League Cup: Chelsea 1 - 1 Burnley (aet; Burnley win 5 - 4 on penalties)
Thursday, 13 November 08, 04:21 AM · Comments (67)
Match reports
The Guardian, Mike Adamson: "In 1956 these two teams played an FA Cup tie that lasted five matches and nine hours, the length of time this tie must have felt to the Chelsea manager, Luiz Felipe Scolari. He watched his team concede the first-half lead given to them by Didier Drogba, making his first start for six weeks, as an impressive Burnley team took the game to extra-time. The Championship side then beat the Premier League leaders on penalties thanks largely to the heroics of their goalkeeper, Brian Jensen."
Daily Telegraph, John Ley: "Burnley created the shock of the season so far as they sent Chelsea out of the Carling Cup in the most dramatic of penalty shoot-outs thanks to a man nicknamed The Beast. After starting the season unbeaten, Luiz Felipe Scolari has been introduced to the London Bus syndrome: wait ages for a defeat, then three come in quick succession."
The Times, Nick Szczepanik: "The Carling Cup has been boom or bust for Chelsea since 2004-05 and last night it was bust again as they went out to Burnley on penalties at Stamford Bridge. Winners twice and losing finalists once in the past four seasons, Chelsea also recorded the only domestic home defeat in José Mourinho's time as manager in this competition, when they went down on penalties to Charlton Athletic after a 1-1 draw in October 2005."
The Independent, Hyder Jawad: "The pain of Moscow came flooding back for Chelsea as they bowed out of the Carling Cup last night, losing 5-4 in a penalty shoot-out against Burnley at Stamford Bridge. The stakes might have been lower than they were against Manchester United in the Champions League final, but that was not how it felt to the Burnley supporters, all 6,500 of them, who celebrated a memorable victory."
Official Chelsea FC Website: "Didier Drogba's first goal of the season was not enough as shoot-out misery continues."
The goals
Sky News highlights (54 seconds).The excuses
- We were trying to conserve our resources for the main competitions.
- The pitch was too dry. We can only play on an inch of water.
- With the economic downturn the club wanted to save fans the expense of a cup run.
- Players got distracted by the scores coming through from White Hart Lane.
- We’re better after a defeat because we have great bouncebackability therefore we’re nicely set up for West Brom away which is more important.
Who's to blame?
Big Phil- Clearly doesn’t understand the quality of the full league in England and has not learnt from the mistakes of others, like Benitez who made a similar error for Liverpool to lose to Burnley in the FA Cup.
- Picked a team that was neither fish nor foul. Either play the reserves/kids or play the first team.
- If you’ve got big players on the bench you’re better off starting with them and taking them off when we have an unassailable lead, rather than bringing them on later.
- Had a mix of players that meant we couldn’t play our normal game of passing and attacking down the wings.
- Poor substitutions. Taking off Drogba when the game clearly wasn’t won and leaving us with no further substitutes was naïve and we got suitably punished when Di Santo went off injured leaving us with 10 men.
Ray Wilkins
- He does understand the quality of the full league in England and should have given Big Phil better and stronger advice.
The match
We started badly. You can normally tell within the first five minutes of a match whether the team is going to play well or badly and this had all the signals of a poor performance. Our normal slick passing game evaporated and we struggled to find any rhythm, instead humping a few long balls up to Drogba.
Belletti got injured and Super Frank arrived after 30 minutes. Within one minute the first quality ball of the game was made by Frank and Drogba, still with some work to do, made a quality finish. Surely time to relax and enjoy the romp. But Burnley didn’t lie down and we all knew that this wasn’t game over.
At half time Mikel came on for Deco and finally we started to pass a bit so clearly the Mikel/Frank combination is crucial to our new style of play.
After 70 minutes Drogba was replaced with Di Santo. Within a minute Burnley equalised. A shot was saved by Carlo but Akinbiyi followed up on the rebound.
We huffed and puffed and had a few good opportunities, especially an open goal for Alex but had to play extra time with 10 men because Di Santo hobbled down the tunnel. Penalties looked inevitable.
