perform as a unit under A.G and how they played under Jose, the comparisons could't be more obvious.

Think respect comes into it.

W.B.A showed us this evening on how to put on a no nonsense professional performance against a team from a lower division. Perhaps the previous results from the weekend focused their minds, but still they went out and did the job, credit to them as well.

My Barnsley adventure

After the Carling Cup debacle I decided I wouldn’t travel to Barnsley but, after seeing us thrash the Hammers 4-0, my emotions got the better of me so straight after the game I booked on-line. I intended to drive but at 4:30pm Friday I thought I’d take advantage of the free train. Even though the Thomas Cook website stated departure and arrival times were 00:00 I felt confident that the email confirmation would provide an accurate itinerary. Unfortunately not! The email arrived just after 5pm and when I called Thomas Cook I discovered they would be closed until Monday morning. Saturday arrived and I called National Rail who were unable to track down the train so I waited to call Chelsea customer services, after their opening time of 10am, and they didn’t have a clue about the departure time either. Before getting the car keys I thought I’d try National Rail one last time and surprisingly I got put through to a competent telephone operator that advised me that our train left at 11:30. The time now was 10:25. We raced down to the station and got the Metropolitan line to Kings X to arrive at 11:35. We’d missed our train. I berated the Thomas Cook representative about the inadequacies of their website. He looked us up on the list and said “Don’t worry mate, you weren’t on the 11:30 but the 11:50!” I could tell this was going to be a lucky day.

The train departed on time. The carriages were built around the year Avram was born. They’re probably both due for the crusher. Three and half hours later, having parked in several sidings whilst pucker scheduled services sped past, we arrived in Doncaster, fifteen miles from Barnsley.

We were on a convoy of five coaches with a police escort. I wasn’t expecting this. Five police bikes provided the escort, one bike always in front of the coaches regulating our speed with the other four racing back and forth blocking all junctions and roundabouts ahead of us, including traffic lights, so we had a non-stop run. The marvellous police bikers displayed the only teamwork, interplay and passing that I’d witness that afternoon.

At the start of the game there was one minutes silence for Derek Dooley. I thought this was a bit odd considering he played for both Sheffields and had nothing to do with Barnsley. I can’t see us doing the same for the death of any of our local adversaries. Anyhow the Chelsea fans observed the silence impeccably, far better than the loutish locals. Looking around I was impressed with the Chelsea contingent. I was expecting to see lots of spaces considering we were still selling tickets on the Friday.

The game followed. This has been more than adequately covered in this blog.

Returning home we again received a police escort. This time was different with the streets lined with Barnsley residents making odd hand gestures at us. Had the driver slipped T-Rex into the CD drive it would have made a perfect re-enactment of the scab miners’ scene from Billy Elliot.

So finally a further two and a half hours on the train. The teenage fans further down the carriage soon got over the agony of our defeat and decided to serenade us with chants of “We hate Tottenham” together with a wide ranging repertoire of anti Yido songs.

11:15 arrived at Kings X. Nearly home.

It’s all been very doom and gloom on this blog so let’s do a Kevin Keegan and look on the brighter side of life.


Avoiding the semi-final and final will save me at least 300 quid
By the luck of geography I wasn't born in Barnsley, where fine dining is a choice between Greggs the bakers and Subway. Barnsley is a hole.
If we continue to drop out of competitions at the current rate we'll be able to fully focus on our summer tour of Asia.
Out of the big three and a half we stayed in the Carling Cup and FA Cup the longest.

According to the Chelsea website Barnsley tickets are still available for sale. Anyone fancy a day out?

Mark, you are hilarious!!

You should try your hand at stand up comedy...

fine dining is a choice between Greggs the bakers and Subway..

Ha! Ha!...You're mad you are!!!!!!

Glad you had a *ahem* fun day out, police escorts as well? Wow! Classy....

@ Roman

Well you win. We all understood now your point, that money doesn’t buy trophies. Although I never shared that opinion, I apologise for all fans and press members that insinuated that. There was no need to hire AG (better known has “the pretender”) to prove your point.

Now seriously, of course AG is to blame for the underperformance of the players. TSO managed to form a family that hold together with harmony and were impenetrable. AG on the other hand is playing mind games with senior players and breaking their team spirit. What a looser….

Just want to remind what some one wrote here, some months ago, “we only realise what JM did for the club, after he is gone”. How true.

PS: grate article JD

OUR KEEPERS:

This could be completely wrong but I remember reading somewhere about the 'nightmare' Cech was having at his former club Rennes before we signed him.

With JM leaving and his backroom staff following him out (including Baltimore Brito - the gk coach), we have ended up reuniting Cech with his old gk coach buddy from Rennes. (?)

Could THAT explain the form of our keepers or am I (and I suspect I may very well be) talking utter bollocks?

Funnily enough after the loss I didn't recognize what what emotion I was feeling. I laughed, acted as though it was ok, with an undercurrent of fury bubbling inside.
But it wasn't as hard to take as I would have ecpected...

Was it the Barsley fans rushing onto te pitch (the kind of jubilant celebrations you can only jealously admire)?

Was it the CC final failure that had prepared me for it?

Was it the hope that after this Roman would be forced to think again about the sloth/monkfish/toadmonk?

Was it (unfortunately, and with some shame) a sense of angry satisfaction to see my convitions about AG's inadequacies being proven?

I dunno what to m ake of it really, a very strange feeling indeed...

I want to make peace with 'legacy of Jose', says Grant

LINK

LINK

How I miss our Special one irritating the "voyeur"...was never monotonous with him and we were wining too.

We have our old Chelsea back. Remember the last time we played Barnsley in the cup (0-4) and days out at Rotherham (0-6). That is some achievement AG. But hang on, its not just AG, the players must also take their share of the blame. If they can't motivate themselves to beat a lower league team knowing that if they do they have a very good chance of putting right what happened in the CCF, then what hope is there ?!

AG should go - resign preferably, but the time has come also for some hefty changes in the playing staff. Too many now seem to be there just for the money. This was not the case with the Premiership winning sides. You could see clearly that they were always desperate to win. This 'team' has lost that mentality.

But we will have to be patient and wait for the end of the season before anything is done because we would just get ourselves in a bigger mess if we sack the manager now (look at Newcastle).

In the meantime, come on lads you owe to yourselves and the fans. Three points on Wednesday would be a good start (whoever plays!).

Up the Chelc.

I've watched the highlights again and it's hard to blame most of the players. Malouda, Essien and SWP were very poor, but on recent form who would be surprised about Malouda and Essien. With Malouda we'd be better replacing him with a sho window mannequin and as for Essien....well it's like Invasion of The Bodysnatchers.....somewhere in SW6 there's a room with a withered husk of the real Michael Essien locked away. SWP seems to blow hot and cold at the moment and arguably missed the best chance yesterday. If I was rating the players then only these 3 would get below the default 6.

The bigger issue is the fact that the players failed as a team unit. They looked like 11 individuals and the lack of chemistry between them was obvious. Ballack looked less effective without Lamps, Anelka drifted to the wings and has yet to build the understanding with the excellent Joe Cole. I think the spirit is so low Anelka might be falling down the morale-vacuum already. How dispriting for a player to come in, do well and then be made second favourite to a great but increasingly disheartened and demotivated returnee. This was his first start in 5 games apparently. And Avram Grant calls that good man management. The likes of Villa and Kaka would look at that and think what? Chelsea is the place for me? If Sheva is fit..why not put him on the bench rather than that no-mark Pizzaro? Just how shit must all the other options be to put Pizzaro on the bench? Remember kezman.....he looked like fucking pele compared to Pizzaro. Bridge played well but was severely at fault for tracking the overlapping man instead of the man with the ball for the cross leading to the goal. Cudicini's mistakes are rare but all that really happened was he was outjumped for the goal. There is no way that can be claimed as a foul. Riccy was immense despite getting hard time from Odejayi. JT defended well but finished like a .....well defender. Joe Cole ws our best and looked really upset...just like a fan should...when the game was over. So, yes, the players do shoulder SOME of the blame, but ultimately the leadership and inspiration comes from the coaching team. Look at Steve Clarke, the body langauge says it all....he doesn't want to be there. Ten Cate is an enigma because as yet I have failed to see what improvements he has bought to the style of play. Avram Garnt seems a nice chap, but I don't want a nice chap. No-one ever accused Fergie of being 'nice' - look at his bad loser mentality encapsulated perfectly in his post match comments yesterday...remind you of anyone? Look at Wenger's vile post match (since retracted...but let's face it that's like a judge telling a jury to ignore the previous comment...once it's said..it's said) comments about Martin Taylor and his obvious irritation at Mourinho's comments this week. That's what I want...someone to get up the noses of Fergie. Wenger, Tubby Benitez, the FA, the press and the TV pundits. I had become a little irked by JM's constant press baiting comments..but you know what...I realise what it did for the club, the team, the fans...it galvanised us..it built the fortress mentality...no-one liked us and we didn't care.....except stupidly some of us did care and now that the universal loathing of us is subsiding, so is the defiant puffed out chest obstinacy and refusal to accept defeat mentality of the players which in turn is feeding us fans with indignation, fear and doubt, which feeds the other clubs with hope and spirit. The only people immune to this are locked away in an Ivory Tower somewhere in SW6, as someone said engaging in a little mutual back slapping and corporate cock-sucking. RA seems too trusting in the likes of Grant and the free loading Arnesen. His behaviour is a complete mystery to me. How can you be so rich and then apparently get something like this so very wrong?

Kenyon (a self confessed Manure fan) is now living up to true Agent Kenyon title. I reckon he's getting the best Israeli blow jobs around at the moment and who would be surprised to see the Yankee Dollar tempt him back to Old Trafford, with the foundations of the Blue Empire truly crumbling away. Job done, Kenyon, job done. Buck and Tenenbaum continue to happily line their pockets with Roman's riches and Slimeball Greenberg runs press campaigns involving Grant and the players to tell us everything is OK, and that we, the fans are all footballing fuckwits, who can't see the big picture, or put the helicopter pilot outfit on and rise above the now to see the future. Well, after following the game for 38 years, 36 of which have seen my heart signed over to Chelsea my message to them is this...

Don't fucking patronize me you freeloading tossers (I've deleted the original word, beginning with c and rhyming with hunts as I don't want to offend our growing contingent of gorgeous girls)

Finally, news today was that the players were 'holding a meeting to discuss the failure' yesterday. Now let me see...is that 3...4...5 player meetings since Jose left. Did they ever even have 1 when JM was around? If things were so right...then surely the need for such player meetings would be negated? Isn't this the equivalent of the pupils marking their own homework? Have the lunatics really taken over the asylum?

Even if as the board appears to think, Me and the many other fans are such fuckwits, then why have we all reached a similar conclusion? Are we all wrong, but 5 or 6 people are right? If we were all shareholders in a PLC...do you think they'd get away with this? I think an example is Sheffield United, where it was pretty obvious that fan power played a major part in Bryan Robsons depaerture...not completely...but certainly a major factor. One wonders what lengths we'd have to go to in order to instigate a managerial change. Are we really into the realms of Megastore boycotts? Silent protests. Anti-Avram chants? What would it take?

It's time for change, if not now then after our last game in May. You might just be able to pick up the slightest hint that I'm annoyed and just a little frustrated!

*walks away to polish suit of armour needed for work tomorrow*

Grant has no clue, he plays Anelka who has scored twice in his last 10 games over our most in form striker Salomon Kalou!

With four up front and apparent instructions to move around freely, it seems unfair to knock Anelka who spent as much time on the wings as he did in the centre. He's a target, not a supplier, as even Bolton realised. We should have played an additional player in mid-field and two wide up front. Maybe Malouda was meant to be wide, but there long periods when I forgot he was on the field, and when I remembered, it was generally with a wince.

If the players have yet another meeting, I hope they decide to mutiny, maybe shoot an admiral or two (pour encourager les autres), but I doubt they will. It's not as if anyone who has followed Chelsea for a load of years is unused to this kind of abject performance, but coming after three pretty good seasons, it kind of sucks.

