Premier League: Manchester United 3 - 0 Chelsea

This just shows everyone exactly how good Mourinho was, same players different team.

I believe even Deco could play better under a manager with a clue. RB for a RB joke substitution. Bosingwa better be injured!

Scolari out!

I agree with you about the first half. Chelsea looked good and fluent through midfield and Mikel, Lampard and even Deco had some nice touches.

Instead of playing 7 a side a training, maybe Scolari should work on attacking and defending set pieces?

From the Telegraph:

"Scolari certainly cannot escape censure. His refusal to place a player on the posts at corners continues to defy belief. The Brazilian’s mantra of "posts don’t score, players do’’ lacks logic when set against costly goals conceded at Craven Cottage and now here, seconds before the break."

From The Times:

"Mourinho was there to cast an eye over United, who gave an ominous warning of the task facing his Inter Milan team in the Champions League’s first knockout round next month, but, as he flew back to Italy last night, he will also have been preoccupied by Chelsea’s continuing troubles under Luiz Felipe Scolari. Whatever his reputation for malevolence, there must have been a part of him that looked upon this performance – devoid of wit, spirit, character and organisation – in much the same way as someone returning to their beloved former home and finding it fallen into disrepair, with weeds overrunning the garden.

Chelsea are in a bad place right now, with only three wins in their past 11 games in all competitions, but their frailties were exposed quite brutally by a team who warmed to the idea of humiliating Scolari’s players as the game wore on. As Chelsea heads began to drop – and, strangely, this seemed to include John Terry, mocked by the home supporters throughout, as well as the more usual suspects, such as Didier Drogba – United twisted the knife. By the time that Howard Webb, the referee, blew the final whistle, some Chelsea players looked relieved that United had stopped at three goals."

These are the two biggest concerns at the moment:
1. Scolari
2. The team's lack of fight

I'm still surprised that no journalist has been brave enough to criticise Phil. They tentatively comment about some of his weaknesses but they still appear to regard him as a great manager maybe because he's knocked England out of 3 tournaments. But as some have pointed out if Avram had been leading this side as badly he's be getting...

crucified. Phil's haul of 1 point out of 12 in the Big 4 mini-league is pathetic and now our away form is starting to follow our dismal home form, where will he lead us to in May? He went there for a 0-0 and when we went a goal down we were all waiting for his Plan B. And on that set-piece goal, why was JT left with 2 players to mark and why was Di Santo told to mark Berbatov for their 3rd goal? This lack of organisation, focus and discipline sums up Phil's style of management. The second half was so bad it was almost laughable as the players strolled around wondering what to do. Lamps was lost on the LW and we ended up literally running in circles (picture Didier running in a circle whilst trying to beat 5 men and then falling over). It was also alarming that Phil decided to wait until the 85th minute to react to going 2-0 down. Why? And why couldn't he see that 2 wingers (Kalou and Joe) is the only way to make a 4-4-2 work?

As for side holding up the white flag. Well we saw it against Arsenal so we shouldn't be too surprised. Whereas last season they developed a siege mentality after losing belief in the manager, this season they just look lost and perhaps don't even care. This summer requires a clearout but until then we have to endure 4 more months of crap.

'The Brazilian’s mantra of "posts don’t score, players do’’ lacks logic when set against costly goals conceded at Craven Cottage and now here, seconds before the break."

Frankly idiotic comment.... posts don't STOP goals, players do.... It's called fucking defending! How about we try it, as a new and wildly outrageous approach. We refused to use players on posts at corners last year under Grant and that cost us the title.

'Didier Drogba - 4/10 - He did at least seem up for it '......

I disagree totally. This was Drogba at his worst. I remember 3 chances. One went for a throw, one was an air swing, and the third was a header from 6 years at the death, that ended up 10 yards wide. I have been a vocal critic of Anelka, but at least he provided some spark once he came on.

'Luiz Felipe Scolari's substitutions'

If our best chance of a goal is to hope Belletti snags a 35 yarder then it's time to pack it in. Kalou ( who is inconsistant at best) should have been on at some stage on the left. At least he occasionally provides something.

'The Future'

The problem we have should have been forseeable. Roman wants the club to break even and so in order to do so, we apparently need to sell, in order to buy. However, players are not going to be offered the same wages anywhere else, and so will not accept a move away (even if we had any offers, which I don't believe we do at this stage). Since they are all coming to the end of their usefulness we will need to wait for contracts to run out and then give them away for very little. Unfortunately we started the inflated wages game, and now we have to suffer the consequences..... Unless of course Citeh are prepared to buy all of Cudicini, Belletti, Deco, Kalou, Malouda, Drogba and Anelka.

I don't wish to be the prophet of doom, but the next couple of years are unlikely to be pretty, in my opinion!

Totally agree that Drogba's attitude was disgraceful. He never seemed interested but what else can we do? Start with Anelka who seems to think that when playing up front you should drift back into midfield alongside Mikel every 5 minutes?

It's amazing how a football game can fuck up your day, and make you feel restless, hence wide awake at this god forsaken hour. I need to relax more!
Anyway good report Nick, I thought like yourself we matched them in the first half, as both teams lacked any real cutting edge up front, and were both playing with caution without really wanting to lose.

Then the goal, which couldn't have come at a worse time, it looked like we were already in the dressing room for half time refreshments, talk about switching off not once, but twice, was unforgivable.

Our ghost of Xmas past sitting in the stands must have been turning in his grave watching our second half performance. I think most of the posts have described our performance, spineless, gutless, clueless, etc etc.. please feel free to continue adding.

We made Utd look better than they actually were, and I think most of us knew that if Utd scored first confidence would drain away, and we saw heads drop at half time as they walked off, that certainly was the case.

We will now see what mettle is left in this team in the next few weeks. The next four games are must wins before we travel to the rascally scousers on Feb 1st.
I know some of you have written our obituary already, and after that performance I don't blame you, but I think I'll wait until 6pm on that Sunday before I call time of death.

Right back to bed to try and get a few more hours of sleep.

Clive... 'It's amazing how a football game can fuck up your day, and make you feel restless, hence wide awake at this god forsaken hour'

Think yourself lucky mate.... I got up at 2am to go to the pub last night to watch last night's debacle, which wouldn't have been so bad if it hadn't been my first day back from the Xmas break today!

'Our ghost of Xmas past sitting in the stands must have been turning in his grave '

It's funny you mention it....During the game, my mind wandered to the thoughts of 'Scrooge' and 'Christmas Past' and what they were thinking at that moment. I think both would have been reflecting on happier times last night.

It hurts to see us lose, especially this bad. BUT WE NEED MORE PASSION GUYS! It's clear that our form is shite, but let's back our team.

GO CHELSEA!!

@ Foodiedoodie........

You are mistaken Foodie..... Nobody exhibits more passion than the guys that frequent make the time to go to / watch the games and visit this website to comment every day. The place where the passion is currently lacking is from approx 6-7 of the players on the park.

And a quote from Roman, soon after he took over.... 'The goal is to win. It's not about making money. I have many much less risky ways of making money than this (buying Chelsea football club). I don't want to throw my money away, but it's really about having fun and that means success and trophies'

Anyone reckon he is having much 'fun' at the moment? Hardly surprising he is finding other ways to spend his money.

Another important point to ponder is that...we no longer are psyching our opponents out before a game. When Jose was around, the morale was extremely high with the team being hailed as a machine and Jose going all gun blazing over other managers and players. This made losing not an option. Under Scolari , at best,we are saying just this week in and week out. "Lose and we are in BIG trouble"! and we end up doing just that or drawing against nothing teams! Then again morale could be a pure consequence of winning games only. And the "seige mentality" which was such a highlight during the recent years is just not there.
Two dreadful results in the new year and the whole year ahead looks scary.
All this can change. Sell Didier Drogba right now. When he came back from injury and suspension, it gave us an option we'd rather not have had. It unnecessarily disrupted Big Phil's only but working methodology. This chopping and constant changing of the front is why the goals are not coming. If we have a plan we are better off sticking with it rather than PLAN A, B, C. No other teams even talk like that!

Worse performance in 5 years. They made us look like second division side. too embarasing. What is going on with Mr Scolari. We are waiting to see subsititutions which will change the game. No inspiration, Absolutely nothing. May be we should give more credit to the Brazilian players who won the Woerld Cup, rather than Mr Scolari. He has no idea what to do with his players. Time to get rid of him before it is too late. He still hasn't won a game against the other big three.

Is the new advertisment for Champions League Final tickets at the top of the page somebody's idea of a joke? I don't think I will be ordering mine just yet!

berbatovs goal was illegitimate vidic blocked di santo1 too bad only afew like me can see what most bloggers cant see.beautiful soccer is just a state of mind for the idiotic populus
sacking scolari is the only way forward passion is just pure hogwash phil is crap .Hope to see mancini with clarke as his assistant..

Think yourself lucky mate.... I got up at 2am to go to the pub last night to watch last night's debacle, which wouldn't have been so bad if it hadn't been my first day back from the Xmas break today!

In hindsight mate, you should have gone home to bed after the first goal.

Is the new advertisment for Champions League Final tickets at the top of the page somebody's idea of a joke? I don't think I will be ordering mine just yet!

Just remember Liverpool were as poor as we are now in the league, yet they went on to make the final and win it in 2005.

And just a side issue which hasn't been mentioned, I don't know if "Rafas Rant" was meant to try an influence the referee for our game yesterday. But I felt Howard Webb had a poorish game by his standards, he was far too card happy for our players. I thought Lampards yellow after 3 mins was harsh, I felt it was just a bit clumsy, and not malicious on the winker. And why oh why didn't Ronney get a yellow for his utter and total petulance in the first half?

So Rafa keep your gob shut, and stop giving team talks for the opposistion, but by all means mention Drogbas diving just before we play you on the 1st. It seemed to inspire him, and the team last time.

Scolari and Wilkins need to go THIS MORNING

Changing a manager is disruptive but what’s the point of persevering with someone you have no faith in and who isn’t a long term solution. It’s not like Scolari is here to build a long term dynasty

1. He’s only on a 2 year contract + a 1 year option
2. He’s old
3. We’ve all lost faith in his abilities and don’t believe he can improve us

When things aren’t going well you need to face up to the truth and make changes early. There’s no point in holding on thinking something will turn up or improve by itself.

Many have stated that Avram was a buffoon but at least he got out the way and let the team manage itself. In this case why don’t we bring Avram back on a 6 month contract and keep him away from the training ground and dressing room?

As for permanent replacements, and if we’re looking for young options, is it too soon for Zola and Clarke? West Ham could implode this January so they may both be looking for a job. Or maybe Roberto Di Matteo.

I would consider Phil Brown. He’s track record is as good as Bilic and, call me old fashioned, but I would never employ someone with an earring in a management position.

As for Wilkins I was his greatest fan in his playing days but he shouldn’t be in a management position. He’s too nice and just wants to be one of the ‘chaps’. He’d be better in an ambassadorial role for the club.

"As for permanent replacements, and if we’re looking for young options, is it too soon for Zola and Clarke? West Ham could implode this January so they may both be looking for a job. Or maybe Roberto Di Matteo.
I would consider Phil Brown. He’s track record is as good as Bilic and, call me old fashioned, but I would never employ someone with an earring in a management position."

Mark, despite what that troll Alexis thinks, I too think we have dropped a huge bollock with Scolari. I think your pre-season manager poll had him as one of the least popular choices with the fans and it seems our combined experience and knowledge was proven to be pretty accurate. I think those called for the return of Mourinho will find themselves wishing for a long time. It won't happen folks, if he returns to any English club it'll be Man City. The everyone needs to worry. On the previous blog post I also included Moyes, O' Neill and Bilic along with Brown. What I don't want to see is the 'proven track record' bollocks spun out again. It's like the financial markets - previous performance is no guarantee of future performance.

Despite any (growing) clamour for Scolari to leave I can't see it happening, even if Roman can see the decline in the team. We're stuck with him for now not least because there is simply no-one else available. I go back to what I have said before, we need a man who is edgy, driven , hungry, passionate and utterly ruthless. I want someone who has sold his soul to Satan, not someone who goes to church every day. Someone who's not afraid to fuck the FA off, to annoy the England coach, to get under the skin of Tubby, Rednose and Whinger and will do a Joe Kinnear on the press. I want someone who'll provoke a rafa-esque reaction to our tactics from all quarters.

I want a winner.

@Greenlight,
"Unless of course Citeh are prepared to buy all of Cudicini, Belletti, Deco, Kalou, Malouda, Drogba and Anelka."