Wayne Bridge missed our second penalty. You could tell by his run up that he didn’t look confident. Burnley missed their penultimate kick and it looked like we might be redeemed but Mikel followed with a miss. Game over.
The players
- Carlo Cudicini: Fragile. Only Gomez inspires less confidence. Dropped plenty of balls early on and made lots of suspect clearances that immediately put us under pressure. Once rated the best in the Premier League unfortunately, despite being a lovely bloke, we need to get a new number 2.
- Paulo Ferreira: Ok but doesn’t give attacking options like the Bos. Difficult to take seriously because every time Paulo got the ball the bloke behind me shouted “Here comes the wine waiter”.
- Alex: Average to good.
- Branislav Ivanovic: Average.
- Wayne Bridge: Good but not as good as usual. One superb cross but rubbish penalty. Captain for the night?
- Juliano Belletti: Hardly got going before getting injured.
- Deco: Useless. His completion rate of passes was 100% (to Burnley players). Slow witted and kept losing the ball.
- Florent Malouda: Average to poor. Gets his name shouted a lot by the crowd but not in a way he’d find endearing.
- Mineiro: What’s the point? Looked like Makalele’s kid brother.
- Salomon Kalou: Average to poor. Willing but mis-directed.
- Didier Drogba: Average. Looked a bit better than recent comebacks and took his goal well. Chucked a coin back at the Burnley fans so will probably be suspended. He’s due a rest.
- Frank Lampard (sub 25): Good, set up the goal.
- John Obi Mikel (sub 46): Good. Our best player.
- Franco Di Santo (sub 68): Lightweight.
Best player
John Obi Mikel.Conclusion
So the plan was to save the big guns, like Lampard and Terry, roll over Burnley and be fit to topple West Brom at the weekend. As it transpired Lampard had to play 90 minutes and a large number of regulars had to play 120. And we lost. Clearly a plan that misfired!
We didn’t play our passing game. I’m wondering how much of this was due to having Drogba in the team which tempts the players to hump it long to his chest. Time will tell but Big Phil will face a dilemma if and when Drogba gets properly fit.
We can now concentrate on three competitions, just like our closest rivals Liverpool, so we’re not giving them an advantage.
Only the end of season review will be able to prove whether this defeat is a blessing in disguise or the first of many calamities. I’m certainly enjoying our style of play this season but we don’t want to become the new Arsenal, with lots of stylish play applauded by the critics, but trophyless. Only one question remains. Who is more crap at penalties, us or England?
Related links
Like this blog? Help spread the word: 
67 Comments · Add yours
Mark
We were playing Burnley not Hull, or were we playing Burnley and Hull last night, that would explain our defeat. :-)
I knew I shouldn't have had that extra beer!
Great review mark, but the references to Hull have lost me mate.
The Drogba Ultimatum - first he is a daft bastard for chucking the coin back. All the good PR undone by headline hungry tabloid vultures no doubt ready with pens sharpened to demonstrate the loathsome side of Chelsea. And yes, it does seem our game is built on lumping long balls to him when he's on, just look at my review for the Sunderland game. When he came on there we lost all the slick passing up front and started launching the ball from our own half.
The Carlo Memorandum - I've been saying for some time that we need to get a decent young keeper into the number 2 position and NOT Hilario. Either let Carlo leave for a final decent payday elsewhere, or give him the goalkeeper coaching role for Cech.
The Deco Witch Project - a case of somebody on a good payday without trying? A great player at times but not even close to being a Zola for consistency. At times his attitude is worse than ...........Berbatov's?
The Arsenal Conspiracy - it does look like a route we may be taking as RA seemed obsessed by stylish football. I agree I don't want to be back in Trophy Desert sat astride a camel ready for the knackers yard.
Ah, beer related typo. Fully understandable and even endorsed if the beer was medicinal in order to anaesthetise the pain of defeat, or celebrate the money saving/stress reduction of the Unnecessary Cup.