Is there an email address at Chelsea FC I can send rude suggestions on how to improve their situation?

Johan Cruijff? Frank Rijkaard? Carlo Ancelotti? Guus Hiddink? Luiz Felipe Scolari?

Jose Mourinho: Madrid in one, Manchester in three, and Portugal in six.

Well done TG I think you summed up everyone's feeling with your rant, mind you I don't think the egostical bastards running the club will take any notice as they're to full of themselves especially Kenyon. I was never happy when we got him, him and his cohorts have done more in the last seven months to stuff Chelsea and turn us back into the old music hall joke we used to be unjustly saddled with.

For an evidently smart and ruthless man, RA seems out of his depth with their agendas

I think our season is over, although I hope I'm wrong

I think the fact that we're all being treated with utter contempt by the club Tony, is something that pisses me off the most. I think most of us have covered everything in our views and feelings over the last few months, in which direction the club is heading under AG's leadership if that's what you can call it.

I'd like to be able to write something poignant that could possibly make a difference in some way, but alas I'm just as bemused and bewildered as many of the Chelsea fans probably feel today.

Headline on the front cover of the Sports section of today's Guardian: "Grant admits he must win trophy or face the axe".

Thanks, Barnsley!

I;ll play the devils advocate here, what would be your choice? old Boris to win the EPL or Cl and we put up with more of the same crap plus lose the basis of a good team, or win nothing and get rid of old Boris and get a half way decent manager in his place.

At the moment I think I'll settle for the latter

LAMIN

bloody hell

had people for dinner so i just managed to take two peeks: Anelka's "foul" and the tykes' goal, and had exactly the same feeling.

when there's contact between attacker and keeper, the keeper is usually protected.
If Odelayi's was a regular contact, then Anelka's was twice as regular, since he didn't even make contact and was there well before the keeper.

That said i'll put the moaning aside, give all due credit to Barnsley and get set for a for a mind-blowing grand finale of the season. our destiny is now firmly in our hands

Screw the other two cups and get rid of this old bloke pls! I'd rather win no trophys than seeing this man for another season.

I see the spin doctors are at work on the CFC site, Anelka is saying the players have to take the responsibility for not playing well. Crap it's lack of direction from old Boris and the rest of the crap shooters, the team on the park was a good team but not once did they play like a team and whilst ever he's in charge I can't see it changing

James

I'd go for the Real solution: win the league and then bugger off.

After all, the league is what really matters to me, not that extended version of UEFA Cup that everyone calls UEFA Champions League.
Just call it UEFA League, for goodness sake, "Champions" has really nothing to do with it.

Where to start.

Clive's alluded to how poor Wet Spam were when we sent 4 past them. Olympiakos were by far the worst team in the Champions League knock out stages. Even going back to the start of AG's reign and the win in Valencia has been put in perspective by them finishing bottom of the group, and in free-fall in La Liga. A good result yes, but not great in the grand scheme of things. So in my eyes, AG hasn't actually orchestrated any great wins; victories we wouldn't have expected.

On the flip side, he's damn good in providing defeat on those occassions that would have been unthinkable under JM. Take nothing away from Barnsley on Saturday, every FA Cup cliche applies, but the most important one is they were the better side. We were, by and large, at full strength and were out-played by a lower division team. It doesn't even make sense to me as I type this.

Quite simply, even before JM with Claudio or Vialli or Gullit we would have beaten Barnsley. It's too easy to put it down as 'one of them things', but it's not. There is a fundamental problem at the club, and RA needs to be man enough to hold up his hands and admit he's put a clown in charge, and put it right.

The Carling Cup and FA Cup (especially after the Old Trafford result) were there for the taking; and the best bets of silverware this season, yet somehow we've transpired to throw those chances away. We won't win the Champions League, and I just cant see us winning the league. A trophyless season for the team who is always the last one left in all 4 competitions is simply not good enough.

And yet, despite the defeat, oddly I dont feel anywhere near as bad as I would if Liverpool, ManUSA and Arsenal were left in. Sure I'd love to retain the FA Cup, but as long as one of those 3 don't / can't win it them I'm not fussed.

I'm sure AG will pick a team competent enough to beat Derby, and thus put a positive spin on things again. Oh joy.

Has he gone yet?

Well, the good news is that every other fan and the media can eat their words that anyone can manage Chelsea and win!!! How wrong they were, but then we knew that but now they cant throw that at us anymore whoever comes in next and wins us trophies...
So grant realises that he has to win something does he... well, that's a change from the 'so long as we play beautifull football better than before, is more importnat than winning' crap. Welcome to the real world of competition idiot.!! Hopefully you will stop believing the media hype about all this free flowing football that has emanated from Wenger as an excuse for the absence of a title win in the last four years, or any other win. Arsenal are not going to win the prem this year or next year with his style of play and I can see him resigning before his fans push him out to avoid the ambarrasment of having to eat his own words 'winning is not everything'!. Then what will the media be saying about so called beautifull football? The reason I expanded on this is because I truly believe as I have said many times before, that Roman started to believe the hype about two untruths surrounding Jose. 1) is that money itself buys success and any manager could win silverware given enough of it and 2) playing passing so called beautifull football is better than winning football.......yeah right. w'ell see the Arse fans calling for Wengers head next year, wait and see. I just hope they get booted out of the CL next round just to throw it all back in the media and Roman's face!!!!

Simple fact is, the Mancs battered Portsmouth and were pretty unluckly. Liverpool should have had 5 or 6 against Barnsley in the previous round; we didn't force their keeper into a meaningful save. The changes were too little and came too late; Malouda, SWP, Essien and Anelka were hopeless and it must have been frustrating for the rest of the team to see a system failing so badly and for the manager to sit looking clueless in the dugout.

Jose doesn't need to worry about 'killing' us; we're doing a perfectly decent job of it ourselves.

Just emailed Thomas Cook Travel

"This morning I thought I’d be writing to complain about your booking process for Barnsley v Chelsea because the departure and arrival times on your website and email confirmation stated 00:00. I booked late on Friday and then discovered your offices were closed for the weekend so I was unable to find out what time to arrive at Kings Cross.

However instead of complaining can you pass on my thanks to the reps and stewards. I travelled on the Blue train and bus 1and your crew were organised, courteous, helpful and smartly turned out. Ignoring the 00:00 issue the overall event management was excellent. For the next Chelsea away day is there any possibility you could extend your management remit to include the team?"

For the next Chelsea away day is there any possibility you could extend your management remit to include the team?

On the other side of the coin, I can see Grant as a member of staff for the hapless Network Rail. I certainly wouldn't get on a train that had anything to do with him though; the easy signal points would be a breeze, but the first sign of a tricky Clapham Junction type interchange and you'd be straight off the rails.

Next stop, oblivion - all aboard...

Arsenal fans will never call for Wenger's head, unless they all suddenly went completely insane.

@Peter

Is that because they're happy not having won anything for 4 years?

I haven’t posted here since the beginning of the season when Jose was still in charge, though I always read the excellent reports and comments by the best and most insightful contributors to the site. To be honest, I’m still getting my head around Avram Grant’s appointment – things have to be taken a little calmer when you’re older, and 44 years as a fan gives you a certain perspective on things. A further cause is I’m based up north now (at a University not far from Barnsley) and don’t get to see too many games in the flesh. But Tony’s extended blast from last night demands a reaction. The way I see it is that Chelsea fans, in general, are probably still in a state of suspended shock. Sure, there are a hard core of the old, true fans who regard the club as their own, let their opinions be heard at games and are not frightened to scare the horses…by which I mean the owners, and in particular Roman. But the majority of those who go to the Bridge, and who make up the wider pool of dedicated supporters in the country, prefer not to make a nuisance for fear he will walk away if the revolt is big enough. (I’m tempted also to think that real dissenters might be afraid to raise their voices too loudly in the light of what our owner’s mate and benefactor Putin does to his adversaries, but that is stretching it a bit.)

This is the wisdom of the crowd kicking in. Like me, they never expected to see two back-to-back titles, never expected the explosion of Cup wins, never expected the regular Champions league semi-finals that have come with Roman’s money, albeit that they came with his investment in Jose and good players. And, also, they probably agree, in principal at least, that with our resources, we ought to play with more style than we often did under Jose (though I was the first to defend his tactics and see nothing essentially wrong with controlled, thoughtful football), so probably, on balance, are willing to go along with changes Jose was not likely to achieve. So, what we have at the moment is an impasse. The fans are tolerating the current results – let’s face it, most of us wrote this season off in September – and waiting to see what Roman does next. Does he stick with a puppet he sees as an extension of his own power in the dressing room and on the training field? Or does he wake up and realise football is a more difficult, more creative, more unpredictable game than he realised? Which would mean him appointing another manager. Because what must now be clear to him is that it takes more than keeping players sweet with high salaries and simply picking a team from a big pool every week. There has to be an overall ethic that bonds the team, a clear set of playing principals and a collective focus – especially in English football, where the power of the collective spirit is probably more pronounced than in any other country.

I think he will re-assess in the summer, after he sees what the current set-up achieves from what is still a potentially successful base. I think what we are all seeing is that a group of very good players, picked in a basic formation can get to the advanced stages of the Champions League (albeit with the fortunate internal collapse of Valencia in the first round, and a lucky draw in the first knock out stage) and can maintain third spot in the Premiership against the expectations of many. Some of Jose’s remaining spirit among the players has ensured that, embodied in JT mostly, who keeps them motivated (what a manager he is going to make one day!). But can it be translated into winning the big trophies that Roman demands and the fans, all with raised expectations now, want to see? Well, we have another 10 weeks to find out. I’m expecting nothing, but hoping for everything. As for the fans in general, I think you’ll see the revolt Tony calls for emerge in the summer if we win nothing and the current set-up remains in place.

I think if there's a revolt, it will be fans voting with their wallets. Our fanbase has always been quite passive, now more than ever. Old fans will just stop going because the club is taking the piss, and the tourists will go to the Emirates.

'Is that because they’re happy not having won anything for 4 years?'

Arsenal fans totally in love with the fact they are the press's darlings - a completely novel experience for them - and that they have a young, exciting team created on a relative shoestring. And the trophies will follow.

They know a good thing when they see one.

Morning Danny - nicely put, and good too see you back on here. Just hope you've found a little more fine cuisine up there than Mark described in his post...!

Gooners are probably more than happy at present; they are aware that even when times are tough, they have a manager that has been the distance and won trophies here before.

@ Joanathan and @ peter.
Wenger has won 3 prem titles (I dont care about cups)!in 11 years with all the clout, big name and history that Arsenal won before he came. Last year the media were all against us because '(it is better for football that Man-U win)...remember all these arguments? about stopping Chelsea dominating the league? Two wins in fifty years and they are all terrified of us dominating the league.! Mr Wenger has utterly and miserable failed in his bid to stop Man-U dominating English football in his country. In that time Man-U have won 9..yes 9 titles! If he is so good then how did he let this happen? Do you think if Jose had still been here this year or for another 5 he would have let Man-u win so much? Wenger inherited a side that had a lot more history, money and fan base than Jose inherited , not to mention fans in the press and media. Teams rebuild and Man-u were rebuilding a new side when Arsenal won the title in 03/04. what he he won since? Further, below is Jose's CV.....by the age of 43!! Compare that to Wngers...

