Premier League: Chelsea 2 - 1 Newcastle United

Will anyone accept Pizzaro rght now? As a free loan maybe? Surely Derby could use a striker. He is just in the way at this point, ask Essien. It seems that Sinclair could do just as well at this point. The supporters were right today, Grant does not know what he is doing.

I just wanna say that it was a poor performance by Chelsea. The second half display from the home side was a shocker. But.... with so many key players out injured, I guess it's understandable. I'm actually glad that finally I got to see that Chelsea crowd can be vocal too. Did I hear Jose Mourinho name was also chanted during the game?
Yes, we were lucky with the second goal. But hey, we deserved to be lucky once in a while. We had been very hard done by a few times this season. That second goal would made up for the perfectly good goal by Kalou that was disallowed against Blackburn earlier this season. We won and that's all that matters. Hope we can improve in the next game.

Wow.... what a year it has been. So many things had happened at our beloved club. I personally did not really enjoy 2007 as much as the other years before. The biggest higlight for me was when Chelsea created history by becoming the first club to win the FA Cup at the new Wembley. I cried when Didier Drogba scored that goal. It had been a tough year for us. To see one by one our player get injured and people just having fun making stories about our club. My saddest memory of 2007 is definitely when Jose Mourinho left the club. Yea, yea, yea, I know a lot of you would wanna throw up when I say this. But hey, I love that guy. For me, he is the best manager in the world and definitely the best manager this club ever had. Jose, thank you for being our manager and all the success that you had brought to this club. Thank you for everything.

Ok everybody, I wanna wish all of you 'Have a happy and wonderful new year'. May 2008 will be a better year for our club. May we win the first game of 2008 against Fulham next week.
Happy New Year!!!!!

Happy New Year,
To all Chelsea lovers!!!!

Is the tide turning against Grant? Are you kidding – the tide has been against Grant from day one, yesterday it just quickened pace.

For many Saint Jose disciples the good results achieved under Grant has been an inconvenience, limiting the opportunities for a good rant and instead constricting the abuse to jibes about his clothing being too black or his weight, dull face and lack of Portuguese wit.

Don’t forget that under Saint Jose Joe Cole hardly got a look in this season and I’m sure by now Saint Jose would have dropped him. I thought Joey was poor, continually trying to beat the defender on the half way line and losing the ball thereby putting our defence back under pressure.

We needed a goal so it seems logical to bring on a striker. The fact we’ve only got one striker left in the cupboard who has similar powers to Kesman is the fault of whom? Yes that’s right, our beloved Saint Jose.

Still whilst our fans are busy moralising the rights and wrongs of Englands fans treatment of our English boys, particularly Frank, it’s interesting to see them step down temporarily from the moral high ground to give Avram and Pisarro a good kicking.

We’re running pretty much on empty at the moment, with the suspensions and injuries. If we can get a result at Fulham then refill the tank in the transfer window who knows how this season will turn out. I’ll be at the Cottage supporting the team to help them overcome this hurdle but if you think you can enhance our chances by getting on their backs jeering and booing then maybe you should have traveled back with the Newcastle fans where that mode of behaviour has become a way of life.

Mark - I was there as well yesterday - you're entitled to your view but the substitutions were bizarre to say the least. Pizzaro may be our last striker but he's a real duffer and yet again yesterday he showed his ineptitude. I was one of those who chanted aginst Grant and it isn't me jumping off a moral high ground to give people a kicking, it's merely me and it has to be said many others, voicing an opinion like I would do with any other manager, including Jose.

Yesterdays second half was shambolic at times and the cure was most definitley not Pizzaro.

My player ratings as follows

Hilario - 7/10 - had very little to do but did it very well. One thing I like about him and Carlo, as opposed to cech is they like to throw the ball back into play rather than mindlessly hoofing up the park as is Cech's preferred distribution method.

Belletti - 8/10 - fabulous right back who continues to make me eat my start of season words.

Alex - 6/10 - Solid and dependable but needs to take more control at the back and panic less.

Ben Haim - 6/10 - did very little wrong except for the odd tendency to try something flash when a row Z clearance would be the better option. Panicked when Newcastle attached us but so did the defence as a whole.

Bridge - 6/10 - An OK game, an own goal which was avoidable if he could have found his feet, but to be fair the defence was in utter disarray for the equaliser. Based on recent showings he is not as good as Ashley Cole at the moment.

Essien - 7/10 - looks a bit leggy but this was an improvement on previous games. Is he now banned for a game? Took his goal well and we're far better with him than without him.

Ballack - 8/10 - like Nick I think he showed his true colours again yesterday and I can only assume it was a fitness issue that got him taken off. Should have scored.

Obi -5/10 - his worst game for a while with a lot of poor passing and unforced erros. A blip one can only think.

SWP - 8/10 - his best game for some time and a close contender for my MOTM. If he was two inches taller he might have scored for two heading chances he got.

Cole - 6/10 - a lot of running again but with little end result. If he's going to take corners then he should at least beat the first man.

Kalou - 5/10 - I criticised him heavily last time and someone came back at me to say he isn't really a winger but a striker. Well, they're wrong. He's neither at the moment. In fact it's hard to call him a footballer. Despite his "goal" which to his credit he still stuck away despite possibly knowing he was a mile offside.