You are on your silly bias nonsense again.Why is joey's name not up there.To me he was not only ineffectual yesterday but was completely annonymous.He is one of our worst player(if not the worst) this season and yet he escapes getting crucified by most of ya. Even Malouda that has been the subject of criticism by most of us has provided more assist and has scored more goals than Joey this season.And I dont want to hear that Joey is a more better player than Kalou nonsense.That is an exploded myth that is held only by those bais chelsea fans that allow prejudice to over ride their reasoning.The last two seasons and this present season has proved that Kalou is a more better and lethal player than Joey.
Its time we make some money on Joey[who to me is all ready useless at 27 to our course] and buy some younger player(s)with quality.The likes of Anelka,Drogba and Malouda who are between 29 and 31 are also useless to our course.So i would not mind if the management take a bold step and ship/off load the above players who to me are becoming a liability to the team.
The problem this season have been our attack.It lacks bite.Scolari should take the bold step to bench all three of Joey,Anelka,and Drogba in one or two matches.I think its time we give the young trio of Stoch,Santo and kalou a nod.May be this could be our plan B.

Indeed, no point me re-tracing all the comments I agree with (Drogba is a fucking disgrace - if I turned in a 'performance' lacking as much dedication and work-rate as his yesterday, I'd be staring at my P45 right now).

Clive - agree with yoru thoughts on Mr Webb. I actually afforded myself a glimmer of optimism yesterday when I saw that Jar Jar Binks was missing, no Scholes in midfield and a ref (in my opinion the best in the league) who would be fairer than most. He had a shocker almost as bad as the boys in blue. Lamps booking was dodgy, also how Ronaldo didn't get one for an identical challenge on Lamps in the second half was strange.

But it matters little, we got what we deserved.

As Nick alludes to in hif final thoughts - I think this is the 'real' Chelsea of now. We know plain well we wont be buying top stars, maybe not spending at all. We'll be lucky to challenge for the title this year, maybe even next year. Back to being a cup team (obviously not the Champs League though). Maybe they could re-introduce the Cup Winners Cup?

Also of note is the fact that the qualifying spots for the Champions League are being revised next year. Have heard we may only get 3 places in the competition. I hate to be pessimistic this early on, but someone needs to be having a good look at that - no Champions League football in the next few years just isn't good enough.

@ ChelseaTony

I could not agree more with you… And I can think of only one man that fits the bill perfectly!

However, weren’t these the very points that everyone wanted to disassociate Chelsea from? We wanted to be loved be every Tom Dick and Harry… I wonder how everyone who claimed Chelsea as boring are feeling now…

"However, weren’t these the very points that everyone wanted to disassociate Chelsea from? We wanted to be loved be every Tom Dick and Harry… I wonder how everyone who claimed Chelsea as boring are feeling now…"

@ FallenAngel - agreed - I was uncomfortable in the glare of hatred and bile being spat at the club with Jose being the chief Devils fiddler orchestrating the enmity being directed at us. But as the old saying goes, you don't know what you had until its gone. Within a week of his departure and the similar capitulation we showed at OT in AG's first game it dawned on me that the glory days may well be behind us. Since then it's been a sad decline. Some Empires last for decades, some for just a few years. All eventually fall. I think our Empire started to crumble the day our Caeser left.

I would take all the hatred back tomorrow if it meant becoming the irrestible force we were in 05/06

@TheFallenAngel
I think you will find the vast majority on here never wanted to see him go, and quite frankly I would take pragmatic football anyday of the week if it give us 3 points and trophies.

On the plus side, the only thing our current predicament is proving since his departure, is that we didn't buy our titles. For all the fans from opposistion teams stating any manager could win things with Chelsea with those players in the side, well I think we know different.

1. I am not going to complain about this defeat because you can only take what you get.
2. It took me only four matches to reach the same decision on Phil that has taken the most intelligable bloggers here, 6 months. SACK HIM OR LET HIM BUILD HIS OWN TEAM.
3. The main problem with Phil's Chelsea is that they try to play 'WITHOUT A BALL'. Instead of having 1 ball winner(Obi) and 5-playmakers(Ballack, Lampard, Deco, Joey and Drogba)-chasing-the-ball-all-day why not have at least 2 ball winners(+Belleti|Mineiro) and few playmakers with more time on the ball.?????????????????

@ Clive
Exactly! We did not buy those titles...

I have been a regular on this blog for more than 4 years now... In fact I should tell you, I visit this place everyday... I am from India and so this blog gives me a peek into the lives and thoughts (sometime more ;)) of Chelsea fans who watch our team play live on a regular basis...

Wonder what our Caesar must have felt watching our beloved blues! I know fairy tales are not supposed to come true... But how I wish!

In a perverse kind of way I'm pleased we lost badly as it finally exposes one or two myths about the current Chelsea:

1. It'll all be OK when Ricky and JT are back together again - wrong, not even Alex and Ivanovic let in 3 goals.
2. Anelka and Drogba can/can't play together - it doesn't matter either way if Drogba is so out of it.
3. Cech is the best goalie in the world - he used to be, I'm not sure if he's the best goalie at Chelsa now!
4. Wait till our 5 top midfielders are all fit - yeh right, Deco and Ballack may have had it once, but no longer. Neither has the pace or aggression for the Premiership.
5. We're much better away from home when teams come at us - yeh, but not good teams.

I keep asking myself why the Championship winning teams were broken up when they weren't broke. Duff, Robben, Gudjohnson, Crespo, Gallas, Ferreira, Bridge, Makelele etc may not have all been great all the time but were they worse than Sheva, Malouda, Kalou, Ballack, Deco, Anelka etc? And the final question - can some one please tell me why Ashley Cole is better than Bridge and Gallas?

Only one myth to go - it'll all be OK when Essien's back!

Quote from somewhere official

"He also ruled out the possibility of adding to his squad, adding that he believes he has the talent already at the club to succeed, using youngster Franco Di Santo as an example, and first explaining the decision to leave Nicolas Anelka on the bench for the start.

'I think Didier [Drogba] is in good condition and I believe in Didier as a number nine. I put him in for one game, two games.

'I know that more players do not arrive, I don't want more players. I have very good players, and this is my squad, finished. "

Dear God, we're doomed.

@Tony #26

Although to be fair with better management we could be doing much better than we are with the current squad.

I'm not even asking for miracles because it wouldn't take a genius to take our squad and be able to demolish Burnley or Southend. I think Phil should say

'I know that more players do not arrive, I don't want more players. I have very good players, and this is my squad, finished, but I don't know how to manage or organise them.

@ 27 Mark - fair point. The management isn't good and we do have some allegedly exciting youngsters. But to come out with the bollocks above when only Di Santo has been given any real playing time, and then only from the bench shows me he doesn't follow his words with actions. And no-one can doubt the former team spirit is missing. We lack leadership on and off the field, JT looked lost yesterday physically and mentally beaten. Scolari just looks .....impotent.

Its Ranieri MK II, Tim Nice-but-Dim is in charge of the team.

It's all a bit depressing, but can we have sensible choices for possible replacements please? Phil Brown? Not even Spurs would stoop that low.

I'm also loathe to take managerial advice from anybody who supported the sacking of JM. Jesus Christ, do you now see what you've lost, what you threw away?

The thing is, all the problems we are facing are ones that the club have resolutely failed to address since Mourinho's third season - ageing midfield, over-reliance on Drogba, no replacement for Robben. It's lack of intelligent investment since the Shevchenko debacle that has destroyed us - we've been using sticking plasters when we needed surgery.

I've said it any number of times, but if Roman was coming in was the best thing to ever happen to this club, the Shevchenko transfer was the worst.

@29. PeteW

Fair criticism.

Accepted.

It's lack of intelligent investment since the Shevchenko debacle that has destroyed us - we've been using sticking plasters when we needed surgery.

Yes we are on decline since that CL game with Rosenborg, which was the last game of JM. I do agree that since than we did not have any intelligent investment except may be Anelka.

Agree totally with you, Pete --- you can almost trace our decline since the arrival of Sheva (and Ballack, I believe). For those of you old enough to remember, the same thing happened when Rodney March joined a title-chasing Manchester City.

Mark, sorry, shouldn't have singled you out for criticism, that was mean.

Roman withholding funds the summer before JM left was the critical one. Could trace a gradual decline from the previous Christmas, when we got those successive 2-2 draws with Reading and Fulham, or when we signed Shevchenko and sold Gallas.

I'm tempted to think, fuck it, we're not going to win anything this season so let's flog Drogba asap, he has completely lost interest, dump Deco and Ballack and throw some of the kids into action.

@ Pete, Phil Brown has worked marvels at Hull considering his budget. he may not be CFC material but to dismiss him and his achievements underlines the mentality of the English, we don't have any faith in ourselves anymore. How do young English/British coaches get any chances if no-one will take a punt on them? Steve Bruce is forging a nice little outfit at Wigan with shrewd buys and team spirit, Allardyce made Bolton a PL fixture but all we get is the usual idiotic bollocks from senior management and fickle fans about "not having won anything, not having the experience etc". Tony Adams at Portsmouth has inherited 'Arrys team of misfits and aging crocks and people start spouting 'lack of experience'.....ffs he was England captain Arsenal, he won four top flight division titles, three FA Cups, two Football League Cups, a UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, and three FA Community Shields. If that isn't experience then what the fuck is? All I'm saying is we should stop dismissing people from the chance to manage us based on the fact they merely manage unfashionable clubs.

Scolari's here to stay, but if we do change in the summer then what would be wrong with Moyes? He's done bloody miracles with next to no money and has just the right balance of diplomacy and disdain for me. Alex Ferguson, the greatest ever manager (despite what Liverpool fans might think) came from Aberdeen ffs and given time and support has produced the greatest side of modern times (whatever we might like to think). If we publicly stated that as a policy, with Moyes (or O' Neill) we were going to build for 2-3 years time with youngsters and bought in quality to produce a sustainable future of success I think I could accept that.

Also I think the press realised well into our second season with JM in charge we would dominate for a number of years. Hence the bile and vitriol that the majority of journos would write in an attempt to destabalise, and make us hated. JM never fell for it, because he knew he was doing the right thing to make us winners, the only person that did fall for it was probably RA himself. He fell in love with the Real Madrid type football when he bought us, and perhaps never fully understood the culture of football in this country.

And some of the Chelsea fans who wanted JM out, felt uncomfortable with the publicity that came with being winners, because we weren't used to it. Did you Utd fans give a monkeys toss when everyone hated them? I think we all jumped on anybody but Utd bandwagon when they dominated, and they are continuing to dominate again.

I'll say it now, I hope RA does decide to sell, we are still a good proposition to a lot of rich investors, unlike Citeh we do have a good foundation to build on. It would only take someone with bottle and a total disregard for what the press write, and the balls to re-hire the man that give his us that sheer bloody mindedness to win.

'If we publicly stated that as a policy, with Moyes (or O' Neill) we were going to build for 2-3 years time with youngsters and bought in quality to produce a sustainable future of success I think I could accept that.'

No argument there, but regarding the likes of Phil Brown - how would you react if, say, Liverpool appointed him to replace Benitez?

a) shit your pants
b) laugh your arse off

Bruce is a better shout, but managing at our level is about dealing with egos as much as anything else (look at the trouble Sparky is in), and you need somebody who can handle that. Plus, he's a United man. I don't see that bolshiness with any of the good British managers - Moyes, Bruce - except possibly O'Neill, who would be mad to leave Villa for our job (so would Moyes and Bruce for that matter).

Ferguson came from Aberdeen with a track record of 15 years experience and a breaking of the Old Firm hegemony while winning European and domestic trophies. That is an extraordinary achievement - a bit more than winning a play-off final and then getting relegated again.

For the British is best brigade I have only three words: Steve Fucking McClaren.

But I'd kill for Capello...

I wish I was proved wrong but I take everyone back to my post about the lowest common denominator about ballack and Chelsea lack of winning the prem since his arrival. We need one king in midfield which is still Lampard. Would Fergie have bought someone in to be the same as Keane or Rafa do the same with gerrard? So why did we destroy the midfield? Everyone knows that you did not get past our midfield and then you had our defence if you did and in between Makelele. I dont agree with fullbacks running up the pitch either which is another one of my posts after Scholaris first game. i said it then. Proper wingers deal the shots into the penalty area so defence concentrates on... defence....This was jose's trademark. Dont go over the halfway line...but it was;nt pretty enough for Roman and Kenyon who swallowed the Man-u media line about ugly football. Well I hope he chokes on his yacht and feeds kenyon to the sharks. Did Kenyon not say at the Avram first conference that now that jose has installed a winning mentality it is time to move on? for what? mediocrity....oh how many of us on here told you so. Keyon should have advised RA properly. That guy doesnt give a shit about Chelsea...I would'nt mind having a bet he will be at Man-city next year espousing his making Man-city a global brand. He seems to forget, you only become a global brand and attract new fans by winning and beating the established hierarchy in European football. Soenmthing which at this moment looks very distant. What happened to the No1 club in the World model? I really hate that Fucking Cunt and I apologise to my colleagues on here who know I rarely use such words except in reference to that that fucker....

