Premier League: Chelsea 1 - 1 Manchester United

I thought Alex was very good today. That block of his in the second half was stupendous and even Andy Gray called it as such.
That little shit Ronaldo still knows how to con the refs though. When he lost the ball to Frank straight after coming on, Frank was laughing his head off as Riley blew his whistle. Replays showed Frank hadn't touched him!!!

Wow!!! I have never had post No1 before :o))))))

The run goes on but it's looked close to ending today. Anelka might have won a few headers but he looks nothing like a top premiership striker at the moment.

I'd still rather see Kalou on the pitch tan Malouda and JOE COLE has been dissappointing for quite a while now. Almost as though with too much time to think he doesn't know what to do. In our last few games a lot of good opening have been wasted by Joe, hope his form picks up soon.

Another good game for Mikel, but would it really be harsh to say Cech could and should have done better with that? I don't like having a go at Cech cos he's been class for us, but honestly, he has become worryingly inconsistant.

Well...
I am so fricking happy with the draw...We were better in the second half...but we need a striker DESPERATELY.Malouda was ok, Anelka is trying hard...BUT...i never saw a more STUPID player than him.

Joe COle 6/10?Jeez...he deserves 1/10 and to be benched for a week...
YOU DONT PLAY LIKE THAT IN IMPORTANT MATCHES!

Mikel,Ballack,Cech,Alex and Malouda were ok.The rest...HORRIBLE.
Drogba was in the middle.

Ferdinand was going on my nerves more than Horse Face. Surprise!

I thought that Mikel was simply brillant and there is a question if we need to sign Mineiro.. Obi had hell of a week (in different sense than You, Tony), playing well at Manchester, then against Bordeaux and yesterday shining at Stamford Bridge. What i like about him is that he made big step forward, he keeps his head cool when two years ago he was doing unecessary tackle gaining yellow or red card. Now, when he gives away free kick is 100% necessary, last-minute tackle just outside the box. And when United were in quick attack he was there on the left/right, filling holes in the center.. i would say everywhere. Hope to see more of that 'third-goal-against-Bordeaux' actions from him, shooting from distance cause he has some power in his right foot.

I'm also glad that Scolari didn't kept Ballack till the end and bravely put Kalou on who saved the game for us (and The Record). Ze German is not ready yet to play for 70 minutes, i thought that he was mostly annonymous, arather avoiding game that lookin for it. That one brillant pass to Joe Cole apart (it looked like the one on opening game of Premier League to Joey as well).

And i think that Rooney wasn't so brilliant. I hate when players go face-to-face with refs, shouting at them, cursing. I know that we had to deal with Riley this day but every other ref, who has some pride and sense of respect, would show to both, Ferdinand and Rooney, second yellow card for that. How anybody can say that Ferdinand is a 'heart of the team', 'soul' or anything else while his acting.. like this? Will never understand that one! And finally - Ronaldo. It's all about diving, isn't it? He just cannot forget it - that's why he'll never be the best of the best.

Get better Tony, hope You will see Deco's tricks as soon as we are back at The Bridge;)

I hated to see that my 1-1 prediction came true although it wasn't a repeat of the Spurs game, more a follow-up to the 1-1 against Arsenal 2 years ago, when Essien scored a stunner. I came away from that game with the same feeling. My head tells me that getting a point against the only realistic rivals to the title after losing until the 80th minute, is a good result. But my heart still feels cheated that we didn't win. Just as against Arsenal when Lamps hit the post from 2 yards in the last minute, we missed another great chance when Anelka missed from a yard out and i feel that we would have won on another day.

GOOD:
1. A Cole - Back to his best this season and i can't see a better LB in the world. Loves playing against Utd and seems to have endless reserves of energy. Hasn't been rotated yet, although he'll probably be rested for the Carling Cup. Loves to tackle Ronaldo and made a great challenge within 2 minutes of him coming on.
2. Mikel - Our best player by a mile. Has the grace and talent to control the midfield and reminds me a little of Ruud when he arrived at the Bridge. Both seemed to have endless time on the ball and today he showed Fergie what he missed out on.
3. Performance - Once we woke up from our regular 20 min stroll from kick off, we played them off the park. If we could have scored any of our chances we would have won this game easily.
4. Scolari - Changed the tactics at half time and Utd hardly saw the ball after the break. His team talk worked as we created many openings but we couldn't finish.
5. Rio and Rooney - Hate to say it, but their performances were very god compared to JT and Joe.

BAD:
1. Riley - Seemed to be whistlehappy for any contact between players and brought out a yellow card all too readily. Only have to look to giving a foul for Ronaldo's dive to judge his incompetence. His ending was farcical. With 2 minutes 45 secs on the clock he bottles a tough decision and decides to end the match instead. Useless...

2. Anelka - Matt Hughes of The Times judged it perfectly last week. When there's no pressure on him (3-0 up against Bordeaux, 2-1 up at City, an open goal against Pompey) he can score but when the pressure's on, it's clear to see that he's not clinical enough. When we need him to capitalise on the few chances you get in a big match he fails. His first-half blaze over the bar was frustrating but by the time he missed the open goal, i wasn't at all surprised that he missed. Not quite good enough.
3. Joe Cole - The worst performer of the day on the pitch. Nearing Riley's level of performance. Today cemented my opinion that Jose was right about him all along. He's a showboat who doesn't deserve to be regarded as a guarenteed starter. Why he stayed on the pitch was a mystery. His first half one-on-one was an awful miss. As Andy Gray pointed out, Van Der Sar was on the floor and Joe literally had an open goal. Then his second half one-on-one. Did any of us expect him to score? He swung a left boot and placed it into the keeper's chest. But it wasn't just his finishing. His crosses were poor, he again couldn't beat his man and his endless obsession with the step-over is infuriating. The fact he's a Chelsea fan and English seem to blind many people to the fact that he's at the same level as Anelka. Just not good enough. The only reason he's in the side is because we missed out on Robinho (who was awesome today) and Malouda should have stayed on instead of him. At least he keeps it simple. He should be dropped for Stoke.
4. Injuries - Ligament damage for Ricky! The curse usually starts at Christmas not September.
5. Midfield - No Deco meant the midfield lacked some ideas. Scolari said that he wasn't happy with Lamps and Ballack in the first half because they were too similar and that we missed our magician.
6. Finishing - Simply awful. Need a striker in January - Owen, Huntelaar, Villa, Fabiano, all aren't cup-tied.

But still unbeaten this season and at home

KTBFFH

Habs.....

We don't need to buy another striker.... we just need to play the right ones! Drogba and Kalou, are so far superior to Anelka and Malouda it just isn't funny, and now Drogba is getting back to full fitness, hopefully he will get his starting spot back.

Ironically, Anelka looked far more comfortable when he was pushed out to the wing once Drogba came on, and your comments about him not performing under pressure are absolutely right. It is (relatively) easy to take one chance out of 4, but the differnce between playing at Chelsea and Bolton is that with the extra pay comes an extra burden and he needs to be able to take one out of every 2 chances.

Joe Cole had a very poor day, but is excused as his early season form has been reasonable to this point.

Alex looked assured, but the loss of Ricky is immense because neither JT or Alex have his pace.

I disagree Tony with your thought that Utd didn't park the bus...... Whilst they certainly started really well, I felt that as soon as they got the goal they put the shutters up and played very deep. You don't get 7 bookings if you are not trying to kill the game!

