Chelsea Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2011/2012

Lukker-

Hopefully the man himself can settle it

Petr Cech wrote:

"The last goal from Robin van Persie, from such a position I shouldn't concede goals."

amiable

Lukker- wrote: »

Hopefully the man himself can settle it

Cech is better than his performance yesterday.
Everyone is allowed a bad day and unfortunately he had one yesterday.

MUSEIST

hmmmm, well the only thing this weekend has taught us is that neither chelsea or arsenal will be winning much this season, you can't defend like that and expect to get anywhere.

Lots of over the top reactions in here from the usual suspects but people need to remember we are clearly in transition and the team has many faults. I still think malouda, kalou, drogba need to be sold if possible in january and we need hungry younger players to fill their shoes. The likes of malouda and drogba in particular no longer have the desire to compete at this level and they need a retirement home. Its time for a new era at chelsea and it has already begun since last summer, more to do.

The defence has been poor all season so I always knew we had a disaster like that in us. A combination of a high line, individual mistakes and a lack of collective organisation is whats costing us. Players need to take some responcibility and cut out mistake and AVB needs to get the collective unit defending better (thats his job afterall).

We have blown our chances of the title IMO because Man city are not going to drop many points and if we defend like this we will always be liable to drop silly points. IMO its UTD and city for the title with chelsea, arsenal, spurs, liverpool all going for 3rd and 4th. I reckon we have a great chance for third but only if we sort out the defence and replace malouda, kalou and drogba in january and maybe sign another defender.

Anyway, we need a good responce against Genk and Blackburn:)

Sgt Pepper 64

MUSEIST wrote: »

hmmmm, well the only thing this weekend has taught us is that neither chelsea or arsenal will be winning much this season, you can't defend like that and expect to get anywhere.

Lots of over the top reactions in here from the usual suspects but people need to remember we are clearly in transition and the team has many faults. I still think malouda, kalou, drogba need to be sold if possible in january and we need hungry younger players to fill their shoes. The likes of malouda and drogba in particular no longer have the desire to compete at this level and they need a retirement home. Its time for a new era at chelsea and it has already begun since last summer, more to do.

The defence has been poor all season so I always knew we had a disaster like that in us. A combination of a high line, individual mistakes and a lack of collective organisation is whats costing us. Players need to take some responcibility and cut out mistake and AVB needs to get the collective unit defending better (thats his job afterall).

We have blown our chances of the title IMO because Man city are not going to drop many points and if we defend like this we will always be liable to drop silly points. IMO its UTD and city for the title with chelsea, arsenal, spurs, liverpool all going for 3rd and 4th. I reckon we have a great chance for third but only if we sort out the defence and replace malouda, kalou and drogba in january and maybe sign another defender.

Anyway, we need a good responce against Genk and Blackburn:)

Apparently, AVB lashed into them afterwards and instead of a light warm down session, they had a full training session.
Thats all very well, but its Genk after all. We need a reaction for the big games.
I'm not so sure that its totally the defences fault, rather than AVB's tactics.
At Porto, he played the same way, always conceding and having thrilling games. I cant believe its brought that here with no thought of how the EPL is a lot tougher. He's said he wont change the attacking philosphy, well thats ok, but we have to tighten up at the back.
I can see us buying a defender and or even a full back in Jan, but really the horse has bolted and its not good to buy in Jan.
If he can get 3rd place and reach a final or two, he might stand a chance of finishing his work replacing the team, god knows Chelsea needs stabiity! We need bright lights like Mata, thats clear, but can we afford to keep spending 25 mill or so on players? Linked with Hazard but he's 35 mill and its the defence that needs tightening

Sgt Pepper 64

Steven Howard slams the Blues with stats. “After the shambolic 5-3 defeat by Arsenal, the stats are growing increasingly grim. In 10 league games this term, Chelsea have conceded 15 goals — as many as Mourinho’s team let in winning the title in the ENTIRE 2004-2005 campaign. In fact, the five shipped against Arsenal was just one less than the six surrendered in all 19 home league games that season. In terms of league defeats — three in the first 10 games — it’s the worst start by ANY Blues boss under Abramovich… Under Villas-Boas, Chelsea have failed to keep a clean sheet in nine league games, their worst run for a decade.”

brianregan09

How long more do you think villas boas will last in there can't remember big phil getting too long, In my opinion as an outsider i think there still probaly too much influence in the dressing room likes of Drogba can't be helping sooner you're rid of him the better

willmunny1990

brianregan09 wrote: »

How long more do you think villas boas will last in there can't remember big phil getting too long, In my opinion as an outsider i think there still probaly too much influence in the dressing room likes of Drogba can't be helping sooner you're rid of him the better

He'll be given all this season no matter what and he'll start next season. But i wouldn't be the least bit shocked if he was sacked at the first sign of trouble after that. It would also depend on what other manager is available at the time, For instance if Guardiola happened to be available Abramovich could get a rush of blood and sack AVB to sign him if the deal was on.