Hello All. Like Stan Collymore I've been looking at this blog for a while now and (again)like Stan Collymore, I've decided to muck in and "get my hands dirty" (so to speak).

Yesterday was indeed a shocker but I don't think there's an easy way out of our current predicament. I think Roman needs to decide if he's committed to Chelsea anymore. If he is, a bit of money may be useful, if he's not he should sell up. At the moment, everyone is sort of caught in the middle. If he is unwilling to shell out there is not much that Kenyon (and Scolari to a certain extent) can do about it.

If things continue to slide, the overall value of the club will decrease and so it would be better if he decided one way or the other sooner or later.

That said Scolari has been disapointing and I am not in any way looking to endorse him, but as other posters have suggested, we have been on any steady decline since Jose's last full season. What we are seeing now is a continuation of that.

My instinct: back Scolari to clean out the cupboard in summer and build the team he wants rather than this pale imitation of JM's. We need to stop living on past glories and stop thinking that we should persevere with the old squad who'll come good again, given just one more chance. It reminds me of any number of terrible films (get the old gang back together for one last heist, gig, clusterfuck) only in the real world, rather than Hollywood.

AGH57 might be right about Roman (welcome to the party!)

"... back Scolari to clean out the cupboard in summer and build the team he wants rather than this pale imitation of JM's. We need to stop living on past glories and stop thinking that we should persevere with the old squad who'll come good again, given just one more chance."

I agree. What's the point of sacking Scolari, paying him £9-10m compensation, only to employ another "big name" manager on a £5m a year deal who will have exactly the same squad of aging egos. Scolari might even be able to find us a few superstar bargains from Brazil and beyond; at least give him the opportunity.

Welcome AGH57 - good point and well made.

@ Pete - I wasn't advocating any real specific except for Moyes. He surely fits into the 'experienced' mould and seems to have a team spirit indicating his players would run through walls for him. But I'm like you on the Scolari point, back him or sack him. If he builds a team that takes us further then great but ....he's 60 now so how much desire does he have at such a pressurised level? Secondly he then blurts out a quote as shown above that indicates he doesn't WANT to build a new team, he's happy with what he's got. That doesn't fill me with joy to know he thinks the current aging squad can recreate former past glories without using the same recipe they know and love.

I think there's more to the RA thing than we know.

Morning all,

Not a pleasant afternoon, it must be said. A lot of sense being talked on here this morning though; it is becoming all the more clear that the club needs to state its intentions clearly in terms of backing Scolari and consider where we need to be in 3-5 years time.

Scolari is unfortunately the man who has inherited a series of problems which, I think most of us agree, started to take root in the summer of 2007. Despite his protestations to the contrary, Grant didn't actually change anything and I suspect Clarke had an awful lot to do with the continuity but as last season proved, we just lacked that extra 5% that someone like Mourinho brings you.

I think there is also a point where any squad, especially one with a few ageing legs, that came as close as we did to major honours last season can lose the edge - the 1998/99 team (?) that came close to winning the title being another good example - and the longer this goes on without a concerted effort at renewing the squad and making competition for places tougher, the more pronounced the slump will become.

Phil is here on a 2 year deal; in short, given his age, that doesn't strike me as a plan for the future. I'm all for seeing the club back him, but it will become increasingly difficult if he can't get the basics right; set pieces and so on. The fans won't remain patient when they can see us continually making the same mistakes that they'd class as amatuer if they were made by a Sunday league team.

One thing is almost certain; in our current state £100m in the transfer window would make little difference - things need to change from the ground up. Get the players performing again and then perform surgery in the summer; aside of the financial implications, we won't attract the kind of players we need if we're lurking in the UEFA Cup spots.

On a David Brent-esque bright note, I am top of the Guardian Chelseabloggaz fantasy league. And no, I don't want Phil's job... :-)

'I think there's more to the RA thing than we know.'

Yeah, I'm getting that some horrible feeling.

Tony, I take what managers say to the press with very little seriousness. He's hardly going to say, 'yeah, they're all over the hill and hate each other, I'm up for a big clear out asap.'

If we're doing the Fergie thing, remember it took him five years to clear out the Augean stable that was the Old Trafford dressing room when he took over (and he spent a lot of that time replacing drunken shite with sober shite, it should be said... Different era, though)

I really hope Jose knocks Man-U out of the CL...that will deflate the Mancs and Ferguson!!

Oh, and one other thing: totally agree about Wilkins, he's diabolical, and those defensive areas are the sort of things that should be his responsibility.

get a proper assistant manager in, not just somebody who speaks the lingo.

I have been saying this for some time and surprisingly am quite unhappy about being proven right. At the beginning of the season I wrote:

1) Age of squad - (right after we bought Deco): Too old and too slow. It will leave a massive gap to fill i.e. Deco, Ballack and Lamps are all 30+. We only have Essien and Obi to cover in years to come.

2) Wingers - too crap for a 4-3-3 formation. Joe cole lacks pace but is skilful. Kalou has pace but no skill. Malouda is not as bad as everyone makes out but is really a "Villa to Portsmouth" type players not a top 4 team player.

3) Manager: No Prem experience and won a world cup with the best players in the world. I hate cups as you need luck to win them only consistanly performing teams win the league. That requires consistancy as well as creativity as you need to play multiple ways to win a league. You need a plan A, B C and D. Plus they all need to be effective!!

Good news:

I live in Dubai and rumour has it that the DIC (the guys who wanted to buy Liverpool) want to buy CFc from Roman. The ADIC who bought Man City and the royal family from next door as it is so the sheik that runs DIC see's cfc as the perfect springboard to compete with the ADIC. Fingers crossed cause then we would be richer the city again!!

Here's to a barren few seasons to come and we can only pray that managment accepts that it's time to build a squad rather then buy one of aging starlets.

47. TrueBlue007

Interesting

We could all benefit from a bigger DIC

hi hi,


There's normally some really sound opinions on this blog and I think today is no different - although the realisation that if there are any problems they aren't going to be changed for a long while is, admittedly, a tough one to come to terms with. However, a small part of me thinks that if we have a tough season (or two!) then what success coems after that will be properly deserved and altogether more sweet - in this league it is unlikely to suggest any club will dominate completely (remember man u had a dodgy season or two a few years back?). Part of me thinks this is our fallow year, and it could go either way - we come back stronger with a club completely in line with big phil's playing style as he builds a team that is truly his, or his contract isn't renewed and we move on... and start again. cripes.

If we are going to make a challenge for the top four (for we have to start to think like that now) and garuantee CL footy next season, we do need a plan b - anything, just show us that you can handle substitutions well, phil.

oh, and say hi to the fans once in a while. When West Ham came to the bridge, it was the frickin opposition manager who was the complimentary one (though i appreciate that was a special case, but the point still stands).

My old ma has a phrase for it, "I don't know what to say and say it right."

Being a pessimist by nature, recent years had seen me transformed into someone who didn't fear the worst when we went behind or had a few bad results. Even the second half of last season saw me relatively upbeat. When the goal went in yesterday I was glad I had to turn the radio off and carry out family related duties.

I feel cut adrift and don't know what to think. No player ratings as Burmese neo realist cinema (or whatever) today my friends (every cloud has a silver lining you may be thinking).

It is tempting to see the current malaise as the result of the infighting, internal empire building and lack of focus on the long term future, which has bedevilled the club since forever but has been particularly galling to see when we had a conjunction of personnel, money and success.

Now we have a squad that has enough quality players but seems to be losing form precipitously, few young prospects have been blooded in recent years, there is little likelihood of a solution from the transfer market and we all feel that the current management set up doesn't have the organisation and methods to get us back on the right road.

With respect to the transfer market I feel we can't always just decide to junk what we have and buy in a fresh load of ready-made names. It doesn't build a team and if we want to be a top club we should be looking at a mix of purchasing stars, well-scouted unknowns and in-house development.

to be continued

Now is it all bad or will a few decent results get us all back on side? Difficult to say. Even now the PR boys are making the awkward decision as to when to issue the “there’s been a clear the air meeting and we’re all going forward as one” along with a few well placed quotes from Lamps and JT urging everyone to lift their game. Do they do that today and tomorrow or wait and see what happens at Roots Hall, when a 16-0 win for the Blues will make everything OK?

Personally I’m starting to have serious doubts aboutLGF. The set pieces are what is doing it for me. Portugal were shocking at defending them in the last Euro’s and we are going the same way. Our own attacking set pieces barely raise the pulse above the comatose. Yes, he has players who are not his squad and getting them to play his way may be proving problematic but getting them to do what they were always good at, well that shouldn’t tax any coach too greatly should it?

Oh! this is just brain dribbling, I’m going away to leave you all in peace.

Today I feel that to get us back on course will be as heroic as bailing the Titanic out with a tea spoon and just as likely.

But who knows what tomorrow will bring?

A last word as possibly the only supporter of Claudio apart from his Mum, while things got a bit confused at times, I didn’t ever feel that there was the drained and lost feeling about the team that there is now.

Note:
For the rest of the day this blog name will be playing funereal martial music and will return to the air after a suitable period of mourning (to respond to the right kicking I’ll get over me Claudio comment – not the face Tony, not the face, I may be old but I’m still beautiful!).

I guess the problem The Slowly Sinking One has is that while he may well be prepared to build a team for the future, he's got to do enough to stay in the job in the short-term. Hence playing the strongest side available to him as he sees fit.

Clearly, there's little faith in the current crop of youth players. I hate banging on about Man U, but Welbeck was once again in their squad yesterday. We're so thin on the ground, I dont even consider Di Santo to be anything other than our 3rd choice striker - he's no longer the youth. We need to be looking to play 2 or 3 'names' in midfield and blooding a youth player at the same time. Where's the point in seeing out this season, having a mass cull of the ageing players and then chucking 5 kids in from the start of next season?

We're in a predicament at the moment that means while we're still in the title race (and we are) we can't afford any more slip ups. Scolari will continue to persevere with those players that we all know really should be performing more. When / if we're out of the race (Anfield is looking like a safe bet) I say it's time to take stock of the kids - here and out on loan - and assess who really is the future of Chelsea. Jack Cork's playing well in an average Watford side - we need young central midfielders. With Bridge sold, our second natural left back is Bertrand at Norwich. No way would I rather see Ferreira or Belletti played out of position 'to fill in'.

If the kids really aren't seen as good enough, then we might as well sell them to generate the money for replacements. Why have Sinclair in and out of the squad for a few months, then loan him out twice a season. If he's not good enough for us, get rid. He'd probably prefer it as well.

While everyone canes him for it, internally, Wenger's under no pressure to win things. He's going about the assembly of a decent young side. We're the opposite, and I'm afraid things will get worse before they get better.

A last word as possibly the only supporter of Claudio apart from his Mum, while things got a bit confused at times, I didn’t ever feel that there was the drained and lost feeling about the team that there is now.

@BB
You may get ridiculed for that statement, ;-) but if he turfs us out of the CL; then they might well be inspired comments

scolari is the cancer within chelsea and this tumour needs to be ridden off before it kills the whole of chelsea ,chelsea is better off having a coach player like terry than having
mr clueless scolari who cant communicate ,cant `win`, cant make right substitutions ,cant think anyone backing him must be mentally handicapped .
for heavens sake we should get ricard or mancini who will do fine,and what is kenyon doing with the 10mill from bridges sale ??watching exotic strippers?

Hi all.

I woke up this a.m. so miffed by last night's 'performance' that I needed to see what other's were thinking and really glad to find this site.

Reading your rants has made me feel much better. Ta.

Lots of sense but not all is as it seems.

If Big Phil's been told that he can't buy then he's right to say the squad is great - do you want him to say they're crap and still expect them to work?

Losing Steve Clarke maybe as bad as losing Jose who thought he was bigger than the club (and perhaps time will prove that he was!)

However nice Ray Wilkins is, he's obviously not much of a coach - most recent goals against have come from the sort of positions that would be the domain of Scolari's assistant on the training ground!

We don't need more of the sack and hire syndrome so beloved of RA's agents and advisers.

What we need now is proper succession planning. Bring in a young and ambitious motivator with the promise that he'll be given a shot when Phil departs. I'm sure that this squad and set-up would tempt most managers from any of the lower divisions and even some from the prem.

BTW: Who's idea was it to sell Wayne Bridge or Wright-P for that matter? If these decisions are being made by Kenyon and co then it's no wonder that Big Phil's got belly ache!