I actually didn't think Riley had too bad a game... Most of the bookings were quite justified and whilst his nit-picking is irritating, he does tend to get most things right and doesn't stand for too much nonsense. The ending was disappointing though. A last minute winner from a blinding free-kick would have put the icing on the cake nicely.

@Greenlight

Maybe you're right. If we can get Didier to start scoring and give Kalou a chance maybe we can get through the season. I did find it strange that after Deco got injured we decided to have 4 defenders on the bench (Paulo, Alex, Belletti, Bridge) with Paulo coming on to the bench and Scolari didn't give Sinclair or Di Santo a chance on the bench. I still worry that for a season in which we're fighting on 4 fronts we've got Didier (no pre-season), Kalou (hardly consistent), Anelka (not good enough) and Di Santo (too young) to sustain our campaign.

As for Joe, i don't think his form has been that great. Taken off against Wigan for a poor performance. Taken off against Spurs for a poor performance. And taken off against Bordeaux for not keeping the ball. He needs to start playing well because with Deco out and no summer acquisition after missing out on Robinho, we don't exactly have an abundance of riches. One positive we can all take is that we don't have Fergie or Rafa's problems. They both feel compelled to play their new expensive signings (Keane and Berbatov) when it's plain to see that they both play better without them.

well, we just did not play well enough. and i think we were kinda lucky to get the draw because despite controlling the ball for the longer periods, the red Scum definitely had the better chances. of course, JC had 2 absolutely horrible miss. Anelka was plain bad, and even JT played horribly, as if he was constantly asking for trouble. no wait, he was.
i had really wanted to see at least di Santo or Ivanovic in action, but at least on a brighter note, Kalou scored, and Alex played superbly. maybe Scolari will give Kalou a starting chance now and bench JC for a bit. and in fact, it might work out for the better.
its bad enough we have Essien on the crock list, now we gotta add Deco and Ricky as well? i know Mikel is brilliant and we have sufficient cover at the back and in the middle of the park(since Belletti is playing a central role now), but i'm really like worried that in the long run, we might pay.

@Habs,
If Kalou is hardly consistent then Joey is lamer.Even on his off day Kalou can still beat his man and create chances.He looks dangerous going forward and played wonderfully during pre-season.But Joey was not only dull during pre-season but has been a pile of crap ever since.He cant beat his man,tries to exhibit some skills he does not have,and gets tired easily.You said it best:the fact that he is English seem to blind peoples judgment on him.He belongs to the bench.He is a second half player.We should give Santo more chance.Messi would never have been known if he wasnt given a chance

Will the real Chelsea please stand up?

Scintilating against Pompey and Man City, awful against Spurs, running on neutral against Bordeaux - it's hard to know which type of performance we should be expecting.

Great review Tony, glad to hear you and the family are o.k.

Would have to add in the 'Bad' section defending in general. Sloppy doesnt really cover it, particularly in the first 20-odd minutes. Ripped to shreads time after time. Cech bailed us out when Jar Jar Binks strolled forward and that should have been warning enough. But the way Bosingwa was out-musculed by Evra is inexcusable. And I dont think it would be harsh to blame Cech. Berbatov put as much effort into hitting that shot as he did in 90 minutes (i.e. nothing) and it should have been a routine stop for our #1.

Was really impressed with Alex when he came on, dealt with everything in the air at the back, and provided a useful outlet going forward. When Jar Jar flattened DD at the end, I was all geared up for the Brazilian unit to tonk it into the top corner. Or knock out someone behind the goal.

Do agree with the thoughts on Joe Cole, definitely our worst performer. One good cross in 90 minutes just isn't good enough, and missing not one but two one-on-ones is fairly criminal. Malouda offered little else, have to wonder why we waited so long for Kalou to appear (nice header, I'm always on his case so was pleasantly surprised when he nodded home). And the mind boggles as to what Robinho would have done to Neville over the course of 90 minutes.

Set pieces were pretty average as well. Too much of a coincidence the one that Lamps DIDN'T take is the one we scored from ????

All in all, definitely happy with a point. Too many sub-standard performances, ManUSA had a real chance to put one over on us today, to me they should be disappointed.

And we're still left with that bloody home record albatross hanging round our neck. I'm almost willing it to end.

Got home really late because I didn't leave the ground till 10:30 - I was still waiting for our free kick outside the box and hadn't realised the game had ended.

It was an exciting match with loads of incident and a great atmosphere. Good report Tony and agree with most of your sentiments bar two.

1. Cech. Once upon a time I had unfaltering faith in him but now he makes me nervous. Not only was he guilty of spilling the ball for their goal but also, with increasing regularity, he is making bizarre short clearances which immediately put defenders in a compromising position (and Ashley's promised Cheryl he won't get caught in one again). On the upside United fans probably feel even more nervous with Van der Saar.

2. Anelka. I played devils advocate last season trying to defend Avram but defending Anelka must be the number one wind up. Having reconciled myself to the fact that he's a striker that can't score, to add insult to injury, he's now intent on losing the ball on the half way line to set up counter attacks for the opposition. To wander around the pitch with such a surly face you've got to be a truly great player to endear yourself to the fans and I'm afraid Anelka is a long long way from greatness.

I thought Anelka did everything right bar score. Obviously, with a striker that's a problem.

We should have won - had the better chances and ran the game from 25 minutes onwards. Cole (x2) and Anelka - you have to hit the target with these chances and finishing could be our problem this season. Also, we've already got two draws at home - that's what cost us the title the last two season and I'm worried it's happening again.

Unbelievable our luck with injuries, but Alex was brilliant - the best CB on the pitch. Rio did well, but was at fault for the goal (watch him push JT in the back that watch gormlessly while Kalou steals in behind him for the goal) and then stormed off at the end looking for a female steward to kick. Why do they always act like such a stroppy bunch of thugs at our place?

Dimitar Berbatov - the laziest player I have ever seen in a United shirt. If he doesn't pull his socks up, he's going to get chinned by Rooney or Ferguson and probably both. Shocking.

Hansen spent a number of minutes raving about Rio on MOTD2 but failed to mention his part (or lack thereof) in our goal. He also jumped up immediately with his hand in the air, presumably not to point out that he'd just given a penalty away for the foul on Terry, so presumably he was just cheating / time wasting?

England captain material - my arse.

Riley's ending of the game was odd - confusion reigned. Bad performance overall from him, don't think he did either side any favours with his picky, fussy approach.

TG - thought Mikel was one of our better players, but not quite up to his usual standard overall. And I live in hope that the "Scholesy - he cannae tackle..." myth will be well and truly debunked soon, but I doubt it will ever happen.

Here is a player, an excellent one in his day, who has clearly worked extremely hard to take himself to the highest level and to stay there for some years, but has never ever paid any attention to his tackling (a fairly important skill for a midfielder).

Hmm. Or could it be that he is just a vicious little ginger shitbag with a short temper whose 'tackles' are getting gradually worse as he slows down in the twilight of his career?

Answers on a postcard etc.

Scholes was committing fouls at the rate of one every seven minutes up until he got booked, when he suddenly stopped.

What an amazing coincidence.

Thought Hansen on Rio was plain wrong: as you say he was culpable for the goal and not as good as Alex overall.

I wasn't able to see this match in full yesterday as I was moving from London to Bath to Uni... I arrived in time to catch 10 minutes in the SU bar - from around 65 minutes to 75 minutes, when I saw that ridiculous miss from Anelka and the scoreline was still 1-0 to Man Utd. I wish I'd stayed just 5 minutes longer to see our goal, but alas, I had lots of stuff to move.

