Premier League: Chelsea 2 - 1 Arsenal

A very sensible review that I enjoyed reading. I was overjoyed with the match today as well as the result. Good stuff, Tony.

great review as usual. you mentioned ballack being particularly pissed about being subbed and i felt awful for the guy. i mean honestly he had the first 3 shots on goal? any of which might have gone in if almunia wasnt playing extraordinarily. does it seem to anyone else though that he is the first to get benched, or subbed off or just dropped...i feel like there is some personal feud between the to...ballack is perfectly happy on the pitch with whomever if only grant would let him stay on? grant did coach the game today but putting belleti in at right back where he should have played all game wasnt exactly a masterstroke...even rafa "master tactition" benitez would have realized that one.
also i love maka and he is quite brilliant but if mikel stays with chelsea it should be quite nice to watch him mature into a superb replacement...hes only 21? 22? and would be a starter everygame at any club that didnt have maka, ballack, lampard, essien to choose from in the middle

It was an amazing game. I'm happy Grant got it right at the right time. Makalele and J.Cole were awesome, so was Carvalho and Drogba. Carvalho was covering for Essien as well in the right. Terry was looking like Terry again.
Awesome performance.
Awesome match report.

"when his allegedly thrilling side of ball passers extraordinaire are beaten by another team who know all of the DARK ARTS OF FOOTBALL."

a beautiful piece of literature.

Great review. Pretty much summed up everything I felt.

I thought we were amazing today. As much as I hate Grant, I just have to say, his tactics were spot on. And his substitutions were amazing. After the game, I was so happy. Happiest this season. Could not believe we had just won the game. And Didi was awesome. He absolutely murdered Gallas and Toure. I thought we could have done much much better on the goal but WHO CARES?? WE WON!! WUHOOOO!

All three teams could still do it, but even if we beat United at home, we still need them to slip up against a lesser team...

-----

could that lesser team be arsenal...? i hope so.

Good Report Tony and it would most certainly be unfair to not give Avram the praise, after having chastised him so much in the week.

On the good side, it was great to have the real Drogba, JT and Essien playing again, rather than the imposters that have performed erratically ( to say the least) for the last 2 months. Drogba's goals were wonderfully taken and it would have been fitting to see him walk off with the match ball but it wasn't to be.

For me Ballack was right up there amongst the top performers, and he was right to be pissed off at being hauled off. However, that is what a squad is all about. When things need to be changed, players need to realise that there are others in the squadthat provide something different.

For some time I have commented on the blog that we have missed Mikel, who provides a drive from central midfield that the imperious Maka doesn't (again, not better or worse, simply a case of trying something different) and hopefully whatever the row with Ten Cate was over is now out of everyone's system. He is a real star for the future.

Also, when Anelka came on, he and Drogba actually played together, rather than Anelka running out to the left wing. They linked up nicely and the Gunners defence was run ragged.

As for the bad.... How many goals do we need to concede from corners and set pieces to realise that perhaps we need to practice them. For Christ sake, I think I was 6 when I learned that it ain't a bad idea to stick a bloke on each post at corners! In addition to that, perhaps we should take a few occasionally.... Our delivery from corners has been abysmal for weeks! Then again, perhaps that is the problem..... Maybe there is no-one in the squad that is able to take them, for us to try and defend them!

Well done, lads. A great result and whilst I don't think we will win the league, at leaqst it stays interesting for a bit longer!

I am so delighted with this, the ground was rocking yesterday in the last 15 mins and post match. Thought the atmosphere could have been a bit better earlier on, but finally avram does something right. Maybe we should play with this 4-4-2 system next game? It looked really good!

Hey Tony Great review...
On Lamps...I think he is playing for something now not like before...

@Charles and Greenlight
On Ballack...well you are entitled to your opinion but I beg to disagree on his performance...He gave the ball away to easily and the shots on goal...awful...the ball always went into the ground removing any power in the shot...

I give Grant the props for removing the big players and changing the game...The holding Belleti on the Bench was genius and playing Essien in that role was also dangerous but required... I will bother to expalin why he opted for that...

Essien playing in the number two gives us both defensive cover while availing an extra man in the midfield...This is where I wonder why Ballack played so deep...he should have played just behind Drogs..but we were not so good because Ballack opted to play in a deeper role...funny that Essien was even driving further up than Ballack...Avram removing him was spot on.

Kalou burnt out so fast but I liked the idea of keeping him on the field as it meant Sanga could not run up field...maybe Avram is actually learning on the job afterall???? Carvalho...

Yes Tony your daughter is sure to go if your word counts...BLOODY GENIUS!!!

Terry was good but I know he can play a lot better...

Anelka Drogs can not play together??? I think there is more to come...

Joe Cole Zolaesque...This would be my first pick in the England Squad Mr. Cappello.

Ashley am tempted to say you hunky punk get caught and make up whenever your form goes down...;-) You were outstandding

On the booing of Gallas...Tony gloves off I was one of them booing and it is not because I despise the player...just letting him know he left disrespectfully to the fans, coach and the club... and I would do it again... I did not chant anything just booed and I think he deserves it... You would not catch me booing Eidur, Robben, Del Horno, Geremi, Parker, Glen etc but as for Gallas, he is a silly Billy Goat...

Am all the way in India, dont know if a tabloid like Sunday mirror should be trusted, could anyone here throw some light on this one?
LINK

i'm surprised that nobody yet made connected the easter and avram's religious background. wouldn't you agree that we should give credit, where credit is jew? ;)

I do recall some gloating gooners infesting our blog when we lost back in December to them, I just wonder will they turn up in the coming days. You're right Tony circus football, or any so called moral victories will win you f**k all unless you have substance and backbone.

I had a quick peep on a few Arsenal blogs, and was quite surprised to see the criticism of AW, but when you read between the lines, the fans are becoming a little pissed off with the lack of silverware. On saying that the season isn't over yet and they may be a bit premature, but on current Arsenal form, it looks worrying for them, they do look like they're bottling it.

I think Alan Hansen summed it up perfectly last night by saying it's not about winning when playing well, it's about winning when not playing well.

I notice how you were calling for respect in relation to William Gallas, who I should mention is an EX player of ours, who has gone to our ENEMY.

Whereas I bet you weren't one of the thousands who were chanting "You don't know what you're doing" to our CURRENT manager. Now that's what I call a lack of respect.

Who gives a sh*t about Gallas. He left, he cried.. who cares

Great insight after I missed the game, thankyou ! Are there any highlights from the game online anywhere ? cheers for the help in advance.

Yes, credits must be given when due. Well done Toady. But just because he won this time, does that cover up all the mistakes he made? We shouldnt get too carried away yet. He was won nothing with us yet. Until he delivers a big trophy, his credentials will always be questioned. Lets hope he doesnt screw up the remaining 7 league games as they are all a MUST WIN now. Lets not forget the CL. I hope his job is hanging on the 2 remaining competitions left.

On a positive note, i hope this result has helped the players find back their long lost winning mentality. A great confidence booster going into the last 2 months.

Good report Tony and agree with most.

