Premier League: Chelsea 2 - 0 Aston Villa

I've only seen a selection of highlights after a frustrating time trying to find an Internet stream of the game. I ended up listening to it on BBC London. It sounded pretty special and Mark's confirmed it was pretty special.

As did Alan Hansen on Match of the Day 2, who said it was one of the finest performances he's seen in the Premier League for five years. So much for the minor panic a lot of us had after the result against CFR Cluj.

Good to hear Martin O'Neill say we were brilliant in the post-match press conference with the BBC. Top bloke.

Top class.

Great game- only thing that could have been better was more goals! Particularly impressed with Malouda, he had some very slick passes that never would have come from him last year.

I feel bad for Ballack- the only thing missing from the game from him were on-target shots.

But I can't agree with you about Terry. Not much was asked of him, and yet he forced Cech into awkward positions twice. Had Abonglahor's cross been better, Carew had an open goal that once. I don't know if it was a result of being uncomfortable with Ivanovich, but he needlessly exposed us twice. As good as this game was, it could have ended 2-2 just as easily as it could have ended 5-0.

Still, other than the injuries, that was my only gripe. Can anyone not be on the Felipão bandwagon after that performance? Roman has found a manager that gives him both wins and style...

Groy - Terry's not 100% fit; he's having problems with his back again. As I said earlier, I didn't see the whole game, but I remember there was a stoppage for him to undergo a bit of first aid on his lower back. The radio commentators noticed that he wasn't moving freely.

He needs a rest, not more international games for England. I'm sure we [England] can cope without him against the likes of Kazakhstan and Belarus.

Yes, JT was visibly struggling in the second half. They pulled his pants down and sprayed some magic stuff on his bottom, much to the delight of the Villa fans in whose direction the captain's arse was pointing at the time.

He made a couple of mistakes but overall he was really strong. Although Ivanovic was better. He got his foot in on Carew a couple of times, from the wrong side, getting the ball away without committing a foul. And he stopped Young and Agbonlahor repeatedly. Best of all was when he got whistled for a very marginal foul. He didn't protest, didn't throw his arms up, didn't turn away in disgust, didn't even look at the ref. He just ran straight back with the man he was marking, getting in position.

Malouda had some lovely touches today. I have a theory that the wingers in particular need a run in the side. Joe, Kalou, even Robben seemed to lose form when they were in and out of the first team. Malouda's improved massively now that he's clearly the first choice.

Apparently Anelka had some kind of injury, hence his substitution.

I was at the game today and it was absolutely astonishing, a much more comfortable performance than anyone expected. Even in the 4-0 games this season, we have had periods (generally in the second half) of about twenty minutes where we have eased off, not allowed our opponents back into a game, as such, but simply worked ourselves into a lull. Today, we were optimistic for the entire ninety minutes, forever probing, testing. Whenever it didn’t pull off, we didn’t get upset about it. We just kept on plugging, and it was wonderful to see.

Lampard was by far Man of the Match in my view - every move, every pass he made today was of noticeable class. Bosingwa came a close second - I can remember someone finding him on the right hand side and him putting in a cross at least four or five times in the first half alone.

Everyone played well today - the only one who looked a little off was, as you mentioned, JT. That isn’t to say he played badly, but he did put Petr in some compromising positions. I think once he shakes off those niggling injuries of his, he’ll be back to his old self.

I know it’s almost sacrilege to think about this current team without JT, but how silky could the centre of our defence be with Ricky and Ivanovic running it?

It’s great to see that, even with our injuries, we don’t have the problems of the last few years, having to play Essien or Ferreira at centre back and right back. Ivanovic looks quality defensive cover from how little we’ve seen of him, and Bosingwa is consistently excellent - we’ve not had a right back that can attack like him since Dan Petrescu! Seeing as no one looks like touching Jose’s place, Scolari’s use of Belletti is also nice to see - a very handy option on the right wing when Joe's not at his best. Juliano’s becoming a minor cult figure thanks to those rockets of his.

Overall, very happy days indeed at the moment! What's more, once we have Deco, Ricky, Drogs and Essien back, we'll only be more intimidating.

Oh My! I must confess the pre-match vibes were not too great for me and I would have happily taken a draw but turned out to be something else. Anyways Mark's review sums it up nicely. Wish it was much longer :)

Too bad Chelseablog had to miss this game for a stupid reason like not able to get a inet stream. I was a bit spoilt for choices. Maybe those of us who are watching or have got a good stream can just come and post it here just for the benefit of those who are struggling to find one. One of us or all of us can put up the links say anywhere between 2 mins before the match to 2-3 mins into the match depending on the availability.
I for one will try to do it next time.

KTBFFH

All those doomsday merchants who were getting all negative about our last performance, this game and the strenght of our team should be feeling a little different now...

I was quiely confident we would teach those Villans a footballing lesson and boy did we do just that. I got up around 1am to watch the game and it was worth every lost minute of sleep even if I did get the start time wrong due to daylight saving and missed the first 30 minutes.

This was easily the most complete performance this season. The passing and movement was a joy to watch and easily as good if not better as Arsenal, but what impressed me the most was the way the players battled and harried Villa players off the ball those few times they did actually get the ball.

Agree entirely that Lampard was the star amongst stars today. Ivanovic looked very assured in the centre of defence very much in the Carvalho mold whereas Alex is more a Terry style player. Great to see Joey back to something like his best and Anelka and Malouda showing what they can really do. Ballack also looks to be getting back to his marouding self purring round the pitch. Finally special mention to Mikel, he was superb either in defence or attack. As the game wore on we saw more of his attacking skills except his shooting was a bit suss.

We should have scored 4 or 5 goals today which is the only negative but hey, another 2 goals to our goal difference and another 3 points and our home record remains intact. All this with Carvalho, Drogba and Essien out injured. I remain confident the league is ours to lose this year.

I also was impressed with both O'Neil's and Scolari's press conferences. A credit to both managers.

I wonder if we shall see Bluey on here shouting...

KTBFFH

Maybe it is just back issues with Terry. Both errors were miscommunications with Cech, and frankly I can see that happening when you are caught out unexpectedly. That doesn't normally happen to him, so if his back is slowing him down I could understand how he could get into trouble- your mind is at one level, but your body performs beneath it.

Limetree- I can believe your winger theory, but I think it is something more this year for Malouda. If anything, it shows how crucial it was to get rid of Grant. Malouda plays hard this year, last year he was there to pick up a paycheck. I said last year, in reference to Grant, that if you have the most expensive side assembled and you aren't sure if your manager is doing a good job, then he isn't doing a good job.

With apologies to Bosingwa, the way the team plays is radically different this year. I think this game shows it quite well, since there was no Deco. He's been great, but his absence is a better reflection of this year's team vs. last year's team. You could even say this lineup is a good approximation- since Essien often played right back, and Riccy is still an upgrade over Ivanovic.

So look at this result vs. any of Grant's results. Not even close. Same team (approximately), and the way they play could not be more different. Scolari has made a believer out of me, and it seems it has worked for Malouda too!

And as for our upcoming 'selection headache'- I couldn't think of a better coach to deal with this problem than the one who can do it for Brazil. We may be a 'big club,' but he's already managed the biggest club...

@ #7. ravenous1

"Wish it was much longer"

If I had a pound for every time someone told me that ...

Great performance, especially from the midfield with Lamps, Mikel, Ballack, Malouda and Cole all outstanding.

Anelka also did ok, but he always looks ok against average opposition.... It's in the games where we are not dominating that I would like him to make a difference.

Too early to pass judgement on Ivanovic... Good start, but he wasn't really tested. Having said that, I agree with the above comment that he is a Carvalho type, wheras Alex is a Terry..... We need to match them correctly because Alex and JT have looked suspect against speed on occasions.

And to all those that threw in the towel after the Cluj game...... Try and get a bit of perspective! We are not going to win every game by a landslide, even if we do buy the ludicrous shopping list of unavailable players you put forward.

I'll hold my hands up as being one of the doubters about yesterday, I really thought Villa would prove a challenge. I couldn't have been further from the truth (the truth being what Sky Sports News and MOTD2 told me, that is).

More injuries though - hopefully Joe and Nico have got minor knocks and will sit out the Internationals so in two weeks time, they're fit, along with maybe a few others - Deco maybe?

Two bad points from the weekend :

1) Having to realise that Liverpool may actually be in the title race longer than they normally are. Until December this time then.

2) Spurs embarassing us. Their worst league start in 94 years and 50% of their points came at the Bridge.

Not much more to add - no post match reports for a fortnight while the International side-show rolls into town. Not really giving two figs about the National side any more, I'll be hiding behind cushions on Saturday and Wednesday trying to avoid any season ruining additions to our stupidly lengthy injury list.

Fingers crossed.....

Not much to add really from what I said last night and to what Mark has reported, although after reading Martin Samuels report (normally quite sensible) his scoring of 5 for Ivanovic was totally unfair. I don't know what he watched with regard his defensive duties but from where I sat and the fans around me they were all waxing lyrical about him.

Anyway only a minor criticism and we all know how some people on this blog get worked up on a few of the player ratings in the reports.

I wonder what will happen when Deco and Essien are healthy again.

Princely.

Henry, did you see how Lampard played? Did you see the sublime pass into Anelka for the one he fizzed across the goal? The clever tee-up to Joe Cole for the goal? Do you understand why nobody takes you seriously?

Terry seems to run out of steam in the last 20 mins when his back appears to seize up. It's troubling.

Malouda and Anelka both getting better every game. Five from seven for Anelka, that's an excellent return.

Where's that Villa fan gone who was predicting a 3-1 reverse? Show yourself you coward!

Just seen the Villa fan was on the other blog - fair play to the lad.

Also, this confirms what I thought about Cluj. We played for a draw (or we played in third gear, deliberately). Scolari knew yesterday's game was the more important one, so we conserved our energy. Simple as that. Risky, but necessary.

All very splendid stuff; not quite the banana skin we were expecting and certainly a surprise as far as Martin O'Neill was concerned - thought he was very gracious on MOTD2 last night as Nick mentioned. Whilst that much-discussed top 4 v the rest gap is certainly closing, it's still pretty sizeable on yesterday's evidence.

Concern about JT is definitely warranted; not really pushed yesterday but still looked a bit creaky. There's only so long you can play whilst not quite 100% fit before it will come back to bite you. Worry is that he's just shortening his career the longer this carries on.

Interesting how the likes of Anelka and Malouda are starting to flourish under a decent coach...

Liverpool starting to look interesting but I'd fancy us against them on current form. Spurs are just 24 carat comedy now.

And somewhere in a well heeled suburb of Hamburg a large balding Dutch gentleman just keeps on laughing.....

I wonder what word the Germans have for Schadenfreude......?

Thankfuly my doom and gloom prediction never came to pass!

From the reports,Ivanovic has impressed most, Malouda looked sharp on the highlights, and a lot of good points besides, but I caught the second half and Villa just looked like they had nothing to offer. It was us in third gear once all the work had been done.

Other than that Liverscum scoreline, a great day.

