Premier League: Liverpool 2 - 0 Chelsea

Riley. Can't believe he gave Lampard a red and Gerrard "a harsh word". And WTF was Bosingwa thinking when he kicked Benayoun up the jacksie? I think you have crystallised all our thoughts in your review, JD. Not a moan but a clear look at where we are, well said.

Why has our performance deteriorated so much since Nov 2008. Yes, the referee was wrong in sending Lamps off. But, we didn't do anything to deserve the three points. No penetration. They are playing as if they have just been introduced for the frist time ever. Once again Scolari has fallen short, against his competitors. We should have created more. Was Reina playing today.....I couldn't tell. I say, get rid of Scolari now and give ourselves time to find the new person, who will be able to communicate better and reinstate the passion amongst the players. Forget 2008/9 season. We are not good enough.

Hi fellow Blues

Terrible decision from the Mike Riley. for sure this was the cause of the defeat. It might sound like an excuse... but sure it was one of the deciding factors. I expected more protests and more pressure on Riley from the pitch and the bench after that decision. This reflected the softness in their attitude, ofcourse passed on from the coach. I wish Murinho was around to see how the team would have reacted in similar situations.

We lacked penetration in the attack eventhough defense was solid except for last few minutes. Midfield lacked commitment with the likes of Lamps & Ballack. As usual neither Anelka nor Dider found free space. Kalou and Mikel looked ok..Chech looked patchy...Bosingwa was a flop and Malouda hardly got to touch the ball...Very disappointed with the result..certainlly dont deserve to be champs. I am just lost with wondering what on earth can bring a change in Blues.
Maybe Robinho...

Blues will hit back.....forget premier league..Chanps league...next target...


Cheers

But to be fair...who would we get instead? Also our squad is starting to look a bit threadbare/past it, if we could get someone else in, realistically would they do any better? If the money has been turned off, it is more than likely that we would be in the same position irrespective of who is in charge. What we are seeing now is just a continuation of the decline that started in Jose's last season. The reasons for this have, and I suspect will continue to be debated, but the club needs to decide pretty sharpish what it wants and how it hopes to acheive this. Without a fair chunk of investment, days like today will become more and more common as time passes.

I am not blaming our manager and I am not blaming our players in anything! The only person I blame is our benefactor for the turbulence he has inflicted on us with sacking Jose, taking Grant, selling Steve Clarke, taking Wilkinson and Scolari. We have had 4 managers in the last some years! Yes we have won competitions, but we have become extremely volatile investment. Right now we remind of bunch of orphans. Our players do not know what our tactics. We do not even understand how to defend corners. We look like bunch of confused kids who did well in math classes before the new teacher arrived. Such instability like 4 (Jose, Grant, Wilkinson, Scolari (and departure of Steve)) managers in the last two and something years could not vanish unnoticed!!! We pay right now, we pay for all stupidity of our management and our owner! We pay for no signings in summer, except of pensioner Deco and Bosingwa (good player though), and then signing of Minneiro (does anybody remember that he is on in our team) .
We play and smell like a dead meat so nobody cares if we are kicked and brushed away!!!
(I know I am too emotional, but please forgive me for it)

What is the point of getting rid of Scolari now? The league is lost. Why put the team in more disarray?

At a minimum, it allows for more freedom in team selection going forward. Obviously try to win the FA cup and CL, but in league games, mixing up personnel can't possibly be a bad thing.

Malouda has to go now, within the next 2 days. At a minimum he has to be loaned out- so he gets a chance to look like a real footballer so we can get some money for him. If he stays for the rest of the season we'll get nothing- no one will want him.

LINK

There is Delap's red card. If everyone agrees that it was a legitimate sending off, there is really nothing that separates what he did and what Gerrard did, except for Gerrard's sterling reputation. I didn't think it was possible to hate Gerrard any more than I already did. What Bosingwa did in the corner was stupid, but I can't blame him for feeling aggrieved. I'd love to see a retroactive red for Gerrard, but in what universe will that happen?

Anyone else upset at the Ashley Cole yellow? Kuyt falls down as he usually does running after the ball (he had a spectacular one in the box today!) and Ashley gets an early yellow? As bad as the Lampard red was, it would be one thing if it was a bad decision amongst a relatively well officiated game. But the cards came out early and fast for us.

Last comment- Kalou was onside at the 10 min mark. Terrible decision. The pool right back had played him on. We could not get a single useful decision in our favor.

Okay, I'm sorry but I think your review is being too kind. We did not even string a decent attack. I mean, look at it, Liverpool definitely deserved to win the game. They played like they wanted to win the game. Chelsea looked like they came for the draw. The first 45 minutes was so stressful, I was just glad when half-time came. We just kept defending and our passing was woeful. We did not even string a decent attack together.

There's something called fighting spirit and we had that in abundance last time. But look at us now, seriously, we just look like we're not up for the fight in any match. I mean, the Man Utd match was just pathetic. We did not even have a shot OFF target. I mean, what's happened to us? Teams used to be scared of us. We were unbeatable at a point. We used to play like nonsense and still get results. I mean, honestly, I'm just sick of Scolari and his excuse that teams "defend" very well against us. I mean, they've been doing that FOREVER. How come we used to cope with that last time and we cannot do so now? How come?

The fact that we lack the ability to turn a match around when we've gone behind shows clearly that Scolari's tactics do not work. I mean, remember how Jose immediately make substitutions and turn a match on its head? Even Avram. We had so much character last time. How many times did we use to come from behind to win or get something out of matches? Arsenal, Fulham, Reading, Liverpool, Villa. All these were big games and we used to psyche ourselves up for the big games. Now we just shrivel and once we lose the iniative, we shrink into our shells even more.

And what has happened to the meanest defence in the Premier League? We're conceding goal left, right and centre. The problem for me is that we dont look like we can create decent chances in a match. For example, the Middlesbrough match midweek, we looked pathetic. The only time when we created chances were after we were 2-0 up.

I'm just disappointed.

Really pissed off. Mike Riley is a fucking joke. Gerrard should have been booked for kicking the ball at Bosingwa then again late in the game for diving so that should have been a sending off. Forget that we didnt play well, For 60 minutes we kept them at bay, defended very well. A point would have been well deserved and theres no doubt in my mind but for Mike Riley we would have definetly got something from that game. What is wrong with the referees in England? There seems to be at least one clanger every week. The premier league can attract the best players so why not the best referees? This guy should be in charge of games in the conference. As for the title race I can only see 1 winner now and I dont know about you guys Id rather United win it than Poo. I agree with Bechampions that getting rid of Scolari now would be nonsense. Give him until the summer and let him bring in players (Speedy winger, Attacking midfielder with pace) and get rid of the crap (Malouda). How can you guys blame Scolari? It was the referee who cost us the game not him.

Martina, Liverpoo did create more but the bulk of that came after the sending off. Before that Petr hardly had a save to make. Did you just look at the stats and think "They had more shots so they deserve to win"? No thats not the case at all. Before the red card it was dead even and thats what really annoys me, The referee stole a point from us.

I'm happy to give Scolari time to settle in and build his own team; the worry is that I haven't seen to much to convince me he can cut it in terms of being a title contender - at 60, and given he isn't prone to hanging around in a job for too long, time is surely against him (and probably us) too.

Joe, I agree. Things were tight before the sending off. Listening to Rafa's press conference on the BBC was laughable. Didn't think the goal came because he had more space. Thought they were in control and sending tons of crosses in before the sending off.

Obviously, this was a terrible result. Malouda should never have played. One of the advantages of Drogba is that you can send him the ball over the top so you don't have to play through the middle. What do you expect when they have 2 defensive midfielders?

But, while I don't like the team selection, I can't say that Scolari lost the game for the team. I'm pissed that we lost a point- and for anyone who was thinking "gee, I guess I'd rather take a liverpool win rather than a tie so they put pressure on Man U", we might desperately need that point to stay in the top 4 for next season. Who cares who wins the title? Screw 'em all, I want Chelsea to win always.

Maybe we make a move tomorrow in the transfer window to get a quality left winger. I'm hoping... I still think a run at the CL is possible. Yes, Barca is the team to beat, but why not? What do we have to lose? Theoretically Scolari is a good cup coach...

Riley might aswell have been wearing a liverpool top today. As if the sending off wasnt bad enough he has to go and LAUGH with the Liverpool players afterwards. Its just a good job that Frank was sensible and professional enough to just walk down the tunnell when someone like Carragher or Bowyer would have taken a swing at the fool

@Joe

"The referee stole a point from us." Not really. Liverpool were the only team doing any sort of pressing throughout the whole match and they were the only ones who wanted to go for the win. They tested Petr, 3 times in the first half and after the sending off, pinned us down in our own half. They obviously deserved to wn the game and to think otherwise is simply idiotic.

This is what i feared; fans using Riley as a scapegoat for another awful performance. You should just accept the fact that we aren't that good anymore and that even with 11 men, we wouldn't have deserved to win the game. Waiting 75 mins for a shot must have been awful for those Chelsea fans who bothered to travel up to Anfield and any side who refuses to go for a win, should not be allowed to call themselves title challengers, as JD so perfectly put.

But JD, i do feel you were a little kind on the side.

GOOD:
1. Defence - I thought all 4 of them looked very good for 88 mins. Alex seemed to revel in charging down the barrage of Liverpool shots whilst JT went into Captain Fantastic mode after Lamps' sending off. He looked pretty fucked off and wanted to show that this side weren't going to be defeated by anther incompetent ref. Alas, it wasn't to be but i thought all 4 of them, including Ashley were great (apart from his 94th minute mistake and Bosingwa's karate kick).
2. Spirit - I have questioned the fighting spirit of this side this season but when down to 10 men they seemed to revert to a Jose-like siege mentality an fought for everything. It was just nice to see the fighting till the end unlike when they raised the white flag against Arsenal and Utd.
3. Torres - You have to say he's quality. Doesn't do much for 85 mins then pops up with the vital winner. Some may say any striker could have scored those goals but only the great ones do it in the biggest games. Unfortunately we had one of those in Didier but he's lost his motivation and Anelka is frankly useless in big games...

BeChampions, Exactly. All Rafa said was that they controlled the game blah blah blah and in terms of chances they proberbly did. However I didnt hear him say anything about the sending off. Then again perhaps he doesnt need to, Ridiculous biased decisions happen reguarly at Anfield. How Malouda is still here is a mystery to me and proberbly most Chelsea fans, The guy had about 5 good games and now just looks like he doesnt care. Im not saying we need a new signing (not yet anyway) but we cant keep playing ineffective players. Anelka is hopeless on his own against a top 4 team. He NEEDS a strike partner, Which should be Didier if he can be arsed to put in a shift for us anymore. The problem weve got and have had for a while is that the last 2 managers Grant and Scolari, They are both using Mourinhos system which is not the way to go considering our lack of width. Scolari needs to play 4-4-2 and not be afraid to drop people who arent performing.

Not much to say JD you're assessment of the game is spot on, and one point you raised about Tubby and his so called tactical genius. Yes what a coward he was, two holding midfielders until the last 10 mins of the game agaisnt ten men.

I wouldn't worry about them winning anything, because if they continue to produce the football they've been playing up until now, then Fergie must be thinking he can rest players for the CL as the Prem is sewn up.

@13 Habs-

Yes, Torres is very good. No argument here. I think he's been keeping Mad Rafa's ship afloat- nothing happens on that team besides Gerrard trying to get the ball to Torres and vice versa. On our side, however, I can't say I agree. The Guardian's Chalkboard is quite interesting... if you look at Anelka today he just didn't even have very many touches. What exactly is he supposed to do? If Malouda can't get him the ball...

Anelka is the kind of player that needs service. Nothing wrong with that- he just shouldn't be the CF when there are 2 defensive midfielders in front of him.

I don't think we've seen the last of Didier yet.

"They tested Petr, 3 times in the first half and after the sending off, pinned us down in our own half. They obviously deserved to wn the game and to think otherwise is simply idiotic."

As always habs must come on and give his pointless opinion. First of all I didnt say they had not attempts. I said they didnt make Petr work which means the saves he made were from tame efforts that were never going to beat him.

"This is what i feared; fans using Riley as a scapegoat for another awful performance. You should just accept the fact that we aren't that good anymore and that even with 11 men, we wouldn't have deserved to win the game. Waiting 75 mins for a shot must have been awful for those Chelsea fans who bothered to travel up to Anfield and any side who refuses to go for a win, should not be allowed to call themselves title challengers, as JD so perfectly put."

Im not using Riley as a scapegoat at all. Where in my posts does it say "We were in control and lost because of Mike Riley? He made an awful decision which gave Liverpool a mathematical advantage that they took advantage of. Im not taking ANYTHING away from Liverpool. They tried to win the game and had more chances as you would expect being at home. What I am saying is that in terms of commitment and spirit we matched them for almost the whole game. We were able to defend everything that threw at us but obviously after the red card for playing the ball and they going all out for the win a defeat became inevitable.

Habs, Are you a Liverpool fan in disguise? Did somebody hack into your account? By the way you forgot to put Mike Riley in your "Good" collum.

BAD:
1. Scolari - Why did i even hope we could get a win today? I should have learnt from the past 4 "Big 4" matches that we didn't stand a chance today. 1/15 in the Big 4 mini league is awful and these are the matches that really win you the title. For all the talk that this year's league is ultra-competitive and that you ould slip up at any time, it's the big matches which show who are the real title contenders and today, just like the previous 4 occasions, we were simply not good enough. We may have started steadily, as we always do, but our pointless sideways football was never going to get us a win and just like against Utd and Arsenal, we were eventually ground down. I wonder what Scolari must do in training before a big game as they've all been exactly the same. The less said about Ray Wilkins' input this season the better, but Phil must be blaed for turning this relentless machine into a tired, slow and ageing mess. He went there for a 0-0 which was stupid in th first place. Why would we want a draw when only a win would keep us in contention for the title? The team looked lost at some points and it became almost laughable when we regained possession on the edge of our box only for Lamps,Ballack or Mikel to look up and see no-one available for a pass, so we gave it to Cech to hoof upfield to no-one. The negativity was shocking to me as i always thought of us as a side who thought that we could beat anyone. Whether it was the Nou Camp, Anfield or the Mestalla, we had the mentality, character and tactics to give a great account of ourselves and yet we now look like a poor imitation of that side. I'll probably have hope of us gaining a victory at Villa Park and the Emirates but what's the point? We'll only get beaten, again.
2. Riley - You're a c*nt.
3. Bosingwa's kick - You're an idiot.
4. Gerrard - You're a c*nt. Your hero status allows you to get away with murder and that dive was frankly pathetic. Watch Pires for some tips.

Habs, My point is that we matched them all the way until the sending off. Which changed the game in their favour. If we still had JM then we may well have got a draw but given that our guys were trying to go forward and score aswell. After the sending off we all knew what was going to happen. No doubt about it

For my money just 'living with' a team and then blowing it for whatever reason is the classic mark of pre Mourinho Chelsea (yes, I know it is difficult when you go down to 10 men); but I've seen so many performances in the past where the post-match "we would have got something had it not been for X, Y or Z" utterances sounded utterly hollow deep down, no matter how much justification we tried to find in the circumstances, unjust or otherwise. Today felt like that; it worries me to say it, but there you go.

