Premier League: Chelsea v. Blackburn Rovers

Has anybody else been writting the Soxy serialisations in the Times? The latest is a cracker.

LINK

Have been taking a look at them - interesting how quickly the culture changed with the arrival of a few European brain cells.

The part that dealt with the stick he got about his sexuality was interesting - the likes of Wise and Vinny Jones you'd expect it from, but Andy Townsend surprised me - thought he was a little brighter than that. Does rather puncture Robbie Fowler's 'cheeky Scouse chappie' image too, if anyone still believed it.

Thought Soxy did himself a disservice when relating the Fowler incident.

I thought he really nailed the Scouse twat with that elbow.

The Zola line at the end of the last piece is an absolute zinger, so much so that I can't help but feel Soxy made it up.

Good piece by Soxy, liked it very much. Well under Abramovich Chelsea went from villains to heroes and back to villains.
Paper saying that Sheva on the scoring track again. Hope he features against Blackburn. Could be interesting to see if it is true.

Got a bad feeling about Saturday - we've somebody coming to stay and last time she was here we lost to Spurs. Time before we lost to the Mancs. Sorry folks!

I'm going to put some notes on a Rovers win at lunchtime - hopefully my terrible track record in the bookies will counteract her evil eye.

Ever the pessimist, I have to say I echo the sentiments of Peter.

It'll be a tough game Saturday. Sheva's scoring at International level, so he'll be left out this weekend. Well, we've got to fit Kalou in somewhere.

Mixed performances from our boys last night I thought (JT and SWP played well, the Coles didn't IMO), but nice that they're playing and show no signs of injury. Not sure if Lamps is expected back - have to hope so following the Villa Park debacle.

Could make for nervous viewing....

Me too, Peter. No portents of doom here, just a bad feeling.

Okay, £20 at William Hill should at least get us a draw. I still see Blackburn as our bogey team - we could never beat them in the 90s.

Last night, I thought JC, SWP were good, AC average and JT - well, he still doesn't do it for England like he does for us (in fact, he hasn't really done it for us for almost a year now). Lampard won't get his place back for a while, even though Gerrard did very little in his absence (certainly not as much as Lampard did when freed from Gerrard v Germany).

However, England fans need a scapegoat for the World Cup and that will be Frank. Apparently he's unfit for tomorrow, but Carvalho should be back, which is excellent news.

Also good news - four Chelsea players in the England U19 team.

Peter,

On the England front (and I guess International stage as a wider picture), trying to play 4-4-2 and not have a holding midfielder just doesnt seem to work. I agree Frank probably wont walk back into the team, but from a selfish Chelsea point of view, it's not a bad thing. He'll be fresher for us.

And from an Englishman's point of view, him and Gerrard just dont work together. No idea why, but it doesn't. When you look at the other 'top' (I'll include England - loosely) nations, most of them play with a holding midfielder.

Based on last night, Wayne the Granny fiddler and Owen the German-Canadian-Welsh Englishman can sit on the bench with Lamps. And other world-beaters like Phil Chuckle - sorry Neville - and Stewart Downing.

If I were Frank I'd try and sign the new contract this afternoon.

If he's no longer an international his stock will drop.

Mind you, I still rate him, and Chelsea always struggle without i.e. Villa

Chelsea struggled without him at Villa...Crap!

I think a few honest people are seeing here that Gareth will not be replaced by Frank in the near future...let us sell while we still can...

Get Arteta...

The Blackburn game is going to be tough particularly taking into account our bad form after internationals. On contrary Rovers had two weeks brake, all the time to get ready. However, I have a good feeling about this game, we will win.

I cant wait for this any word on if Lamps will play?

Honestly, I think the mild weather we're having now just doesn't suit Sheva; he seems to perform better under freezing condition! That's why JM has not played him maybe until the winter! :-)

Having watched the highlights of the Ukraine vs Italy game, I can also confirm Sheva hit the bar with a freekick from 35 yards that left Buffon rooted to the spot.

No, it's not 1st April.

And reports this morning suggest either Ballack's off to Real in January if he drops his wage demands (unlikely) or needs a third operation on his ankle (more likely - but as a pensioner, it's on the NHS I guess.....)

to SimonT - I don't think, that Italy and particularly Milan is a place, where Sheva played under freezing condition. Concerning the last game vs Italy, now it's +20 C in Ukraine, it's not Russia here... :)

As Lamps and Drogs are absent i'd like to see the following midfeild and attacking lines;

-----------Pizaro------Shevckenko------
Malouda-----Essien-------Mikel------SWP/JCole

I'm going for a 1 or 2-0 win for us tomorrow.

