Thoughts on Malouda, World Cup qualifiers roundup

"(Malouda has blamed former France coach Raymond Domenech for his disappointing form)." Former coach? I thought he stayed on?

@Joe - Corrected. I just believed the Daily Mail headline. Judging by his team's performance against Austria, it won't be long before he is the former coach.

Malouda isn't worth a place in the side despite the injuries. Once Drogba returns against City, i'd much rather see him and Anelka paired up front with a diamond in behind, rather than Malouda in a 4-3-3 or Belletti shoe-horned in as a make shift midfielder.

Malouda's problems started when Mourinho left. Mourinho placed faith in him as a replacement for Robben and his first 3 games against Utd (Charity Shield), Birmingham and Reading were promising when Mourinho gave him a free role and didn't play him as an out and out winger, due to his lack of Robben like pace. That's how he scored against Utd, Birmingham and won the penalty at Anfield, by moving all over the pitch. Once Avram arrived, he was deployed as a normal winger and his lack of pace and strength was obvious to all. The subsequent chaos of Avram's reign led to his downfall as he was continually played out wide and the crowd rightfully began to criticise him. At Lyon and in Mourinho's few games the best of Malouda was brought out but now we're seeing the worst of him.

Many will ask, "why don't we play Malouda in behind Didier and give him his favoured free role?" I feel that even if we do that, his performances won't change. He seems to be suffering from a combination of SWP and Pizarro syndrome. He seems to have lost all confidence and now seems to have forgotten to put in any effort. I went to the Bridge to watch his performance against Spurs and it was one of his worst ever in a blue shirt. He came on to replace Cole and only made the game worse for us. His first touch gave the ball away and he continues to be brushed of the ball by the slightest touch or lightest breeze. From the moment he came onto the pitch, Spurs began to gain a foothold in the game.

The fact that he's now our back up winger is worrying. When we run out of ideas (Spurs) there seems to be very few options on the bench. I'm sure that in January, Scolari will be looking to flog him and bring in 2 new faces.

His dropping from the France side is final confirmation of how badly he's playing at the moment. The crazy Raymond Domenech used to always keep faith with Malouda but when he drops him, things must really be going badly.

As for short term replacements. We've got Joe, Kalou, Didier and Anelka to sustain our assault on the 4 trophies until January. We must hope that Didier can score consistently and our back 5 of Cech, Bosingwa, Ricky, JT and Ashley can keep opponents out because Utd will now be oushing to gain a lead over us. Their attack of Rooney, Tevez, Berbatov and Ronaldo will be deployed against us in a few weeks time. Add to that Nani and Giggs and it's obvious how short we are up front.

I tend to agree with Habs, that before we jettison him off to Roma, we give him a shot at the free role behind the forwards. Playing for France he tends to be much closer to the strikers and more dangerous as a result.

However if it comes down to a straight choice between Malouda or Sinclair on the wing, I would far rather we start getting some match time into SInclair and giving him a chance. We need to start bringing some homegrown talent through, and it won't happen unless we give them a chance.

i agree oh so totally. either Malouda gets some sense and air knocked into him and start playing like a proper footballer, or else Scolari should definitely flog him. looking at how things are going at the moment, i believe flogging him seems a better choice. it would also be pleasing to watch Sinclair in action or maybe let Franco di Santo have more to do than just sitting on the bench. As for Kalou, he's most definitely not a winger, and Scolari needs to get the best out of him. Joe Cole is also another worrying fella. he dished out one good performance on opening day, then totally lost his game for the following 2 before returning for England. if that's how his form is going to be, we're definitely short of attacking options.

I have mentioned before in posts...TSSO now needs to be true to his word and give the likes of Sinclair and Di Santo decent game time to get them used to the pace of 1st team football in the EPL. The way Malouda is playing at the moment Sinclair cannot do any worse and I fancy will end up a lot better given he should be hungry to make it in the 1st team.

This should either signal to Malouda he needs to pull his finger out and work harder to get back in the side or it will confirm what we currently believe and that Malouda doesn't have the right attitude to succeed at Chelsea and should be sold in January.

We should also look to bring Ben Sahar back from Pompey (subject to the terms of his loan deal) to provide additional backup. Might as well sit on our bench and be available if needed than sit on Pompey's bench.

Can't wait to the watch the Man City game to see what Robinho is made of, but it would make sense if Sparkey were to bench him given his travels and not being able to train with the team.. unless the new 'owners' stick their noses in and demand to see their star signing trot out at the start of the game.

Either way will be a very interesting game to watch !

KTBFFH

@KG

Joe has been very inconsistent this season and has been totally anonymous for chelsea lately. He may have been MOTM against Andorra but we need him to produce his best form against City. Joe has to show us that he's a better player than Robinho and it'll be interesting to see which of the two no. 10s comes out on top. Mikel should be bandaged up to play but Essien is definitely out thanks to his stupid escapades with Ghana. We may rush Ballack back, but without them our side is looking stretched. Our back 5 picks itself but ahead of that we've only got Lamps, Joe and Deco as DEFINITE starters. We've then got to find 3 more starters including a Defensive midfielder and 2 attackers from Mikel (half injured), Ballack (more injured), Malouda (please no), Kalou (maybe after his good performance last season at Middle Eastlands), Didier (unfit and a little overweight after his injury), Anelka (inconsistent).

However we manage to overcome our annual injury crisis (now is just the start, wait until December when we've got 2 keepers and JT out ), the City game is huge for us. After a poor Spurs performance, City getting new owners and then the Robinho debacle, it's now turned into a MUST WIN. Especially with Liverpool playing Utd, Sunday could be the day we start to pull away at the top.

I new this was inevitable.. but when does voicing a wish list not become tapping up players. I would like to think the Essien would not be swayed by massive wage increase and prefer to play for a club now at the top and playing CL football as well as challenging to win the league. Even Stevie Me should have some loyalty to his boyhood club.

I don't recall chelsea being so blatant in their courting of players and making statements like Citeh are now.

LINK

I said when City put out their wishlist how disrespectful the owners are. When Roman arrived, and since then, he's never flashed his cash around saying we're going to sign every player under the sun. And as we found out during those early days, clubs never want to sell to the new rich kids, just on principle. Even if a bid is accepted, players will never want to head to city if they aren't mercenaries in it for the money. You have to build up a reputation as a world class side not just a gimmick. The new owners have a 3 year plan to win everything. What happens in year 4? Will they up sticks and buy a basketball team?

In January, City will definitely buy, but don't expect them to buy the BEST. They'll be looking for the big names to excite the fans like Henry and Owen. I really do think that if Kaka ever left Milan there are only 2 clubs in world football he'd leave for: Chelsea and Real Madrid. The same with David Villa and others who want to play for the best teams, not just for the best money. As some journos have written, Scolari wants 2 players in January and i do think ROman will be looking to buy Kaka. He's not cuptied and Roman wants to bring his favourite player to the club. After all, we're not exactly strapped for cash and the Scolari connection, CL football and the fact we're a world class club with a proper structure means we have an advantage over City.

As City have found with Fabregas, Torres and Buffon, the best players flatly reject them and still look at City as a bit of a joke.

As for Essien, no chance of him leaving. I do seem as a future Chelsea legend and possible Vice captin when Lamps retires. He's also just got a new contract. And who really thinks that Roman would want to sell ANYONE to the Arabs who are his new rivals, that is apart from Malouda.