"Habs, Are you a Liverpool fan in disguise? Did somebody hack into your account? By the way you forgot to put Mike Riley in your "Good" collumn."

Oh Joe, your wit is truly astonishing. Of course i'm a Liverpool fan who thinks Riley had a good game. Better that than being a deluded fan who sees everything through Blue-tinted glasses and refuses to accept the truth about our side.

And this is what you said:

"Liverpoo did create more but the bulk of that came after the sending off. Before that Petr hardly had a save to make. Did you just look at the stats and think "They had more shots so they deserve to win"? No thats not the case at all. Before the red card it was dead even and thats what really annoys me, The referee stole a point from us."

So you thought that before the red card Petr hardly had a save to make. Wow, you're either blind, stupid or both. They may have been long range efforts but Petr looked shaky today and he spilled 3 of them. Then you say that before the red card it was dead even. Yeah, right. Whilst we were camped in our own half, wondering what to do next and trying to waste time going for the 0-0, it was Liverpool who were the ones doing all the pressing. We had to wait 75 mins for any shot from us and the game certainly wasn't even. They may not have created many clear chances, but it was Liverpool who were the ones going for the win and not us.

I think you should just wake up and stop blaming the ref for "stealng a point off us." In terms of play, Liverpool deserved to win this game. It's as simple as that. The fighting spirit we showed may have made the defeat all the more difficult to take, but that doesn't mean we deserved a point. Reina could have been doing a crossword for 90mins as he certainly didn't have many saves to make and the sheer level of negativity we showed meant that ultimately we didn't deserve anything from this game.

Just listen to Ruud Gullit's comments to see who deserved to win this game.

The most frustrating thing for me is that it's now predictable that we're going to be predictable.

It doesn't matter if we're playing Southend or Liverpool, we play the same way. Surely after 3 months of this any rational person would realise a system isn't working and try a different approach.

Is Phil an idiot?

Nice review JD. Do I detect the grinding teeth of frustration underpinning your musings?

@ Habs - I agree with the stuff you wrote, bang on mate.

@ Everyone - Scolari's going nowhere this season - it may be the ownership of the club that decides the future first but using the January window to buy poor quality players at inflated prices won't help us. The cash has been turned off for whatever reason, but we can't discount RA not wishing to let Scolari fund a new team whilst he so patently isn't getting the best from the current players. Drogba is NOT the answer and as much as I've loved him in the past his contribution in the last 18 months is meagre at best. Malouda and Deco should be sold come the summer, and Malouda before then if possible. He is now vying with Doug Rougvie, Dave Beasant, Chris Sutton, Robert Fleck and Jokanovic for the "Worst Chelsea Player Ever" title.

I'm with JD - I can't see a man of 60 building a dynasty for us to get sustained success but getting shot of him now would be pointless - the players look jaded and spiritless today and RA must be watching and thinking that he and the board made a mistake with Scolari. I think we'll see a change this summer with a younger hungry man coming in. Rijkaard might be suitably refreshed, Bilic will be available or ......maybe Dave Moyes can be prised away from Everton to become our very own ranting fergie-like Scots lunatic.

Yes

@haberdashers

Bravo. You've just summed up what I wanted to say. Instead of blaming the team, we blame others. Enough is enough. We obviously aren't as good as we were.

The players are not performing. I mean, Drogba has just lost it. The guy is useless. I can't fault he needs service to play his type of game. Maybe Scolari should teach the players to pass to a blue shirt for once? Ballack's passing is absolutely woeful. Has the man gone colour blind? He can't tell red from blue. It's just pathetic.

And I can't believe some of us think that we were hard done by. No, I did not look at the stats and decided that Liverpool were the better team. I saw a team that wanted to win the game more than us. They did the running, the passing, the pressing. We just sat and watched and defended in the first half. Yeah, after the sending off, I'd have taken a point, but who am i kidding? We did nothing in the game.

I know I'm sounding like this idiotic Chelsea fan who doesn't know what she's talking about but seriously, I've never been this hard on Chelsea. I love Chelsea and I will never stop supporting them no matter how bad things are. I'll always be looking forward to a Chelsea game every weekend because I love this team. It's just that, I can't take it anymore. We haven't played well since the first half against Arsenal. And I mean that.

We play beautifully with an amazing squad. We don't have someone commiting niggly fouls and then snarling at the referee.. a 'mascherano'. We don't need one. We have Mikel.. a deep lying playmaker. We have Anelka, a withdrawn striker.
Everytime I look at the team in my biased eyes, I see winners and quality across the pitch. Bosingwa/Cole on the sides. Malouda and Kalou with the ability to cut in or cross from the flanks. I don't know what is wrong. I want to pack it all in and find a new hobby. Staying up all night to watch travesties like that is enough to tear your eyes out.

@ Habs - Totally agree with your comments mate

@ Chelseatony - Doug Rougvie, for all his faults (and there were many!), had more passion in his tatooed left arm than most of the current crop have in their whole bodies. He may not have had the skill, but at least he tried!

@ Martina - "It's just that, I can't take it anymore" - Whilst I agree with your sentiments entirley, it maybe time for a 'good lie-down'. Or perhaps a visit to Dr Mrs' Clive!

For me, the future is Zola and Clarke..... If the Hammers continue their reasonable form until the end of the season, I think the best money Roman could spend would be to bring these two Chelsea boys back to the club and start building some team spirit again. I don't want to see constant changes in managers, but Scolari patently is unable to get a squad that cost many hundreds of millions to look interested.....And that isn't good enough.

HABS, Seriously what is your point? Your blabbering on about Liverpool deserving to win. I never said we deserved to win, All I said was that the sending off changed the game. Anyone with 2 eyes could see that and no I dont think they would have beaten us with 11 vs 11. So stop moaning about us playing really badly and not deserving anything. We defended very well and fought for everything over the pitch. Alex was magnificent. As for me "Always blaming others and defending the team". I never defended anybody, I blasted Malouda and Scolaris tactics. So Im not making excuses for anybody, Just annoyed at decisions that went against us and losing to Liverpool which is always hard to take

This is of topic but so funny LoL LINK

What really annoys me is that after a few bad results everybody turns on the manager. We are 3rd in the league, 5 points off the top for gods sake.

"We obviously aren't as good as we were." Well your a genius arent you?

@ 13Joe13....'What really annoys me is that after a few bad results everybody turns on the manager. '

And what really annoys me is that after almost 2 months of watching this shite, the manager clearly hasn't got a clue how to put it right. Sort it out, try something different, just don't keep playing the same team / formation and wondering why it ain't working.

Greenlight. Your right, But has he got the players to change it and still be effective? 4-4-2, Who does he play on the left? Malouda? And in terms of transfers Phils hands are tied.

I don't disagree Joe, but good coaches react to situations and adapt to them.

We all know Malouda is rubbish (to quote the Scousers in the pub last night " He's shite, He's French, He should be on the bench, Malouda!") so don't pick him and either pick a team without a left winger, or perhaps have the foresight to see how it was worth keeping Wayne Bridge and playing he and Cole in tandem on the left.

The team would have had far more pace and less predictability than it currently does.

Does anyone actually think that we'd play differently if we had landed Robinho? I fear we would still attack slowly, pass sideways a lot, defend poorly and generally act like we haven't got a clue. Only difference would be individual skill on one position, and even Robinho can't beat eight man defence..

the fact of the matter is scolari is just plain stupid and too honest for his own good.
the league is won by teams who have refereeing decisions for them.
if scolari cant get tough on this match officials then he is wasting his time in English football.
LFS get didier to do his play acting get Kalou to dive more often...
you cheat your way around in the premiership that's what we call winning in style!! but am afraid you wount get to win anything this year all the officials
FA and the entire `England` would like to see
1.FERGIE lifting that record equaling premiership win after a tough battle with benitez.

Did anyone notice that MOTD2 last night didn't show any of the yellow cards. I should imagine Delap has a good case to get his red overturned if Stoke use Stevie Me's kicking the ball at Boswinga.

All the BBC showed after the highlights was Gerrards studs up challenge on Kalou.

My stand is that we dint deserve to win. There was no penetration at all and Reina had nothing to do all night. That being said, we were well poised for a creditable point had Lampard not been sent off. The refree robbed us of a precious point. Alot of different factors have been causing our decline this season: crappy wingers, ageing squad, lack of pace in the team and the naive-ness of the manager etc. There's only one person who can turn this around and that is our dear owner. He needs to sack people like Arnesan or maybe Kenyon, restructure the club's hireachy and find some cash to pull us through. We are counting on you again Roman.

Nothing to add. Weekend ruined.

I would like to retract my statement I made in the Middlesbrough review where I questioned why I hadn't seen much of TSSO after matches. I saw him yesterday and he's just a wet flannel. FFS Man, grow a backbone and say what everyone with an ounce of footballing knowledge knew - that Riley made a mistake pure and simple.

Oh, and your team is pretty much shit.

Gutless, heartless, soul-less, toothless and other words with 'less' in would be fitting ways to describe Mike Riley, but anyone who wants to blame him for the result yesterday is simply deluded. No, I'm talking about our 'attack' (in the loosest sense of the word).

The first thing that was wrong was seeing Anelka instead of Drogba start the game. 'Sunday afternoon off' thought Carragher, Skrtel et al. Admittedly, at this point it was hard to know whether DD might actually bother or just go through the motions, but Drogba has terrorised Liverpool in the past so to give them a chance we picked Mr Anonymous-in-big-games. Still, compared to Malouda, Anelka was like Messi in full flow. What actually is the point in Malouda? I dont just mean football - what does he actually offer to anyone, anywhere? I can't remember the last time I held such utter contempt for a fellow human being. It would have been more effective if we'd dressed a King Edward potato in a Chelsea kit and placed it on the half-way line. The only thing I remember seeing him do, was come back to get the ball off Ashley Cole, but by standing 5 yards square of him to the right. Have a think Florence, are you going to do anything from left-back?

Kalou was average, a lot of indecision and exploration of the numerous Cul de Sacs that seem to frequent Anfield, but at least he's a tryer. Mikel seems to have peaked about 4-5 games ago and is having a bit of a wobble, poor tackling and poor distribution are costlier in his position than in most others. Essien can't return soon enough.

cont'd...

...cont'd

Alex was my pick of players in blue - getting lots of JT-style blocks in, winning almost everything in the air.

Just want 5 o'clock to come and go to confirm we wont be making any additions to the squad - and like the late 90's that I fondly remember - we'll be a cup side again.

The title 'challenge' is over, but it's not because of Mike Riley.

@Fiftee

I think this might be the page you're looking for LINK

"Mikel seems to have peaked about 4-5 games ago and is having a bit of a wobble, poor tackling and poor distribution are costlier in his position than in most others."

I've never seen so much bollocks in one sentence.

I have never liked Mike Riley as a referee and started to take an especial dislike to him during the 2002 FA Cup final, when he gave a completely unnecessary yellow card to Eidur Gudjohnsen. We all remember too that he was the referee who didn't even give Steven Hunt a yellow card for smashing Petr Cech's skull.

Re worst Chelsea player ever: I always think Graham Wilkins deserves a mention

"I've never seen so much bollocks in one sentence"

Never sense-check your own posts then?

At least we usd to give the top teams a bit of a test (1994 FA Cup Final excepted!) when we were shit.

@24

You said a number of things I wanted to say here ChelseaTony so I won't repeat them. You take the measure of a man by his excuses and Scolari is starting to use them to deflect from his own inabilities. The so-called first team he put out yesterday is a spent force and has been for months. The red card yesterday did not turn the game in my opinion. We would have been deservedly beaten anyway. Benitez waited for the last ten minutes to turn the game with subs because he knows that's when concentration fades even in the strongest defenders. Scolari has been outsmarted by all the top managers and he has been frustrated by several others, including some from the Championship. He might as well blood some youth now and at least try to revive from within as he hasn't been allowed to buy. A big re-think by the owner and his pathetically ill-informed advisers is now due in the summer. How lucky they got Jose first time around.

Barcelona won La Liga and the Champions League in 2006 with some incredible football and collapsed the following season, winning nothing with a Squad that had tuned lazy and unfocussed. It happens. Now look at them with a little tweaking and stripping of excess baggage. We need to shift out our baggage (Malouda, Drogba, Deco etc) and re-build around our core, finding the youth and hunger to complement their knowledge and focus: Terry and Lampard are here for life. Czech, Essien and Obi can be part of it. But its quick, intelligent youngsters that we need more than anything.

@47
Yes we have to do some serious weeding in our garden. Some of us said above that this is just the continuation of decline started in the last Jose season, so it seems to me too. There is only one way to fix and it is to sell all those who do not want to play!!! As simple as that!!!! You all know the names!

Returning to the yesterday game, well, Scolari had a plan, yes he wanted to field Drogba instead of Maluouda. Let's be honest has he got anyone else???? We lacking any depth in our squad!!!
I agree with one thing REFEREE robed at least a point from us yesterday!!!!!
Yes Liverpool had little bit more possession, but still not enough to score!!! Even when Lampard has been sent off they scored only on 89 minute!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is deserved win???? I am not saying we were GREAT, but I am saying that we were nowhere near the loss!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Now about cards!
Gerard kicking ball into Bosingwa that must have been YELLOW Card!!!!!!!!!! Gerard diving another Yellow card, Gerard made some horrible tackles which again went unpunished!!! What the hell is that I ask you ??????????? WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!!!!!!!!!?????????????

Only saw the first half. We did OK they had a few half chances we had plenty of the ball but didn't threaten too much.

Deeply concerned that on breaking up their moves deep in our half we then played triangles and walked the ball towards the halfway line. No fast break to catch them when for once their holding midfield was up the pitch. Is it me or do we always play to feet? We never seem to put the ball into space for someone to run onto. This makes for tidy possession but against a smothering defence means we never get at the backline and turn them.

Assumed the Lampard sending off would be contentious but that the ref would have some basis for the decision. Then saw it on MOTD2. There's nothing to be said that hasn't been said. I thought when he booked Mascherano early for repeated fouling that maybe he was determined not to let the Merseyside effect get to him, but minutes later he did Cole for a standard bump and run, with Kuyt the victim of the Anfield sniper on this occasion.

No we weren't playing well, but with 11 men who knows? A rescinded card wont change the result. But if we kept hanging around the top..stranger things etc. etc.?

If you have any teeth left to grind or you're reduced to mashing your gums look at this little gem of responsible journalism.

"As amusing as it is to see him get his marching orders, it looked like a very, very harsh decision. Lampard walks off without complaining or arguing his case, but his captain, self-appointed referees' chief John Terry gets booked for badgering the referee. To be fair to Terry, that was a shocking refereeing decision. If anyone committed a foul, it was actually Alonso."

LINK

Amusing for who ye gobshite?

He's a disgrace to the proud Irish nation and given the inclement weather and the limited amount of steam given off by my piss its good to weed out those who won't be getting any.