Pizzaro - 1/10 - Dross. Pathetic.Useless. So bad he makes me want Robert Fleck or Chris Sutton back.

Sinclair - 7/10 - despite the hostile reaction of the crowd to him coming on for Ballack he did well, showed some good skills and should be looking to cement a more regular place.

I still welcome the result under trying circumstances, but still believe this came through luck and not judgement.

Mark you can not be more right than what you have stated.

Avram true came in under very suspicious conditions but hey we are here not because of Jose Mourinho, Abramovich or who ever..we are here because of chelsea...

This season I have been shocked to hear some chelsea fans say the had wanted us to lose because of Avram being at the helms... I do not fancy his tactical acumen maybe because I was spoilt with Jose's tactical acumen...few coaches would measure up...even Sir Ferguson and Mr. Whinger Wenger failed to measure up to this coach...but he had an ego not loved by his employers as good as you maybe there will only be one Lion in a den and so he had to go...

We have Avram and through thick and thin till he leaves am going to support him, the players, and the club. But in all this I will have the club at heart ALWAYS!!!

I am happy that Ballack has finally began showing what the midfield is meant to be like. I hope we can get Arteta from Everton...I love this boys vision link up play and with him in our team then we would be able to see how good Shevchenko can be...

We have been written off and brought back into contention too often and this am sure is going to go on for some time...I am sure some people are going to be shamed very soon...

In 2008, I am praying for the following...

1. We sell Frank Lampard, Pizzaro, Tal Ben Haim, Sidwell, Makelele, Malouda...
2. We Buy Arteta(Everton), Anelka(Bolton), Richards (Man City), Yaya Toure (Barcelona if wishes were horses),David Villa (Valencia),Drenthe (Real madrid)

Happy New Year!!!!

Chelsea forever...

That'll do nicely; not the best performance overall but given that our treatment room looks like a scene from MASH at present, even the hardest heart can't begrudge us a little bit of luck (although maybe the officials in question might struggle when they're kicking their heels at home next week).

Think we deserved the win; Fat Sam can moan all he likes about the offside decision, but he has to face facts - Newcastle are bloody awful and the fact his managerial stock is plummeting seems to concern him as much as his team's position. If you can't muster more than two shots on target against a very depleted Chelsea with a team containing (at one time or another) Smith, Viduka, Duff, Owen, Milner, N'Zogbia and Martins, you really deserve everything you get, P45 included.

Ballack's substitution seemed obvious really; guy clearly isn't 100% fit and needs time (but did very well in the circumstances). Pizarro just has Jokanovic syndrome now - wouldn't matter what he did (and he has been awful), he's damned in a Chelsea shirt.

Fulham on NYD should be interesting; new manager syndrome (if such a thing really exists) and all that.

Interesting to note the bores on here assuming that those who don't particularly like Grant automatically want Chelsea to lose; yet another manifestation of the ever-tiresome "I really support Chelsea more than anyone else" self-justification.

I think Mark is right in the sense its no fault of Avram that Pizzaro is in our team, its Jose who bought him.
Even I was zapped to see the wierd substitution Avram made.. but he has clarified it later :

"I made substitutions because after the goal we didn't play well, Joe Cole had some problems, and Ballack hasn't played so much so he cannot do 90 minutes in our programme."
'Because of the problem I preferred to change the system, and changed to 4-2-4 and I think it changed the game, so it was a good sub. You need to think about tactics more carefully than before,' he continued.


I am sure if Drogba,Malouda,Sheva are fit to play, pizzaro won't be there in the picture...

What another example of "sexy" attacking, fluid, "intelligent" style of football that the "exceptional" AG is implementing.
His style of football goes with his sense of fashion. Lets see if AG now comes in the press and says that the reason Chelsea is only 4 points behind MU is because of the mistakes of referees, what a plonker.Anyway it comes rto my mind that "where ignorance resides stupidity rules", and AV is the personified example of such saying goign by his substitutions.
Anyway I am so furious with the decision of the Chelsea board that i better leave it.
My group of friends and supporters are thinking of taking a huge banner with "bring the JM back" at the Cottage.
My prediction for that game is a victory for Fulham, however bad it hurst me.
A Happy 2008 to all chelsea supporters. It is going to be a hard year guys and lets hope that RA sells the club to the Dubai consortium maybe they will employ a manager that can carry on the work of JM and bring more titles to the club.
Poor AG

@Jonathan
if you are referring to my writeup in your reference, please read it through carefully lest it is the guilty are afraid aspect expressed in your response...

oh by the way Happy New year to you!

Happy New Year to you also Jose; here's hoping you continue to be the club's biggest fan in 2008 and beyond...