In the Bad section you refer to the booing of Gallas. Actually if we’re honest it wasn’t booing but the singing of a particularly unpleasant song which has become a regular occurrence. I’m from the old school and avoid using the ‘c’ word but I guess it’s now symptomatic of our society; drop litter to and from the game, get drunk, sing the ‘c’ word song and stab someone at a club in the evening 

Also in addition to the jeering of Gallas there was the attack on Avram. Ignoring the debate about whether Avram’s the right man for the job I prefer to focus on the role supporters should play. We’re not shareholders, Roman owns it all, we’re not members, like Barcelona where all fans have some sort of stake and we’re not customers, where we have a right to complain. Sure we fork out a lot for tickets, travel and merchandise but this doesn’t make us customers in the true sense of the word, where we can make complaints under the Sale of Goods Act. If it were any other transaction, like a restaurant or a shop, we’d complain the once (although we’re a bit timid about complaining in Britain) and presumably never return to that establishment again. Instead we go back to Chelsea every week. We are supporters with support being the operative bit and, during the game, we ought to be the twelfth man doing everything we can to rally the troops. Singing “You don’t know what you’re doing” or “Jose Mourinho” is counter productive to the team. All criticism of Avram should be outside the 90 minutes and debated here, on talksport and in the press.

Finally I didn’t think Ballack had a good game. In the first half we tried to play on touch football and Ballack’s one touches invariably gave the ball to an opponent. If Jose were in charge Ballack would probably have been taken off before half time.

Once I shift this monster of a hangover, I think I'll watch that again.

Great game, great result and a very impressive feather in Avram's cap; proves there is actually some footballing nous in there somewhere. We know we have the players that can cope with switching formations and styles, it just needs the manager to pick the right switches at the right time and to communicate clearly what he wants - his conversation with Terry after making the changes was to make sure there was no confusion as to what he wanted which was great to see. To an extent, Arsenal losing Sagna played a part (Wenger said as much and for once I don't think he was being disingenuous), but you have to exploit your opponent's weaknesses for it to count.

Amazed that having exploited one of our most glaring inadequacies for their goal, Arsenal completely failed to capitalise on it. Presumably Wenger has seen countless recent games where we've been exposed by long balls, set pieces etc. and still they tried to thread the ball intricately through our back line. Very odd - Wenger's obsession with the beautiful game looks to be a hindrance when you consider it against games like yesterday. I thought they had grown a bigger pair of cojones this season, but on the evidence of the last 4 or 5 games, they're still a little short when it comes to the kind of streetwise scrapping you need to win a title. Is it just me that thinks that lack any real pace too?

Sadly, the biggest winners of the day were United - I don't think we'll catch them, but a trip to the Bridge is surely not something they would choose at this point in the season. Still, if we can do it against them, there is always the possiblity of a few odd results which might help us along the way. On a (minor) negative note, a performance like yesterday makes some of the idea-free surrenders Avram has served up all the more frustrating.

Tony - great review as always and spot on re Gerrard - the incessant clamour for giving him the England captaincy is ever more ridiculous when viewed in the context of incidents like yesterday. And we know that footballers can be pretty dumb, but Mascherano has to be ranked as thicker than whale shit after yesterday. Rafa claims "passion" which is a poor excuse for abject idiocy.

Great, great win. Gotta be honest and admit that I was convinced our unbeaten home record was over. And that was before the game, never mind when we went a goal down.

I know it's all if's, but's and maybe's, but just think where we'd be if we hadn't conceded those late goals against Everton, Aston Villa, Portsmouth and Tottenham.

Well, eight points better off actually...Whatever, we're still in it eh?

@ hank

LINK

enjoy!

Great review as ever Tony, pretty much sums up everything that was great about the game.

The only slight moan I have was proved when an actual right back came on as a sub. A bizarre decision to start Essien there IMO.

I thought the introduction of Anelka was the real difference, we need him and DD firing if we stand any chance of over-taking ManUSA.

See some bloke from the away team scored two in the Bernabeu last night - do we need him though.........

Great review Tony, spot on in everything you said.

The lads took a while to wake up and i must admit to being more than a little worried during the first half. Arsenal had more ball possession first going off, our passing was bordering on pathetic, we gave the ball away too easily more than once, Ballack had how many shots at goal and didn't score?!
Aarrrrggghhh!! I was screaming my head off in frustration but i've been doing that quite a lot during the last few weeks..

Whether it was the Sagna goal, A.g's (at first baffling) tactical changes, or the stark realisation that continuing to play the way they were could lose us a home match (and the unbeaten record with it) I don't know, but something gave them a good kick up the backside. We were the REAL Chelsea in the 2nd half.

Just hope they continue to keep up their current form in the remaining games of the season..

And yes, agree..credit to Avram. As someone in an earlier review said, if we are quick enough to judge and berate him on his mistakes, then we should be equally as quick to congratulate him on his successes.

@ TONY

Agree to being very appreciative of Didier's physique myself. The guy is in great shape. Not sure if i was salivating as much as you were though...which must be a slight concern for Mrs G?..


Up the Chels xxx

One of your best reviews, Tony. Absolutely brill. I was @ the Bridge it was great to see the Arse-Anal supporters totally shut up after Drogs' double. How many goals has he scored for us against Arse-Anal, the other "Big 4" teams & in Cup Finals, by the way? He's quite simply irreplacable. Although the subs for once by Avram paid off, it also proves that he should have played Belletti at the RB & Essien in the CM from the start. It's a tough call who to play (or drop) in the midfield but I still think in the big matches Maka should play, along with Essien & Lamps and Ballack should come off the bench. Arse-Anal are finished no doubt and will be trophyless again this season (along with Liverpool). We need to play the sort of "boring" football we played in the last 20 minutes of the match which produced 2 goals conceding 0, instead of the "beautiful" attacking stuff where we dropped points against Spurs @ "3 Point Lane" & were 1-0 down in the first 70 mins of last night's match.

Come on you Chels! Drogs- Simply the Best (and no, I'm not ONLY referring to his physique!)

@ Lolli

Mrs g wouldn't shut up about it...even stayed up for MOTD to see it again! I'd have a rival if I wasn't so bloody athletic and handsome myself.....

I'm looking forward to Avrams' video blog

LINK

For me, this result has done 3 things.

1) More time for Toady - His job was hanging on a thread. Now he has sort of 'loaned' more time til the end of this season. It takes off alot of pressure from him and that could in return work in our favour. Dont get me wrong. If we end up trophy-less, he has to go. That brings me to point 2.

2) Will AG now have a bullet proof armour against Tsar's axe? He's going to hang this result by his mouth like he always did with that 9-game winning streak not too long ago. If hope not because i think he sort of got 'lucky' this time. If he was that good, we should have passed the 70 point mark in the table at this moment in time. Please Roman, board of directors and everyone, dont be blinded by this result or get carried away. The moment of truth waits in the final 2 months.

3) We have found our long lost winning mentality. Drogba is back, Essien is back and now we have extra fire power in Anelka. If we keep showing this kind spirit, Moscow shouldnt be too far away. We have fortress Bridge as our backing. No doubt, this victory our Arsenal would do our confidence alot of good going into the run in. Psychologically, we gained a small edge over our rivals that we are still a capable team.

Great report Tony, but I really think you should have mentioned JT's(great match by him I thought) unsportsmanlike behaviour. Eboue put the ball out in advantegoues position, and Terry really turned it to our advantage in a very unsportsmanlike way. Go blues

It was Drogba who saved the day. And he might have a subtle message when he was interviewed after the match: he was trying to say the fans should give 'credit' to the players, in the end he just said 'respect'. I could see our players appeared rather cool on AG when they came off the pitch after such a big win over Arse.