Titles as main coach
2002/03 – UEFA Cup (FC Porto); Portuguese Champion (FC Porto); Portuguese Cup (FC Porto)
2003 РC̢ndido de Oliveira Cup (FC Porto)
2003/04 – Champions league (FC Porto); Portuguese Champion (FC Porto)
2004/05 – English Champion (Chelsea); Carling Cup (Chelsea)
2005 – Community Shield (Chelsea)
2005/06 – English Champion (Chelsea)
2006/07 – Carling Cup (Chelsea)
2006/07 – FA Cup (Chelsea)

Personal Titles
2003 – Best coach in Europe (voted by fans on the UEFA site)
2004 – Best coach in the world (IFFHS election); Best coach in Europe (voted by fans on the UEFA site)
2005 – Best coach in the world (IFFHS election); Best coach in Europe (voted by fans on the UEFA site)
2005 – Order of Infante D. Henrique Honour (distinction attributed on 10 June by the President of Portugal, Jorge Sampaio
2006 – Best Coach of Premier League


Compare this to Wenger, who is how old? When the facts are told, Wenger will be found out in terms of consistency in winning the premiership over the next two years, and they used to call him the professor??, but as DANNY above pointed out, 'controlled, thoughtful football" more like a Chess game as played abroad rather than telling players to run up the field passing the ball as if your'e in a circus, wins titles and he did that in his first three years. SInce then, he has not a jot on United and now he and his media friendly luvvies constantly sniped at JM about the style of play to make up for his own failures. So give me JM above Wenger ANYDAY of the week.

In italy we have a saying - Chi fa falla, e chi non fa sfarfalla - this means Those who act make mistakes; and those who do nothing really blunder.

I dont think any of us mind a mistake as long as it is recognised as one.

I feel a win in either cup will mask over the cracks.

If he cant rally us to beat Barnsley then god help us - its the managers job to put the rocket up them, he lacks this talent. Imagine JM - he would have literally been strangling them to get them up for it.

Apparently Laudrup is the fave to take over.

However, Grant would have already seen mounting speculation on who might succeed him at Stamford Bridge, with former Danish international Michael Laudrup seen as one of the leading candidates.

The 43-year-old Laudrup is currently coaching Spanish side Getafe who beat Benfica in the Uefa Cup last week while also guiding them to the semi-final of the Copa del Rey.

So give me JM above Wenger ANYDAY of the week

Me too. But that wasn't really the point, was it?

Arsenal fans are (rightly) very happy with Wenger; they know they will always challenge and maybe win a pot or two. And irrespective of how you spin it, in terms of trophies won, behind Ferguson he's the most successful Premiership manager of the modern era. One of the reasons for that is that the Arsenal board / owners have faith in him; he isn't going to be replaced with an inept, clueless moron who has friends in high places just because he doesn't deliver a trophy every season. It's called stability and it tends to help when running a football club.

JD

"..he isn’t going to be replaced with an inept, clueless moron who has friends in high places"

Uh oh, and wherever on earth did such impossibly abominable thing happen? :)


Munkey

a fellow Spag? Red Bologna here!

JD,
I agree fully which means the fault lies??......that's right with ROMAN! for appointing said moron...so therin lies the dilema....He got carried away with his own (I have the money which is enough to win) and (we dont play beautifull football) Hype. So what as fans do we do now?

oh and one more thing, Wenger is only the most succesfull manager behind Ferguson because JM's reign was cut short, otherwise that would have ended too...probably next year! but that's by the by now.....Barca lost again yesterday . I saw the match...and they lost because... they cant defend simply. All that huffing and puffing running up and down the pitch and they lost!! So much for attractive football. And yes Messi is out but he is one player...

Bluetone - from Florence - a through and through Napoli supporter though - back in the big league :)

Munkey

a dyed-in-the-wool Cagliari fan - back in the Serie B!

keep in touch for the QF draw: could easily be the Olimpico

KTBFF

If we are going to discuss possible replacements for AG then, is Laudrup the ideal choice? Again no significant track record or trophies, do we want to go down that road?, surely someone with a reputation and a CV to match would best fit into whatever plans RA has.
Does anyone know of a manager who is currently out of work?, with a winning mentality, sticks two fingers up to the establishment, and great tactical nous. If we can't think of anyone then I suggest Tony, JD or anyone else on this blog with some semblance of a football brain take charge, let the MUTINY begin!

There are so many things i want to say. I will start with:

Boris got himself bodyguards by the looks of things in Barnsley. He had better.I think somebody needs to let that fat face know no body likes him.
I wish i was at the bridge for the next game.

Roman no longer attends our games, i thougt he wanteds to watch the beautiful game we are playing now. surely money can buy you common sense, especially if you have 18 billion of it

i can't wait for the summer. the rumours of a mass exodus, the refusal new players to come to such a messed shit hole called the bridge and taking instructions from the guy whose previous honours include the ISREAL CUP, A CC finals and and what?

Then this one craps me up. Ten CATE comes with a line like this 'i came to England to have a piece of mind and work in serenity' Mr TEN CATE if you wanted a holiday, you should have gone to Qater. you wanted to work in peace so you left Ajax and came to chelsea? you must be getting advice from Piet and Eugene.

AVRAM claims he needs to win one of the remaining trophies to stay in the job. Boris is finally developing a sense of humour. Boris i hope you read this blog. There is no chance in the seas on land in the air or in the heavens or hell that you will come close to touching any silverware, you prick.
Oh i forgot i hear the old temple walls have magic,so i suggest Boris passes by after his coaching lectures.

Oh this idea occured to me, maybe Boris needs time, lets be fair to him he has been in charge 30 or so odd games. I'm sure we can reach some sort of compromise. How about the club loans Boris out for the rest of the season and make the deal permanent at end of the season.
i mean there a few clubs that would 'benefit' from this guys.
VALENCIA, FULHAM,RECREATIVO OR OLYMIACOS.

It was refreshing to hear from the special one last week. this guy is just a class act. He reminds of OBAMA.

HERE ARE MY PLAYER RATINGS.

MALOUDA: This guy plays like he has injured both his groins and has polio

SWP: well what can i say? he always forgets his head in the dressing room.headless chicken. He is lucky he cost 22?million and he is english so where do you offload such a guy?

Claudio PIZZARO. CLAUDIO never raises his head to look around when on the pitch, this guy literally plays blind. thats talent for you.
i think PIZZA boy will stay i mean he has always been a bench guy.plus lets face it the guy will never get a better deal.

Essien: Essien needs to be caned, enough said

How could i forget. the rumour is that MILAN want sheva back. well hell, one mans trash is another mans trash. i hear kenyon complaining about the wage bill and all those fancy percentages. is this not obviuos to him or what? i suggest 10 million quid and a promise never to defraud us again( this must be in writing,we know cunning the Italians can be)

I heard BENZEMA AND AGUERRO said no. well who blames them. WHAT WRONG WITH OUR GUYS? i think what the team needs first is pace, creativity,dribbling skills and a drastic reduction in average age in that mid field and a real holding midfielder, certainly not ESSIEN, MIKEL OR MAKA. otherwise why the hell are you bringing BENZEMA AND SERGIO.

NOW THAT MEDVEDEV HAS WON THE ELECTIONS, RA SHOULD COME BACK TO LOND0N AND SORT OUT THIS MESS THAT IS CALLED MANAGEMENT AT THE BRIDGE.

MAYBE PUTIN FOR THE NEXT MANAGER OF CFC, I MEAN THE GUY IS RUTHLESS,EX-KGB(maybe he has dossiers on the sick vouyer(good old days) and he his face is not disintergrating.

DIO - we keep supporting - RA will be more unhappy than we are, he wont like losing money, none of the wealthy people i know do. The richer they are the more it hurts - for all we know they may have a manager lined up but they wont move till the summer so what does he do.

We arent happy - this blog allows us to express our disappointment but when you have made Billions you expect the best and you keep going till you get there - prob the reason none of us have that wealth - so he will know where we stand. The chorus of "JOSE MOURINHO" boomed out at barnsley and rightly so. What do you want RA to do - come out and say i made a mistake - that would undermine his importance and he is probably too proud to do that.

This will get rectified but not till the summer - carry on singing and carry on supporting - its all you can do!

Also if we want to play sexy football you have to go for technically gifted individuals with a quick turn of pace, Hleb, Fabregas, Rosicky etc who can cunjure something out of a small space.

We have big powerful players designed for defending and then breaking on the counter attack. Our midfielders can run all day long, essien, lamps etc. You can see how quickly Ars can travel from one end to the other - we dont do that. If brings me back to my insanity claim. Definition is trying the same thing and expecting a different result. please increase your learning curve avram.

Also chels has always been known for player power - the players when vialli etc were there were more powerful. So we must have a strong manager to counter that and make them play as you want them to. Avram is too weak JM wasnt but developed a GOD complex which i am sure he wont repeat at the next club.

If avram wants to change the tactics then at least play the right people. If not stick with the same as JM had and then buy in the summer.

Also if i had received death threats i would have body guards as well. Common sense really.

I'm frantically hitting my feedreader's refresh button, hoping to see the line "Grant out, Mourinho back" appear, as if by magic.

..and i wonder what JT's up to after the paintball sessions......real bullets?

Excellent travel report from Mark, although (as a non-metropolitan myself) I could have done without the chippy metropolitan snidiness of "By the luck of geography I wasn’t born in Barnsley, where fine dining is a choice between Greggs the bakers and Subway. Barnsley is a hole."

Settle down, lad. It's not that grim up north, tha knows.

On the other hand, "If we continue to drop out of competitions at the current rate we’ll be able to fully focus on our summer tour of Asia" is sublime. Beautifully phrased. It's the sort of thing I come here for.

Taking my life - and my credibility - into my hands, I'd like to dissent from Tony's reference to Wenger's "vile post match comments about Martin Taylor". That was genuinely in the heat of the moment, and I'd prefer to address the odious epithets to the tackle itself, rather than any reaction to it (apart from the unquestionably vile death threats, of course, although it's not just Arsenal fans that issue those, as I remember).

Mind you, AW did rise like a prize koi carp to JM's baiting. TSO indeed, in many ways.

Everybody's stumbling. You're not going to do a Foinavon, are you?

@ TONY

Great piece you wrote there, well said, can tell it came from the heart. If you read this sometime before 6.30am tomorrow, please, please, please let me know how you went on at work. I've been trying to think up some quick answers for the inevitable piss-taking i'm gonna have to endure when i return to work in the morning and can't come up with 1 decent reply. Any tips?!

You only had to look at the line-up against Barnsley the other day..Malouda starting? (becoming more and more disillusioned with HIM by the day), Pizarro...erm...Pizarro on the bench???? Then check out the class that was left back in London..Didier, Lamps, Maka...

When you put it all together, look at it like that, pure and simple, A.G DIDN'T EXPECT to lose. Now he's been threatened with the sack if he doesn't deliver the Champs or Prem..

Oh well....guess it's Adios then!!....

But seriously, did anyone think Jose was in for the long term? He's surely a Capello type of high-impact troubleshooter, who stirs up the old order and wins trophies for his project...then moves on to the next one, with his gang in tow. We were lucky to gave reaped the benefit of his presence for 3 seasons and I think he would have stayed longer but for Roman's decision to switch playing styles. Ferguson and Wenger are different types of manager. They become embedded, build teams from the bottom up, become entirely the 'face' of their team. Here, that role of 'face' essentially belongs to Roman himself. A young guy with billions to spend who happens to have fallen in love with football. He's also building a Russian national team, simultaneous to building Chelsea. He got lucky early with Jose. Like I said above, it remains to be seen how quickly he learns what it takes for sustained success. Gus Hiddink has the Russia job. I really can't see who there is for the Chelsea one.

Oh and Johnathan, re Mark's Barnsley adventure, although Greggs pies and Subway sandwiches are all over Sheffield too, there are one or two decent places to eat. Nothing like down home though.

Ah! Just seen Barnsley have dawn Cardiff in the semis. I think we all be big enough to wish them every success.

Yeah! come on u tykes! its just like watching the chels!

> the paintball sessions

reminded me how much I chuckled when I'd read some wag on the subject of the above (can't remember where); he suggested that it wouldn't have been fair to take Shevchenko or Malouda as they'd have ended up looking like a pair of Jackson Pollocks (not in the rhyming slang sense, of course). Harsh, but fair.