@ BB - "to respond to the right kicking I’ll get over me Claudio comment – not the face Tony, not the face, I may be old but I’m still beautiful!"

Mr BB - I LIKED Claudio Ranieri. He had dignity and did a sterling job - Gullit and Vialli had been given money to look at players from big teams, Ranieri was given little money and told to look at players from Barnet. For 5 long years he battled vainly to build a credible side on next to nothing. His achievements should not be dismissed. However, he wasn't, for me, a winner in the way Rednose and Whinger are. He was too nice, too respected. He was like the schoolkid who thinks the hard nuts and bullies are his friends, but in reality they don't beat him up because he either makes them laugh or they feel sorry for him because he's a bit dim and harmless. He was no threat. We were no threat. If we were too get the success we needed a real catalyst both internally and externally. And we got him. I'd rather go for a pint with Claudio than Jose because the company would be nicer. Jose, I imagine would be an arrogant and narcissistic drinking partner who'd most likely get you into a fight by the end of the night.

Hopefully that was nothing more than a mild bit of jostling than a kicking.

Whoa, there's someone else who liked Claudio! (steps proudly out of Ranieri-luvahs closet)

I was thinking that today would be an excellent day to turn our attention to Fantasy Football, given that the real thing is under news embargo for at least 48 hours (I'm not opening any papers today or tomorrow). But I'm too depressed even to report on the Chelseabloggaz league.

It is reassuring to see the amount of sense being talked here. Scolari's not going to be fired any time soon, we all know that; I think we'd have to finish outside the CL places for him to be replaced in the summer. I doubt RA wants to have to stump up for another big payoff, and deep down, we all know that continuity is the only way things are going to get better.

But it does seem that he hasn't got this group of players properly behind him. When his system was producing performances like the home win over Villa -- the best performance I've ever seen from a Chelsea team, in my 15 years at the Bridge -- and all those 4-0 wins, everyone was happy, but he hasn't got the players committed enough to keep faith with him when things get tough.

If there was a core of younger players who were clearly a unit that the team could be built around, then maybe it would make most sense to think about a new manager. But I don't think we have that. For better or for worse, I think Mr. Not-As-Big-As-José should be given the chance to make Chelsea his team. As a few have said above, it looks likely to be a painful process.

I may have to stop cheering every time the 'Poo drop points. If preventing the Mancs from winning the league means dealing with the Scousers crowing about themselves all next season, well, sometimes you have to be willing to pay the heavy price.

@ Tony #56

"....the schoolkid who thinks the hard nuts and bullies are his friends, but in reality they don't beat him up because he either makes them laugh or they feel sorry for him because he's a bit dim and harmless."

I will be suing my analyst on the grounds that my file is confidential and should not have been made available to you..

Ranieri in 2000 did a great job in a similar situation to now, stripping out Wise, Desailly, Leboeuf, Flo, Petrescu etc and bringing in youngsters. Tough decisions that had to be made, suggesting he wasn't that much of a wimp when you think about it. Flogging Wise - that took guts.

He actually spent quite a bit of money until his penultimate season when he had zilch but still got us into the CL - there was hasselbaink (15m), gudjohnson (5m), gallas (6m), lampard (11m), stanic (5m), Petit (7.5m?), zenden (7m??). Sure there were lots others, we were surely in top five spenders of the time.

I liked the guy for the most part, but his lack of bollocks against the big guys (remember all those spineless capitulations to Arsenal), and the Monaco debacle did for me.

@LimeTree

You'd really rather have the Pool win the Prem than the Mancs? I for one couldn't stand to see Tubby Benetiz and that prat Gerrard win it. Let them suffer another 17 years of hurt I say!!

As for the mancs = yes I hate them but at least they play well and I'm used to them winning the league each season anyway ...

Thankfully I could turn to the NFL play-offs on Sky straight after yesterday's abysmal display to take my mind off it and obliterate it enough to get a good night's sleep afterwards, Clive.

Every opponent has realised if they can keep our full-backs pinned back in our own half we have no width and as JD said towards the end of the last blog [@203] Scolari continues trying to play a system we don't have the right players for, rather than playing to the strengths of the current squad.

I heard a soundbite of His Bigness on the radio this morning now spouting the Kenyon line on not buying players this transfer window rather than his "I want 1 or 2" from a few months ago - and as some have said January is not the time for major re-building anyway.

This begs the question is he going to stick to his system and possibly see us spiral out of CL qualification or adapt to something our squad can cope with in the short term before re-building in the summer? Those excitable colonials on the NFL coverage are much taken by the effect of The Big Mo[mentum] and confidence - and we seem to have very little of either left to keep this season going.

@LTB
Go wash your mouth out with soap, ;-) It would piss me off no end if I saw that wanker Gerrard lift the PL Trophy come May. As much as I don't want to see Utd win it for a third year, it would be the lesser of two evils.
I think their fans know that once Sir Rednose retires they might well see their days of dominance disappear.

The other option would be if we can't win it, then why not Villa, they've crept up quietly, and seem to be growing in confidence, who knows this is proving to be a strange season.

Nearly forgot, JD - on your David Brent moment re Fantasy Football, without getting too anal can I point out that there is still the scheduled Man Ure v Wigan game to play this Gameweek [ I'm hoping for double figures goals from Zaki to close the gap on you, personally] plus the week was distorted by the 2 last minute postponed games for those with Fulham, Man City, Portsmouth - [or Blackburn?] players in their team.

And anyway I see you've got no less than 3 "Red" team players in your squad - shame on you ;-)

i supose there is always hope, as in Wigan who are doing fab at the moment get something out of the game..who knows if it happens then all could change again and Liverpool at Everton..wow, that is a big game!! well, then pigs can fly..but who knows with genetics anything is possible! hehe! if i cant be funny I would cry so i've decided to try and see the positive, after all this season has been up and down for everyone. keep the blue flag flying high!!!

I'm defo in the 'if not us then Man USA camp'.

The scousers bleat on about their f'ing history so much. I could be wrong, but I think if Man U win it this season they've won the same amount of titles. So much for bloody history.

Still, there's always Wednesday to look forward to. As if embarrassing ourselves on satellite TV wasn't the end, we can now show the masses with terrestrial TV how truly shit we are live on ITV.

I know this is anethema to some, but i'd quite like Liverpool to win it. I never had a problem with them boasting about their previous success, because it is extraordinary, i just found their 'chelsea have no history' crap really aggravating because it was so ignorant. But their fans after last year's CL semi were absolute gents, one and all.

I don't like the players much, nor Benitez and Parry, but I have a soft spot for the club given that their success was pretty much the backdrop to my entire youth.

United's staggering arrogance, their horribly cocky, smug, aggressive, humourless supporters, and the repellent Rooney, Ronaldo, Rio and Berbatov quartet, deserve some comeuppence.

i know!!! if we cant win it why dont we lend villa our two best, terry and lampard! at least it will help stop manu and liverpool winning hehe

Just said that the problem with Chelsea is the squad.

Cech to stay
Cole to stay
Terry to stay
Carvalho to stay
Bosingwa to stay
Mikel to stay
Ballack - Please Go - Bring in Arteta (Everton)
Deco to stay to Groom young Talent
Lampard - Please Go - Bring in Robinho (Man City) Oh we faked this up can he still come
Joe Cole - Please Go - Could we get Messi????? Am I dreaming????
Kalou to stay
Drogba - Please Go - Bring in Ben Arfa
Anelka to stay to groom Di Santos

When does this season end????
Belleti - Please Go Bring in some Talent from the Academy

You never know, if Liverpool do win it Stevie G may not be around to lift the trophy!

Given the prevelance of Seasonal Affective Disorder, the long nights, cold weather, post Christmas blues etc. etc. I think we should stop the "is it to be Poo or Manure this year?" debate in the name of responsible bloggery.

It is taking us to a very dark place and while some seasoned campaigners can look into this dark abyss unmoved, I fear that there are others, some of them callow, fragile young minds who may not be able to cope with this added depressant.

The mental health problems of this country are sizeable enough without us adding to them.

On a brighter note and following the others retreating into the world of fantasy football, I thought it might interest you to know how I have achieved a dazzling 9th place.

Having little or no football knowledge, being aware that choosing Chelsea players could put a bok on them and being by nature indecisive and confused by too much choice I used the following criteria to minimise the amount of players from which to choose.

1. No red in the club colours.
2. Only English players and manager (not for xenophobic or patriotic reasons, purely to limit choice)
3. Only 1 player from each club until all represented (inc. subs)then a second allowed.
4. Regularly fail to update or transfer despite injuries etc. and then regret doing so ad nauseam

There you go an insight into the thinking of a master footballing mind. Now where is Phil's number I must give him a call........?

Perhaps a straw pole then, if not us..... Poo or Manure?

Or I suppose it could be Arsen ... no wait ... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA.

Oooo, I think I just cheered myself up thinking about how miserable their fans must be. And there's always the excitement of waiting to see if Bottenham get relegated.

Gosh. Life is worth living after all. Hooray for schadenfreude.

Definitely Utd. I've got used to Fergie winning it and i think it's more special being part of a small club involving us, Utd, Arsenal and Blackburn who have won the league. Seeing Liverpool gatecrash that party would be depressing and despite me starting to like Rafa, i just hate Liverpool. Partly because they've got that twat Carragher, partly because they've got Saint Gerrard who is seen as the best midfielder ever by some parts of the media and partly because they stole that Champions League by scoring a goal that didn't cross the line. It may be irrational, it may not be fair but i'll always hate Liverpool.

And isn't nice to see Musumba provide his reasoned insight on yesterday's debacle. Maybe he's Scolari in disguise as i haven't found anyone else willing to support Deco after his recent performances.

Forgot about Spurs. It would be handy if a big side got relegated as it could speed up our rebuilding process. Just like we cherrypicked the best talent from West Ham when they got the boot in 2003, we could easily pick up Gareth Bale (great young talent, a free-kick specialist, left footed and can play on the LW or at LB), Defoe (reliable goal scorer) and...um...maybe Bostock? Thinking about it they don't have many players i'd want. Seeing West Ham relegated would allow us to get Collison (great young English talent), Rob Green (surely more reliable than Carlo) and maybe Clarkey? But my bet would be on WBA, Stoke and Hull (yep, i know they were riding high, but they've been worked out and there team is packed full of shit players) and out of that lot i'd want no-one.

Horrible. What the f*** happened to us? Why can't we go back to the boring & resilient Chelsea of the Mourinho years? Is this what Roman had in mind of attacking football??? Anyone who called for a 4-2-2 formation has probably got their answers by yesterday's display at Old Trafford. We want our old Chelsea back. Boring and hated by others because of jealousy, not become a laughing stock and opposition supporters "feeling a bit sad for us". Results over Popularity. Defiance over Adventure. Any. Day. of. the. Week.

KTBFFH!

WOW! this is confidence!! to talk about how you are going to play each other. it also shows how highly Ferguson holds Jose in Regard. What a manager...and we let him go!
LINK
No mention of Scholari....obviously Fergie does'nt think much of his abilities then!!

Public Information Announcement

For any of those who only started watching Chelsea in the recent more successful years and as a reminder to the old stagers here is the Health and Safety Executive recommended “ Watching Chelsea on TV” pose from years gone by and may prove helpful on Wednesday night.

LINK

@LTB #72
"Hooray for schadenfreude."

Are they topping the league in Lichtenstein?

@LTB #72
"Hooray for schadenfreude."

Are they topping the league in Lichtenstein?


Ouch I'll help you get your coat

And bloody hell I'm tired.... I hope we don't lose on Wednesday, if we do I think I might not even bother go to bed.

@70 BlueBayou - interesting to see your selection strategy in the fantasy football, though I think you over-extended the "No-Reds" policy in denying yourself the joy of rummaging through the dregs of Stoke, Middlesbrough and Sunderland.

Benign neglect re transfers can be a successful strategy - indeed I know someone who won the office Barclays Fantasy game a few years ago while making only 2 transfers in the entire year, under protest, when told 2 of their squad had left the EPL in the January transfer window. That game does have auto-substitution from your bench for non-players, of course.

And Finally (from someone whose postings represent whistling to keep up the spirits as the darkness enevlopes us) its Obituary Corner.

Can we let the day pass without raising our hats to David Vine who passed away yesterday. While more recently associated with snooker and related nonsense, David Vine will always represent, for me, two siginificant strands of TV

1. Ski Sunday
2. The early years of Its a Knockout watched in Black and White with a crackely cammentary from some far off city of Europe when it was genuinely outlandish and funny.

Apposite then that he should depart on a day when our season started to look all downhill and our defending finally reached the level of farce.