What a charade this the owner of Chelsea has brought with his vanity and stubborness.
can't he see that AG is just useless, I watch his comments in the SKY and he has the audacity to say played well and his decisions were goog for the game, unbelievable, and what about SC and TC don't they have a say in the substitutions?
@Ganesh the only reason that Pizarro was brought in by JM , was because as a free transfer he was the only free transfer attacker at the time with the best CV and experience, but I am very sure that under JM he would be quite useful and maybe more motivated.
It is very very sad to see a team used to win consistently and used to put the fear in any team that played against us, performing as the moment.
When I listen to AG comments i can not help but think that his comments are addressed to the owner, because his opinion no longer wash with the fans, he must be the laughing stock of the premiership managers.
can't Cheslsea board send Avran to evening lessons so he can take his FIFA qualifications and learn about tactics, amnd at the same time learn a little about English grammar it would help.
I have to agree with Marco's comments, spot on.

@Mark
for many saint JM disciples the good results under AG were not inconvinient at all, after all it was still the same team and they still had the winning abit that JM installed in the players. Under JM Joe Cole were not used as often because his life style outside the club,and JM as a disciplinarian that he is, would not tolerate, not because he is not a good player.
Was not December 2006 that RA refused to buy new players when the injuries in the team were the same as it is now?, and why now RA is prepared to open his cheque book and buy?? simple, RA wants to be seen that he is behind the "clown" he put in charge of the team, yes it is a "circus" and you only should mix with a few chelsea players, befriend them and listen to what they say, after all they still go to discos where you can meet them, just watch them when you ask about AV,amazing expressions and body language.
Anyway lets hope that Marco is right about the Dubai consortium interest in buying Chelsea, so RA and his "puppets" can go as well, and chelsea returns to what it was under JM.
Otherwise I can see Chelsea become a synagogue, lol.
Happy new year to you all
CHELSEA 4EVA

What are the chances of luring one mr. cahill down to the bridge...

besides popping up with useful goals (world cup anyone!?!?), i reckon he would be a good influence on the team, plus he has the australian winning mentality...

As far as i can recall, no one has ever really put his name forward for chelsea.. what do the punters think about that?

No disagreement here Dylbo; good player (quite Lampard-esque in many ways). And a Happy New Year to you of course...!

Yeah a good player lets hope they buy winners.
I would like to see:

Pepe (Real Madrid)
Quaresma (Porto)
Veloso (Sporting)
David Villa (Valencia)
and Drogba to stay in the club.
I fear for the exodus the coming summer.
Happy New Year

cheers mr. dyer, same to you.

seeing as though we're 10.5 hours ahead in these parts, i'll let you know if the new year is worth it, what with my insight and all.

all the best.

KTBFFH

As far as concerned, Avram thinks by replacing JCole and Ballack with prematured strikers like Pizarro and Sinclair, for example, might create the "not-so-promising" "sexy" football as of what he stated when stepping in as the manager.

Oops. Salomon was obviously still awful, even though to pick up a yard offside before he strikes in a decisive goal. Well, that's what he can do. Mikel was solid, but was freaky when dealing with the equalising goal.

Bad that Avram can do nothing about the team's performance, of course it's not HIS problem, look at the injury list. Awfully long and unstoppable.

Hilario, is he good enough to play 3-4 more matches in a row?

Some guys here wont cease to amaze me...Here's a manager chasing a home game he needs to win, with 2 of his players obviously losing their legs due to their fitness levels and exertions, against a team that was falling into the defence mode...was he supposed to send one of his central defenders forward as a striker (like his predecessor had done a few times before him)...or gamble with fresh attacking legs from the bench?

He was BOLD enough to make his own decision...somethng every manager must do at some time whether or not it pleases the fans (some of whom in the chelsea fold had forgotten that JM once introduced JC as a sub and substituted him in the same match)...

I said it before and will say it again...now is not the time to properly assess and criticise AG...wait till after the January transfer window when he would have played his hands, then we can all conclusively form our opinions on the man.

When JM was struggling with draws this same time last season, the excuse was injuries to the core of the team...the issue of injuries/suspension is even worse now with AG, yet most of us refuse to assess both managers by this same standard...

@Jose...i'd like to add bridge to the players to be sold, if he wont stop encouraging wingers to come at him. Like Cole, he does this by backpedalling each time wingers come at him, until he gets to the by-line or edge of his box...he shouldnt be tackle-shy, and should be a little more confident holding the ball, which he presently isnt...

When i look at the table and notice that manure and the goners are just 4 and 6 points ahead of us without the magnitude of misfortune of injuries / suspensions we have, i believe that we'r not fairing badly...

@ Marco, you make it sound like AG has lost out on ALL chances of winning us trophies when you talk about 'getting us a manager that will win us more titles'...We'r still in with a shout on all possible 4, as we were from the beginning of the season in case you'v no noticed...And you'r predicting a win for fulham thats been struggling all these while???...sounds more like a wish...

Most of us still look forward to another 3 points on new year's day..as a good way to start the year...

Happy and prosperous 2008 to all fans of the beautiful game, but most especially, to those of the 'true blue' inclination...

Always Blue!

Brilliant plan Marco but I suspect even if you parade your duvet cover for 2000 years you won't see the second coming of Saint Jose.

Not sure why you want Dubai money instead of Romans'. Out of all the overseas investors I think RA is the best. All the others are in it to make money; RA is just in for success with style. Surely we should all be embracing that? If Avram can't deliver RA will get someone else, probably with a smoother transition that TSO's departure. You seem to forget it was RA that paid for Saint Jose for you and if he needs to hire another he will. RA is not stupid.

