Premier League: Chelsea 1 - 1 Everton

"Delivering exciting football, as Avram Grant is discovering, is a splendid idea as long as you make sure your team win the game too"

Anyone else out there (except Jose obviously) rather watch a side that can hang on to a win?

Definately 2 points dropped today, and that is two more than we can afford.

It is all very well being unbeaten for 60-odd games at home, but we have now drawn 6 of the last 9 at home. That simply isn't good enough for a side of our aspirations.

Tony - generally agree with your report aside from.

1. Didn't think Drogba was that great and feel is been off his normal pace for the last 3-4 games
2. I'm surprised about your rating for Joe Cole. For me Mikel was clearly man of the match.
3. We're only 5 points behind ManU

Still I do a agree SWP was hopeless.

Good match...well controlled, save for the last couple of minutes...

Both central defenders were missing when the equalizer hit us...3 minutes to go, these guys should do better, moreso when there was just Cahill in that vital area...guess some lessons would have been learnt...

Mark....i wholly agree with you on the Mikel/Cole comment....Cole was anonymous for some parts of the game... Because of his confidence level and ball skills, i'd love to see a more upfield roving role for Mikel...like he does in the Nigerian team....might be more effective that way

Lets try and pick maximum points until mid december...the momentum would help us against the goners

Always Blue!

Mark - apologies for the mis-print on the points, I was writing the review quite late last night after along drive back from the ground. I stand suitably admonished for point3. Drogba (and again this is just my view) tried hard the whole game but as we all saw from his first season he doesn't really relish the "lone striker" role. Very few do and thats why when Essien was so off the pace I could see Sheva or Pizzaro sitting off Drogba for support much like Sparky used to do in his heyday. Joe Cole was superb again in my view. When he had the ball Everton didn't seem to know what to do and his twists and turns were mesmerising. But like I said, it was very close between him and Mikel and on another day I might have tipped the nod to Mikel.

Most frustrating for me is this habit of drawing at home. I hadn't realised the statistic from Greenlight, but that is never going to win teams League Championships and no-one can deny last years Pl was lost on draws at home against teams that Man Utd and Arsenal would bury.

Yes that miss by Drogba was poor, and it seemed easier to score than fall over. When I watched it again on MOTD2 last night the pass from SWP was fizzed a little hard, but still I was waiting for the net to bulge, and yes Tony you're right he's a shorter version of Gronkjaer.

Without stereotyping our "Scouser Friends" they "nicked" points of us today.

On another point I don't know what it is about Sunday kick offs but I found the atmosphere rather subdued today. Anyway lets hope the break is beneficial to get Riccy fit again, Ben Haim doesn't exactly inspire confidence when he plays.

The thing I find most astonishing is that recently neither Sheva or Pizarro have made appearances at all. Does Avram know the African Nations cup is little more than two months away ???

He continues to rely solely on DD who wont be here - are we destined to play without a striker in the time he's away ???

Not sure what runs through Essien's mind sometimes, I guess yesterday he had the idea he'd try and 'better' Joey Barton's challenge on Saturday. Absolutely shocking.

Interesting to read that Mikel actually managed to tackle successfully, MOTD highlights made a point of the fact that we had 4 defenders and 2 defensive midfielders and Bridge was the only one close to tackling properly.

Definitely 2 points dropped, but then I think the title-race has passed us by already, we just need to make sure we finish top 4, maybe a cup win as well. I don't think I'd see that as a disappointment.

Tony, my first post here so I'm sorry to disagree with you quite so much. Joe Cole, MoM? I really don't think so. You must have been watching a different game to me. He and Wright Phillips, along with Drogba were the reason we didn't win this match comfortably. Our second choice defense actually did pretty well and Mikel and Lampard were both excellent. Essien was a bit out of sorts but improved in the second half. It was only when Kalou came on that any of our front three looked dangerous. If Grant had picked a more sensible bench he could have had Joey off with 10 mins to go and put on Maka or Sidwell to help see out the game.

Thanks Greenlight for the acknowledgement.

Tony yet again your rating is not in agreement with what I witnessed. Especially with Joe Cole considering he barely got involved in play towards the close of the game when I thought he should have made way for Sheva or Pizza...

I know SWP put a lot of balls off course but he aleast got involved in more play than Joe Cole... I think he has put a bit of weight on since he was injured and I think it has slowed him down a bit...and of course he "over" show boats which gets to me...

DD missed a sita but honestly speaking we played lovely stuff and were only undone by woeful finnishing and great goal keeping...

Talk to any evertonian and they will let you know that they were played off the park...

The person to blame for this "loss" would be Avram again... but that is being a bit to harsh on the poor old sod because luck just left us (read DD'd miss, SWP goal line clearance, the shot off the bar...) we were good for a win in all aspects.

I stand to be corrected but who ever thought we would have come out above Liverpool after the JM debacle... write off this season if I were you and wait for the spoils available.

Two ways of looking at it - one is that with an entire second choice defence, we thoroughly outplayed a decent side and restricted them to one shot on goal all game, created enough to win comfortably at the other end and were very unfortunate not to take a point.

The other is that against a team who were as disinterested as any I have seen at the Bridge for some time (I mean here's Everton playing against Alex, Ben Haim and Cudicini and they barely put a cross in the box: pathetic really), we struggled to create many really good chances, were poor in front of goal and - critically - lacked the tactical nous to change the game when we needed to, either by pushing on and getting a second or by shutting up shop when the game was won.

I thought Cole was disappointing and SWP very poor. Lampard was brilliant, again. But as Tony suggests, there's no point playing 4-3-3 if your wingers can't score.

Oh, and we gave up on any pretence of being in the title race on September 19th. Qualifying for the CL is our priority this season and I see no reason why we shouldn't finish third. We can win a cup as well, as long as we avoid any of the decent teams cos we're rapidly heading back to the old days of doing well until we meet Arsenal or Man United - teams with great managers and great mentalities.

When Cahill's goal went it, my heart just sank. I couldnt believe we were going to lose two points in a game we had utterly dominated. And why, oh why, did we keep going forward even after we got the goal? WHY!? I mean, we should have just sat back and defended. That's something Avram has to learn from Jose.

Generally agree with all the Good and Bad points Tony. I don't think they did appear to settle for 3 points from a single goal as Martin Samuel suggests though, maybe it was fatigue/loss of concentration that allowed Everton back in for a pretty unusual opportunist's goal. Didn't seem like there was any directions from the bench to bolt the door, rather let things tactically stay as they were.

Reminded me of the Citeh match apart from two distinct differences, the finishing was not as successful, and the opposition weren't as open, I thought it could have been 2-0 at half time but for Howard's heroics. The pace and passing was there like two weeks ago just not the goals. That miss just before half time was crucial, had that gone in confidence would have gone up and I'm sure the second half would have seen more goals.

If the team learnt to defend from the f ront in the past then it looks like attacking from the back is being added to that ability. Bridges run before that miss, Belleti's goal running from deep, and playing out from the back generally, rather than a few square balls then hoof it up, seems to show the intent to a more entertaining and less cautious style, so I think it's about blending that with the ability to hold on to a 1-0.

Poor SWP, I think he's got better close control rather than just pace which Gronkjaer had but he does suffer the same 'curse of the final ball'. Maybe Malouda is a better crosser of the ball, but he never seems as busy on the pitch as SWP or Joe Cole.

I still think it's too early to say it's over for us in the league, but it's feeling more and more like a transition year. The style-shift and building/blending may mean more draws which as others have said will whittle away at our chances to win the title, there are still injuries - hope Carvalho's isn't bad - and the African Nations Cup to factor in as well. Could it be a trophy-less year full of entertaining football? Sounds like Arsenal =)

I thought Dider was completely waste of space on the field until he scored of course. But most of the time he was back to his worst. Loosing ball on 90% occasion, driblling too much, shooting while he should pass.. Good enough that he's still scoring with perfomance like this (still, scoring while wasting 2 other great chances..).