Afternoon SedentaryDave; in the unlikely event that we do a Foinavon, it would be worth the trays of humble pie I'd have to gorge, just to see the collective look on Fergie and Wenger's faces. But even if we got our noses in front, the possiblity of a spectacular Devon Loch type occurence would never be far away in our current mood...

Has Curbs brought a nasty dose of Charlton-itis (patient starts to deteriorate at around the 40 point mark) to Upton Park?

Danny's right about the mood at the Bridge. All along, people have been willing to wait and see, buoyed up by enough good results that it's never turned nasty. If we fail to beat Derby I'm sure it'll be nasty at the final whistle, but overall, I truly think the fans have given AG a fair shake. He said he wanted to change the way the team played and needed some time to change things. I don't think many people believed him, but at least we were able to recognise that new managers *do* need time. And, as Danny says, most of us understand that the club is trying to change direction -- no more galactico transfers, more emphasis on the academy. and above all trying to create the stability that is so obviously the basic requirement of long-term success. So, AG has been cut an awful lot more slack than his extremely underwhelming reputation deserved.

What I think all of us are now realising is that we've been giving him the benefit of the doubt because we accept the need for some changes, but that absolutely no changes are evident. We know the base is strong. Money's no object, good young players are being brought in from all over the world, RA is still keen (he was at the FA Yoof Cup game last Friday). I'm guessing most fans will continue to watch and wait, until the end of the season -- I don't expect to hear anti-Grant chanting on Wednesday.

But if in the summer it becomes clear that the suits still back AG, I suspect there'll be trouble.

Aye, all the best to Barnsley. Would like to see Cardiff do well, if only because Jimmy FH's career deserves a winners medal.

TG - good article.

Pretty much sums everything up. Avram Grant out, out, OUT!

K/T/B/F/F/H

Jonathan - "Has Curbs brought a nasty dose of Charlton-itis (patient starts to deteriorate at around the 40 point mark) to Upton Park?"

Too right he has. 3 4-nils in a row. Blimey. AC must go! (Hmm, that sounds strangely familiar for some reason.)

Blimey. AC must go!

If he does, we've got this bloke that might be of interest...

I see DIC are still probing for an opening to invest in the Scousers. One of the attractions is that with the DIC behind them they'll be able to erect a larger stand.

Still, just like Newcastle fans, the Scousers should be careful what they wish for because this type of deal can always end in a sticky mess.

*laughs heartily in the manner of Sid James circa Carry on Camping*

Part 2 of the 'Fifty got robbed' saga took a horrible twist today.

I'd purchased a replacement coat, via mates rates, a trendy black jacket on Friday.

Got to work, soaked through, and my colleague commented that my new jacket, coupled with my black suit and shoes meant I "looked a bit like that Avram bloke, in a clothes sense anyway".

I was nearly sick.

"I’m frantically hitting my feedreader’s refresh button, hoping to see the line “Grant out, Mourinho back” appear, as if by magic."

Bluetone, I suggest you go drink some pints of beer.

Grant won't be out until, hopefully *fingers crossed* the end of 07/08 season; and for Mr. TSO, he won't come back, being sacked and come strolling back to teach us what football is really all about?

"..and i wonder what JT’s up to after the paintball sessions……real bullets?"

yeah if there were some real ones, just go target on AC.


More lost games, more focus, more attention on us, THEN MUTINY!!!!!!


Insanity it is.


KTBFFH!

“..and i wonder what JT’s up to after the paintball sessions……real bullets?”

Perhaps if JT is going to go down to the woods again, then perhaps we should all be buying shares in Crown or Dulux because it looks like it might become a regular thing.

@ FIFTY

Did you couple the suit with an incredibly bad fitting black polo shirt? *Now that IS attractive!!*
I'm salivating at the thought of it!!

Some women find that look very sexy, just ask A.G's wife, Tzofit.. then again, she does drink her own urine, so she is ever so slightly barmy..

*not entirely true*

Fifty - could have been much worse; if he'd said your football knowledge was on a par with Avram's...

(that said, there isn't a jury on earth that would convict you for decking him...)

JD,

You're right, that would have signified the worst case of GBH-by-keyboard so far....

Due to having 2 young saucepans my chances to watch Chelsea live have been curtailed in the last couple of years so as usual I was restricted to watching the first half on poor peoples TV, follwed by Northern Professional Club radio (5 Live) for the second half as kiddies bathtime intervened.

Thus it was with ear piece in one ear and pyjama'd progeny on knee I was relating an abridged version of the Wizard of Oz when the goal went in and yes I faltered but composed myself and carried on. Luckily the putting to bed routine meant I avoided having to listen to Alan Green and was then able to watch the last 10 minutes on TV.

What has all this got to do with you, the collected fanbase of our beloved club? It is this and I take for my text the Wizard of Oz.

The Wizard of Oz relates far more deeply to the situation at our club than may fist appear likely. Obviously a background in Critical Theory, Post Structuralist Literary criticism etc. would be a help but I will keep it simple.

On the surface the there a 3 characters who along with Dorothy (and Toto too) have their good reasons for trying to find the Wizard of Oz, a figure known and feared throughout the land. The Tin Man lacks a heart, the Scarecrow, a brain and the Lion, courage.

Aha I hear you thinking, yes some of our playing staff and management judging by Saturday's effort.

There's more....

On getting to the Emerald City they have an audience with the Wizard, who appears to each individual in a different shape.

They are set a task and once this is completed they return to the Wizard only to stumble upon the fact that he is not a large imposing, fearsome figure but a little old man behind a screen working everything with levers and buttons.

Shades of the unfolding season and the role of AG I hear you say

Stunned they realize that he has not helped them but that they have within themselves, brains, heart courage etc.

So the simple moral, you would think is that it is for the team to realize that the route to success lies within themseleves and not an external agency (like a manager).

But there is a deeper and more disturbing side to this.

We have all heard the rumours that his coterie have convinced RA that football success is built around money - lots of - spent on top players, facilities and youth development and all you need is some coaching staff to keep it all ticking over.

They have all obviously sat and watched the Wizard of Oz together.

No need then to have some famed, fearsome persona at the heart of affairs, just a little old man behind the screen pressing the buttons.

Friends, we are living with this dire misinterpretation of a key text in Western literature.

And also left wondering why the club strategy is based on a Hollywood movie

Here my dear friends endeth the lesson.

For a full and proper interpretation of the text please forward £10 and a stamped addressed envelope

That man is a genius. Sign him up Nick.

I want to see every match report for the rest of season incorporating metaphorical and analytical comparisons to the classics of pre-post-modern Western literature (and/or their big budget cinematic adaptations for the great unread).

Who would the Munchkins be then?

Lions and Tigers and Bears...OH MY!!!!!

That man is a genius. Sign him up Nick

And failing that, find out what he's drinking. If Grant stays in charge much longer, we could all do worse than partaking in a couple of pints of the same.

We take Hiddink after the euros. Convince him to come in and build from the star. Give him a good long run, to shape everything his way...

' Most of you have not supported a team that has played the Arsenal way; you just don't understand. You don't get it! '

This from the Guardian blog. Fuck me, how pompous and self-deluded are Gooners these days???

This bit of research never seemed so APT.

New research shows that the facial features of the CEOs of the Top 25 firms in the Fortune 500 are rated as more attractive than those of the bottom 25 Fortune 500 companies. The study showed that there is a statistically significant link between facial attractiveness and company profits.

So, should your company choose its leaders based on beauty or brains?

The research showed a statistically significant link between the profits of the companies and the facial attractiveness scores. In other words, it seems that attractive leaders could be more motivating. Or their could be a link between the facial features that we find attractive and the ability to run a company. Either way, it seems that profits depend on beauty.


AND WE HAVE GRANT AKA FIFTY :)

it seems that profits depend on beauty

Has anyone seen Pompey's accounts of late...?

Has anyone seen Pompey’s accounts of late…?

Tony lives close by, has he been dipping his hand in their till??

unfortunately at the same time of the game we had people over for dinner. All i saw was two jumps: Anelka's (sanctioned) and Odejayi's (err...not sanctioned)

And anyway bedtime stories of late include "yellow submarine" (picture book) and Maisy.
All i can elaborate is:
in yellow submarine the meanies are Blue.
As for Maisy, the only relevant aspect seems to be that her knowledge of football must be on a par with AG's.
Well, I'm a lawyer, not a literary commentator.

on a more sensible note

manure 0 1 pompey
barnsley 1 0 chelsea
Wigan 0 0 Arse

Cup hangover anyone?

@ Lollipop

Nothing from the Manure fans except a shrugged shoulder
Nothing from the Hubcap thieves except a knowing smile
Nothing from the Gooners exept for a "good for the competition" comment

A Spuds fan walked past, laughed and said something along the lines of "Hey, beaten by some fucking pie eating northerners, 30 places below you, your time is over"

To which I wittily replied

"Fuck off you North london twat...talk to me when you've won something"

"What like the Carling Cup"

"....oh yeah...um...ah......sorry off to a meeting"

Not funny. Not big. Not clever.

Sorry lolli...can't help any further. Still smarting you might say.

@ Those who are lauding...errr...Laudrup. He couldn't settle as a player in London and couldn't wait to get away. I don't think I'd welcome him back. If not Rijkaard in the summer, then I'd settle for Hughes, Deschamps or O' Neill and at a push maybe Bilic.

Looks like DIC have withdrawn prematurely

LINK

@ TONY

Oh, good gawd!
Dreading it, in fact i can feel an illness coming on as i type this!!

Thanks for the advice, might just go with the usual option then. Silence, a smile, plus a couple of hand gestures! x

Can i borrow your suit of armour/rhino skin please?....or the 12 bore might well be sufficient..

i think it would be a huge mistake to fire AG now.

i'll try and explain why, but before you all slay me i'll say that

a. i dont think AG was a great hire by RA.
b. i dont think that AG is the best long term answer as our coach.

BUT...

firing him now will just compound one mistake made five months ago with another, with this one being even more costly because we're in the middle of a title run.
for all of you saying that he's a complete moron, i full-heartedly disagree. he might be mediocre, but he's not terrible. as proof i offer his w/l record.
we can win a trophy with this guy.

so why the rush to sack him? we got some big games coming up in the league, including arse and manu at the bridge. i'm practically salivating over the notion of the so-called "genius" wenger losing the league title to certified none-genius/doofus AG. fergie's face might become permanently purple.

@ Lollipop - I'm sure the smile will work, but be careful of the hand gestures...in case they're taken as an offer!

Blimey, you've got me at it now.......

“Fuck off you North london twat…talk to me when you’ve won something”


I think you can be forgiven for that sentence, because he quite obviously didn't allow you to finish it with the words "of major significance"

@ TONY

Good Lord! What's wrong with the boys on this blog?!

I'm getting accused of allsorts! I'll be getting banned at this rate..

I'M INNOCENT I TELL YOU!!!!!

@ Lollipop

'Good Lord! What’s wrong with the boys on this blog?!'

I think that the seventh word in that sentence is self answering ;-)

@ Peter,
These days? Cor blimey, I don't think that it has anything to do with recent events, do you? Those guys have been up their own Arse - pardon any pun - for as long as I can remember, if there is one thing that I would like to thank my old man for it is the fact that he's a blue an not one of those swell heads...

@ Clive..... damn I wish I'd thought of that at the time!

@ Sayid - I think its fair to say that all of us on the blog realise that another change now would probably be even more counter-productive in a season of turmoil. I think you can assume most of us accpet that we are where we are, and are really looking for the club to accept that AG is wrong and replace him in the summer. Move him back upstairs if need be so no one loses face, but he is not a head coach, and neither are Ten Bob and Steve Clarke.

And you can offer me any record bar Grant's...even one by Westlife. His record in whatever the w/l is , is hardly the stamp of managerial pedigree is it? With his hangdog demeanour it's more like the stamp of Pedigree Chum.