@Jose and @Mark,
Avram has tricked his place into the Chelsea ranks and as one who did it he MUST deliver more than Jose. Gant has spilt lot of dirt and shadows on Jose and his football style. However so far he failed to win Man Utd and Arsenal. Without winnig these teams you can not be champion!!! He talks about new football style, but has not got ability to manage one simple game and hold advantage!!! We are not vicious my friends, but for SOMEONE WHO ADVERTISED HIMSELF as VERY GOOD manager he is not performing!!!! He is intriguer as he was all the time, cheated his place as manager and now simply can not deliver!!!!!!!!!!!!
Happy new year!!!
I am really disappointed that you guys do not see it.

@Mark,
One more point Jose has made J.Cole player!!! You must be either stupid or more stupid not to acknowledge it.

@alex (aka AG???)
When I predicted that fulham may beat on NYD, was/is not a wish it is just a feeling, usually with new managers players give their extra mile, and coming back from a well deserved draw, things can happen. Nope not a wish at all, after all i am blue thru and thru, what i can not see is chelsea dominating other teams at the present moment, i do not see the motivation and the will to win as i used to see under JM.Yes he was BOLD enough to do those substitutions, they always seem to be BOLD , lol.but BOLDNESS is mor of a gambler than of thinking man. Alex pls i have nothing against AG, and good luck to him even if he gets the P45 he will be all right, he would have never earned as much money as he earns now, at least in the position he is in, it was a God send. Yes JM sometimes used to encourage central defenders to go and attack the oposition defences, just ask JT and ricardo Carvalho, or better check how many goals they scored the seasons before.What really annoys me is the fact that last season JM was in the same predictment that AG is now and RA never come to his rescue, this tells me that RA is in Chelsea for his own interest and not the CFC interest,and i quite agree with Anon, ne must back his "clown", thats all.Regarding that game that JM introduced JC and then replaced him again , I remeber it vividly, but JC was coming from an injury and could not integrate the rythme of the game then, a bit like ballack now, yes he was tired but it is with full 90 minutes that you give players the stamina necessary to get the rythm of games. Last year around this time we were chasing the title too, and with worst games to come,had RA given the money to buy players then maybe now chelsea would be going for the quadruple title , but RA knew it would be harder to get rid of JM, he had it all planned you do not get a guy like AG as a football director to a club like chelsea, would love to see that hapenning with MU or arsenal or for that matter Liverpool.
Well enough said, but alex I aggree with 90% said and written in this blog about AG, unfortunetely the man lacks talent.
The wrong man in the right place, with players of the calibre of chelsea ones you always risk to be in the 1st 4 places of the premiership, and do not forget good professionals do not like to lose matches, hence the reason they sometimes win games, without the need of managers.
I also always blue and a true supporter of CFC.
Prosperous new year

@Mark
yes Mark I agree with you RA is not stupid, not stupid at all he wouldn't be where he is if he was one. Regarding the overseas investors in the PL I don't agree with there, just look at the MU and Liverpool, they had their disagreements but they did not sack the manager, or bring a director of footbal that has the experience of a serie C footbal,that appointment of AG was with the idea of sacking JM in the near future, that stunned the football media if i recall when he was appointed, I still have the comments of MoTD pundits when that happened.
About the second coming of JM i dont think that will happen, i dont even believe that JM would want to return, after all he had Spurs after him immediattely when he left CFC and they were prepared to pay whaterver was stipulated in the contract he signed with RA, if he was that bad WHY in the contract he could not manage another PL team, accordingly to the press for the next 3 years? LOL
It also annoys me the way AG keeps comparing NOW and BEFORE, this is a sign of a very very insecure and UNABLE character, he should stop looking to the past, past is past and just try to do his best, how poor it may be, why do you think the italian managers did not accept the invitations from RA? they knew it was very difficult to outperform JM success, just look at the achievement in his short time in CFC? Yes sometimes it is unfair to judge AG but it is his fault he started comparing, just listen to his comments after the matches, always trying to convince someone or somebody that CFC is achieving what RA so much wants, c'mon lets be realistic he will never happen and NOT because AG is not capable, what i have my sincere douts that he can, ONLY because footbal nowadays is all about 3 points, yes you can have 1, 2 games where you oblitorate the opposition but it will nvere happen with clubs of the same calibre, just go and watch the Arsenal-Chelsea game, it good have been 3 instead of 1. * years without losing to the gonners and the first match he has been for same time in charge, he loses,.hhmmmmmm I have my doubts if JM would lose it.
Besides the home record has never been threatened so much as latelly, we have been very lucky in various matches at home.
@Mikel
has a very VALID point in his comment AG brought into himself all this criticism, he cheated himsewlf into management, probably because he spoke everyday with RA and slowly slowly undermined his mind, maybe if he got what he has now , when he gets his P45 goes with his financial independance, who knows and who cares.
@Mark again last yaer JM was also in a shout with the 4 competitions and if I recall only 1 or 2 dont remember now.
Lets see the carling cup game, lets hope the opposition dont field a reserves team like Liverpool did.
Well time is going to be the best judge, and although I feel sorry for AG, he is only to blame he put himself in that position, he knew perfectly well th situation when he was recruited as a director of footbal l.
Lets face it so far he has proved that he can not run a bath let alone a football team.
I reiterate RA is not at present the best overseas investor you dont sack the captain of a ship if it gets to the port in one piece.
After all you will not to want to replace a surgeon for a butcher, each one a master of his trade and RA maybe very good at oil, but only showed vanity and stupidity by giving the P45 to JM and replace him with a butcher
Happy new year alex i think we both need it