I do SEE HIM as a future Chelsea legend and possible Vice captin when Lamps retires.

@Hab

hah, you forget, we still have Belletti to play as holding midfielder. if Scolari thinks he can get the best of that aging Brazilian by playing him in that role, then why not? you've just got to agree that he did a somewhat decent job out there last week regardless. and since we're already stretched thin on midfielders..i'm pretty sure Scolari will play him.

Anelka, there is nothing much to say about him. all he needs is better support. just Deco and Lamps won't do. starting Kalou now could be an option. personally, i would prefer Drogs to stay out until he's completely fit. don't really like the idea of him rushing back half fit, play a shitty game and get injured for another 2-3 months.

oh as for Man City, they're a joke. so what if they have money now? that won't make a difference if they don't qualify for the CL( and i know they won't). even Giggs came out and stated the obvious, they have no history.

I agree that Belletti does offer a 'back-up' midfield option who can pass and cross. In his one appearance he looked a different player in midfield and is clearly prospering under Scolari. While we have injuries, that will be the case for all teams and shouldn't mean we can't challenge for the title of CL or even FA Cup. Besides Scolari has also stated clearly he intends to develop the younger players which should mean opportunities for them to play when key players are injured.

Im not sure if you guys noticed but Malouda was at his best in the first 3 games simply because he was allowed to play inside the box or get behind defenders. The goals he scored for us were of the same nature.

Grant deployed him as an out and out winger. He was told to hug the toucline and bring in some good deliveries. That was it. I think Malouda should be given a last chance to see show us what he can do. Give him even more freedom on the left flank without neglating his defensive duties. I think making those darting runs behind the defense is part of his game. He wont dribble past defenders, cut in and shoot(not so often i suppose). He gets into positions like Frank Lampard but not from the middle, he comes from the flanks. Who knows if the next player to latch onto a Deco true ball would be Malouda?!

Whatever happened to the idea that an underperforming first team player was demoted to the reserve competition to regain his form and once again be considered for the first team ? In Malouda's case he might benefit from playing a few games in the reserves out of the spotlight to regain his confidence and show the coaches what he can do. The reserves shouldn't just be for injured 1st players making their comebacks and up and coming players trying to make their mark.

While Malouda plays in the reserves then a reserve player with real promise like Sinclair should be promoted to at least the bench so he can be an impact player.

Just seems to me there is too big a gap between the first team and the reserves and those in the first team who don't make the game day squad sit in the stands and those in the reserves don't get much of an opportunity to step up.

well basically for Malouda's case, one last chance should always be given. but that should only last until january, and if by then he still can't find his feet, maybe he should just leave. the slower Italian league should be a better option for him.

PeterTheGreat makes a brilliant point about how under-performing players used to get dropped into the reserves to re-discover their form (clearly, on the proviso they had some in the first place).

Now it seems that 'reserve' teams are nothing more than a group of a) players returning from injury and b)a clubs best youth team players getting match practice at a standard higher than they are used to, but not quite First Team.

In the case of my local team, the Canaries, they've actually scrapped their 'official' reserve team as participation in the league they were in was invariably - as my point above mentions - against youth players and wasn't giving the 'true' reserves the challenge they needed. They now arrange their own games against the better semi-pro and amateur teams in the local area.

Saying that, based on what we seen of Malouda, he'd look out of place in the Chelsea girls U-14 reserve team - no disrespect to them (if they exist).

Instead of bad performances being one-off occasions of surprise, that's how his good - and even average - performances are described. More often than not he goes completely missing. I'll agree that a drop in form can be attributed to just getting 10-15 minutes every game, but he's never seized the opportunity when he's started to warrant being a regular.

When he was first signed, I was really excited. I'd seen him play in the Champs League for Lyon, and in a few games for France and he was exactly the tricky, pacy wide-man we needed to replace Robben and Duff. Instead of a flying winger, we've just got an enigma. He seems unable to beat full-backs. He doesn't track back, is a complete bottler in challenges that are stacked heavily in his favour. And I can hear, from Norwich, the collective groans from Stamfrd Bridge every time he sizes up a set piece.

Unfortunately, our recent purchases are either World-class or sub-standard. I'll let you decide which category he goes in....

The first thing Scolari needs to do is to allow him to play the way he played in Lyon. Its a method to find back his feet in our team. The squad would be perfect if he returns back to his old Lyon days.

Malouda is just a typical JM signing. There is a million others, the likes of Jarosik,...
What did you expect from somebody who hired his distant cousins from the village to work as scouts. All they did was waste the club's cash ordering exotic stripers instead of scouting.
If it wasn't for JM Kaka would be a chelsea player by now, but players usually only sign if the manager himself wants them.

Oh good grief... what the f**k are you on about?

So are we happy for Franco to practice and make mistakes at Upton Park before he comes here then?

No.

Next question please.

Oh good grief... what the f**k are you on about?

If that is aimed at Henry's post, I fear we will never fully understand what it means. I suggest that Henry has all the qualifications and sense to be a F1 race steward, and it wouldn't surprise if he was there in Belgium yesterday, doing that very job!

HRNEY/HENRY..whatever your name is;

Can i have a pint of that stuff you're drinking please?!!

Thankyou..

Belletti has played there before as a midfielder for Sau Paolo.

Malouda. An impressive debut goal where he held off ferdinand, and one tidy finish last season against Newcastle. That's probably the best we'll see of him.
Hew doesn't even TRY to beat his man. Maybe he's never really had it in him - being a fullback-turned winger.

Hope Sinclair's given chance.

"So are we happy for Franco to practice and make mistakes at Upton Park before he comes here then?"

I'm with LTB - no. If he must come and practise in the Premier League, I'd rather he did it at Newcastle.

@Lolli...Do you really wanna end up like me >:( ????

I'm fairly reluctant to see Franco come back to the Bridge in any sort of managerial capacity; would be truly dreadful if it went wrong - would rather remember the man as a legendary player and leave it there, really. And he is far too much of a nice bloke to deserve being lumbered with Newcastle!

It looks like the comments are playing up again. They're being recorded but not always displaying.

Sparky doesn't seem to have learned his new masters' script at all well yet - with more far too sensible comments today - think he'll be lucky to last much past February before being replaced with a more amenable doormat?

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@Nick - the disappearing/reappearing comments seems to have been an intermittent problem for weeks now - what are these people at OleOle on.......

I know this blog is not the place for ill thought out meaningless rants based on little fact and even less research but I thought I'd set a trend.

I do promise to think more deeply about this but with all the foreign ownership of Premier League clubs and bearing in mind the constitution or articles of association or whatever that underpin the PL, at what point could they all decide to cart it off to somewhere else?

Now the grounds and teams etc. might stay here or play some games here and the rest around the world but could they register under the Cayman Islands FA or some suitable place that is still a member of FIFA? Would it be more tax efficient, less susceptible to employment law etc.?

How many players would really still want to pull on the international shirt if they were paid 4 times the already ridiculous money to play in a breakaway competition?

If all the money and top players agglomorate to the PL then the CL will cease to be a serious competition and membership of UEFA not worthwhile.

Provided the TV and associated commercial rights etc. go with them is it even possible?