Mikel had hell of a game yesterday, i thought he was brilliant, only maybe two moves were bad but he even made two evertonians look childlish when he driblled between them in the second half. Joey should shoot more than taking the ball to the net all by himself..

And will somebody tell that Grant guy that in football he can make 3 subs in one game?

The title is probably lost now (but i'm not saying that we should stop fighing for it) and after such a hangover in the club, with Grant in charge i will settle with CHLeague place this year.. am i realistic or pesymistic?

How long is the moderation setup for those that do not agree with our pointers???? Two days thank you...

Oh and Tony, manure is just 5 points ahead of us......

Are you kidding me?!!!!! Joe Cole Man Of The Match?!!!! Give me a break!

Personally. I wasn't too thrilled with Joe Cole's performance.
The surprising thing is we looked really comfortable for most of this game. We had Cudicini, Alex and Benhaim and we coped better than I think anyone would have expected.

Essien has been dissappointing this season, and Drogba, after the Man City game has been playing below par.

Too often he looks isolated, and ends up giving the ball away. The fact is he was running on empty yesterday, sometimes he was having trouble just keeping himself from dropping to the ground in exhaustion.
He's always much better when there's someone close to him, and from the few performances we've had from Pizarro, there's a good chance IMO Drogba could well strike up a decent partnership there.

On the Joe Cole thing again, eveyrtimne he got into a dangerous position we ended up with a another attack broken down.
I really hope if he's going to go attempt bamboozling stepovers, he makes it looks as though he's tryiong to trick the opponent and not himself.

It's frankly quite laughable -- flapping those legs so high over the ball, he might end up smacking a one-two to his nose instead.

On Wright-Phillips, does anyone ever EXPECT him to do something useful when he's going forward???
We shouldn't have to pray our player doesn't cock up everytime he has the ball in an attacking position.

I mean, we're supposed to be title contenders; Shouldn't we be justified in expecting our attackers to do some damage when they have the ball...?

To all the people who disagree with my MoTM award.

Tough. Live with it.

I thought he played well, always creating stuff and running well with the ball. His link up play with Bridge was easily as good as it has been with Ashley Cole for England. Without him we look a lesser side and I DID temper my praise with criticism for his poor scoring record.

Jose Musumba - I know you'd disagree with me but I reckon you probably have a row with yourself every morning when you look in the mirror. But I have already acknowledged my error on the points - perhaps if you'd driven 75 miles back from the game in rubbish weather and awful traffic you'd be a bit tired as well. It's called human error.

I did also make note of the fact that AG does not appear to have the acumen or the balls to make a change to win/save a game.

EthicalStrategy - good to see newbies here! But Makalele is a busted flush who has a penchant for giving away free kicks in silly places or no longer having an ability to pass. The way we played the last 10 minutes we could ill afford such a liability. Sidwell , yes a good choice to safely marshal the front of the defence but he wasn't even on the bench.

'I did also make note of the fact that AG does not appear to have the acumen or the balls to make a change to win/save a game.'

I'm getting the hang of the Grant style: start with 4-3-3, end with 4-3-3 and keep your fingers crossed it all goes well in between. Do not make all your substitutions, do not make tactical changes, never exchange a player for somebody who doesn't play the exact same position and, whatever you do, never, ever go near the touchline or even stand up or look vaguely animated.

And, no matter what the result, spend the press conference afterwards telling anybody stupid enough to believe you that 'we played really good football nudge nudge wink wink' as if that's something that hasn't happened at the Bridge since 1971.

Peter.. If you put enough spin on telling the masses you're playing exciting, attacking football, eventually some fools will believe it. It's smacks of "The Emperors New Clothes"

Tony... On a personal note I think people should be a little more appreciative of everyone that write the articles. It obviously takes time and effort, and without the views you all articulate this blog would not exist. So whatever you're typo errors I can fully understand how tiring traveling to and back from games is like, as my game day is a 320mile round trip.
By the way I thought Joe had a pretty average game, a little too selfish most of the time.

Hear Hear Clive

I vote Tony as Blogger of the match! :-)

Yes, part of what makes this such a good blog is well-written, thoughtful reports. And I love the "Del Horno express to Boulahrouzville". Don't panic if we disagree with you Tony, you're still doing a great job. You can see what's coming next can't you? -- I also thought Joe was no better than ok. His control is excellent and he finds space well but he isn't having much influence on games at the moment: when Joe was on the right, I reckon Belletti made more attacking runs to the edge of the box and the byline than Joe did (at least that's what it felt like). I'd agree with those making Mikel the clear MotM: he was superb. Everton aren't the same team without Arteta but even so we never looked in any danger apart from the Pienaar miss in the first half (which was a much better/easier chance than the one that led to the goal).

In fact I think the whole team played pretty well. SWP had those two Jesperish crosses, but remember the work he did before Drogba's miss? Essien wasn't the player of last season, but I though his tackling and running were good -- he just dithered when he got too far forward. Alex looked very good to me and even Ben Haim was a lot better than everyone sitting near me feared he was going to be when Ricky had to go off.

Their goal was just weird. McFadden ran into that space and no one went anywhere near him. No one. Left central -- should that have been Ben Haim? I haven't seen replays. It was like we had stopped playing and were waiting for the win we obvously deserved.

I thought AG's comments afterwards were interesting. He said something about how "that's why people like football" : i.e. it's not predictable, you can be totally comfortable and then something happens ou of the blue. I know what he means -- but one suspects José would have been in an unspeakable fuming rage because his defenders had stopped playing for ten seconds and allowed two points to disappear.

I totally agree that we can forget about the league, not just because of this weekend but because of the general turmoil; also because of the points we're certain to drop during the ANC. It was a good game to watch though.

Lets consider the bench selection for this match. Now I dont know who decides that but wasn't that crap.

Sheva, kalou and Pizza, three strikers out of which only Kalou cld have replaced either Joe or SWP. Ben Haim replaced Ricky and then suddenly we are left with no one else who cld come and shut the midfield or strengthen the midfield.

Y was Maka not picked on bench for this one, granted that he had a bad last game but dont u think he wld have had immense influence coming from the bench in place of Joe Cole.

And ppl who criticize JM, well i am sure if he wld have had the same bench, he wld have introduced Pizza boy for Cole and asked Drogs to play in the defense.

As someone pointed AG just hopes for the best, tactical acumen is not his forte.

It's not like we never had similar home games with Mourinho in charge...Remember Fulham and Reading last season? Or what about the 2-2 Bolton 2004-05 game?

Have to agree though, right here, right now, we don't look good enough to win the league. Not enough wit or guile, and too many players under performing. And when you look at the way the Mancs and Arse are playing...

This is probably the season to concentrate (mainly, but not exclusively of course) on Champions League Glory, I reckon.

Perhaps it isn't surprising that the defence isn't as water-tight as in previous years.

An interesting stat ( if there is such a thing ) from Football 365:

The back five selected against Everton was Chelski's 14th different combination this season.

Versus Birmingham, August 12:
Cech, Johnson, Ben Haim, Carvalho, A Cole.

Versus Reading, August 15:
Cech, Ferreira, Ben Haim, Carvalho, A Cole.

Versus Liverpool, August 19:
Cech, Essien, Ben-Haim, Terry, A Cole.

Versus Aston Villa, September 2:
Cech, Belletti, Terry, Alex, A Cole.

Versus ManYoo, September 23:
Cech, Ferreira, Terry, Ben-Haim, A Cole.

Versus Hull, September 26:
Cudicini, Belletti, Terry, Ben-Haim, A Cole.

Versus Fulham, September 29:
Cech, Belletti, Terry, Ben-Haim, A Cole.

Versus Valencia, October 4:
Cech, Ferreira, Terry, Carvalho, A Cole.

Versus Bolton, October 7:
Cech, Belletti, Terry, Carvalho, A Cole.