AG's "substitutions" were just desperate corrections for the line up because Anelka should have started and Essien shouldn't have played as a right-back. Also, the home fans too have played a part in our victory.

I would also point out: How dare AG wear a black shirt, black jumper and black jacket on Easter Day? :-)

@ Tom - that's what I call leadership. Besides no-one asked Eboue to put the ball out, that's supposed to be a refereeing decision. Also, as Eboue broke JT's foot without any trail by the press, or action from the FA then maybe JT was being petulant. In which case, good on him again. I'd rather be hated winners than highly regarded losers.

@ Shyam - sorry about the lack of reply to your question. In the Uk the Sunday Mirror is much like all the tabloid papers, in that in prints stories like this by quantity and not quality. On that basis if they publish twenty rubbish stories like this then they might get one or two correct or near the mark. Usually stories like this emanate from the agents themselves or from bored 'journalists' trying to generate a story from rumour or gossip.

So, the answer is it's hit and miss, but my guess is he will stay as he loves playing for us too much and the club will happily hand him a new contract in the quiet period of the summer.

Our best attacking lineup:

------------------------------Cech------------------------

Belletti/Ferreira-----Carvalho-----Terry-----A.Cole/Bridge

J.Cole----------------Essien-----Lampard/Ballack-----Kalou

-------------------------Drogba-----Anelka----------------

Ballack seems like a 60 min player. He can gradually disappear from the the game when he gets tired even though techically he can give us more then Lamps. Lamps on the other hand has an engine that doesnt run out of fuel. I say we start with Ballack and change with Lampard when things do not work. The core and spine of the team should be Cech, JT and Carvalho, J.Cole, Kalou, Drogba and Anelka. The rest can be rotated according to the situation.

@Jose Musumba
I completely agree with you on Gallas point. He definitely deserves it. I am always waiting for him to score an own goal. Ashley had not done a half of what he (Gallas) had done, when Aslhey met TSO and P.C. Ashley gave his year after it to arse-anal even they did stay after him. Gallas has been loved here (at Chelsea) , but he has abused fans and the team.

Tony, Thanks a lot for answering, really appreciate it.
Lamps is such a mystery, and I have read a lot of other readers share the same opinion about him being a no-show at the big games.Of all the players yesterday, he was the only one who was 'missing', of course his 'role' in the first goal was the only thing worth mentioning, and of course, if Drogs wasnt so selfish and passed the ball to him, maybe we all wudnt be saying the same thing.But I definitely think Lamps is kind of the heart of Chelsea Football Club,PRESENTLY/RECENTLY...before I start a riot here!!
And Tony, your articles are amazing!! you should take a bow, they are funny and yet send the message loud and clear.

He was class for us. Determined to win.
He got paid, he won some titles and silverware, he upped his reputation and he was loved by the fans until he started chucking his toys out the pram.

He left throwing up a stink, he went to our london rivals, and he kept up his attacks and jibes.

Does he really deserve respect and appreciation after that?
I'm surprised by the defence he is getting here and elsewhere.

On paper these 4-4-2 lineups look great, but I don't think we're ready to start games like that. The players have been used to solidity in midfield for a long time, so when we do find ourselves short in numbers when defending, we'll have major problems.

And Essien with Lampard in a two....?

Maybe if we stuck at it from the beginning of the season and let them adjust. Right now though, that option looks a little too unstable.

Can you believe what is in the papers today all? Also, the liverpool fans trying to brainwash themselves that Ashley Cole's behaviour is somehow to blame for Mascherano being sent off on Sunday!! If I had'nt read it in various papers and blog's, I'd never had believed how low the media and Liverpool fans in cahouts will sink in their spitefull and venomous attacking of Chelsea! That shows how much it riles Liverpool fC and their fans that they know we are a better team, back to front , left to right than they are for at least five years now and their CL win does'nt disguise the fact they are not good enough and have not been for 28 years to challenge for the league and wont do so under Benitez. So if they get to the final and lose the CL, I'm sure they will spin it was because of us!! I just hope Grant can get his act together in case we meet them in the CL as I am sure we will and if he does nothing else, dumping Liverpool out of the CL will be the 3rd most important act he could deliver to the fans while at his tenure at the Bridge. The first of course is the Title, then CL of course. I might even give him some brownie points...mmmmm then again, maybe he'd have to win the Prem.....!

So where is that DannyGoon character? Bet he's lurking somewhere - shows a distinct lack of class to only show up when your team wins, doesn't it?

AS for the game, cracking stuff and Tony's right - we used the full range of tools needed to win the game. As JD says, Wenger is a numbnut for not taking advantage of our current troubles in the air and at set pieces. He's an amazing manager in so many ways, but he also cuts off his nose to spite his face. Arsenal are spent in the league, but I think they'll rally to do Liverpool in the CL, so we could yet meet again.

I thought Avram got every decision right and hats off to the fella. We have got used to seeing bold substitutions, but that really isn't the norm. Fergie and Wenger normally win matches with their starting XIs, not their second-half changes - but JM was never a normal manager. And now we've got used to bold substitutions, we want to see them all the time. We've got very different expectations to most supporters in that sense.

But Grant showed real balls yesterday - especially after the WHL debacle - and deserved the win. He was right to play Essien at right back, right to take off Ballack (who faded to the point of anonymity) and Maka, and right to start playing more direct as Arsenal's bottle went. (Do you think they ever practice defending aerial balls in training, or won't Arsene let them do anything so base?)

Lampard is currently playing some of the smartest football we've seen from him for a long time. And Droba is the best big-match player in the Premier League.

I was having a look at our current squad on how we can improve it this summer. I shall highlight a few players here for you guys to think about:

David Silva - Left, Right and Central Attacking Midfielder. Just what we need from a player, He has creativity, technique and pace.

Dani Alves/Bosingwa/Lahm/Rafinha - We need a new right back. Its been a bugging problem since last season. Belletti or Ferreira have to make way.

Van Der Vaart/Modric/Diego - A direct replacement for Lampard and Ballack who are past their peak already. Somehow their presense on the pitch is hindering our progress and occasionallu, we can be 1-dimensional because of that. In short, a waste of space. You can use the Henry-Arsenal analogy as reference. One or both of them (Lamps and Ballack) neeed(s) to go.

Aguero - A typical number 10. We have one in the form of Joe King Cole but if Toady is greedy, this kid here can make a huge difference in our attack. I shall label him as optional for now if Drogba stays and forms a frightening partnership with Anelka.

All in all, i think we should play a 4-4-2 and it should look something like this:

-----------------------Cech----------------------

The new RB-----Carvalho-----Terry----------A.Cole

J.Cole-----Essien-----The new playmaker-----Silva

---------------Anelka-----Drogba-----------------


What do you guys think? If we want to play a 4-3-3, just drop a striker and with the quality of central midfielders we have, its not a problem.

@ Ken - whilst I see your points here, for me you're looking at too many foreign players and not looking at young British players. I wouldn't turn down one or two that you mention, but then again I don't think you can dispense with Lampard or Ballack as both are PROVEN world class midfielders. Teams should evolve over time and I'd prefer to see us bring youngsters through the academy system over the next 5 years and replacing the likes of Ballack et al with a mixture of home grown talent like Sinclair, and bought in talent.