I only wish this had happened for my coverage of the last 10 minutes LINK

For the love of God, why :

"1150: Strong sources tell us that Chelsea's Scott Sinclair will extend his loan deal at Birmingham City, while Sergio Tejera will leave Stamford Bridge join Real Mallorca on loan."

Yes, I know it's only a rumour from the Beeb, but why? What possible reason is there, now our league campaign is all but over, to loan out the youngsters? Just give them a chance, hell some of them might actually show a bit of willingness to prove a point and deserve a place in the side instead of thinking 'I'm the only left footed winger at the club, I'm going to be playing'.

Why not loan Malouda to Birmingham and let Sinclair play on the left?

why i would like to know is exactly what is ray wilkins doing to advise scholari on certain type of games? if you see his post match talks when he takes them it is obvious the "we want everyone to like us shit" has infested the wholoe boardroom instead of thinking about winning and conqueriing this league after the hundreds of millions the owner spent. I agree if we can get clarkey and zola in the summner why not give them a chance?

Think the general level of expectation around us needs to be adjusted if we're going to give a novice like Franco a go. I'm wondering just how far his legend staus would go if we were 6th in March and looking unlikely to get CL qualification. Wenger would probably be safe in that scenario, but I'd doubt that any Chelsea manager would in the current climate.

OK - it really can stop snowing now...

@DannyBrod

You're spot on. Scolari is regularly outsmarted by his rival managers and because of that we lost any hope of winning the title after the Liverpool defeat. After that match, rival managers saw how to beat us. Use your strikers to pressure us from the front, have two had working wingers to mark our fullbacks out of the game and defend deep to make Anelka pointless. That's the simple gameplan which good teams have used to get points against us and even poor sids like Burnley and Southend used that tactic. What makes it worse however is that we've appeared to have lost the mentality of a great side. When we concede a goal, we seem to accept the defeat instead of fighting back. And when we turn up for the big games, we don't turn up expecting a win, instead we just hope that we don't lose. Every single Big 4 game has been awful from us as we've never looked like going for the win. We pass the ball about pointlessly at such a slow tempo that it looks like we want a 0-0 from kick-off. It happened yesterday,at Old Trafford, at home to Liverpool, away at Roma...

The problem of our manager being constantly outsmarted isn't new as we experienced it regularly under Avram. But unlike Avram, Phil hasn't let the team run itself. He's insisted on changing the side to play possession football without actually looking like scoring. Maybe it's just the end of an era for this side and that some of them have lost their motivation, maybe it's the loss of Essien or maybe it's the fact that we've hired an average manager who's just not cut out for a title chasing side?

Your comparison with Barca is also a great one. Both had great sides and after Barca's collapse we're no following the same road. They decided to get rid of many of their big names and decided to have one big summer of investment (Alves, Keita, Hleb, Caceras) whilst basing their side around younger, home grown players (Messi, Bojan, Busquets, Iniesta, Xavi, Puyol) and a younger manager(Guardiola)...

Assuming Roman does intend to retain ownership, if in a more financially restrained manner, is he really going to throw away money on sacking Scolari even at the end of this season when he still has 1 year plus 1 option on his contract? Do we really want to become a revolving door manager club?

Those heady early season days gave us a glimpse of what might be possible so isn't he more likely to fund a clear out and acquisition of a squad more suited to Scolari's style of play in the summer.

Those of you calling for Zola/Clarke as well as JD's cautionary note above [@53] need to remember that Franco is an honourable man not given to breaking his word - and therefore unlikely to leave before his contract with the Spammers is up - anyone know how long this is?

Maybe we should follow suit and this summer could be our turning point. We should have a ruthless clearout of some of the deadwood: Ballack, Deco, Malouda, Kalou, Didier, Anelka and Roman should look a Barca's example and have one more big summer of reinvestment of younger players. After that we should look to Utd's transfer policy. Every 4-5 years they decide to have a clearout but apart from that they only look to buy 1 big player per summer (Ronaldo, Rooney, Tevez, Berbatov). Finally we should look to employ a younger manager. Not only for practical reasons such as they'd be more interested in building a side for the long term and not for just 2 seasons, but also because younger managers may be more controversial, have some new ideas say something different apart from endless management cliches and be willing to create a more ruthless and professional team. Scolari tries to be everyone's friend but he looks like he's a manager from a previous era, an analogue coach in a digital world, who's run out of ideas. He doesn't seem able to change or motivate anymore. He arrives with 1 tactic, his Brazilian 3-4-3 and he stupidly tries to force it on our side. Whereas Jose did that for 2 weeks with his Porto 4-4-2 diamond, he soon realised it wasn't working and found a new tactic. He's alos doing it at Inter where his 4-3-3 didn't work so he created a 4-3-1-2. That's what good managers do, they adapt. And as it's clear Phil can't do that, why don't we follow Barca's lead and employ a younger manager with some new ideas? I still think it's too early or Franco, and no.2s never make good managers, so that rules out Clarkey but there are still some very good young coaches we could get: Rijkaard, Bilic, Van Basten, Klinsmann... All of them would be good for us and even though O'Neill and Moyes are impressing, who could see Roman hiring a Brit?

This may be an age thing, but I still can't complain too much when we put up a decent show at Anfield and with so many games left to play, neither do I want to fall into the negative state that seems to be aflicting many of us, so here goes.

1st., the minuses:

Petr looked really dodgy at times.
Malouda...
No penetration in attack and too slow anyway.
We don't seem to be winning many free kicks in and around the box these days - and I mean legitimate ones, not diving awards. Either we can't shield the ball, or we give it away with endless little passes, or we shoot when we know it'll be blocked, or we just don't panic defences anymore, or all of these.

On the plus side:

We do look a fairly solid team defensively again and improving with every game.
Not conceding possession as much as before.
Team spirit's better.
Perhaps now defence is on the mend we can start working on attack.
February's a short month (Essien back in March?).

The worst thing about last nite was that I believe if poo had gone down to 10 it wouldn't have made much difference to us (just a more comfortable draw).

My main point is that Clarke's gone and we need to move on.

"I still think it's too early or Franco, and no.2s never make good managers, so that rules out Clarkey but there are still some very good young coaches we could get: Rijkaard, Bilic, Van Basten, Klinsmann... All of them would be good for us and even though O'Neill and Moyes are impressing, who could see Roman hiring a Brit?"

Habs - I agree that Franco and Clarke as a partnership are not experienced enough to take the helm just yet, and as BBD says, Zola is a deeply honourable man who is unlikely to walk away from any contract. Remember Roman wanted him to stay but he had promised Cagliari he'd go there and no amount of money would have made him break that promise. I like all the names mentioned there, and it would be a shame to ignore the merits of Moyes and O' Neill if they do decide that The Scolari Experiment was as successful The Quatermass Experiment. Both of them have done great jobs on far more limited resources than we could have provided. I think that if Scolari stays during the summer we'll still see a huge shipping out of some of the existing squad.

Is it just me or does anyone else sense a cloak of silence over the club. Do they seriously think 'no news is good news'? Its all gone a bit Russian Secret Service.....

@KJII

"OK - it really can stop snowing now... "

In the words of Mr Crosby "Let it snow let it snow let it snow" 'cause I'd rather that than this..

LINK

Thinking of transfer deadline day, last minute signings and problems with travel in the week where Mark and Dr Mrs Clive have pioneered a remote medical diagnosis service, how many last minute signings are going to be spoiled by the player not arriving for the medical?

Can Dr Mrs Clive offer some expertise here? Can Clive and Dr Mrs Clive make some money out of this?

Watch this space..

Why, because its white and still, just like the scene outside the window.

@ BB 49

Interesting point about the obsession with playing to feet. At some point during the 'Boro game, I think towards the end of the (awful) first half, after yet another attack had foundered on the 10-man defence, Anelka turned to the midfield and made a arcing motion with his hand -- very clearly signalling he wanted balls over the top.

You do begin to wonder whether RA's obsession with the team being popular meant that he took on board the endless media whining about how we only ever used to knock long balls up to Drogba, and now he's instructed Mr Big to play a quick passing game. "I want us to be like Arsenal", he probably said -- remember how for the past five years every hack in the land has been saying that Arse are actually the best team in England, except for the fact that they never win anything?

Well, we're not quite as bad as Arsenal yet, but we may be getting there.

We can forget about Zola/Clarke arriving any time in the next couple of years, unless Spam actually go bankrupt. And as I and others have said before, it's as least as likely that Mr Big will be given a chance to build a team as that he'll be ditched for some other big name who will then also be expected to do a José in his first season.

A lot's going to depend on how good some of the kids are.

@ FSTS - Are we kidding ourselves that Essien will resolve all our problems? Let us not forgot just how useless he was on his return from the ACN last year......well documented on this site for quite a few match reviews. He's a great player, but he'll need time to re-adapt to the full pace of the PL, plus whatever plans Scolari might have for him. And one player should not be the difference between being a good team and being bad. We've not been a 'good' team for a few months now and as Habs says, maybe its time in the summer to go for a big rebuild from the bottom with promoted youngsters and 4 or 5 big signings.

Whether thats Scolari or not remains a moot point, but irrespective of whether he stays or goes, if the older deadwood isn't shipped out then expect to see shirt and merchandise sales fall, aligned to the similar effect caused by NOT being a winning side, along with falling ad revenue, less 'global' interest, ticket sales and season ticket sales dropping off as people tighten belts all leading to what we like to call 'transformational change' at my company. Business sense will always prevail and sales are driven by image, brand and associated success. This was why Avram Grant was always doomed - his 'image' just didn't match the clubs desired image. Ultimately this might be what does for Scolari, especially if he continues to bumble in interviews and appears to be unbothered by everything. In the end, the piss poor football and under-performance of the team will have an affect, but not as much as falling revenue streams will.

How long before we get the stock bollocks-loaded patronising interview with some of the team telling us how much this 'hurts' them and how they're 'united in team spirit and determined to put it right' with a soupcon of 'we can still win the title' bullshit thrown in? Is it just me that's sick of hearing such patronising bollocks from our players?

For no specific reason, besides my general frustration:

LINK

This is for everyone who decried Robben and wanted him shipped out for being a diver. Good thing we got Malouda, hmm?

@Tony,
The Essien note was not a call for him to Save Our Season, but a little plus on the horizon. If we don't get a few wins before then, it could be too late anyway.

I still don't think we played so badly that we've got to write ourselves off just yet.

Agree about those 'heartfelt' interviews too. Let's hope that they're not needed.

BTW., this optimism thing I've got, can Mrs Clive recommend any medication (I believe that she's on the blog medical staff).

Talking medicine, here's a cure for anyone still feeling down and out of it:

Go outside and beat-up any snowmen wearing red hats. That'll teach em!

Actually, sounds like a good idea, I'm off.

Yes it's the last day of the window. Yes, we're going to do no business. Yes I'm bored of football, work and almost life in general.

So then, reports of Jose looking to ship out Quaresma. Have always thought he had a bit of something about him, no doubt destined to be the next Malouda if we signed him. But he's Portugese, and we know how much TSSO loves them.

Give it a go I say.

Can Dr Mrs Clive offer some expertise here? Can Clive and Dr Mrs Clive make some money out of this?

@BB
Did someone mention money????..... I would mud-wrestle my own Grandmother for a ton of cash, an amusing clock, and a sack of French porn.
But my wife is morally and ethically on a totally different level to me, as I'm sure she'll point out later when she posts a response.

@ FSTS

beat-up any snowmen wearing red hats

Definitely - the nasty, good for nothing little carrot-nosed, lump of coal-eyed, twig-armed shithouses...

5 matches against the (so-called) Big 4 this season and 4 losses and 1 draw (1 point) and just 1 goal scored (excluding own goals) and 9 goals conceded in those matches.

Our main striker Anelka has not scored a single goal against any of the big teams in the Premiership (or Europe) since he signed for Chelsea over a year back.

It looks like we have to fight for the 3rd position now with Aston Villa, Arse-Anal and Everton. 3 years without the Premiership trophy and, most likely, two consecutive trophyless years.

It's time for a change - and not only in management. KTBFFH!

@ Clive #66

Disaster strikes at the heart of our enterprise

LINK

How can a poor man stand such times and live....as they say

@KJII #67

Having assisted the ankle biters with the construction of a snowman before heading out for the orrifice, can I point out that in this day and age we shouldn't be using coal and a packet of raisins or jar of black olives will do the job.

And your traditional snowman does not have twig arms, I've already debated this with a 3 year old.

@ KJII

That's not to suggest your debating skills and ability to marshall a complex brief are not superior to that of a 3 year old...by at least a bit

It makes me laughin each time Chelsea loose a game because people will come with the same arguments over and over again. Just put in your mind, Mourinho is great manager but he won't come back to manage Chelsea though. There are certainly much comfort to call for him but you should stick together and encourage your team whenever you can.
Your benefactor is a s****. What do u expect? He's a politician and all his decision making is made of it...
I ain't here to tease u but forget it and JUST hope for a better future. But I can see you not winning anything for the coming years... That's sad but it's DEFINITELY true. Like it or not. so good luck!

@ Blue Bayou

Noted and thanks... I have just donned my hiking boots and yomped to the local shop for supplies (I saw a neighbour with 6 cans of Stella and thought it a sound idea...) and saw not one but two snowpersons with twig arms.

Maybe it is a regional thing?

Olives are all well and good, but what does one put in the puttanesca? And as for the gratuitous use of raisins in cold weather sculpture - the 15 month old of the house would stand for no such thing...

I say, let Jose have the drogs and we have Quaresma who is only 25!!!

@KJII #72

The twigs are too literalist an interpretation of the snowman form. Its like making an effigy of Mike Riley and wasting time putting eyes, a spine and a brain in it....

Besides everyone knows snowmen grow their own arms when they come to life...

LINK

..although Mike Riley will never grow any sense alive or dead..

STOP PRESS!!!!! Sky are saying Quaresma is being linked to chelsea!!!

DEFINTALEY QUARESMA IS IN CHELSEA'S sites!!!!!

Not entirely sure a slightly flaky Portuguese winger is a big improvement on a slightly flaky French winger, but still. The fact he didn't cut it in Serie A isn't particularly encouraging either...

KJ#72 @Blue Bayou. The last time it snowed I was forced to use a chilli for the nose as we were out of carrots. At one point I was pondering whether I'd have to use truffle shavings as buttons. Not that I'm middle class or anything.

Breaking news that Bosingwa got off for his assault on Benayoun.

You've got to love the standard of officiating in this league!

Perhaps it's the FA's attempt at compensation for some of the dodgy decisions that have gone against in some games.

@JD
He may supply the same short term excitement that Malouda did when he first arrived. Afterall he did make a promising start, and scored a few goals, so if Quaresma has the same effect initially, and then fades into hopelessness we just ship him back at no great loss.

Slightly worried by the Quaresma loan reports. He's definitely a player with talent, pace and trickery but he was a flop at Barca and now at Inter, so what suggests that he can be a success at another big club like Chelsea. It also looks a bit desperate that after a runof dodgy form, another bad result against a big team and with only a few minutes left of the window, we decide to swoop for Quaresma. Surely if the club wanted to bring in a winger they could have found someone better in the past 30 days. However let's look on the bright side; Roman didn't have to pay a transfer fee, he's played so badly that i think he's still available for the CL and he's a HUGE step up from Malouda.