Versus Middlesbrough, October 20:
Cech, Belletti, Carvalho, Alex, Ferreira.

Versus Schalke, October 24:
Cech, Ferreira, Carvalho, Alex, Bridge.

Versus Leicester, October 31:
Cudicini, Belletti, Alex, Ben-Haim, Ferreira.

Versus Wigan, November 3:
Cech, Belletti, Alex, Carvalho, Bridge.

Versus Everton, November 11:
Cudicini, Belletti, Alex, Carvalho, Bridge.

That has to be a record!

i think joe cole played the game quite well he is one of the few chelsea players with a descent head when it comes to ball playing around the opposition box who does not give blind passes unlike didier phillips etc... chelsea needs players who can string about 20 passes within the opposing half quite frankly you dont expect didier to do it or wright philips or malouda .if only chelsea could find a descent ball player with some good vision (eg hleb ) and a good striker with the ability to double up us a attacking midfielder..credit to drogba though he is good at defending but he does loose the ball quite often while in the attack build up ... everton are a good team they may miss arteta but cahill is a very brilliant midfilder cum striker and he got the better of us . last season they nearly brought our unbeaten run to an end at home

Tony have no problem with your writing I actually do like it much...just do not agree with some of your assessments but like every writer it is only but normal that not every one will throw roses at you..you will occassionally get a rotten apple too.

You pal are entitled to an own opinion but it will not always be the right one for everyone...and that is where I come in...I let you know it...

back to the Avram thing... Honestly we did play Everton off the pitch...if our finnishing matched our display we should have had more goals. I will come out and say we have some passengers on the team but so does Manure and Airline FC...our passengers can actually deliver and being fair we are changing our brand it does come with a cost.

People always say that JM came in and won in his first season. Not disputed but he found a hungry team that was already in the pipeline to take things with a little twist here and there. Some people say that JM came in and transformed our belief to that of confidence..could it be that this had spilled over into over confidence???? I hear excuses as to why we lost the league last season and I think these are a bit far fetched. i do remember numerous times in the latter part of the season when we had a chance to knock Manure of the top and we just drew or lost points... I know JM was being over ambitious he wanted 4 cups and yet he was the same person that had opted to trim the team...conflicts really... I hold him reason for us not winning the premier for the third year and disorganizing the balance of the team....yeah I have just tickled a few but that is my opinion....

Hi all,
You all know my feelings regarding Grant. I would point you all to the Daily Mail today which although is not my favoriute paper, makes what I think is actually the best observation on Grant to-date with JM comparisons. It summend up exactly my feelings regarding this whole situation. After all, how come we are talking on here about maybe an FA cup if that? With the players that more or less won the back to back prem still in the team? Only one thing can have changed! Yes, you've guessed it! The manager. What a surprise we find ourselves in a situation where it's okay to lose 2 points at home because "we are playing good football"! Once again that's all I hear from this idiot, " We played good positive football" If that's the case, why did we end up with a NEAGTIVE, losing 2 points? Can anybody bridge the contradiction? Scolari, Lippi, anybody please come quickly!! I am interested in WINNING, not playing football like Arsenal with nothing to show for Four years! or in our case, another 50 maybe!!!!!

Dio - presumably you've forgotten we lost the league last season?

Criticism of Grant versus Mourinho is, in my opinion, completely missing the point, which is that the club has a fundamental structural problem. The more we learn about the past 18 months, the more impressed I am that we achieve anything at all (and if we have to talk about upsetting the balance of the team, let's talk about Shevchenko - who Grant has been allowed to quietly shelve).

We've got Arnesen, Grant, Zihavi, Ten Cate, Clarke, Kenyon and latterly Mourinho all in overlapping roles with nobody taking responsibility or doing anything other than stepping on each others toes and griping about each other's decisions. It's all very well talking about playing like Arsenal but it's totally missing the point: would Arsene Wenger thrive in the environment at Stamford Bridge as he has at the Emirates? Would Ferguson put up with having a Director of Football and a Youth Development Scout appointed over his head. Of course bloody not, and rightly so. We're a fucking disaster in that context. (And, incidentally, what exactly has Arnesen done other than sign dud after dud after dud.)

These were POLITICAL appointments, made so that the owner can have more interference in the football side, not STRUCTURAL appointments, made so that the club can run better. I'm very grateful for a lot of what Abramovich has done, but his work in this are has been nothing short of a disgrace.

But if we must have an argument over Grant versus Mourinho, AGAIN, ask yourself this: If they both managed the same team against each other, who do you think would win?

Do you have to pause and think about it for even a second?

mark!!! ask southgate he is in a better position to answer your question under some very fair circumstances... quite frankly we need a replacement for drogba but with shevchenko and company aiii we are headed for some grandeur failure we should just sell this guys in particular 1.sheva 2.talbenhaim 3.phillips. 4. kalou. 5. makelele. 6.hilario. pizzaro. sidwell. this people have no role to play in chelsea absolutely

Peter

I don't even have to think about it for the blink of an eye.

Dickson - I think either Sheva or Pzzaboy might go in January to accommodate Anelka...if the rumours are true. Tal Ben Haim was never on my list and franklt isn't good enough for the PL let alone us, but the others can all develop. Sidwell is a future Makalele, able to safely hold the game in front of the defence and you're being hard on him because in the games he's played thus far he hasn't put a foot wrong. Kalou is very frustrating but he's also VERY YOUNG and can develop into something special with the experience and wisdom granted by age. SWP played really well on Sunday with the exception of his crossing - my criticsm of Gronkjaer was the same, why do all the hard work of skinning players and getting into space on the wing and then lousing it up with poor crossing. He should be on the practice ground every day working on this one aspect of his game.

As for Maka, yep, "goodbye and thanks" would be my option, and Hilario was a Mourinho buy that mystified many both here and in Portugal and we should be blooding a young keeper to step into Carlo's shoes when he decides to call it a day. I believe we had 2 in Makalambay and Pidgely but Mourinho sold them on, which is a shame as both deserved a chance ahead of Hilario.

Peter

Spot on. Fantastic post. For some reason Abramovic thrives on disharmony and discord (maybe that's how he made all his money...) with various different courts having been set up to clamour for his attention, and yet he expects vibrant attacking football. He only needs to look at United and Arsenal to show that stylish teams are built not bought (though money clearly helps, especially in United's case), by managers such as Fergie and Wenger who are allowed to run the club from top to bottom for decades.

The dysfunctional set-up at Chelsea is an embarrassment.

Mourinho has said numerous times that he always wants two players per position, plus 1 or 2 players that can play in a variety of positions, for backup purposes.

This way any player will know that he has only another one to compete with. If you're the third choice for a given position, then you will start thinking that you probably don't stand a chance of playing for the first team, so you'll stop giving everything you have in training.

This is why he bought Hilario, so he could have a backup goalkeeper who was good enough for an emergency, with a good work ethic, while not so thirsty for first team football... Any young goalkeeper would have been wasted as a third choice, because they are at an age where they need all the experience they can get.

Of course this theory makes the team vulnerable if there are a lot of injuries at the same time. This is what happened last year, and in that crucial moment JM didn't have RA's support in order to overcome that problem. And that is why Chelsea lost the title way before the league was over.

Pete,

A very good point. The structure of the club has affected us on the pitch. Although i think for some more reasons. The club had within it's power to make Gallas and Robben stay. But instead said, bye bye. The Club had the power to keep Mourinho, "toodle pip"!

Like you said it's not just the manager controlling the players, you've got five other influences. Lord Ferge and Arse Winger seem to have control over the team off and on the pitch. OK, some players will not suit a team; Van Nisslllleeeeerroooyyyee ala Viera. But i'm certain the club has the power to make these players happy, but chooses not to.
Having said this i imagine Roman came to football and said "I want the best CEO, talent scout, manager...." So he got the hottest ones of that time. Now he's got tired he's changing things around.