When Arsene Wengers Pandemonium Carnival rides into town with its heady mixture of nappy wearing schoolboy tricksters, jesters, clowns and illusionists, it can put on a real treat of circus tricks and slight of hand football. Slick passing, delightful twists and turns, ball juggling, step overs and picture perfect pass and move goals. That's fine when no-one else is on the pitch, but as we suspected when they meet a team of committed battling hard players, the young boys suffer from loose sphincter syndrome and the constant supply of nappies starts to dry up. The reason is simple. Arsene Wenger is a proud man with very definite, but intransigent views on how the game should be played. So he assembles the brightest young things from across Europe, barring the UK, and sets out to prove that circus football can win trophies. However, Sir Rednose of Salford Quays, he of 9 Premiership trophies, 5 FA cups and a Champions League sussed out that what you need is a good blend of foreign artistry and guile mixed with British desire, spirit, guts, determination and refusal to give in. hence his best teams have included the delights of Cantona, Van Nistelrooy, Ronaldo, Tevez, Solskaer and Sheringham, Cole, Rooney, Giggs, Ferdinand, Carrick, Scholes and Beckham. Jose Mourinho saw this as well and copied this model by employing the likes of Carvalho, Robben, Drogba, Essien alongside Joe Cole, Duff, Lamps, Terry, Bridge and Ashley Cole. This potent mixture is what wins things because you get the best of both worlds and each one rubs off on the other. the foreign players get to understand the passion of the English game and the British players become technically more skilful.

Now look at Arsenal......how many UK players do they have? Theo Walcott and Justin Hoyte are the only two I can think of. Yes, they had Ashley Cole and if they'd really wanted to they could have kept him, but Wenger's disdain for the UK player is such that he couldn't accept giving Cole the money he felt he deserved. He plays alongside ours, Liverpools and United contingent for England so it was no surprise he was a bit peeved at earning half the money Lamps, Terry, Stevie Me etc get. Arsene and his board patently have their own strategy but obviously felt that they could afford to lose Cole and replace him with Clichy. I would always question a club prepared to let good British talent just disappear because they don't fit the model of purist football espoused by their manager. Just look at the blossoming talent of David Bentley, a player I would sign for us tomorrow, but whom Arsenal saw as not being good enough for them. Just look at the wasted potential of Francis Jeffers after Wenger had removed all the qualities that made him such a bright English prospect.

Arsenal's problem, as we saw yesterday, and as we may have suspected is the soft underbelly caused by not having that British mentality within the club, the one that's prepared to sacrifice beauty for efficiency, guile for brute force, skill for earned luck, and mercenary cold logic for passion and emotion. Their season is far from over and the CL looks their best bet for honours this year. If we beat Fenerbahce and they get past Liverpool then they will be more dangerous opponents having seemingly lost their chance of the EPL.

Have a look around the Arsenal blogs and you will see patience is wearing thin. Most still back Wenger, but the chorus of discontent is growing louder. Wenger needs to look long and hard at his squad size and his policies. They need another Tony Adams, another Martin Keown, another Kenny Sansom and possibly most of all another Ian Wright. Without players of this ilk I think they may continue to lag behind us and Manchester United, and God help 'em Liverpool.

In fairness to the fans (and I wasn't one of the ones booing Grant - I personally share Tonys views on him and still don't see him as the right man for the job - in the same way I never saw Ranieri as the right man - entertainig as he was - but I won't boo our manager) Gallas is the first player to be booed on his return to SB since..... Le Saux I think... this is going back some way - Chelsea reject!!

I think you have to put it in context - Le Saux threw the shirt on the ground and demanded to leave - and we accepted his return when he came back but he was villified in between time on his return when he was with Blackburn.

Gallas demanded to leave - he is rumoured to have made all sorts of threats to get his way. I booed him I called him a C**T, and I didn't feel it demeand me. I would say he conducted himself with dignity, didn't celebrate their goal and emerged with personal credit -I won't sing the song again but he deserved it.

sorry for the duplicate..

And BTW What a great F******G afternoon.

Its a while since I left the ground completely hoarse.

@ TONY GLOVER

Well i still had JT, Joe King Cole and Love Rat in the spine of our team mixed with fighters like Essien and Drogba which gives us steel and foreign artistry in the form of David Silva and Nicolas Anelka. Doest that fit what you want too?

What i did was simply just replace all of our weak areas (the entire right flank and the playmaking department) with top class replacements. If everything can gel, we should see an improved version of the team compared to what we are watching every week.

I agree that we need to bring through our academy players. Im not against that. But the priority for us now is to win trophies at the highest level in order to build our brand and reputation as an European Super-power. We have one of the best resources in world football. So by making good use of that, we can repair this team into a championship winning side once more and give it a new gloss. After we have tasted a sustained period of success with Silverware, then we can focus more on our academy.

I feel that we should give players like Stoch, Kakuta, Woods and Sinclair a chance. But do it in the lesser competitions. Use that to build up their match experience like what Wanker always does. Slowly integrate them into the first team seamlessly but not at the expense of 3 points every week. There has to be a balance.

But for now, surely we have to buy in the summer eh? 3 to 4 top quality players should do (those that i have mentioned).

Cheers.

Before i sign off for the day, why i mentioned that we need to replace Ballack and Lampard is because of this error of delaying the squad rebuilding process. Look at AC Milan, its the best example. I dont want us to fall into that trap. Players who are past their peak or cannot consistantly contribute much to the team for long periods in a season needs to be replaced. I was abit shocked when Viera left Arsenal but i now i fully understood why Wanker let him go. You can relate it to Lampard and Chelsea. Its the same logic.

I know that i sound abit harsh here but thats just my personal opinion. No offense to anyone. I just feel that to catch Man U, we have to do something to our current first team squad and that something is to replace all of our weak areas with younger top quality world class players foreign or local.

Ken..... But the priority for us now is to win trophies at the highest level in order to build our brand and reputation as an European Super-power.

Any more comments like that Ken, and people will think your nickname is short for "Kenyon"!

I don't disagree with some of your arguments, but I would beg to differ on Ballack and Lampard..... I really do think that given a chance, these 2 will be very useful for us, playing as a pair for the couple of seasons as in my opinion they have started to show a bit lately. Obviously, they are not the next generation due to age, but lets not throw out too much at once.

We already need to clear the squad of at least Sidwell, Malouda, SWP, Sheva, Pizarro and potentially a couple of full backs this summer!

LINK

Looks like those clamouring for Hiddink will be disappointed.

Well that was fun. I have to say I was awfully worried when we went down a goal because we didn't have much of a cutting edge (see the ball over the top to Drogba which sent him through on goal before kindly bouncing of his knee and shin and then to Almunia) until Drogba decided to turn it up to 11. I told a friend of mine today--with a player like him who gets so much media attention (and says some right stupid shit about leaving this club), I'm guilty of falling into the trap of saying "Good riddance." But, hell, is there another player in the world I'd rather watch play? Not many. I love him--not as a footballer, I think I have a crush on him as a man.

I'm sorry...what was I saying? We should learn to defend corners and stop giving up silly fouls around the box. I was/am a little worried about Avram's relapse into playing Essien at right back--we already tried this out of necessity and we all decided he was wasted back there. Hopefully it was a one time thing.