The reference to the English Premier League and pride in being the number one league already seem a little fatuous bearing in mind the ownership and playing staff of a lot of the clubs. Its like talking about the electricity industry or water industry as though they were somehow still under UK control.

And there are no signs that these clubs are serious about having a predominance of home grown talent, which doesn't appear to be there anyway in a europe wide or global context. So I don't see why they would feel the need to maintain the English ties outside of club names etc.

The reason the money is piling into the EPL would appear to be the potential to be earned in Asia, which I assume follows the EPL for linguistic and historic reasons rather than any other.

Sorry for the scatter gun thoughts but I'm supposed to be working and I've run out of characters...

@ 26. HRNEY/HENRY

Good point... :S

@ BB

Interesting points there. My first thought on the Arab buy out of Man City was fairly gloomy, thinking that maybe our own halcyon days are limited, but on second thinking I decided that smug, spherical faced Manc Agent Kenyon might be a smarmy arrogant tosser, but he seems to be a bloody good Chief Executive. If we are to belive what we read his remit was indeed to grow the Chelsea brand globally in order to drive revenue, attract players and generally find a comfy seat on the Globalisation Express to the World Domination play offs, where in all likelihood we would find ourselves in a breakaway league of about 20 or so huge teams playing in a World Club Series.

To this end he has succeeded without question. We are indeed becoming a global brand, and Messr's Mourinho and Drogba et al are all doing there bit consciously or otherwise to help that happen. The tours of the US and the Far East have helped us tap into comparatively virgin markets where established or 'tiger' economies stalk the world markets looking for new opportunities. A tour of China is surely a shrewd move at spreading the Chelsea brand into an increasing voracious celebrity and fame obsessed population.

Then you look at what happened when Middle East oil rich Sheiks decided to buy into horse racing. The best stables, best trainers and the best jockeys all work for the rich Arab owners, who also happily provide the richest races. I don't see Arab domination of EPL teams, but I do see , as with our coaches and players, an increasingly major part being foreign owned, with Arabs, Russians and Americans vying for the most attractive options. Lets face it, if a billionaire Arab buy Arsenal then things are serious. They are already the best supported club in London BY a mile, give them a pile of gains, ill gotten or not and I don't see their support dwindling on points of principle because the Arsenal way has changed to match everyone elses way.

Continued

The English side of things is a diminishing estate for sure, but this has been the case for years and is as much down to 'fashion' as ability. Like it or not, more Beckhams are needed to sell the English qualities or else the English footballer on the Big Stage may well go the same way as the British Car and Motor bike industries. The same occurs with English coaches as well. What is required is for more English players and coaches to ply their trades abroad in much the same way as players from all over Europe seem prepared to do. They need to learn the languages of their adopted new teams and engage with the culture and customs a la Lineker and Beckham and not like Gazza. Only then will we see the returns in terms of new skills, lifestyles and a more cosmopolitan English player. I'd argue we need this in society instead of moaning about Poles, Czech etc coming over here and taking our jobs perhaps we could consider going there and taking their, whilst cashing in on their cheap property.

I guess BB, my argument is that it's a societal issue that allows and encourages filty rich owners to bail out clubs (and businesses) whilst an impotent government carries out acts of corporate fellatio on its knees to big business. The English club is being transformed and maybe the only English thing will be the name, but it needn't be this way. I'm just working the solution out.

Rant over.

We should play Kalou more in the left-wing position and Sinclair as a sub in 2nd half. Joey will play in the right wing.

SWP should only have been sold if we were sure of buying Robinho. Malouda should be sold/loaned out in Jan and we should bring back Duff from Newcastle or buy Joaquin from non-Champions League Valencia. With Essien & Ballack injured at least one more CM in required- Appiah (free transfer) should be seriously considered.

We also need a striker (esp when Drogba isn't playing!) - and either Yakubu or Owen would do.

"we should bring back Duff from Newcastle"

Why? to spend his time in our treatment room instead of Newcastles.

Tony / Blue Bayou

The overriding concern I (and I'm sure many people) have is how easily clubs change hands here in the UK; City have been passed around like a piece of meat in the last year or so. The outcome has (thus far) been happy for them, but time will tell whether that remains the case or not.

Tony's last point about all clubs being only English in name is pertinent; we all quietly acknowledge that somehow, game 39 will happen in one form or another - might take a while, but it'll happen. And when the global consumers of Premiership football and the income made from them starts to dwarf the money available from the punters in England? Hello overseas franchises, no question.

We're headed down that road already - quite where we end up is anyone's guess.

When as insular a sport as US NFL has gone in a few years from staging a pre-season friendly around the globe to now 1 regular season game taking place in Europe [London so far] each year it's hard to see what will stop EPL heading in the same direction even more quickly.....

BB - Your post #30 is what makes this blog the best going (not that I read other blogs - but why should research get in the way of a compliment)

CT - #s 32/33 - a very measured reply though it sticks in my throat to even acknowledge that Peter Kenyon may have done anything right since he started supporting CFC. Talking of things sticking in throats, "whilst an impotent government carries out acts of corporate fellatio on its knees to big business" is sooo good that I need to apologise in advance for passing it as my own at some stage in the future!

As for me with all the comings and goings, and Curbs and KK as well, I'm heartily getting sick of what the premiership has become - which is a bit rich coming from a Chelsea fan I realise.

At the last general election, The Guardian were recommending voters to go to the poll booth with a nosepeg as there was no alternative but to vote Labour, but by god did they stink. I feel that way about football now, and if I'm really honest about CFC as well - not just the manner in which we ditched the tinkerman and the special one, but in the sheer folly of replacing TSO with Grant. And whilst PK is an easy target, he deserves most of the opprobrium that comes his way for most of his actions. RA I can sort of forgive - he saved our club and we wouldn't have won the league in colour (not just black and white) without him, and his main plus mark is that he isn't Ken Bates, but you have to question his choice of arse lickers - that reminds me of the joke - Buck was so far up RA's arse that he bumped into Kenyon...

Yes Scolari is a breath of fresh air but the pungent smell surrounding him is still there. At some stage Big Phil will succomb to the stench, at which point the only solution will be Gianfranco Zola. Whilst the point was made above that none of us would wish GZ's legacy to be spoilt, I still believe tis better to fail honourably than not to try

There's something rotten in the state of football today...

I'm sad and naive enough still to believe that game 39 will never happen. It always struck me as loading far too much commercial expectation onto the Premier League itself: I really doubt there's much global excitement about Middlesborough, Fulham, Everton, Wigan, or even "big" clubs like Villa and Newcastle. All the money's presumably in the top five or six teams, and even if more absurdly rich benefactors come in to boost up a couple more teams, there just aren't enough global megastar players to go around for all 20 teams in the league to become internationally exciting.

I'm much more worried about the European superleague idea. We almost have it anyway, of course, with the CL. You can see how the big famous rich clubs would all much prefer to spend all their time getting staggeringly rich by just playing each other and forgetting all the less glamorous stuff.

Incidentally, it sort of proves Tony's point above (32) that everyone in Europe would now naturally asume that Chelsea are one of the continent's permanent big clubs -- i.e. we'd be invited into the putative European Superleague. A decade ago that would have been an absolutely laughable proposition. Much as I despise Kenyon, he was hired to make that transformation happen, and it's happened.