"Our main striker Anelka has not scored a single goal against any of the big teams in the Premiership (or Europe) since he signed for Chelsea over a year back."

Sorry to be anal, but doesn't sb need to create those goals for him? Doesn't our playmaker(England's no. 1 MF) need to assist him? Has he ever had any goal scoring chances against the big teams? i am stupid or what? Why don't you mention the fact that Frank creates no scoring chances for other players in big matches? What on earth is going on? Has Frank ever done anything against a propoer team?

Hmmm ... and although Quaresma didn't make it at Inter, remember that the last winger deemed surplus to requirements by José was -- Arjen Robben.

I seem to have clutched a fistful of straws -- better go outside and find a snowman to stick them in.

My boys and I eschewed the whole snowman thing this morning and attempted an Igloo. It was a glorious failure but some passing Aussie complimented us on our "fort", so we took his hint, gave up on the roof business and stuck crenellations on it. The neighbourhood toddlers were happily wandering in and out of it when we left.

As Brunelleschi no doubt said on a similar occasion -- roofs are hard.

Watch out, Moffat and his pea-sized brain is back.

Has Frank ever done anything against a propoer team?

I don't believe you've posted that. Have you got snow on the brain, you gormless cunt?

#83 Moffat
Has he ever had any goal scoring chances against the big teams? i am stupid or what? Why don't you mention the fact that Frank creates no scoring chances for other players in big matches?

The last person who has expressed the same point of view on this forum was Jose Musumba!

Didn't Frank score the equaliser against Utd in the CL and then hit the bar? Didn't Frank make a great pass to Drogs for him to score the winner in the FA Cup?
I'm sure's there's lots more if I can arsed to remember, but to be honest I can't!

I'm sure's there's lots more if I can arsed to remember, but to be honest I can't!

Allow me to refresh your memory Clive... :-)

Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Arsenal...

@JD
Ah yes that sublime goal against Brian Munich, that if Ronaldo had scored it the press would have been creaming their pants for weeks afterwards.

"Has he ever had any goal scoring chances against the big teams? i am stupid or what?"

Well it's nice of you Moffat to finally admit that you're stupid. But i feel using the word stupid is unfair on people who are actually just stupid. You are so fucking retarded that you should just fuck off and support someone else.

And if you remember Frank scored the most important goals in our biggest match for 50 years at Bolton to win us the league. Just another great performance from him amongst the 400 other games he's had for us. Not too shabby for an average midfielder is it?

Like other have said, I just can't understand why anyone would persevere with the exact same tactic for months when it so patently isn't working.

I think people are making too many excuses for Phil. Let's not forget that little over 6 months ago under the much derided (unfairly IMO) Avram, with much the same personnel, we looked like world beaters in the Champions League final.

Chelsea now remind me of England under Mclaren, in that I genuinely believe they would be better with no management. If you took our best players, and told them, just go and play in a 4-4-2 (which most of them would have done since childhood) I'm sure we would have much more success.

So frustrating! What is Phil on????

"My wife is morally and ethically on a totally different level to me, as I'm sure she'll point out later when she posts a response".

Nuff said, darling :-)

Whilst I think that BB's idea of having the personal details of famous football players emailed to me for a quick medical service, I'm not sure it would beat my idea, which is to have them helicoptered into the field next door, so I can examine them in person and at my leisure.

(If anyone from the GMC reads this, its a joke).

@FSTS

I'm not sure any medication other than very heavy duty antipsychotics is going to take away the pain of yesterday's game - but I'm experimenting with them on Clive, and if it works, I'll be ready to supply them all round.

(Anyone from the GMC, please refer to my previous comment)

@Mark

That rash looks bloody awful, please don't show it to me again. The last bloke I saw with that isn't doing too well.....

@Tony

Clive tells me (from your personal blog) that you have man-flu. I think he thought I might offer you some sympathy. If you want sympathy, find a nurse.
In the immortal GPs phrase, FOIAV.

The FA Cup - arguably now our most realistic hope of winning anything this year - already reeling from crap ITV/Sultana match [non]-coverage and ridiculous scheduling of the draw for each round looks in danger of collapsing into chaos.

I see the Arsenal v Cardiff 4th round replay game postponed from tomorrow is now not happening till Monday 16th at end of 5th round weekend [next Tues/Wed appears to be an "international" slot even though England don't seem to have a game ]. If the bad weather stops any of the other replays due this Tues/Wed will the same happen to them?

If this involves Liverpool or Aston Villa we could be heading for real problems - they will presumably be like us, with any replay of our 5th round tie not happening till 6th round weekend because of CL/UEFA cup return and the Plods' continued refusal to let games be played the mid-week after a weekend draw, which is the only free midweek between 5th and 6th rounds.

Perhaps they'll turn semi-final round weekend into a mini-tournament of catch-up games with teams playing as often as needed to get us back up to speed - or Sultana will bung the Plods enough cash to overcome their 10-day rule for replays ;-)

@ 93 - Good Evening Dr MrsC. The exact words my Doctor used was IAV although mentally I am sure she mentally prefixed it with the FO part. Of course only a proper Doctor (ie Male) would truly understand the precarious and life threatening condition the virus could have become - we men do suffer you know. Thanks for the advice, the cough is a little better and the lung power reduced somewhat according to the peak flow test, although now the legs feel leaden and the feet cold. This could be down to a number of things

1.) A game of golf on Saturday in which 15,482 steps were taken, around 10.38km, burning around 582KCal. Mind you I got 37 points so every cloud etc....

2.) Excessive medically applied Guinness influenced Dad dancing on Saturday night at The Grand Masters (father in laws) 65th birthday bash. The 'Live at Leeds' version of Magic Bus and the usual album versions of Won't Get Fooled Again and Baba O' Reilly through the new arse-kicking home cinema system were ...shall we say..extraordinary stomping tunes.

3.) The virus is now attacking other organs, namely the legs.

4.) I have early stage Ebola.

4.) A combination of all the above, plus being 40-something years of age

Your kindly feminine advice is always appreciated :-)

As for the nurse tip, I've never really recovered from being evacuated at 2 in the morning from a nurses home due to a fire alarm and having to leave all but my jeans behind. The trauma recurs today at every fire drill......She was worth it though.........good old JW, the nurse from paradise.

Mike Riley always makes idiotic intervention, but that shouldn't be excuse...

i want zola :( ...

Scolari is old and we will never beat a big team with him , whether we have great players or shitty players...

Quaresma is a great signing. If he does well then we pay what it takes in the summer if not then hes Jose`s problem. Thats 6 portuguse in our squad!

Cant believe nobody is talking about this.

He is maybe ok singing for a loan , but terrible transfer...He is NOT GOOOD ENOUGH.He didn't suceed in Barcelona, didn't do well in Inter and will not do good for Chelsea.

Simply , he cannot play well in the big clubs and is the most overrated fucking player ever...

Sorry for my language but I am pissed

I was hoping for Ribery, at least in 21st century ...

If he does well we have to spend a ton on him or Inter take him back :P

Nah, hopefully there are clauses in the contract allowing us the option to buy at the end of the season (I doubt it)

The negative view of this is TSO has given up on him for a reason, which may become clear fast. If a superb Portuguese manager can't get a Portuguese player playing for him how can a mediocre Brazilian manager?

On the positive side I believe he is exactly the sort of play we need right now, and without spending a vast sum of money. Struggle through to the end of the season and take a considered view of things then.

Quaresma can beat people, score great goals from nothing, and cross the ball. He is a true winger. Exactly what we needed against Liverpool to widen the formation and add a spark of danger to the pitch.

Excluding our defence I hope we soon see : Essian, Lamps, Ballack, Deco, Quaresma, Drogba :D Average age 29 though! (Note: our defence included would bring this down)

Mediocre managers dont win the world cup

"Mediocre managers dont win the world cup"

Ours did. With a squad full of great players in a competition riddled with mediocrity (such as England)its easy to see why they won.

FFS Joe, why are you so hell bent on blowing smoke up Scolari's arse and praising Portuguese players? Just what have Portugal won......oh yeah.....thats right fuck all.

Quaresma may be hungry to prove himself again so in essence anyone coming in to replace the fuckwit malouda has my blessing, at least to start wioth.

Given our constraints -- i.e. no money -- I think this is actually a pretty imaginative signing, and about the best that could be expected.

But I doubt it's going to make a huge difference.

And -- I'd love to be proved wrong but I'm afraid I won't be -- Malouda seems to be above Kalou in the winger pecking order, so he's more likely to play instead of Kalou than instead of Malouda.

José's parting shot on Quaresma was vintage stuff. God I miss that man. The carefully modulated tone of apparent sympathetic regret, concealing an utterly damning verdict ("you are chicken, you are scared of not performing, you will never ever have the strength to be one of my players, piss off").

Straw poll. If Satan appeared to you in a sulphorous puff and said that Chelsea could finish fourth and be knocked out of all remaining cup competitions by Watford and Juve respectively, BUT Inter would put ManU out of the CL -- would you take it?

@LTB

I wouldn't take that deal for the CL deal as Jose will definitely outwit Fergie but i would take that deal for the long term benefit of the club. Barca's board, management and squad were shocked into action when they realised how far they'd fallen behind Real Madrid after the 2006 CL win. They were forced into dramatic changes and look at them now; record number of points, record number of goals, wins and Messi playing so well that he'll soon reach the heights of Pele and Maradona. I feel that another trophyless season and finish outside the top 2 will force Roman and Peter to feel that the squad and club needs a change. So i would definitely do a eal with the devil.

@Tony

"Mediocre managers dont win the world cup"

"Ours did. With a squad full of great players in a competition riddled with mediocrity (such as England)its easy to see why they won.

FFS Joe, why are you so hell bent on blowing smoke up Scolari's arse and praising Portuguese players? Just what have Portugal won......oh yeah.....thats right fuck all."

You're spot on in your criticism of that idiot Joe. He thinks mediocre managers don't win world cups but as you say Scolari did. I'd throw another name in - Aime Jacquet. He won it in 1998 with an awesome France side being directed by Zidane but does that mean he's not a mediocre manager? And how did Scolari win it? Maybe it was more to do with Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Rivaldo, Kaka... Scolari is not a great manager because apart from that win, what else has he done? Failed 3 times with Portugal? Won a couple of titles in Brazil? Been so great that he's found jobs in Kuwait and Japan? Joe seems blinded to his supposed 'greatness' as were some of the lazy journos who proclaimed him as a great manager in the summer because of his supposed 'awesome' CV. For a 20 year management career he hasn't done much compared to the likes of Lippi, Capello or Fergie and even younger managers like Jose have done a lot more.

Tony,

You clearly get a lot more exercise than Clive, even if you don't count running down fire escapes. In fact, since he believes that we were given legs to use on accelerators, you've probably had more exercise this week - even considering your Ebola virus.

I'm sorry you're labouring under the misapprehension that male doctors are better at sympathy than female ones. I thought everyone knew that Nice Lady Doctors were much kinder than our betesticled colleagues.  I am, of course, the exception that proves the rule. :-)

Hope you feel better soon.  

Quaresma was heckled by his own fans during the 1-1 draw with Torino (source BBC) so I guess he'll make a perfect replacement for Malouda.

Whilst I'm not at all convinced by Scolari, it really is time to put the "he only won the World Cup because..." line to bed; sorry, but it's a bit bloody disingenuous to say the least. When teams littered with great players fail, it is invariably the manager's fault (he generally pays with his job, not the players) but when they win, all of a sudden it has virtually nothing to do with him? Come on - that's just abject nonsense.

'Failing' with Portugal - all relative depending on what your view of failure is, I suppose, and to say he hasn't done much "when compared to Lippi, Capello or Fergie..." - Jesus, how dare he not win quite as many trophies as three of the greatest managers in world football of the last 20 years? That Zola, I mean, he was alright but he was hardly Pele, was he?

This is the problem we have - less than half a season in and it's all over for the guy and his "few titles in Brazil" (that'll include 2 Copa Libertadores with different clubs, then - how terribly mediocre); really, the guy isn't exactly lighting my candle right now but they weren't exactly beating our door down when the job came up, were they?

#Habs
"Mediocre managers dont win the world cup"
True, completely true! Stop calling Scolari mediocre. You are rude and the only reason you are rude is because you are not clever, as simple as that.
What do you want him (Scolari) to do??? Run around and fight with every referee who makes intentional or unintentional mistake?
Do you want him to fight with Drogba who does not want to play? Do you want him to fight with Maulouda who does not know how to play??? Do you want him to fight with Peter and Roman, because they do not want to splash money??? What exactly do you want him to do??? What tactics we are talking about? We have not got players to play Plan A, so forget about Plan B.
Our decline did not start yesterday and blame it all on Scolari is simply ridiculous and not clever, to say the least. Our decline started two years ago and Mourinho was lucky to get fired and not to be responsible for it.
Yes, Scolari is not puppet like Avraam and he will not allow players to run the team, but unfortunately these players are not capable of learning anything new. They are rich old and lazy to learn anything new as simple as that.
Yes, we lost to Arsenal. Do you remember the "goal" Van Persi scored? Yes we lost to Looserpool this time, unfortunately Anfield crowd knows how to do it. One time we lost to linesman this time to referee this is damn Anfield take it or leave it.

Since our 'new signings' policy seems to consist entirely of getting players that have played under Scolari before (Deco, Minero, Quaresma) it's hardly fucking surprising that Roman sacked the scouting team and saved himself some dosh!

Perhaps if he re-signs the entire Brazilian World Cup team, we might play some half decent football.

Hopefully Quaresma will sort himself out and provide us with another attacking option, but recent form at Barca and Inter would suggest he may struggle.

Well thanks Mikel for your great insight. I'm sorry but Scolari, if no mediocre, certainly isn't a great. For anyone to call him a great manager would be simply idiotic. So it's rude to say he's mediocre. Well i didn't know stating an opinion like that was rude, perhaps it's rude to say that someone isn't very clever. So if you're going to call me rude, i better say something worthy of the term, something like you're a deluded imbecile, who like so many other fans, is always able to find an excuse for our defeat and is not willing to pin blame on those who deserve it. So let's go through your "clever" points:

1. "What do you want him (Scolari) to do??? Run around and fight with every referee who makes intentional or unintentional mistake?"

How about say something different apart from "they were better than us" after every single defeat. Try and say something controversial from time to time to create a siege mentality, or to create some team spirit or perhaps criticise some of our players when they play badly. Just say something, rather than boring Avram-like lines which don't to help the team or himself. His apathetic response to another big game defeat just smacks of resignation and a lack of passion for the club.

2. "Do you want him to fight with Drogba who does not want to play? Do you want him to fight with Maulouda who does not know how to play??? Do you want him to fight with Peter and Roman, because they do not want to splash money??? What exactly do you want him to do??? What tactics we are talking about? We have not got players to play Plan A, so forget about Plan B."