After watching that fat sloth sitting on the bench next to three strikers not making a sound let alone a change i'm sure he won't be here next season at the latest. Roman won't stand for it and'll get Hiddink or someone.

K/T/B/F/F/H

I suppose we'll never know what the real reasons are for RA to appoint AG. Suffice to say perhaps he wanted someone who didn't court controversy in the way JM did.

Lets all be honest here, even the AG supporters, if any of us owned Chelsea football club, would we appoint someone with no top managerial experience to make us the best team in Europe?

AG is obviously not a stupid man, I just feel he's bullshitted his way into the job. How many other managers of mid table teams in the Premiership would love a crack at running the team?, bloody hell even Steve Mclaren has a better pedigree, but none of us would want him within 500 miles of Stamford Bridge.

I like the sound of Stroppy Anelka coming to The Bridge, maybe maybe he could car share with Mark Hues.

Dio, great Tipp. I read it and will place the link here for others.

Quote CheBeef:
"The structure of the club has affected us on the pitch. Although i think for some more reasons. The club had within it’s power to make Gallas and Robben stay. But instead said, bye bye. The Club had the power to keep Mourinho, “toodle pip”!"
End quote.


Yeah, you're right CheBeef...The clubs restructuring HAS affected us on the pitch. We've won five trophies in three seasons. I know you're probably talking post Mourinho, but the club's structure and decision makers are the same...We might have to tolerate a slightly less successful transitional period, but ultimately we've got to be happy (ecstatic even!)about the clubs great new ambition to be the best.

As for the second part of your post: No amount of financial inducement (the only "power" the club really has) would have kept either of those players at Chelsea. Especially that lightweight Robben, who couldn't resist the lure of the circus in Madrid.

Gallas wanted to play in his proper position with the rest of his compatriots at Le Arse, and threw a hissy French strop which then made his position untenable.

As for Mourinho, he's stated himself, more than once, that the parting was mutual, so it's hard to see what could've been done about that either.

Agree with you about Anelka though, if it's any consolation.

Carvalho out for 2 months according to the Guardian website....

Hopefully Terry will be back by next week, or we face having Alex and Tal Ben Haim at centre half for a while.

Oh my God..... Ricky is injured again and he'll be out for 2 months at least. That's the latest that I read online. Anyone know when JT is gonna be back? I cannot even imagine we have to play with both of them out even for just a few games. I think Alex is good (sometimes) but the thought of not having JT, Ricky AND Petr Cech is a bit frightening. Wait.... A LOT frightening.

Riccy's 2 months out could be the final nail in the title-challenge coffin, but we need to make sure we get the points in Norway to qualify for the next stage of the Champs League.

And Ben Haim is so laughable (though I'm praying he has an off day for him and keeps a clean sheet on Saturday) I seriously think we should get Mancienne back from QPR and give him a few games. Can't do any worse......

Big list of players linked with us for the Winter Sales:

DeGuzman
Anelka
Diniyar
Ivanovic
Lulinha (Maybe for the summer)

You might have heard a rumour that Gudjohnson is wanted by Ten Cate... I'd be happy to see him back but this one's probably without any substance.

The're also been that 'creative midfielder' being lined up... a few weeks back it was Arteta or Van der vaart, now it's Luca Modric

Diniyar Bilyaledtinov.
This one is hand picked by Abramovic himself, if you beleiwve what's being said. (I could swear there's a pretty strong facial resemblance too!)

WARNING! Keep the volume on your speakers right down for this one...

LINK

Well I am happy to see that people wake up related to AG!!! When he came in to Chelsea I already new it will end up badly. I WILL REPEAT IT AGAIN!! This guy well known in Israel as intriguer!!!! He has made troubles in every team he worked!!!!! He has not won anything except of Israeli league which contains 12 teams AND ALL of THEM will not make PL in England!!! And again he never won anything twice with the same team!!!! No club in Israel wants him!!!! I hate this moments, when I have to say I told you!!! I am really scared of December when I see the fixtures list!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi Pete

That was a fantastic post. I'd like to copy that in my blog with credit to you. It fits the discussion that we've been having there. Hope you won't mind.

well things have certainly changed since i last posted on here. Arsenal top of the league? Who'd of thought it hey. Lol, yes i am here just to take the piss, chelsea's old news, as soon as the A.C.O.N hits, your completely ruined. It's just brilliant, back where you belong scrapping about in 4th/5th. Good luck boys, haha

Yup, I think Pete has it right. It's the typical suits' way of doing things: bring in more suits! I blame (ManU fan) Kenyon more than RA himself. Kenyon always talks about global branding and market strategies and the "product", people like that seem to love the idea of bringing in more management.

I mean, does anyone seriously believe that Grant is the long-term manager? Everyone swears that it's his team now, but if we have a trophyless season (perfectly possible) or even a seriously bad patch before then, surely his lack of credentials will be seen as the perfect excuse to ditch him and hire some big name, with attendant waffle about "taking us into the European elite" and "matching the club's profile" etc. etc.

OK.... It is about time some fans showed a bit of balance.

When we are completely brilliant one week it isn't the work of AG.

Equally when we drop 2 points the following week, that isn't completely his fault either.

The reality is that we are neither playing fantastically well or really badly and as such it is still far too early to make a judgement on the new boss (or bosses!)

The only real critisism I have of himto date is his lack of ability to change the game once it is underway. That really is a weakness, as the game can change very quickly and JM's biggest asset was his abilty to pull the right strings at the right time.

As for dannygoon..... Once you beat someone any good, you have permission to come on here and gob off!..... Til then, fuck off back to the Library!

Look at these quotes from Grant.

LINK

There is so much wrong with them I don't know where to begin. Does he really believe this? That Chelsea NEVER played good football until September 20th? That they have suddenly, magically, improved thanks to his genius touch, even faster than Barcelona did under Rijkaard? That Arsenal and United played shit for two, three years? That ANY coach can organise a defence? (And if so, why were we so shit against Leicester?) At least if you're going to talk bollocks, make it funny bollocks. This is just embarrassing. He sounds like one of our more deluded supporters.

----

Grant added: "They have adapted more quickly than I thought. Because if you take a team like Barcelona, since (Frank) Rijkaard came it took them more than one year to play this well.

"Arsenal for the last two years have not played as well and with Man United it took (Sir Alex) Ferguson three years. I haven't got this time. I need to do it in a very short time, which I like, because all my life I was looking to create something and I think we did it very well.

"So it is much more quick than I thought, but there is a lot to do to put Chelsea in the right side of football.

"Any coach that finishes a school of football knows how to organise a defence, but not every coach knows how to play attacking football.

Did he really say that?!

I wouldn't be suprised if he's that stupid. Although i think the red tops would have sensationalise this and made a meal out of it.

K.T.B.F.F.H

Chebeef with some of your comments out here today you have been sounding equally as stupid...

"After watching that fat sloth sitting on the bench next to three strikers not making a sound let alone a change i’m sure he won’t be here next season at the latest. Roman won’t stand for it and’ll get Hiddink or someone."

Hiddink is not leaving Russia anytime soon.

I am waiting for AG buys because..Malouda, Sidwell and Mr. Bean (Ben Haim) are not AG's buys.

People talk about spoiling the structure of Chelsea...Did we have a world class assistant coach, a world class goal keeping coach under JM...who was on the bench that you would say has been tested...

When you look at all the big clubs around, it is not a one man show and that is why they progress...manure, real, Milan etc etc...Who was JM's back up????

I think we were in need of having a structure setup and since JM works best alone...the door please...

Yeah I know you are going to runt about this but if you would compare the supporting cast I think we are going world class... True we have some world class players but we also need a world class supporting bench which is being structured now...I know for many of us who are comfortable with the little we have may not be willing to change but Change too can be good..AG good...