Anyway, enough of the gripes, it was a day to celebrate. 5 points back with United to come to the Bridge. I hope we told the Arse to grab some points at OT as they left the pitch, it would be immense if they could. Let's enjoy the run in.

Oh, and to contribute to the transfer talk, I actually think we're okay on fullbacks. People are too hard on Paulo (who generally performs pretty admirably) and Beletti has provided some huge goals for us this season. The reasons for Dani Alves played out last summer because of our remarkable lack of width in midfield but, thankfully, we've regained some of that under Avram so a super attacking back like him is not as useful as it might once have been. I'm not going to contribute to the Lampard/Ballack debate because I don't have any answers that haven't already been expressed. I hope Wright-Phillips stays on and gets another chance--he's shown that when he's played where he's most comfortable he can be a world-beater and it's a shame that he can't find his way into the side. Same goes for Mikel, for the future we need him to get games. Anyway,

Always blue.

I think Pat Nevin is right

LINK#/page/Homepage/article_1273091

Let's cheer on and support the team for the remaining matches. If it all goes tits up then, after it's all over, is the time to unleash the venom.

@Mark
Yes totally agree, I don't think any of us want us to fail just to see the back of AG. Whatever happens between now and the end of season, it's going to be one hell of a "squeaky bum ride"

PS I just saw your post on the other blog Mark, and yes got back at 9.20pm

@GREENLIGHT

Fine, i get your point. But what about the entire right flank right now? Our right-sided players: Belletti, Ferreira and SWP. We certainly need to improve this area alot eh?

@GREENLIGHT

If im Kenyon, i wouldnt even be bothered to post here and risk myself from getting the sticks from you guys. Im just saying what i see and want the squad to improve its quality to compete with Man U again.

@Clive - that was quick considering the game didn't finish till 6.

@Mark
We don't stop for the 45min break we have on the way up, so providing traffic is good it takes approx three and a half hours, which is long enough :-)

Ken....

Personally, I don't mind Belletti or Ferreira, but they are certainly not perfect. If Ferreira could attack like Belletti or Belletti defend like Ferreira we would be ok for right back.

And as much as I think SWP tries really hard, wants to succeed and certainly never complains, I dont think he will ever be quite good enough to be trully top class, so with regards to the Right Hand side, I think I agree.

Joe Cole - as good as Ronaldo???? Come on now. He's playing well, but he has a long way to go before you can say that.

I think Cudicini has earned the number 1 spot in recent weeks, apart from Barnsley he has been brilliant, Cech hasn't been very good this season... ok ok only from his abnormally high standards but maybe it's time Carlo steps in for a bit!

Great Match great Win i actually enjoyed Pool scum losing more though.... is that right?

Has to be said that it is always amusing watching Liverpool against the Mancs Matt; coarsely put, but they just seem to bend over and take it like bitches every time - Fergie, Gary Neville and co. must love facing them these days.

Good revue Tony,
Only would like to add to the good column
1: 4-4-2 could be deadly for the opponents, absolute domination after changing tactics
2. Anelka & DD could be awesome in that scheme, hope we use it more often

And 2 things I could add to the bad column:

1. Please have someone on the posts on corners
2. The silly chants after Grant made his substitutions. Jeez, the poor “JM supporters” must have felt embarrassed just 2 minutes later! Comes to show how much those guys know about football – as it was, AG proved to know better than them and that is kind of embarrassing. :))

I wish we did, I shudder everytime we play them and on paper there starting 11 is weaker than Man u, Arsenal and us!

I mean Skrtel, Arbeloa? Kuyt? Pants!!

A Scouse in our office says they are going to beat us in CL semi's that's all they look forward too! I hope Arsenal Kill them, in JM's famous words!!

Ohh and what actually was the point of Essien playing right back?

Will I be setting myself up for a serious bashing here from you all if I said, I dont care if we win the EPL, but we should just beat Manure..and Liverpoo(If we meet them in CL)????? we will earn the bragging rights then..right?...I mean, beat them fair and square, a bit of Drogs magic,Joes wizardry,Ballacks solid defence..the very thought is so mind-blowing..

Seems to be unraveling nicely

LINK

Oops - need to add a forward slash / to the end of the URL above

Dear Jiko...

I would say AG is the one who has been embarrassing Chelsea! It was Drogba who rescued the match and saved AG from further embarrassment!

Chelsea players deserved full credit for their determination to win the match for the fans as Drogba indicated in the after-match interview. They have faith in themselves but not the boss. Their body language after the match just showed how little respect they have for AG.

Can't bring myself to hate Gallas as he was a great player for us, but he has some very poor character traits which the move to North London doesn't seem to have remedied. And after Henry, I'm surprised that Wenger didn't pick a more 'solid' captain.

...And with AG's all black dressing style, he must have many funerals to attend after football matches!

He was wearing black as a mark of respect for the imminent death of Arsenal's title challenge, Simon...

"...but he has some very poor character traits which the move to North London doesn’t seem to have remedied..."

Whatever, Gallas must be thinking he's the tough guy in the A-team! ;-)

"He was wearing black as a mark of respect for the imminent death of Arsenal’s title challenge, Simon…"

Yes, JD, hopefully for ManU too! :-)

SIMONT, for me is not Drogba’s credit that Bellety and Anelka came in and make the assists for him.
It is not his credit that with 4 in midfield we dominated the game completely and looked much stronger.
Credit to Drogba, he came fully to live after Anelka came in, as to say :"I love to have a partner up here"
Also I think, saving AG is the last think in DD’s mind. But hey, anyone has on opinion, as we heard during the game. :)
To me I try to be realistic and hope AG learns and starts playing 4-4-2 from now on!

Spot on for those who said 4-4-2 from now on. Grant, if you have ears pls take this piece of advice: 4-4-2 is the winning solution with Anelka and Drogs playing together.

Oh sidetrack, where is Sheva? Not even close to becoming the 4th striker. Poor thing.

Great game, great article. I'm loving this feeling. We won the Arse!!!!!

Great review TG.

As you said I still don't like Avram Grant and still believe he's a snake. But credit where it's due, it turned the game around and won it.

KTBFFH.

P.S. "it turned the game around" was a Froidiant slip!!! :-)

Just say it, Jiko, you love AG. :-)

OMG, Rio Ferdinand has been made England Captain! He's so ugly! I hope it's just for one-off. It's so unfair on John Terry!

Clearly Fabio thinks drug cheating is preferable to haranguing referees

At least it wasn't Gerrard. The England captaincy seems to have done JT (and in turn, us) few favours - this might give him the kick needed to get himself back to being the player he was 2 years ago. Ferdinand's off-pitch record isn't great (let's be honest, most of the England squad, JT included, have a cross or two to bear on that front), but he's been excellent this season.

Capello has said that he will rotate the captaincy during the friendlies which doesn't rule Terry out completely.

Gallas giving his pre-match speech on Sunday:

LINK

Horrible. Look at the faces of his team-mates - not a lot of respect there methinks. More "Who does this joker think he is?"

Simon, did you sing "JM" Sunday? I bet you did! :)))..And - "you don't know what you doing" as well??? It turn out AG knows more than you!!!:))) Anyhow, I did not believe brainwashing could have such lasting effect, but...here we go.
Oh well, it is a matter of choice if someone wants to play "the mole" - blindly digging in the dirt - so be it.