Why not come up with some appropriate tactics. Your last line is simply idiotic. We have a good but not great squad yet it's obvious he's not getting the best out of them. He’s trying to impose his 3-4-3 Brazilian system on the team when it’s clearly not right for the PL. Slow possession football like that is reliant on the brilliance of the Kaka’s, Ronaldinho’s and Rivlado’s of..

this world and is better suited to the less intense world of international football. Why doesn’t he show some flexibility and change his tactics. Perhaps tell the side to play a more direct style instead of keeping the ball for keeping the ball’s sake. Why not try a new tactic, like a diamond or 4-4-2? Just show some flexibility. Why not show some ability when making substitutions to alter the game? Why not show that you can beat a top 4 side? Or why not stop telling your team to play in the same way for every Bg 4 match.These are the things a supposedly “great” manager on £6m/yr should be able to do. Just look at how Jose got the best out of one of our worst ever players, Malouda, in his final few games in charge. He looked great against Utd, Birmingham, Reading and Liverpool, but look at him now.

3. “Our decline did not start yesterday and blame it all on Scolari is simply ridiculous and not clever, to say the least. Our decline started two years ago and Mourinho was lucky to get fired and not to be responsible for it.”

Did I say our decline has just started when he’s arrived? I’m simply blaming Scolari for some poor tactics, even poorer displays and a lack of ideas. And our decline started in Jose’s 3rd season? Well you did get that correct because we didn’t win the league but at least we won 2 other trophies. I GUARENTEE that Scolari won’t match winning 2 cups.

4. “Yes, we lost to Arsenal. Do you remember the "goal" Van Persi scored? Yes we lost to Looserpool this time, unfortunately Anfield crowd knows how to do it. One time we lost to linesman this time to referee this is damn Anfield take it or leave it.”
I’ll try and decipher your perfectly put sentences. We lost to these sides, just like the other big sides, because we deserved to. We’ve been negative in every single Big 4 game and never looked like going for the win. So far 1/15 points in the Big 4 mini league and only Kalou and Djourou scoring for us. That’s simply pathetic and no matter how..

the officials influenced these games, our current side have looked clueless in these matches. So get a new pair of glasses or perhaps wake up from your dream like state and face the facts. Our new manager is not a great manager, perhaps slightly better than mediocre, but still not a great and is not suited to the PL. He’s regularly outwitted and is tactically inflexible. He’ll also win nothing in his Chelsea career, whether it lasts 1 or 2 seasons.

So thanks for pointing out how wrong i was.

Did the Boswinga incident remind anyone else of the legendary Father Ted in that episode, which involved kicking Bishop Brennan up the arse?

LINK

Habs, I hope you arent yapping on about me. If you are then you are wasting your time. Just making yourself look like a fool, Which obviously you didnt need to do.
TG, I didnt blow smoke up anybodies ass, Suggesting that a mediocre manage can win the world cup in a load of crap. So whats your explanation? Where all the other managers in the world cup idiots? Oh yeah he just had the best squad so that makes it really easy to win doesnt it? Brazil had a better squad in 2006 and didnt win it. Whats your excuse there? I guess Pereira is just as much of an idiot as Scolari huh?

"praising Portuguese players? Just what have Portugal won......oh yeah.....thats right fuck all." I didnt praise any players, So what do you do? Immediately assume im portuguese and yap on about them not winning anything? Real mature

All I said was Quaresma would be a good signing and all of a sudden you and haberdonkey go off on me

does anbody know anything about our other signing? I dont keep up with turkish football..LINK

117, No clue about him. Sounds like he will go into the reserves though simular to Fabio Paim

He is mediocre Joe, or has done nothing to show us that he deserves any other rating than that. Good start to the season, then his tactics were sussed. Since then nothing.

That 2002 squad was stunning, they could have got far with no manager and just turning up to training by themselves :P

Also you need a touch of luck, maybe they didn't have that in 2006 vs France. I think Scolari needs more than luck this time.

I get the feeling that his tactics would have worked vs Liverpool with that Brazil team, as any of 5/6 players could produce an opportunity from nothing. 1 goal, then Liverpool have to attack, more space = 2 goal.....

Chelsea's team is based on power and determination, he doesn't seem to have worked that out yet.

BENJAMI, I never said we havent been playing well. I never said Scolari was a tactical genius. Ive been as annoyed as anyone losing to Arse and Poo at Home and looking even worse away. However if we had got a point from Anfield or even a late winner then what would you have said? I do feel the guy deserves some credit for our away record for example and the game against Everton when we were a man down and hung on for a point. No doubt that RA and PK havent done him any favours either. Last year they gave Grant £20m to spend, This year our squad is proberbly at its worst in a while. Almost everyone on this blog moans that we always play 4-3-3 including me but what else can he do? All other systems require wingers and right now all we have is Kalou who I dont think does that well on the wing and Malouda (no comment). I agree that our team is now more about determination than anything else but hopefully that will change.

LINK

riley shows he's at least got some sense and admits his mistake. doesn't do us any good now though does it

@ Cap123.......

So Frank gets off (as he should) but instead we lose Terry since he has reached 5 bookings after abusing 'Mavis' Riley. Can't believe they let Bosingwa off though!

@ Cap123 - to little too late I'm afraid. The incident just shows what a cheat Alonso is - apparently thats the 6th red card incident involving him this season. As Smuggo Keys said "it's just a statistic though" albeit a telling one in my view.

@ KJ_II - a discussion for the pub methinks. I'm not trying to denigrate the achievement of winning the World Cup - any man who takes England there would be similarly revered, as was Sir Alf Ramsey and to a degree Sir Bobby Robson (just how ill does he look, am I the only one who thinks it won't be long now?) - however Sir Alf Ramsey was revered for too long, way after he'd lost the plot and football had moved on but his tactics and man management hadn't. Similar to Scolari who earned a good and well deserved World Cup with a great and entertaining squad who made us look like pub footballers, and yes some improvement to Portugal, but no trophies for them. Whilst I'm sure the Libertadores is a good competition, I can't believe it comes close to the ECL in terms of depth of quality of teams. It might be disingenuous to imply Scolari won the World Cup due to a great squad but for me it possibly implies that he's already peaked as a coach - after all the Portugal squad wasn't too shabby but still fell over against gritty more determined teams. I just have doubts as to whether his international experience and South American experience translates to Europe and the UK.
@ Joe - grow up. People say what they like pretty much on here and when they do they have to be prepared to take the criticism as well. You give the impression that you think Scolari is OK and that having lots of Portuguese in the team is a good thing. I disagree on both counts, thats all I'm saying. As for his 'mediocrity', I refer you to the 'argument' I have just levelled back at KJ. I hold the opinion that currently, he is not good enough and doesn't seem to be able to get peak performance from established world class players. A 'good' coach would have.....

...sorted that by now, or at least have worked out whats needed to change things.

The 'Scolari is he / isn't he mediocre' discussion is something of a double-edged sword.

In the past, I've been of the impression it can't be that hard to have won the WC in 2002 because Brazil simpy had the best players by the proverbial country mile.

The flip side is, as we Chelsea fans should agree from the time of Jose, the best squad of players doesn't always win you the trophy and in his time here we probably had the best domestic squad in Europe and yet didn't win the Champs League. And no-one's saying Jose is / was mediocre.

But, hey, what do I know?

Onto Quaresma. Quite simply, he'll have to try REALLY hard to be as poor as Malouda, so I doubt we'll look any worse.

Whether things improve is something quite different...

Quaresma looks OK to me. Like you Fiftee I find it hard to imagine anyone as bad as Malouda. Maybe this is the chance he needs to prove the doubters wrong. As for Jose failing to get him playing well......Del Horno anyone? Bouhlarouz? It is possible that Quaresma just isnt Jose's type as some would argue Robben wasn't.

Lets give the lad a chance.

Re:Quearesma

Simple put, he's going to flop. Just like SWP, Deco, Maluda, Pizzaro, ...
Why?

We don't have a selfless Carricksque playmaker who sprays passes around and brings others into the gaem. We've have instead a ...(I'll just keep my mouth clean today!)

"We don't have a selfless Carricksque playmaker who sprays passes around and brings others into the gaem. We've have instead a ...(I'll just keep my mouth clean today!)"

Dear Moffat.

Yesterday, you had the incredible nerve to write 'I've never seen so much bollocks in one sentence.' in reponse to one of my posts.

And then you produce the above statement that is simply so laughable, a cage full of monkeys could throw their excrement at a keyboard and it would make more sense and have more substance than the utter drivel you continue to subject us to.

Seriously, why bother. Other than staunch, die-hard fans of other clubs, no-one in the World would agree with your views on Lampard. Do you do it 'just to be different' ???

Habs, #110, #111, 112
In spite of lot of words you have not provided any more or less reasonable counter arguments.
I’m simply blaming Scolari for some poor tactics, even poorer displays and a lack of ideas. And our decline started in Jose’s 3rd season? Well you did get that correct because we didn’t win the league but at least we won 2 other trophies.
Last year, when Jose was sucked we have not won anything and this year again we might not win anything, please note I said might. I believe that Scolari full of football ideas and knows his football better than me and you. However, when we look at resources Scolari has been given we have to admit that he has not got enough. These players can play only Joses’s football and nothing ELSE! Do not get me wrong I am not stating it as some disadvantage, although lack of versatility definitely disadvantage, but this is how it is. It is given it is axiom. I truly believe that Scolari has been given carte blanche by Roman and Peter to change Chelsea style whatever it takes and he is going to do it without paying attention to results.
Just look at how Jose got the best out of one of our worst ever players, Malouda, in his final few games in charge. He looked great against Utd, Birmingham, Reading and Liverpool, but look at him now.
May be we were watching different games. I remember only one good game by Malouda , it was actually his first game for Chelsea. We played Community Shield against Man Utd, that is all, in all the rest of the games he was mediocre and below. You say that Scolari does not know how to get best out of players. Not true again. Our players are professionals who paid huge sums of money and I am not sure they need more motivation than that!!! Scolari does not shout and does not scream. He is well known for his very warm relationships with players.
(SEE NEXT MESSAGE)

Habs, #110, #111, 112
(Continuation)
Brazilian squad has been called his family, the same was the story, when he trained in Brazil. Our players after the managerial turmoil inflicted by Roman simply not ready to change, they are OLD dogs who can not learn new tricks. It is unfortunate season, I know it and I admit it, but I believe that Scolari has to be given chance to build his team. After all so much praised by you Jose has spent HUGE sums of money on players and by the WAY NEVER USED YOUNG players, probably this is the reason we are now short of young talent.

Jose has made lot of shite signings, which Scolari has to clean up now. The list is very long!!!! Please amend the list, if I have forgotten somebody!
Del Horno - £8 million
Bouhlarouz - £8 million (13 Mil in EURO)
SWP = £24 million
Maluda - £13.5 million
Pizzaro - free transfer
Shevchenko - £30 million (may be it was Roman, but still)
Kezman - does anybody remember the price?
Overall about £100 million pounds of FLOPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Morning all,

Re Quaresma; not overwhelmed by the signing, but let's at least give the guy a chance.

@ TG - definitely one for the pub... I think it does come back to the point that most of us agree on, and that's his age and whether he's really cut out for working in a new league and whether he is here for the the long haul (signs on both not great thus far). Re his Libertadores wins; it's a decent competition fairly similar in format to the CL. Albeit that it was a while ago (see previous point), winning it twice and with two different clubs is no mean feat.

@ChelseaTony no 125

It makes me cry when I see Robben's form at Real Madrid at the moment. He is (almost) doing for Real what Messi does for Barca. He put in another superb performance over the weekend, making Raul's goal and scoring one himself. Someone darting in at speed from the flanks is precisely what we need. Ok, he had lots of injuries, but a Robben available for 50% of the games is better than Malouda available for the whole season.

I would add to the list Lassana Diarra, who always seemed to give a good account of himself when selected (now plying his trade for Real Madrid too). For what it's worth, I think we could have given Carlton Cole more of a chance. But we are not always patient at our club

Fiftee / Chelsea Tony

I am not going to put my head on the block but i think you are wrong on Quaresma.

If you all recall why was J Cole never great under mourinho - because you had to always think about defending, tracking back.

Scolari wont play this way - he will as he has with Joe - will say go and play.

Quaresma is big, strong and very fast. For our league i personally think he will be great. He is like Robbie Keane, he needs a loving arm and the crowd to back him, not boo him etc.

I agree with other comments - no manager can play in every way - Arsene could never play with no flair, skillfull people as this is not him

In the same way Scolari cant play with slow, strong players - he needs those that can cut through a team to make them stretch and then he will take advantage.

Also on Lamps - great player - end of.

@131 Blue Mikel

Jiri Jarosik

One of the possible reasons why he wasn't a Jose type player was his propensity to sulk if he didn't walk back into the team when coming back from injury. And I agree he's a player that's way above Malouda in ability, but his constant injuries where of concern, and probably were disruptive to the team spirit and ethic.
Also his reported greed in wages didn't help, or endear him to the Chelsea hierarchy,so selling him on for a huge profit was good financial sense.

Besides the Spanish league isn't as physical as ours, and yet he still spends long periods on the treatment table.

At least Queresma give us a bit of pace, which is something we are embarrassingly shy of.

Blaming Scolari for all our ills isn't much more stupid than blaming Lampard, or Riley, or even Kenyon. The club is dysfunctional, it doesn't know what it wants from one year to the next. Roman wanted nice football and no arguing with the refs and a balanced book and this is the result - lots of sideways passing, refs who take the piss and Malouda and Anelka instead of Robben and Torres.

Perhaps 1-0, being hated and the odd botched transfer wasn't such a bad thing after all.

Big game for the yoof on Thursday - perhaps they can get some sort of revenge at Anfield. At least Alonso won't be around to get anybody sent off.

The problem with Robben wasn't that he was injured half the time, it was that he had lost his bottle for playing in the Prem after getting kick so much. Remember the FA Cup final? (his last game for us, fittingly.)

Came on a half-time, returning from injury, embarrassed Wes Brown with pace and wit half-a-dozen times so inevitably got taken out brutally by Brown (who just got a yellow card for a pre-meditated assult) and limped off injured.

That was his Chelsea career in a nutshell. Refs let players slaughter him - his diving didn't help - and he went into game expecting to get knobbled, which meant he usually was.

We had to let him go, sadly. Like Arsenal with Hleb and Reyes, some players can take it (Ronaldo, Zola) and some can't.

@Munkeyfeet
I'm afraid you might get shot down with your comment on Cole and JM. Joe became a vastly improved player under Jose at club and International level, he has got nowhere near since.

Do you do it 'just to be different' ??

@Fiftee
Here's a link you might find of some use to hopefully give you answers.
LINK

@MOSTLYAVERAGEJOE
Thanks for adding another two to the list

Lassana Diara
Jiri Jarosik

@ Pete

Amen to that - Robben's problems started after Mokoena butchered him at Ewood Park and he never really got his confidence back thereafter. I seriously doubt whether he could have coped, mentally or physically, with another season in the Premiership. Pleased to see him doing well in Spain where he gets a bit more protection and hope he continues to thrive - potential world player of the year if he continues to develop the way he is.