@PETEW
"Henry, did you see how Lampard played?"

Its just a one off!...Ok lets see that vs. Scousers, then maybe I'll ...!

I don't read The Times regularly (Murdoch -- gag -- fume -- gnarghh) but I do tend to look out for Martin Samuel. He's usually interesting and reliable. So I was surprised to see him describe Ivanovic as "unconvincing". Did anyone else see evidence of this? Okay, maybe Villa's attacking three were off their game a bit, but surely it takes a bit of defensive talent to make them look as threatening as ... hmpfff ... hgmpfff ... Sp ... Spu ... HAHAHAHAHAHAHA Spurs.

[pause to wipe tears from eyes]

Oh dear. If only we could find those Spuds fans who tried to taunt us about when Abramovich got bored and we'd be back scrabbling around mid-table while they rose steadily to resume their rightful Big Club position in the Champions League places.

Still, perhaps we should be humbly grateful that a Big Club like Spurs even deigns to taunt us. (They're a Big Club, remember. Not like us. A Big Club.)

Where's your European Cup?... Ohh thats right, you ain't won one... Better luck this year...

I really don't know what Martin Samuel is on about - after I got over the shock of finally seeing Ivanovic in the flesh and realising that in the view from the West Stand Upper Tier his body shape and movement looked worryingly reminiscent of Boularouhz - I thought he coped well with that awkward big sod, Carew, and was never embarrassed by Agbonlahor's pace.

Generally, we dominated throughout the game and I never worried for a moment that Villa were going to get back into the game - not bad for a team we've struggled against in recent years. Perhaps they've not learned to cope with playing at their best after midweek European football yet?

Henry proving that the old adage "It is better to keep one's mouth shut and be thought an idiot, that open it and remove all doubt..." still has some mileage...

Interesting to see what the reaction is up at the Lane; next few games include Arsenal and Liverpool - get to the end of this month in a similar position and the rot will really start to set in. What on earth has happened to Ramos?

@LTB (21) - I thought that about Samuel's Ivanovic comment; thought his rating for Mikel (6) was a bit odd too. All about opinions, I suppose.

@BBD (24)

Perhaps they've not learned to cope with playing at their best after midweek European football yet?

You've got a point there; thinking back to our first CL campaign and some of the league games after midweek heroics / excursions - losing at Watford after a great result in the San Siro springs to mind - can take some getting used to.

A story that did catch my eye over the weekend was this one : LINK

In the current climate where footballers seem to be able to get paid almost what they want, how thoroughly refreshing to read something like this, where Etxeberria will play for nothing for a whole season.

'Giving something back to the club and the fans'. I'm willing to bet you wont see anything similar for a long time.

I can’t get to the Bridge much these days so I felt lucky to have been there for yesterday’s game. The season has a long way to run and who knows what lays ahead? But taken in isolation, it was a splendid performance by the Blues and I haven’t seen them play with that level of invention and freedom, allied to their usual physical and mental toughness for a long, long time. With one eye on where the season is going, stressing about players we have and haven’t got etc. it is easy to lose sight of the individual game and enjoying it for its own sake.

I do think it was a below par effort from Villa, from whom I expected more. Given the way they have taken us on in recent years this was more reminiscent of the overawed, tentative approach they have taken when playing United. So it is a testament to how quickly Chelsea imposed themselves that Villa never got out of the blocks.

Like others I’m mystified by the Samuels rating of Ivanovic, other than he feels the need to be controversial. It was an impressive league debut and if Terry was hesitant or below par I would put it down to the knowledge that his injuries(s) affect his mobility and thus his decision-making. If anything I felt that Ivanovic’s calm and committed performance would have given Terry the confidence to concentrate on his own game. However time will tell how good he really is. After all I was impressed with how Boulahrouz closed down Ronaldhino but look what happened after that.

The Cole/Malouda partnership seems to be blooming. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that both are showing better form this season and look comfortable with each other. Some of Malouda’s touches yesterday are a world away from what we witnessed last season.

While the upcoming break will allow some recovery from injuries it’s difficult not to feel that it is coming at the wrong time, as it would have been good to keep rolling now we appear to be hitting stride, in the Premiership at least.

And finally....

Before we leave Transylvania behind forever, can you spot the difference?

One is the bald bloodsucking personification of evil, the other is a.......(better stop there)

LINK

LINK

@Philbob88 (23)
I chuckled when the Villa fans were singing that little ditty yesterday, It's now turned into a hearty belly laugh with your comment. I thought better of Villa fans generally, but it appears you really all want to be scousers just like Mr G. Barry.

YA good game by chelsea.didnt seem as they were missing deco,drogba and carvalho.great signing from chelsea that they brought bosingwa.john terry was not playing at his best but the newcomer ivanovic played well.villa were hoping to get a win as said by their manager but chelsea by any means cannot be taken lightly by any clubs.i was disappointed by the result of man city and liverpool challenging chelsea through the premier league table but to sum it up it was a really gud game played by chelsea.

@Clive (29)

We don't want to be scousers, but we have won the European Cup, we're very proud of what Villa teams of the past have achieved and its ok to poke fun at teams that haven't! If you don't believe me, check 1982

Still laugh at that John Terry attempt of a penalty!! Not even an ice skater could slip better than that!!!

Think what you like about Villa fans, you're entitled to your opinion...

Have you won the European Cup? Tell me when you have, if you ever do

Still laugh at that John Terry attempt of a penalty!! Not even an ice skater could slip better than that!!!

One more thing Clive, the above warrants a hearty belly laugh wouldn't you agree?

Good to see that the Holte End School for the Intellectually Gifted is still churning out grade A students...

Any views on how a relatively decent Villa side were made to look like a pub team yesterday, Phil?

As the station announcer at Bank always says (and they know a thing or two about football)

Mind The Gap!

As far as I'm concerned, the only decent thing to come out of England's second city is a girl I met at university.

Villains - get a sense of humour.

I'm going back to nursing a head wound. (Car boot, latch, head, ow, blood, headache.)

Good to see that the Holte End School for the Intellectually Gifted is still churning out grade A students...

That give me an even bigger belly laugh JD; priceless.

@JD

Remember when we signed sheva I said he was going to flop. and what did you say to that?...How did I know? I said the same thing about Anelka.
A few wks ago I was the only one here saying Obi is better than Essien, wonder if I am still the only one.

Not all fools are crazy i suppose

Great review MARK..

Not much different to say, as you've said it all anyways..
Fantastic performance from all concerned, that is Chelsea at their best..fast pace, flawless passing, & great teamwork..long may it continue! All the boys played brilliantly but agree that Frank stood out a little bit more than the rest..and that's not me being biased before anyone says anything!! ;))

Well done Chels..you were brilliant!!! x

Henry - I remember many things; one of which is your extraordinarily flaky and selective memory which your latest comment demonstrates perfectly. And the fact that you might dip your toe into the ocean of reason on the odd rare occasion doesn't alter the fact that you spend the vast majority of your time lying stoned on the sunbeds of Stupidity Beach talking utter cock.

Nick - careful with that head of yours; we've got enough people on here who act like they've taken a severe knock to the dome already... :-)

After seeing MOTD2 and some more highlights today it was definitely our best performnace of the season.

GOOD:
1. Performance - Great attacking play and it couldn't have been more different than last year's nightmare. We were controlled in possession, calm at the back and despite all the injuries and change of personnel, the team looked like, well a team. This game and the victory at Eastlands has brought back some of that special feeling from Jose's first year. Scolari obviously wants to eclipse his younger self (Jose) and he's here to make a statement. Whisper it quietly but if we can get a lead at the top, there'll be no catching us. We are the best front runners in the league and victory over Liverpool in a few weeks will be a massive step towards the title.
2. Midifield - There may not have been the genius of Deco or incredible power of Essien, but yesterday's 3some really were awesome. I said it before, but Mikel is reminding me more and more of Ruud Gullit. Endless time on the ball, glides across the pitch and has all the ability in the world. Jose said that he can become the best midfielder in the world if he knew how to shoot, and i'm starting to agree. Lamps was again amazing, and as Hansen said, Scolari has improved his game, if that was possible. All of them showed Barry how a midfielder should play.
3. Ivanovic - A no-nonsense defender who looks happy at RB or CB, and has the pace to cover JT. He could be the new Gallas (before he went crazy) and his versatility will come in handy when the Xmas injury curse strikes. I prefer him to Alex, as Alex in my mind is too cumbersome and slow to be a great defender. Whereas Alex is the new Duberry, Ivanovic in my mind is the new Puyol.
4. Wingbacks - I can't think of a better pair in world football. The new Cafu and Carlos?
5. Malouda - Has today said that he sees himself as the new Pires. 15 goals a season will be great, but his greater effort under Scolari is a shock after Avram.

Continued...

BAD:
1. Villa - I do think that Young is a good player but yesterday showed how far he has to go to become a very good or even great player. Barry hardly got a kick and but for Friedel we would have eclipsed last year's 6-0 vs. City.
2. JT - Has said in the past that he has never fully recovered from his list of injuries stretching back 2-3 seasons. The broken feet, twisted ankles, kicks to the head and back problems will catch up with him. He's still better than most but he's definitely not the giant he was. Suffering the same slight dip in form as Cech after a run of bad luck.
3. Injuries - A weekly fixture in the bad section. Two more to Cole and JT.
4. Liverpool - They seem to have a belief i haven't seen before. Us two are now clear at the top and the Liverpool game at home in a few weeks is a must win. Another 0-0 will not do.
5. HENRY - A complete baffoon who must be part of the Musumba household. Maybe he's Phil Thompson in disguise. Both of them share an irrational hatred towards Lamps despite him outperforming any other midfielder in the Premiership for the past 4 years. For him to say Mikel is better than Essien is also a joke. Mikel will become a great player but Essien already is one. I wonder what he'll come out with next week?
6. Spurs - Worst team this millenium. Derby look like world beaters compared to them. At this rate they should get 11 points from 38 games!

Overall a great performance and i'm starting to really feel that the air of invincibility is returning to the side. Last season we stumbled through games hoping to come away with a victory. That was mainly due to the total lack of any management. But with Felipao directing the ship, we now expect to win. Teams are starting to fear us again, and it's also great that we're top of the league. Last year we only saw ourselves there twice, but i now fully expect us to never be deposed from that spot. Bring on Liverpool!

KTBFFH

LINK

Good article on Malouda. Too bad Shevchenko couldnt do the same. It just shows that when players have a great coach they all play to the best of their ability. Bosingwa wouldnt be playing like thus under Avram Grant.

A great article on the secret to our success under Scolari:

LINK

I remember how important Rui Faria was to Mourinho and the same seems apparent with Darlan Schneider.

"There is another key and highly-significant factor to Scolari's success so far. His name is Darlan Schneider and, according to sources at Chelsea, he is "half the reason" why Scolari is impressing so much. Schneider is, in fact, Scolari's nephew – he is the son of Scolari's wife's sister – and holds the title of fitness coach at Chelsea.