@Mikel

Yes I'm probably stupid, thank you. Yes I agree JM made Joe Cole a better player. If you re-read my post I was making the point that if JM was still in charge Joe Cole would probably not make the 1st 11 or if he did be pulled off pretty quickly, as against Fulham last year. Therefore I didn't see a problem with Avram pulling him off.

@Marco

I don't dispute JM is a top manager. However I think MU and Liverpool would also have sacked him had he managed their clubs, not for his lack of football management skills but due to his pre and post match antics.

Roman doesn't think Avram is a better coach than Jose but he's now got an employee who isn't pissing him off and causing him embarrassment by his lack of ethics. Avram was available and RA wanted JM out. If Avram wasn't around he'd probably have appointed the cleaner temporarily. RA will see how it pans out this season and if needs be will replace Avram but do it with a bit of finesse so everyone saves face. However he won't be replacing Avram with Jose so why don't you leave your duvet cover at home on NYD and support the team instead (by team I mean the players, management and owner).

After reading this blog and reading the comments in the press
its is official Avran grant is a tosser

I watched the second half live and was not overly impressed. I got to see the whole game again later in the day and I really don't think the performance was as bad as has been described. Sure, the 15 minutes after Newcastle equalised was pretty bad, but overall, Chelsea dominated possession (2-1), shots on goal (something large to something small), corners (same), saves forced (same). The real problem is with so much domination, we had to rely on a blatantly offside goal to win the game. Therein lies the rub. Without DD, we really cannot score (other than in freakish games) to save our lives. We create oodles of chances but cannot convert, and of course, that puts pressure on the defense which without JT and Ricky is liable to implode at any moment. There were some major positives from this game: Belletti was huge except for his being totally AWOL for Newcastle's goal. Ballack had a very good game (Newcastle started to dominate only when he started to tire), but needs a few more matches. SWP even managed a few decent crosses, but as has been said above, it is a pity he's not a couple of inches taller.

Our biggest problem is that with all the injuries, our African players are going to be sorely missed in a couple of weeks. Who is going to replace Essien and Mikel? I'm hoping that Sidwell is up to the task for he is surely going to figure prominently. Do we have any reserves that can step up? I agree with previous comments that Sinclair should get more time since he is a true left winger and in the absence of Malouda we are really a bit short in this area. However, we are going to be mighty short in midfield with Frank on the injured list.

January priority is to get hold of a real honest to goodness striker. Though I personally don't like the man, Anelka is one possibility. He certainly knows how to score. As for Alves, I find it hard to believe that Spain can provide two new top-drawer premiership strikers in one season, Torres being the other. One name I've seen mooted is a return of Eidur. He seems fit still. And let's hope whoever they get is not end of career (or worse, absent of career) like some we have picked up of late.

As usual at this time of year, I extend a season's greetings to all who not only contribute regularly to the always interesting and animated discussions, but to those who only read (even among our fraternal enemies - though I might make an exception for supporters of the 'pool). And I thank as always our main contributors who not only regularly suffer through the matches, but who make the effort to inspire and lead our discussions- Nick, Tony, and Jonathan. We owe them a lot.

@Mark
Mark I never said or meant to bring JM back, no one in his right mind think it is possible.
Yes i will be there supporting the team and by the team i mean players, as i do not like to support fakes, that's all don't woory my duvet cover will be left at home.
But i must access if the money i spend watching CFC is value for money, and the last home matches I have been present start making me think twice.
Adter all JM was sacked because AG was going to produce exciting, sexy football with the 3 points always in the bag. But it seems that this manager doesant even know how to take advantage of what our players are superb at doing."shut Shop" when you in front.

Just read in the manure blog that the best winter buy that MU got was the AG as manager of CFC.
Just wonder if it was not AF that asked some1 to write it
see u guys in the cottage

Well said Graham with regard the contributions from Nick Tony & JD... I certainly appreciate the time and effort you guys put in to the blog, and a happy new year to them, and all other blues fans.

And the plus side from yesterdays game!!! we are now safe from relegation having passed the 40 points barrier ;-)

Indeed, hearty thanks and congratulations to our dedicated team of match reporters. You make this a fine blog.

Regarding the substitutions: AG can't be a complete nitwit, he must have had reasons for what he was doing. What made it interesting for me was the spontaneous reaction of at least 20,000 Chelsea fans -- fans who had been watching the same game and were just as desperate for the win -- to both substitutions. There's often some grumbling about substitutions -- none of us liked it much when José brough on Robert Huth to play up front in the last five minutes of games we were losing -- but I've never heard a mass howl of disbelief and anger like that, let alone twice in just a few minutes.