@ Munkey

Clive has it spot on; if Joe had continued to develop the way he did under Mourinho, we'd be fighting off serious money bids for him; his injury was bad news and very unfortunate, but generally he was pretty awful this season and had clearly forgotten most of what made him so good a couple of seasons back - the Joe Cole that popped up with late winners at Anfield, that left a pack of United defenders grasping at thin air, that dumped Sol Campbell on his arse at Highbury - all sadly a distant memory compared to where he was this season.

Clive - i agree JM did help balance him out but in my humble opinion whenever i watched him he never attacked a game as much he once would - he got named and shamed at the bridge when he went on the attack once too many but i guess my point should have been that JM never wanted the tricky players.

Many great retired players have publically stated that JM relied on science and planning and never trusted those who could turn a game on its head - you can see this already at inter. Scolari is the opposite - he wants them to play without fear but when you lack the players who can go past a defender at such pace that they wont catch him, thus causing another defender to go for the challenge you create the space. We are used to bashing teams into submission. Dont get me wrong i see the pro's of both but the face remains - a manager who is good in one is very rarely good in the other! If you try to combine it you get this mis mash in the middle which is where we are and neither work!

We dont have the right players and i think quaresma will be good for us.

As I've said a dozen times, writing lists of 'successful' and 'unsuccessful' signings made by Chelsea is pointless, because nobody knows who is making the transfers.

Kezman, for instance, was done on JM's watch, but was a Kenyon deal. Nobody knows who signed Boulahrouz (Arnesen?); the Pizarro, Ben Haim, Sidwell transfers were all done by the board. Grant said he never wanted to sign Anelka - so who did?

Waste of time.

Regarding Joe Cole- my 'if only' moment for the season will be Joe's miss when put clean through one-on-one against United in the first five mins. If he'd put that away, against a badly misfiring United, who knows how our season would have panned out...

#143. MUNKEYFEET
Many great retired players have publically stated that JM relied on science and planning and never trusted those who could turn a game on its head - you can see this already at inter. Scolari is the opposite - he wants them to play without fear but when you lack the players who can go past a defender at such pace that they wont catch him, thus causing another defender to go for the challenge you create the space.

Finally some sensible words!!! JM technocrat it is new generation of managers who relies on science, statistics and not on individual players. Yes, talent is more volatile and hard to manage, but that is how it is.

Munkey,

It's not that I dont rate Quaresma - far from it.

I'm not saying (or at least I didn't mean to say) he is a poor option. My point is that we've endured such utter nothingness from Malouda this season that Quaresma really has nothing to lose.

I hope to God he can give us something resembling a bit of 'sparkle'. He's clearly had a hard time of things at Inter, and Barca, but for people to write him off based purely on that is an oversight.

I wanted us to sign him before he went to Inter, I think his time there will have battered him confidence but if TSSO gives him the Deco treatment (e.g 12 straight games regardless of form) the I think we might find we've made a shrewd signing, even if it is just till the end of the season.

I see Inter didn't name him in their Champs League squad, although I guess that's irrelevant to us - he must be cup-tied in Europe

Have to admit I don't know much about Quaresma - but looking at one of the otherwise excruciatingly dull videos in The Mirror's "10 Thing You Need to Know About..." guide today I was encouraged to hear him talk about looking up to be aware where your team mates are before crossing the ball - an aspect of wing play Malouda and Kalou never seem to have mastered.

Worrying though that TSO has given up on him so quickly.

'Worrying though that TSO has given up on him so quickly.'

Nah, this is classic TSO. He gave up on Del Horno, not because he played particularly badly (he didn't) but because he was seen as having let the team down with his red card v Barca. Jose defended him at the time, and then hoiked him off after about 20 mins on his next appearance as punishment, before sending him off to exile. Sure there are other players he did this with. It was his way or bugger off.

An extension of that point (Pete @ 144) is the old "you have to break a few eggs to make an omlette" adage; every manager, no matter how good they are signs some duds; Fergie has had plenty of Djemba-Djemba moments and Wenger has certainly seen some dross pass through Arsenal's books in his time (let's not even go there with Benitez). As good as they look when the scouts come back and rave about them, in the vast majority of cases no-one really knows how they are going to perform.

I suppose there's a risk with all signings, we all thought that Sheva would have turned out to be special for us, but it wasn't to be, also I think we would like Deco to be a success after a promising start. I know perhaps the age at which they were signed should have given us a clue, but have we forgotten a certain No.25 who was rather quite good.

Petew> "Roman wanted ... Malouda instead of Robben."

Are you unwell or what? ;-\

I think Mourinho had a fairly specific mistrust of wingers overall; by their nature they tend to be a tad erratic - one good game then two anonymous - and with Duff and Robben, injuries were always an issue (although from memory Duff actually had his 'fittest' period with us until he did his shoulder which seemed to really rob him of confidence more than anything else). But Pete's right; it was his way or the highway and if you let him (or the team) down, your goose was pretty much cooked.

One of the reasons that Ronaldo (stretching the definition of winger a little) is so important is becuase he is (or at least was) incredibly consistent and very rarely crocked.

DNFTT

LINK

The 3 Billy Goats Gruff had the answer

LINK

Are we all glossing over it, or are we just so embarrassed on behalf of Rafa that no-one wants to talk about paying £8m to sign someone on loan for 6 months?

It will undoubtedly be a crying shame when Torres' hamstring pings again in a few weeks and they have no striking options....

LINK

We can piss and moan all we like, but you have to admire a club that will put this sort of thing on their official website. Good old Pat.

'Are we all glossing over it, or are we just so embarrassed on behalf of Rafa that no-one wants to talk about paying £8m to sign someone on loan for 6 months?'

And this is the Rafa that has demanded complete control over all transfers in his next contract. Let him have it - they'll be bust in a month! Or perhaps they need cold hard cash as badly as every bank-deprived business right now?

@156. PeteW - agree Pat Nevin's columns are a weekly treat of common sense amongst all the PR spin and twaddle - and as he has pointed out before he has to put up with all the nutters e-mailing him because their is no official e-mail for the club [though he was polite enough not to call them that].

Unless someone is desperate to win a FIFA09 Playstation 3 game perhaps we could have people's suggestions on here for answers to his quiz question at the bottom of the column.

Giles Smith's column on Wednesdays on the website is often worth a read too.

Yeah, I like Giles's column too. He did a hilarious one on Arsenal a while back - I think after the Carling Cup final - and I posted it on the Guardian site. All these pious-fucking Gooners were shaking their heads saying 'golly gosh, we'd never print anything that offensive about an opposition club on our official website'.

That's because you're a bunch of humourless hypocrites whose website is only used by tourists and groomers, I replied.

@Petew
Definitely good article that puts many different things into place.
Habs, can you hear me? It appears that it is not only you who understands football tactics, some people around might know it as well. However, there are limitations and when you learn these limitations and UNDERSTAND them you will stop to blame Scolari!!!! And maybe, just maybe start to understand football!!!!

@ PeteW

I confess I rarely read the official website but Pat Nevin is a cut above yer average pundit so thanks for that.

With reference to Keane (and the other 73 players coming back to Tottenham possibly) I thought the government had put a stop to the practice of short selling. Still I suppose it just goes on the pile at the Regulators desk, mis-selling endowments, mis-selling pensions, mis-selling debt vehicles, mis-selling footballers.

The whole thing reminds me of a scam where you sell someone a dog in the pub, miles from home, trouser the cash and blimey if the dog doesn't wander back a few days later, then it's off to another pub somewhere else.

Just in from the Straw Clutching desk....

Quaresma may have struggled in Italy due to finding it difficult to settle. Few from the Iberian peninsula thrive in Italy, (Rui Costa and one or two others but that's all I think). Given that JM would have known a good deal about the player, perhaps he just couldn't get on with life in Italy?

It's classic Harry though, isn't it? You can just imagine buying a laptop off him and going home with two Evian bottles in a briefcase.

Ah well something is going right for us... LINK

Red card for Frank has been cancelled, but result stays!!!!! Damn Riley!!!!!

Maybe it's my naivety; maybe it's the utter boredom of the meeting I was in but I got thinking about the Quaresma deal and wondered, almost out loud :

"Just how much has Jose shafted us?"

There's a chance that we agreed a clause in the deal to have first refusal on buying him in the summer, but if we turn things around and he becomes an efficient winger, Jose will just take him back, give him a chance and see if he breaks again next season.

Or he'll be utter tripe for us, and Jose will be laughing at us all the way from the San Siro.

The crafty swine. Win-win for him I say.

and going home with two Evian bottles in a briefcase.

Used ones at that.

Lampard decision obvious, but what's done is done in terms of the game. I doubt our season is going to turn on it, but we'll never know either way now. Surely the resistance to some form of video support for the officials has to give way to basic common sense soon, although I'm not holding my breath.

That and the Van Persie offside have been utter killers for us this year.

Hilarious that according to Premier League referees, Frank Lampard is considered more violent than Wayne Rooney.

Riley is also the ref who waved play on while Cech had a fractured skill and Carlo swallowed his tongue remember. Neither offense was even a foul, let alone a card, according to him.

@Petew
This is the result of the season so far: two red cards cancelled, Terry card in Man Utd game, Lampard card in Liverpool game. Crucial wrong decision Van Persi goal in Arsenal game. Three games in big four league influenced by referees.

Habs let's blame Scolari for it!!!!!!!!!!!

sorry , we need edit back!!! Terry card was not in Man Utd game, sorry, made mistake.

3 red cards rescinded for shite decisions inside of a year is evidence enough that there are some seriously piss-poor officials out there.

Always enjoy reading Giles Smith and Pat Nevin's columns.

"Roman Abramovich ... clearly has decided to cut costs and that has consequences as we can all see.

"Real fans actually understand this and accept it is part of a cycle ..."

The "Tony Russells" of this world need to read the above - LINK - as do quite a number of fans I know.

---

And just a quick heads-up. The blog is due to undergo a facelift sometime in the next 24 hours.

OleOle have been working on a new two (post pages) / three (home page) column design, a more traditional layout similar in style to the BBC News post pages - LINK - but, you know, different and Chelsea'd up a bit. :)

Functionality will remain exactly as it is now. That said, there still won't be an edit function (I will keep pushing for its reintroduction!). I like the new look and hope the transition goes smoothly. Fingers crossed.

Carry on.

I fear change...

LINK

it's what stopped me being a bus conductor

@ Chelseablog - oddly enough someone from OleOle contacted me via email to ask my views on the Live Match facility they'd designed. Looked good to me.

@ KJ_II - yes, it does beg some questions as to why this would happen. My main issue is that if it affects the result of a game then its scant compensation (not that it did in my view for Sunday). Also, one can't help wondering if Chief Idiot Supremo, Keith Hackett hadn't suggested referees clamp down on the team perceived as the worst of the teams to apply mob mentality at decisions. I'd also wonder if the FA are looking into why so many red cards have been instigated by one player, the new Cheat Supreme , Xavi Alonso. Funny how Hackett has never offered to phone us and apologise..

Its laughable that Frank deservedly gets let off, but Bosingwa gets away with the most blatant bits of violent play seen in public since Cantona's Jackie Chan impression. I mean I know there's male logic (true to its literal meaning and steeped in rationality) and female logic (an oxymoron as it seems to lack any relation to the dictionary definition of logic and never gets close to rationality) but it seems to me that, philosophically speaking, there may also be 'Sporting Authorities logic' with the FA being the 'Ronaldo', the 'Shakespeare' of this field, closely followed by the likes of WADA with such idiotic incidents

LINK

@ PeteW - my feelings on Riley are almost violent. Nothing can fuck me off on match day more than finding out this idiot, wearing his shorts to his neckline is officiating that day. I believe several PL coaches have suggested certain refs aren't welcome at their grounds. I hope Scolari says something similar unless he plans to convert the refs to actually being objective with us. I recall Rooney when they beat us a few weeks back, constantly chipping away at our players and the ref, even accusing Bosingwa of elbowing him at one point, and yet not even the hint of card.

@165 KJII - Lamps red card reversal does our Fantasy League scores no good either, with Frank stuck with -2 this week rather than his usual average 15-20 in the Grauniad one. I see I've closed the gap on you there since last time I checked.

@158 Petew - the Giles Smith column about Arsenal I remember is this superb one after we lost at the Emirates in December '07:

LINK

@ BB - being an expert in the world of GobbledyGook Management Bollocks Talk - I have to be for my job - I can ofer immediate help through the 'change curve' as you move from Denial through Resistance into Exploration and finally the happy smiley world of Commitment. We can use the delights of the ERO matrix to soothe that furrowed brow (Event + Response = Outcome) during what we prefer to describe as 'Transformation' rather than plain old Change. We can then apply the principles of 'Hew Habit Development' taking on the rollercoaster ride from Consciously Ineffective through Unconconciously Ineffective to Consciously Effective and finally the Grand Old Station of Unconsciously Effective.

And I leave you with som profound quotes to inspire you through the 'transormation'.

"In times of change, learners inherit the Earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists." Eric Hoffer

"There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things." Niccolio Machiavelli (he should know)

And my favourite

"Change is inevitable..............except from vending machines" Unknown.

Sorry the link doesn't work - here is the start :

Giles Smith - Word of Thanks

There may be grumbles and gripes after the weekend's result but columnist Giles Smith calls upon his fellow Chelsea fans to remember what is important.

You've got to love Arsenal, haven't you? Partly because the papers and the pundits are always telling you to. Beautiful side. Lovely football. Play the game the way it's meant to be played. Can't do it any other way. It's just not in their make-up, and so on.

Good news stories pour out of the club on a daily basis. Did you know that the football played at the Emirates actually reduces global warming? It's fantastic news and not only for the club's supporters, but for people all over the world. And not just people. Endangered species, too, including the giant panda and the Rwandan mountain gorilla, support Arsenal and wish them success.

Arsène Wenger? A saintly figure, clearly. And no money behind him at all, you know. Not a penny. When Arsène needs a new player, he has to save up bottle tops or grow one in his garden. Or, if not his garden, then the garden belonging to the youth department of another club in France.

Cost of the Emirates Stadium? £357 million, it says here. But that can't be right, can it? I believe the stadium came to David Dein in a dream. People in Ashburton Grove just woke up one morning and there it was, all organic and shiny and free. Because otherwise it's throwing a big lump of money at the problem, and that's just not the Arsenal way.

Arsenal's wage bill? More than £83 million a year, according to Deloitte Touche, but I don't believe that for a minute, either. I don't think any wages change hands at all at Arsenal. I think the players there do it entirely for love - love for Arsenal, and love for football, the way it's meant to be played - and maybe at the end of the year there's an outing - to the seaside or something.

You can find the rest of it on page 10 of the columnists archive.

@BBD - I'll get the technical people to look at the linking problem. It looks like links containing punctuation, in this case commas, aren't working properly.

"Cost of the Emirates Stadium? £357 million, it says here. But that can't be right, can it? I believe the stadium came to David Dein in a dream. People in Ashburton Grove just woke up one morning and there it was, all organic and shiny and free. Because otherwise it's throwing a big lump of money at the problem, and that's just not the Arsenal way"

All that money to build and they still call off a mid-week game due 'to the weather'.