I thank you, here's my cloakroom stub...

I'm doing pretty well in the Chelseabloggaz league in spite of my no reds, no transfers, no interest policy. Okay, I am interested, but I keep forgetting to make transfers and substitutions. Perhaps I should make more effort given that I'm in fourth place without using a single Arsenal, Liverpool (I don't want them to win the league!) or United player.

To finish, a moment's silence for the late David Vine. LINK His presenting and commentary was the backdrop to my youth which was mostly spent watching sport on TV. R.I.P.

@Dio
Mourinho is the next Man Utd manager whether we want it or not.

Damn it, BlueBayou. *Throws BlueBayou's coat at him and asks security to escort him off the premises* :-)

Lets be Frank...

3. Why are all his goals against the lower half of the bottom half teams?
4. Why does he make so few assists?
5. Does he have to shoot everything?
6. Why do all good footballers struggle alongside him?
7. Why does he struggle alongside good footballers?
8. Why does he take freekicks?
9. Why does he take corner kicks?
10. Why is he so selfish?
11. What made him think Malouda was the one behind our bad run?
12. Why is he one of the 'senior players' behind the dressing room unrest?
13. Who the **** does he think he is?
14. Why did he and his fellow 'senior' play demand to know why Ballack was taken off instead of Deco?
15. Why doesn't he bring other players into the game?
16. After Malouda and Deco, who is he going to blame next for our bad run?
17. Why ******* shoot all the time?
18. Does he have to shoot all the time?
19. Who does he think he is?
1. Why do they call him Frank Shoot Lamplurd?
2. Why do England fans boo him?

Fuck off, pissant.

We should all be careful, he's trying to goad us into taking the bait. I think it's better if we all save our hatred for Wednesday night as we watch another inept performance and probably go out on pens. But it is hard not to react especially to his no. 1 point: "Why do they call him Frank Shoot Lamplurd?" How long do you think it took him to come up with that one? He probably thinks he's hilarious making a pun out of Frank's name!

3. Why are all his goals against the lower half of the bottom half teams?
They're not you muppet. Even if they were they're still goals needed to win games.
4. Why does he make so few assists?
He doesn't, in fact he's a bnit too selfless for my liking
5. Does he have to shoot everything?
Wouldn't you if you regularly got 20 plus goals a season as a midfielder. Pillock
6. Why do all good footballers struggle alongside him?
Because they're not as ...errr....good.
7. Why does he struggle alongside good footballers?
He plays alongside Ballack, Essien, Robben, Duff with no apparant problems
8. Why does he take freekicks?
because his record of fee kicks is amongst the best in the world. better than Roberto 'fucking one shot wonder' Carlos for sure.
9. Why does he take corner kicks?
because he's the only one who can regularly get the ball into the danger zone. Proven fact.
10. Why is he so selfish?
Why are you such a prick?
11. What made him think Malouda was the one behind our bad run?
Because Malouda is a cunt. A useless cunt. Even a deaf Stevie Wonder who's tongue is paralysed could work that out.

contd....

And bravo on calling him a Pissant. It seems perfect:

LINK

"A person who existentially resembles a speck of dry shit hanging from an ass hair of a gorilla. Especially when said person realizes this fact and sharply hones it's "skill" (i.e. propensity) in the execution of self-serving, smarmy, meaningless, petty vendettas for short term gain, which all results in a net tally of gains which equals to zero. They are metaphorically refered to as ants due to their common abundance, and refered to as being urinated on ("piss-") due to their general insignificance and lack of impact."

Oh no Tony, you took the bait.

Well if we're all going to jump in. Moffat you're such a meaningless waste of space, who doesn't deserve to be associated in any way with Chelsea. Why don't you fuck off and support Millwall.

12. Why is he one of the 'senior players' behind the dressing room unrest?
Perhaps because he's a ...eerrr... a senior player who has worked under the best and can see whats going wrong. Like any employee in an underperforming business could.
13. Who the **** does he think he is?
14. Why did he and his fellow 'senior' play demand to know why Ballack was taken off instead of Deco?
Because any employee should challenge a line manager if they think they know better. Fuck me they're footballers not pre-programmed androids built to serve and never have a view. Would you accept never having the right to challenge at work. What do you think it is..the fucking army?
15. Why doesn't he bring other players into the game?
I can barely think of another player who does this as much as him, some of his passes to others for goals have been sublime. Check the archives amoeba brain.
16. After Malouda and Deco, who is he going to blame next for our bad run?
Who says he'll blame anyone.
17. Why ******* shoot all the time?
Does he? I think he's got too selfless lately. he should shoot more. In football it often leads to things called goals. Look it up on Wikipedia.
18. Does he have to shoot all the time?
No,. sometimes he can pass, head or tackle. Multi-talented don't you think?
19. Who does he think he is?
Englands number one midfielder, Chelsea vice captain, twice PL winner, 100 premier league goals scorer, role model, decent chap, good footballer. Modest. Decent. Passionate. Intelligent. Oh if only you could tick one of those boxes.
1. Why do they call him Frank Shoot Lamplurd? Who, the demons in your head?
2. Why do England fans boo him
Because most England fans are brain dead fuckwits who've just scraped themselves from the primeval goo pond.

A bit like you.

@ Habs. Sometimes even the most mild mannered of us get the urge to punch some lights out.

I congratulate you on coming up with 21 ways to insult that twat. I look forward to his response.

@85 Whateveryouwantofuckingcallyourself

Get a life you Parasite. I'm all for censorship when it comes to you, If it was up to me I'd ban your IP address to prevent you posting on here. And to think you had the gall to accuse me of zero football input on this blog, at least I know my limitations, you are just a total FUCKWIT with no insight whatsoever.

@ Habs. Sometimes even the most mild mannered of us get the urge to punch some lights out.

Yes Tony I'm not a violent person, but I would make an exception in his case.

Back to Wednesday...

We may not need to wait very long to see if PS can last the season. If he can lift the team enough to perform well after yesterday's shambles, albeit against a supposedly easy side, then maybe things could work out. It's hard to see how three days can make that much difference though.

As for Ranieri...I still think he's one of the best coaches in the world but probably the most frustrating manager too - wtf couldn't he just pick his best team and let them get on with it?

@BBD #80

The road of self denial is always a hard one and rigour is vital hence I foreswore a good old rummage amongst the bottom feeders, as it were.

@Chelseablog

Great minds old boy, great minds....

I dont believe we've got enough of a strong squad to quantify. I think scolari really needs to have more money in the bag if he's to match up to the top three or four clubs in the country. I have a feeling that aston villa might even have better form than us and its something tht cant be done. It's time for a change i think, i believe that the second squad so to speak arent yet developed enough. I dont think that the youth squad at the moment is home grown enough and there isnt enough. If the match is ever that bad ever again i think i'll just walk off down the road and head to the World's end now Chelsea Bar.

It seems rather sad and moribund around here. Can't say I'm happy either with how things went this weekend. Still... for us to be talking about who we want to win the league this year?

I want Chelsea to win the league. I'll be sick if ManU, Pool or Arse win it. Actually, I'll think it is kind of funny if Marty and Villa win it, because I like Marty, but other than that, I want us. And I won't stop thinking this until we, god forbid, don't win the league, and then I'll gripe.

Other than that- I must admit I was one of the people who believed Scolari was the answer. I'm currently torn between booting him immediately and installing Clarke, or giving him the rest of the year. My guess is that it is his fault, but it is hard to say that he didn't inherit a team in decline. Losing the CL like that can be very damaging to a team. Perhaps wholesale changes are in order...

That said, I'll always take Mourinho back. I never thought we were boring.

But, I also love Robben. So what do I know?

@ Groy......'That said, I'll always take Mourinho back. I never thought we were boring. But, I also love Robben. So what do I know? '

Agree on both counts. Also, I think many have forgotten the standing ovasion that Ranieri got when he left the Bridge. He was, in my opinion a decent man, who did a bloody good job in the circumstances, with the exception of cocking up the Monaco game.

As for Wednesday night.... A defeat could well be the 'straw that breaks the camel's back'..... If I knew for sure that a defeat would bring about a sacking and an end to this farcical nonsense we have been producing for a month now, bring it on! Unfortunately I think Phil will be here for a while, regardless of the result.

Quick question...... Who is the bloke with the 'porn-star' moustache that sits between Scolari and Wilkins looking clueless?

And when TV pictures flick to the bench, has anyone ever noticed either 'porn-star' or Wilkins providing any sort of input at all for Scolari? I don't recall ever seeing any discussion, note-taking, computer-use, even nose-picking! They just sit there looking stupid.

JM had a team of about 4-5 staff scurrying around, was almost always in discussions with Clarke and Rui Faria and at very least they gave an impression that they were doing something.

Great point Greenlight about how Scolari surrounds himself with a bunch of idiots who constantly look surprised that they're being employed by one of the biggest clubs in the world and sit back wondering what to do. Scolari insists on doing all the coaching himself and that's why Clarkey left. But it just means that there is only one person who we can blame this mess on and that's Phil. Why for the past 3 weeks hasn't he corrected the set piece defending? Why can't we play with more than one tactic? Why doesn't he have a Plan B? Why doesn't he know how to change a game with a substitution? Why does he give the squad 3 days off if they've got 6/7 days between games? They should be given 1 day off at most and then told to work their arses off to get back to winning ways. I also agree that if a loss on Wednesday would guarentee his exit this week then i'd gladly sacrifice the FA Cup but we all know Roman won't do it so we'll have to endure 4 more months of this idiot. And for those who say that Scolari should be given time and money in the summer to build his own team, well i don't think Roman will be trusting him with his chequebook any time soon judging by his 2 signings; Deco and Mineiro (what the fuck was the point of signing this has been?) and with only a 2yr contract, Phil's not exactly here to do a Fergie, Wenger, Mourinho or even Rafa and build a team over 2/3 seasons. He's here for the cash and when he leaves we'll look back on this period as one of those classic Chelsea cock-ups like the Monaco semi-final, the Sheva signing and the sacking of Jose.

This is from The Times online


The board insists that the players should take responsibility for their performances rather than blaming the manager, a view Scolari, 60, seemed to support yesterday by questioning his side’s mentality. He also confirmed that no signings would be made this month despite recent results, a decision with which he said he was happy.

“I spoke with Peter Kenyon [the chief executive] a month ago and ten days ago and there will be no new players coming in,” Scolari said. “This is my squad and I’m happy with it. What I need to change is the attitude or the mentality, not the players. There are two options. Either I stick with the same players and they raise themselves, or I change them and try some different players. We’re not playing well enough to win any competition.”

Can anyone tell me what "different players"he's talking about?
He seems quite happy to put all the blame on the players and none on his coaching ability.We'll struggle to finish 4th with an attitude like that
It looks like the players have no confidence in him and if we end up losing on pens to Southend,what will the next excuse be?

Worst Performance i had ever seen from Chelsea. Utterly dissapointing with no f***ing passion to win the ball. Not even one shot at Goal..come on' guys lets be honest....we dont deserve here. Lets not have high hopes for the league title or a champs league spot for the next year. We dumped Avram Grant for he has achieved to keep the title race open until the last minute of the 07-08 season and again in Champions league. Big Phil and other guns in the team should be given a strong warning from Roman Ab for this performance.There is no excuse, no justification for this dismal performance.Its high time we need young legs in the midfield to fighting spirit.

@ Evillynn 103..........

I agree with the Times article, in part. The players need to start showing they have pride in their performances again, but more than that, they need to start showing a bit of footballing intelligence. Good players are able to break down the difficult defences with clever and innovative tactics and skill.

Just look at Utd's disallowed goal on Sunday. When was the last time you saw any Chelsea player do anything from a free kick or corner that impressed you (other than Deco's goal at the start of the season (now 25 games ago).

Seeing those quotes makes me laugh. I know Scolari has to publicly back his players but i wish he'd say something different. Stop trudging out with the same nothing comments that a politician would say and speak your mind. Stir up some controversy or pick on a player. Jose may have battled anyone and everyone but he was the most media savvy manager this country has ever seen and he knew when to put an arm round a player to boost his confidence (e.g. saying Lamps deserved the World Player of the Year Award ahead of ronaldinho) resulting in some great performances and when to give someone a public dressing down (e.g. the famous incident of giving Joe a bollocking despite him scoring the winner against Liverpool). He blamed the board for not giving him any money just to show everyone how good he was and also to strengthen the siege mentality of the squad. He told the players to throw off their shirts at Blackburn after coming through a fight showing the rest of the league that no-one could stop us from being Champions. All of these details were crucial to us winning the league and yet all we hear from Phil are the same old lines.