But Schneider – just as Rui Faria, another fitness coach, and Andre Villas Boas, the scout, mattered so much to Mourinho – is far more important than his title would suggest. They were mini-Mourinhos, he is a mini-Scolari. Indeed Schneider helps shape not just the players' fitness and conditioning but prepares them for matches, and organises their recovery programmes, and is heavily involved in scouting players and the opposition and deciding Chelsea's tactics. Schneider also has the job of helping to decide Chelsea's youth strategy."

It seems it is Schneider who has embraced the youth players of Chelsea, and has decided to include more of them in the first team squad.

The news on Joey is not good for him, the club or England (in that order..). He looked good on Saturday until that clumsy tackle. Lets hope it is only a minor strain and a few weeks off.

The article doesn't mention at all the role of Frank Arnesan which given Schneider appears to be "heavily involved in scouting players..." seems to cut into Frank's role. Is this dutchman becoming redundant or being sidelined by the new coaching team.

How different is life for us Chelsea supporters when compared to this time last year ! True the team did go on to almost win 3 competitions last season but the style of play and the general air of confidence has returned and if anything is now at a higher level than at any time during Mourinho's rain. Of course I value what the TSO brought to this club and the amazing feeling we shared when we won the league for the first time since 1955, but now I beleive the club has moved on to a new level that us fans can really enjoy (not too mention our owner). Its still a long season and there will be many tough games to come but if we can continue to play like we did on Sunday and win games while we get back some of our injured players, then we should win at least one trophy this year and who knows maybe...just maybe... a treble.

KTBFFH

I meant to say "reign"...and "believe"... will we ever get the edit function back ?

@PTG 44.

Who is this mysterious 'Frank' you speak of ?

Is he somehow connected to Chelsea?

Change of subject and I know it's been done to death in the media and various websites. But during my covert operations on keeping an eye on Liverpool blogs, they've managed to digress into the Lampard/Gerrard debate.

Suffice to say it's doesn't require rocket science as to how the vote and debate is going, although some of the reasons they pick Stevie Me over Frank are quite frankly (excuse pun) laughable. Like the usual Stevie Me scores important goals, he can play anywhere across the middle, Frank scores lucky deflected goals etc etc.

I was just wondering if we could be more objective on the debate instead of the blind love any supporter or fan would show for their player (sorry Lolli you're not allowed an opinion on this) ;-)

I happen to think they are both wonderful players, that have similiar attributes and bring different things to their respective teams. On saying that I do think Stevie Me does tend to sulk, or go missing against the big teams.

I have to admit I would struggle to choose between them, Frank may not have the speed or drive of Gerrard, but if we do this on stats goals scored, passing success etc... then Frank shades it for me.

Any thoughts, or is that a huge collective groan I hear out there in cyberspace?

Clive,

I add my two penneth, but as always it will descend into a playground-style farce.

I dont think they can both play in central midfield. The way teams set up these days, with a holding midfielder and then an attacking one behind the forwards means one would have to miss out or be played out of position. SGE and 'The Wally with the Brolly TM' tried Stevie Me on the right, Lamps on the left and it never really worked.

I'd keep Lamps in the middle, in front of Barry or Hargreaves, and maybe stick Stevie Me behind the front man. On form that front man would be Rooney, but then he'd drop deeper and deeper as we struggle to break down such World beating nations as Kazakhstan, Papua New Guinea and Burkina Faso.

I suppose it would work if England started playing a Chelsea style 4-3-3, or a 3-5-2 but we seem destined to stick to a rigid variation of 4-4-2.

And to be honest, the form he's in at the moment, I'd happily see Lamps on the bench for England and saving all his performances for his time in blue.

Interesting piece on Scolari and his team, thanks Habs.

Lampard/Gerrard. Been done to death, hasn't it? Well, Gerrard is the more naturally talented player by far, but what impresses me about Lampard is the way he works so hard to overcome his limitations. I don't think I've ever seen an English player who has put so much into improving themselves. When he came to us, he was clumsy, overweight, poor distribution, dreadful at shooting, nonexistent tackling - so Ranieri stuck him at right wing and left him to sort his game out. And he worked and worked to become a much better all-round player. The player who ended his first season at Chelsea (man of the match in the Cup final) was unrecognisable from the player who joined that summer. The turnaround was a game against Leeds, when we won 3-2 (Eidur scored a blinding bicycle kick) and Lampard was inspirational.

I think he's been coasting for the last few seasons, just becoming the greedy goalscorer of caricature, but this year (and most of last year, when he was fit) he's been back to his best.

But the one thing he really has over Gerrard is intelligence: Gerrard, frankly, doesn't have the nous to play in the many different styles that Lampard can offer. Gerrard might be able to play anywhere across the midfield, but he plays exactly the same way wherever he starts. Lampard can alter his style and change the pace of the game from slow to fast rather than just fast to faster.

Re Lampard / Gerrard - what Pete said.

In terms of the England issue, Martin Samuel made an interesting point recently - we're forever hearing that Gerrard can't play here, can't play there, can't play with X player, needs to be in this position with Y behind him blah de blah. In an age where players (especially midfielders / strikers) need to be ever-more adaptable to deal with different tactical approaches by the opposition, such inflexibility isn't a good thing.

If Gerrard worked as hard as Lampard did in trying to improve different aspects of his game, he'd be an incredible player as opposed to just a very good one. Has he got the smarts to do so? Benitez has said on at least one occasion that he "plays with his heart and not his head" (it was a Merseyside derby so this is possibly understandable, but doesn't offer much by way of mitigation), and this quote from Arrigo Sacchi makes some very good points too:

“When I was director of football at Real Madrid I had to evaluate the players coming through the youth ranks. We had some who were very good footballers. They had technique, they had athleticism, they had drive, they were hungry.

"But they lacked what I call knowing-how-to-play-football. They lacked decision making. They lacked positioning. They didn't have the subtle sensitivity of football: how a player should move within the collective. And for many, I wasn't sure they were going to learn".

“You see, strength, passion, technique, athleticism, all of these are very important. But they are a means to an end, not an end in itself. They help you reach your goal, which is putting your talent at the service of the team and, by doing this, making both of you and the team greater.

"In situations like that, I just have to say, Gerrard's a great footballer, but perhaps not a great player."

Doubt the debate will ever end, but it would be nice to see it elevated beyond the usual playground insult nonsense that gets regurgitated so often.

The line from fans and pundits that he can play anywhere across the middle four for Gerrard is somewhat perplexing for me. If most pundits and Liverpool fans then claim his best position is in the middle driving the team on as opposed to the holding role, or playing wide right, then it make a nonsense of the above claim.

If he does play on the right, he has and does on many occasions drift in to the centre,and this is highlighted by pundits all the time. JD is right he isn't the cleverest of footballers if he's unable to follow his managers instructions to do a job, that's why he was subbed last year in the Merseyside derby by Benitez, with the quote JD has mentioned above with regard head and heart.
Even when he has the holding role he goes forward too much, so again unable to curb his natural instincts to attack.

On the other hand Frank will do the job that's asked of him, off course it may not suit his game, but at least he uses his head to do the task in hand. I think someone mentioned a while ago as to why Frank had a quiet game against Arsenal on one occassion, it was because he was babysitting Fabregas, which he did to great effect.

Think also this is a key difference between Mikel and Essien (which puts me in the Henry camp, although I think I got there first). Essien is a wonderful player/athlete but he's very unfocused and seems to play best when he has space to charge into out on the right-hand side of the pitch (there was that brilliant moment in the second half of the CL when he took out three United players with one surge). Put him in the middle, and he makes too many bad decisions and makes things difficult for the players around him. It's a problem that only his versatility solves.

Mikel on the other hand is almost always in the right place at the right time making the right pass to the right player. He's already altered his game substantially since he got to England and is improving with every game because he makes things easier for everybody around him.

Deco, of course, is the master of this.

@Pete
You've done it now by validating Henry, and he will probably want to join the debate. I also think Mr Musumba who probably lurks, has smashed his keyboard or chopped off his hands not to be tempted to enter the fray.

Think it is generally accepted that Essien is wasted in the 'Makelele' type role; I'd be interested to see him tried a bit further towards the forward line, especially away from home to see how he fares (think Scolari tried him as one of a front three in one of the pre-season games?). Seeing him at right back was always interesting, albeit that he didn't quite have enough defensive nous to be really effective, but having that much energy and drive in the position can be very useful on occasion.

Brings me back to the Gerrard / England issue. In a couple of articles I've read in the not too distant past (think it was prompted by a comment that Tommy Smith made), the suggestion was why not play him at right back? Tremendous energy, drive, can (usually) tackle, has reasonably decent defensive capabilities and can put a decent cross in. Cafu with a Scouse accent? Not quite as implausible as it first sounds - goes back to the flexibility point. Given how many daft friendlies there are to experiment with, why not try it one game?

Mikel is different gear; agree with Habs (and have mentioned it before) that he looks more like Gullit every time I see him - almost has a forcefield around him that players bounce off, always has an extra second on the ball which is the sort of stuff you just can't teach.

I'd agree Mikel is showing encouraging signs of maturing - gradually curbing his old tendency to lunge into crazy tackles [bound to get a red card now next game!]- and developing into a good holding midfielder with reasonable ability to go forward too in the LGF 8-man attack system, though still prone to occasional wayward passing.

@44PTG - sorry to return to the godbothering theme but if LGF just prayed to The Big Man in the Sky to ensure Drogba's latest injury turned out to be less serious than first thought as he said last week, can he not now do the same for Joey to get him back for our next EPL game....

@BBD #55

Joe Cole went to St Aloysius' College, Highgate, North London, a Catholic School (one in a long line of outstandingly talented sportsmen, intellectuals and entertainers to attend that august institution). So while he may be currently wandering the spiritual desert, one assumes, and Big Phil will know this, that there are already several hundred nuns in a convent somewhere in the Vatican City praying night and day for a speedy recovery, so the job is in hand.

@BB
Sorry to lower the tone but words like Nuns, Catholic, hand and jobs should really be used in the same paragraph let alone sentence. ;-)

"Think it is generally accepted that Essien is wasted in the 'Makelele' type role;"

Is he any(ANY) use elsewhere? Marking Ronaldo? Providing Assists? Passing? Aiming a shot?


@Clive
What happened to you former venomous self, is that LOLi lady giving better remedies ;-D?

Hrney

Essien is one of our best players.He playes with his heart, he is loyal and played good even as a right back...has everything ...shot,technique...scoered in Semi finals against Liverpool ,but his goal was stupidly disallowed.

so please...

@Henry
Venemous you say? I'd like to think that it isn't a word people would associate with me.

@ Clive #57

You are never sorry to lower the tone and yet again you haven't disappointed :-)

Mind you perhaps I was guilty of some sort of subliminal messaging. I should seek help.

I see that Milan have got Pompey in the Europa Cup (yep we've got to start calling it that)! Maybe Kaka can pay a flying visit to the Bridge to meet Big Phil, and maybe he can be enticed to stay?

As for Henry, well: "Is he any use elsewhere? Marking Ronaldo? Providing Assists? Passing? Aiming a shot?"