Look if anyone else points out my Hull typo, which incidentally I've asked Nick to correct, I'm going to lose it and start throwing coins at the blog!
Whilst I agree with comments on the previous article about it being a good thing we're out to combat possible burn out, there's no denying that we came undone against a side who simply wanted it more than our ageing reserves.
It would be easier to accept had we played more kids, but all it does is highlight that certain 'fringe' players clearly aren't up for much of a fight to try and win a first team place.
Why on Gods green Earth TSSO insists on continuing with the same two wide men in a forth choice cup competition is beyond me. Ideal opportunity to see if Sinclair can offer anything different, yet all we have to endure are more hapless antics from the Chuckle brothers - Saloman and Florent. Yes, substitutions were hampered by yet more injuries (will we ever play a game when we dont pick up a knock) but we've already seen (more than) enough of them two this season. No idea how Sinclair must feel, all hyped up as a genuine talent and yet again not given a chance. Another spell on loan is a dead cert now.
As for penalties, yes it's a lottery and yes, we've been nothing short of attrocious with them over the last 5 years, but does anyone really think Bridge or Mikel could score? Thought not. I'm sure they volunteered, but surely TSSO or Butch needs to be standing up to them and saying 'Jon, you're a quality holding midfielder mate, but even from 12 yards you've got bugger all chance of scoring. You shoot like a frog having a fit'.
Look if anyone else points out my Hull typo, which incidentally I've asked Nick to correct, I'm going to lose it and start throwing coins at the blog!
Can you make sure they're wrapped up nicely in those bank coin bags, and only pound coins please!
Hull Hull Hull...
Waiting for mine...
Hi guys!
Great review MARK..agree with it all..got lost at Hull though ;)..just kidding!
What is it with Chelsea, lower league teams and penalties?!!! Aaaarggghhhhh!!!
Simple fact is, if Chelsea want to be in and WIN all competitions, DON'T start a game leaving your big players on the bench..for that alone, we got what we deserved as MARK rightly pointed out..
As for the "Coin throwing incident" as it's referred to on SSN, ffs people! Get a grip! And why the hell are the police involved?! Didier is a human being with feelings, i would've reacted a hell of a lot worse if i'd of had a coin thrown at me. We saw the damage it can do the other week, when the same incident nearly had someone's eye out! At least he's done the decent thing and apologised..more than i would've done. Just hope the FA and Met Police look into which idiot threw it in the first place and get the yob banned from going to another game..
as usual though where Chelsea are involved, it's a huge debate where the drama queens are out in force..
God, it winds me up! >:(
She's back! And not a moment too soon :-)
> Picked a team that was neither fish nor foul
Nail on the head there, Mark - think that played a bigger part in our downfall than anything else. Little more to be said on the subject really - squad is far thinner than the numbers actually suggest. Drogs - silly bugger; what is he playing at?
Not a great night, but well done Burnley. A mauling at the hands of Arsenal's toddlers awaits you...
For a spot of perspective, Real Madrid went out of the Copa de Rey to a third tier side; sh*t happens, and all that.
Lolli out on remand, I see - time off for good behaviour, was it? :-)
Now, now JD...that was uncalled for methinx xx
@ TONY
Glad someone missed me!! ;))
Thanks for everything the last couple of weeks..i won't forget it, it meant a lot...love ya!! xx
After last year's experience at Wembley, this sort of humiliation I'm happy to live with.
Great thing about the early stages of the Carling Cup, it's nice if you win but who cares if you lose?
I went to the game - what a nightmare.
We were truly shit and Mark you are spot on to say that Burnley deserved to win. It was embarassing - end of.
From my POV you are very kind to Malouda and Kalou who were most at fault for squandering the majority of our many chances - in my view they were the main culprits. Mind you Drogba wasn't much better barring the goal, but at least he has the excuse that he's been injured. The team looked complacent and uninterested to me, especially in the final third.
Just to add to the joy of last night we had to endure the longest ever wait for the tube and by the time we got back home the pubs were closed!
Not my best ever night out at the Bridge shall we say!