To those who thought Joe wasn't having a good game ... well. I can't see it. Some of his crossing was fabulous, and his combinations with Bridgey were impressive (though not as impressive as SWP and Belletti -- does anyone else think that we're seriously lucky to have Belletti, that a really really really good player has snuck in under everyone's radar?). But mainly, if you need to bring on a centre-forward, why would you take off a winger who keeps possession and crosses well? I didn't see a switch to 4-2-4: I saw Kalou go out to Joe's position on the left, and Pizzarro replace Kalou in the centre, both of which seemed to be just putting a weaker player in the same position. Why not have Kalou and Pizzarro both playing as centre forwards, and take off Ballack if he's struggling -- leaving Joe and SWP as wingers but now with an extra man in the box to aim for?

If Ballack was unfit, you're still taking a huge gamble by removing him, because, as we saw against Villa, he strikes the dead ball really well, and when we were playing as badly as we were in the last 20 minutes of that game surely you've got to think that a free kick is one of your best chances to nick a late goal? And of course amid the general morass he actually looked influential, so it's not surprising that most of us there were gobsmacked to see his number come up; maybe a Ballack at 60% fitness is at least as good as our other midfielders anyway?

But still, fair enough, it's easy to criticise from the stands, and presumably there was some logic at work. As I say, the point seems to be that pretty much nobody could see the logic. I think AG may have lost a large chunk of the crowd, just when people seemed to be prepared to give him some credit.

People would be even less forgiving, I suspect, if that linesman had done his job properly and we'd dropped two points at home to a really really poor team.

Oh, here's a good word for AG. Just read a quote from him on the Everything's Coming Up Roses Official Chelsea Happy Happy Website, about January transfers. He points out that the club should be making decision for the next years, not the next months: and annoying as it'll be to drop all those points in January and February, he's right, isn't he.

All the people here who think we should SELL EVERYBODY and then BUY EVERYBODY ELSE ... I know where you're coming from, but it's not actually the right way to go, is it?

We don't need Anelka. We need good young players who will have time to adapt to this league and will make us a strong team next season and the season after.

@ Limetreeblower

That follows my point exactly - if it was just one or two fans then you might be right in saying it's a minority viewpoint, but the 20,000 or so that sang up , including me, were instantly transported back to the Ranieri era and for me, the Monaco debacle. In THAT moment alone all we could see was Fuckup City being constructed in seconds and a return to our Coco the Circus Clown days of being nothing more than an amusing entity amongst the really big EPL teams.

I agree totally that Ballack may have been tiring, but he was still better than most on the park...and who would have taken a penalty had we got one once he went off...Pizzaro...are you kidding me? Joe Cole can take a penalty as well....but hold on...he was off as well. never mind, we could have relied on Salomon "sand wedge tied to my boot" Kalou-less. I just totally believe it reduced our options substantially. It didn't matter in the end because we got lucky.

Maybe it's all a bit like the film Awakenings, where we've been administered the footballing equivalent of L-Dopa , had a short lived miraculous recovery but are slipping back into our catatonic past. I hope to God it's not the case because my expectancy level is almost Dalek-like in that I expect nothing but total and utter domination over all who come before us. I know that's a bit high, but when we had it in the EPL it just felt so bloody good!

Thanks to all for your kind comments - the pleasure of this blog is that the debate level is usually very sensible , passionate and intelligent...unlike Arseblog which is the exact opposite. A Happy New year to everyone from me. Starting with that small team in Fulham called....Fulham!

The biggest highlight for me was when Chelsea created history by becoming the first club to win the FA Cup at the new Wembley.

Yes, AG is tactically naive at times. But the squad he inherited is not his anyway. We should give him a chance and see what he does in January and June. Whether he can get the right players to transform Chelsea.

Roman is not stupid anyway. He must have saw something in AG that we dint realise (his clown lol). If AG doesnt deliver a major silverware in the forseeable future (next couple of seasons), here comes the axe to chop his head. In that sense, why worry so much if he doesnt deliver? No silverwares and off he goes. Surely Roman cant be so dumb not to take action if things remain as it is like in the good old Ranieri days. Will he be such an idiot to sabotage Chelsea after all the money and time he invested in?

As much as i dont like our new manager, he should be given an opportunity. This season can be written off as a transitional period for the club after 3 trophy-laden campaigns. A 4th place finish would be alright. Any other cup success would be a huge bonus. 1-2 more seasons and AG's future will be clear whether its hanging on the line anot. Trophies is the name of this job. I hope Roman still has some logic and common sense in that and will show no mercy if needed.

Hope we continue to win as many games as possible. Happy New Year and KTBFFH!

If we were totally out of the title race, I would like to see us blood some of our younger players for the rest of the season. Sahar is good enough to play for Israel which was able to beat the Russians unlike some countries I could name. Wenger has been bringing in youngsters like this for years with some success, and every few years he puts together a halfway decent team from them. However, for the moment at least, we are still in with a chance of the title, and we really should be looking for a short term solution to our principal problem - which is scoring goals without DD and Frank. It's all very well for AG to go on about bringing in players for the future, but that is surely what the Academy and Reserves are all about. Really top class finishers are unlikely to be available in January, so one has to look at third or even fourth choice players. Thus my suggesting Anelka, though I really don't like the man. Of course, we pay Arnesen a monumental amount of money I imagine to know exactly who is available at any given moment. I just hope that whoever arrives, he's not from the Dutch league since we have not had a great deal of recent success with wunderkinden from there.