I can understand why people are so nervous about Franco, but (naively again) I don't think I'd be so afraid that he'd mess up:

1) I watched the Azzurini a little bit in the Olympics (coached by Gigi Casiraghi with Franco assisting). They lost to a team they should have beaten but they played quite beautifully at times, easily the most attractive team to watch.

2) We proved last year that we can do well even with an amphibian for a manager.

3) Judging by the tenor of the blog, I feel quite a few of us would be able to cope with the end of the whole World Domination business, as long as we could be proud of the team and its manager. (Of course, Abramovich wouldn't take that view.)

39.... LTB "Incidentally, it sort of proves Tony's point above (32) that everyone in Europe would now naturally assume that Chelsea are one of the continent's permanent big clubs -- i.e. we'd be invited into the putative European Superleague."

It's all a question of timing... If the European Super League does eventuate, it will be the strongest clubs of that particular week that will be invited to join. No-one would have picked City to be in the elite group before last week, but if the concept was to start tomorrow, can you really see the Arabs sitting on their hands and not getting involved. Equally Chelsea would definitely get a run today, but if Roman walks away, our position at the World Table would be severely under threat.

The world standing of the club has grown hugely in the last few years, but unless Kenyon can get us to the point where the club is a commercially viable enterprise without Roman, and sooner rather than later, we cannot pretend that our position is guaranteed in the way that Utd, Madrid, Barca and the Milan clubs are.

It is for this reason that I respect the club for not making a stupid offer to ensure that Robinho arrived. The time has come for Chelsea to start at least making some pretence to being self sufficient and this means not paying over the top prices for players that don't perform.

Zola is about to be appointed West Ham boss:

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It will be strange when he turns up at the Bridge and we all sing his name only for us to beat his side. I suppose it'll feel the same when Jose turns up in a few months with Inter. But i do hope Zola does a great job. Just like Robbie is doing at the Mk Dons. If Zola can last 2 or 3 seasons at the madhouse that is west Ham, he's surely going to be our next manager. He'll have Premier League experience by then and i only see this position as a sort of apprenticeship for him. He'll learn his trade at West Ham then soon back home to the Bridge. Whatever happens, in 3 years time we'll have 3 good young ex-Blue coaches to choose from: Gus Poyet, Robbie Di Matteo and Zola.

The future looks bright.

@ Habs... your forgot the Wise-man as Technical Director...;-)

Some very interesting debate on the blog while i have been asleep here in OZ. I certainly got a bad feeling in my water about the arabs buying out Man City and the way they are carrying on.

Wouldn't be surprised if there was some Sepp Blatter type orchestrating these things so a super league becomes inevitable. Just think of the money and qudos that would be involved with the 'top' 20 clubs playing in a world series league. Of course qualification to the new league would be strictly on how much money you can throw at each club. Yes the Man Us, Barcas and Madrids of the world have a long successful history, but that history at least in recent times has occured due to the buying power of these clubs. All successful clubs 'buy' their success simply because it costs a lot money to buy and pay the top players and coaching staff.

However, all that is for the future... of more immediate interest is the Man City game on Sunday and I can't wait to see our defenders and midfielders line up Robinho for some 'welcome to the EPL greetings' if he gets a game. Pretty sure we will win 2-0, although Essiens injury is annoying.

KTBFFH

The Sun is today reporting that Essien could be out for as long as 6 months!

Be a huge blow if he is, however we do fortunately have another 9 central midfielders to choose from, so I think we will be able to cope!

6 months? f*ck me!
Just 3 games into the season..Ballack`s out with one of his niggly wiggly injuries that would keep him out for half a season, Mikel`s got a muscle tear..but we dont know more, Who`s left? Awww..i dont want to see Belletti in midfield.

Step up Michael Woods!

Utter bollocks! 6 months? I would rather take his place then go to work then! Is The Sun kidding us? God bless us. This injury jinx nonsense is starting all over again. Who's next?

Anyway, whats the big fuss with Citeh? Sure they now have a truck load of money. But if you consider the situation Chelsea and City were before takeovers, i think Sparky has got a larger job at hand then Mourinho. We were already a team with decent European pedigree back then under Vialli and Ranieri. We won FA Cups and League Cups. Every season, the team is there and about the top 4. All we needed was to elevate to the next level and we would be champions. Roman came in to give us this much needed push. So here we are: Back to back Premier League Champions!

The same cannot be said for City. They have no Mourinho and no pedigree. Im not saying that they wont rise to the top with all their money but it will take an even longer process than ours. We have a better head start then them due to our decent enough results on the pitch before the take over.

@BBD #37.

I'm kind of in agreement, but the difference is there's no American Football of note being played in this country and I guess the NFL is able to capitalise on that by playing a game in Europe (I've got tickets, my Wembley virginity is about to be broken...).

Whilst the 'real' football that's played in the US isn't anywhere near the standard of the European leagues, at least it's happening and the fans have the option to go and watch a game, which is why the 39th game would be - in my opinion - less well received in America than bringing the NFL here. If that makes any sense.

Not sure what's going on with Essien until we here something official. If it's true, then I'm looking to sell him from my Fantasy Football team. Anyone got a number for the ADUG ???

Excellent article by Martin Samuels contrasting Joe Cole's brilliance and willingess to learn with the thick Scouser Stevie Me's inability to do the same. Explains why England are so predictable in the process.

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Good article Danny....I like Martin Samuels, his articles tend to be less biased than others in the press.

It's a shame Joe suffers from such inconsistancy, but I guess that comes with never having the same role week in week out.

It's nice to see a CHelsea player actually getting some praise for England though..... Lamps and JT have been the butt of jokes for a year now, and frankly they deserve far better.

@47 Fiftee - I think USA is a lost market for "soccer" which is never going to replace its entrenched established sports - even giving them the World Cup in the 90s failed to make any kind of permanent boost.

Everything I read suggests ADUG [great name] is out to rival Dubai in profile raising and seems certain Citeh will be playing the Abu Dhabi Desert Cup pre-season tournament next summer as step 1 to getting prestigious level football played there - I still think an EPL play-off tournament is a possibility eventually when there are enough clubs owned by multi-millionaires.

Hope you've got cheap seats at the back for Wembley and not the front blocks at the side of the pitch - where a friend of mine spent 3 hours looking at the backs of 6ft plus men mountain standing on the touchlines at one of the early Wembley Bowls ....

@DB #48

Good article DB but changing tack slightly its not just England who are predictable according to JC

(I feel surefooted in using a nautical phrase due not only to this country's history as a sea faring nation but also due to the success of Team GB in the sailing competitions at the Olympics. - By the by I love the Team GB bit, in these days of ever increasing professionalism in sport it helps maintain their sense of separateness from the overweight, sweaty, lottery buying mass of the population comprising Great Britain and Northern Ireland who pay for them to get there, you understand)

“My best position is in the centre behind a front two,” Cole said, describing the Michel Platini playmaking role that is all but redundant in the modern game, one that Cole will not have been allowed to fill by just about any manager, for club or country, since turning professional. “But the way the game is now, you start there and go left or right.

“These days, if you watch players in my position like Lionel Messi, Ronaldinho or Cristiano Ronaldo, they play all across that line because football has become very fluid.

“Look at the movement of a team like Manchester United - they are so flexible...........