Welcome back Lolli, it's been a bit unruly around here without you, we need your mistress type approach to bring some discipline back. ;-)
Err didn't get this in my RSS feed, had to trudge all the way over here. Just sayin.
Err didn't get this in my RSS feed, had to trudge all the way over here. Just sayin.
Are people getting lazy? or are people getting lazy?
I can't abide by having to press my mouse button more than twice either :-)
What is an RSS feed? Is it like FaceSpace and MyBook and all that other stuff that I don't really understand...
*slopes away in state of shameful ignorance*
I do RSS and I'm technophobic.
It's very helpful if you have a few blogs/sites you like to check daily. Not like Facebook at all.
Nick will explain.
RSS stands for Rested Scott Sinclair I think although I'm not technical.
Actually I think it might be Rubbish Squad Selection or Re-Sign Steve Sidwell.
It's definitely one of the above.
Well it defo doesn't stand for Re-sign Steve Sidwell!
Search for "Google reader" in Google follow the instuctions. Add this (and/or any other good website you use - bbc sport for example) as a feed. Easy if you follow the instructions. All your internet content in one place.
I have 99 feeds (about 10 footy ones)
I got the feed 17 mins ago so thanks for that.
Not sure why the feed is taking so long to update in Google Reader etc. The feed itself is working as intended but seems to be taking hours to show up in readers. LINK I will ping Feedburner manually after the next post, see if that helps.
How do I feel about last night's result? Meh. LINK
Welcome back, Lolli!
Not much to add other than that in suffering to the bitter end last night I've eradicated my guilt at missing the Liverpool game and proved we can lose at home even when I'm there - though of course TSO refused to recognise the Charlton loss on pens mentioned on the previous blog as a real defeat.
To cheer us all up here's a list of penalty shoot-outs we actually won before our current miserable streak started. I found this on cfcnet today when I was trying to find the date of the Leicester one which I remember seeing:
25-Oct-83 Tue FL Cup Leicester City home L 0-2 aet: W 4-3 pens
13-Nov-85 Wed FM Cup West Bromwich A away D 2-2 aet: W 5-4 pens
26-Nov-91 Tue FM Cup Ipswich Town home D 2-2 aet: W 4-3 pens
31-Jul-93 Sat Makita T Ajax, Amsterdam WH Lane D 1-1 W 4-2 pens
17-Jan-96 Wed FA Cup Newcastle Utd away D 2-2 aet: W 4-2 pens
03-Aug-96 Sat Umbro T Nottingham Forest away D 0-0 W 4-3 pens
26-Jul-97 Sat Umbro IT Newcastle Utd D 1-1 W 3-1 pens
15-Oct-97 Wed FL Cup Blackburn Rovers home D 1-1 W 4-2 pens
07-Jan-98 Wed FL Cup Ipswich Town away D 2-2 aet: W 4-1 pens
27-Jul-03 Sun PL Asia Cup Newcastle Utd Malaysia D 0-0 W 5-4 pens
Younger readers may need to be told that "FM Cup" refers to the Full Members Cup which was an invention of Ken Bates in the days when we were too rubbish to even qualify for the UEFA Cup which had a number of exciting sponsors like "Zenith Data Systems" and "Simod" during its short life - but gave us our only Wembley Cup Finals in the dark days of the 1980s.
I remember the Makita Tools one being on TV for some bizarre reason, and a certain Kevin Hitchcock was our goal keeping saviour. And then we signed Dmitri Kharine.
What a list, just goes to show we only really excel in penalties when there's nothing of any significance at stake.
All this RSS gubbins has me lost. Isn't the blog clever enough to just text me when some new content is ready, waiting to drag me away from my work?
I used to like the Makita. Remember beating Spurs 4-0 with a Cascarino hat-trick!
Our record at penalties is hilariously awful. I was at the Blackburn game I think, and possibly the Forest Umbro Cup one (at the City Ground).
Liverpool, by contrast, have only ever lost one game on penalties. Extraordinarily, I was there - a League Cup quarter-final at Wimbledon in the early 90s. Cracking game too.