Come on, Jiko, you still don't say it... I - love - Arvam Grant! :-)

SimonT
are you surprised?
capello does not use blue tinted glasses like most of you guys here who have refused to acknowledge the fact that JT is a shadow of the player that he was otherwise how do you explain the defensive lapse that resulted in chelsea conceeding 4 goals againt spurs. Rather than point at the captain"s inadequacies at marshalling his defence a lot of IDIOTS on this blog went on blabbing about it being AGs fault

Cashif
You were quick and vehement in predicting a loss against arsenal, sorry your wish didnt come true

The so-called expert that repeatedly made all the noise about carlo "distributing" the ball through defenders and not hoofing it upfield has still not commented on his false theory so far. I guess its convenient for him not to see Carlo^s u-turn and the counter-comments being made now. Nonesense!

A lot of so-called fans here are not happy when we win cos it negates their evil agenda to push AG out at ALL cost. Imagine all the shit that the likes of Ken, SimonT, Cashif, Fifty, Clive etc posted between the end of the spurs match and the win against arsenal. Utter Rubbish! Perhaps you all are not aware that on the present balance of scale, the only team that can ARGUABLY be said to have faired better than us so far is manure, and that is only because they are on top of us on the league table and the further progress made by chelsea in the CC is taken as nought.

Open the eyes of your mind, a more solid chelsea team is evolving.

Shadow,

Avram Grant has had no impact what so ever on anything with Chelsea. The players play the way they have for the last three years. He will be gone at the end of at the joy of 99% of REAL Chelsea fans on this blog because he is clearly out of depth in a position like Chelsea Manager. He doesn't have the correct Certificates to manange a top flight club anyway. Sure this win has bought some time but the inevitable will happen and as i said before to the joy of everyone.

How a 'fan' can critisie JT is beyond belief. He didn't only come back from a broken foot a few weeks ago maybwe that is a reason he has... ohh wait scored the winner against Sunderland and set one up against Tottenham!! Pretty good for our Defensive Leader. Ok the defense hasn't been solifd on set plays but Tottenham are a massive team when they go up for corners and we clearly don't have the height to deal with such situations at the moment. Sagna scored becasue we didn't have anyone on the post that's it not JT's Fault!

Matt
Stop making lousy excuses, he did not lead his defence well in that spurs match period!

So you would sell John Terry would you?

Is it Jiko's shadow? :-)

Shadow, actually, I'm disgusted at Fabio's decision on the England captaincy.

And please have a good read on JD's excellent article 'Why AG must go'.

@Matt

So you would sell John Terry would you?

In some ways I thought we were better with the Alex / Ricky combo

Yeah see i have read alot of praise for Riccy..

He is very very good but i would go with Alex and Terry. Riccy isn't worth 20 million!! I don't see the stand out displays if i am honest?!

What is that all about anyway?

Carvalho is the vastly superior defender to Terry. I'm sorry but it's true. He's criminally underrated. In my opinion the finest centre-half in the world.

Well Ricky's quick and Alex/Terry are slow, big but have good positional sense.

It's a bit like strawberries and cream. Alex and Terry are 2 portions of strawberries but no cream.

LINK


Incase you guys havent seen this - This is so hilarious! Avram Grant doing his magic against Arsenal!

@Shadow

I agree that the 4 goals shipped in against Spurs, JT was at fault as captain and a central defender. But what most of us were upset about is also the fact that we were 4-3 up and Toady changed the entire shape of the team! He took off Joe King Cole and look what happened? As a top level manager, he has to access the situation well and make a decision. Players dont get sacked for producing bad results. Managers do.

What about the Barnesly game or the CC final where he played Anelka wide left? He could not inspire or motivate the team. I think we have seen enough of Toady to say that he is not good enough for Chelsea.

beautiful three points methinks! lets keep at it. Arsenal has lost all semblance of credibility, they gave away the cup to Manure. and yet to realise how they were fighting tooth n nail to wrench it away from us a season or so away, ohh well, when they won the game they celebrated like they had won the premiership when in fact they had helped Man U win it.

i am not too friendly to Arsenal, cos i think they are whingers, always fawed over by the media of course. but they do not have the bones to win anything...in fact their season might be over in about 3 weeks if they are careful.

Blueeee boys the only way is up comrades!!!!

Plan A - 4-4-2

Plan B - 4-3-3

:-)

"Ok the defense hasn’t been solifd on set plays but Tottenham are a massive team when they go up for corners and we clearly don’t have the height to deal with such situations at the moment. Sagna scored becasue we didn’t have anyone on the post that’s it not JT’s Fault!"

of course, not. it's all avram's fault!!! ;)

(On the England subject) i've just been on a Man Ure site-"Red Rants.com" and apparently, according to that lot on there, old Duck-Bill is the OBVIOUS man for the Captain's job!... apart from maybe Fat Boy Rooney and..ahem...G Neville! Remember that waste of space anyone?!

Funny isn't it how the best choices for the Captaincy were there in red shirts before our very eyes and all of us failed to notice! How ignorant we all are!

There argument for the cause is that..and i quote one d***head as saying; "At least he doesn''t show himself up being piss- drunk in a nightclub for all the world to see". Of course he doesn't, Rio likes to go one better and arrange no-girlfriends/wives allowed parties, where the guys all get together for a jolly good drinking and rape session! Maybe a spot of hotel trashing to finish the night off! NOT just the one time it's happened either!

"He's a man of respect" they say, on and OFF the pitch! God help us all if that's respect!

Suppose it's to be expected that Tommy Cooper (Cappello) would give the armband to one of the Man Ure brigade, seeing as he seems to spend most of his time at their place watching them play.

I predict Owen Hargreaves to be Captain next time...ANYONE as long as it's not a Chelsea boy!!!

Rant over guys..sorry for going off the subject slightly!..

I sometimes wonder whether a few of the 'posters' on the blog know anything about football at all.....

Firstly, we looked great when the team changed to 4-4-2 for the last 20 minutes. Avram deserves a lot of credit.

However, I can assure those with new found blind faith in Avram's ability that had we started with the 4-4-2 formation Belletti would have been torn apart on the right flank as he is not strong enough at defending. He is a great attacking wing back, but not a hard tackling defender.

The team needs not just:

Plan A 4-4-3 and
Plan B 4-4-2

but Plans C,D, and E as well, in the way that we used to under JM. Our versatility was the key to our success in the last few years and we will be successful again if we can use the players in the squad in a flexible way to get the most out of them.

Shadow!!!

At last a voice of reason

I don't "love " AG, but I love my team - and in my humble opinion he is doing a pretty good job. i think he's made mistakes - but he also learns pretty fast. He isn't charismatic and goodlooking like Jose - but Jose covered up a lot of sh** with his looks and big mouth. I never wanted rid of Jose - but we got AG now and so far he has done a lot better than i ever imagined back in September. Stop trying to bend the facts to suit your theories.
i read JD's article about why AG should go - really clever and well writen but just one opinion - and not mine.

Whatever .. let's leave the whinging to Arsebal and let's get on with it!!

Greenlight - i know as much about footbal as you do - it's all opinions at the end of the day

@Greenlight

Whether its 3-4-3 or 4-3-3, at the end of the day, its the manager's job to decide on how we set our stall out. Agree with you that tactical flexibility is our strength due to the players we have. We have more options compared to Arsenal.