@Tony
he has, what, 6 losses in 30 games?
again, im not trying to prove he's a world class coach (that would be emm.... difficult).
but i think he can win the PL.
and i think we have a puncher's chance at the CL.
we've shown some true flashes of brilliance, it's just these "suddenly-nobody-knows-what-the-hell-theyre-doing" team melt-downs that are so infuriating. but that seems fixable... i hope.

@ Tony

@ Those who are lauding…errr…Laudrup. He couldn’t settle as a player in London and couldn’t wait to get away. I don’t think I’d welcome him back. If not Rijkaard in the summer, then I’d settle for Hughes, Deschamps or O’ Neill and at a push maybe Bilic.

if i am right, I think the Laudrup in the headlines is brother Michael and not Brian who played for us (and the missus wore the trousers in the family! :-)).

@ Celery - you're right! I must sack my researchers....It was Brian I thought was the coach. So maybe he would be a bright young thing to bring in, although for me Deschamps is more proven.

@ Sayid - yes, his record allegedly compares to JM in all respects bar one....the games that really count.

I keep saying it, can't see R.A getting rid of A.G yet, he's only been in the job 6 months but been given a 4 year contract. It would cost an absolute fortune to pay him off. Ok, Roman can afford it but that ain't the point.

There's no use in giving him a job upstairs either, that would be pointless. If he isn't good enough in a managerial role, then what use would he be in helping to run the place?..God help it!!

They know in football, that there are websites like this. Why don't they try reading them once in a while? Show an interest for once in how people are feeling.

Give Harry Redknapp the job as manager i say!

@ TONY
Yup, boys will be boys..x

The problems Deschamps had were down to his lack of man management skills if reports of previous seasons are to be believed.

Although things did seem to turn out alright for him at Juve.
AND he must have the drive to win major honours as a manager if you go by his imperious playing career.

PLUS there won't be any questions about respect.

Still, I'd like to see hiddink. Very good relations with Abramovic as far those kinds of relationhips go, so e'd probably allow him a good amount of time to get things right.

By the way, the point from the wizard of Oz analogy actually makes good sense...

HarryReknapp at a bigger club would be good. If only he'd went up to Geordieland before Keegan.

Then, if things worked out really well for him there, ie - he was really challenging for top four place and showing real positive signs, we could feel a lot safer about snapping someone like him up.

It's true as well about the AG sacking likelihood. I just don't get why a man who's supposed to be so financially astute would ruah off to give the monkfish that contract after such few games. okay he's rich enough to burn a note with every breath and still have enough to use as toilet paper or whatever, but what about how it all reflects on him. Spending extravagantly is one ting but getting it wrong so many times, he is becoming a right clown.

(Wouldn't he make a memorable russian villian in a film? Dispatching his adversaries with head bobbing side to side and that idiotic grin...)

@ CASHIF

I think what Harry's done at Portsmouth is amazing with the players he has. Imagine him at Chelsea? He'd be like a kid in a candy store with all the players to choose from. I think he's great...wasted at Portsmouth.

@Sayid

"so why the rush to sack him? we got some big games coming up in the league, including arse and manu at the bridge."
Exactly Sayid, because we have got some BIG games to come where chelsea could make the difference that CFC should REPLACE this monkfish immediately.

i fear it will not be possible to attract a good coach at this stage of the season. I know one who is available but I do not think Roman wants Jose back! lool. I fugure we are kind of stuck with glum one. Hence, we have our old form back

There is no point in moving him upstairs until the end of the season, it will have no major influence on the side, I totally agree. Unless of course we do a Newcastle and reappoint our messiah who is currently sitting in Portugal winding up Wenger from afar, and would probably be far more effective if he moved a bit closer to do it instead.

another thing, we looked short of motivation...i eman we strolled onto the pitch knowing very well that Manure had lost to Pompey. If we had the winner's mentality we would have alreday known that the FA Cup was ours (thats how brutal we should be in thought), but we went ahead and loked inept and headless at the least. we lost.
overturn the situation. if this had been the scenario; we play before Manure, we lose 1-0, Manure hears about it before they step onto the pitch, i doubt if they would have lost that game (anyway they shouldnt have lost it anyway it was just sheer bad luck). the fact that we lost would have galvanised them even more.

just by the look of things, you can tell that we are not champion looking, we do not have that mentality, we do not look like that army we used to look like when we walked onto the pitch. we are just like any other team, Manure and Arsnl and even Liverpool have an air of confidence about them than we do.

@Sayid
i do not see us winning against Manure, and i think we might even lsoe to Arsene at the bridge.

we are just out of it.

LINK

JD,
Agree that Barnsley deserved the win, well done to them. But we lost not because of AG and selection (the players on the pitch should have been good enough to see the game off,too good even! AG could have played all the reserves and they should have won it) it is irrelevant who was playing, whatever the selection someone should be left out, so AG is always open for a cheap shot on the selection. To me some players just did not do enough and this is not first time we see that. Every game Essien play, we loose goal straight after him loosing position. Do not want to single him out but that seams to be the case. Seems we can not win a game when he is playing.
Still can not blame AG for selecting him. Anyway is not just us out of the cup and after Arse dropping points again, who knows what the table will be come May

@Munkeyfeet, thanks for the link. very interesting.
Abromavich is not the sort of person to take below par performance and i think he must reeling right now. or he better be.
however i still think uprooting most players would be too drastic. i understand his frustration but i dont think the team needs a revolution, we just need the right technical team and we will be ok. most of the players we have right now are of the right calibre.
what we need comrade Abromavich, is simply a coach....nothing more nothing less. Get the right coach, let him strengthen the current squad, get rid of extra flesh like Pizza boy and Schevchenko,and we will be home and dry.
but its great to see Abromavich is unhappy, and he wants to crack the whip. he must acknowledge that he made a blunder on the TSO issue and he should not act too drastically this time around, he should sit down, consider his options, find an exprienced coach who could win consistently for a few more seasons, and we will be ok

So has he gone yet?

this one's interesting too

LINK

@Peter. no, Grant is not gone yet, but if the media is to be believed Abmv is really going to crack the whip at end of the season

He's still here? Goddammit, has the man no shame...?

That Didier story is hilarious. Footballers! What a bunch of wallies!

Goddammit, has the man no shame…?

No... he has no talent!
Please write it one hundred times, and then stand in the corner.

*Footballers! What a bunch of wallies!*

That's for sure (and i won't mention King of Wallies Cassano sending back a car he'd bought the day before coz he'd just seen Corradi's new one - they were not Ford Fiesta)

But i still have this feeling that Chels matters a lot to our D, however strange misleading and outlandish his ways to express it (bit like JM with his "kill chels" claims)

***opens the flame-proof umbrella***

I'm sure Didier was just buying for family and friends. And neighbours. And some nice chaps he met on the flight back from Ghana last month. And...

LINK

Oh good. Another centre back. So thats JT, Riccy, TBH, Alex, Mancienne on loan, another guy 'parked' at PSV who's name escapes me now.

JD / Peter,

Of course he's still here. When he masterminds the last minute 1 - 0 destruction of Derby tomorrow, it'll be the recovery we needed after yet another 'blip' on Saturday.

Don't forget, they're not a title rival, or cup opposition, so AG should be o.k. just chucking 11 names on a team sheet and crossing his fingers.

Look at the facts, it worked against Wigan. And Olympiakos. And not many others......

'Oh good. Another centre back. So thats JT, Riccy, TBH, Alex, Mancienne on loan, another guy ‘parked’ at PSV who’s name escapes me now.'

Don't forget the mysterious Ivanovic, if he exists.

Ivanovic is a tax dodge, I'm convinced of it.

Isn't Alcides the bloke parked at PSV? Not really seen anything of him other than against Spurs the other night - looked fine based on 90 minutes which obviously isn't saying much.

Peter,

I pondered, for literally seconds, to include him in my list, but he was signed due to his apparent ability to play anywhere across the back.

'Jack of all trades, master of none' as they say.....

JD,

Alcides, that's the one. Looked fine for 90 minutes against the Spuds, so playing for us is probably below him now.

Laughingly, theres a story in todays Guardian ( LINK ) about Hank Top Cat being reprimanded by the board for whingeing to the Dutch press about training ground revelations or something. But the paragraph that stopped my heart was this :

"Grant would like to bring in another coach this summer, one from his native Israel,..." Great. Another coach (theres a National Express related pun waiting to happen). Someone else with zero footballing experience.

Are we trying to corner the world market in crap, overpaid, interfering coaches? Shame we just let Bryan Robson slip through our fingers to become 'ambassador' at Old Trafford.

Because nothing says ambassador like an incompetent, alcoholic, philandering, former flasher...

I'm just hoping that we don't miss out on Barry Fry.

Some posters on here are saying it's not Avram's fault the team didnn't perform on Saturday.

Hold on, isn't he the manager of the team? The person who makes every player hungry to win and play good football? The person who stands on the side line and shouts and screems until his players do what is nessisary to wuin the game?

No Avram is not this person. When i player is having a holwer of a game would you leave them on for the second half?


This guy is wrong for the job, no two ways about it. I think we missed a trick with not signing Coppello. Hidink, i'm not convinced about. Rikjard is an option but didn't he and Henk fall out? There's this young manager who i think would be perfect, his name is Jose Mourinho, he prefesses to be The Special One. He'd make us the best team in the world!

Lets pray Avram gets the boot at the end of the season (and not before) and the best possible replacement is installed.

K/T/B/F/F/H

@ JD

I'd think that owning Chelsea is a tax dodge for RM. It's also harder for the Russian maffia aka government to asasinate him now he's in the lime light.

Arsenal 29 66
Man Utd 28 64
Chelsea 27 58

We really are still fighting strong on two big fronts (Pl and CL). Lets wait til the end of the season and see where we are then. I admit i'm not hopeful - mainly because i can't see Grant masterminding victories against the big teams - but i'm willing to reserve my judgement and have a little bit of patience!

CheBeef

*Hold on, isn't he the manager of the team?*

IMO it is right yet even much more complicated than this.
Not only AG's inadequacies are exposed as time and games go, it is also unclear who is really in charge. AG? HTC? RA? Kenyon? Arnesen? the seniors?
It is this apparently (and i stress the adverb, because in this case appearence is as important as substance) continuous overlapping of powers that is affecting the team performance and morale.
In a nutshell: its a mess, which is even harder to sort out than a simple lack of managerial competence.
I'm afraid that Avram being "wrong for the job", which he certainly is, is worrying in itself but, more alarmingly, it's only part of the problem

ambassadors at work


LINK

"Don't peeshing in the street" (catalanglish?)

Bluetone - i totally agree - AG is wrong as he has no fire in his belly - fergie, wenger and JM all took it personally - AG seems to just glide along looking for others to do the hard/nasty work.

It is worrying that the powers above seem hell bent on tinkering - maybe they should have had that nickname along with ranieri!

I put it down to this though - its RA first club - we dont have the heritage of Ars, Barca, Man U so we have to build that. JM came in and did well but lets be honest his last season didnt start well. RA expected him to blossom and not just maintain where he took us - steady the ship - win some trophys and push on to the next level. When he blamed lack of money RA blew his top and rightly so. Now like any good boss you support the next person with a budget to build THEIR team, hence where we will be this summer. I think they took a chance with AG and thought it might work, if it does great if not then lets tap up those we want for 9 months and get them in the summer.

AG knows what he has to do so if he does it and grows into the role - fine, if not then he has to go.

I think like JM learnt leassons from his first BIG club, RA has learnt a lot too and will stop tinkering when he feels he has the complete manager - one who can sell shirts in other continents - keep the press positive and satisfy the owners thirst for trophys in a good style whilst keeping the balance of the team.

I dont think we will have this mess next year. They let AG bring in his own back room - basically enough rope to triumph or hang himself and the same will happen for the next manager.

I think RA has seen what some of the players are like now over a 4 year period - he has also seen how Ars have grown without the seemingly undroppable pair of Viera and henry. Will Lamps/DD go - if they do it wont be for commercial sense but because they believe the ship will be better without them.