This is confirmation that he is either an idiot or related to Musumba, well that equates to the same thing anyway. To imply that Essien has no use is plainly ridiculous. Essien is the most powerful midfielder in the world and now that Felipao has said that he should be an attacking midfielder, he is turning into our version of Stevie G. He has the same passion and deadly shot as Gerrard, but greater strength. In pre-season it was a midfield 4 of Mikel, Lamps, Essien and Deco who were seen as first choice. Both Essien and Gerrard play best when they are allowed to roam across the pitch, not when they are locked down in a rigid formation or in the Makelele role. It's why Jose chose Essien in 2005. It was the second time that we had been rejected by Gerrard, so Jose knew that he needed the same type of player. At Lyon, Essien was an amazing attacking midfielder, and when he returns from injury, Scolari will bring the best out of him.

That brings me on nicely to Gerrard. When Jose arrivied, Gerrard was his no. 1 target for 2 consecutive summers. I for one couldn't wait for him to arrive. I remember how we had two bids accepted in 2004 and 2005, only for him to backout. A midfield 3 of Maka, Lamps and Gerrard would have been unstoppable. He is definitely a great player, when in a midfield 3. With the protection of a DM, he can go anywhere across the field to affect the game. His Superman, all action style makes people love him, instead of our Lamps. But Lamps' intelligence, consistency, goals and assists make him irreplacebale. SuperFrank may do it in a quieter manner but he's most defnitely a legend already. As for who's better? How can any of us not choose Frank?

@BB
You are never sorry to lower the tone and yet again you haven't disappointed :-)

Perhaps you're right, it's probably more a tinge of remorse. :-)

62. haberdashers

I agree with you about Essien :)


Anyway, I would hate to see Kaka and Gerrard in Chelsea fc. They both belong to teams they are in and are too expensive.

I like the fact that every season we are spending less and less...I hate when a club offers 34 million pounds for one player...I am sorry that nobody here agrees with me about spending :(

@ CLIVE

What do you mean i'm not allowed an opinion? Especially when you're talking about my boy! ;))

That's just not fair...

@ 58 HRNEY/HENRY

Better remedies than you? I doubt that one very much!!!!!

My take on Lampard/Gerrard: to be honest I still don't understand why they can't play together in central midfield, but it does genuinely seem like they can't. It just looks more balanced with one of them plus Barry. Taking off my blinkers, I think until very recently I'd have had to admit that Gerrard would probably have been the more rational first choice, especially given England's weaknesses in the striker department. Gerrard has always seemed to be a more "urgent" player somehow. He really drives a team forward. And I can see why for a lot of non-Chelsea fans it's just impossible to forget how badly Frank played in the last World Cup. He did himself no favours by refusing to admit that he hadn't been any good, as well. That's the only explanation for the fact that fans of most other clubs find it hard to believe how much we rate Frank. They haven't regularly seen just how good he is, and the bad performances for England stick out.

But at the moment, Frank is in such unbelievable form that I think he's undroppable. Mr Big seems to have made him less reliant on his long diagonal ball over the top and his quick surge into advanced midfield positions whenever he has the chance. He seems to be finding a broader range of options this season. Really, he's playing the way I remember Deco playing for Barca when they came to the Bridge. He's become a more continental player. Gerrard's virtues seem to be more traditionally English (except with technical skill added): all that up-and-at-'em stuff.

To be honest, I've always rated Gerrard. In fact there are a lot of things to like about Liverpoo. If we can just get away without having to play them in any cup competitions this year, maybe our fanatical loathing of their unbelievable smug and self-righteous fans and their comically indignant manager will cool off a bit, and we can all go back to hating the real villains up the motorway in Manchester.

@LTB
I somewhat agree with you with regard Liverpool and I saw them as sort of my second team back in the day. But you have hit the nail on the head with regard their fans smugness and self-righteous belief, that them, and only them should be the team that challenges Utd for the league.

I doubt in the short term that will change as more and more Chelsea fans I know have more dislike for them than any other team currently, although Rottenham come close. I also think it's due to the fact that we have played them so many times in the last 4 years which doesn't help, as the old saying goes familiarity breeds etc etc....

Re Lamps vs Gerrard
Up to quite recently I have felt that Gerrard should probably get the nod, but the combination of Frankie's recent form, and the fact that England played so well in Croatia makes me think we shouldn't alter a winning team. It would be a life lesson for Stevie Me given he chose to have an op during the last international break, and he gets dropped as a result. With Joey injured, the debate is a moot point as it looks like SG will replace him and we keep Frank and Barry in the centre

Another international break, another tiresome Gerrard vs. Lampard debate. To me the solution is so glaringly obvious I don't know why there's such a fuss, but lest I be accused of bias let's look at some facts. In 64 appearances for his country Lampard has scored 14 goals, nine of them in competitive matches. Opposition he has scored against includes Portugal, France, Croatia twice (or 3x counting the goal wrongly disallowed this year), Poland, and Austria. Compare that record to Gerrard's 13 goals in 68 appearances. Ten of those were in competitive matches, but that includes three against the might of Andorra, one vs. Macedonia, one vs. Azerbaijan, and one vs. Trinidad and Tobago that was set up by...Frank Lampard. Hmm.

During his time at Chelsea Lampard has successfully played in a variety of formations (diamond, flat 4-4-2, 4-3-3, 4-5-1, even something like 2-5-3 under Mourinho!) and with many different types of midfielders: Zenden, Veron, Petit, Makelele, J. Cole, Smertin, Tiago, Jarosik, Maniche, Diarra, Essien, Mikel, Ballack, Deco, even Belletti. In that period he's scored well over 100 goals and led the team in number of assists for consecutive seasons. But, apparently, he can't play in any system that England tries and he can't play with Gerrard.

Do me a favor. It's time people realize what the real problem is. Yes, Gerrard has tremendous natural talent, no doubt more than Frank. But as others have said he lacks the intelligence and more importantly the discipline to utilize that talent to the greatest effect. Play him in the center and he drifts wide or sprays aimless Hollywood balls or runs too far forward and gets in the strikers' way; play him wide and he comes inside and clogs up the midfield trying to get a touch. People love him because he runs all over and looks like he's trying hard, when often what he is really doing is disrupting the shape of the team.

Everyone likes to talk about Gerrard's wonder goals...

...and inspirational performances, such as That Night in Istanbul (tm) or the FA Cup Final vs. West Ham. What they should really be talking about is what Gerrard was doing while his team was shipping three goals in those matches. And I'm struggling to recall similar influential performances for England when it really mattered, though of course that must be the fault of Lampard or the rest of the team or the manager not playing him in his favourite position. I suppose there was that beautiful backpass to Thierry Henry that one time, which was indeed very influential...

Seriously, if you want someone who, when it's all gone pear-shaped and there's nothing left to lose, will turn in a desperate, lung-busting performance and maybe (but not always!) score a long-range hit-and-hoper at the death, then Gerrard's your man. If you want someone who will play at a consistently high level every week against all types of opposition, with the tactical nous to adapt to any system without sacrificing his performance, and while scoring and creating record numbers of goals, then you might want to consider Lampard a decent choice. But as far as I'm concerned England, and particularly England 'fans', don't deserve Frank Lampard.

@ #18 Wrote......

Absolutely spot on with your thoughts on the Lampard / Gerrard debate. Start with Lampard and anybody else, and if it doesn't work, bring Stevie G on to run about a lot and maybe get a spectacular goal.

And as for Henry..... " Is he any(ANY) use elsewhere? Marking Ronaldo? Providing Assists? Passing? Aiming a shot?"

...Seriously mate, stop it.... you are killing me with laughter.... I believe there is a vacancy for Director of Football at Spurs.... I reckon with your understanding of the game you will be perfect!

Great debate folks on the Lampard/Gerrard issue and particularly agree with #18's comments, although basically we are all in agreement as to the style of both players and their 'influence' on the game.

Lampard for me actually has more technical ability and footballing nous than Gerrard due to his ability to genuinely play in different roles and to be able to adapt as a game progresses. Gerrard is too much of a one trick pony albeit a race horse... Having said that there is still a role for Gerrard in the England team if the manager and the formation can harness his all action style.

The last two games showed how Lampard works best in a team with the holding midfielder and mobile wingers/forwards.

What is interesting is that Ballack and Lampard who appear to be very similar in style and nous are now appearing to be building a good understand at Chelsea by sharing the central midfield responsibilities. If Gerrard could learn from Ballack then England would have a world class midfield.

As for Essien he is NOT a holding midfielder and I am getting sick of hearing the football commentators talking about Mikel filling in Essien's role. Essien is an ATTACKING midfield (like Gerrard but smarter) who happens to be able to play in other more defensive positions which is a mark of a top professional who will play wherever his coach says and tries to do his absolute best.

It is this professionalism trait that marks Essien and Lampard in particularly as being better team players than Gerrard will ever be. Thats why we call him Stevie ME...

KTBFFH

As for Mikel he is developing into a key member of the Chelsea midfield in the holding role. He is still young and has some way to go to reach Makalele's standard as a defensive midfielder, however the one advantage is he can attack and defend high balls with his height which is something Maka was not so comfortable doing.

The fluidity of the central midfielders for Chelsea is where our creativity stems from and not just mobile forwards. Any 3 from Mikel, Lampard, Ballack, Essien, Belleti and now Miniero (?) will be the core of the Chelsea midfield which provides plenty of cover for injuries and options to rest players in some games.

I don't see a better set of central midfielders in the EPL and possibly in Europe than that.

Habs,

Tend to agree about Essien, other than when you wrote "He has the same passion and deadly shot as Gerrard...."

Deadly yes, but only in the 'knock over the kid in row Z' sense. His shooting is, to me, the one area that he's needs to work on. He's scored some belters (Like the one at home against Arsenal) but lacks so much accuracy you knid of know him hitting the target is a sort of one-off luxury.

The thing is, with the personnel we currently have, he's only going to get in as the holding midfielder, or maybe if our 3 right backs all get injured.

Lamp vs. Steve

Capello would be a fool to go here. Look at the last 2 pple that tried it. One is enjoying exotic stripers in Mexico, and the other well...

Am I related to Jose Musumbia? He's always free to use my arguements as his own.

Cheers Clive for re-opening the proverbial can of worms. Now on the Lamps vs Stevie Me front, the Times are even running a vote :

LINK

My favourite comment so far is definitely this piece of insightful literature :

"Lampard gets picked because he plays for a London club. The newspapers are based in London and it is they that have largely picked the England team over the years. Add the 'West 'Em' effect and The Great Lampardo is a worldbeater in the eyes of some.
Lampard is dull enough to believe in a reputation gifted by the media. Hence his 23 shots - no goals in the last World Cup. In the real world, he's not fit to lace Gerard's boots."

Indeed 'Burnley Bob'. Frank's only picked because he's from London, where the national media is based.

Does anybody know why Kevin Nolan has made more goal assists and scored more goals than Essien over the last 2 seasons? And he's played 90% of the matches alongside Makelele or OBi.