If Michael Ballack was any sort of bloke he'd
a.) Be willing to don face masks of every player before the shoot out, similar to the type so convincingly (?) worn by Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible. That way we'd win every shoot out.
b.) Hold a series of Penalty masterclasses for the rest of the team using some reknowned German persuasive methods to ensure full attendance and attention.
c.) Be influencing Arnesen and Popeye by whatever means (dodgy doctored photo's) and ensuring our team is always crewed with at least 4 or 5 Germans.
But instead he does nothing. Inconsiderate bastard.
An Rss (or Rich Site Summary...ahem!)feed is a way for the user to be frequently updated on new comments, news entries etc...almost like a "refresher" button..but you all knew that anyways didn't you? erm....i did, honest! :S
@ NICK & CLIVE
Thanks sweeties xxxx
A couple of things from last night:
1. I see Phil's come out today bemoaning a lack of quality up front in last night's side. Um... haven't we all known that was our problem for the last couple of months? If he was so worried about not being able to score goals, why didn't he put Anelka on the bench?
2. Pens - We're so bad that i'm starting to even delude myself that soon we can't get any worse, so by definition we can only improve. If it gets down to say a CL final shootout who'd be my 6/7 as our keepers aren't exactly experts at stopping pens like Reina. I'd go for:
1. Lamps
2. Ballack
3. Deco
4. Didier
5. JT (gotta be at no. 5 after last year)
6. Belletti (he's bound to be on the pitch after 120 mins)
7. Essien (struck a good pen in pre-season so he'd be in ahead of Anelka or Bridge)
On paper we should win most shootouts but we need to stop sending up defenders or defensive midfielders in our top 5 (i know it contradicts me putting JT in but he's got to erase that nightmare somehow).
3. Didier - Nice to catch a glimpse of him as we won't see him for a month. Even though he had coins thrown at him and the picture of him swearing at a bunch of Burnley yobbos was quite funny, he'll get slapped with a 3 game ban.
4. Youngsters - I think last night was confirmation for them that their chances of making it at Chelsea are about as big as us winning a penalty shootout. If you can't even take the 'risk' of putting some in against Burnley at home then when can you? Many must be wishing they'd joined Arsenal's academy.
5. Motivation - Our present form of win-loss-win-loss... is worrying. Is it complacency, laziness or something else which means we need a defeat to motivate us for the next game?
So overall a poor night but if Utd can win the double afer losing to Coventry last year then so can we, right?
And welcome back Lolli. Certainly a much more welcome return than someone elses sudden resurrection back to the blog from the wilderness.
@Haberd*******
That's a mouthfull!! Well I only read you first two lines.
"bemoaning a lack of quality ", there's only a lack of quality in Big Phil's brain. What good is having Torres up front with Frank behind him?
@ 28 HABS
Thanks hunny, appreciate it..For what it's worth, i've seen the nasty comments you've been receiving and haven't liked it one bit..Bullying is not nice in ANY form...just ride it out sweetheart and take no notice. Don't let anyone hound you off the blog, your comments make for good reading xx
@Mark
Well, my new picture sums up everything what I think about our performance....
@ 31. Blue_MikeL
You look younger in that photo - has it been airbrushed?
What a nightmare!
I know the CC isn't worth a toss but it's humiliating to go out to lower league opposition, especially when so many big stars and internationals and supposed wonderkids (ok, Mikel) are playing.
We won nothing nothing last year, and the two lesser cups the year before.
This year we've got to win at least the CL or Prem, preferably both.
Come on Felipe, sort it out!
@MARK25
Thanks for noticing :-) It has been heavily photoshoped and yes airbrushed as well.
It just it getting worse from bad. Drogba faces police and FA probes for that coin escapade. Looks like three games ban certainly.
LINK
Welcome back Lolli! A nice morale boost for all of us. Good to see you.