No player is bigger than the club.

I dont think we need a proven manager at all - just one with the right traits. hunger, intelligence, adaptability, self aware, tactically strong, pride in what he does, great communication and brave.

Like a JM prior to porto.

Has he gone yet?..........oh dear, apparantley in one report I read he's actually planning for next year!!!! Goes from bad to worse.......and unless there is a thrashing of Derby, there will be boos tnt and the chanting of Avram must go as well as JM's name sung out. Some may not like it but it has to be done for the good of Chelsea FC......

@CheBeef and some others-
Guys when we loose, some of you want to lynch AG when we win should have same effect in opposite direction, that’s physic’s law. Mind you is not Avram fault he got the job, is it? Also some of the players should get theyr share of blame, or prise.
@fifty - "Look at the facts, it worked against Wigan. And Olympiakos. And not many others……"....forget to mention Valencia, Rosenborg and the rest of 20 something teams

"There’s this young manager who i think would be perfect, his name is Jose Mourinho, he prefesses to be The Special One. He’d make us the best team in the world!" - oh dear!:)))

Jiko - I think for a long time i will compare the Chelsea manager to TSO. He did so much for us in such a short time.

Physics law doesn't come in to play here whatsoever. Of course when we win praise is due to the manager; but this is not black and white. Yes the win is most important, but when we loose in the FA Cup final the way we did and to Barnsley the way we did there is an undoubted issue with this mans management of our team.

KTBFFH

Spot on Chebeef!! If jose had been on the bench and seen that first half performance, Malouda, SWP and possibly Essien would have been off for the seocon half!! Full stop!

This git is clueless, end of.

Both players and AG should get praised for the wins and criticised for the losses, but at the end of the day, he is NOT the man for the job.

Here's an idea:

Those at the Bridge tomorrow should be chanting the owner's name immediately followed by "Jose Mourinho" for the duration of the 90 minutes!! (blunt I know).

Or at worst stay behind after the final whistle for 15 minutes and do so.
(if doing it during the match might affect the players or possibly the outcome!!)

This way the supporters will be directly appealing to Roman to bring back Jose,
whilst showing him love and respect!

C'mon Roman, I know you are up for it!

Munkeyfeet:

I would argue that JMs last season was his best - having been forced to sell Gallas, having lost control of transfers, and having been required to switch to 4-4-2 to put Shevchenko and Ballack in his team every week. Look at them and other buys since Arnesen - Boulahrouz, Ben Haim, Sidwell, Pizzaro, Malouda. What a success story. OK, Ballack's alright, but he does not do what Lampard does.

Regarding AG/HTC - neither have experience of English football, yet try to convert Chelsea to a 4-2-4 (Aston Villa at home to Portsmouth away), or when scared, a 4-1-4-1 (Liverpool, Olympiakos away, Spurs cup final). Utter, utter crap. The 4-3-3 was restored against Huddersfield, West Ham and Olympiakos at home, then for some unknown reason they go back to 4-2-4 against Barnsley. Muppets.

Chelsea's strength was always a rock hard midfield, and every title winning team needs it. It is not possible with 4-2-4, while 4-1-4-1 puts so many of them in there nobody bothers trying to score a goal. This is why the likes of Essien have completely disappeared.

The players obviously think the management doesn't know what its doing. I remember a Boxing Day game at Southampton in Hoddle's first season, Chelsea lost 2-0 I think, Clarkie played left back (!), and if Swindon had won their game that day Chelsea would have been bottom. Wise and co. had it out with Hoddle afterwards; net result we beat high-flying Newcastle the next day and went on to the cup final.

If we are to do anything in the PL or CL, the same thing needs to happen. Restore the 4-3-3, restore the midfield, play the way we know and sideline the stupid ideas of these mugs. I think their goose is cooked anyway, so there is no risk they will still be in charge next season even if we do win something.

This season JM had started experimenting with 'attacking football' the way Abramovic seemingly wanted. We were playing 2 forwards and four midfielders and ended up conceding quite a few.

Then Lamps gets injured, Drogba gets injured and things turned sour.

Yeah, so RA wanted to see JM taking us to the next level, why didn't he let him have the time.

And the not enough money comments - wasn't that JM having a poke at him for Sheva...?

The only problem I can think with Hiddink is that his domestic success came only at PSV , in a mickey mouse league (as even our very own JFH puts it). But, you could argue it was the same with JM before he came over.

At Betis, Valencia and Real if he had all the resources and some time - the way we could give him at Chelsea - it would probably have been different.
On the other hand, he has won the European Cup, and is keen to have his team play the open freeflowing football RA wanted from JM.

1986/87 - Eredivisie: Champion with PSV Eindhoven.
1987/88 - European Cup: Champion with PSV.
1987/88 - Eredivisie: Champion with PSV.
1987/88 - KNVB Cup: Champion with PSV.
1988/89 - Eredivisie: Champion with PSV.
1988/89 - KNVB Cup: Champion with PSV.
1989/90 - KNVB Cup: Champion with PSV.
1998 - Intercontinental Cup (football): Champion with Real Madrid.
1998 - 1998 FIFA World Cup: Fourth place with the Netherlands.
2002 - 2002 FIFA World Cup: Fourth place with South Korea.
2002/03 - Eredivisie: Champion with PSV.
2004/05 - Eredivisie: Champion with PSV.
2004/05 - KNVB Cup: Champion with PSV.
2005 - Rinus Michels Award
2005/06 - Eredivisie: Champion with PSV.
2006 - 2006 FIFA World Cup: Second round with Australia.
2006 - Rinus Michels Award

@CheBeef&celery - Guys agree AG is not the man, but to ask back for Jose is like getting back with your ex, could work for a while but honeymoon will be over soon. Also I do not believe Arse, Lpoo and Mu fans are calling for their manager’s heads. To me, if you are professional you should do your job properly. I can not imagine me underperforming at work and my manager getting stick for that. So please do some shouting on Drog, Essien and company to wake them up tomorrow!!!

@jack- So what you saing mate,JM was "yes" man, AG is not! :)) that is interesting!

'The players obviously think the management doesn’t know what its doing. I remember a Boxing Day game at Southampton in Hoddle’s first season, Chelsea lost 2-0 I think, Clarkie played left back (!), and if Swindon had won their game that day Chelsea would have been bottom. Wise and co. had it out with Hoddle afterwards; net result we beat high-flying Newcastle the next day and went on to the cup final.'

Yeah, I was there at the Dell (think it was 3-1). We were awful. I'm pretty sure that Wise and Clarke forced Hoddle to abandon his beloved 3-5-2 because we didn't have the players for it - it was only reintroduced after Petrescu and Phelan were signed.

Totally agree, the best system for the players we have and the way we play is 4-3-3. The idea that we can play 4-4-2 or 4-2-4 with our wingers is laughable (although the diamond is doable - I quite liked that formation last season).

My one caveat is that we should be more flexible within matches (Mourinho's great strength).

Even if the fans did miraculously persuade RA, Some major major grovelling would be needed. Roman Abramovic on his knees before the Special one, I don't think so.

JM's historic era is over. Empty hope for those who want him back.

Now if Abramovic chants were followed by 'Grant Out!' that that would be good.

Jiko,

"..forget to mention Valencia, Rosenborg and the rest of 20 something teams.."

They were included in my assessment that it hasn't happened much. Valencia have imploded spectacularly, and lost at home to Rosenborg where ex-Spud Stefan Iversen helped himself to a couple of headers. That says it all.

Rosenborg at home was truly 'one of those games' where it just wasn't going to happen. They were average at best, as we eventually proved. The other 20 or so you elude to are of a suitable standard that anyone with our resources should win, hence my point that Grant's never cut it when he's really needed to. That's why I mentioned the fact we'll be o.k as long as the opposition isn't a title rival or in a cup.

'Restore the 4-3-3, restore the midfield, play the way we know'

You mean 'play the way JM knew'?

@Fifty
Would you not also agree that there was an element of teams taking us a little less seriously after everything that went on? Man City, for instance, where we were given so much time and space it was laughable.

Jose this...JM that...etc
For all those who have been ranting like possessed kids here...Is he by chance the same guy that Rafa got the best of in his 2 CL semi finals with us, albeit with the same best collection of players in the world?...or the one that crashed out to barca because he was too scared to come out and attack in both legs of that CL knock-out round?

Some idiots would tell us that AG has not won against any team of substance...JM laboured to get a DRAW (AT THE BRIDGE) from 'lowly' Rosenburg incase you lot have forgotten (that led to his sack didnt it?)...and what did AG do to Rosenburg away?

What most people do here in recent times is merely... "giving the dog a bad name just to hang it"...You guys should stop this lopsided approach to addressing issues...

Cagey football like JM's is for the short term...the very big teams with impressive and improving bottom lines are those inclined towards flair play (its a major factor in winning fans and consequently boosting your bottom line)

RA knows this and has experimented in that direction...he may have picked the wrong manager, only time will tell cos if you ask me, some of the players in the team can not be flair players {hate to mention names here but some of the english players (amongst others) are just not good enough for a team of chelsea's calibre}...I hope the story of players overhaul this summer is true...

Some have been branding the name of Rijkaard here...with this set of players, he will struggle to make an impact and impose flair play...

Enough said....

Always Blue!

@jack- I would say that JM best season was his first, with Duff, Roben, Gudionsen and Crespo in the team. Best games in CL against Barcelona and BMunich, very close to be on CL final if not for Gudi miss in the last minute….That season Chelsea played the best football. how much that was due to JM and how much to the players CR brought in, is open to argument. The fact is the more Mourinho-ish the team become, the more unattractive become and less silverware as well. His last year TSO won exactly what CR did in his last. Just my opinion

By the way...did we ever get to see Ballack and Lamps play WELL together under JM?....at least before Ballacks injury...

@Alex
'laboured to get a draw'

We must've had about 20 shots and hit the bar 3 times, and it WAS superShev on the pitch instead of Drogs, right?

I, in my humble opinion, happen to think he was generally 'cagey', relying on what he called 'transition football'. And the point that managers who concentrate a lot more on organization and workrate than other more forward-thinking managers are short term - like Capello, well, I was shot down for making that point a few weeks back.

Spot on Alex :)! Is not AG fault he ends up there! It is only because JM left (LINK), so he is trying his best. Sometimes is enough, sometimes is not! As with everyone!

'His last year TSO won exactly what CR did in his last. Just my opinion.'

Er. No. And it's not opinion, it's just plain wrong. (Mourinho won the two trophies Grant just handed over without a whimper).

Are Alex and Jiko the same person?

Jiko, do you really need me to explain the difference between Rafa, Ferguson and Wenger and Grant? It's called 'having a track record' and Grant doesn't have one.

Ditto Alex - if you want to reduce Mourinho's achievements at Chelsea to one result against Rosenberg than feel free to do so, just don't expect to be taken seriously by us. (Oh, and your analysis of the Barcelona defeat is woefully inept - the problem is we attacked too much when down to ten men at home.)

I can't believe anybody with Chelsea's interests at heart and in possession of a modicum of football intelligence would want Grant to be in charge next season.

> Jiko...
You are not wrong...JM's performance was on the decline. He was whipping teams at will in his 1st season...and was struggling to beat/draw with middle and low rung teams in his last season (and earlier in this season)...that for me was DECLINE!

Add that to cagey football and you'll understand why RA felt there was need for a change...RA may have realised that some players need to be flushed out too...and not just the manager...We may need to change the manager, time will tell

Always Blue!

Chelsea boss Avram Grant has warned his players if he goes - he'll take several of them with him at the end of the season !!!!!!!!!!!LINK
having my ribs cracked once more!! where to ? and what kind of person with all his resonable senses would allow this guy to manage his team....?

Chelsea boss Avram Grant has warned his players if he goes - he'll take several of them with him at the end of the season !!!!!!!!!!!LINK
having my ribs cracked once more!! where to ?Egypt? gazza? m.haifa? and what kind of person with all his resonable senses would allow this guy to manage his team....?