I'm content with the result. I'd personally predicted a 2-1 win to us but to come from behind and draw, rather than to have the lead and lose it, feels better than the other way round. I'm glad Salo scored; he's been somewhat wasteful in front of goal of late, but scoring against one of the big clubs will give him a massive life.

Am so upset that Riccy's injured though. :(

@ JD - I take your point on Obi, but I watched him carefully as he caught the eye with his composure. As the game progressed I just thought he stood out for us and added an element that Maka rarely did by driving forwards, dare I say it...like Essien.

@ Pete, agree on Anelka and hopefully captured that in the review. I reckon in time he'll start to slot them home, but the last thing he needs is the crowd on his back, especially a crowd that let Sheva right off the hook by comparison.

Hansen/Dixon made my blood boil and shame on the usually bullshit free Adrian Chiles for allowing it to become a monopolised analysis on Manure. As you say, nothing was said about Rio's hand in the air on our goal, presumably claiming an offside or something, nor of the histrionics at the end. Rio is a lucky man because Riley bottled a big call there.

BTW, did anyone hear Graham Poll on 5 Live this morning. He mentioned that the 7-1 bookings seemed wrong and that Mike Riley had failed to 'balance' the yellow cards between the teams as required by the FA! Doesn't that smack of something very wrong? Isn't that a bit 'eye for eye' ? One team loses its collective rag but the ref should be ensuring balance between the punishments so the other team get punished as well? That explains a few things.......

Most of the reports on the game focus on United, which is a little odd. Yes, they did perform a bit better than they have done so far this season, especially in the opening 20 minutes, but overall I thought we dominated them after they scored.

You could even say that the reason United were so good in the opening quarter was because of the injuries to Deco and Carvalho, which seemed to affect us quite badly (a worry).

Perhaps they were happy to try to hold out for a 1-0 win. It says something that Ferguson didn't play or introduce Tevez, who's their best player at the moment. They were all over the place for several minutes after Ronaldo came on - Rooney had to go to the bench to find out where he was supposed to be playing. Ferguson misses Queiroz.

It is a worry that we found it so difficult to score, because I don't think United defended as well as they can. Anelka is becoming frustrating, he might have had his chance now that Drogba is fully fit.

Lampard's free kicks and corners were quite poor (did I hear that he was out on the lash Friday night?).

Alex was immense. I'm not sure what it says about Mourinho's judgement that he didn't want to sign him. ;-)

Obi Mikel is going to be a Chelsea legend. Not at his best yesterday, but close.

As for Berbatov being lazy, he makes Anelka look like a world beater. Did you see him in the warm-up? He couldn't even be bothered to do that properly. Indolent git.

Nobody has made anything of how honest Ballack was when Neville slid in and tried to take his legs moments after being booked. Ballack hurdled him (there was contact) and tried his best to keep the attack going; if he had gone down Neville would have been off. While a part of me wished he had gone down, I admired Ballack for his honesty. It wouldn't surprise me if this is something Big Phil's introduced to our game.

And it was good to see Butch on the sidelines again.

I thought this game would be a draw - albeit 0-0.

I agree with those above who said for the 1st 20 mins we were outplayed by ManUsa - but our reaction after their goal was immense. We dominated and I really thought we would equalize earlier then we did.

Those who think that finishing will make or break our season are spot on. Anelka - bless him - is just not a top team striker. We need another striker urgently, if not 2.

I have always been a fan of Kalou - I really think he will shine for us this season playing a WF/ ST role.

As for Big Phil - at least he kept our home record intact - but really this was a game we should have won - but fair play - we lost Deco in the build-up and that can create problems for the fluidity of the team. Deco takes our corners now - not Frank and after the game it is clear why that is.

And I have mentioned this before - but why are we the only team in the league whose wingers cannot cross a ball !!!!

Early days though - so come on Chels!!!

On the Jar Jar Binks impersonating Travolta from Saturday Night Fever front, one angle I watched showed Kalou give him a gentle nudge, which he multiplied with love before passing onto JT. I think he was trying to claim a push on him more than anything else.

Not that it made a jot of difference.

I think Ballack realised that Neville was having, for all intents and purposes, a shocker and didn't really want to inflict anything more severe on the poor lamb. The way Anelka sprinted past him, collected the ball, then nutmegged him only to be brought down, it's a wonder Neville knew what continent he was on, let alone what to do for the rest of the game.

I see a few rumours today that we're close to agreeing a deal for Mineiro. Which is fine, but if he's not good enough for Arsenal, then are we that depserate for someone else. What about Appiah?

A few thoughts:

1) What are teams doing in the warm-up this season - there seems to be at least 1 late withdrawal because of injury somewhere in EPL almost every week now?

2) Have to say Rooney seemed the gobbiest of the "gobby shites" as Limetreebower described them on the last post - he looks back to his infamous impression of a smouldering volcano constantly on the verge of erupting and would probably have got the red card he deserved if Ashley hadn't been practising his hurdling technique.

3) Riley must be entitled to some Timekeeper of the Year Award for insisting we start the 2nd half with 10 men while Drogba stood forlornly on the touchline - and then apparently awarded a knock-out to Rio for his assault on Drogba 2 minutes 40 secs into that "minimum of 3 minutes added time" which he decided constituted the end of the game.

4) Didn't realise how much the last 4 years had converted me to expect TSO-style success built on solid defending till I noticed I was becoming panic-stricken as we repeatedly committed 8 men to attacks throughout the game against possibly the fastest counter-attacking side in EPL.....

Well done TG, hope the psychological scars of your near miss heal quickly. I believe I can help you out with your confusion as to where you actually are, although I’m a bit rusty on this stuff.

If you were baptized (as a Roman Catholic) then if you’re not in heaven or hell you’re in Purgatory. If you weren’t then you’re in Limbo. At least that is how it used to be. Now they say that while purgatory is part of doctrine (it exists), Limbo was a theological concept and never doctrine. It was usually employed to describe where little babies went if they died before Baptism (therefore avoiding the accusation of the Church looking like complete bastards) but originally it could be any of the unbaptized who lived righteous lives but had not heard the Gospel (Moses, Abraham and the like).

Good, glad we got that sorted.

There is a bit of a theological, god-bothering theme developing on this site, I being one of the chief culprits and I do wonder if it will alienate the non-believers and people of other faiths. Has Richard Dawkins written in to complain?

In my defence I would point out that football originated in the Judeo/Christian West and therefore colours the lexicon of the game and underpins the discourse that surrounds it. (I sense an opportunity here for paid research into how a game with this background makes inroads into areas of the world where Christianity and western values are very much in the minority if existing at all. Understand this and we can maximise shirt sales)

Continued below with proper football related nonsense….....

Anyway to more serious subjects and the weekends events. As I had to listen on the radio and catch the highlights I will leave the serious observations to those better placed and restrict my comments to the ephemera.

1. Fergie, Ronaldo et al. spend the week sledging about protection from the referee, not letting Chelsea kick them off the park etc. Result 7 yellows to 1. Come on Mr Dawkins and the atheist cohorts prove there isn’t a God.

2. Having mentioned in a previous post that Mr Wilkins would be handy once the media got bored with being nice to Chelsea, bugger me I did expect it to last into October. However the general tone of reportage and the MODT2 farce would seem to indicate that the weather is changing already. Until they can find something to slag us about, they will major on the opposition and mention us in passing. Should we handle Stoke away from home, the Villa game complete with Martin O’Neill love in (legendary motivator, success built on two bob and a bus ticket etc. etc.) will be the next dose of this particular approach.