Yes I well remember that effort from Giles Smith -- brilliant.

And yes Pat Nevin's latest is as full of good sense as he always is.

It'll be interesting to see if Bottenham have cured their problems by throwing money at them. Heart says I hope not, head (like Pat Nevin) says yes.

@ ChelseaTony #174

Ah the wisdom that passeth all understanding. Well mine anyway.

Somewhere in the last 30 years I got to Unconciously Ineffective and there have remained belcalmed ever since.

Is that management speak for Blissful Ignornace by the way...

Its the referees' moral obligation ot make sure the best team wins the league. Can you imagine a team that can't string 2gether more than 4 passes winning a FOOTBALL league? Maybe we should break away and form our own Crap Football League(CFL) and stop whinging about referees doing what is morally apt.

if uou want to win a football game (1)you play FOOTBALL,(2)you create chances
(3)you score

I find it genuinely astonishing that someone as idiotic and pointless as you hasn't been brutally raped and beaten to death yet, you fucking pathetic troll.

@155 Fiftee - unlike the usual bland quotes from Rafa on Keane that seem to be on all the websites I've just heard a soundbite on BBC radio London where, if my ears did not deceive me, he seemed to be claiming Liverpoo are a "top of the League side" and that perhaps Keane couldn't cope with the pressure of that - in GobbledyGook Management Bollocks Talk I'd say he is clearly still in Denial, not even heading to Resistance yet :-)

@ BB "Is that management speak for Blissful Ignornace by the way..."

Why yes it is. Or Dumb , Fat and Happy as the course instructor told a class full of dumb, fat and errrr....happy people.

@ KJ_II - good shot sir.

@ BBD - Stuck. Firmly. In. Denial.

Frighteningly a friend who worked within the club and has maintained some useful contacts has slipped me the gossip that Tubby may be a target should Scolari bale out, or RA bales him out. Apparently Plateface Kenyon is an admirer of his 'stickability' in the face of unconvinced/hostile owners. Sounds like bollocks to me, but football is a strange beast - witness Spuds buying back 3 players from a previously unsuccessful side in order to make themselves errrr....a successful side. Perhaps its not just the authorities that have a warped logic.

There's also some rumours about the ground being mentioned in the Annual report. A 65,000 seater on the existing site? According the the CSG the clubs official stance to date is that they are frequently approached by local land/site owners looking to sell us land for development whilst remaining in the locale. if its a new ground then so long as its

a.) Not too far from the American Cafe
b.) not in the congestion bloody abomination zone
c.) Walkable from a certain hostelry in Parsons Green
d.0 not named after an airline, crisp manufacturers or sports retailers

I'll be happy.

I find it genuinely astonishing that someone as idiotic and pointless as you hasn't been brutally raped and beaten to death yet, you fucking pathetic troll.

@JD
I'm sure there's a queue, for the beating bit anyway, we could always ask for volunteers for the other bit.

Moffat-

Is is possible you are Dave from Newcastle?

LINK

You are pretty much the same character- except rather than loving Ameobi, you just hate Lampard!

i did say that scolari will be shit and it became true...ok its good that stoch is getting his chance, but not in 89minute against Liverpool for fuck sake...when we are one player less...his substitutes are shame...di santo should get a chance...
anyway , i don't believe quaresma will do any good...
zolaaa :)

When I said Di Santo should get a chance I didn't mean in the game against Liverpool..I meant...like..sometimes...against a much weaker team...he is better than Drogba now, I mean who isn't ?

ktbffh

@ Sarah ".he is better than Drogba now, I mean who isn't ?"

I'm not, Clive isn't and KJ_II likes his beer too much to be competing for Drogba's place.

But that's about it.

Ok I did exaggerate, but Drogba is in shitty form anyway :)

regarding Lamps' red card getting rescinded/reversed, it begs the question:

shouldn't JT's yellow be as well then?

191, Thats definetly a YES. He was booked for protesting a decision that was horribly wrong and had he got the decision right then JT wouldnt have argued and got booked.

it begs the question:
shouldn't JT's yellow be as well then?

@Celery
Not really becuase he told Riley that he had a face like a "sheeps c**t on a frosty morning" so it probably should have been a red, I think he got off lightly. ;-)

Lamps had the best response he possibly could have had to the Red Card - just walk away and appeal it the next day. He knew he was in the right but arguing it wasn't going to change anything.

@Habs,
I have been harsh to you, let's make a peace! After all we all support Chelsea.
Don't get me wrong mate. This damn Liverpool game really knocked me off balance. I did not want to offend you.
KTBFFH

that's it!!! i've just had the eurika moment...well actually I already knew the reason and answer! The difference between the abject apathy of virtually most of the players on the pitch now and under JM was quite simply shown in Lampard's red card. I believe probably the best thing may well have been to walk away and hopefully the FA saw that he was treated wrongly etc etc....however......under JM most of the players would have been round the ref and no doubt we would have got fined for that as before, but hey....is it just me that thinks that that is exactly what might have fired them up to go hell for leather against liverpool after having been made to feel a great injustice had been done? in any match i have seen where such a decision which has been perceived to be injust by the team being done by the ref, they seem to get fire in their eyes and raise their game markedely, roll the sleevs back and really go at the other team..it happens every time!! Does anyone else think maybe that would have been better and made one man down make the team so agressive for the rest of the match that in this case Liverpool would have been doing nothing but defending their goal area...is this the real differenc ebetween now and then, whatever the reasons for it?...or am i just speaking rubbish...probably...

@Dio
We were playing with one man down from the start, we had Malouda on the pitch.

@clive...hehehehe LOL your right mate, didnt think of that one!!!

Well, the new layout is live. There are plenty of bugs that need to be fixed, and a few tweaks and changes to be made.

If you come across any problems drop me an email at chelseablog@gmail.com or leave a comment on this post.

I'll be online again at lunchtime.

Well the new look is, er.....new!

Looks good, but I am beginning to worry as the blog has now had more new looks than Chelsea have had managers in the last couple of years!

Ooooh........quite pretty.

Love the new look site Nick. Really professional. Thought I'd post this link, though I expect, as usual, we have signed a lookalike imposter instead:

LINK

Nice new design. Great stuff!

@ 202 Dannybrod.....

Interesting highlights package. Seems to consist almost entirely of him being kicked up in the air!

Seems to be speedy though, which is something we desperately need. Lets hope he does the trick.

This is a much better video of Quaresma.

LINK

i actually think that he might be even quite good for us.

If Quaresma tries too many of those "fancy-dan" flicks in the EPL he'll have irritated defenders lining up to clog his legs to mincemeat.

As for the new layout - I'll reserve judgement till the tweaks happen, but is the right hand column meant to be an empty grey space below the half dozen "best of" links - or is my firewall blocking lots of irritating adverts perhaps?

@BBD - Empty space, thank goodness. There's not enough content to fill a whole sidebar when then are hundreds of comments. The BBC Sport blogs are similar LINK#053833

As for Quaresma, I'll reserve judgement until I have seen him in action for us a few times. Wasn't he one of the players quite a few fans were crying out for back in the summer? The way things are going he'll probably set the PL on fire only to return to Inter at the end of the season.

@BBD

"is the right hand column meant to be an empty grey space"

I think it represents the vast unknown, the hungry blogosphere into which you are about to cast your thoughts, unsure if anyone is reading or listening, unsure as you send your mind children out into the uncaring world of arguement and contention, whether they will be set upon by evil or worse, greeted with indifference.

But I might be wrong about that.

I have changed my avatar to greet the new layout and to indicate that as per ChelseaTony #174 I am consciouly embracing change.

Is it just me or are the misaligned columns on the Homepage one of the bugs?

@BB 208 - "Is it just me or are the misaligned columns on the Homepage one of the bugs?"

What browser are you using, BB? I've tried the new layout in most browsers on a Windows PC and my Apple MacBook - I can't see any misalignment. I haven't got access to Internet Explorer 6 though. It wouldn't surprise me if IE6 is causing problems. Let me know and I'll get somebody to fix it.

@BB - Ok my avatar now reflects my Scottish roots again, through a character Sky claim "has spent years searching for the one thing he already had".

I'm also wondering if CFC's relative decline is linked to our persistent apparent success in "Breaking The Rules" - 3 red cards rescinded in a year - when we should accept "if it happened, it happened - you can't change the past".

Apologies to those of you sensible enough to give up on "Lost" years ago who won't know what am I rambling on about - no change there then ;-)

@CB #209

"It wouldn't surprise me if IE6 is causing problems."

Ah CB I can see you know a bit about this computer stuff.

Don't worry, it's a company laptop so I can't change software or put Firefox or anything on it.

As long as it's working for everyone else, I'll soldier on.....(throws shoulders back, sticks chest out)

That would also explain why in the old layout individual reports and their threads didn't always load properly on this machine

Apologies to those of you sensible enough to give up on "Lost" years ago who won't know what am I rambling on about - no change there then ;-)

@BBD
I still watch it mainly out of habit more than anything else, I still live in hope that it will all make sense eventually.

A bit like Chelsea I suppose.

Normal Service has been resumed:
Kids back at school, trains late (electrical problem at East Croydon), lots of bitch-slapping on the blog and Mof's at it again.

New layout looks tidy.

It's a bit odd coming back after a few days, want to comment stuff that looks new to me, but you've all moved onwards and upwards.

But then, who wgaf?

@KJ11 & co. " - the nasty, good for nothing little carrot-nosed, lump of coal-eyed, twig-armed shithouses... "

Glad to see that I wasn't alone in wanting to clear the streets and gardens of this new menace and I was doing fine until the local kids started running vigilante patrols.
Sorted that by going out at 2 a.m. and giving them welly after kids were asleep. But then, horror. The little sods had gone and made ferocious little arse-biting snowdogs to guard all those cold blooded garden loafers. Don't you just hate being out-smarted by a bunch of four year olds?

Quaresma. Why not? He was Jose's first signing which we hope means he was top of the wanted list.
As has already been said, if JM doesn't want him because he refuses to track back every 30 seconds, then he might be just what we're looking for. Does anyone remember Damien Duff?
A great player who was, imo, ruined by Jose's obsession with making a winger's priority defence rather than attack.

"Following tense scenes at the Premier League's headquarters after the auction closed yesterday morning and bids were considered in the presence of an independent auditor,....."

LINK

I assume it's the same person who makes sure the lottery is drawn fairly.

So Sky have got the best bits again. Why was there tension? Did the FA think Sky would only come up with 10 bob and a few Pannini stickers. Did they think Al Jazeera were going to offer a couple of billion?

I assume that Sky are not basing their pricing on retaining subscribers through the long recession ahead, but through some mind boggling business to do with secondary rights and "revenue streams" what I don't understand.

@181. KaiserJonny_II

re the brutal rape wish. You also wished this on Mike Riley after Sunday so I'm getting worried that this thought seems to be recurring more frequently. I'm happy to offer counselling if you think it might help :-)

@ Mark

It's a special kind of wish reserved only for the lowest life forms in society... :-)

Liking our facelift, it has to be said.

@BB
For once I'm pleased that Sky have got the lion's share. Perhaps some uncertainty over this is why some clubs are having trouble getting sponsorship deals. Though it's hard to see what the money goes on, other than PL footballer's wages.

It appears to be a day when the Gruaniad is fixing its beady eye on the dark underbelly of professional sport...

1. Was the CL final in Istanbul a fix?

LINK

2. Agents. Thieving b*s**rds or caring mentors for our young players?

LINK

3. Arshavin. Was he signed too late? (To meet FA regulations not to save Arse's season of course)

LINK

The first entry with 3 correct answers will win a pre-enjoyed mint imperial

@ CB - In a staggering technology reverse to compare with the demise of Concorde, my company have issued us all with new laptops running XP, SP2 and .....yep.....IE6! And they've removed any admin rights so I have now had my XP laptop with admin rights replaced by one running the same o/s and no admin rights. Firefox is one of the 'banned' applications because the 'committee' who approve software are all tanktop wearing, pipe smoking, brylcreemed luddites who believe the only truly safe corporate network is the one where all the routers, switches and firewalls are switched off. Get this - we are a mobile phone company and everyone who works here has a mobile phone. Desk phones are dead! We used to be able to synchronize our Outlook calendars to our phones using the phone makers software...but 'the committee' have banned all those useful utilities. So, no more handy meetings alerts on the phone, no more handy daily calendar of events, no more contact lists. Unbe-fucking-lievable.

I would suggest the misaligned stuff is an IE6 issue for sure as it worked superbly on my home XP/Firefox machine this morning.

The future's here!
Where?
Behind you!
How far?
Ooooh...about 7 years or so.

Whats this got to do with Chelsea? Fuck all. I just need a rant.

*skulks into darkened corner whimpering and watching out for brutal male rape gangs*

@ CT #219

Contemplate for a moment my calm stoic response to IE6 problems #211 and compare it to yours.

"As long as it's working for everyone else, I'll soldier on."

We are enduring the results of years of unfettered individualism. Its time for a more community based collegiate approach to our problems. If only for the good of our children who are sufferring, so we are told, from the self centered approach of their parents. ;-)

(slides away back pressed to the wall, tank top pulled down well below the waist, pipe clenched firmly in teeth)

I am getting the impression most male bloggers would volunteer to be raped by those brutal male rapegangs.

@BB,CT and anyone else stuck with ie6.

If you've not been blocked from accessing the usb port, then you can run FF as a portable app.

It's real easy and you shouldn't have any issues, but if the corporate firewall won't let you download it, then install it on the stick at home first.

LINK

@Tony and @BB - I've emailed the tech people at OleOle and pointed out the problems with IE6.

LINK

I can't do anything about it because I don't have access to the raw CSS and HTML files (the blog editor is all WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) drag-able Ajax-y stuff now).

In my opinion it's far too early to disregard IE6 users given how many organizations still use it, even though it's one big security nightmare.

@Tony - I'd rant too if I was issued with a laptop containing an almost obsolete OS/browser combination. I switched to an Apple laptop last year and I will never go back, although I still use a desktop PC for gaming etc.

@fansincethesixties 222 - Great idea. I occasionally use a Portable Apps USB dongle when fixing Windows problems. Works amazingly well.

@218
Looks like we now know where a large chunk of the Sky readies will be going:

To pay a bunch of very expensive lawyers to draft rules and other legally binding safeguards for the benefit of clubs, players, and fans; which they can then ignore whenever a big wallet wants them to.

Conflict of interest? Let's start with the FA.

You think you've got problems - the keyboard on this ZX Spectrum is a bloody nightmare...

@ Blue Bayou (218)

A series of interesting articles; match fixing is a huge subject - top flight referees (as far as I understand) are paid fairly well and thus are maybe more difficult to 'get at', but no question that it seems to go on virtually everywhere - there have been criminal prosecutions all across the major European leagues (Italy and Germany being the main ones), so to suggest that it doesn't happen here is probably wide of the mark.