K/T/B/F/F/H

I think a creative and strong post player is needed, like Ibrahimovic.
He could hold the ball up there for a little longer so that the attacking midfielders have time to get in dangerous positions.

Hell yeah chebeef but maybe JM will play J.C where essien is on ur line up because after playing right back for ages I dont think he would do that well, we saw that against villa!

Kaka and Ibrahimovic in, would be interesting.
Not realistic that inter and milan would let them go but it would be an interesting team.
Ex: Chech

Johnson/ Terry Carvalho A.Cole
Belleti

Kaka Essien Mikel Malouda


Drogba Ibrahimovic

Why do they need Imbrhimovic when they have Kalou,Drogba,Shevy,Pizarro and Ben Sahar I think they only need one guy and thats RONALDINHO!

As for kaka I heard he wants to play for man united with ronaldo or stay with ac milan. BTW this is my top lineup for chelsea at the moment!
Shevchenko Kalou

Malouda J.Cole Mikel/Essien SWP

A.Cole Terry Alex Belleti
Cech

It could be interesting to see Sheva and Pizzaro up front together. Drog is injured and not ready to play tomorrow, so most probably this is what we are going to see.

Like i said cause none of those guys have the ability to hold on to the ball like Ibrahimovic has. None of Chelseas attackers have the passing ability or creativity like he has. In modern football its very important to have one creative attacker alongside a pure striker like Drogba. Creative midfielders is also a problem for chelsea since they dont have that many, thats why i said Kaka and Ibrahimovic.

By the way it would be cool to get kaka to premier leage but a terrible shame if he would sign for Man U, the worst nightmare for me and other chelsea fans i think.

----------cech----------

belletti--alex--terry--cole

------obi mikel---essien---

SWP--------------------Malouda

---------Joe Cole-----------

------------Sheva------------

Andriy_Ukraine, I did not refer to that game in Ukraine. I recall Sheva did quite well last winter here. Forgive me, my comment wasn't meant to be stereotype.

I actually love to see Sheva and Joe Cole play today, and we would send the Sparky's bully boys packing!

So long as Joe Cole plays we will be fine. It isn't likely Pizarro will be playing today, so it could be Sehva and Kalou.
And Sinclair on th bench hopefully...

I THINK JOE COLE IS EXTREMELY CREATIVE WITH AN EXCELLENT FOOTBALL BRAIN "CHECK WHEN HE IS PLAYING FOR ENGLAND "HE DOES IT BETTER THAN BOTH LAMPARD AND GERRARD "THE ONLY PROBLEM IS JOSE FORCES HIM TO PLAY A MORE DEFENSIVE ROLE.. PLZ PLAY HIM ON THE LEFT OR JUST BEHIND THE MAIN STRIKER/S HE USUALLY WINS ALOT OF FOULS AGAINST THE OPPOSITION. YOU CANT HAVE RONALDINHO TACKLING IN YOUR TEAM .U JUST HAVE TO MAXIMIZE HIS OFFENSIVE CAPABILITIES...LIKEWISE KAKA.. .HE IS THE ONLY ONE IN CHELSEA WHOM I THINK IS CAPABLE OF MAKING THE BEST OF SHEVAS INTELLIGENT RUNS. FOR PHILIPS WELL HE IS GOOD BUT I THINK HE IS TO QUICK TO MAKE HIS FELLOW ATTACKING PLAYERS COME IN THE GAME. KALOU HAS THE PACE BUT HIS DESCIONS/PASSING ARE REALLY BELOW PAR PIZARRO WELL HE SHOULD JUST STOP DIGGING THE GROUND ..AND WE NEED A PACY CENTER HALF....

I havent seen much of ibrah but whats up with Crespo I heard he is coming back, btw the best passer in the world is essien I think and we will see the best of him hopefully but after playing at RB for ages he isnt settled in MD again yet but he will be soon!

I dont see inter letting Ibrahimovic go but I heard Ronaldinho wants to come to chelsea.

I can't see Ronaldinho playing in Chelsea, not because of anything you could think of(such as Barca being better than Chelsea or something) but the mentality differences between the PL and La Liga specially when it comes to defense are immense, that's why I think maybe the spanish teams play more beautifull football but eventually they lose to English teams.
I'm sorry if my words may seem offensive to anyone, but this is what I notice here as a Syrian viewer.
Mostly all of the footballers here are divided between being Barca fans or Real Madrid ones, few ones admire the PL and even fewer support an English team.

Let's put it this way, if you think about football as a result, then the PL is the strongest, smartest and have the best tactics.. but if you're looking for a full-of-sneaky-passes-and-great-goals game, then any big European league has the priority to watch.

I'm not saying here that the PL is an empty league but the mentalities are really different from any other European league.

You could be right, look at Shevchenko it has took him a while to get used to the PL.