3. MOTD2 – very very poor. Lee Dixon - waste of space. Hansen patently wanted to be watching the golf and Childs peeved with two of them for not trying. Their game analysis was pathetic. This used to be worth watching when the so-called lesser pundits (several of them ex-Chelsea) took the opportunity to talk enthusiastically and knowledgeably about the game. Now it’s getting like the Saturday show, which comprises 2 pints of warm piss and a packet of soggy crisps.

4. There seems to be a change in player attitude as remarked on above. As well as Ballack, A Cole leapt to his feet after Rooney’s challenge to try and prevent a yellow. The radio commentary claimed that A Cole made a meal of a challenge in the 1st half so you wonder if LGF had a word at half time. We shall see how this develops and how long it takes the media to notice.

5. Ferdinand – anger management required. MOTD2 didn’t replay the Drogba incident but it looked like he expected to at least have given away a free kick or more likely to make the lonely walk of shame, otherwise why protest so vehemently? The spreading of the stewards around the pitch used to be a signal that the game was ending, but now you know its close to the end of the Manyoo game when they start moving all the female stewards away to a fortified underground bunker.

6. Anelka – the spirit of Robert Fleck still walks and still stalks and still cannot score. Call for the exorcist.

Serie A corner. – Claudio and TSO locked in combat at the top. Apparently TSO has been making disparaging comments about CR’s age and football methods. C’mon lads we’re all Chelsea folk.

As I previously mentioned it was a shame our equaliser didn't come with about 20 to 25 mins to go because I believe they were there for the taking. They looked rattled in midfield and defence, Ronaldo appeared to pitch his tent in our half and refused to track back which just created acres of space. If that was meant to be an inspired tactical substitution by Sir Red Nose then it wasn't very clever, and how he wasn't booked for the most blatant dive of the decade against Frank is beyond me.

And what's been mentioned with regard Riley by a few bloggers is spot on, bloody awful game which nearly spoilt the occasion, and he bottled that free kick along with the second yellow that Rio "coke head" would have certainly got.

LINK

Drogba is overused player...Sell Drogba for nice money and buy THAT guy.
Thats all we can do about striker.Play Di Santo and Kalou...+buy hUNTELAAR

@24 BB - your point 1 is interesting - is Old Purplenose's ability to intimidate officials with his pre-match ranting and raving waning at last? LGF seems to be in serene mode still, not even rising to the bait in post-match interview of a chance to whinge about not getting a penalty for Van der Saar's lunge at Malouda - how would TSO have reacted to that?

I assumed the repeated "theological, god-bothering theme" on the site from so many contributors was a strategy to persuade Jose Musumba out of his self-enforced silence - we all know he's still out there nursing his wrath in comment-free viewing-only status. My long-lapsed Protestant upbringing still vaguely recalls that forgiveness is an admired Christian virtue....

Lampard 8??? For taking setpieces(...and we scored from the very 1st that he didn't take!)? So why was Obi doing a 3mensjob all by himself?

I am probably right looking out for that 'Rocket Science for Dummies' book.

I am probably right looking out for that 'Rocket Science for Dummies' book.

It's good that you want to educate yourself Hnrey, but something more up your street might be in order...

LINK=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1222097870&sr=8-4

Apologies to all as I evacuate the somewhat overactive bowel that is my mind this afternoon into the open latrine that is the blogosphere..... but I've had a couple of thoughts relating to the Home Record.

Is it starting to inhibit the team by adding pressure at home?

How does it affect the crowd at home games?

When will it go?

Looking ahead the next 3 EPL home games are Villa, Poo and Arse with a CL game against Roma sandwiched in there. With Manure just gone it looks like whoever compiled the EPL fixtures was trying to get the Home record over and done with before the year was out.

It has to go at some point but I can't think who I'd rather see take it.

Although mathematically speaking each game could end in a loss but not losing does not make it more likely in the next game (am I right here ye bookmakers and maths bods?) it has to happen sooner or later.

Ah well, time to pluck the old newspaper of speculation from the rusty nail of assumption, and having wiped the arse of mindless gibberish, hitch up the trousers of concentration with the belt of determination and return to work.

Adieu

Aaaah good old Hnrey. Yep, 8 for lamps and bugger all to do with his set pieces but more to do with his passing, tackling, work rate and all round contribution. Here's a clue to the scoring - They all start with 6 because they're our players, points get added or subtracted according to how good or bad they are. Lamps did more than enough to deserve an 8. JT on the other hand didn't.

@ KJ II

Very good, cleaning bits of biscuit off my screen. Was that ever Richard and Judy's book of the week?

You really have to consider a lot of things before giving those scores.

1. vs. Fletcher & Parker(Did you see how comfortable these 2 were?)
2. Setpieces :

vs. Fletcher & park, setpieces, every 2nd ball to utd players, obi by himself

too many reasons why 8 is a bit generous.

Chelsea TV say that Deco's out for 2 weeks and Ricky's out for 4 weeks with ligament damage! Not good news. Alex may have done well but him and JT at the back doesn't bode well against the pace of Torres or Agbonlahor who we'll be facing soon.

With a very tough Carling Cup coming up, it seems unlikely that Scolari will begin using Wenger's tactic of playing the kids. It also seems unlikely that we can rotate too much because we firstly don't have the strength in depth, and secondly if we do we'll probably go out. Many say that Scolari is desperate to win the Carling Cup to get the trophie haul started just like Jose did. So what team will we see at Pompey?

Cudicini
Paulo Alex JT Bridge
Belletti
Mikel Lamps
Sinclair Didier Kalou

I don't think Ballack can play again within 3 days so he'll probably revert back to Belletti. After that, we don't exactly have many other options in midfield. Alex and JT should be given time to build up a partnership, plus the fact that Scolari seems to be ignoring Ivanovic. Bridge will definitely play to give Ashley a rest. Same with Paulo on the right. Joe should definitely be dropped after his shocking performance yesterday. Personally i would give Sinclair a chance, like Avram did last year. Didier will be given time to get fit, and Kalou definitely deserves a start.

It'll be a tough game and i'll go for a 2-1 after extra-time.

@30 BB - "time to pluck the old newspaper of speculation from the rusty nail of assumption, and having wiped the arse of mindless gibberish, hitch up the trousers of concentration with the belt of determination and return to work"

Are you auditioning to succeed Humphrey Lyttleton on "I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue" or something :-)

I know several people on here feel the Home Record is now a bit of a curse we'd be better rid of - but to me at home games it just feels like there is this enormous level of self-belief that on the rare occasions we go behind like yesterday that we'll pull it back somehow no matter how much of a struggle it seems.

Can't help thinking it might be a "Be careful what you wish for" situation - seem to recall when the unbeaten Arsenal league-winning side finally lost a game they rather crumbled afterwards for some time from the psychological shock.

When it does go I'd rather it was none of the above - but a non-serious rival, non-London club, preferably near the end of a season when we're already mathematically Champions.

When it does go I'd rather it was none of the above - but a non-serious rival, non-London club, preferably near the end of a season when we're already mathematically Champions.

@BBD
I mentioned that particular scenario a while back, but if it does go perhaps one of the probable relgated teams like Stoke or WBA so they can have some bragging rights. I was going to mention Rottenham in amongst that lot but we played them already, but we can still hope for relegation for that obnoxious lot.