“If there is movement, you are stretched defensively, particularly if there are three or four players altering their angles of approach. At Chelsea last year we were too rigid; this season we are changing that.”

That last sentence sums up what I think has been one of the problems not just last season but for a couple of seasons (perhaps JC is being loyal to TSO). Without Drogba battering the backline we are too easy to predict coming forward. It will be interesting to see how much this develops in the coming months. I didn't see the Spuds game but from what I heard and the comments on here we have a way to go with this.

Agreed BBD. The key phrase is 'this season we are changing that'. I do hope so. But isn't it refreshing to hear Joe talking like that, instead of having to listen to the bland media-trained gush we usually hear from English players? And how surprising it is Joe - who, to my shame, I have alwyas seen as a non-thoughtful type, even though he's been my fav player for years.

Torres, last season, was quite capable of being insightful and informative when talking about the differences between the Prem and the Spanish leagues. I often despair at the seeming lack of intelligence of our players, which carries over into their post-playing career when they get media jobs. Just how boring, obvious and lacking insight is pre and post-match punditry in this country when performed by the likes of Shearer and Keown (for godsake!) etc? And the old guard of Hanson and Lawrenson haven't had an original thought for a decade.

The Essien thing is a disaster if true. He's our midfield powerhouse and without him, a midfield of Mikel, Deco, Lamps and Ballack looks a little slow and plodding. I wonder how we'll be lining up against CIty.

For all the praise of Belletti, the fact that he wasn't a midfielder and wasn't that comfortable on the ball meant Essien was forced to stay back to cover for him against Spurs. If he plays for the next 6 months then we've got problems.

Maybe that January list has gone up to 3: A midfielder, winger and striker.

Just seen SSN. He's out for months after undergoing surgery for a Cruciate Knee Ligament injury.

With no Ballack for a few more weeks and Mikel only half fit for CIty, our midfield is looking very thin.

@BBD,

We are (I am lead to believe) located in a sort of corner, many rows up, I believe so should be o.k.

And it will hopefully be infinitely more watchable than an England footy game which I always assumed would be my first trip to Wembley.

Essien out for 'several months' is a huge blow. He's not even having surgery for another week. With Ballack a fort-night away from a return and Mikel still carrying a knock, once again we're struggling.

It's o.k. though, 'cos SWP proved he can play there last season. Oh no he can't, we sold him.

I'm guessing the line-up at Eastlands will be Cech; Bosingwa, JT, Carvalho, Ashely; Belletti, Lamps, Deco; Joe, Anelka, and *gulp* Kalou or Malouda.

My early season work prediction had this down as a 2 - 1 away win. What a deluded and crazy idea that seems now.

Same injury as Owen, who was out for 10 months. We've probably lost our most important and versatile player for the best part of a season.

LINK
LINK

'What is a cruciate ligament?' LINK

Bring on Michael Woods!

What is up with the injuries, all of a sudden we are looking a bit weak at the least! Are we really as strong in depth as everyone likes to think? Personally i think lapard should bow out of the England set up, he is being made a scapegoat now for every England bad playing or failure because the media love Gerrard and never say a bad word against him so it all comes back to Lamps in the eyes of the fans. He should turn round to Capello and tell him if he gets another boo he's out. better for us anyway, can you imagine if he gets injured against Croatia? We may as well forget about this season, and that is not a tongue in cheek comment either, this could be serious!! No Drogba, Essien, Mikel, Balack and Lamps? Forget it........Question is why are we this short if we have such a strong squad..unlucky or buying reasons...

It frustrates me that we always have a major injury casualty every season. And they are KEY PLAYERS! Cech, Terry, Ballack and now ESSIEN! Why are the footballing god always against us? WHY?! We had 5 central midfielders but its only the 3rd game of the season and we are left with 2 who are fully fit. The best thing is both of our holding players on the sidelines together. So how do we reshuffle the midfield area now?

Tocuh wood but Mikel is the only holding player we have left. I cannot imagine what will happen to the midfield if he gets injured too. Scolari will absolutely risk his reputation by deploying Belletti there until 2009. Perhaps its a time for Ivanovic to stake a claim in the first team? he's a pretty versatile defending player. Right back, center half or defensive midfielder are his positions, at least in FM2008.

I guess with Bosingwa, Belletti AND Ferreira, at least we're covered at right back, so he wouldn't have needed to have played out of position.

Midfield-wise, once / if Ballack and Mikel get fit, then it helps TSSO and his selection problems.

Come January, we only need a wide man. And a striker. And a midfielder.

In the words of Lance-Corporal Jack Jones and Douglas Adams, "DON'T PANIC".

Mourinho managed to win both domestic cups with similar injury problems, and Grant took us to the Champions League final and pushed United all the way in the Premier League with players out injured and at the Africa Cup of Nations.

Let's wait and see how Scolari does.

@FIFTEE

Agree with you. The midfield will pretty much pick itself with Essien on the sidelines. From Scolari's perspective, that is a good thing and also a bad thing. We are already so slow on the wings and now it will be even worst wiithout his energy from the middle of the park.

But what i would like to see now is Ivanovic getting a chance to play. I wonder how long more can he rot on the bench? Perhaps we should drop J.Cole into the middle and play Kalou upfront? Thats where our squad strength comes into play. We have so many combinations and permutations for a teamsheet:

-Mikel/Ivanovic-

Lampard-----Deco

Or

-------Mikel/Ivanovic------

J.Cole-----Lampard-----Deco

Or

------------Mikel/Ivanovic-------------

J.Cole-----Deco-----Lampard-----Malouda


Its 60% a bad thing but 40% a good thing. His temporary departure will open up more doors for players like Ivanovic, Malouda and even Belletti to stake a claim on our starting eleven. We survived last season's ACON without Didier and Essien under a manager as inept as Grant.

You can argue that SWP could have done a job in there. But i feel we are still well-equipped to cope without our Bison. As long as Drogba, Ballack and Mikel return before the United game, we should be fine. And hopefully, Essien will be back in the new year. I dont wanna see us stock up more dead wood as we did last season. Fingers and toes crossed. KTBFFH

I dint include Ballack in those permutations but those are just examples of many combinations we can have in midfield. Even without Ballack, we can still field 5 world class midfielders behind Anelka! Heck even J.Cole can play Deco's role with Mikel or Ivanovic anchoring behind him. Ballack's return in a fornight's time will soften the blow.

As you can see my friends, thats where our strength and depth comes from. No Essien? Its not the end of the world. The same cannot be said of most teams in Europe though. KTBFFH

And how does a season long loan deal for Steven Appiah sounds? We did the same with Maniche ironically when Essien was banned from the CL knockout round against Barcelona 2 seasons back. His style is almost the same as his fellow Ghanian. Combative midfielders with a good engine. Just a suggestion and hope Scolari is aware of his avaliability.

The Stephen Appiah point is a great one. He's a free agent so we can get him tomorrow if we need him. He's a mini-Bison and could be a good player if we offer hima 1-year deal.

The next few weeks are huge for us:
1. Internationals: Please, no more injuries.
2. City away: A must win after the Spurs game.
3. Bordeaux in the CL: Always nice to start off well in the CL with a win.
4. Utd at home: The big one, we cannot let them get anything from the Bridge.