For me, Plan A and B should be 4-4-2 and 4-3-3. When the going gets tough, we can tweak the formation alittle more and make it into a Plan C, even if it means to have 4 strikers upfront.

@Lollipop

Personally, im not english so i do not give a damn on who is England's captain. It could be a blessing in disguise if Terry doesnt even start. He has been so prone to injury in recent seasons and i will be happy if he doesnt feature.

Psychologically, i hope Terry can turn disappoinment into motivation and work even harder for us to prove that he is not a shadow of his past. Thats best outcome i hope for.

@ Lolli

'There argument for the cause is that..and i quote one d***head as saying; “At least he doesn”t show himself up being piss- drunk in a nightclub for all the world to see”. Of course he doesn’t, Rio likes to go one better and arrange no-girlfriends/wives allowed parties, where the guys all get together for a jolly good drinking and rape session! Maybe a spot of hotel trashing to finish the night off! NOT just the one time it’s happened either!

“He’s a man of respect” they say, on and OFF the pitch! God help us all if that’s respect!'

Presumably the pressure of arranging these parties is also the reason he conveniently forgets to take his drug tests...not that he's a cheat or anything...no...never crossed my mind.

As for Tommy Cooper...well I think he's more like Ricky Gervais's fictional character in Extras, Andy Millman, whose own fictional character, factory manager Ray Stokes features in the fictional sitcom 'When the Whistle Blows'...Are you havin' a laff...is he havin' a laff.

Or something like that!

Do men of that age really still have dark hair?

@ KEN

Personally, im not english so i do not give a damn on who is England’s captain. It could be a blessing in disguise if Terry doesnt even start. He has been so prone to injury in recent seasons and i will be happy if he doesnt feature.

I AM English and care very much about who the Captain is. Duck-Bill is by far the worst possible choice to wear the armband. It's an insult. Yes, J.T has had his share of injuries this season but is slowly getting back to full fitness. Personally, IMO, he should always be in a starting XI if fit or thereabouts..and yes, he should be Captain. No-one else could do the job better...or am i just biased? I doubt it..

@ TONY

Calling Duck-Bill a cheat?! No...never!!!
As for Tommy's hair colour..nah...it can't be real...can it? I'm not qualified to answer that question as i'm neither a male OR anywhere near his age.
How old is he anyways? He looks 1 year older than God!!

A lot of so-called fans here are not happy when we win cos it negates their evil agenda to push AG out at ALL cost. Imagine all the shit that the likes of Ken, SimonT, Cashif, Fifty, Clive etc

As opposed to the shit that you write Shadow!!!

There is a very big difference between having a (sometimes strongly expressed) opinion and having an agenda. If Grant delivers, I'll back him and if he doesn't, I won't. Can't put it any simpler than that. Thus far, in my opinion, his cock-ups have greatly outnumbered the times when he's got it right. And a very serious point that I've made before is that teams this strong don't disappear overnight; certainly not to suggest that Grant isn't playing his part and that it is all Mourinho's work, but the line between being a top 4 side and genuine contenders is pretty fine and if you slip below it, it takes an awfully long time to claw your way back. That's what we need to be wary of.

Although to be fair I don't think AG is having any more cock-ups than some other manager. Take Paul Jewell for instance ...

You're right JD, but what I dislike is the assumption that I, or others want the team to fail just to see the back of AG. We still have that winning residual mentality from JM's team running through the side no doubt, but once it's gone as you said it will be difficult to get back. That mentality and experience is paramount to any side wanting to win the league, you only have to look at "Wengers babes" to see how they've lost their bottle from the Birmingham game onwards.

Although to be fair I don’t think AG is having any more cock-ups than some other manager. Take Paul Jewell for instance …

Does it mean that Paul Jewell has taken the term of going down to a whole new level.

Take Paul Jewell for instance …

to the nearest clinic, on the evidence I've seen thus far!

Clive..You’re right JD, but what I dislike is the assumption that I, or others want the team to fail just to see the back of AG.

Absolutely right Clive.... If AG manages to pull the right strings with his team selections and substitutions week in week out, he will get all the support in the world from me. Bottom line is, to this point he hasn't managed to do that.

And the argument about getting more right than wrong is total nonsense. We have reached a level where we need to win competitions every year, not come close and win fuck all...Leave that to Arsenal.

If AG is doing a proper job, why are the so called 'Chelsea fans' unhappy? Its obvious and evident that he hasnt been up to the job! Simple as that. Its not that he dint had his chances to make up for his own errors. Kalou's offside goal against Newcastle was a fine example of his luck.

IMO he got away with a decent enough draw against Barnesly and Fernabache! What more with Man U loosing at OT to Pompey, a rare sight! Then we went 3-1 up, defenders screwing around, got a kick on the backside and Joe King Cole springs into life and almost won us the game. His reward: Being substituted. In the end, the replacements disrupted the team balance and team shape. And there is this 'small' issue of motivation and inspiring players in the CC final. I dont want to go on and on.

If its not evident enough, we shall wait and see where we end up this season. Dont get me wrong, i still want Chelsea to win every game.

Rio.... A Role Model, seriously....

Hope he doesn't have to dish out any half-time 'Roastings' to his troops!

SHADOW

All I can say is you are either very deluded in thinking Avram Grabt will be the one to oversee the 'evolution' of this team, or that you have an agenda of your own.

What we saw on Sunday was Grant getting a couple of lucky breaks and the determination of a team - and some individuals in particular who did not want to lose their colossal home record.

Am I wrong to not feel confident of us winning titles and trophies when evidently, the players themselves have been lacking belief?

"It was an important win because it gives us the strength and the belief that we can still be champions,"
That was Drogba after the game. And he cant be the only one to have been feeling that way

It was heading for a defeat until Grant was driven out of pure desperation to make those changes.

Avram Grant to take us forward?
Get real, mate.

And for the record, I've been walking around like one big ray of sunshine since that win. Course I don't want Chelsea to lose. But I do, along with the majority of Chelsea fans, want to see AG go.

Any sensible fan knows deep down Avram Grant will not win trophies and titles with the regularity that Jose did, if he wins any at all.
If we are to progress, there is nothing to suggest this man is the person to help us do that

WHAT HAS HE DONE to deserve this job?
That is what gets me. Why out of all the managers available is Avram Bloody Grant manager of Chelsea FC?

Just a small site suggestion from a regular lurker on this great blog.

Whether or not the layout is changed to put newer posts first, I think it would make a lot of sense if each post were numbered. This would save having to carefully re-find the last post you read when checking back the next day....

Any thoughts?

Aren't we all getting a little bit carried away about the England captain ??

Sure I wish it was JT, but after the fiasco a few years ago when Phil Chuckle ended up with the arm-band (admittedly under Sven) it's all a bit pointless.

It's not as if whoever's captain has to do anything, other than guess heads or tails, and swap pendants before kick-off.

There'll be no trophies for an England captain to worry about lifting...............

Well, what can we Chelsea fans say now?
We can't really keep on with Grant's dashings, although, if you think about it, that might just be a good tactic for motivating him to get us these marvelous victories.

Kian - I'd imagine Nick has seen your comment re numbering posts; we'll take a look into it.

still looks much in the balance, doesnt it?