The agent thing galls many people, hacks included, just by virtue of the amount of cash they are paid (that is simply leaving the game) The old guard journos (the Jeff Powells of this world) are particularly peeved, as back in the day it was them who were often copping a few quid for being the middle man between player and club.

A heartening tale which didn't make much of a splash on the agent front (as it doesn't fit the greedy pampered footballer profile); when James Milner moved from Newcastle to Villa - think that was it anyway - he called the PFA and asked them to arrange his transfer (which they used to do a great deal) as he didn't have an agent and didn't want one.

to suggest that it doesn't happen here is probably wide of the mark
Three rescinded cards in the last 10 month, goal scored by Van Persi.... I believe that you are hitting the point here!

@ Blue Mikel

Not sure we're the victim of anything sinister; just bad refereeing really. It would be interesting, however, if referees started to record who was on the receiving end of the 'foul' as they record the card. My error in the original article, but its actually 5 of the 6 red cards awarded against teams playing Liverpool that Alonso has been the 'fouled' player. Possibly coincidence, but that seems a) an awful lot of red cards in the first place and b) a very high percentage involving one particular player.

@ CB & fsts

Well hot diggery do.

I'm like a little Russian dog on top of a Soyuz rocket. I've no idea how its happening but it all seems to work.

I'm speaking to you through portable Firefox and it all looks so much better. I happen to carry a flash drive around with music 'n stuff so hey presto.

Thanks for that.

@KJII

Well done to Milner. I assume the writer of the match fixing article will disappear under a ton of posts from Poo fans.

If Quaresma does well a and we buy himJoe Cole will lose his place and will leave the club what is pity, because he is great player who only lacks confidence.
Does anyone agree with me on that topic?

Sarah,

If Q does well we may not get buy him, Jose's no mug, perhaps a swap for DD or Mloo (dreaming) would be on though. Either way, I can't see us releasing JC.

If Quaresma does well a and we buy himJoe Cole will lose his place and will leave the club what is pity, because he is great player who only lacks confidence.
Does anyone agree with me on that topic?

@Sarah
No :-)

You think you've got problems - the keyboard on this ZX Spectrum is a bloody nightmare...

@JD
I'm having problems with this Abacus, but the Antivirus software that came free with it made it a good deal from e-bay.

"and we buy him"
;-)
We're broke!

agree joey is a great player. he and carrick are the only spammers we should 've bought.

We did put FF as an executable on our D: drive but the Gods on The Committee were angered and sent down bolts of Old Spice and Kendal Mixed Cherry and Vanilla Shag.

So I will try the cunning plan of the USB disk when I decide whether to unplug my full size keyboard or my man size mouse. The latter would mean using a touchpad and I fear my rather dazzling post pubescent/early twenties delicate stroking touch has deserted me for using this. Its that or a nipple in the keyboard and......well call me old fashioned but I really only want to touch real nipples. The ones that come attached to ladies.....

@Tony
Get yourself a 4 port external USB hub it will allow your rodent, keyboard, and FF on a stick to live in perfect harmony

and over in "We hope that's a only a look alike" corner


LINK

I think that Chelsea are big trouble at minute!! Think they need to get back to Jose ways!!!

Looks like comments are temporarily broken - probably some kind of caching problem. Seems to be affecting all the blogs.

@BB
I have a feeling that JT could be in for some stick should that find its way into the dressing room (excuse pun)

Gerrard injured, a sending off and 30 minutes extra time. A good night for Liverpool which could only be bettered if they all get gang raped in the showers after the game.

HT in Extra Time........ Watch for the Scum to invoke the 'Spirit of Istanbul' clause if the game goes to penalties.

I would 'really luv it' if Everton can find a winner......Err, sorry if that sounds a bit Kevin Keegan!

Just when you think ITV's coverage couldn't get any shitter, they cut to a break before the end of extra time. When Everton scored I was forced to watch a Tic Tacs advert!

Classic ITV. 119 mins of no chances and then when Everton finally get a goal, they cut to some advert. Reminds me of watching F1 for years on ITV. A couple of laps of nothing and then a great pass or huge crash only to find that i'm looking at some advert for a giant sofa, with some idiot singing to Nikelback.

Great night though especially with Stevie G getting an injury.

I was also looking at the Chelsea website today trying to find what number we'd given Quaresma. Anything other than 7 and he'll be fine. If not, he'll be another flop like Sheva, Mutu, Bogarde, Laudrup...

ITV - the Lidl of football coverage; just magnificent.

How the fuck were they let anywhere near the football negotiating table? Utterly scandalous.

@244-

Quaresma will be #18

LINK

Must say I thoroughly enjoyed the Liverpool gut-punch. Gee, you boys really don't play so well a man down, do you?

Also an interesting article about Quaresma:

LINK

His career is pretty much hinging on this loan. Either he'll figure himself out and get tough, or he'll be worthless and have cost us almost nothing. I think having a bunch of Portuguese players in the squad might help him adjust, however.

From the video, it appears that he has pace and a quick touch. Assuming we can get some fouls, this is exactly the kind of player Scolari was talking about getting, one who could cause trouble. Maybe he can even get us some penalties this season...

@BB and Tony - The blog should look fine in IE 6 now. Let me know if you're still having problems.

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The newspapers are all over ITV's cock-up.

LINK LINK LINK LINK LINK

I know it's been mentioned but I'm disgusted.... how the hell can ITV spoil my VW advert by cutting back to the football when Everton scored? Looks like I'll be buying a BMW now!!

This time there was no referee to help Looserpool.

Did anyone else notice how pissed off Torres looked for the remainder of the game once his best mate Stevie Me had to go off. Perhaps the realisation of how crap the rest of his teamamtes are, is beginning to sink in. Lets be honest regardless of our defeat on Sunday, do they look like a team we should fear and will challenge for major trophies. That's been pretty much their standard of play for the majority of their matches.. F**k Off Looserpoo

I still can't believe what happened on ITV last night. Anyone bought some Tic Tacs on the way to work?

LINK

LINK

This is rather bizarre, but a look on the image carefully

@ Blue Mikel

frightening really.

@BM
People should really read posts and click on links ;-) BB found it earlier, on post 237.

'Sock robbers, sock robbers, sock robbers,” the Liverpool fans sang at Goodison Park last night, bombarding the Bullens Road touchline with rolled-up balls of footwear. This was to taunt Evertonians about their proposed move to a stadium in Kirkby, which is outside Liverpool city limits. Scouse urban myth has it that, in the dark days of the 1960s and 1970s, not even odd socks were safe on a Kirkby washing line from local thieves. The legend has been taken up with a vengeance by the red side of the city.'


So Liverpool fans accuse other scousers of thievery, while Evertonians attend games in big curly wigs. Whose says Scousers have no sense of irony?

@Pete
Unfortunately you just don't get it do you?

When the red poo go shopping i.e., do a clothes line raid, they always leave the socks behind, knowing that their victims probably don't have any shoes. But the rascally blue poo take the socks too which is quite outrageous.

Where's my avatar? Stone me!

Ah, there he is.

All most enjoyable. Poor old Rafa, seemed most upset about an apparently unjustified sending off.

Like the sock thing - all very quaint.

Going back to Q.
It looks like we may have a player who needs us as much as we need him, and not just to build his bank balance.

He does also seem to thrive on something that he only gets at home. Those links all say his first games abroad are great but he goes off the boil pdq.

As has been said, we've got plenty of portuguese buddies for him and also a few portu comunities, though I guess that these guys don't mix much outside their 'special circle' (probably a good thing).

As for that photo, I'm speachless (also probably a good thing).
What I can say, is that my missus' alcohol allowance has been cut..hmm maybe I can afford that family season ticket after all.

Sorry, but Liverpool are utter, utter shite. I still think we can finish above them, which says everything about the quality of the league this year. Laughably bad.

As for Queresma, well he does, if nothing else, provide us with somebody else to boo for the rest of the season. Valuable service that.

Without any recommended medication, my optimism remains.
This is virtually the same squad that was being hailed as one of the best in the world last Autumn. We've proved, OT aside, that we continue to play after conceding.
Although there's no disguising our limitations, we may only need a catalyst to start our blue ball rolling again.
As for booing Q...if that's going be our first reaction if/when he misplaces a pass or whatever, then we're gonna to get what we deserve.

If you have the time and the inclination and, as Townes Van Zandt so memorably put it,

"It's easier than waiting round to die"

then read this. Its all about what the introduction of 3 points for a win may or may not have done for the game.

LINK

Wow,sometimes, just sometimes, the Guardian manages to restore my faith in its football coverage.

If only they'd get rid of Williams, Taylor (both of them), Doyle and Glendenning and hire a decent chief correspondent to help out the overstretched McCarra.

It just gets better... LINK

#264 BB
Good article, thanks.

@PeteW #265

Tell you what we'll hire a skip and we can Chuck in Hattenstone and Castles as well.

Lies and damn lies.

Interesting read but it only briefly alludes to the real biggie - no backpass to goalie.

This was without doubt the most significant change in my time as a spectator Anyone who hasn't sat thru 20 odd minutes of tedium with teams blatantly time-wasting within the rules, cannot grasp what football was all too often like in the good old days. Leeds made me sick.

But the article does make me wonder: if the three points hasn't made a difference despite the other changes, then perhaps a change back to two could be a real benefit now? I guess best leave well enough alone though.

@266. Clive

Plus he'll now have time on his hands so hopefully he'll get wasted at a local night club.

BlueBayou

Talking of football hacks, the Mail have only gone and sent Martin Samuel off to cover the cricket. Ranieriesque! Let's sign the best football writer in the country and get him to cover the Tests! At least it means I don't have to read them for a while.

I was pondering the Glendenning issue last night as well. Do you think his ambition as a sports journalist was always to sit in an office watching football on TV writing lazy, obvious, snide gags aimed at easy targets in a glorified version of Ceefax? Or do you think he's a mite frustrated that he knows he'll never even be as good as Richard Williams, and that's a pretty low base to aim at.

@ PeteW "Or do you think he's a mite frustrated that he knows he'll never even be as good as Richard Williams, and that's a pretty low base to aim at."

Richard Williams lives on some bizarre planet whereby all sport that occurred before 20 years ago was carried out by smiling gentlemen with nothing but honourable intentions and where 'winning' was often scene as being something classless and crass. I read his articles and wonder whether or not he's the journalistic equivalent of Catweazle.

Electrickery anyone?

ffs! scene = seen!

LINK

Have you ever heard the story from when Richard Williams was a rock critic and reviewed a test pressing of a John Lennon album thinking it was the real thing - and gave it a good review, too.

@ PeteW #271

I laughed but then thought "hang on that's a bit insulting....",

"to sit in an office watching football on TV writing lazy, obvious, snide gags aimed at easy targets in a glorified version of Ceefax?"

I've found Ceefax quite useful on occasions ;-)

How Glendinning is employed as a writer is a source of great bemusement to many people.

In defence of Richard Williams, he is one of the few (in fact, possibly the only one, in my experience) writers who will actually reply to you if you send a reasonably polite email stating why you disagree with him on a particular point.

Martin Samuel doing cricket? That's just plain wrong.

(As an aside, struggling against the West Indies in a test match reminds me of childhood in the 1970's. Come to think of it, it's actually 1973 again, isn't it? Economy in crisis, wildcat strikes, lousy winter and golliwogs making a comeback. I'm wearing a purple jumper today - slightly concerned that Gene Hunt will nick me on the way home for being a bit of a ponce.)

"I'm wearing a purple jumper today - slightly concerned that Gene Hunt will nick me on the way home for being a bit of a ponce."

(mopping coffee off the keyboard)

I hope it's not a tank top or Tony will be after you (cf #219)

Also in defence of Richard Williams he did write a very thoughtful and insightful book on Ayrton Senna a few years back. I know that doesn't make up for his JM/Chelsea bashing, but he's not all bad.

I hope it's not a tank top or Tony will be after you (cf #219)

It's not overwhelmed with sleeves, it has to be said

*getting coat*

Now I have nothing against tank tops per se, let me make that clear. It's just the twats that tend to wear them, especially if they're stripey. Whenever I see one I think of the Fast Shows Most Imperious Twat, Colin Hunt

LINK

@ KJ_II Now, whilst I can see the similarities to 1973 in what you say I think a fair bit is missing......understandable with you being of such tender years.

Radio 1 being on 247MW and being listenable.
High Waisted baggy trousers with side pockets and bottoms so wide they HAD to cover your shoes
Platform shoes
Football pitches consisting of 2 blades of grass and the rest being mud.
Fly me to the moon shirt collars
Tanktops (yes I've owned a few!)
Brut 33
Pomagne
White Towelling socks
5p bus fares in London
Austin 1100 Panda cars
Phone boxes that only accepted 2p pieces
Cossack hairspray for men
Wrap over cardigans - a must for those power cut stricken nights
ITV (not ITV1,2,3,4 etc)
TV not broadcasting until midday and closing at 11:30pm
A choice of LW,MW or SW. FM? Meh......
Cars with manual chokes
Machines that sold packs of No.6 outside newsagents (No.6 being cigarettes)
Woodbines, Players Navy Cut and Senior Service being legal.

And probably loads more that only Guinness will bring forth........

1973 is a long way away

*sits in corner listening to The Sweets greatest Hits, remembering the Pomagne and No.6 laden teenage parties*

i am sure frank is somewhere queueing for a burger as we speak

(weeps silently for times we'll never see again)

I'd like to add Double Diamond to that list

Apparently it was the beer that men drank

LINK

It worked wonders

I'm off to drink some beer in it's memory

Cheery Bye

(Puts on coat and hat and waves with pipe in hand)

Fascinating site BB.

What does the 18hours in the Playtex 18 hour girdle signify?

LINK

Why aren't there more adverts for womens underwear on these days?

When you read this link you will see where our problems started. How can we have let a 25 year old go who is slowly becoming one of the best players in La liga? Surely if we were serious about the 10 year project he should never have been let go regardless of the money. I know he was a bit fragile which ultimatley even i used to seethe about, but lets not forget, when Ballack and Sevchenko copped out of the semi final with liverpool because of needing operations (read, bottlers!!) Arjen robben came on even when he had an injusry to try and change the game..even jose mentioned this in his post match comments...i really am starting to dislike thre board and the owner and wish someone else would come in now. i think if they dont want to challenge the status quo in this country as we did while jose was here, we should then stop believing we are really contenders every year for the top honours because we are not..

@Dio,
You see y some of us disagree with some pants who are saying we should offload the 23yrs old kalou.

LINK
sorry guys forgot to post the link!!!!

Dio, you are spot on. Every game I go now, I cringe, I get frustrated and I miss the special one. He was a genius, alright sometimes it is not as exciting but we keep on winning, We kept being given surprises. Now, it is frustration after frustration. If any team have a straight line defence of 4 and a straight line mid field of 3, we are screwed. We have no idea how to break that down. Jose would have penetrated like hot knife on butter. Now Mikel piss on match day. Please. At least try to be clever about that. They are so thick. It was embarassing. So what now for the season Let's hope we have tons of luck and I am off to my Chelsea Bar tomorrow to get piss before the match like Mikel, hopefully we win but who knows even if it is only Hull!!!