From Chelsea website

Chelsea have confirmed Ricardo Carvalho is out for up to four weeks, while Deco will be missing for a fortnight.

It's normal convention that when the opposition fans sing their song the Chelsea fans (Matthew Harding at least) deliver a retort. You know the kind of thing;

Away fans: United
Our fans: Sh*t
Away fans: United
Our fans: Sh*t
Away fans: United
Our fans: Sh*t
etc.

However when they started with

Away fans: Peter Kenyon, is a w*nker, is a w*nker. Peter Kenyon, is a w*nker, is a w*nker

Our fans remained unusually quiet although many near me seemed desperate to join in but decided against, thinking we should all show solidarity.

Don't think Abdul himself is optimistic about him than you are mate! He's an absolute waste of £15m - we draw 2 home games already & he was responsible for both to end up with us scoring a solitary goal. Anelka simply is not good enough for us - esp in the big matches when the going gets tough - and the only contribution that he has made is missing sitters in important matches, and of course, the penalty miss (for a striker) which led Man U to win the CL. The same stuff is going on with Malouda - and Kalou, I feel, for some reason has been unfairly treated. He was one of the highest assists and goal-scorer for us last season and should be in the first XI - esp when he's competing with Anelka & Malouda. Now with Drogs back we should play 4-3-3 (4-1-4-1 or 4-3-2-1) with him up front and Joey, Kalou, Lamps, Obi & Ballack (when Deco & Essien is back Ballack & Obi in bench).

Good review TONY..Hope you're ok hunny..that was a huge shock to read!! x x

@BLUEBOYDAVE

Regarding the home record, i agree..however i'm really proud of the boys..that's a massive achievement to be able to hold onto a record like that, long ,may it continue..As TONY says, it will probably end this year but i just didn't want it to be yesterday. God, no!!


Gutted that Riccy will be out for a month..

@ Mark

I think its a wanker ownership thing. Peter Kenyon may well be prone to some self relief, as is the case with most men if we're honest. However, he is OUR wanker at the moment rather than THEIR wanker and so it was an act of reluctant solidarity, but also very funny. Perhaps JD's link to the book has a section of wanker ownership and the associated protocols.

Lets face it, walk into any crowded pub on a Friday night and shout 'Oi Wanker' and the chances are every bloke will turn round and say "What?". Those that don't may well be deaf.......maybe through too much wanking.

If that doesn't keep Musumba away then nothing will.

PS, thanks to all for the kind messages. (especially Lolli xx)

@BB - Last weeks incident was a test of my recent conversion to atheism although I was close to a Jules Winnfield divine intervention moment (Pulp Fiction). I was raised as a Roman Catholic but decided to ditch it (and religion in general) when my Mum decided I had to go to church on Sunday mornings rather than play football and watch The Big Match. What sort of God espouses that? At 13 I rebelled, much to her disgust and chagrin, and much to the amusement of my Alf Garnett/Reg Varney hybrid Dad.

Purgatory always struck me as a holding cell, similar to the one Popeye may well be treated to when the mask of piety and bonhomie slips, whereby the jury could decide on whether you were

a.)Hell-bound (pubs, clubs, sex, smoking, stockings, porn, drugs, rock music, theme parks, motorbikes, sports cars, big screen TV's showing live footie, kebabs and Haagen Dasz ice cream and a football league) or

b.)Heaven bound (churches, angels, moralisers, safe sex, Tennis, environmentalists, cleanliness, hymns, worship, peppermint tea, sandwiches with no crusts, Sir Cliff jukeboxes, pringle jumpers, tights and hybrid cars etc)

Limbo was just an outrageous cop out and a heinous construct developed by tub thumpers who had no moral argument on dead babies.

Lampard still an 8!

@Tony
Yes let me add my relief that you and your family are safe and well, it must have been pretty bloody terrifying.
But the thought just occured to me was Mr Musumba driving the thing?

If that's in bad taste I apologise, but us Brits always tend to see the funny side of things with a stiff upper lip, I suppose it's our mechanism of coping with adversity

I think losing Deco & Ricky C with the bison already out is gonna be trouble. This mineiro guy looks like he'll be needed. we need to get ballack back to full fitness and get him and lamps working well together. i felt that they stopped each other playing well yesterday.

drogba needs to start and kalou needs to be starting as well. hopefully we won't suffer too much without ricky. i really want to see ivanovic given a chance. i heard he can play in defensive midfield as well. why is belletti being played in midfield sometimes? gets on my nerves.

@ Clive, I have never had a problem with bad taste mate, its almost a hallmark of mine!

@Blue Bayou (32)

I'm not sure that said tome ever made it onto R&J's shortlist, although it is the kind of controversial subject matter that would have complemented their legendary study of the prostate gland and how to check one's testicles for unwelcome contours live on national television.

Following on from Tony's penchant for bad taste (#45) comment, I did spend a very amusing Saturday evening recently with a friend who was once involved with daytime TV's golden couple as previously mentioned. I couldn't possibly divulge in detail the intimate nature of my chum's tales about the pairing, but suffice to say that along with a previously well documented problem with the demon drink, one half of the partnership was also not always completely in control of their bladder, which made filming days very tricky on occasion.

Moving swiftly on before the lawyers arrive, the home record is an odd one; I'd guess it means more to us than the players, and not in the wrong way - surely they approach each game as it comes and as yet, I don't think I've really seen us play like the record weighs heavily upon us.

I can also confirm that I have spent a hour or so in the company of Mr. Tony Glover since his brush with the 18 Wheels of the Apocalypse and if I was indeed meeting him in Limbo / Purgatory, at least the beer is cold.

Remember kids, the devil drives 'til the hearse arrives...

Alex is going to get a few games now, which means that Ivanovic will continue to be the invisible Serb.

Mr Big seems to be fairly sure what his best lineup is, and happy to stick with it. I think any other manager we've had since Hoddle would have done at least a smidge of rotation between Citeh away, Bordeaux home, Mancs at home. I assume Ballack will come in for Deco, Alex for Riccy, Drogs for Anelka, and they'll stick like that until the next injury.

Perhaps we'll get to see some of the kids if we get past Pompey and wangle a home Carling Cup tie.

Does anyone else think Hnery is Musumba?

@ LTB

I was waiting for someone else to say it..but yes, i've thought the same thing for a while now..think it's the Lampard issue that he has..it gives it away!

@ TONY

You're very welcome..just glad you're ok! x x

I generally completely agree with these reports and seldom comment but I honestly think this was far from Mikel's best game....let me explain...

Mikel did well in the middle defending and holding but I can count at least 5 times when after stopping a run of United's or some other Chelsea player stopping the run Mikel tried to force the perfect ball and let United run at us AGAIN!He seemed particularly fond of trying to thread it to Malouda/Anelka up the left and simply doesnt have the distribution skills to do that. Don't get me wrong I think he should start every match and has unbelievable potential and want to buy a Mikel jersey but he needs to settle down and distribute more consistently in my opinion.

Anelka as well is really subpar. He had maybe two good headers that he flicked on for Cole or dropped to the side for Lamps but besides that he's trash. He fancies himself a Lampard or Gerrard taking ridiculous 30 yard strikes. I think an academy defender would have more poise in front of goal than him. While kalous is prone to trying to do too much at least he does stuff! Anelka kinda sulks around the field with the occasional burst. I vote for beletti or bosingwa up top as both can hit a ball 100 times better than anelka and have better vision and passing. Someone above mentioned putting sinclair and kalou in and im all for letting them work and try to prove themselves. Anelka, while scoring a lot in preseason, has done nothing for us but notch a goal that even the worst player ever in the lovely chelsea jersey, khalid boulahrouz, wouldnt miss against man city.

anyway im excited to hear what everyone thinks of my critique of mikel. once again his defending is fabulous and is obviously his most important skill but we really cant have him letting teams just run at us because he wants an assist from the center circle....i belive it was berbatov or rooney who intercepted one of his awry passes in teh first 10 minutes before fluffing the ball over the crossbar.