'what kind of person with all his resonable senses would allow this guy to manage his team….?'

If you met Alex and Jiko?

I mean...

Have you met Alex and Jiko?

> Peter...

Go take a look at those matches again....both legs
1st leg we played with too much respect and were chasing the game throughout...
2nd leg we were too scared to play as we were overrun in the midfield...JM ended up sending Huth or Terry upfront as striker!...utter Rubbish!

And if he was so good as you lot would make us believe....why did he fall twice to Benitez (a 'devil he knew') when it MATTERED MOST?

I respect JM...but he had his limitations and problems too...not the 'perfect manager' being brandied here by persons with their own agenda...

This 'Overhaul' nonesense.

Look at the ManUre midfield that won last year. Scholes, Carrick, Fletcher, O'Shae, Smith, Park, and a paceless Ryan giggs.

How many of them are Barcelona standard technical flair players? They managed to win the title at the same time playing some entertaining football.

We need only a few changes, not some bleeding squad revolution.

Peter, nobody is claiming that AG should be there next season. But let the season finish first! Fact that AG does not have track record same as AF, AV , but neither did JM.
Claudio finish second in the league, got FA cup and went out in the semis, same what JM did last year. Is that wrong? I will be surprised if JM comes back, so let’s look forward, otherwise will become like Liverpool-ians…history and all!

Ben Haim probably.

(counts as two btw)

Alex, I'm not sure anybody has said Mourinho is the perfect manager they're just saying that for all his flaws he was a hell of a lot better than what we have at the moment.

If you dispute that, than I despair.

@ Prodicky, I also red the article. If true only confirms what Ag is playing his mind games with the wrong people. Buy that he only makes the players even more insecure, and the players have one advantage, almost all of them will find an adequate NEW Team to play, what I very much drought AG will find one for him self.

Alex,

Rosenborg a team of substance? Well then, clever Avram. JM had been neutered by then anyway (largely by Avram), and Rosenborg away was weeks after their season had ended. But you know, credit where credit's due ....

As for Barcelona, were you at another game? Didn't you see the second half at the Bridge, when down to 10 men we ran them ragged for 25 minutes, took the lead, should have had two, let in the equalizer, should have had another - if anything JM was at fault for not closing it down at 1-0. Regarding Lampard and Ballack - too easy - Barcelona at the Bridge the next year (1-0), they were both brilliant. Ballack cannot do what Lampard does, and it is not difficult to play them together. By the way - Barcelona never beat us when we had 11 men ....

Jiko - believe it or not JM *was* a yes man for the first half of last season, it was when he got fed up being one that crisis struck. It took about 5 months or so. No question those Barca and Bayern games were the most exciting; my reason for saying season 3 was because he had no fit players and the hierarchy against him and yet there was only 1 fixture Chelsea didn't fulfill - the CL final, and they only missed that on penalties.

I agree with whoever said JM can't come back, but that's not the point. It's just that in their efforts to justify their existence AG/HTC have tried to differentiate the football from JM, and in so doing have tried to introduce systems that don't have a cat in hell's chance of succeeding in England and that bore you to death as well.

I don't care what anyone says, Chelsea have been at their most exciting this season when the crap has been discarded and we have played with the power and control that was JMs hallmark from the previous 3 years. Liverpool did it for decades, the Italians did it for decades.

Guys when I read some of you, what springs to mind is, how many managers we could change by the end of the season if it is up to some of you?

JM had no track record?

Sounds as though someone needs a screwdriver.

@ Alex, can u name here how many managers you would say they are clearly better than JM. No one is perfect, I thing on that we all can agree, but comparing JM with AG, brings the first one very close to perfection :-)

My God, as if it couldn't get any worse on the FA Cup front, I've just read the coverage moves to ITV from the BBC next season.

16 ad breaks before anyone says anything; the insightful presenting of Steve Rider who, to my mind, never covered a single football match in all his time at the BBC; Clive Tyldesley and the 'impartial' Jim Beglin wetting themselves over Liverpool, whether they win, lose or draw.

And Robbie Earle and Andy 'The Legend' Townsend doing their little bit at a collapsable card table on the side of the pitch.

The romance of the Cup, eh.

JM ended up sending Huth or Terry upfront as striker!…utter Rubbish!

Indeed. You'd never catch a managerial giant like Fergie putting someone like O'Shea up front when he needed a goal. And Terry in that position - ridiculous; he'd never be able to nod the ball on to Drogba to clinch a vital goal somewhere like the Nou Camp, would he?

No-one has suggested that Mourinho didn't have his faults Alex; but compared to Grant - well, no need to go any further really, is there? Pick individual examples to justify things all you like - Grant is hopelessly and irretrievably out of his depth and floundering badly.

'Fact that AG does not have track record same as AF, AV , but neither did JM.
Claudio finish second in the league, got FA cup and went out in the semis, same what JM did last year. Is that wrong?'

It is difficult to know where to start with a statement so filled with factual inaccuracies it is actually rather embarrassing.

@prodicky - I bet you in the summer AG is gone and some of the players with him, as well! that is like 99% on!

@jack - I do not believe we could get a MANAGER at this time of the season, so no point making it worse, is it?

Strewth, I missed that. Goebbels would have been proud.

Not so much the Barca game, even though we wold have lost to them with our 11 men save for a dodgy pen - it's the Liverscum game last year. We just didn't look like doing any damage. It was untypically feeble. For me, there was always way too much on a frequently under-supported Drogba's shoulders under JM.

>Cashif...
Overhaul should cut across different areas of the team and not just the midfield...Like a defender that can carry the ball confidently to the opposition half, or shoot with near precision (at worst) when on the edge of the opponent's 6yard box as against shooting down the surveillance chopper hovering around the pitch...

Midfielders who are not scared or dont lose their cool just because they see an opponent 4 metres away from them...

CALM Fullbacks with very good ball control skills and who dont back-pedal each time a winger comes in their direction...

We could go on and on....but i guess the message should be clear by now

@Cashif - not the same as AF and AV , fact, NO? I think they both have won more then JM, or this is not so?

Ball carrying defenders, What is Carvalho then?
Beletti, Ashley Cole, Bridge. How many are there available better than those - who WILL be comfortable in te English League?

'CALM Fullbacks with very good ball control skills and who dont back-pedal each time a winger comes in their direction…'

What about...
... A goalkeeper who can juggle with his feet stuck up in the air?

Cashif - I agree, the Liverpool away leg was very disappointing and I think there was too much Drogba that day. The Drogba option is always that if you can't get in the way you want to, then you smash the door down. You need both, like Arsenal have learned with Adebayor.

Jiko, I agree, can't change the manager(s) now, but that's why I mention Southampton 1993 - the players changed the tactics that time and it worked. The management have lost the players at Chelsea now through their gormless tactics, the only hope is they now listen to the players and do something sensible.

Who won last year? Who played the best fotball? Let's hold our hands up and admit it was United.

Ball carrying defenders...

Ferdinand on a good day when the'yre 3 goals up
Evra - yeah he is bloody good.
Vidic?
Brown?
O Shae?
Slvestre?
Heinze?

Well lets hope so Jack

Alex - I'm struggling to take you seriously. Did you just say scared midfielders? Like Mikel, Maka, Essien, Lampard and Ballack?

If you can't make a team out of the juggernaut left by JM you don't deserve to be in management. The very ESSENCE of his team was the midfield.

Jack, agree with you here as well. But the essence in some of the players is gone, loosing the ball easy, loose passing, and negative passing back. To me Essien does not look more than 6m player at the moment right now. It is up to the manager, but is up to the player to stand and be counted, as some do!

Isn't it as much to do with movement and working on positions of players when going forward and when they lose the ball.
The right balance and some flexibilty.
Of course you need players who will retain the ball otherwise all the movements rather pointless. But we haven't developed a style like that, because we haven't had a manager who's been given the time to do that. Untill we do, we'll keep looking erratic and uncoordinated (other than in very breif flashes) the way we do.

Stick in all the technical player you want, but they won't have the understanding to go forward and open up teams unless we start to build a style of play (similar to Uniteds). Even if this super-technical squad do, we'll end up shipping too many the other way.

Ferguson's had the time, he's got his ideas, his style of play and he knows how to get them playing with the movement and variation, at the same time making sure they keep the defence solid.

@ Jack

Alex - I’m struggling to take you seriously.

Why would you want to??!!!

The essence is gone?

Hardly surprising. They don't want to play for their manager. They don't truly feel as though things are going in the right direction and that they can count on him. The focus and determination has waned.

In the case of Essien, compounded with all of the above, the AFCON could have something to do with his present demeanour.

Seriously - screw all of your arguements - Cashif has it

What about…
… A goalkeeper who can juggle with his feet stuck up in the air?

NOW THAT WOULD ENTERTAIN THE FUCK OUT OF ME!!! We could lose 10 nil and that would make me chuckle - nearly as much as spider pig

> Cashif...
when vidic goes forward for set pieces and heads the ball, he really HEADS it...not like JT who's not been anythng near sharp...Alex is in better form and would have buried (or foced a save with that) last shot that JT wasted...Alex also links attack far better than JT...noticed that we'v been shaky at the defence since JT came back to the team?...guess you wouldnt

Do you see brown and evra shying away from tackles like our full backs do? (especially our left backs)...our leftbacks would backpedal from half field into their own 18yard box if pushed...

there's no question some people on this blog are CFC plant's. One of those typing at the bridge on all the blogs secretly undercover trying to get Grant some support. it goes on....Well, you've come to the wrong place. Go and look up the facts about JM's record in Football since he started, then compare that in his brief 7 years to Ferguson and Wenger at the same age...as for Grant, he's not even in the same book let alone league. I despair of some of the supporters on here, only a few mind you. e.g if Ranieri was as good, why did we not win the League? it's ALL ABOUT WINNING!. In twenty years time, nobody apart from media pundits whose job it is to know the historical facts will remember those who came second. That's it. !!!If your'e not a winner, your'e a loser, check it out in the Oxford dictionary, the opposite of a winner is........????

Seriously leave essien out of it - he is someone who plays from the heart - he doesnt have faith in AG and Ten Cate so isnt playing well because he doesnt beleive in what we are doing.

Thats it - dont turn on him - he is a brilliant player that just gets on with it.

Like ricky bobby - if your not first your last.

Shake and bake baby.

I think in the case of Malouda and Essien, thier underformance should be directly linked with Jose's departure.

underperformance that is!

i dont know celery - i think malouda should go to real or somewhere a bit more girly. he is too light weight for the PL - lacks the fight.

I dont think its JM specfically just in disbelief at the dross we now have!

@Cashif - "The essence is gone?

Hardly surprising. They don’t want to play for their manager" - one would think they should play for the team and the paycheks they get as well


@Munkeyfeet - "Seriously leave essien out of it - he is someone who plays from the heart - he doesnt have faith in AG and Ten Cate so isnt playing well because he doesnt beleive in what we are doing" - then he should be not playing

I agree Munkey that he may not be suited to the PL.

That said, he did have a decent start. He had said before that Jose's persuit was why he picked us over others, and he has looked disinterested since Jose left.

Jiko - it's because the tactics employed by AG/HTC negate a powerful, dynamic midfield. They are the exact opposite in that respect to JM. How can you have a powerful midfield with 2 in it (in a 4-2-4)? If they try their other trick (4-1-4-1), they're all sitting on top of each other with a holding player giving it to each of them by rotation.

Now look at Huddersfield (3-1), West Ham (4-0), Olympiakos (3-0). 4-3-3 (with Lampard) in each case, almost the only times it has been played (I think) since Christmas (maybe Everton away, not sure). WTF would you then go and play 4-2-4 at Barnsley?????

Celery - yeah, sorry!

Jiko - that is easier said than done - if you are very calculated or self centred then yes you can just get on with it but if you are passionate it is very hard to self motivate - if that was the case why have a manager at all!