For me, our team at City should be:

Cech
Bosingwa Ricky JT Cole
Mikel
Cole Lamps Deco
Anelka Didier

I know it's a bit attack-minded for an away game. But it'll send out a message that we aren't the boring side of old. If we go 1-0 up, we won't sit on the lead, like we did against Spurs. And i personally don't think that this is a game for Malouda. He'll be crushed by their new right-back (Zabaleta who's a bit of a hard man) and i don't think Anelka could cope on his own up front against Richards and Dunne. However, for all that, i think Scolari will srick with Belletti who just isn't the answer to our midfield shortage. He's too slow, too weak and can't tackle. In every way he's the Malouda of our defence.

@HABS

Im sure Mikel will be rushed back since he's near full fitness already(i assume) and we are desperate for options in midfield. Like i said, we need to give Ivanovic a chance to prove himself. If we are really that desperate in the end, let Kalou start with Anelka and push J.Cole behind alongside Deco and Lampard. The 3 of them would support the front 2 of Anelka and Kalou. Mikel hopefully, will be avaliable to anchor the midfield. Or else, we have to take a gamble on Ivanovic. Im desperate to see him play.

Yeah, The free agents point is interesting for sure. Appiah himself is just reovering from a knee injury. I just did a google on current free agents and found just a few worthwhile names. "Freddie Ljungberg, Edgar Davids, Thomas Gravesen"..if at all we look dire in our next match with Elano and Johnson steamrolling our midfield..lets buy those three for a dollar!

Finally Obi gets his chance to show us what a great player he is. Only if Modric could leave one guy sitting on his chest tomorrow.

@Lolli...If you really want it I could give it to you, but it only comes in ounces and you'd have to smoke it. Warning though:), I once had my mate's gf smoke it and when she went for her routine jogging later that day she forgot to put her clothes on, it was so pleasing to the eye. Perhaps I should know about your jogging schedule before i give you some:).

@ HRNEY/HENRY

Well i suppose it's out of the question, as i neither smoke OR jog!! :D

@Lolli
Looks like you have a possible stalker, or perhaps and unwanted pet. :)

We can now officially exclude Essien when we predict and draw up the team sheets. 5 to 5 and a 1/2 months damn it! Its abit unsual because for all these while, Essien was always a regular and i got used to typing his name when coming up with a team sheet. Now i need to get used to Obiwan.

Why is at alwyas us who suffers the serious injury problems. Not some groin strain that Gerrard is complaining about. It's broken skulls (Cech), broken feet, cheekbones... (Terry), knee ligaments (essien), broken ankle (Ballack). I'm hoping that Utd could start suffering some problems. They may have Ronaldo back soon, (just in time for their visit to the Bridge) but they never suffer injury problems on a large scale.

What are the current odds on the next Chelsea injury victim? My money's on JT or Cech. Although we must be thankful we haven't got TBH around anymore. Last season he cut open Cech's face and in his second City game he knocked out Micah Richards. That was his last appearance in a City shirt and i don't expect to see him again now the Arabs have arrived. Maybe he can join Avram, wherever he is.

its simply horrendous to see Essien getting knocked out for MONTHS. i'm eager to Ivanovic play as well, 10mil for a player who din play single game is total waste of dough. but i've got a feeling Scolari will almost definitely stick with Belletti for the Man Arab City game. we're just stretched too damn thin.
As for the Appiah wish, i doubt Scolari wants him. sure he may be a good short term alternative, but if the gaffer doesn't want the player, there's no point discussing it. For the Man city game, we should just go all out attack. lets show them whos the boss on the field, and that we can attack brilliantly without Robinho. Kalou or di Santo should be given more than a bench role. hah, worst comes to worst, we might even see Wayne Bridge pushed to a winger role and JC dropped back to cover the hole in the middle of the park.

Sad news indeed about Essien and no doubt he is a valuable player given the way he plays... however we shouldn't get too upset as every team competing for honours will get injuries to key players and it is unrealistic to expect us or any other team to be injury free and be able to play our so called "full strenght" team. We still have an excellent squad full of world class players and Essien's misfortune opens up an opportunity for a reserve player to step up.

It would be wrong to rush out and loan another player or buy someone in Jan window when we have talented reserves who deserve a chance when a first team player gets injured.

If the diagnosis is correct and Essien is out for 5 months or so then he should be back around Feb-March which is just in time for the end of season and will be fresh and raring to go. Could be a real blessing in disguise.

As with the Malouda/winger situation TSSO needs to be true to his work and name a reserve like Wood on the bench and give him some game time.

KTBFFH

I really hope to see Ivanovic play. Belletti cannot defend at all although he can pick a pass. Maybe he adopt a more attacking role anywhere on the pitch. But leave the defending to defensive players. I checked his profile on the official site. Ivanovic can play 3 roles: RB, CB and DM. If he can tackle well and break up play, Deco would be there to collect his scraps and re-distribute the ball. Mikel isnt much of a good tackler but he's so good at playing the ball out from deep. Even without Essien, we still have options. Thats what i like about our squad. But please, let the fans see what we have bought for 10m in Ivanovic. Please.

KTBFFH

Would be good to see Ivanovic actually play. Seems a bit light weight for a CB but then Carvahlo is no bigger and is world class ! I guess he is Carvahlo's understudy as Alex is for JT. Hopefully Ivanovic will get some game time either as CB or in the DM role. The problem is he hasn't played much at all at club level either for Chelsea or Lokomotiv.

As a matter of interest the squad still looks very strong despite the injuries with cover in all positions:

GK Cech - Cudicini, Hilario, Taylor
LB A Cole - Bridge
RB Bosingwa - Ferreira
CB Carvahlo/Terry - Ivanovic/Alex
DM Mikel (inj) - Essien (inj) Ivanovic,
CM Lamps, Ballack (inj), Essien (inj), Belleti
AM J Cole, Deco - Kalou
Wingers Malouda - Sinclair
Forwards Drogba/Anelka - Di Santo

While we are thinning in the midfield we still have cover and the current injured players should allow reservers such as Woods, Tejera, Cork etc an opportunity to step-up and start from the bench and maybe get a start in the Carling Cup.

I know people are clamouring for a winger in the Jan sales, but we should be promoting the likes of Sinclair and maybe Cummings, Stoch and the younger Ferreira to show what they can do as impact players and gain some experience at the top level.

I keep beating this drum, but now is the time to blood some younger players to cover injuries and play in the cup competitions. Lets hope TSSO does what he said he would and not get caught up buying more cover players like Sidwell and Pizarro in January.

KTBFFH

The Times are normally pretty reliable, so this is an interesting article :

LINK

So Ballack is still a week or two away, and Lamps has been carrying an injury for some time and will be rested soon.

Jeez. TSSO knew who he wanted to leave the club and they went. If he's 'privately' voiced concerns about the depth of the squad, why wasn't it addressed sooner. Why weren't more of the youth team given a chance in pre-season?

All in all, it's looking like it'll be a mighty struggle just to get through the next couple of games, let alone the season.

If anyone was in any doubt about Benitez putting the CL above the PL then this little quote taken from SSN just confirms it for me.


"Clearly I think it (the new Uefa rule) is a mistake," Benitez told Liverpool's official website.

"When you play in the Champions League, you need the best players you have on the pitch. It is not about where you are from, it is about the best players.


"I would understand if this rule came in for the Premier League, but not for the Champions League."