As to the substitutions, Kalou clearly plays better in the centre and would no doubt benefit from an extended trial there (hopefully with some other club), and it is certainly a mystery as to why, if Joey Cole was feeling under the weather, it was not Sinclair that subbed him immediately. It is also true that, after trying hard to believe in Pizzarro for some time now, I have come to believe that he really is useless. He's scored more goals for Peru than for us this year. Bayern must be laughing themselves silly.

Can't blame AG for this, though, since it was a result of the previous watch. TSO may have been a wonder tactician, and he may also have inspired a terrific team spirit (something AG seems congenitally incapable of), but his later transfers were for the most part, pretty iffy (Ricky and DD being obvious exceptions). Maybe Ballack will turn out to be a wise choice., but for the rest... Then again, maybe TSO had little or no say in the proceedings and the villains of the piece are, and always were, Arnesen and AG. Incidentally, what are the current odds for AG to survive beyond the end of the season?

@ Tony Glover

"Kalou - 5/10 - I criticised him heavily last time and someone came back at me to say he isn’t really a winger but a striker. Well, they’re wrong. He’s neither at the moment. In fact it’s hard to call him a footballer."

He is a natural striker. He might not be a great one, but the fact still remains. He's only 22. He's been consistently played out of position. Sure, he gets playtime, but it is at the wrong position.

He was a striker at Feyenoord. He scored 35 goals in 67 games. He appears clueless to you because he isn't playing where he should play, where he has always played, where he was developed to play, or where he knows how to play.

It is really quite simple.

@ Michael

You said "He was a striker at Feyenoord. He scored 35 goals in 67 games. He appears clueless to you because he isn’t playing where he should play, where he has always played, where he was developed to play, or where he knows how to play."

Explain Saturday for me then, when he started as our front line striker and still contributed next to nothing other than a weak shot at Given and a straight forward header also straight at Given?

Don't like to disparage anyone, but Kalou seems to me a wonderful player until he has time to think and then he becomes pitiful. All that he does well is in pure reaction. When given time he either through fear or sheer cluelessness manages always to do the wrong thing e.g. he had much too long to think about his second half header where 9 out of 10 people would have headed to the far post giving Given no chance. If one played to his strengths, he might be quite a useful player - after all someone like Gerd Muller never did much other than bang the ball in the back of the net. Playing Kalou once in the centre is probably not really fair to him, but on the other hand, this is his second season and he has played an awful lot. If he's played regularly out on the wing, it is because that is where AG and before him, TSO, thought he played best. I would get Sahar back from QPR. He cannot be any worse than Pizzarro, at least.

Well well well, I read this blog and really agree 99% with the comments.
I had the opportunity today of watchig the DVD of Israel national team games when AG was the manager, and surprise, surprise Israel was an extremely defensive team, against france in France they could be playing for the next 24 hours that france would never scored, maybe the Israel's net was smaller than the french one, I think israel had 2 attacks and score on one, the rest was destroy destroy and destroy, the tactics were to defend at all costs. another match was the Israel v Malte (2-2)F.T. Again the tactic was not to lose rather than attack, and then already AG was clueless how to change the tactics of that game, needless to comment the other matches against Switzerland, result Israel did not qualified. I agree with someone that wrote above about the lack of talent, I agree entirely, I dont think it is naivity at all, just no clue at all. I also listened to his comments about the last game, and apparently 40,000 + people saw that the second goal was from an offside position, except AG, ahahaha, the guy that complainmed against the referees saying that the reason CFC was so many points behind MU was becaudse of referees decision, now to have gained 1 point what is it? Bedsides guys if you look at his face and his bodylanguage when he is interviewed, geeeeeeeeeee man, I wouldnt buy a brand new car from him let alone a second hand one, he comes to me as a very very SLY individual, wouldnt trudst him as far as I could throw him. But guys if any one of you are a millionaire or billionaire I am sure he will try to make friends with and try to be your confidant and talk about footbal and how intelligent he is, sortry guys the man is a fake.
Bye for now

BTW forgot to mention about Kalou
guys remember what happened with DD the first season everyone was saying that he was not worth the £25KK paid for him and now look at him.
I know it had as a manager an exceptional guy on a man to man management, what now he has not, infact I think he will leave Chelsea unless they give him an offer he can not refuse.

Actually, I agree with the lineman's decision: Kalou was inactive as he did not anticipate to receive the ball; remember, the ball just bounced off unexpectedly to Kalou. Oh, whatever! It's lovely for us to bag 3 points and ManU dropped 3 points! Every little helps! Hopefully, 2008 is the year when Mr Grant announces his early retirement. LOL!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

@Tony,

Don't you think you are being a tard to hard on Kalou. What is his goal return for us this season??? How many 22 year olds in the league have returned that many??? How many winning goals has he returned for us????