Interesting to see that Drogs is still bonkers. I wondered whether Mr Big's stated view that Anelka has earned the central striker role for now would mean that Drogs would put his head down a bit and see if he can play himself back into the first XI. But there he was getting hopelessly wound up by the visiting fans, arguing with the defenders, running over for his little chats with the referee and the linos, and generally demonstrating that he's still an ... ahem ... "complex personality". Perhaps he needs that to be successful, I don't know. It might be why he loved José so much -- José also being someone who obviously derived a lot of his mojo from acting all hypersensitive and theatrical.
His goal was well-struck, though, wasn't it? A bit of a change from the Anelka tap-ins/arse-bobbles/wildly fortunate deflections.
Oh and here's a question: how many people who were watching live thought Kalou was going to score his penalty? Anyone? There were a couple of dour northerners sitting behind me, and I turned to them as Kalou walked up and gave them my personal guarantee that he'd miss. So much for that. Still, I knew with religious certainty that we'd lose the shoot-out eventually (see my comment above).
@ LTB
Thankyou very much sweetie...that's nice to hear..i've missed everyone but HAVE been reading the blog daily...i've needed my Chelsea fix!!! xxx
Regarding your comment on Kalou scoring a pen..i thought the same BUT also thought Mikel would put his away no problem..huh! Typical..I'd never make a gambler! :S
Having said that, i knew as soon as it came to a shootout that we'd lose with flying colours!!!
Good to have you back Lolli.....
How daft is Didier?..... Seriously, what with his injuries and attempts to get himself suspended, I reckon he has taken a leaf out of the Wayne Bridge and Carlo Cudicini handbook on " How To Earn $100,000 a week, Without Really Trying."
Having no fit strikers is one thing.... Having a perfectly capable one suspended for throwing things at fans is just bloody stupid.
As for the penalties, same old story. It was only the Carling Cup, but still, it has given us a lot of good memories in the last few years. Of more concern though is our inability to break down sides that come to the Bridge and defend well. A lack of Plan B will become more of a problem as the season goes on.
so sad!!..
it shouldn't be like that.
@LTB
If you recall Kalou took and scored quite a competent penalty in the sudden death situation in the CL final. So perhaps our fears and concerns with regard him are unjustified.
You all forget.....
"He crossed the ball in from the left,
It landed right on Riise's head
And that's why we love Saloman Kalou!!!!"
Ahh, Kalou with a stationary ball, 12 yards from goal and dead-centre - even I'd give him a chance.
It's when he has to incorporate running with the ball that the real Saloman steps (tumbles / trips / falls) forward.
On the Drogba front. Undeniably stupid, but a pure human reaction. Unfortunately a precedent has been set with Carragher before so a 3 match ban is a foregone conclusion. And some scum-of-the-Earth Burnley fan gets away with being a feckless half-wit.
I honestly dont know what possesses someone to be at a live game and think 'I know, I'll lob this 50p at player X 'cos it'll make me look well good with all my mates'
Still, I have both DD and Anelka in my fantasy team, so it's not all bad.
Oh, and welcome back Lolli. You've been missed.
Teams we definitley have to avoid in English cup competitions
Barnsley
Burnley
Teams we should avoid in English cup competitions
Bashley
Billericay Town
Bristol City
Brackley Town
Bromley
Teams we should consider giving a wide berth to in English cup competitions
Banbury Utd
Bath City
Birmingham City
Bradford City
Bury
Bury Town
Europe will take more research but for this year we should be OK
Welcome back Lollster we have missed that peculiarly Potteries based world view
Bayou,
Our next opponents in Europe are Bordeaux.......
Thank God the game can't go to penalties.
I guess we want to avoid Barcelona and Bate Borisov if they qualify.
@Fiftee #43
Mmmmm you may have something there. File under "need to keep a weather eye on in........."
The lack of a Y in any of the names put me in the comfort zone but given we are dealing with different languages you may have a point. The x at the end of Bourdeaux is only one letter away from y and someone will probably dig up an old sea shanty that refers to leaving their love in ol' Barcelony...