An amusing take on what the 'Pool fan have planned for Saturday morning :

LINK

What surprised me, however, was this comment about Man U : "..They are now in debt to the tune of £940m, with interest repayments alone of around £80m a year to service those debts."

Surely that's not right, how the hell can they be that much in debt and I've heard no mention of it.

Any other club and it'd be all you hear, about how football is being killed etc.

I think I might skip football this weekend and instead conduct my own Big Bang experiment.

Lolli - are you free this weekend?

@81 Fiftee - to postpone getting on with what I'm supposed to be working on I thought I'd see what I could find on this. I think the "£940m" figure is based on this:

LINK

- which was an estimation of ManUre's total accumulated debt after 5 years of Glazer rule. The bottom part update suggests a Year 2 figure of about £626m which is close to the figure quoted in this Grauniad article back in May about both clubs' financial position [you were possibly too distracted by CL final due the next day to notice at the time?]:

LINK

As the article points out ManUre owe money to banks and financial institutions which are charging interest and will need to be re-paid eventually. We "owe" money to Roman [interest free] who won't want it back as long as he still loves us....

@ 82. MARK

Erm!!..excuse me young man,but just because i haven't participated in the conversation for a couple of days by no means suggests that i haven't been reading every comment! So behave yourself please and stop trying to lower the tone on here!

This isn't a Spurs blog you know! :)

Maybe Buck and Kenyon should rethink on how to make Roman love Chelsea even more rather then aiming to break even or world domination.

Personally, i think as long as we continue to generate revenue(marketing & TV) and win trophies for prize money, we will cover all those so called 'external' debts very soon. All thats left will be the owner's 600m quid(rounded up). Was that what Kenyon meant by 'breaking even' lads? We clear all the external debts and rely on Roman's funding?

Joe Cole carried off for England but not considered serious enough to go to hospital with the head injury he sustained.

Anelka scored for France and Ivanovic scored for Serbia. All in the same match. I guess thats a positive tonight apart from J.Cole's injury.

England 4-1 Croatia

GOOD
1.LAMPS - Those idiotic England fans can finally see what happens when you build a midfield around SuperFrank and not Stevie Fucking G. Lamps scored a great goal tonight (despite it being disallowed) and generally ran the show from midfield. Now that Gillette Soccer Saturday allow you to e-mail in, we can all tell Phil Thompson that SuperFrank is the best English midfielder in the country and that when there are no Scousers in the side, england only benefit. Lamps also showed Spurs fans what a waste of money Modric was. He was absolutely useless and to say he's worth £16.5m is a joke.
2. PERFORMANCE - Yes, England played well. Forget all the headlines tomorrow that we'll win the World Cup, because we won't, but on this performance at least we'll get there.
3. WALCOTT - I picked him in my favoured England side a few weeks ago and i was glad to see how well he played tonight. A hat-trick for the lad and he showed SWP how a player with pace should perform. A constant threat, good first touch and quality finishing. Everything SWP isn't.
4. JT - Kicked in the head, again, yet still soldiered on. Showed Rio how a real leader performs.
5. ANELKA/IVANOVIC - I know it was a separate game, but both scored and bodes well for Saturday. They probably won't feature as Didier's back and Scolari has blind faith in any Brazilian (Belletti).

BAD
1. INJURIES - We were specualting who would be next after Essien. Well Joe was elbowed in the head and was taken off with blood covering his face and minutes later JT was kicked in the head. He came off after 85 mins. Both should be alright for City but if we don't have Joe, then our midfield will probably feature Belletti and MALOUDA!

Can't think of much else. Lamps playing 90 mins is great for his confidence in an England shirt but not that great if he's not fully fit. Overall it was a very good performance made all the more sweet with the absence of Gerrard.

Didn't see the game as I won't shell out for Satanic Sports, but I confess I'm happy; I was a bit fed up with Bilic's lip. He's a clever and interesting guy and a lot more charismatic than almost every other footballer, and in some way he was only stating the obvious, but I'm glad he got some of the stuff about England's players being no good shoved back down his tobacco-stained maw.

Funny -- he's a West Ham legend, and he's clearly the man they wanted, but they got our legend instead.

Still, we've done well out of using the Hammers as an academy. Ok, we have to pay for the players once they're ready to come here, but then since we don't actually fund the Upton park academy itself it probably works out about the same, financially speaking.

Bilic has a contract until 2010, right? So in two years' time, he goes to West Ham, and Franco comes to us. (And maybe Croatia will hire Large Phil.)

Modric 16.5m? What a joke. No doubt Croatia are a good side and Bilic is a top class manager but they got turned over today. Phil Thomson has seen how good England can play without Gerrards ego halting the progress of Lamps and co in midfield. I think this just showed us how well England CAN play but I still arent exactly jumping for joy in anticipation of the rest of the qualifiers. Getting to the world cup should be a simple task for a nation of the standard of England. The Injury to Joe is bad news. Despite his inconsistency you could argue he has been our best player in the last 12 months. Looking at last season I dont think there is a single player who wasnt consistently great all season. Even Cech and Essien played badly at times. Hoping for 3 points against Cit-Eh at the weekend. Robinho will see what a huge mistake he made not joining us.
KTBBFH.

Portugal 2 Dennmark 3. Proof that Queerass is a pants coach. With players like Carvalho, Miguel, Veloso, Moutinho and Deco (Who scored twice) he failed to beat them at home. We really f*cked up their world cup campaign by getting Scolari.

Well I did get a surprise when I woke up this morning to see how well England had played and of course won. I was anticipating a low scoring or even no scoring draw not an emphatic win. For those who watched the game what was the starting formation?

On paper it looks like a 4-2-3-1 with Lamps and Barry driving midfield and Rooney, Walcott and Joey buzzing around Heskey. Unless Rooney played as second striker in a 4-4-2 formation with Walcott and Cole as wingers. If its the former then that is a brave move by Capello particularly with the pace and movement of Cole, Walcott and Rooney.

Is this the sign of things to come for England.? if it means more wins like last night then bring it on.. my enthusiasm for the WC has returned !

One other point, I know that it is only one game but the partnership of Lampard and Barry without Stevie Me to complicate things looks to be a winning combo. Maybe we should bid for Barry in the summer... that would really piss off tubby and the Loserpoo fans !!

If Capello has learned anything from this game then his midfield should be a choice between Lampard/Gerrard and Barry/Carrick/Hargreaves with the attacking midfielders like Walcott and Cole to run amok...It will make England less predictable to our opposition. Capello can always through on another central midfielder to bottle up the game if needed once the attacking formation has got the lead.

KTBFFH

Well, well, well. Never saw that one coming in a month of Sundays, as my Nan would say.

I dont, and never will, have Sultana Sports, but I've watched the goals on the Beeb iPlayer (if anyone wants them : LINK about 22.50 in).

Walcott took all 3 very well.

Somehow Joe Cole escaped decapitation, but watching that video made me squirm, what a disgusting challenge - I imagine he'll be out this weekend. And the high foot for the Croatia goal almost re-arranged JT's features.

Not really been a great couple of qualifying games for Chelsea players on the fitness front.

Ivanovic to start this Saturday?

@Fiftee - thanks for the Beeb iPlayer link with the highlights. Given my roots I let it roll on to see that rarest of things a Scotland victory even if only v the mighty Iceland.