I agree he shouldnt until he gets his head right - i was merely stating that he should be left alone.

If we were to close the gap by winning our games in hand we could swell see a slightly more enthusiastic level of performance from the whole team and not just the few who'll try their best - Ie, Joe Cole, Terry, Carvalho, Bridge...

As for paycheques, that's what a lot of them are doing, putting on a CFC shirt, getting n the pitch for 90 mins and getting off again regardless of a good, mediocre or poor performance.

MALOUDA? This just is one gutless wimp. He should have a word with Evra on how to deal with the physical nature of the premiership if he wants to stay.
Though it doesn't look as though he's too interested in staying anyway, what with monkfish in charge and Drogba unsettled.

>Dio...
In line with your question and thought pattern....if JM was good why didnt he win the CL?

He did with Porto!! :-)

I think we all agree winning the PL is the hardest task at hand and he won it back to back with first the highest point total ever not to mention all the records he broke and installed for the first time!

In line with your question and thought pattern….if JM was good why didnt he win the CL?

He did with Porto

You beat me to it Celery

But a lot of people mainly Liverpool supporters think the CL is the measure of the best team and great managers. It's a f**king cup competiton, where you need huge slices of luck as well as skill. How many times has Wenger won it and how many times has Fergie won it? says it all really.

My sentiments exactly, Clive.

The CL is a crippled tournament. havent liked it for a minute. it shamelessly favours the Milans and the Liverpools who are out of the title race by november.
A final between two fourth placed should really make the tophatts think hard about the formula. as it is now it's only a watered down take on the (old) UEFA Cup.
All this fuss about Europe-in-our-DNA is utter crap.

And i'll maintain this even if CFC by some serious twist of fate go on and win it.

As much as it would be nice to win it, give me the PL any day, I'd love Chelsea to win that every year for the next ten. And to do it by Christmas as well! which is usually the time Liverpool surrender it!

@ Alex, This is the point, how can you not know that JM did not win the CL? the prem is not the only league in Europe! Not only did he do it with Porto but a side which has nowhere near the financial muscle of either Man-U or Arsenal in today's climate where the money in the prem is as big as Portugal, Holland, Germany put together but a team of almost nobody's at the time! Wenger has never won it and Fergie himself keeps on going on about how his Man-U can not be called a great team with one CL win in 21 years!!! and how old is he? that also leads to the reason why Jose quite clearly thought himself as A special one, not the only one as the media like to put it since he meant those that have won the CL are special. There are not many managers around who have either. Less than 20 in fifty years of all the hundreds of managers across european football in fact. However, I agree with you and others that one of the most irritating things was the loss to Liverpool in the second CL semi last year. That game, was I believe a negative for JM. We did'nt push forward enough, were'nt aggresive enough and it looked at times as if we wanted to just keep them from scoring. That is my only bad feeling about JM's reign...a big one I know, but nonetheless a spot on his otherwise excellent managerial skills. Of ocurse, the spinelss Sevchenko and Ballack did'nt help going off for their op's instead of being like John Terry. But still, it did not feel right given his tactics and the sqaud at his disposal that day. then again, you cant win them all....

Lafs...
A case of sour grapes i see...

sour?



grapes?





moi?

As mentioned many times luck plays a part in any cup competition, and for the luck that JM had against Utd, you could argue he had bad luck the following year against Liverpool. And a reminder about that game, and someone criticising JM's tactics of sticking Terry and Huth up front in last gasp attempt to get something from the game. Wasn't it Huth's header down to Eidur that nearly got us the goal that..... well the rest is history as Liverpool like to say.

>Dio and all one sighted people above

"e.g if Ranieri was as good, why did we not win the League?"

You questioned Ranieri's COMPETENCE in HIS TENURE as CHELSEA MANAGER in terms of winning the premiership....

I'm doing the same for JM, comparing HIS COMPETENCE as CHELSEA MANAGER in terms of winning the CL....since "its all about winning"

Simple like for like...Or you lot need further clarification?

...So dont take it out of context by bringing in JM's tenure at porto...cos you'v already restricted Ranieri's assessment to his tenure at Chelsea...

Enough said i guess...

“e.g if Ranieri was as good, why did we not win the League?”

Am I myopic? I don't recall ever saying Ranieri was good, but I will stick my neck out and say he's probably better than Grant.

Capello, Trapetoni, Hiddink, DelBosque, Ferguson, Mourinho, Benitez, Ancelotti, Sacchi, Van Gaal, Hitzfeld, Reijkaard.

Those are probably the only CL winners around who are managieng at the moment.

I you want a winner, from the list, Id go for....

Hiddink

(There's a surprise...)

sacchi's out of job
lippi is on the verge of one (i'd say AC Milan or........)

>Clive Oh Clive...

Those were Dio's words being thrown back at him...and to all who reacted hastily to my comments on Mr. JM and the CL title...

No No No!!!

We'll have some SHEKSHI Football from here on in, thanks.

Someone on here has said "it's not Avram's fault he got the job is it?"
What a really bizarre statement to come out with!
It wasn't his fault he got the job?!..He wasn't exactly FORCED into it either!!
"Just hold him down lads, give him the pen, force him into accepting this job that pays £4 million a year!" Yeah, whatever!!!!

He was in a very lucky position to be best mates with the (multi billionaire) owner. What most people object to here, is the underhanded way in which Avram got the manager's job. Mourinho was doing just fine as he was. Getting great results, home AND away, also picking up some Silverware for the cabinet along tha way.

Fans loved him and still do. Players respected him, mangers of rival clubs respected him. Good God, even rival fans envied us because he was in charge at Chelsea.. and that's what mattered. Getting respect also ensured that winning results on the pitch were practically guaranteed.

What the fans, media, the World and his Wife asked when he was shown the door last September was "why fix something that ain't broken?". It didn't and still doesn't make any sense. Roman and co could't even give him a decent reason for wanting him out, so came up with "they were fed up with him making a fool out of Chelsea, being outspoken in his views of rivals etc". Absolute rubbish!! Wenger and McFergie have been doing the same thing for years, yet Arsenal and United would NEVER send them packing...because they bring in results!

Now we have Avram, who i think we're stuck with for a few more years yet. What has he achieved so far?..
No respect from players
No respect from the fans
No respect from the Media, who in turn are contributing to turn us into a laughing stock
We've gone on to lose both the Carling Cup AND FA CUP within a couple of weeks of one another..

Roman + Avram = it's not WHAT you know..it's WHO you know...

@ CASHIF
Seriously, leave Essien out of it-he is someone who plays from the heart-he doesn't have faith in AG and Ten Cate so isn't playing well beacause he doesn't believe in what we are doing-then he should not be playing

Spot on. Couldn't of put it better.
They need to dock his wages by a few thousand pound a week...maybe that would be enough of an incentive to play better than what he is doing at the mo. Performed brilliantly in Africa, gets back here and is crap.
If he's that unhappy in his work, he should leave and take Malouda, Pizarro, Sidwell, Sick note Sheva with him IMO

Yes..i've had a bad day..

Hold on a sec, wasn't I agreeing with that?

Reckon you're havin a lollipop at the wrong person there,

Sod this!

Let's all pack it in and enjoy watching Liverscum being whalloped.

As someone who's gone on record as a fan and admirer of this site, I must say it does have a tendency to turn into a seemingly endless episode of "Mind Your Language" sometimes.

Oops. A singularly inappropriate remark for a lapsed Guardian reader to make.

@ CASHIF

You're right mate! Sorry, it was JIKO. I apologise.

Getting my JIKO's and CASHIF's all mixed up!...

@ Lollipop

'He was in a very lucky position to be best mates with the (multi billionaire) owner.'

So, Mr Grant, what was it that first attracted you to the multi-billionaire Roman Abramovich?

Lolli - you should have more bad days, after that ....ahem...impassioned speech I think I've just fallen in love.......

@ TONY

Why, thankyou very much for the compliment. I am truly honoured to have the love of the great Tony Glover!

In fact...i'm blushing at the mere thought...

That's twice now that the scum have managed to get a player sent off for nothing. How can that happen for God's sake?

I HATE them so much!

Gerrard..Carragher..tossers, the pair of 'em!!

You just know we'll end up playing them next..Crying out loud!!!!!!!!

In fact…i’m blushing at the mere thought…

And the rest of us are vomiting violently ;-)

'As someone who’s gone on record as a fan and admirer of this site, I must say it does have a tendency to turn into a seemingly endless episode of “Mind Your Language” sometimes.'

Ha ha: is it Chelsea, the global brand, or London, the melting pot?

Be interested to know which other blogs you rate Sedentary Dave.

@ Alex, JOSE WON THE CL!!! It does'nt matter WHO WITH< HE DID AND THATS THAT! GRANT IS SHIT AND LIVE WITH IT MATE. I liked Ranieri as a person BUT he has never won a league title in all his career and was sacked from THREE clubs for NOT winning the title.

If we draw Liverpool again, it'll mean we've played them five teams a year for four successive seasons - 20 games in four years. That's got to be some sort of record.

I Cant believe this loser, check out his comments :LINK
Typical of LOSERS who look for excuses

Vieri was like an Elephant all night , plodding around. Made two passes of any repute and Mancini makes no changes until the end of the game! The whole team threw away that game, literally! A real pathetic display even before the sending off!

@ CLIVE

you've totally ruined a tender moment in 8 words!!

@ Clive

Yeah....why ruin my little glimpse of light at the end of the dark tunnel...

Oh I see....it's your way of bringing me back to reality.

A bit like AG and Chelsea then...you know "Right, you've had your fun, now it's back to how things were"

*walks away from burst bubble*

@ TONY

Yup, the thought that Avram will still be at Chelsea tomorrow morning is enough to bring you crashing back down to earth..

That Clive is an evil man..

I've just heard that Gordon Brown will solve our problem this week by recruiting Avram.

Apparently he's going to be made available to needy organisations as a Government Grant.

No, Mark, he's going to be made available to the dogs!

BREAKING NEWS. Mancini has just anounced his resignation from Inter Milan to take place at the end of the season.! It's just breaking now on the news wires. I gues we know where Jose is heading...and Drogba...posssibly Lampard too.!!

Do we want him?

We do want Mancini when Grant becomes yummy dog food! :-)

My vote is no.

Although unlucky to lose to the Scousers with sendings off in each game!

He had plenty of money and a great squad in the last couple of years but failed
to make preogress in CL both years. Weak league as well.

I dont want Mancini. His lack of trying to change tonights game when it was clear to see at least three players who quite frankly looked as if they werent concerned about winning thge game means he would find it hard to motivate. He is a winner though and who knows? I think a Scholari type would be best otherwise we will get back to before JM when Man-u and Arsenal think it's their god given right to win every year

And I agree Inter should now be Jose's number one choice!

Even a dummy is better than Grant, I don't bloody care! Just get him out of my sight!

With four quarter finalists in the CL confirmed, and with three semi-finalists last year, one can understand why Platini is so keen on reducing the Premiership's role in the competition. With only Barca as a big name (and they are playing pretty poorly at the moment), the odds must be strong on one of the English sides winning this year. I can't see Roma, Fenerbahce, or Schalke winning the trophy. If it were not for all the current turmoil, I would have said that this was going to be Chelsea's year. Let us hope ManU draws Barca, Liverpool v Arsenal, and we get the Hungarians with Schalke or Roma to follow. Surely RA has a few mil he can throw at the EUFA officials to guarantee that - though on current form, I don't suppose it much matters who we get.

On another note, Barnsley won 4-1 tonight.

JM was not a god... get over it. he had many flaws as a manager, one of those being his conservative play, which contributed immensely to all three of our CL exits during his tenure.

AG is no idiot. he's done great for us so far, and the crap about not winning big games is simply BS in my mind. the only measure is trophies, and the season is by no means done yet. i think some people want him fired now because they are genuinely AFRAID that he just might eek out a title, and just might prove himself enough to stay...