@Fiftee
I would love to think that the Times journos read this blog and thought my inspiritional idea to open up the Lampard/Gerrard gave them the idea for the article.
But I have to say that I cannot except responsibility as I don't have any "delusions of grandeur" unlike Henry who thinks he knows about football.

My favourite post from the insightful comments...

Stevie G all the way. As a scouser and a passionate liverpool fan, I would prefer for him not to get picked. Liverpool fans are not interested in England, they are from a different country!

Personally I think most scousers are probably from a different planet!

That's the problem with the Gerrard / Lampard debate - just gets too partisan on the Scouse side; at least the vast majority of us are prepared to be rational about it which is clearly not something that comes easily to he average Red scouser.

@ Henry

We get it - you don't like Essien now and you'll come up with tedious and scarcely credible stats to try and prove your point ad infinitum. And we'll have to listen to this until Lampard has a bad game and then you can get back to bitching about him.

Seriously - why do you bother, you tiresome waste of blood and skin?

I know Henry is simply a troll, posting views opposite of most on this board to get a rise, regardless of any basis for these views.

Essien is the reason i started supporting chelsea. that goal against arsenal two years back is one of my favorite goals i ever saw live, since then I have seen him contribute nothing but class, strength, and heart to the Chelsea cause. The reason he started playing at right back is because he is so versatile, and Paulo Ferrera sucks so we had no other options at the time. Even playing right back, he would make 2-3 quality surges forward a game.

Everyone knew our midfield would be crowded and someone would end up on the bench, upset. With essien out, it simplified our "problem". Mikel has improved on the promise he showed last year by decreasing the amount of wreckless tackles as well as being a more prudent passer and coming forward occasionally (that run he made with lampard that ended with the lamps back heel...priceless).

I hope LGP will use Essien outside of this holding midfield spot, Mikel does it better, and while Essien can play there, I think he can play better else where. I think he could work on the wing by rotating Cole, Malouda, Essien, and Kalou.

On to the Lamps/Gerrard debate, I am glad that I couldn't care less. Being an American, the England debacle is fun to watch from across the pond. It reminds me of our national basketball team, where we have all the talent in the world, yet these upstarts who learned by watching us play all of a sudden have better mechanics and team play than we do. Maybe the FA should hire Coach K....

The Lamps/Gerrard debate is one that is quite funny to me, as I think it has very little to do with either of them. Because it is a common denominator, the tendency is to use their England performances as indicative of their value. People come back to "they can't play together." The reasoning has to do something to do with underperformance by Lampard and England losing and appearing unimpressive.

I think you need to back up a bit though. This isn't a question like "is Darren Bent good, and should he play for England?" Gerrard and Lampard both have impressive resumes outside of the national team. You could argue that both have been the most important midfielder for their respective clubs over that period. So it isn't "are they good," it is "why can't they play together," which I think dovetails into "why does England suck."

I think everyone here is on the same page- just wanted to get my methodological assumptions out of the way.

I haven't been able to see England play under Capello (out of the country), but at least while Sven was in charge I think the fault lies not with Lampard or Gerrard, but with the fact that England was a terrible team. The fault lies in tactics and player selection. Part of the problem I see coming from Rio Ferdinand and Beckham. Both are good players, I'm not criticizing them per se. But what I always remember happening was Goalkeeper Of The Day rolling the ball to Ferdinand, and Rio LAUNCHING the ball forward. Why I will never know- he doesn't do this for Man U. On the other hand, Chelsea and Liverpool have often played with nimble and fast wingers. Why put Beckham in? Why rely on him to provide service, when neither Lamps nor Gerrard tend to generate goals that way? Nor Rooney?

When Hargreaves was added to the team, he mentioned that England needed to have more possession, to slow the game down. It needs to be asked- why did England play in a way that was unlike any of the styles that the respective players played for?

'It is this professionalism trait that marks Essien and Lampard in particular as being better team players than Gerrard will ever be. Thats why we call him Stevie ME...'

Spot on, PeterTheGreat! That's exactly why I was so apprehensive when it looked like we might sign Gerrard. Presumably Mourinho knew he was the only manager with enough balls to actually make Stevie Me play with the discipline required at the highest level, or drop him if (or when, more likely) he failed to learn how, but still... I thank my lucky stars every day that we got Essien instead. Not only has he been a fantastic player for us, in terms of character he is many, many times the man that Gerrard is or will ever be, both on the pitch and off.

Since we have exhausted all our rational and well thought out contributions to the Lampard/Gerrard debate and frankly I am bored with than one... may I open up a new debate on Cech this season...

I have been lucky enough to see all the EPL games here in OZ on Foxtel (albeit usually in the early hours of the morning). I have noticed a distinct improvement in Cech's game from last season. He still remains one of the best "stoppers" in the world but has has improved is decision making for crosses (with strong catches and punches) and most importantly for the team his distribution. Being so tall he is prone to stand up too much and letting a few go in underneath his body (eg. Bents goal for Spurs) but that is a rare event these days due to the defence preventing most one on ones.

I am interested to hear what others think of Cech's performance so far this season. Is the new goal keeper coach having an effect ? Is he finally getting used to his headgear and once again confident to through himself around the penalty box when a cross comes in ?

He is approaching 100 clean sheets for Chelsea (currently on 97 I read somewhere) which is a remarkable record. Don't know the ratio to games played but this must rank as close to the best in the EPL ever...

KTBFFH

I've got to add my tuppence-worth on the why we hate Liverpool issue. I used to like them. When we were crap and they were winning the league every year and European Cups, I never grudged them their success or had any particular dislike for their supporters. But all those years mean the way they, their fans and the media behave now reminds me of Man Utd in the early 90s - loads of non-scouse supporters in London and the south, ex-players all over the media and everyone banging on about tradition and the "Liverpool way", generally behaving as if they've always been the best club in England when the reality is that they haven't won the league for years. A great win against Milan although - as with Utd's last two - no one now remembers how much luck they needed, and that's about it in the last 15ish years. (I admit I'm worried about them this year though.....)

Tottenham's £15m winger David Bentley admits people are laughing at the club because they are bottom of the Premier League. (The Sun)

No, surely not...?

Poor David Bentley.

What a great quote. So not only are we all laughing at Spurs for being bottom of the league, now we're having to double our mockery to laugh at him for pointing out the bleedin' obvious.

I feel for ya Dave, I really do.

Great news about JT being injured as well. As Chelsea fans do you think we need to create a new proverb. 'It never rains, but it pours' doesn't really cover the magnitude of what we're going through.

Maybe 'It never rains, but you get drowned in a monsoon-laden deluge'.

Or something not quite so crap.

No, surely not...?

Not me... I'll only laugh if they have all their money in an Icelandic bank, and then get relegated.

Mikel has been left out of the Nigeria squad as they have already qualified for the next phase of qualifying and Deco has been sent back from the Portugal camp. Joey has also been left out of the England squad so it's good that those three can recover and hopefully all be fit for the return of the league.

I don't think JT is needed in these next two games and would prefer Capello to rest him, otherwise he could so some serious damage. The international break has come at a good time for us though, with a lot of players able to recuperate and it means we won't miss players from injury like Drogs or Ricky C as much because they get a good two weeks in recovery time while there's no games.

A nice set of pictures of Robinho's arrival at City:

LINK

"Mikel has been left out of the Nigeria squad as they have already qualified for the next phase of qualifying ..."

So is that the only reason he's not with the Nigerian team?? Have they kissed and made up?

Very quiet on here... everyone must be on holidays, working or asleep during the internation break... or has the financial crisis hit this blog as well...

Hard to assess which is in faster decline, share prices or Spurs

PTG, of your three options, I wish the first one, and the third one is what I'm doing when I should be doing the second one.

Can I ask if anyone sees the sense in JT staying with the England squad when's he out of tomorrows game and doubtful for Wednesday. They say he might fly to Minsk even if it's just to train. Wouldn't it be better for all concerned if he just came back to the club and kept the physios at the Bridge busy?

What's that, they're busy enough already........................

@ Mark

If both Spurs and the markets continue to decline at the current rate, I reckon we could have a whip round on here and pick up a controlling interest in the former for peanuts (literally).

Shutting them down would be the obvious idea, but there is definitely more fun to be had - making them play all home matches in It's a Knockout style foam costumes and so on.

The panel's ideas for what else we could do to be posted here for a spot of Friday silliness.

The panel's ideas for what else we could do to be posted here for a spot of Friday silliness.

That would only be of use if we can entice Spurs fans to come back to read the blog, which of course they did in droves when they got 50% of their points total.

I suppose in these difficult times you've got to pursue every avenue to make ends meet LINK

Also the Sheffield United players are considering suing the Hammers over loss of earnings due to relegation. I think I might offer myself as legal adviser to their wives in a group claim re the loss of their ability to buy new handbags.

I am truly staggered by those running the board at CFC!! You have probably seen the Guardian editorial about Scholari having been given a seat as a director on the board and as usual, even though he was has been in the job only five minutes and won nothing but hey no probs so far with that but this is a part of that editorial.

From the Guardian First paragraph

The move means he will not see a director of football shoehorned in above him, the development that effectively caused a terminal breakdown in Mourinho's relationship with his employers. But it also reflects Scolari's greater influence in transfer matters than the Portuguese enjoyed. It is unlikely that the 59-year-old will have to accept signings such as that of the £30m striker Andriy Shevchenko. Mourinho never was co-opted as a director.

Then 2nd paragraph from Buck the Spineless one!
Buck said at the Leaders in Football conference this week: "We believe you need to encourage the manager to look long term. You have to have proper lines of communication between the manager and the scouts. We don't support the model where a director of football just buys up players and dumps on the manager."

and here's the full link

LINK

After reading this , I am sure many on here will be asking what was it all for, all those problems over the last two years and does this mean they are acknowledging their (the CFC Board) their mistakes and therefore admitting it was their mistakes not Jose's which caused all thye upheaval of late?
It just seems totally unreal, like a bad dream to be honest. I would like to know what other think of this.

Afternoon Dio

There does seem to be an element of this that suggests the board are making a tacit acknowledgement that mistakes have been made; the events at Spurs illustrate that if you don't get the structure right, the whole director of football thing can backfire horribly.

The fact that we're in a reasonably strong position in terms of squad, youth and manager means that the upheaval of the last couple of years will hopefully have minimal impact on the future, but my take on this is that the board are very aware that the Grant saga, despite its few highs was a very precarious situation that could have been far more damaging than it was.

That said, the cynic in me also thinks that Scolari's standing in world football (Brazilian connections) means that he is maybe a more useful man to keep on side in the short / medium term.

@DIO #98

Also I guess the board feel that Scholari will be a little less disruptive in the boardroom than potentially some other managers. You've got to know how to rub along with your bosses.

@Dio #98

You do wonder if this wasn't part of the agreement for Scolari to sign up. Not necessarily the seat on the board but an acknowledgement that he was in control. He was in a strong negotiating position and he or his "people" well aware of what had been going on may heve requested that his position was akin to that of manager rather than coach.

With recent events at Newcy, Spam and Spud it may have been thought politic to signal to all and sundry that our man was considered to be in a more elevated role.