Limetreeblower said

I mean, does anyone seriously believe that Grant is the long-term manager? Everyone swears that it’s his team now, but if we have a trophyless season (perfectly possible) or even a seriously bad patch before then, surely his lack of credentials will be seen as the perfect excuse to ditch him and hire some big name, with attendant waffle about “taking us into the European elite” and “matching the club’s profile” etc. etc


I doubt he will ever be "sacked" as RA would not be prepared to lose face, more likely he would scapegoat Kenyon or Buck. I think AG would be promoted back to Director of Football to oversee the "vision and strategy" and Ten Cate would be given the role or a new man bought in.

So much angst on here and all we did was draw one match. Imagine if we lost?

Call me old fashioned but I care about how I live and it’s important that I live and play by the rules. Even if Chelsea win nothing this season, or next, I feel more comfortable with my relationship with the club now that TSO has left.

TSO’s philosophy was win at any cost, regardless if it wrecked a referees career, besmirched the Reading ambulance brigade, insulted Ronaldos upbringing etc. etc. It’s only a game and TSO was an embarrassment for me and Chelsea.

Ask any German today. Has it been better to play by the rules and achieve European supremacy through economic endeavour or was it better to get a few quick championships by invading Poland et al led by the win at all costs Adolf.

Avram may not be the right choice but for me Chelsea rests more easily with me if anyone other than TSO is the manager; well maybe aside from Hitler.

No way Jose,

What do you find incorrect about that statement? My grammer isn't prefect but the point is valid.

Even if Avram Grant is Roman's pet he won't be allowed let us slip to mid table or below CL places. In which case he'll be given the 'spanish archer'.

My suggestion of Mr Hidink is also justified as his wages are paid by Roman and so Roman can snap his fingers at will for Hinink to come hither.

I would like to point out the shortcomings of your support for Avram;

Firstly he's sh*t,
Secondly he's sh*t and
Thirdly he's utter sh*t!

K/T/B/F/F/H

Mark.. That's one hell of an analogy to make with regard Germany/Hitler and Jose/Chelsea. It's inappropriate and should have no place on this blog.

Relax - I'm Jewish and I'm not bothered

??????Utter disbelief????????

Mark, you've just compaired our greatest ever manager to Adolf Hitler! That says it all.

You seem to forget the goings on over in Old Trafford and the Library, where Fergie berates refs and Wenger OKay he never see's anything but he is a tos*er!

TSO was outspoken but you can't blame him for how some stupid fans reacted. As for other 'rash' statements this just underlines his pasion for his players, the club and the team.

K/T/B/F/F/H

Still

??????Utter disbelief????????

Mark,

It show to a grater extent how stupid that comparison is when you are Jewish. Mate, ??????Utter disbelief????????

Why can't you ???accept??? that not everyone loved TSO.

More has been done for Chelsea by Roman but everyone's now rubbishing him.

I'm not in love with TSO, I don't want to lick his arse to plead with him to come back and, in the 40+ years I've supported the club, the last 3 have been the least enjoyable for me. It's just how I feel.

Mark it makes no difference to me if you're Jewish or not mate, the analogy is in bad taste, full stop.
How any anyone can remotely compare JM with a Genocidal Megalomaniac is just plain out of order.
And as far as the last 3 years for me as 40+ years supporter, they have been the best I've ever known, and that's how I feel.

With hindsight I accept the analogy was in bad taste. If it offended then I apologise.

Haha, gotta love Jews for always, anywhere in the world, supporting a fellow Jew ;) Cheers mate, you made me smile despite getting it all wrong.

Anyways, have you all heard the news of Cech declaring an interest in joining Barcelona? WHAT THE HELL???!!! Ok, it's a tragedy if he leaves, but why oh why leave for that nonsense of a club??? Common! At least join a normal football club!

Very good of you Mark to accept your mistake and apologise. Lets keep it to football regardless of our views, best all round me thinks :-)

Glen - I saw on Chelsea TV a statement from Cech.

The report of him wanting to join Barcelona was taken from a 2003 interview when hw was at Rennes. He stated today that he sees his future at Chelsea.

Mark, I’m a shame to have some prick like you writing here. You write “I don’t want to lick his arse…” but I suppose you admire the way AG licked Roman’s until he got a job. TSO is full of passion for the game and as long he was on the club he lived and fought for the club. No one demands you to like him, even better if you don’t…just show some respect.

Mark,

My jaw dropped from your unbeleivably shocking comparison. Not that you didn't like TSO.

Personaly, i don't except your retraction but that was way to bad taste for me.

Lets keep it football, leave the holocast out of it.

Keep The Blue Flag Flying High.

Come on guys stop it Mark has appologised for his comment and that is enough.

Geezers, I see the point Mark was making, it's just the analogy that's mis-judged. The subjects dropped and Mark has apologised.

I'm torn between winning at all costs and playing flair football but winning less. To me the last 3 years have been the best I've known. TSO made us feared and respected and turned the culture within the club from "maybe" to "no doubts" and that is special in anyones books. I look at it this way. When George Graham was winning trophies with Arsenal not a single gooner I knew complained. They didn't care - they just racked up titles and doubles ruthlessly. That helped build their history of success and allowed them to eventually recruit Wenger and give him the luxury of doing the same but under a different philosophy. I believe RA really thinks that's what he's done here, but it's a big gamble and one hope is proven but fear will fail. I despaired at the style under TSO last year and for part of the previous title winning season but for me the ends justified the means and I would have gladly taken another 2-3 years of the same, to keep the fear going and force other teams to respect us and the new history of success. Tehn, after one or two more titles I would have been happy to see TSO change the style or for someone else to evolve the team into a team that plays the right way.

Does anyone here really think other success starved "big" clubs such as Newcastle, Spurs, Aston Villa or Everton would have worried about the "style" if they were crushing everyone before them and winning trophies?

100% agree with Tony......

I don't care how much style we play with.... If we end up losing to Man Utd, Arsenal or Barca in the games where Cups are on the line, it won't make me feel any better if we have played well.

Irrespective of whether JM is / was in charge or not, our ability to defend all day long and keep the opposition scoreless is what enabled us to compete with these sides.

If we don't have the defence sorted we will not have the beating of the other so-called 'flair' sides in the division.

"Does anyone here really think other success starved “big” clubs such as Newcastle, Spurs, Aston Villa or Everton would have worried about the “style” if they were crushing everyone before them and winning trophies?"

That's something I've asked before Tony,and I think the vast majority of fans would surely want the silverware at the end, regardless of style.

I wonder how Arsenal fans will view the end of the season if their trophy cabinet remains as empty as Jade Goody's head?

Totaly agree with you Tony,

Saying "at least we played 'attractive' football" is no consolation. It's not the taking part that counts in the Premier League it's the winning. Down the park it can be different, sure i play like Kaka, and it's nice to play 'attractive' football but even then, winning is paramount.

K/T/B/F/F/H

Mark - I understand your misgivings about Mourinho and these were almost certainly shared by Roman, but Tony is right - you need to implement that mentality as a base on which to build some prettiness. Liverpool did it, United did it and the Arsenal comparison is very apt. Look at the team Wenger inherited - especially the back four - and the attitude they embodied long before he got there. That was a terrific base on which to work, and an unhindered Mourinho might have given us the same IF Roman hadn't wanted to run before he can walk (and, admittedly, if JM was less of a pain in the arse).

But what really bugs me - and this ties in with what I was saying before - is the way this was done. Ranieri was treated lousily, but it was for the good of the club, done at the right time and he was replaced by a manager who was clearly his superior. Compare that with this debacle.

Given that Roman wanted JM out, why didn't he show some balls and do it in the summer, recruited a WORLD CLASS manager then given him £50m to spend? Most of us would have swallowed that, no matter how we felt about Mourinho.

Instead, he appointed a new Director of Football to spy on the manager and get the best out of the hapless Shevchenko while asking Mourinho to improve the squad with free transfers. Then they sold Robben - the one player who could provide the football Roman is said to dream about - without allowing him to be replaced by a similar player. Then after a month, they gave the job to a DoF with a CV that is simply embarrassing for a club of our supposed stature.