Oh dear we could be in deep sh*t
@ GREENLIGHT, FIFTEE & BLUEBAYOU
Awwwwww....thanks guys!!! Missed you all too! Big hugs & kisses to you all xxx
Peculiar? Yup...that'll be me! :))
Just got a text from what could be The Somme, but is in fact Chelsea Football Club.
For WBA
Alex - out
Belletti - out
Di Santo - out
J Cole - out
Carvalho - out
Essien - out
Ballack - MAY be back for the trench....sorry bench
A Cole - MAY be able to don his Tommy helmet and join the Trench...sorry bench task force but UNLIKELY to play
Deco - doubtful
After 3 everybody.....Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag and smile, smile smile.........
@ 26. Chelseatony
As a German supporter of Chelsea FC I'm still not used to lose a game over penalties. What's that about? You're totally right with your remarks about Ballack but as he once said: 'You can't practise penalties.' Apart from Lamps we should really avoid to choose English players for a shootout ;)
See you next week, by the way... (will be in Berlin and enjoy the new style of your national team - unfortunately definitely without a penalty shootout)
@ TG
With an injury list like that, another (slightly more appropriate) tune might start "Through early morning fog I see..." Incoming wounded...
Ah yes - the Germany v. England friendly - hoping we win, obviously, but more particularly because I'll be in our German office that day and my colleagues over there would love it, just love it etc.
@ CHELSEATONY (#48)
Please don't insinuate the war.
Especially with the battle for Berlin coming up...
Ruddy hell, short at centre-back then.
I'm guessing we'll line up :
Cech
Bosingwa
Ivanovic
JT
Bridge (no penalties son)
Mikel (no penalties son)
Lamps
Ferreira (if no Deco)
Kalou (shame)
Anelka
Malouda (shame)
Subs : Carlo, Drogs, Sinclair, Stoch, Ballack, Cole, Deco, Woods.
A penalty shootout between England and Chelsea. It will be well must bedtime for me, never mind the kids, before that reaches to a conclusion!
Hiya Lolli, great to have you back.
I myself have been away and have only had time to read the bloggers' comments.
Below, a nice read from a Burnley fan on another site.
From claretfingaz ...
"Wotchya Lads! I would just like to say a very big THANKYOU to all you fellas who have given us so much help & advice in the last few weeks.
You guys are what we call up north "Absolutely Top Drawer".
The welcome and respect given to us from the Chelsea Fans, the old bill, the stewards, the pub landlords and landladys and all connected with Chelsea was brilliant - I have never known anything quite like it @ an away match & I know what I am talking about because I have travelled the length & breadth of Britain to watch my beloved team.
Your fans are a credit to you, the Premiership and the rest of the footballing world.
As for the statement from my friend claretsnut which was: "We all had a fantastic night We are all in seventh heaven up here but perhaps that's our greatest compliment to you because beating one of the best teams in Europe, if not the world, is quite something for us."
I would like to reiterate those exact words beause I couldn't have put it better myself.
I have made a few friends in Chelsea fans after sharing drinks with them & swapping phone numbers so hopefully we can stay in touch as you now have another fan within your ranks.
Good luck with the rest of your season & i am sure you will continue to dominate the Premiership & hopefully Europe for many years to come.
Take Care Lads, Good Luck & I hope we can stay in touch.
PS your ground is "AWESOME" & the "CHELSEA CHICKS" in the Slug & lettuce are......let's just say i am arranging my new moving & living arrangements as we speak although unfortunately Lady Fingaz may have something to say on the matter so I may have to put it on the back burner for now
Seriously Fellas Thanks Again and Look After Yourselves.
Best Wishes & Kind Regards
Claretfingaztherebelspirit
ALSO I would like to apologise on be
.....continued
ALSO I would like to apologise on behalf of everybody connected with Burnley Fc for the stupid idiotic person who black marked a memorable night by throwing coins @ Didier Drogba....He will be HUNTED DOWN, KNOCKED OUT & SENT TO YOU VIA D.H.L.
Take Care Lads.