Manure
A Villa H
Mbrough A
Arsenal H
Bl'burn A
Chelsea A
W Ham H
Wigan A

Chelsea
Middlesbrough H
Man City A
Wigan H
Everton A
Man Utd H
Newcastle A
Bolton H

Arsenal
Bolton A
Liverpool H
Man Utd A
Reading H
Derby A
Everton H
Sund'land A

Kian - Good idea. I'll look into it when I have a bit more time. I'm also looking at ways of highlighting comments made since a reader's last visit, but can't promise anything.

I can see it! Super Frank is going to score away at Bolton on the last day of the season infront of Chelsea to win the league, it happened both times we won it under JM!!!!!

Actually No because we are at home.... Ignore the away bit but still it is a sign!!!!!

@TG

Enjoyed the report TG and the subsequent frank exchange of views by one and all. Having allowed time for the serious issues to be debated I thought I would pick up on the OMEN you mentioned. This bracelet must be infused with strong medicine is all I can say, as the tale I am about to relate will demonstrate.

You may wish to refresh your memory by looking at what I posted following the Barnsley debacle (10th March 4.15 pm).

At about 3.15 on Sunday, the family and various relatives, having enjoyed an Easter lunch washed down with a very serviceable Croze Hermitage and following a frenetic egg hunt, it was decided that a little television would calm the kidddies and allow the elder members to doze off.

There followed one of those moments where the world seems to rock slightly, where you think you saw a strange looking figure out of the corner of your eye or something appears to scuttle across the floor. You feel you have broken through the fabric of the everyday and touched another dimension.

Yes, head back, earpiece in, listening to the witterings on Northern Professional Club radio, I reeled as Channel 5, to the cheers of the assembled munchkins, announced the start of the Wizard of OZ. My sense of displacement was not helped by the realization that it would overlap with the game. My deepening sense of gloom deepened in a very gloom deepening way.

And yet..... and yet.... as the minutes ticked by it remained 0-0. The film ended and it was still 0-0. I was mystified and at a loss to explain how this could be.

Then disaster, someone who hadn't scored for the arse heads the ball in, shades of Barnsley where yer man hadn't netted for months. Ah! the spell was not broken by the film ending.....

Or was it. Lordy if we didn't win 2-1 (cue - ding dong the witch is dead, the wicked witch is dead..)

It has to be the bracelet you see (or do you possess a pair of red glass slippers?)

Hmmmmm...

The silence here is quite deafening...the posts are drying up and coming few and far in between, especially from the recent gang of regulars...

Perhaps AG should lose the next match so that there'll be 'life' again on this blog...cos how does one explain this quiet after we'v won a match (against a major rival) thats thrown us to 2nd position on the log?

Anyway, consolation for me is that i wont get to hear that lame phrase that AG has not won any 'BIG MATCH'...but again, who knows?...these guys may decide to 'reclassify' the match against the gooners...

Another 3 points this weekend, while hoping that villa shares or takes the spoils too...

Always Blue!

Disingenuous as always Alex; having moderated this blog for some time now, I can tell you that 120 odd comments is hardly 'quiet'.

If it makes you happy Alex I'll reclassify the game for you. If we couldn't beat the Arse in their current state, of poor form and lacking confidence, then AG isn't good enough to take charge of a Championship side. There you are hope you feel better especially as this makes it post number 123... hardly quiet by anyones standards.

>JD
Turn to the next page man....i'll meet you there...didnt know the 'train' had moved on...

I like Toadie and find him very funny at times but there is noway...... absolutly no way anyone can say he is good enough to manage Chelsea Football Club. Ive said it on here before let's Bring Back Vialli with Zola and Clarke as the right hand men!!

The evidence are there for us to see. His results, the league tables and the number of competitions we are in now do not lie. Its not rocket science that Toady is not good enough for Chelsea. I dont dislike him, but i think that we need a better manager then him to take us forward. We need progression and evolve into an even better team to challange Man U. Man U were in a similar situation to us a few years back. But they came out of their transition phase and look where they are now? We are in a similar state. Not too far behind, but changes have to be made.

@ Blue Bayou

'Tis very strange indeed. I am studying Philosophy of the Mind and so I know there is no logic in 'omens' or superstitions, but also that the depths of the mind are very much an unknown and undiscovered country. I find myself drawn to the Dawkins view of the world with each passing day, and yet.......I was upset about losing the bracelet, partly with myself for being so dopey and not taking it off when it was obvious the cuffs were causing issues with it, but also because I just couldn't find it when I knew it couldn't have gone far. The cursory glance that lead to it's rediscovery was one of those bizarre 'Dorothy' moments when you wonder if it it really is there, and whether it had really ever been lost. At that point I really did wonder whether life was all cold logic. The Arsenal game was another 'Dorothy' moment with me actually wondering during the last seconds whether I would suddenly wake up and realise it was match day morning.

Thank God (a false construct of zealots used in order to control and repress people by their own ill-educated moral standards) it was all true. My blood pressure could barely have taken a repeat of that tension.

>Clive
I suspected you'd rise to the bait, seeing as predicatble as you are

>Matt
Yeah, Vialli and Zola....so that we can repeat the newcastle/shearer experiment with chelsea eh?...try again

@ FIFTY

It’s not as if whoever’s captain has to do anything, other than guess heads or tails, and swap pendants before kick-off.

There’ll be no trophies for an England captain to worry about lifting……………

It's the Captain's job to motivate, inspire and lead. If you need any more evidence of how J.T is a great choice for Captain, you only have to take another look at the E.T team talk that he did in the C.C Final. Wearing the armband is much, much more than swapping pendants and flipping a coin! It's a matter of pride.

Fair enough, we're out of the euro's but if Tommy gets this current and IMO great team performing to the best of their ability, then i believe we'll go on to qualify for the 2010 world cup, maybe even get close to winning. The team we have is more than capable of achieving greatness. I love Chelsea and i love England very much. I feel proud every time they walk onto a pitch. So please, don't mock them..give them more credit...

I suspected you’d rise to the bait, seeing as predicatble as you are

Alex the words pot, kettle, and black spring to mind. You've just confirmed in that one sentence that you're just being attention seeking and controversial for the sake of it. Your advocacy of Grant is admirable, and I don't deny it's your opinion to which you are entitled, but if your sole aim is to attempt to goad people into a response then it's somewhat immature.

I only got to watch the game yesterday (recorded it while I was away). What struck me was how dominant we were. Does anyone have the time of possession for the whole game? I expected to find -- after reading about the game -- that it was close, but it really wasn't. The scoreline doesn't reflect the fact that for large periods of time we controlled the ball. Did Cudicini even have to stretch for a save (apart from the goal)? Arsenal had a few nice linking plays around the edge of the area, but the great majority of the pressure came from us. If this impression is right, then all we need is: 1) defend set-pieces; 2) find a way to score off more of the possession that we get. I felt a lot better about the team after watching this game, and not just because we won.

>Clive
Dear me....you'r missing the point again

My opinions have been expressed time and again, and you know them...

In my post 121 above, the issue of persons trying to declassify our win against the gooners (from the realms of BIG-WIN matches) was the bait for the very very opinionated, hard core, die-hard "AG-must-go" acolytes...and you obliged

Alex
I'm glad I've obliged!

And just to add again your line of.... "was the bait for the very very opinionated, hard core, die-hard “AG-must-go” acolytes…and you obliged".

I'll repeat, if your so