I also agree that Phil must be the only Chelsea to have never acknowledged the fans. Not even a wave or a clap. I could certainly never see him saluting the away support like Jose did famously at the Emirates after we lost the League.

I also thought this article summed up the debacle quite well:

LINK

His diminished fortune tells us Roman Abramovich never saw the credit crunch coming, but maybe he predicted a similar collapse of epic proportions yesterday and for that reason stayed away from Old Trafford. His Chelsea team staggered off this pitch, any pretension of parity with Manchester United smashed to bits. The defeat was so savage that, at times, it felt like the end of the line for Luiz Felipe Scolari...

...That is what will have crossed Jose Mourinho's mind, watching from the directors' box: he would have got sacked for a result like this. Not just the result but the sheer hopelessness of the performance, the slackness with which goals were conceded to Nemanja Vidic, Wayne Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov, the speed with which Chelsea faded as United took the lead before half-time. In the Champions League final in May they came back at United in the second half, yesterday they just lay down and died.

Scolari's team are still one point ahead of United, but United have two games in hand and it is most certainly Sir Alex Ferguson's team who occupy the fast lane– just as long as Cristiano Ronaldo is not in charge of overtaking. Scolari looks utterly isolated, his billionaire employer staying away, only the teenager Franco Di Santo to call upon in the late stages when he opted for a third striker. How long will Abramovich be interested in owning a team that is going backwards?

After the game Scolari will have been obliged to meet Ferguson in his office along with two other visitors to Old Trafford yesterday. Just to cap a dreadful day for the Brazilian, those two men were Mourinho and Carlos Queiroz, both of whom he detests, but the man he must really feel like strangling will have been sitting on the other side of the desk. Ferguson has stolen the day again, he looks like he might yet claim the whole season."

I can understand why Phil detests Jose. He's looking at a manager who's already achieved more in his short career than he has in 30 years and is everything he wished he could be. I also agree that Jose would have been sacked for a result like that. It was less about the result and more about the manner of defeat that was most worrying as the players didn't seem to want to play for Phil. Seeing Frank trudge to the away supporters (take note Phil) whilst shaking his head and looking at JT, you could see they were wondering where it all went wrong.

I have also read some of Scholari's comments and it seems this guy is quickly becoming a joke! The real problem is he has no man management skills or what he had he has lost. He cannot motivate the players, that's the reality. so the team is older than we would like and there are some players not pulling their weight but does anybody think if Jose would return tomorrow we would not be a machine again? of course we would. But my real concern is actually RA's money. Yes he may still have a billion or so but Roman DID go to Putin and ask for money for his company exactly as the banks have done here. Now to me that means he has become nervous and probably is thinking his football club is the last thing on his mind. Russia is not the West, and however many money men there are there I have not doubt his high profile over Chelsea has been pulled down a peg or two by Putin. hence his lack of presence. I mean how could he have missed the Man-u game? There were no elections or any politics going on except the credit issues. This would also explain the no money to spend, after all, what happended to the 30mil we bid for Robihno? how come it's dissapeared? Even Tottenham have spent more than us this season! Maybe it would be better for someone like DIC to buy us out while we are still a global brand as Kenyon likes to say. Also, how come every other manager is asking for money in the league except for Scholari? It is almost as if he is peddeling word for word the board's line about the lack of needing it. Since when has any manager ever not wanted money to spend every season especially a club like Chelsea? the evidence is there by the look of it and it means trouble.

Seeing as everything is going wrong we might as well enjoy this report on team morale:

LINK

BIG Phil Scolari’s job is on the line in the wake of an astonishing bust-up with Nicolas Anelka. The Blues board were stunned by Chelsea’s shocking display in Sunday’s 3-0 defeat at Manchester United which left them four points behind leaders Liverpool.

And we can reveal the Blues boss has clashed with French striker Anelka, who is fuming at being dumped on the bench for the last three games. The two rowed at training with Scolari telling Anelka he would start at Old Trafford only if he agreed to play on the left. But the sulky Frenchman, the Premier League’s 14-goal top scorer, refused and demanded to be used down the middle.

A Chelsea insider confirmed: “Nothing is going right at the moment and there are suddenly a lot of questions being asked about Mr Scolari’s management style.”

Scolari’s problems could deepen tomorrow when Chelsea face a tricky FA Cup third-round replay at Southend. Defeat is virtually unthinkable — especially with a board meeting scheduled for Thursday at which Scolari will have to explain Chelsea’s wretched form.

The board had been hugely supportive of Scolari but are losing faith.SunSport has revealed Chelsea players think Scolari’s training regime is not intensive enough. His decision to institute a range of fines, including one about diet, has annoyed many and there is a lack of trust between manager and team. Scolari said: “I need to talk with the players. They have to ask in their own minds if they believe we can still do it. There are two options. Either I stick with the players and they raise themselves or I try different players.”

I know the source isn't exactly great and the Anelka row shouldn't come as much of a surprise but that board meeting scheduled for the morning after a crunch match to save your job has eerie reminders of that Rosenborg night.

LINK

Hope there is some truth in this one..... Scolari has 8 weeks to impress and only 6 of the 1st team squad are assured of their places into the future.... And they seem to have actually picked the right 6 players.

Probably not an ounce of truth in it, but we can only hope.

the problem is that chelsea have no width whatsoever. besides ashley cole and bosingwa they have no real way of stretching out the defense. That's why cole and bosingwa are always caught out of position. That's why they've been dropping so many points lately. Teams realize they can't attack well from the flanks so they play 10 behind the ball and setup a box around the 18yd box. a midfield of deco, ballack, cole, and lampard has basically no width at all. neither deco, ballack or lampard are wingers. That and Anelka and Drogba dont look like they work well together at all.

Get Adriano from Inter for Drogba + Cash
Get Podolski from Munich for Ballack + Cash
Get a winger, a REAL winger. Simao, Ashley Young, Andres Guardado, Maxi Rodriguez, or Robinho (when city get relegated :p)

@ LOL..... Get real!

Absolutely none of the players on your list will be moving during this transfer window (with the possible exception of Adriano who falls into the same bracket as the players we already have.... over the hill and underperforming!)

In defence of TSSO, it must be hard for him to try and put 'his' stamp on things when he's been given zero backing in the window to make the signings he wants.

He would have been involved heavily in discussions around the sale of Bridge and loaning out of others, yet he's made just one signing. Which was Deco.

Hang on, therein lies the problem. I guess we were waiting to see what sort of impact a 'true' Scolari signing had before letting him loose with more roubles.

As Deco has defined a new word - shitterly - (a combination of utterly and shit) and is truly in the most shitterly shit form I've seen in a long time, I can't really disagree with the boards reluctance to back him in the window. Who next - Rui Costa? Helder Postiga?

Yes the players need to take some of the blame, but we've got one of the most talented squads in domestic football. If he can't select a ruthless, winning side in what is really real life fantasy football, then he's not fit to do the job.

The news is coming from Cayman Islands the land of offshore banks and influential people. Abramovich wants out, as simple as that, Chelsea football club is on sale
I believe it explains why we do not spend money on new players and low morale of the current players.

>>Tony

Clearly your setpiece ranking criteria doesn't involve figures and facts.

If a playmaker is going to score 13 goals/season (+7 pena.) then something is wrong.
Because,
1. it entails an astronomic number of attempts, most of which are unnecessary. We'd had a list here showing who takes the most shots in the league.
2. it means selfishness.
3. it means making decisions that are not best for the team.
4. it means, as someone who sees the ball more often than any other player, you reduce other players to peripheral roles. Think about this...While Frank sees more possession Deco and Ballack hardly get the ball.
5. it means doing things you're not good at.
6. It means he overlooks better placed players in the final third of the pitch.
7. contd

Ignoring the turd-muncher above, I think there's something else we need to think about: the toll last year's endeavours would have taken out of the players - and this is why I think we need change for their sake and don't really want to blame anybody for the predicament (blame is cheap).

So just imagine what mental effort it would have taken for the squad to have picked themselves up after the Mourinho sacking (a man they worshipped, even if some of them had fallen out of love with him) and dealt with the idiocy of he Grant appointment and that of his orange henchman, and then pushed their way past a flying Arsenal so they were breathing down the neck of United (beating both in the process) up until the last game of the season, and only really failing because of a couple of daft last-minute goals (including the non-penalty v Villa).

And then, after all that, to have been battered for 30 minutes in the Champions League final against United, a team who had everything go their way all season, only to pull themselves back into the game through sheer will power (who scored the equaliser again?) and then batter United back for the rest of the match, hitting the post twice.

And then, after all that, the penalty shoot-out, and of all the many shitty ways you can lose a penalty shoot-out, that was one of the worst.

That sort of experience, well, it's going to affect you, isn't it?

Let them go, for their own sake.

@PeteW
Great assessment of the season, I think it was just the sheer willpower of the players, and Clarkey to keep it going. The only worrying input from Grant was his substitutions during the match, and most of us noticed that players were coming on and not understanding what he wanted. But on saying that I don't think he knew what he wanted.

From a United perspective, I have to say I thought we were fine but not great on Sunday. We didn't look like conceding but nor did we look like scoring many until the first goal went in. The bigger story was definitely how bad you were after the first goal.

I think we all sat and waited for the Chelsea response ala Moscow but it never came.

You've obviously recruited badly. But my biggest question is about Mikel. He never seems to get any real criticism on this blog but what is his purpose? He obviously isn't any near Makalele's class, he gives stupid fouls away, and contributes nothing. Why is he an automatic pick? I know you spend £16m on him but he always seems far more trouble than he is worth to me.

Anyway I don't think the situation is anywhere near as bleak as you make out. The only question is stability and long-term planning. Make a plan and stick to it.

But don't be too OTT, only three years ago you thrashed us 3-0 (if I recall), prompting Ballack to pick you, and so life changes quickly. One or two good victories and the confidence comes back. One or two signings could make all the difference in the long-run.

What Pete said - I think it's a very valid point; I've always believed that any group of players, especially one that has gone so close to something so remarkable and fallen at the final hurdle may find it difficult to push themselves that far again (even more so at 30 plus years of age). This is where Scolari's task is less than enviable - he has to identify the ones that just have to move on for both their own and our sake (I think Ballack is a prime example), and how to lift those who are affected by the experience but theoretically have it in them to go one better (JT falls into this category). Given that he is struggling to cope with the basics (new league, new language and so forth), whether he has it in him in the short term is questionable.

@118
Totally agree with you on ours and your teams performance, heads dropped when we cocnceded, and we give up the fight. Your observation on Mikel is just from watching him in that game and yes he was poor along with the rest of team. But I'm sure there are more articulate people on this blog who will point out the boys attributes far more eloquently than myself. He is a very good player and has been one of our more consistent performers this season, yes we know he can't tackle, does he remind you of anyone in your midfield in that regard?

As far as signings go well we've done that to death on this blog, and I don't think Jan is the best time to buy players anyway. I suppose we'll see what the summer brings, and who might be in charge to make those signings

Yep, long term planning for a 60yr old manager who keeps telling the press every week how he's only here for 2 years (if he makes 2 years it'll be a miracle by the way) as well as the fact that i believe Roman just doesn't trust him in the transfer market. If you had to judge a manager by his signings the Scolari must be the worst manager Roman's ever had:

Claudio had some great buys = Maka, Robben, Duff, Cech, Joe Cole.
Jose = Ricky, Ashley, Mikel, Essien, Didier
Avram = Anelka, Ivanovic, Bosingwa
Scolari = Deco, Mineiro

I know i've missed out the duffers for the top 2 but i just wanted to concentrate on their best buys and you can see who's the odd one out in that list of managers. I know we're trying to break even some time this century, and that Roman is down to his last £7Bn but i don't believe Roman's refusing to spend because he's fallen out of love with the club or is looking to sell. I just think he doesn't want to give Phil any more money. After all Phil only seems to buy Portuguese speaking rejects who are over 30yrs old. And when we do get a new manager this summer (it's a certainty in my eyes) Roman will back him, but just not with silly money any more. Many asked why if he was willing to give Phil £30m for Robinho in the summer, why doesn't he give Phil that £30m now to spend on Silva or Villa? Well i think even he's pegged it that he's made a cock-up with this appointment and whereas in the summer everyone was raving about how good Phil is, reality has now sunk in and he's been exposed as Mr. Average and so Roman will be saving that £30m for the summer to add on to the kitty the new manager will receive from overhauling the squad (Carlo, Alex, Ballack, Deco, Malouda, Didier, Anelka - i think they'll all go) this summer.

And as for your criticism of Mikel. Well he was poor on Sunday but he's been our best player this season alongside Lamps and just needs experience and the ability to shoot to become a world class player.