Insane.

With respect to Robben unfortunately we'll never know the truth about who wanted him out or whether Robben himself wanted to stay.

However, although I'm biased, I don't think wingers will survive under TSO because he makes them work too hard defensively. Looking at his record

Duff - knackered out
Robben - knackered out and wanted to leave
SWP - sidelined for 2 years and half the player he was at cCity
Joey - seemingly delighted with the departure of TSO

Bollocks, Duff was injury prone at Blackburn, Robben was never the same after that Rovers player did him and didn't play enough games to be knackered out, SWP is exactly the player he was at City, ie not good enough for Chelsea, and Cole - like Duff and Robben in fact - had the best year and a half of his career under Mourinho, no matter how he might have felt at the end.

But that wasn't my argument, was it?

Simple questions:
Do you think Grant will take Chelsea to the next level? Was Grant's appointment as Director of Football in the best interests of CFC? Do you think our handling of Mourinho's departure was intelligent and constructive? Do you look forward to a return to the days when we got knocked out of the FA Cup every season at Highbury?

For me it's win at all costs.

There isn't a team in the World that has been assembled with the sole purpose of entertaining - they're all created to win.

And we're no different. We're a long way off being as exciting as some of them, but we've added titles and trophies to our legacy, and that's what makes me proud to be a Chelsea fan.

I hate all the politics that are going on off the pitch, it's shameful, but who really cares. If it ruins the club, I've seen the good times. We'll be back to the Chelsea I grew up supporting - and loving.

If Arsenal win nothing this season, it'll be a failure. If Usmanov takes them over next season, introduces a structure as warped and contorted as the one at the Bridge and they win the league, do you think the Gooners will care ??? No chance.

Grant is no more secure in his job than anyone who gets appointed by RA and his band of merry men. It all boils down to success. If we're trophyless this season then there's a good chance Avram will be on his way. And we'll be after someone to lead us to more success.

Here here Peter.

And well put Fifty.

If some one can explain the concept of pushing Terry into attack or let us hoof the ball to Drogba or score 1 and shut shop...then I will maybe agree with winning ugly is good...

I think we all love to win but winning while doing it right is always the better way...

Wigan and Leicester are currently looking for new managers. I just wonder if AG was still our Director of Football would they even contemplate hiring him, hell they wouldn't even think of hiring him even on his current status.
So what does it really say, as Peter so aptly mentioned about our ambitions to take the club to supposed next level?

'If some one can explain the concept of pushing Terry into attack or let us hoof the ball to Drogba'

LINK

I could go on.

So Jose, I assume you think Grant is taking us to another level and that the club has handled the change in the best possible way?

Pushing Terry upfront =
Your team are so lame going forward that i will bring my best CB up front to give him a chance to score. He's great in the air and hard in the tackle, during training TSO used Terry as a striker for situations where he needed some strength and leadership.

Hoofing the ball up to Drog =
Drogs is the strongest striker in the air in the prem. If you don't use players abilities what's the point?

Although these two situations weren't a common feature throughout Mourinho's three seasons. There were sighted by the tabloids as means of picking apart TSO's tactics.

If every goal we scored under Mourinho was a long ball, and every game a 1-0 win and we won the Prem then who cares, he got the team to win, that's what matters.

Would Grant have to balls to stick a CB up front. No chance.

One thing that baffles me Jose, is how and why are you so comfortable with Grant? There is no good reason.

K/T/B/F/F/H

Peter you seem to be missing the point here...

In a set piece situation in all cases you will find defenders going in for that ball...Height and physic dictate...

Terry has no ball skills..none at all...Actually better shown this season against Aston Villa (No video on this...)

And on the hoofing of the ball one would need to know how many times the hoofing of the ball has resulted in a brilliant finnish like Drogs...it is a flash in the pan scenario with it is the dying minutes let us try anything attitude and not a result of dedicated approach in the game.

Do you realize that in both scenarios the out come was a result due to luck and less to skill...Cahills goal???? If you are requesting we ride our luck...our luck seems to have run out so why not try a little skill instead???

'In a set piece situation in all cases you will find defenders going in for that ball…Height and physic dictate…'

Oh dear oh dear oh dear. That wasn't a set piece and the fact you didn't know that really makes me wonder...

'Terry has no ball skills'

Rubbish. He's very comfortable on the ball for a centre-half. But honestly, how many times did he go up front? Three? Four at the most? Wow. Big Fucking Deal.

As for the Drogba-hoof thing: other than against Liverpool (shockingly) we only ever did it in the dying minutes, or occasionally when playing defenders who couldn't deal with it (Spurs at home in the Cup, Arsenal v Senderos), usually with success. It was not a common feature (I reckon we 'hoofed' it up to Drogba on Saturday just as much as we ever did under JM).

Last year we played the third highest number of successful passes in the league, currently we've played the second highest - this hardly constitutes long ball football and certainly doesn't signify a sudden sea change in attitude.

So stop believing the crap you read in the papers. We might have been a lot of things under Mourinho, but we were NEVER a long ball side. I mean, have you ever actually watched long-ball football as played by Wimbledon and Watford in the 1980s (or Chelsea in the early 90s under David Webb)? It's beyond comparison.

CheBeef nails it:

'Although these two situations weren’t a common feature throughout Mourinho’s three seasons. There were sighted by the tabloids as means of picking apart TSO’s tactics.'

Exactafuckingmondo.

I mean, take last season: were we hoofing the ball up to Drogba in the Cup final v United? No, cos they had Vidic to deal with it. So we played it on the deck and beat them with a cracking piece of football. Did we hoof it against Arsenal at the Emirates? No, we just fecking steamed them. Or in the CC final? Did we hoof it v Valencia? Or against Spurs in the cup replay? Or Blackburn in the semi?

I could go on. And on. And on. And on. And on.

We hoofed against Liverpool and it was horrible. But stop pretending that was the norm.

You're wasting your time Peter, some people are just stupid enough to believe what the press and media say, it was just a stick they like to beat us with as we were so successful. And if people wanted to dig out the opta stats of the last three years on premiership teams, they would see that we were far from being a long ball team.

Some funny snaps of Jabba;

LINK

I'm genuinely amazed at the lengths some people will go to prove a point and the desperate, ignorant floundering displayed when they try to justify themselves. The Terry up front ploy was used so infrequently, to use it as a stick to beat anyone with is farcical; on occasion any number of managers have used it as a tactic when needs dictate (Ferguson did it a fair bit earlier this season). Sometimes when you need a goal, it works (Drogs' equaliser against Barca as a case in point).

Really - p*ss off, actually watch some football, learn something about the game and come back when you've washed the sh*t from between your ears. Unreal.

Wow...... I really like this whole argument about JM and Chelsea. You guys are really at it. I guess no matter what you say, some of you really miss him ha? I'm for one wish he never left. At the beginning of this season we start playing with 442 and I thought it worked. I wonder what would have happen if JM stay. I'm not really sure about this AG guy. I mean.... I can't help thinking about how he got into this club in the first place. It was a bit sneaky and dodgy. Don't you think guys. I'm curious of how long he will stay. We all know that he's a friend of RA. But what if (God forbid) things go bad one day.

The reason JM was special was his ability to change the game once underway.

Sometimes it was making 3 substitutions all at once, sometimes it was changing the shape of the side, other times it was throwing JT upfront.

It didn't always work, but there are far more occsions when it did than when it didn't

So far Grant has shown absolutely no ability to affect the game once it is in mid-flight, and this is one of the main reasons why, in my opinion, he has not yet been accepted.

AG looks like Boss Nass from Star Wars.LINK

Greenlight... There is a much simpler explanation as to why AG has not been excepted by the majority of Chelsea fans. He just doesn't have the CV to manage a big club, he's not even as good as Ranieri.