I think you're right about Mikel, huge potential but manure seemed happy to let him have the ball, and they marked ballack and lamps closely, basically their way of saying, he's ur least dangerous midfielder, not much of a creator. but it will come with time. i also think lamps and ballack made him suffer cos no one dropped off and went forward and generally buzzed around like deco does.

i think everyones being too harsh on anelka. he is frustrating, but he looks like hes trying and he looks much better when playing with drogs up front together.

Morning bloggers..another beautiful sunny day here in OZ..whats it like in old blighty..

Having read some of the posts above, its my opinion that we are getting a bit too critical of individuals failings or problems with injuries and not focusing enough on the positives.

We are second in the league behind Arsenal with a goal difference of 7. Man Ure (should be our closest challenger come May) are 6th from bottom with 6 less points and a goal difference of ZERO. We have won our first CL game in a not too difficult group. Not a bad start considering we have a new coach, 2 new players a few injuries and a few players not yet back to full match fitness.

Yes Essien, Carvahlo and Deco are key players but you could argue that each player in the starting 11 are key players. We still have a strong squad and importantly having these injuries at the start of the season gives us a chance to blood the up and coming players to fill the gaps. I hope TSSO sticks to his word on this. Getting game time for these up and coming players will be crucial for later in the season when injuries to key players (which will happen) have a bigger impact.

I believe if we can maintain this position by the end of this year then we are well set to make our move in 2009.

I would like to see the subs bench for each game include 3 1st team players who didn't make the starting team and 3 reserves who have potential. Then TSSO can choose to put on an established player or a up and coming player depending on how we are going in the game. With a reserve goalie taking up 1 sub position, this leaves 6 other positions where we could have 2 defenders, 2 midfielders and 2 attackers where one in each position is a younger player.

Have a good day everyone... summer is just around corner.. oops forgot your summer is almost over ;-))

@ ChelseaTony... sorry to here about your frightening near miss and glad your all OK. The roads can be just as dangerous in OZ and the trucks are bigger!

Another point on tactics. TSSO is clearly favouring a mobile midfield model built around fluid movement and quick passing. Sunday's game showed the value of a Deco type player as the midfield of Ballack, Lampard and Mikel was a bit laboured at times on Sunday, although to be fair to Ballack he is not match fit yet.

We clearly don't have a ready replacement for Deco in the 1st team which means TSSO had to revert to a more traditional midfield structure which is not as pretty or as incisive particularly against the stronger teams.

Perhaps TSSO needs to consider Joe Cole's position in the team. I agree with other posters he has been generally quite poor, wasteful and it appears lacking in confidence in TSSO's team as a winger or floating striker. His stepovers are so predictable and do nothing in terms of attacking threat. His crossing is poor for a player supposedly as gifted as he is. Maybe he should be encouraged to be more of a Deco type player and learn from the little master under TSSO's guidance. This means rotating Deco and Cole in the team with Deco being the senior in that position.

From my memory Cole's best performances under TSO was when he played in the attacking midfield role linking between central midfield and attack (As Guddy used to do with JFH). To my mind short passes and neat flicks with snapshots from in front of goal is what he does best.

A similar argument could be made for Ballack and Lampard who appear to play a similar role in the team and like Lampard and Gerrard for England, cannot seem to readily adjust and compliment each other when playing alongside each other. It would be difficult to say who is the senior player in this tag team but playing them as a tag team would mean maintaining the core structure TSSO likes to play and also giving the opportunity for both players to get a rest either during the game or between games.

Interesting to hear other bloggers thoughts on this...

KTBF

Morning bloggers..another beautiful sunny day here in OZ..whats it like in old blighty..

@Peter
Bugger off! ;-)

@ Clive... I take from that response (with tongue firmly embedded in cheek) that its raining up your way... If it makes it any better it was raining here yesterday and a chilly 17C...

And here I was expecting an informed response to my comments on the team... ;-)

I hope TSSO has the belief to do something similar in the Carling Cup. Wenger has his critics but he does stick to guns on blooding youth in "4th" competition. The benefits can be seen in the relative youth of the 1st team. Arsenal could be more of threat this season than people are saying right now and certainly next season if they continue to develop their players the way they do.

LINK

If this is true then poor Zola will have his work cut out convincing his board to spend money in January...

LINK

Now back to work..!!

@Peter
Yes quite cloudy first thing but there does appear to be a strange yellow object appearing through the gloom.
And you call 17C chilly I would say that it could be construed as a mini heatwave over here. :-)

We have the opposite problem over here and that is even on mild days (say low 20s) if you spend more than 15 minutes unprotected in the sun you start to get sunburnt and eventually nasty black spots will appear on your skin which will kill you. Then there are the mosquitos, snakes, spiders, jelly fish, crocs and even plants that can kill you while you go about your daily business...

Still not complaining one little bit and have enjoyed my 21 years (nearly) and counting down under. Beats Milton Keynes any day ...!

Surely based on the fact that once again the physio's at the Bridge are working overtime, tomorrow night needs to see as many young and fringe players playing as possible.

I'm all for winning every available trophy, but we honestly can't afford one more injury. Things are stretched enough as they are - if we lose another defender, midfielder or attacker it's a full-blown crisis.

The thing is, why is it just us that suffers? ManUSa, Liverpool and Arsenal have the injuries, but only to 1 key player at a time. With us, it's like a B.O.G.O.F offer in a supermarket. 'A knee injury Sir, how about having a free thigh muscle tear'.

Maybe the issue lies deeper than just bad luck - is it the training regime, or how we warm up etc. Didn't Newcastle once have to relay their whole training pitch because it was found to have caused 4 hamstring injuries in a fortnight or something?

And Peter, we're not rising to the bait. There's no need for that sort of behaviour. We're all well aware of where you live, and we muddle along, through the doom and gloom of the British weather and Gordon Browns laughable attempts to run the country. So just leave it, yeah ;-)

@ Fiftee... At least Gordon Brown attempts to be a politician even if he bumbles along like Michael Crawford in Some Mothers do have em ! We are currently saddled with a laughing gnome of a leader who embarrassingly saluted George Bush...

Anyway enough about the weather and politics and lets not mention religion...couldn't agree more about Pompey and Carling Cup. We need to use this competition for blooding our youth and not risking key 1st team players any more than necessary.

@BBD #36 If the nation wishes to force the crown upon my head well.........

@Habs #35 I thought the same when I heard that Riccy was out. Torres considers him the best defender in the Prem. Still its a squad game these days and I'm sure TSSO will have some strategies to counter the threat.

@PTG #52 I was thinking the same thoughts on Joe Cole as I stepped aboard the loser cruiser under the grey skies of London. He seems to have become a wide player because Chelsea and England have lacked someone on either the left or right. If JC was injured who is a natural right sided wide player in the squad? I would be interested in seeing him play a more central role.



Look mum I've managed a post almost completely devoid of nonsense (apart from my ideas on football of course)

Really, it's a shame we can't use the Carling Cup as a vehicle to recall all our loaned-out players exclusively for that competition.