I have orderd a number of copies for the Players Library. A required read I feel.
LINK
I may purchase a copy myself and summarise the mathematical theory of it all on here.........
No wait...come back... only joking
Chapter 17 holds the key to it all I believe
@ BB - Oh I dunno, as a tactical rather than strategic option, I think Chapter 2 could be just the ticket.
I'm sure that book needs to be reprinted.
"Chapter 3: A matter of perspective Spectators and referees see things differently". The word 'Spectators' needs replacing with 'Everybody else'.
"Chapter 7: One hundred and eighty! where to aim on a dartboard"
Now I'm no Eric Bristow (do love a pint though) and despite enjoying the odd game of 'arrers' while half-cut, even then I know to aim for - wait for it - the biggest numbers. Being told by the medium of print is just insulting.
"Chapter 17: Extra time and the penalty shoot-out How to end the game"
'How to end the game'. If you find yourself in a knock-out cup competition against Chelsea FC with the scores tied after 120 minutes, fear not, you have won! Instead of having to link arms with your team-mates, lined up in the centre circle, it's a default win! Shake hands like the good sportsmen you are and celebrate by removing your shirts and hugging your team-mates. It never looks questionable, honest.
@ CT #56
Justify showing all your workings out clearly (take as much rough paper as you wish) you have 3 hours turn your papers over now.....
Bet that got you sweating again given your recent endeavours
Just heard on Chelsea TV that Cech's out tomorrow.
How do we get so many injuries?can it be anything to do with our training methods?it can't be all bad luck surely.
Even Kenyon's biggest fan must realise our squad needs strengthening in January.
If we've got to name unfit players on the bench to make up the numbers proves that there's something going wrong somewhere.
So if this is our squad:
Cudicini, Bosingwa, Ivanovic, Terry, Bridge, A Cole, Lampard, Deco, Obi Mikel Sinclair, Stoch, Woods, Kalou, Malouda, Anelka, Drogba, Ferreira (Hilario/Rhys Taylor)
Who'd be in our best XI for the Hawthorns?
I'd go for...
Carlo
Bosingwa Ivanovic JT Bridge
Mikel
Deco Lamps Malouda
Anelka Didier
I know it's attacking and we may only get to see the partnership for this one game before Didier returns to the stands but it's top vs bottom and we should show our bouncebackability after yet another defeat. It should be another great awayday to continue our 100% record and if Carlo has a more steady outing in goal then i can see a big win. I'll go for a 3-0.
Strangely BBC's preview left out Ballack although he should be on the bench.
Hope Ivanovic gives us a good performance later on. He needs to cover well for JT.
After reading on the BBC that our very own Mancienne will be called into the England squad, i went snooping for the story:
"FABIO CAPELLO has handed a shock England call-up to Chelsea rookie Michael Mancienne.
The on-loan Wolves defender will tonight be named in the squad for next Wednesday’s clash in Germany. Mancienne, 20, is yet to play for the Blues — but has impressed with his displays for England Under-21s and Wolves.
He will be joined in the senior squad by Aston Villa striker Gabriel Agbonlahor and Manchester City keeper Joe Hart.
Boss Capello wants to run the rule over several youngsters for the friendly in Berlin.
London-born Mancienne will also link up with Chelsea pals John Terry, Frank Lampard and Wayne Bridge. The centre-half has won rave reviews during his loan spell at Molineux — with boss Mick McCarthy comparing him to German legend Franz Beckenbauer.
Mancienne recently revealed his frustration at failing to break into the Blues side after signing a three-year contract in August 2007. He hinted that he may have to quit the club."
Imagine Mancienne lining up alongside JT. IF he does get a call up then it must surely tell the club and Phil that he's worth a place in the squad.
Another easy away day, two great goals from Nico and our 100% record continues. But another injury this time to JT and a frankly shocking performance from Kalou did take the shine off it.
I'm doing the review now, but Habs you won't be surprised to find my view on kalou is not that dissimilar to yours
And Mancienne has made it. Great for him. If only he could get some games for us.