If he wanted to make a name for himself outside of Israel he could have at least tried to improve his reputation with any of the lesser clubs in Europe. Perhaps he did, but nobody wanted him!

Clive..... The lack of a CV doesn't really bother me, but what does is the lack of initiative he has shown on the bench during the first 10 (or so) games.

The substitutions have been mundane and most fans would have been able to predict them. If we can predict the changes, then surely so can the opposition coaches.

The prevailing view on here is that Avram isn't up to the task. Many seem to want a higher profile manager, a BIG name. Many of you want Huddink.

Well tonight Huddink couldn't organise the Russians, who were only one win away from qualification, to beat lowly Israel, a team that brought on a sub that plays in the Swiss second division (I didn't realise the Swiss have a second division!)

No, we don't want a Huddink. We want someone who can motivate and add value and make the team greater than the sum of the parts. We want an Israeli manager.

Hang on a second - we've already got an Israeli manager!

And I'll tell you something else. Watching Israel play on behalf of England is better than watching England play for themselves.

If there are moments this is the one!!!! I am proud of my country, Israel to win Russia!!! Now England have a lifeline and we have won Ruskies!!!!

When fulham go down, should we pick up Dempsey?

We had a high pass completion percentage last year, and the year before because we did the mind numbingly boring sideways passing accross the back four, into makelele or lampard then back again to the defence UNTIL someone tried a long one for Drogba (or someone else).

Yeah we could keep possession, it's just that we never did much for most of the time we had it.

You'd probably find our goals scored / chances ratio was very high too. Because we weren't one of those teams who create bags of chances. It was nearly allways about taking our chances under JM.

We weren't called Boring Boring Chelsea for nothing... The media can write what they want but you as a Chelsea fan sitting and watching a Chelsea game would know if we were boring or not under Mourinho.

I, for one, can say for certain I was bored shitless in a lot of our games. Even when we won by four goals to none, we would never really bombard the opposition goal, the way our rivals do.

But we were winning titles so It was good enough for me and more importantly of course, Mr Abramovic.

Mark - you make the same lazy mistake many have on here when you use Russia's failure to win one game (against Israel who have a strong record at home) as a yardstick by which to judge Hiddink; failure to qualify for Euro 2008 is certainly disappointing for him, but his record as a coach stands up pretty well.

Many on here commented on the fact he was linked with the job here, but irrespective of anyone's views on Grant and his suitability for the Chelsea role either at the time of Mourinho's departure or with the benefit of hindsight, Hiddink's record in top flight football is far superior.

Hiddink's record might be far superior to that of Grant's - after all a lick of paint more and England could well have been out of the running for qualification - but if we don't give Avram a chance he never will.
His record thus far is pretty good, fair enough there have been a few hiccup's on the way but this is the norm for any new manager at a club and it isn't as if he came in due to popular pressure either is it?
Regardless of whether he's from Isreal or not, he's our coach and unless something seriously goes wrong, he will remain in that role until the end of the season.

Ona seperate note

LINK

£30million would be too hard to turn down and it seems obvious he will want to go next summer, so why not in January and make a move for David Villa as well?

30 million is f*****g ridiculous.
Where the hell do they get these figures from???
Russian kid is being priced over 14 million, that croation Modric over 20 million in some reports!!!

Starting to get really pisse'd about this drogba thing. I'd be happy to see him f*** off if he just wants to bitch around the way he is. Get Anelka in for LESS, and maybe get Benzema, Villa (who would be worth around £30M IMO) or Huntelaar -- maybe even two of em.

Although I'm finding it hard to imagine Anelka as a direct replacement for Drogba.

Would be hard to see Drogba go, but I'd imagine it would be difficult to turn down that kind of money if that's what is on offer.

Only thing I've really seen on the Modric deal is both Bayern Munich and Arsenal supposedly had an option to pick him up (read somewhere that Bayern were prepared to pay upwards of 20m Euros), so I'd imagine we're in for a fairly hefty sum if he is coming to us.

Bollocks to England. However I'm more worried about the effect it will have on our England boys at Derby.

Mark

Double bollocks to England. But be honest, none of our boys did a good job tonight. I'll put my neck on the line here.....bring back Hoddle.....he was sacked for the wrong reason and when he was coach we played the game the right way and knew how to battle. Failing that it can only be Stuart Pearce to start from scratch or TSO to bring the arrogance and winning mentality and team spirit that is so obviously lacking. Don't talk to me about Scolari or Capello, neither speaks English and I also don't go with the view that club success translates to international success - Beckenbauer and Vogts proved that, as have many others.

That was car crash TV tonight, a complete fucking shambles . This is my priority order from now on

Chelsea 1st
Chelsea reserves 2nd
Chelsea Youth 3rd
Chelsea ladies 4th
Chelsea Building Society 5th
Chelsea Clinton 6th
England Cricket team 7th
England Rugby 8th
The Golf Majors
England Football.

Still at least we won't have the inevitable hysterical and over-optimistic jingoistic press bollocks spea fr the next 6 months.

Now *that* was an entertaining game!

Much much better than any boring 1-0 victory would have been...

"When fulham go down, should we pick up Dempsey?"

In a word,

no.

jorge coelho.... I seriously hope you are taking the piss!

The performance was a shambles and I have no interest in seeing Chelsea aspire to contributing to 'fantastic' games like that every week.

England has been taught a lesson a football...

I still wonder what justifies the huge wages these english players get...cos as far as i am concerned, the bulk of the players are consistently BELOW AVERAGE...

I hope when players are rated on this blog going forward, their true rating will be shown....without bias! Lets forget this patriotism stuff and be as objective as possible..not like the hyping english media

Always blue!

Alex said

I hope when players are rated on this blog going forward, their true rating will be shown….without bias!

Alex, that's a crock of shit and a bloody insult to those of us who put the ratings together. Have a look at them again and you'll see there is no national "bias".

Tell you what, I like the look of Bilic. Got his team playing great football, excellent spirit, a cocksure glint in his eye and comedy earring to boot!

Always liked him as a player as well.

And his kid supports Chelsea!

Greenlight,
of course I was being ironic.

I'm not british, I didn't even watch the game so I wouldn't know how the performance was, but I know the score evolution... so I can only guess that this was a truly nail-biting experience. Entertaining, to say the least.

When people over this site defend entertaining football over results, it should be clear to them that this kind of outcome is bound to happen every once and again. So, maybe this is one chance for them to ask themselves: is this what I really want for my team?

We've touched on the national team before, and yeah, we're all sick to the back teeth of them (well those of us that are English are).

I'll use the blog of my domestic team as the vehicle for my feedback on last night.

Having taken a step back this morning, it's not all bad. McClown has just been sacked, but should never have had the job in the first place. A complete bottle job by the FA when Big Phil had the sense to say 'No', so they panicked and gave the job to the 'inspirational' number 2 under SGE (He managed the team like a proverbial number 2 in his year in charge).

He was always going to be sacked if we didn't make it, that's the nature of English football; the over zealous media and the fact the FA dont actually have any idea what is going on.

I don't feel sorry for him, he was handed a golden chance by Israel and blew it. And for a nation apparently blessed with some of the best players in the World (again) we needed to rely on Andorra to score, that says it all.

The players need to take as much of the flack as McClown. As always, we were missing players through injury and suspension, but what last night proved to me is that beyond the first choice 11, we are left with some, frankly, ordinary players. And this brings us back to the fact we're simply not good enough.

Some above average players at weekends when they're being shown how to play football by their foreign team-mates. Absolute no-hopers when it comes to trying to play like a team.

Three strikers on the pitch, none of whom are first choice for their club.

Too many players who dont play for teams at the top, or too many who simply dont play. Simple fact is the national team is not as good as the fans / press / FA Spin doctors make out. At least we're spared the embarrassment of losing in the quarter final on penalties though.

Get Jose in, get some pointless tournament organised against the home nations next summer, let him build a new squad and then we'll assess if we're good enough or not.