Fair enough, we've got Di Santo and Sinclair in the 1st team squad, and after that the best youngsters are mostly out on loan. If we could have Bertrand and Cork etc. back at least we'd get a vision of the Chelsea team of the future.

I reckon TSSO will put out a fairly strong team, maybe with one or 2 changes.

Were it anything to do with me, I'd pick : Cudicini; Belletti / Ferreira, Mancienne, Alex, Bridge; Sinclair, Ballack, Lamps, Kalou; DD and Di Santo.

Tony, disagree about rivalries.....The biggest rivalry for me and i assume most CFC fans is Liverpool and Barcelona in that order, then Man-u and Arsenal. Liverpool's draw made my day! As for our game, it was unlucky to have not had Deco and especially Carvalho and United Vidic so really this game was still not quite the best vs the best since both teams had top players out. Anelka? no question Jury still out, not on his ability because he has it but on his commitment to the Chelsea fight, Joe Cole....mmmmm thoughts of show Pony and lost discipline now JM gone spring to mind. Also, as ChelseaTony said in his post, the BBC MOTD hardly analysed Chelsea, but mostly on Unites games...When all is said and done, if we do not win the title this season, i'm sorry but we would have lost our prem dominance nurtured by Jose. Ans i dont agree with Scholari either, we should want to beat every team, every day and make sure we keep on top of everyone else and of course being 9 points (6 in reality ) is bloody important. He should wave his hands around less and concentrate on beating the opponents. fearless and arrogant, not meak and mild is how we became champions or is everybody happy to come second again?

I'd agree His Bigness has failed to live up to his claims to give young/fringe players their chance so far. I know it's early days but at a point when Drogs was injured and Kalou was at/just returned from the Olympics Sinclair still couldn't even make a 7-man bench and even Di Santo has only had a few minutes on the pitch against Spurs so far.

@62 Fiftee - I like your suggested side which seems more than capable of overcoming 'Arry's current porous 3-5-2 experiment, but suspect we'll make few unenforced changes - though don't think Drogs looked ready to start a game yet on Sunday.

@47. limetreebower/lolli - I'm not convinced that Hnery is Musumba - Musumba used to ramble incoherently and repetitively at great length but at least seemed to respond to earlier posts while Hnery appears to be on something so mind scrambling he can rarely manage more than 2 or 3 lines which only randomly connect to any current topic.....

To my Italian posters on here, Inter top of the league with an away 3-1, and JM having fights with everybody else because they are jealous as always....no dought will win Scudetto and everything else this year in Italy most probably. So on to the CL and lets get ready to rumble.........it will be fascinating to pit JM against Scholari, what do other people think on here? Dont forget, Deco, Boswinga, Terry, Lampard, Drogba et all were made by JM.will be kind of weird for JM!

After our theological, god-bothering discussions thing seem to have taken a New Age turn today with the publication of Arsene "The Guru" Wenger's Happy Clappy Positive Thinking for the MTV Generation:

LINK

I'm not one to mock but somehow it seems much easier to understand now why Arsenal have won nothing for years.

This might also explain why Wenger so often fails to see "ze incident" during games - he may be off meditating on an astral plane or checking out orbs with Noel Edmonds.....

LINK

@BlueBoyDave - I cannot abide all that team building bollocks.

A friend of mine works for T-Mobile and is regularly sent on "team-building" weekends. I feel so sorry for him. He nearly died on one such weekend in Wales when he was forced to jump into a river from a height; he didn't jump far enough away from the cliff, hit several branches growing out of the cliff on the way down, and landed on his stomach. Somebody had to jump in and prevent him from drowning!

Come to think of it, he probably felt closer to the person who rescued him. ;-)

---

Re all the god-bothering stuff. Richard Dawkins called. He said: "God has been obsolete for a century and a half, since 24 November 1859. It was a Thursday."

Also, "It is absolutely safe to say that, if you meet somebody who claims not to believe in evolution, that person is ignorant, stupid or insane."

He seemed like a top bloke.

On the relgious front....
I'm probably a dyslexic, agnostic, insomniac... I often lay awake in bed at night thinking is there a Dog?

I'll get my coat!

@BBD #66

"Always want more"

The modern footballer usually sits up straight at this bit and then resettles the earpieces of his I-pod while the manager drones on.

Noel Edmunds - he's slipping away from us I fear.

The last time I had Orbs hovering above my shoulders was in my bike racing days when a pile up saw the crossbar comming into heavy contact with the crown jewels.

@Chelseablog

I knew if we kept up with the God Bothering nonsense we'd flush him out. Did you get him to sign up for the fantasy football while he was on?

I shall leave all theological arguments to the late, great Douglas Adams. He could have had Dawkins for breakfast, if he'd only got out of bed in time.

'Now it is such a bizarrely impossible coincidence that anything so mind-bogglingly useful could have evolved purely by chance that some thinkers have chosen to see it as a final and clinching proof of the nonexistence of God. The arguement goes something like this:

"I refuse to prove that I exist," says God, "for proof denies faith, and without faith I am nothing."

"But," say Man, "the Babel fish is a dead giveaway, isn't it? It could not have evolved by chance. It proves you exist, and so therefore, by your own arguments, you don't. QED."

"Oh dear," says God, "I hadn't though of that" and promply vanishes in a puff of logic."'

I'll bet he wouldn't have stood for any of that team building nonsense either.

@BB - Dawkins said he would like to enter a team, but he hasn't got the time to sit down and select a squad - he muttered something along the lines of, "Too many Creationists, not enough time."

I said he should auto select the players.

He said, "Okay. I'll let you do it on my behalf. Call the team 'Darwin's Rottweilers'."

Scholari's Plan B = Pray to God that Plan A works.

Jesus, Henry, that's actually quite funny.

After having read quite a lot of comments about Scolari not using young talents I'm really wondering if some people forget what club they are supporting. This is Chelsea, rich and not required to focus on the youth anymore. This club is not about creating talents anymore...it's about forming a title-winning squad with complete players. That's why e.g. SWP didn't make it here....he's got the talent but the reality is, we just can't afford making Chelsea a tryout zone. Some people might disagree but with the money coming in, the importance of bringing in players from the youth team simply fades. That's the harsh reality of football I think.
Of course players such as Sinclair deserve a run but to be honest, they are in the wrong place.
Just look at how often Mikel's excellent performances are mentioned. That's what we need at Chelsea....young and complete players....talent isn't enough. Just look at Michael Owen...there you can see what happens when you overrate talent.

I don't agree at all, Oligarch (unless your name indicates that the whole post is a sly dig at the Success Now attitude of the super-rich benefactor). Money doesn't guarantee success. It's impossible to be competitive without it, but there's too much luck and too many other decent teams about for anyone to be able to ensure that they'll win everything just by bringing in "complete players", i.e. galacticos.

The only way to run a club sensibly is to have some internal stability. Otherwise you can't build a relationship with the fans, you can't get a group of players (however talented) to cohere into a team, you can't create a sense of identity which will keep you going in the years when other clubs win stuff instead of you. And a big part of maintaining internal stability is having a proper youth policy. Buying players with proven reputations can go either way (Veron? Crespo?). Whereas even if only one or two of the Obis, the Di Santos, the Sinclairs, the Manciennes, the Corks, turn out to be first-team talents, you at least have a good chance that they'll slot in easily, want to stay, and perform consistently. Man U's domination was built by blending the big name import (Cantona, Scmeichel) with the home-grown (okay, home-poached) kids (Giggs, Beckham, the vile Nevilles, the twat Scholes). At the other end of the spectrum is Real Madrid. I know which model I'd rather follow.