Mind you, as we have seen with the independence of the Monetary Policy Committee, what everyone agrees is a good thing when times is easy, don't always look so good when times is hard. So when LGF and Roman are not seeing eye to eye the situartion may rapidly change.

For me, I think a man of his experience needs to be trusted to do the job and good football men need to be close to the top in a club.

Other things


1. I see they are on with the 39th game sh*te again
2. I see we are after the Norwegians for £16m over Mikel. Will we ever really know the truth?
3. I thought this was rather worrying
LINK

And finally on a non footballing note

I am old enough to remember the last time we went to war with Iceland - The Cod Wars. We didn't come off too well as I remember so Gordy and the boys better have the minerals for a right tear up.

JD re #80 - comment to Hnery/Henry

"Seriously - why do you bother, you tiresome waste of blood and skin?"

Maybe I'm being too sensitive (just recuperating from an op) but is the aggression justified? OK so H/H has some very odd views, or is hamfisted at his attempts to be controversial, but why demean the blog? As it happens I have missed H/H & Jose Musumba when they both deserted us earlier this year.

Vitriol aimed at H/H is no better than the idiots from other clubs who aim to rile us and we normally ignore. We're far better when we cogently argue our point.

And by the way I enjoy reading 99% of your articles and comments

The above is a bit po-faced and pompous - apologies in advance for not striking the right note...

The 39th game garbage (to paraphrase BB 101) is infuriating. First it was off because Asia didn't like it. Now Asia likes it again, so it's on!

The question of whether it's actually a good idea or not seems not to be part of the discussion at all.

Scudamore is about the only suit in UK football who would beat Kenyon in a loathesomeness contest. Shameless, appalling worm. Platini's ideas may be a bit utopian and bonkers but if it comes down to him versus the Scudamores, allez la France (say I).

Interesting that Mr Big has the Chelsea board eating out of his hand. (I'd guess that José's problem was that he wouldn't be patronised: RA & Kenyon probably thought they were doing him a favour by giving hot young European wonderkid his first big break, and expected him to be suitably impressed by them; José, of course, wouldn't quite have seen it like that...) I think it's a good thing. I'm warming to Mr Big more and more with every week, and not just because the team's doing well, nor because he had the easiest act to follow since William of Orange. Everything he says makes sense. Compare that with Mad Ferg, Mad Rafa, and increasingly deranged Arsene, all of whom seem to be stuck in mind games/paranoia/motivational nonsense/one-eyed parochial idiocy/self-pity/ etc.

@ ZOne... (102)

Unfortunately Hnrey and his ilk bring out the worst in me; not something I particularly like but not something I'll apologise for either. All for opposing views on here but it's when it becomes tedious, one subject monotony that it really starts to grate. To be fair to Hnrey, and he has admitted it on here himself, he is terribly fond of a spot of skunk which can cloud the viewpoint somewhat, but Musumba's ridiculous (and almost completely unjustified) hatred of Lampard was just incredibly dull - the fact that he was also happy to lie through his teeth to justify the point just compounded the irritation.

Aside of all that, hope your recovery goes well - been there myself, so I know it's not the nicest place to be.

@LTB (103)

Scudamore is definitely not the most pleasant of characters; his demeanour in interviews doesn't help him either - he's always seemed quite dismissive and arrogant whenever I've heard him speak. Sad reality is that one way or another game 39 will happen eventually; the bigger clubs already make a fair amount of their cash overseas and that will only increase as time goes on - I'm no fan of the idea but I suspect it might take someone a little more diplomatic than Mr. Scudamore to sell it to the fans over here.

Off to Wembley this afternoon - just hope I'm not sitting next to a bunch of overweight drunken Stockport fans dresses in Borat-style mankinis...

@JD #104

Thanks for the kind sentiments and hopefully Frank will do us proud today, despite the presence of Stevie ME

I agree with your sentiments about Scudamore, and LTB's comparison to Kenyon. Perhaps PeterTheGreat can help us, but is the burden of their first name too much for Messrs Kenyon & Scudamore to bear? As K&S they could almost be the cuddly curmudgeons from The Muppet Show or a pair of bickering backroom staff at Grace Bros. But add the Peter and they're transformed into extras from a bad horror schlock movie populated by people you wouldn't want to bump into on the Clapham Omnibus, let alone in the boardroom. Along with Beardsley and let us not forget Mandelson.

In comparison to Peter, ZOneAndOnly doesn't seem to be such a bad name to be christened with...

Is it just me or is anyone else experiencing the hatred and desperate measures of other supporters this season already, as they can sense our current situation is very good and it's making them very worried, and as a result they get agitated and irrational.

Mikel is more like Viera then Makalele. He's tall, agressive, good passer of the ball and gets stuck in. Most importantly, both Viera and Mikel are card magnets.

It's just you, Number9 (106). My impression is that there's a lot less reflexive Chelsea loathing than usual so far this season. 1) we didn't win anything last year -- it was our success that really infuriated people, whatever else they say; 2) Mr Big doesn't wind people up; 3) we didn't buy any embarrassing galacticos this summer; 4) the ownership lunacy at 'Poo, Man U, Spam, Newcy etc. makes Abramovich look relatively sensible and calm, so we're no longer Everything That's Wrong With the Game.

Win two trophies this year and everyone'll despise us again. Here's hoping.

@Number9 106 - "Chelsea's sexy football thaws coldest hearts

"Perhaps it is the flu bug. Or the heavy medication. Either way, it is a strange sensation when you find your cynical journalist’s heart thawing at the sight of Chelsea racing to victory.

"That may sound an admission of a previous anti-Chelsea bias, confirming all the suspicions of the press office, but all we ever wanted was the club to employ a little charm on their way to global domination. There is every sign of that being the case under the management of Luiz Felipe Scolari.

[...]

"Perhaps Chelsea will fray at the edges, as all the great competitors can. Controversy may be round the next corner, but when a club start to offer thrilling, joyous football, you can forgive them just about anything."

LINK

I see what you guys are saying but did you see the booing of ashley cole tonight? would that happen to a non-chelsea player? i dont think so.

@ 110. NUMBER9

Agree totally..it would NEVER happen to Rooney, Duck-Bill or Stevie Me..and nobody has caused more controversy in the tabloids over the years than Rio!! I mean, he's hardly an example setter to young kids is he??!!!
I just hope Ash doesn't let it bother him too much or knock his confidence..he's a great player for England and as long as he turns up on the day and does what he's paid to do to the best of his ability, then i personally don't care what he gets up to off the field!! That's his business at the end of the day..

Even Jamie Redknapp commented on SSN this morning that he thinks it's the "chelsea element"..so i guess Frank's had his turn (he was outstanding yesterday..as usual!), Ash's going through the mill now..surely J.T's gotta get it in the neck at some stage!! Especially as the Sun quoted on Thursday that "he can't play for England but can play a full 90 minute game and help out in Midfield for Chelsea"..the knives are already out for him,it's just a matter of time...

I think you're right Lolli, It's definitely a Club thing , I listened to a podcast yesterday and some callers were saying it's to do with his actions off the field 'what a load of crap' how come they had to wait for him to make a mistake before it started.

On the Ashley Cole thing, it's all about the success of Chelsea and the fact that most England fans are dirt.

Most fans in England seem to hate Chelsea, as simple as that. This season, the hatred seems to be focused on the team. After all, our rivals can't exactly point to our outlandish spending anymore - £24m on Deco and Bosingwa is all we've spent. So if it was just about the money, Spurs, City and Utd players would be getting booed at the moment. But i think the hatred being vented at Chelsea is more because we're showing people that we can play great football and win, unlike another club residing in North London. Most of the country knows that this season Chelsea are a serious threat in all competitions, whereas last season, despite how close we got, i didn't get the same sense of ruthlessness, power and determination to win as this season. Other fans seem jealous of our team, our players and our manager. Chelsea grab more headlines in England than any other club, including the Mancs, and i think that some fans are feeling a little left out. Their only response is to boo!

Which brings me on nicely to Ashley. He had a poor game on Saturday, but i for one couldn't care less. After all, England will NEVER win anything in the next 10 years, so the fewer of our players wasting their time with England, the better. When we make it to S.Africa, i hope that the fans realise that England just aren't very good anymore. We'll be facing an Argentina side with Messi, Aguero and Tevez, Brazil with Kaka and Robinho and Spain with Villa and Silva. England fans boo Frank, now Ashley and virtually everyone wanted Rio as captain over JT. Their jealousy of Chelsea is quite enjoyable to see as a Blue and if they really don't like our players, i'd like to see their reaction to an England side not run by Chelsea players. If we stuck two fingers up to England and withdrew JT, Lamps, Ash and Joe, England would be lost.

So bring on the boo boys, jealous of our success.

It may be a coincidence but Englands defensive performance was no where near as authoritive with Terry missing as it was against the Croats. Ferdinand is not a natural leader or motivator in the team. Terry may have his shortcomings (speed) but his leadership qualities are essential for the team to perform and his defensive organisation is much stronger the Ferdinand's.

Having said that I couldn't careless any more if any of the Chelsea players play for England. Means they will be fitter to play for us in the league.

These international breaks really irritate me even though this time it has given us some time to get injured players back playing or closer to playing without having to play any club football.

KTBFFH

That should read "authoritative"... brain works faster than my fingers at times...

I was at the England game on Saturday and a few things should be put into perspective, rather than slinging all the usual generalisations around:

The booing came from a fairly sizeable chunk of the crowd, but what wasn't really reported was how a great many of the England fans were really unhappy about it and tried to counter by cheering / clapping when Cole got the ball.

The point about a general dislike for Chelsea is valid to an extent, but it certainly isn't all-encompassing. Two guys in front of us in England shirts with Rooney / Gerrard on the back (so fairly safe to say not Chelsea fans) were particulary vocal about the fact that having paid £XXX to support the national side, wasn't booing one of them a bit stupid? The guy from the FSF who has been reported as saying that people pay their money so they're entitled to express an opinion has been selectively quoted too; he also said that it would obviously be better if people just got behind the team. Media sh*t stirring as usual.

A lot of the justification for it is fairly classic football fan hypocrisy; he's greedy (in a football player - who'd have thought it?) and his life off the pitch are the excuses I've heard repeatedly (who cares - I doubt I'd fancy sitting down for a beer with him, but that's hardly the point, is it?). Let he who is without sin and all that, if we're being biblical about it.

Rather amazing how the biggest cheer of the night was reserved for a player who has a) cheated on his wife and b) is being paid an extraordinary amount of money to play (sit on the bench?) in a vastly inferior league in the USA.

Lampard was the pick of our bunch and one of the best performers overall; Rooney getting back to his former England self to an extent and Walcott definitely has the 'excitement' factor, but a reasonably proficient full back got the measure of him after a nervy start which he (Walcott) didn't capitalise on. Early days and all that - impressive player though.

Screw England.

Fingers crossed Terry fails his fitness test so we get him fresh for the w/e.