Intrigued to see the beer glass symbol, which I thought meant the signal had been supplied to a pub or club, in the bottom right of the screen for that game.

Does this mean some Beeb flunkey had to find a nearby hostelry with Setanta with his DVD recorder in hand to get these - or is it a subtle comment on we Scots 2nd favourite hobby?

I said to a friend at the weekend, what England need is another 'England 5-1 Germany' to reinvigorate supporters. I agree with Gareth Southgate that we have fallen out of love with the national side - I know I have - and it will take more than one result to change that.

I didn't watch last night's game (I was round said friend's house talking computers, something I'd much rather be doing than watching an England game, that's how bad things have got) and I have yet to see any highlights, but I am feeling just that little bit more confident about Capello - I'll support any England manager who can get his side to score three goals with Jenas on the pitch!

There's a long way to go. I still don't think we're any better than a World Cup quarter-final team, though.

Roll on Saturday evening.

I'm not English, yet i was thrilled watching them steamroll Croatia. it was most definitely a brave and risky way of playing by Capello which could've backfired any time. am just hoping that JC do not suffer any aftermath injury thanks to the Croats. nasty tackle.
and it is no hidden secret that Lamps and England shine whenever Stevie Useless G is not playing. Get that Capello? just confined Stevie G to the bench and maybe just maybe England might have a shot of going beyond the quarters in the WC.

The Belgian F1 Stewards have been allowed to change results of other finished sporting events in the past few months.

Taken from a F1 website

Olympic 100 metres
The Olympic 100 metres final has been reviewed by the stewards and Usain Bolt has had 25 seconds added to his time. The stewards verdict was that Bolt... "didn't run across the line properly and started celebrating way too early".

Swimming
Michael Phelps has seen his Beijing medal haul cut from eight to seven after the stewards decided to hand the win of the 100m butterfly to Milo Cavic. Apparently second-placed man Cavic was almost there first and morally was the winner.

Champions League Final
Chelsea are the new champions of Europe after winning the recalculated penalty shoot-out in Moscow. The stewards decided that Manchester United's narrow victory by 6-5 wasn't correct. They have allowed John Terry's missed penalty to count. "We feel that he would have scored if he hadn't lost his footing on a poorly prepared pitch, which was out of his control and so award him the penalty." Chelsea now win 5-4.

@96 Nick,

I'm much the same, and you know with the next games being against the nation of Borat and then Belarus, we'll play nowhere near as well as we (reportedly) did last night.

Walcott, quite rightly is taking the plaudits, but he'll undoubtedly fail to find similar form for the next few games, so back we go to wheel out Beckham. And by then Stevie Me will be fit, so he'll have to be shoe-horned in somewhere.

For years we've been stuck in a 'one step forward, three steps back' type of situation and I can't see it changing.

Hell, we haven't even qualified yet.

Never rains but it poors as they say.

First Essiens injury, then Joe Cole having his scalp spli in two. JT escaped a free facial re-alignment and now this :

LINK

Clarkey off to join Zola at Wet Spam. He will be a huge loss.

We are linked with a new kid called Angel Di Maria of Benfica and 19 years of age. Reports are saying that Benfica demand 24m quid for the young Argentinian.

1) How good is he?
2) Do we need him?
3) Is he worth 24m?

LINK

@Fiftee
I would find it a strange decision by Clarkey if he left to do the same job he's doing now for probably less money at West Ham. If Grant was still in charge then it wouldn't surprise if he'd jump ship and left to work with no.25

But hey what do I know, I claimed that Robinho wouldn't go to Citeh, I would have bet my house and wife on it, just as well I don't gamble.

It's looking quite likely that Clarkey will be off to join Franco. But it's only a short-term move because in 3 years he'll be back with Franco to manage at the Bridge. If he does go who can we get as a new assistant. In my mind, i hope Scolari doesn't appoint someone Brazilian just because they're Brazilian. Here's my choices:

1. Gus Poyet - Gaining a big reputation as a very good no.2. Poaching him from Spurs would delight all Chelsea fans and the ex-Chelsea connection can only be a positive.
2. Brendan Rodgers - Highly rated, young coach. Already coaching the reserves at Chelsea and his knowledge can help bring through some more youngsters. The fact that he's British is another plus as Steve Clarke was always seen as the British connection amongst the staff.
3. Casiraghi - Has said that he doesn't want to go to West Ham, but an offer from us could be too good to refuse. Ex-Blue connection would again please the fans.
4. Marcel 'The Rock' Desailly - A Chelsea legend and a defensively minded coach, just like Clarke. Another ex-Blue.

IF, Clarke leaves, it'll be a sad day as he's stuck through all the highs and lows, he even stayed throughout Avram's reign. But as we all regard West Ham as our feeder club, it'll only be a matter of time before he returns.

@Clive - agree, if Clarke takes a pay cut to work only as assistant again to someone with far less management experience than he has it would tend to suggest he feels sidelined by the current Brazilian set-up?

@Habs - I don't want him to go either -but he did leave briefly before in 1998 to work as assistant to Gullit at Newcastle and soon came back.....

I don't think Clarkey will leave Chelsea..he has a great relationship with all of the lads there. If he was going to leave us, he'd of gone to Milan with T.S.O..

Remember speculation was rife that he was leaving us when A.G took over..so don't believe everything..

Wouldn't be a massive surprise if Clarkey left; there was talk of him going in the summer (wasn't he in the running for the Leicester job?) and it all depends on how he's viewed his first couple of months under Scolari. Franco might be keen to persuade him to Upton Park given his level of experience in the Premier League.

Hope Franco does well but still not sure about him coming back here as manager; in these turbulent times, managers rarely leave their clubs on good terms and seeing Franco depart if he didn't quite live up to expectations would be pretty heartbreaking (certainly from a personal point of view). Would rather remember the legend as it stands now, frankly.

Don't think Casiraghi is likely to pitch up at the Bridge any time soon; not too many happy memories for him and wasn't there a spat about his recovery / insurance payout some time back? People involved have long since moved on so it may not be such an issue now, though.

Clarkey was on Chelsea TV with Neil a few weeks ago and he talked about the chances of him leaving the club. He considered it when Jose left, but ultimately decided that he had unfinished business. He doesn't want to go until we've won back the league and Champions League.

It was really sweet seeing him on the show because heaps of people were ringing up to tell him what a legend he is and begging him to stay. He was all modest and chuffed and reassured the fans he wasn't going anywhere. Love ya, Clarkey!

As for Franco, I hope he does well at West Ham (except against us, obviously) and learns enough to come take over when Scolari goes.

I also wish Franco all the best of luck..think he's gonna need it considering all of the venom that's being spat in his direction from SOME of Wet Spam's scum bag fans..

Bunch of morons >:(

It would be sad to see Clarkey and a surprise since he certainly won't earn the same money nor will he be coaching the same calibre of players ar West Ham.

Lets hope he is true to his word about unfinished business. Besides I would have thought his next gig would a full managers role in the lower leagues...

Bloody marvellous!!! I went to the link to see the goals and The Beeb has taken the News off of iPlayer already :o(((

Anyone know any other links please?

@The Bear -

Walcott LINK
Kovac sending off LINK
Walcott LINK
Wayne Rooney LINK
Mandzuki LINK
Walcott LINK

I think,better to let Malouda go..rather than Shawn Wright.