Got to agree with 118.

It's like we decided we must have a Makelele, even when we ain't got one, and Mikel drew the short straw.

I also think that we're all being a bit optimistic about the CL.

If we drop out of the top 4 soon then there's nothing to stop us continuing to slide and missing out on the UEFA cup too (Europa League)! Then what, no manager no team no owner, maybe Ken bates will come in and buy our debts for £1 again.

Any ideas on Shuster anyone? he seem slike quite a good disciplinarian ala Capello for the summer

I also think that we're all being a bit optimistic about the CL.

Is that us winning it?
I've always stated my preferences on this blog, for me the PL should be our main priority. The CL would be great, but rarely the best team in Europe wins it, we saw that in 2004 and 2005 quite evidently.

Perhaps we currently don't look like winning anything, but to reach the CL final again, we don't have to win anymore games to get there, just get the favourable score draws and perhaps win a penalty shootout. Ah scrap the shootout that's never going to happen. ;-)

@ 122 Fansince60s

"If we drop out of the top 4 soon then there's nothing to stop us continuing to slide and missing out on the UEFA cup too (Europa League)! Then what, no manager no team no owner, maybe Ken bates will come in and buy our debts for £1 again."

Good grief. I'd lay off the Quaaludes if I were you.

Come and have a cuddle. That'll make you feel better.

@118,

Wouldn't say I was a hugely ardent Mikel fan - he's still got a lot to learn. To me, he's more of a 'confidence' player than most. As soon as he makes a cock-up, his head drops and he never looks like recovering.

Looking back, if he hadn't attempted 'The worst pass ever in World Football TM' on Sunday, we wouldn't be talking about either Man U corner that ended in a goal. I know he's a pro footballer but even so there are times when a hoof into row Z is the only option. He definitely cost us the first goal.

I'd prefer Essien in there. An engine on him that's second to none, fair bit of pace, likes a tackle and someone with a bit of presence.

Give Mikel a few seasons and he'll be right up there, but at the moment we're missing the Bison a bit more than we all thought we would. Well, him and Steve Clarke.

Firstly; we're not going to win the Cl, that's a given. We should qualify for next year though. So let's know the Corporal Jones thinking on the head.

Secondly; Habs, comparing signings completed over three or four seasons with ones made in one summer, on a limited budget and in Mineiro's case as a short-term solution to an injury crisis, is utterly pointless. Especially given that thanks to our management structure, nobody really knows who signed who anyway (Robben was Kenyon not Ranieri; MIkel wasn't Jose; Boswinga was almost certainly Scolari). Give it a rest mate.

Thirdly; Donkey's Ears, Mikel is a fabulous midfielder but he isn't a straight replacement for Makelele. Think of him as doing what Carrick was supposed to do for you, only better (and I say this as a fan of Carrick). He's one of those players who a) you only appreciate seeing live; b) you only appreciate over a period of time. He's also the only Chelsea player who looks like he was born with a football at his feet, which is such a lovely quality in a player (think Gullit, Hoddle, Cruyff, Scholes, Fabregas).

Fourthly; like many of you, I find myself turning to the words of the great thinkers at a time like this. And was it not John Major who wrote: 'Supporting Chelsea over the years has been a rollercoaster ride, but it has been a great aid in developing a philosophical view of life.'

Over to Blue Bayou and Tony, methinks.

Regarding the players being left shellshocked and exhausted after the events of last year, you also have to remember that this was on the back of phenomenal but failed responses the previous season.

And even, arguably, the result at Anfield in 2005.

Donkey's Ears, that explains why there was no Moscow response - the players have no more left to give, hence the mournful attitude on here - cos remember, unlike you we've no experience of seeing one great team die, to be replaced almost seamlessly by the next (and nor has the club, hence the situation we find ourselves in).

Thanks Tony, I needed that.

Maybe Ronaldo's award should cheer us up?

Although I think it was a sympathy vote because his career's ending soon due to a severe eyesight problem which is causing him to run into people on the pitch (and drive into walls).

And talking of great thinkers :-)
A little snippet from what Jose said after the game on Sunday.

"I didn't see Chelsea," Mourinho said in The Independent.
"I saw people from Chelsea before the match, at half-time and after the match. But I didn't see Chelsea on the pitch. I only saw Manchester United.
"United won and deservedly so. It was an exceptional result but it wasn't an exceptional match. It was low key."

@130

Trust Jose to get it right on the button

I understand the defence of Mikel but let me explain my reasoning. First, I do watch Chelsea even when they're not playing United and I never see Mikel winning you tight games. He looks elegant and composed when you're in charge but in tight games he makes mistakes defensively and offers little going forward. He is supposed to be a great striker of the ball but I never see him take a shot. He is supposed to be a great passer but most times I watch he lets Lampard or Ballack take charge.

Put it this way, I'm always pleased when he's in the team to face us. You can rely on him to pick up a booking (the nemesis of a good holding midfielder), make mistakes under pressure, and continue your habit of passing the ball to death. He looks like he 'could' be like Carrick if given more freedom but so far I think that is a very flattering comparison.

But I think the match is being overdone personally. I sincerely hope we can improve and I know Chelsea will definitely improve. And I think picking on Big Phil seems harsh, if you had Robinho then who knows how the squad would look. He would have added pace and guile. It seems to me that Kenyon deserves the biggest amount of flack - letting SWP go before a replacement came in and signing a big-name manager before telling him he can't have any more big names.

A point of clarity - RA down to his last 7Bn. This is what is known asa 'paper loss'. Like many he has his investments in a wide portfolio of stocks, shares, bonds etc. In fact my only savings 'vehicle' is through company shares. Now, my investment has dropped dramatically as the global crisis bites BUT this merely means that this is not the time to sell those shares. When it finally starts to recover (and it will) its fairly safe to assume that the 'wealth' tally for RA will rise again. The portrayal of destitution from the selective knowledge of the 4th Estate never ceases to amaze me. They need to learn about a little thing called context.

@ PeteW

Possibly the only thing I've agreed with John Major about!

With apologies to the late, great Douglas Adams but maybe this applies to the RA Chelsea era.

"A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof was to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools"

Or maybe even this............

"The major difference between a thing that might go wrong and a thing that cannot possibly go wrong is that when a thing that cannot possibly go wrong goes wrong it usually turns out to be impossible to get at or repair."

@ Donkeys Ears

Welcome back - well done on Sunday...

Early days with Mikel; often think he will fare better for us if he played a role like Alonso does for the vermin - next to a Mascherano type. The general narrowness / malaise in our midfield at present doesn't help - it's always a short ball to Ballack / Deco / Lamps who, as Giggs and Fletcher showed on Sunday are easy to crowd out because the are invariably so close together. Mikel is either getting the ball back from one of the three in front of him and making another short pass (and can't get forward) or preparing to win possession back when we invariably lose it again. Not the best use of a very talented player, it has to be said.

A question about Ronaldo; if there is set to be another X months of 'he's off to Real, it's really true this time, honest' speculation, will Sir Alex finally lose patience with it all, let him go and pocket himself a nice wedge of cash to do some summer shppping with?

I didn't know anyone still wanted him after his awful showing on Sunday:

LINK

"Olympique de Marseille are working away at the 'tiny' possibility that they could sign Didier Drogba before the transfer market closes at the end of January. The leaders of Olympique de Marseille have made no secret of their wish to sign a penalty box striker this month. An incredible array of names have been mentioned with regard to the post.
The 30 year-old, who is estimated to be on wages approaching €1 million a month, is no longer considered a certain starter at Stamford Bridge and has been touted to move away from the London club since the summer. In addition, Chelsea boss Luiz Filipe Scolari does not consider Drogba playing in tandem with Nicolas Anelka a viable partnership and so one of these stars will have to spend a great deal of time on the bench – a situation that neither would relish."

I don't know if i'm going potty but someone must have screwed up their maths exam. Didier on €1m/month? Thats €250,000 a week? Can't be right.

But while i was daydreaming today i imagined what would happen IF we lost tomorrow night (i hope it doesn't happen because even though getting rid of Phil would be good in the long run, losing to Barnsley, Burnley and Southend within a year is just unforgivable). But what if we do suddenly implode against mighty southend and go down to a 1-0 defeat. We'll probably blame it on their awful pitch not allowing us to play our passing game. But if Phil did have to go after a defeat like that i was pondering what would happen next and then it hit me, we'd have to spend the next 4 months under the leadership of RAY WILKINS! I know Scolari looks out of his depth at a huge club like ours but imagine being directed by someone who at best is a glorified interpreter and at worst a bald idiot of a chimp. For that reason alone we must win tomorrow.

@Tony 133

It's only a paper loss but during these times he still needs liquid cash. Chelsea may be one of his few assets that hasn't fallen in value because if he can find a wealthy Arab keen on sport he could well get his money back plus a little bit. Therefore Chelsea may be his best asset to sell currently.

Also he needs to be sensitive to others and politically correct. If he's getting others around him to cut costs he loses credibility if he's splashing out £30m + recurring costs on an average player; so we could be an expensive toy that he'd be better off not playing with in public.

@CHELSEATONY @133
Unfortunately, things are not as simple as you present them. You right in saying that the loss in some cases in only on paper, but it is not the case here. RA has purchased recently 41% of Evraz Group (Russian steel factories) for approx £2 bn. I do need to tell you what is the situation right now in steel industry, I believe you know it by yourself. As I said above @114 there are news from Cayman islands. I do not insist it is true I just tell what I know. I am not surprised if RA like anybody else around needs cash.

@132- Donkey

Not sure where you are getting all of this. Mikel is not known to be a great striker of the ball for sure.

But to make a little comparison-
Maka doesn't win tight games.
Maka doesn't offer anything going forward.
Maka makes mistakes in tight games.
Maka never makes a great pass.

Yet it was Zidane who said Maka had to be re-signed, because he was "the entire engine" of Real. The board didn't think so, and the rest is history.

Mikel has been much better about picking up bookings. I'm very impressed with him this season, and I know he's no Maka yet, but I have the suspicion that you didn't think much of Maka in his heyday either.

@ PeteW-

I think you are spot on, and I've been saying similar things. I think the team might be emotionally spent. Time to break them up and ship them out. Obviously, new coach first if this one goes belly up. But- I wouldn't be surprised to see "untouchables" out the door... who knows what is actually in their heads.

@CHELSEATONY @133

Check this link I believe it is very illustrative.

LINK

@136
As good as he's been for us, Drogba may now be like JFH who stayed a season too long and if we don't sell him quickly his wages (whatever they are) may make him difficult to give away if his form really drops.

One hopes that RA can keep his cool for a while longer but as much as the financial hits hurt, he seems to feel the embarrassment of high profile defeats (Moscow) and this might be a greater motivation for him to either get it right or get out.

Tomorrow looks ever more crucial. If we win it proves little but if we lose then what?

Only a confident and commanding performance will be of any significance and that seems a remote possibility just now.

Re Roman's finances - I suppose that a lot depends on exactly what he did with the money he got from his sale of Sibfnet and whereabouts his other cash is tied up. And Mark's point about cost-cutting elsewhere in his empire is also a good one; as his most 'public' of interests, I suppose it follows that we're more likely to be made to toe the 'prudent' line more than anyone else.

@ 141

Hopefully Phil will have realised that tomorrow needs to be about a clean sheet and a win, nothing else. 1-0 off Anelka'a arse in injury time won't be ideal, but in the grand scheme it'll be something to build on. God knows, we need it!

Anyone fancy a penalty shootout to decide it, would be a great confidence booster to win our first one in god knows how may attempts. :-)

The Roman thing - could be that the current financial situation and his own lack of footballing knowledge have just made him even more convinced to stick to the business plan he set out at the outset - ie, big splurge up front to establish the brand, then diminishing expenditure as the youth scheme settled in. the fact the latter hasn't happened isn't going to influence his thinking, yet.

@143

You may be right about the result being all and that's a sad reflection on Chelsea v Southend at any time - this better be as low as it gets!

"It's clear-out time at the Bridge: you get more interest from your average savings account than you do from Drogba these days; Hassungotta Kalou and Skiptoo Malouda can go; Deco's a dud; it's tempting to change the vowels in Ballack's name after Sunday; and why exactly were Man U and Chelsea scrapping over John Obi Mikel in the first place I wonder?" LINK

Re: Obi
The players around him make him look bad. He deserves better. Errors made by defensive players are easily punished. Doesn't make him a bad player. And Essien for him. PLEASE!

I do sense a little apprehension amongst us for tomorrow night, understandable considering form and confidence levels. Just thinking, this game a couple of years ago wouldn't really register on our radar as a possible upset, we would turn up, and do an efficient/professional job. Ah well!