Radio 5 were brilliant on Saturday, going on about Rio's new found maturity. This would be the Rio that stormed off the pitch mouthing obscenities at the referee in a match a few weeks ago. Although given that he didn't attack a steward this time, perhaps he has grown up a little bit.

Interesting that Henry is now using stats to back up his Essien vendetta. I'm sure he dismissed the relevance of statistics out of hand during one of his many anti-Lampard rants.

How does he square this circle?

Uh-oh :

LINK

Here cometh the Mersey vitriol. How dare someone from ths Times

"The standard logic is that Gerrard has suffered for England because he is so versatile. He is moved to the left, to the right, played behind the striker, he is never given his favourite position. Yet, partly, this is because he has never made that central position his own. Lampard was voted England’s player of the year before going off the boil in 2006. Now that he is back to his best, he is consistently the outstanding individual in England’s midfield."

I paid minimal attention to the TV on Saturday. Manily because my footy team, prior to Saturday kick off, had a record of played 4, lost 4 this season and travelled to the team top of the league (played 4, won 4, scored 35, conceded 5) and somehow fashioned a 2-zip away win that resulted in me hugging the Fosters pump most of the night. Well that, and the the fact that ITV and live football simply dont go (Tydesley, Pleat, Rider - need I go on....).

I've lost interest in the national side. Nearly as much as most of the players, but I'm just not as excited about England games as I once was in my more youthful days. Naively, I used to believe the media hype that we had a real chance at every major tournament, and the inevitable failure at said tournaments was obviously because the whole World hates England. And then I realised we just aren't good enough. Sure, I'll enjoy watching all our games in South Africa as I leave the office, but I wont be rushing to Ladbrokes (other gambling establishments are available) to stick my Fiftee Jnr's inheritance on Fabio's men to win the tournament.

I'm having my Wembley virginity broken in a fortnights time by some big American 'units' who wear lots of padding and call it 'Football' (ooh, matron). It's not real football though is it? I mean, can't imagine there'll be much booing........

Damn the lack of 'edit' !!!

My post should read : "How dare someone from the Times write this"

Good news: Cole and Terry both out for Wednesday.

A significant minority of England fans have always been representative of the very worst kind of contemporary football supporter. 30 years ago it was racism; 15 years ago it was chair-flinging coked-up stupidity; now it is gormless booing, armchair '606' whinging and feeling they have the 'right' to be entertained because of wage inflation.

Cole and Terry out plus Cech so we might be a bit light for the Boro'. But don't worry I'll be there booing supporting our boys.

I did try and apply the strikeout effect on the word "booing" above!

We're top of this table as well : LINK

I tend to use it to help me pick my FF team, so it's usually pretty spot on. Fingers crossed it is this week, as it reckosn we'll only be missing Riccy, DD and Essien. Maybe things aren't too bad at all.

Although we do seem to struggle a bit at the Riverside. I think one year we even had to rely on a Ukrainian to score for us........

Some interesting points have been made about the business of booing your own players.

With regard to England I think a few factors come into play:

1. The general idea that the supporter (or perhaps spectator) feels alienated from the modern player due to money, lifestyle, over-exposure of the private life etc.

2. The make up of an England crowd, which from the flags and banners you see seems to have a large composition of fans from lower league teams, who don’t care for the Premiership, in many cases because they will never see their team there, and who therefore do not identify with the players they are watching.

3. What I can only describe as a distinction in the fan’s minds between ‘England’ players and players who play for England. In the current crop Rooney is an England player, Gerrard is an England player, Lampard plays for England as does Ashley Cole. Beckham is an England player. What makes you an England player? Form has little to do with it I believe. Celebrity helps, but in the past Stuart Pearce was an England player. Playing for the right team? Perhaps. It’s difficult to put your finger on it but now and in the past there are players, not all the biggest names who were assumed by fans and media alike to be certainties. It is an indefinable quality and therefore probably a figment of my imagination.

4. Beckham is now a favourite yet was a victim of the boo boys. He certainly fulfils the criteria in my first couple of points to have remained a subject of dislike by the fans yet doesn’t. Why?

While we are all berating those who booed Cole, it is worth remembering that booing has crept in at Chelsea. I remember cringing when Jokanovic was booed quite often. Yes he struggled but he was an older player trying to get to the pace of the Premiership. Other players have played worse in a blue shirt in my opinion but escaped the vitriol.

Perhaps I should go back to writing about railways and rosary beads..

LINK

idiot.

Regarding point one, guess the year this was written:

'In the last 20 years, football has been taken away from its natural community, commercialised and given the worst trappings of Hollywood by the media. Is it any wonder that the kids whose dads used to live next door to local players, feel alienated?'

@123/118 Fiftee - I thought we discussed "physioroom" on here a long time ago and decided it was useful for picking up on players with injuries which might not have been publicised widely but its "expected return" dates were a joke which might as well be replaced with a random number generator - I certainly found this to be the case last season when I had lots of Everton's walking wounded in a fantasy team.

As for possible booing at the NFL game at Wembley - remember that the Saints fans do their version of "H-u-u-u-u-th" for "Deuce" McAllister.....

@ 123 Fiftee

We´ve just extended our lead! Michael Ballack injured his right calf during the qualifier against Russia. At the moment it´s not sure if he´ll be able to captain Germany against Wales on Wednesday. Hopefully he´ll be fit on Saturday...

Just heard the news on Ballack....also hope he'll be ok for the weekend..

Regarding Gerro...wonder if he'd say the same if he was getting booed when playing for England? I think not..
He says "England fans have the right to boo players at Wembley & Ash should take it like a man & just get on with it" easy to say when it's never (& never likely to) happened to you..Ash is a professional and i should imagine he'll just knuckle down & get on with his job but it's GOT to knock you're confidence a little.

I wish Gerro as well as a select few England fans would think before opening their fat mouths!!!! >:((

I'm sure that we'll have JT, Ashley and Cech back for Boro. As far Ballack, well it wouldn't really matter as the Boro game is the scheduled return of our magic no. 20 - Deco.

Nice to see Gerrard trying to suck up to the England fans and say that it's alright to boo. Well if it's alright why don't we all start booing him? After all, it was he who was outshone by Lamps on Saturday, and it is him who is ruining the England midfield. Without him, Lamps can run the show whilst Barry does the cleaning up. With Gerrard in there, he wants all the attention to be on himself. He's an idiot and only adds to my hatred of all things Liverpudlian.

I hate international weeks as it just gets in the way of enjoying Chelsea's recent 'amazingness'. Boro will be tougher than many think, but i think we'll play it like a re-run of the Stoke game. Soak up their early pressure, hit them on the break for the first goal, let Anelka miss a couple of open goals, then we grab a second and see the match out. On Saturday Lamps and Mikel are definite starters so who'll get the third spot. My bet's on Deco. He's Scolari's untouchable and at the moment, the only other player under threat is Joe. Many would think that it would be MAlouda, but he's been an ever-present under Scolari.

I'll go for a tough, 2-0.

Also nice to see the injury count racking up. Chelsea do like to win things the hard way after all!

I'm actually interested in international football...

Oh dear, did I just drop myself into the Musumba role?

I dont understand Gerrard at all. One minute he says "Its going to have a bad effect on Ash and the team" then remembering that hes a scouser and doesnt have to put up with it himself says "They had every right to boo, Ash should be able to deal with it. What a tit.

Don't like Gerrard at all, but when you read the transcript of the interview, rather than the headline, his comments were more along the lines of ' they pay their money, they can do what they like'..... Surely it's not the press shit-stirring again?

Pleases me no end that Terry, Cole and Cole, Mikel, Drogba, (and perhaps Ballack)all have the week off to recover. Nice chance for a break, and to hopefully get over some of these injuries.

@BBD 127,

"I thought we discussed "physioroom" on here a long time ago and decided it was useful for picking up on players with injuries which might not have been publicised widely but its "expected return" dates were a joke which might as well be replaced with a random number generator"

Fair point, but whats wrong with Drogbas return date being the 145th Octobruary ???

@PeteW #126

I seem to remember seeing something like this before and it was in the 40's or 50's? It does suggest that things never change and if this was back in the days before Jimmy the Chin fought for freedom of contract the gap between supporters' wages and players' wages would have been of far less than now.

I suppose the fan's capacity for envy has always been there. We worship, we adore but deep down we want them down off the pedestal, grubbing around like ourselves.

Hi Bluebayou,

Actually it was from Time Out in 1974, but its suggestion that this sort of envy/isolation was already a 20-year-old phenomena is very interesting in light of the pieces we have read in the last few days defending abuse of Cole. (The article goes on to talk about the fact that players no longer have any respect for referees. Plus ca change, innit.)

@ JD - hope you enjoyed the game at Wembley mate. I'm interested how you felt about that poxy band which seems a permanent feature of England games these days. It's becoming a bit of an obsession with me these days as I detest the fact they appear to drive the singing with tuneless renditions of The Dambusters and God Save the Bloody Queen (what the fuck has that got to do with football?). I rather prefer the spontaneous nature of fan chanting and the day a 'band' turns up at SB could be the day the season ticket goes to the bin. Hopefully our board have more sense than the FA. Anyway, just be interested to see whether it enhanced the game for your view.

Thats the OU course and exam done for this year, normal levels of bile and vitriol interspersed with the odd incisive and witty comment will resume.

Afternoon TG

Good to see you back - hope it all went well.

Did remark to the two guys I went with on Saturday that I was glad we weren't anywhere near said band; all for a bit of atmosphere but like you say, the spontaneous approach is surely better than pitching up and parping down a trumpet all afternoon.

Interesting point about the new Wembley though - it is bloody impressive, but having been there a few times now, I do feel that the sheer size of it might be an issue in terms of atmosphere. The Cup Final we were in was slightly different; big occasion in new stadium etc. but it really lacked something at the weekend. There is no connection with the opposite side / further points of the ground - at times, when mixed in with the terribly clever computer advertising boards round the pitch, the other side of the stadium can look (and feel) like it's a CGI representation as though you're in FIFA 2009 on the X-Box.

Maybe that adds to the feeling that England aren't really 'at home' there yet; takes a while to settle in but having spoken to people who followed England around the country when Wembley was closed, it sounds like the national side and its fans are some way off from making it 'fortress Wembley' (and a couple of blokes wheezing into a trombone certainly isn't going to make a lot of difference either).

I've been to a couple of England games in recent years, I now live in Australia, but I have to say I don't particularily relish the idea of going again.

The wife dragged me along to St James' Park to watch England play Azerbaijan back in 2005. After negociating past the England fans brawling amongst themselves outside the stadium, we were treated to a ninety minute rendition of "Ten German Bombers" during the game.

Last year we went to the new Wembley for the Estonia game. Fantastic stadium, just don't try getting any refreshments unless you don't mind missing most of one half. Shame about the booing of Lampard for most of the match, but the boos might have been better directed at Gerrard who spent the entire first half passing the ball into touch.

I doubt I'll bother next time I'm back in Blighty.

It seems there is a general apathy against the national team which includes myself. The problem is multi-pronged:

1. The lack of success on the pitch has certainly dimmed supporters enthusiasm since I last went to watch England in the early 80s.