@PTG 52 -- I thought Joe had his best game for a while on Sunday. He and Bosingwa are dangerous in tandem down the right, and he was sharp around the box. He just looked bad because of the two pretty horrible misses. I also think that the Lampard/Ballack issue was put to bed in the second half of last season, when they combined brilliantly.

Take away 15-20 minutes when everyone in the team played badly, and we looked really pretty good on Sunday. I don't think there's a lot to worry about. And bear in mind that Mr Big himself says the team is a work in progress.

If you want to see an example of a great youth policy, just look at Arsenal's performance at the Emirates. Their kids are playing some glorious football. They may not win anything but it's by playing them in every round, even in finals, that these kids are able to gain experience. They are able to learn about first team football and are able to develop their talents. That's how Wenger has turned Fabregas into a world class player and Clichy a first team player. He puts all his faith in them and that's how their young players seem to regularly become first team players. Tonight, Carlos Vela looks like a future star and he is widely regarded as one of the best young players in Europe. You wonder why our scouts can never unearth these future greats?

It's great that wenger is able to develop these young players but it'll never happen at Chelsea. Some of our kids like Di Santo and Sinclair should be given a chance but the fans will never accept seeing a youth side crash out to Pompey or lose a final. That's why it seems more and more likely that Sinclair and Di Santo will never develop into great players, because they're never given a chance at a big club like ours. We'll never know if Sinclair can be as good as Theo Walcott and become an England international, and we'll never know if Di Santo can become a great no.9. It may seem pessimistic but as Hansen once said, 'you never win anything with kids.' Fergie may have done it, but as we see at Arsenal you have to endure a few years of disappointment in order to develop these young stars and only then will you have a chance of winning anything. But who can see Chelsea or Roman putting up with 2/3 years of blooding the young players whilst not winning anything? That's why it seems very unlikely that we'll see another youth team player make it into the first team like JT.

Morning again bloggers... and this time I won't mention the glorious day again here in Adelaide ;-)

Going to be interesting to see the starting 11 for tonights game against Pompey. Was mightily impressed by Arsenal's youngsters win over the Blades. This is what Chelsea need to do now..use the Carling Cup as a proving ground for our second string and younger players and play them right through the comp as Arsenal do. This can only help the 1st team particularly towards the end of the season and as I said yesterday I get the feeling Arsenal will be a force in the next few years if they can keep the nucleous of these younger players coming through.

They still remain a bit too 'pretty' to really challenge for top hounours but that resilience may return and then they will be a very difficult team to contain.

KTBFFH

Been thinking about Joe Coles shots at goal and perhaps it is time someone took him aside and changed his approach. When he gets a chance to shoot particularly when clear he tends to try and blast the ball past the keeper rather than placing the ball into the opposite corner. This has resulted in missing the goal altogether or hitting the keeping. A shot on the ground across the keeper to the other corner is much harder to save and should be easier to strike as Malouda found out during the week.

If he is going to play as a striker/winger then this is a skill he needs to develop to increase his scoring ratio.

@74. Oligarch - the point is that LGF said in one of his early interviews that he wanted to reduce the size of the first team squad so that he would have space to give chances to young players because that had always been his policy as a club manager.

I'm not expecting him to go down the Arsenal route as Habs describes just start to give some time on the pitch to our promising youngsters. As more clubs have the money to compete with us for established stars and there's even competition to sign 14/15 year olds we need to show youngsters they can break through with us if we're going to get them to join us:

LINK

Also, I see 'Arry is getting his excuses in early for tonight:

LINK

Is this extraordinary, amazing, once-in-a-lifetime, oh-my-gosh-how-does-do-it young Arsenal reserve side the same as the one our reserves beat 3-2 earlier in the season?

Seconded.

Don't believe the hype - I'm sure that the Wengerboys are a very decent side, but this does tend to occur every year in the Carling Cup. "Amazing Arsenal Kids" is one of Sky's favourite stock cliches.

And Sheffield United are languishing in the bottom half of the Championship at present, lest we forget.

Last time we made an FA Youth Cup final - last season. Last time Arsenal managed it - 2001. And a quick scout around the web will give you a team sheet for that particular game; not exactly overburdened with world class stars of the future. It's an awfully long way from impressing with a youth team at 16-18 to being good enough to be a first team regular.

There's no denying Wenger had a good record of kidnapping, sorry, signing the better youngsters out there, but are Arsenal destined to always be the team that has these great kids but no shiny pots to prove any real success ?

Sure, he's a great manager, but how long can one man stay in a job at a club that continually blabbers on about how this year they're 'serious' title challengers only to fail, once again, when the homework gets a little tough.

I'm sure if you cast your minds back a few years to the hoo-haa that surrounded his capture of that little rapscalian Jermaine 'Is that a police tag in your sock or are you just pleased to see me?' Pennant, you'll see that when it comes to top level football week-in, week-out, he's had a fair few failures as well.

Sebastien Larsson and Fabrice Muamba were there and now aren't. It seems that they'll sign up any kid that knows his left and right, and merely gloat at the odd few that make it. And gloss over those that don't. Not literally, mind.

Saying that, Carlos Vela looks to be a tidy prospect. But then we've got our own South American prodigy. Apparently.

If large numbers of our 16 year old males were heading of to various corners of the world to join football clubs/academies, how comfortable would everyone be with that.

I look at our youth set up and those of Aresenal etc. and wonder is it healthy for these youngsters to be so far from home. I know in times past they would be up chimneys from the age of 5 etc. but I'm not sure how I view it in this day and age.

The other point that springs to mind is whether there should be a limit on when you can play with the big boys as it were. Yes there is the school of "if they're big enough they're good enough" but given what some see as the growth of stress injuries due to fatigue (of the particular bone etc.) in relatively young players (Rooney for instance) is it wise to allow full time professional competition below say 19 or 20?

Chelsea team for tonight:

Cech
Ivanovic Alex JT Bridge
Belletti
Ballack Lamps
Kalou Drogba Malouda

So Ivanovic gets a game as does Bridge, in order to rest our first choice wing backs. Mikel is given some time off and happily, for me, Joe and Anelka have been dropped.

Chelsea TV are reporting that Scolari may decide to bring on Sinclair, Mancienne and/or Stoch who have all travelled in the squad.

Just seen the bench:

Carlo
Mancienne
Mikel
Sinclair
Di Santo
Ferreira
Stoch

So we are giving youth a chance.

And after their shocking performances on the weekend, neither Joe or Anelka have even made the bench, despite all our injuries. I guess Scolari noted their poor form.

I Am a man u fan good game on sunday and we all want pomy to win ?

For a Mancunian you show reasonable literacy

Too funny, Mark!!

64 minutes in, and a 4-0 lead. Time for some young'uns!

Oho, now I'm going to have to stay up to watch the highlights on ITV. Just so I can see what Ivanovic looks like.

Is this Stoch's first ever time on the bench? I went along to the home leg of the Yoof Cup semi-final last season (against Villa), and saw that Stoch has amazing skills -- raw, but he goes at defenders from the wing the way Arjen used to. (Except without the arched-back full-grimace swan dive at the end.)

manu are the best but a crap start like all ways liverpool fans u wait till we win at home
same goes to chelsea the rest?

Look like Pomy give effort none but we play good Ivanovic good was ?