Totally agree that worrying about scraping a 1-0 win against Southend is a little embarrassing for us. It seems funny that we're still currently the no.1 ranked side in Europe according to Uefa. But any win will be a good win.

Um...I think we're fucked for the rest of the season judging by Scolari's 'answer' to our problems:

LINK

"But Scolari, who labelled the crucial cup tie as the "game of the year" for both clubs, is adamant he has the continued support of his squad.

"I think I have the squad behind me," declared a robust Scolari. "We are all in the same boat. If Chelsea lose a game it is not only Scolari, it is the Chelsea team.

"There is not a problem with the spirit. It is a problem of mistakes not spirit.

"It is the game of the year for Southend and it is the same for us. We need to think the same as them.

"But if our spirit is not the same as Southend's, it will be difficult to win. If we have the same spirit and are thinking about the FA Cup, we have more chance than them. We have very good players who are technically better, but we need to prove it on the pitch."

One of the repercussions of their United mauling on Sunday has been Scolari's decision to ditch man-to-man marking and return to a zonal system.

It is not a question of his squad being too old, he says, it is all about stamping out basic errors.

"What has happened is a lesson for us," said Scolari. "It is a problem because we give chances for all teams to score goals from set plays.

"What has happened in the last three or four games has not been good.

"We have done well in 25 games and not well in five. I need to change something. I have changed the system to zonal and not man-to-man.

"The responsibility now is for the group and not one man. But if we talk about the mistakes all the time, maybe we make more mistakes.

"Mentally it is a problem. We lost many points from set-plays and mistakes. Now is the time to talk with the players about what is happening. All the players know what I want from set plays. Sometimes mistakes happen. But my team, in the last four games, we have conceded five goals. It is more my...

...mistake than the players' because it is my system.

"I tried to do zonal marking but changed it back to man-to-man sometimes, now we change the system again.

"I am responsible for us conceding the last two goals against United because I tried to change the result in the second half. I opened the midfield. I was wrong but this is my style."

So we're going to ZONAL marking. That's what Rafa tried 2 seasons ago to disasterous effect and his admission that he changes between man marking and zonal marking for different games is a horrible admission. I suddenly understand why we've been so shit at defending. We knew Phil doesn't ever put men on the posts because "posts don't score goals" but now we know he's been setting the team up for set-pieces. It makes his petty shifting of the blame onto Petr Cech at Fulham look like a desperate search for a scapegoat for his mistakes.

I think it's safe to say that if Sarfend win tomorrow, Nick will have to put up the deflector shields and tell the server to brace itself...

I fecking knew it! I said bloody weeks ago we looked like we were dabbling with 'zones' and that they players were confused by it. It weren't broke, Phil, so quit trying to fix it.

It is a much-maligned system and only effective if you get it spot on - I'd suggest mid-season when confidence is low is a bad time to start fiddling around with it, especially when you don't really have a defensive coach. Switching between the two sounds like madness to me. Presume the man knows what he's doing, but...

Giving our youngsters a chance is always a better idea when things are going well and the team is confident. Which makes the lack of opportunities His Bigness has offered them so far disappointing, particularly in the domestic cup games - tomorrow doesn't seem an ideal time to start either, now.

This article is clearly meant as an Arnesen-bashing effort:

LINK

- but the interesting nugget is buried in the second last para:

"The club currently have 20 England youth internationals between the ages of 15 and 18, but are seeking to increase that number".

I know the number of youth players who actually make it to first team is always small - but if we have that many reaching youth international level perhaps our straightened financial position will be covered more from within than we've managed in the past?

I've never known a manager SWITCH from zonal marking to man to man for different games. No wonder JT ended up marking 2 players at Old Trafford, Didier was also marking 2 men at Fulham and against Southend we had 5, yes count it 5 men marking SPACE yet we still let the only man at the back post score in the last minute. I remember Rafa trying desperately to defens his switch to zonal marking a few years ago but they kept conceding because space doesn't score any fucking goals! It's PLAYERS. It may seem obvious to us but we're not the ones who believe in keeping no-one on the posts and switching between 2 marking systems. What little hope i had left that Phil was a competent coach has gone out of the window. He's a confused old man. If only we had a proper assistant to tell him when he's wrong.

From BBD’s link above #154 here is the last sentence.

“The punishments include fines of several hundred pounds for every minute a player is late for training or club travel, several thousand pounds for leaving the country without permission and others for breaching the dress code by wearing hats.”

Fined for wearing hats?

Has the club finally taken leave of its already much diminished senses?

Surely a well chosen trilby, homburg or other such is de riguer for the well dressed gent? What young man would stride purposefully out into the world without topping off his well cut attire with a proper hat like the gents below.

LINK

LINK

Frankly I’m speechless. No wonder the club is going to the dogs.

Has the manager himself forgotten his own contribution to the world of tonsorial protection?

LINK

How can he get zonal marking right when we can't even dress properly.

I’m going to lie down…

I got up again and googled zonal marking at set pieces and I'd say that along with politics and religion it seems guaranteed to divide friends, families, societies and nations.

How's this for making it all as clear as mud?

LINK

@ Blue Bayou

There are certain fashion faux pas that should be fined, and heavily (turn-ups, white socks, evening dress before 6pm), but I share your sense of outrage about Phil's one-man campaign against the good old titfer.

Maybe he wants this as the tune the team run out to? Could be worse, I suppose...

LINK

Enough already.

If true, this is indeed a crappy situation and one that doesn't have any obvious solution - at 60 Scolari might not be able to change or adapt no matter who he signs.

Maybe Clarke leaving was more to do with Phil than with his own ambition after all, though I'm sure he felt he was worth a punt as manager.

RA is the key to all this - not just his dosh but who he listens to in the next few weeks/months when big decisions need to be made.

I;m confused, which did we play under JM? And so this season we started zonal, switched to man-to-man (when?), then back to zonal (when?) and now back to m-t-m?

Does sound a bit arse/elbow.

I always expect us to get turfed out the cup in embarassing fashion thanks to schooldays tainted with the likes of Scarborough (A), Reading (h&a), Oxford (h), Bristol City (a) and Scunthorpe (a).

Some glorious titfers on display their chaps. BB - I note that yours didn't appear to be football related and hence I question the sensitivity of some of our finest crop and their resistance to wearing sensible headwear that not only reflects our changing modern times but pays homage to ethnic influnces and most importantly provides a very useful accessory that is a must for the modern kitchen when a brew is required.

Ladies and gentlemen I give you footballs finest exponents of the above....

LINK

@ Pete

Sure we were just man-to-man under Jose but there may have been variations (Drogba used to clear so many set pieces into the box - I was never certain he was ever really marking anyone at all and just told to go for the ball). Suppose the key, like with any system, is each player knowing their responsibility as dictated by the manager and sticking to it - the difference between Jose sticking on a midfielder at right back and Claudio doing the same thing. I'd guess if there is any ambiguity (language barrier being an obvious one for us at present) it won't be difficult for a decent coach to pick up on it and exploit.

A 3rd round replay away from home against lower league opposition. Then Stoke at the Bridge with Delap launching grenades into the area at any given opportunity. One way or another, we'd best have sorted whatever system we are using within, ooh, the next 24 hours or so...

@JKII #158

If that's the mid 80's then the tall bloke is a young Tony Adams, the short fella in the funny hat is Liam Brady but who's the gel?

@ TG #162

As my mother would say, "The things you see when you aint got a gun".

@JKII #163

Given your analysis and to finish the hat thing, this appears to be the only option

LINK


btw: your comment on Drogba suggests that whatever the system certain players were designated to attack the ball depending on where it was going with the others either blocking runs or zoned to pick up the 2nd ball (perhaps?)

(feverishly thumbs through "Football Tactics Made Simple" bubblegum cards from 1931)

"What Scolari needs to do, say insiders, is be tough with the players. Show them who is boss"
BBC sports editor Mihir Bose LINK

Aah? Senior Players?
At least sober people agree with me.

With regards to the avram comments he changed nothing so keeping the lights on is never as challenging as leading a change.

People are resistant to change and we have some big personalities who i am sure are making life very hard.

We need a clear out and we need to bring in a few quick dribblers who can unlock a midfield the way giggs did to us on Sunday.

Scolari i like and want to stay but he needs to learn from his abismal zonal marking and keep it man to man and stick at least one on the post!

Remove drogs and any other gobshite and bring in some class.

"One well-placed source told me: 'He has allowed his players to get on top of him. He needs to show he runs the team not the players, however well paid they may be or however high profile'."

same link

ooh, the next 24 hours or so...

Looks like a job for Jack Bauer.

He's taken a bit of stick but hats off to Scolari!

chelsea the midfield will be much improved when essien gets back. mikel is awful.

Presumably when Scolari asks "who was the last man to perform a hat-trick" there'll be a stony silence

This latest press conference won't help LINK

Enough with the hats, you just don't understand his Phil-osophy.

Hats don't score goals, heads hit the post..no hang on, hats mark heads and the posts score...no, wait a mo...

I think I've found the answer to all of our problems. Scolari needs to drop his outrageous and bigoted views on the millinery industry that has served this country so well. The next few team meetings and training sessions MUST use this tried and trusted technique used widely across all successful businesses.

LINK

Once again, I thank you.

@Tony

So that's his point. Only he's paid to think so only he wears the hat.

OK, so we win 12 - 0 tomorrow and Phil announces that this has all just been a bit of fun to help us during the recession, then we go on and win all our remaining games etc.

Sorry to break the hats-theme, but to continue my own minor thread of quotes about Chelsea from books taken from my nearest bookshelf, can I just give you this gem from BS Johnson's 1964 book 'Alberto Angelo' (Johnson was a Chelsea fan who believed all novels were lies. He moved to Islington and killed himself in the early 1970s, around the time we sold Osgood and Hudson).

This particular passage reflects my own belief about Chelsea, which JM briefly, perhaps rudely, interupted. In some ways, the current situation restores a status quo with which I am most comfortable, and this and the Major quote embody all I love about the club.

'Chelsea's play is intensely aggravating, by turns appallingly bad and supremely skillful. They always play like this. Chelsea supporters are men of a special cast of mind, and widely cosmopolitan: all they have in common is this need to become emotionally involved with a team who can play as well as any and worse than any. Whoever manages the team, whoever plays in the team, the tradition is the same, is perpetuated.'

On a diferent subject, you have to love Jose, up yo his old tricks
LINK

Does this mean Cech will have to play from now on with a naked head?
Our Cat In Hat could be no more, our dear sad times indeed.

'Chelsea's play is intensely aggravating, by turns appallingly bad and supremely skillful. They always play like this. Chelsea supporters are men of a special cast of mind, and widely cosmopolitan: all they have in common is this need to become emotionally involved with a team who can play as well as any and worse than any. Whoever manages the team, whoever plays in the team, the tradition is the same, is perpetuated.'

As excellent description of Chelsea in my lifetime.... with the exception of the 'Jose' years......

@ PeteW

Blimey Pete, John Major and a difficult experimental novelist all within reach, there's a bookshelf.

Fantastic quote, sums it all up really. For me it does include the JM years it's just that for once the supremely skillful vastly outweighed the appallingly bad.

I went and looked up B S Johnson, seems a fascinating character. Not sure whether I'll take on his work though.

btw has everyone noticed how the avatars on this site divide us into those with hats and those without. Go on have a look, it speaks volumes...........

@ Tony

Can anyone get a job making up shite like that? Why didn't my careers teacher tell me I could spend a life taking the p*ss and getting paid for it?

In fact next time we're getting all that history bowlhooks from the Scouse we should just quote:

"Chelsea supporters are men of a special cast of mind, and widely cosmopolitan: all they have in common is this need to become emotionally involved with a team who can play as well as any and worse than any."

(perhaps we need to change men to persons, given this was written in the 60's.)

Has any other clubs fandom been so beautifully summarised - I doubt it.

Every Chelsea fan should be issued with a T shirt bearing these words.

OK we have the lyrics to song for our riposte to the scousers, who's clever enough to put a tuneful ditty to it?

Yes, there is something strangely comforting about our current predicament. It's as if Jose's side was a different team and now the real Chelsea has returned.

The main issue is that having tasted consistency the present lack of it is all the worse and we don't have the same excuses as before.

to the song I meant, my typing is getting worse.

It's a spot on description isn't it. I would wear the t-shirt with pride.

BlueBayou, Johnson isn't a difficult writer. Try 'Christy Malry', which is a brilliant dark comedy and then read the superb Jonathan Coe biography. He's experimental, but very readable (training as a football journalist taught him the value of simple words, simply put).

The only trouble is that most of our oppos can't read a sentence that long, so we'd need a talking t-shirt.