2. The circus of managerial appointments who get paid ridiculous sums to manage 1/6 doz games a year definitely rankles with most normal working people.

3. The atmosphere at the games is nothing like a club game simply because you have such a diverse group of club supporters supposedly 'coming together' to support their national team plus the majority support lower league clubs. Recipe for disjointed support for the team and the likelihood of sections of fans to turn on individual players because they play for opposing club teams.

On the question of the band, I am afraid for international games thats the only way you are going to get such a diverse group to sing along together. Other nations supporters use bands/drums/trumpet blowers quite successfully to generate an atmosphere probably becuase they don't generally sing and chant like English supporters do. This will also apply for our national games as coordinated singing and chanting is only going to work at club games where the vast majority of the crowd are on the same page and you have a small section of the crowd who support the opposing team to 'throw banter' at.

Can't wait for the weekend for the real football to start again...

KTBFFH

I too absolutely hate the plastic atmosphere created in stadiums artificially using bands, etc. But Peter makes a good point in discussing the fact that we all sing different songs for our club sides, and none really translate well to the National side.

Perhaps it is for this reason that Land of Hope and Glory, and God Save The Queen are the only ones that really get a proper run.

Has to be said that the problem with England related songs (and the national anthem) is that they are nearly all skull-crushingly dull and monotonous. Add the pointless parping of that bloody band and you end up with a sound slightly less pleasant than a burning orphanage.

Knock the Scots all you like, but at least 'Flower of Scotland' has a bit of something about it. Billy Connolly reckoned you could perk the national anthem up by singing it to the theme tune of 'The Archers', which isn't a bad call really.

(on the subject of football crowds / songs, I remember the Bridge singing "We are the Champions" after the 2004/2005 title win - it was painfully apparent that 40,000 odd half-inebriated blokes didn't quite have the same vocal range as Freddie Mercury - an absolutely dreadful noise).

A couple of stories on the Mail website have caught my eye.

You'll all understand why I'm pointing this one out : LINK

This one about Bridge replacing Cole in Minsk tonight (possibly sans England band for all you watching it on Sultana Sports) : LINK mentions Wayne has the lowest body fat levels of any player at Chelsea. That's worthy of a huge mention. I know they're all professional athletes, but for a guy who spends nearly every game on the bench, it's credit to him.

@Fiftee
Probably the reason he has the lowest body fat is because he likes to squeeze into that Star Wars Storm Trooper outfit he had one Christmas ;-)

Essien, Carvalho, Deco, Ashley Cole, Joe Cole, JT, Anelka, Drogba, Bosingwa, Cech.

As I type this, not one of them is 100% for Saturday.

Thats 10 players - we'd beat half the Premier League just with them. It's an injury crisis, no doubt. Our first choice back line all doubtful, our first choice strikers the same.

Things seem to be on the up for Chelsea.

Firstly we're top of the league, which is nice, after last season, continually having to look up at Utd. Secondly, we're playing some amazing football, which is also nice. But best of all, Scolari's prayers to the Big G upstairs, seem to be working. First of all he prayed that Didier would return in weeks not months and he got a favourable response. And now it seems some of those good relations are rubbing off on the fans. We've all been wondering for the past 2-3 seasons why it seems that our players get injured EVERY international break and why when it comes to the Christmas fixtures, we always have 6-8 players out? So i decided to put in a call to the big man upstairs, and guess what my prayers were answered:

LINK

With Torres out, this top of the table clash will present a great chance of streaking ahead. It's a must win for us and his injury only helps us. I know that we've still got half our squad struggling with torn knee ligaments, knocks or strained backs, but we're used to injuries. Liverpool certainly aren't. They were a two man team last season, and now one of them is out!

It was also good to see that former footballer, Wayne Bridge get a run out last night. He did look pretty poor, but if it means that we can get Cole back to full fitness, then so be it.

On Chelsea TV, they've been asking who the fans think has been the best player of the season so far and the most impressive performer. They may seem similar questions but they have different answers in my mind. The best player this season, in the whole league, is undoubtedly Frank. He's showing the form which got him second place in the World Player of the Year award and if it wasn't for Kaka, Messi or Ronaldo, he'd win it! Most impressive performer though has been Ivanovic. Two flawless performances and looks a great young defender. Way ahead of Alex in the pecking order now.

KTBFFH

We've also got some new fans:

LINK

I'm shocked Beckham's boys wearing last years kit, this global credit crisis is much worse than people realise!!

anyone know who is actually fit for saturday and who isn't? like probable line up?

@Number 9 - let's put it this way; if you're going to the Riverside, take your football boots with you..

Worst case scenario:

Carlo
Paulo Ivanovic Mancienne Bridge
Mikel
Kalou Lamps Ballack Malouda
Anelka

So it doesn't seem that bad, apart from at the back.

Best case:

Cech
Bosingwa Ivanovic Terry Cole
Mikel
Cole Lamps Deco Malouda
Anelka

I'm just hoping we scrape a win tomorrow, whatever team we put out (if we do better than that, I will be extremely thankful) and that as many people are back for Liverpool as possible. How we fare in that one will give an indication as to how serious our title aspirations are, and we have every chance of winning now that their main man Torres is out injured. If we do, that should put us in good stead until Christmas at least and place the distance we deserve between ourselves and the Scouse.

Win or lose, up the Blues.

Phew, thank God for that. The list of players I posted yesterday was wrong.

I forgot to include Ballack. That's right, 11 players. Our injured players almost our best side available :

Cech
Bosingwa
JT
Carvalho
Ashley
Joe
Ballack
Essien
Deco
Anelka
DD

And the thing is, most of them will be niggly little knocks that wont be 'quite right' for a few weeks.

Torres meanwhile, will complete a miraculous recovery in time to terrorise Ivanovic and Mancienne at the Bridge next week.

I'm starting a new proposal - the banning of all International football.

Well well. Who'd have thought this.

LINK

Is this his first sort of interview with the English press, because he seems to have been pretty free with his thoughts to a fair selection of foreign hacks?

@ Fiftee

"I'm starting a new proposal - the banning of all International football."

Count me in. Mind you would anyone notice...or care?

@154. ChelseaTony - much as I love Drogs and what he's helped us to achieve the cynic in me can't help wonder how much this sudden rush of affection for us is down to:

1) he's got a book in English to flog

2) worry that his increasingly dodgy knees are rapidly diminishing his chances of securing a transfer elsewhere and the value/likelihood of a contract extension with us.

As for our injury problems, worry not chaps - the ever reliable PhysioRoom is still showing 6 of them with 15/18 October "expected return" dates, so all that Godbothering by His Bigness must be working well :-)

Bit of an enigma, is our Drogs. Very much a 'heart on sleeve' kind of guy which doesn't help sometimes in terms of what he says and how it is quoted in the media. Add the fact that he's not speaking in his first language and you often end up with confusion all round. The number of times I've seen "Drogba says..." in the press and they're clearly just rehashed or interpreted quotes is ridiculous. Gallas was another one who fell into that trap on occasion (and has done so at Arsenal too).

That said, as BBD notes Drogs is currently selling a book and the fact that his knees may not be up to a strict Barcelona medical might have made him realise that the grass is greener in SW6... :-)

JD,

I also love Drogs and seem to recall a conversation we had at the White Horse the first time where we seemed to agree that on his day he was the best in the world. I still reckon he can hit sufficient heights although I am concerned we may be seeing a Thierry Henry syndrome here, whereby the decline becomes marked through a constant injury that age does not allow to fully heal. But I'm glad we're seeing this stuff, and I've no doubt that the respect and kudos of Popeye has played a big part in regaining his (and other players) faith in the Chelsea project.

He's a rampaging, thundering, bustling, pain in the arse, compassionate, deep thinking, rule challenging, emotional, talented and slightly unhinged individual. In most dictionaries this would fit under the word.....

Genius.

Why do my comments disappear and reappear? A bloke could get a complex you know......

I don't want to appear ungracious but I'm glad Torres is crocked because he's a fucking good player and if we're to preserve the position at the top of the league and our home record then we need as much 'divine' help as possible. The thought of losing it to Liverscum might have me hiding in a remote Benedictine Monastery for a while. if Torres had been a Chelsea player however, then I'm sure with our luck he'd be just about approaching fitness after being crocked pre-season.

Even as recent as a few years ago, it seemed the perennial injury lists were confined to Toontown but it does seem that the players of today are increasingly brittle. I could understand if it was the ballet dancers of the forward lines that were sole victims of clog dancing back fours, but the afflictions seem almost equally distributed across all teams and all positions these days. Is it the sock like boots, the unforgiving grass, the lack of undersoil on the pitch, the lightness of the ball making it less controllable or are the players so finely tuned as athletes these days that they're akin to F1 cars in terms of complexity and fragility with little tolerance or resilience?

Or are they all just lightweight, overpaid, coiffured, pampered ponces better suited to Strictly Come Dancing?

@ChelseaTony #159

A couple of comments to make.

1. “Or are they all just lightweight, overpaid, coiffured, pampered ponces better suited to Strictly Come Dancing?”

Just the sort of ill-founded prejudice that dancers face on a daily basis. I’d wager you wouldn’t last 2 minutes elbow to elbow with dancing’s finest out on the floor of the Empress Ballroom in the Winter Gardens Blackpool, where one mistimed pelvic thrust during the tango can leave a man in traction for 6 months, or a missed beat in the old time waltz results in you having your partners eye out. I expected better from a man steeped in book learning like yourself.

2. While I have no professional qualification in physiology, physiotherapy or dietary science, a brief review of the current literature does reveal in alarming lack of research into the absence of hairy bacon and cabbage in the diet of the modern footballer. I feel an application for a sizeable research grant coming on…

@ BB #160

I would like to formally apologise for the inference my statement made on several counts to everyone in the ...ahem....dance....ahem community.

It was in no way intended to imply that dancers of the male variety are a bunch of lightweight, overpaid, coiffured, pampered ponces. Nor do I seek to disseminate the view that male dancers are in anyway anything other than heterosexual, hairy arsed, carnivorous, testosterone filled geezers.

I have nothing but admiration for their ability to take off the Doctor Maerten boots, heavy denims, wooly hats and lumberjack shirts. I marvel at how they remove their stubble with nowt more than a rusty steak knife, freshly lubricated from the recent consumption of a 20oz T-bone. I am goggle-eyed with awe at the way they briskly don the patent leather, cuban heeled dancing shoes and sparkly one piece suit to glide around the polished parquet flooring as smoothly and delicately as a Snow Queen wearing ice stilletos on her way to Iceland (the supermarket, not the bankrupt country) down the Ice Highway. And how they glide around whilst clasping the nubile beauties adorning our newsrooms and soap operas without 'hoisting the mainsail' is nothing short of miraculous.

I do think they would be shit footballers though.

On another note my official 25p CFC text tells me JT is fit for Boro, both Coles miss out, Ballack is sidelined for 2-3 weeks and Cech is a 'maybe'.

Yee=hah as they might well say somewhere in Mississippi.