With your assertions I would actually off load the following... Wayne Bridge, Ferreira, Makelele, Frank Lampard, Essien, SWP, Joe Cole, Cech, Pizzaro,Tal Ben Haim...all the mentioned have played below par... Actually Kalou for me has shown promise.

For those that saw Henry Thierry develop will mention that Kalou will have the same potential at 24. His body movement, pace and shot (when worked upon). Kalouless you call him. The Clue to a win I say...

Happy Chelsea New Year to all Chelsea at Heart!

Normally a lurker on the site, with the occasional comment, I want to say thanks to everybody for providing their thoughts (however far off the mark they may be!) but especially to Tony, Nick & JD for their great match reports and levelheaded comments.
A Blue site that can attract intelligent commentary from a Gooner has got to be brilliant!
Happy New Year to you all and keep up the good work!

A footnote to the Kalou debate, we get these stats about the ammount of goals scored in the dutch league from these players.
Apart from Van Horseface at Manure in recent times, the recent influx have failed to ignite Kezman, Kalou and Kuyt

Perhaps the lesson here is not to buy players from the Dutch league who's names start with the letter K!

Just a quick post to thank all the guys that post their thoughts etc on here.
As a truck driver who is often away from home for 14 or 16 days at a time, this is the first site I visit upon my return home to get the PROPER reaction to any games we have played.
HAPPY NEW YEAR, lads and may the Blue Flag always fly high

KTBFFH

lets hope for the best this coming year comrades. for all i can say is that this AG guy has to leave very soon . finish.

You say we need good young players but where are they? Sinclair (perhaps )excepted, our celebrated talent scout Frank Arneson seems to be drawing pretty much a blank.

Maybe Anelka is not the answer long term but we must ensure we are in the Champions league come May and with the injury list we have and the absence of 4 key players, January could seriously dent those prospects (as well as lead to a far more vociferous "Grant out" campaign.

The simple fact is that Abramovich has to support his manager with bundles of cash this month or risk leaving his position untenable by the end of the Africa nations cup.

Incidentally, I was there on Saturday and thought the decision to replace Cole with the "Clodhopper" was slightly bizarre but on the train home after consideration of the resource issue he is facing and in the light of the result (which IMO was the right result given we played the better football and created many more chances) I decided Grant had made the best of a very difficult situation.

Bear in mind that the TSO blamed losing the title on the absence of just Terry and Cech.

And one final point, the unbelievably poor offside decision (we sit inline with the penalty box and a clearer offside decision I have not witnessed) disguised Big Sams side's manifest weaknesses. If ever there was an opportunity to end our home record this was it and yet whilst they never lacked commitment they lacked belief and above all quality. He was lucky that all the controversy deflected attention from these deficiencies.

Happy New Year All....

Amen re Big Sam Peter H; he has a pretty decent squad to play with and the general lack of threat from them was staggering.

Jose - you just get funnier all the time. You'd offload Cech ahead of Kalou? Whatever anyone thinks of Grant, I'm f**king glad it's him in charge and not you!

JD - as far as Jose is concerned, if we didn't have bizzare opinions like his there'd be little need for a blog!! or it would be very dull.

I've been giving some more thought to Pizzaro; I can't help being reminded of "Big" Tony Cascarino, watching him play. He could even have the same song - to the tune of Tina Turners "we don't need another hero" we've got Claudio Pizzaro.

Interesting article.... LINK

I wonder what the "purist" Arsenal fans are going to make of this, and perhaps someone should inform RA that it's OK to play ugly!

@ Tony,

Cech has had a horrific season so far...Lehman has had to hug the bench for letting similar goals...

Whereas Cech is first team, with all due respect, kalou is meant to be an understudy to DD, Malouda, etc

Well if you were planning on going bizarre then that would be the way to go eliminate all the under performing and work you way to the the surplus...

Me thinks!!!

Tis is my post on this BLOG from 17 of June


MikeL · 14th July 2007 at 9:42am
I can tell you one thing and I really do want to be a gloom merchant on this one. However, there will be nothing good about Avram Grant arrival to Chelsea. I know this guy and I know this type. Nothing else but intrigue and power fights.

Sorry, 17 of July

Tell you what, I would not mind getting Berbatov this January. Kalou, while having a decent goal rate, seems to score them all by accident or sheer luck. I don't see him beating many defenders and scoring. Berbatov, however, is another story.

we really need that christmas break.

just how good is Ballack? Keys and Butch Wilkins just described him as a "Rolls Royce" - to my mind he is a pure gold Rolls Royce. Absolutely world class again today.

You'll be wanting his babies soon Tony ;-) but yes another great performance today.

Right now, I'm just thanking our lucky stars that Herr Ballack isn't African...

"Chim-chiminy chim-chiminy chim-chim-cheroo

Who needs Anelka when we've got Kal--"


Oh ok, just kidding.

Good performence today but we looked bad for the first half! If Frank has a long term injury then we may need to bring in a new CM in january! Pizarro missed a great chance at the end! Cant wait for your review Tony! UP BLUES!

In my opinion there are too many Arsenal/Liverpool no life saddos posting opinions on here such as Jose , Mikel and 'Anon'.