Croatia were very impressive last night, thoroughly deserved to win, and I laughed at how straight faced Bilic was when he stated 'You didn't lose because of the pitch or because you were missing 4 players; you lost beacuse we are a better team'. How right he was.

Need to make wholesale changes from ground up, starting with a youth coaching system that encourages basic technique and doesn't prioritise results.

In the meantime, somebody get their arse down to Colney Heath/Hatch/Whatever the fuck it's called and ask Wenger what he'd do. This man managed to make Tony Adams look like Baresi - these things can be taught.

In fact, Wenger doing youth coaching and JM doing the first team would be a pretty fucking brilliant combo. I bet they'd have a great time working together.

Tony...

Dont take these things to heart my friend...If u scroll up u'll see the comments of fellow bloggers on your assessment of JC for instance...There was nothing outstanding in his game against everton to warrant an 8....and neither did bridge deserve a 7...

These ratings could be deceptive and misleading...and those reading it (perhaps the players, or their friends & relations) especially those who did not see the match itself, may get the wrong impression thereby adding to the mega-hype surrounding the players...

Lets contribute our quota here to bring these players down to earth...its for their benefit and that of england!

Always Blue!

Yes, surely the ratings Chelsea players get in a fan blog will make the difference in England's future qualification attempts. Somebody get on the phone to Barwick.

Nothing personal am not English but I do not think that England merited a place at the European competitions.

I am Italian and some fellows out here have been saying I know nothing about the game...Wonder how much you do know about this game...

Some people out here are very insulting because I do not favour their views...

John Terry has ball skills...someone is having a laugh. The only English player endowed with ball retention skills is Paul Gasgoine(excuse the spelling) England needs to go back to the basics...too much heart and less mind in it...Rafa said it first and was murdered for saying the truth...

Does anyone wonder why Arsenal plays that brand of football and why Chelsea did so with the Zola group????

Facts be told...Sorry for England but as the saying goes..May the Best Man Win...so it was...

Given the current malaise and lack of ideas, he might actually think it isn't a bad suggestion.

Do agree about Bilic though Pete - looks like he's developing Mourinho-esque abilities, both in terms of football and winding people up...!

Lafs...
Peter...look at the bigger picture man and stop restricting yourself to the local blog!

Concerning the youth thing...dont you think that Wenger would have gotten some local lads if they were available...perhaps the primary skills are not just there in the English genes...thats why its so rare to see raw young talent...The available few are damn expensive!

Might do England some world of good to relax its immigration laws and let some of the 3rd world kids 'naturalize'....then we would get to see enough young raw talents...and at good bargain too!

Always Blue!

Jose Musumba - What is your point?
You write so much yet say so little apart from your love of all things Arsenal.

I don't buy the English players are naturally rubbish argument. A) I don;'t think it's true that anybody is born to play football in a certain way, these things are learned culturally and is why youth coaching needs to change from ground up (as Wenger has at Arsenal); B) I think these things can also be changed at a later stage if the player wants to do it and the manager is good enough - again, look at what Wenger did with Graham's Arsenal team. And, as an adjunct, I maintain that Terry has decent ball skills - for an English centre-back - but is allowed to get away with not using them in the English game. He's certainly better on the deck than, say, Butcher or Adams or some of the other players he gets compared with, and he's probably as good as the much lauded Rio.

And Alex's point about immigration is interesting - the current crop of English players can be drawn from the Carribbean/African diaspora and don't seem much better techinically than the Anglo-Saxons, many of whom are Celt in origin anyway.

Again, this shows that youth coaching is the problem, not the genes.

Focussing on our boys.

Lamps has been great for us recently but was anonymous last night

Bridge been great since return from injury but got torn to pieces by the Croation winger.

Joey did the same for England as he does for us - a few fancy runs with no outcome

SWP did what he's done for the last 2 years - run around a lot but no end product.

Just hope they put it all behind them and get back in shape for the weekend.

If our form drops off now I won't blame Avram but instead the hangover from England (only kidding)

Stating the obvious... England's fate wasn't sealed by the defeat last night, or by the draws with Andorra and Macedonia. It was sealed last May when the FA appointed that clown Mclaren.

Hired on the basis he worked with Sven for 5 years and won a Carling Cup with Middlesbro.....enough said really.

You only have to look what happened to McClaren's Boro in the UEFA Cup final against Sevilla to see what his tactical approach was to going behind; throw strikers at the problem and belt the ball forward (after all, it worked before). Then look shocked and bewildered as your team get taken to pieces by a manager with some degree of tactical nous.

When the draw for the Euro '08 qualification groups was made, I was pretty miserable, as I thought the only chance we had of getting rid of McClown was by failing to qualify for a major tournament, and I didn't think even he could f**k up that group.

Oh.

So, look on the bright side. We (we English, that is) have managed to dispose of someone who must surely tie with Graham Taylor as the most transparently inept manager in our history (hmm ... and there was Keegan, mustm't forget him ... wow, hard to choose isn't it?). Maybe, maybe, finally there's a small chance that people will stop talking all that hideous tiresome bullsh!t about "passion" and realise that perhaps it would be good to teach people to play football with their feet and their brains. Didn't Bilic make it look so obvious? Clever guy, understands his team, doesn't talk propagandist rubbish, pays attention to the game and his players. And meanwhile McClown stood under his sponsors' umbrella, probably wondering what the press were going to say about him.

Gahhh... Anyway. Must think about Chelsea. Anyone got any guess as to why Bridgey had such a horrible game last night? He's been very good for us recently.

Peter,

i don't think blaming a Celtic origin is fair ;-) If one of the red tops is reading this blog they are liable to print that.

I only saw the first half last night and my feelings were confirmed within the first quarter of the game. England are not a team! I see the elimination as as blessing in disguise though, maybe the FA will take some time in getting the right man for the job as they are not under any imidiate preasure for tournaments.

I'm Irish (thanks, i know we are really lovely people!) so i've seen how a national football assoc can make some catastrophic mistakes, i.e hiring Stan 'NOT' the man or McClown in this case. But now neather countries are bound by tournaments they can (i hope) make a well thought out decision on the managers successor.

Unfortunately i have no faith in these highly paid suits to make the right decision.

Until a proven international manager is installed in either posts, don't hold your breathe.

K/T/B/B/F/H

Is it just me or has Joe Cole become so incredibly slow?
I'm pretty sure he had more pace about him than he's been showing for a while now.

And about the Bridge thing, a lot of us here seem to want Bridge in aty LB for Chelsea ahead of Ashley Cole.

The only area IMO he is superior to Cole is whre he can curl in some half decent crosses.

He takes about five touches to control a ball, and half the time, looks like he's shitting himself when he's in possession.

Defensively, He's always lacked that agility. Anyone with a change of pace can breeze past him.

That said, I still like him cos of the way he's been about everything.

About England - Even when we play teams like Macedonia, Slovakia, you can see the huge difference in the way our England team plays football.

Those lesser teams usually look comfortable with the ball, just controlling , holding onto it, and moving with it.

We, in contrast, look shaky, even frantic. So many of our goals come from set-peices and knock downs. How often do we stringpassing move in the opposition half?

1) Lack of control over the ball
2) Hardly any movement involving more than one or two players.
3) Players who stand out in club teams because their foreign teammates cover up for their inadequacies.

They might be really good in somethings but overall, our players, most of them have holes some serious holes in their all-roundabilities.

GARETH BARRY, OWEN HARGREAVES.
These are probably the only two England polayers who look comfortable on the ball. Hargreaves, a product of non English set-up.

Cant account for Barry but he looks more continental than the rest of our players...

You might stretch it a bit and include Micah Richards in that as well.

"hards’s father, Lincoln, was among the coaches at the Brazilian Soccer School and, along with its founder, Simon Clifford, has been cited as a profound influence on the youngster’s career..."
(LINK)
Maye that has something to do with that...