History proves Chelsea don't give there managers time and i don't think that will change.

pistolpetes11

brianregan09 wrote: »

How long more do you think villas boas will last in there can't remember big phil getting too long, In my opinion as an outsider i think there still probaly too much influence in the dressing room likes of Drogba can't be helping sooner you're rid of him the better

Cant see him being sacked , he is in for the long haul !

willmunny1990

pistolpetes11 wrote: »

Cant see him being sacked , he is in for the long haul !

What makes you think he'll be treated any differently to Ancellotti, Grant, Scolari, Mourinho and Ranieri?

BERBA

pistolpetes11 wrote: »

Cant see him being sacked , he is in for the long haul !

IMO it will prove to be a wrong decision getting a manager in thats younger than the players. He hasnt done much in the game to warrant the chelsea job and dont give me the portugese league or the uefa cup coz i'd win that league for Porto!

Should have got Hiddink at all costs coz imo AVB project will end in tears.

Masked Man

It's pretty clear that AVB is an appointment for the future and that Roman won't give him the sack based on a bad season (which we haven't even had yet! it's October for **** sake). The majority of Chelsea fans are happy with AVB and willing to give him time. Talking about him getting the sack is pointless.

willmunny1990

Masked Man wrote: »

It's pretty clear that AVB is an appointment for the future and that Roman won't give him the sack based on a bad season (which we haven't even had yet! it's October for **** sake). The majority of Chelsea fans are happy with AVB and willing to give him time. Talking about him getting the sack is pointless.

Unfortunately its a talking point that will always be there at Chelsea. You cant ignore the fact Abramovich is unjustly ruthless with managers, i named a few in an above post.

IMO AVB will get the same treatment as them unless he gets success and fast. Even then he wont be entirely safe, Carlo won a league title and an FA Cup and was sacked the next season for having a poor run. I just don't understand what makes you think AVB will be treated differently.

Masked Man

I just don't understand what makes you think AVB will be treated differently.

Common sense. Just look at him, our squad and the players we bought in the last window. Roman isn't an idiot, he can't expect AVB to just magically succeed, especially with our squad atm.

willmunny1990

Masked Man wrote: »

Common sense. Just look at him, our squad and the players we bought in the last window. Roman isn't an idiot, he can't expect AVB to just magically succeed, especially with our squad atm.

Our squad is arguably better now than it was under Ancelotti, yet he was given the bullet because he didn't deliver in one season.

I know he shouldn't expect AVB to just magically succeed, but he's done it in the past and I have no reason to believe he won't do it in the future.

I want AVB to be given the time needed, but I'm afraid there's no evidence to suggest he will be and plenty of evidence to suggest he won't.

At the end of the day, it will be like this.

If we don't win anything this year, he might be kept on for next season.

And if he goes two seasons without winning anything, he will almost certainly be sacked. And around and around the managerial circle we go.

Sgt Pepper 64

Masked Man wrote: »

It's pretty clear that AVB is an appointment for the future and that Roman won't give him the sack based on a bad season (which we haven't even had yet! it's October for **** sake). The majority of Chelsea fans are happy with AVB and willing to give him time. Talking about him getting the sack is pointless.

Well the league is gone - it would take a massive melt down and us to win both games with them to claw back the lead that City have.
I reckon AVB to avoid the sack needs a top 4 finish and reach a cup final.
I think everyone at Chelsea will be shocked at Drogba's decline - I think everyone was counting on him to lead the line one last time.
The same could be said of Terry.
I dont wont AVB to go, but he needs to cop on quick that gung ho attacking is something that not even Barca do, and he just doesnt have the players he needs to play such a high line.
I hope that Roman also watches and realises that the attacking football needs some substance at the back.
Probably the best blend of this was Mourinho's team when we had Duff and Robben or Carlos Double season
AVb knew we were suspect at the back and now we can see why we were so strongly linked with defenders and the offer went in for Pereira

Lukker-

It's clear that for the first time since Mourinho our team is being re-built.

A new system is in place and it will take time for players to adjust. The ones that don't will be left behind. This is the first time the manager has been given authorization to change alot. Ancellotti was just a head coach. AVB is our first manager since Mourinho to be given near total control.

jcf

Great , I can't wait to win the league again in 2135...

Crann na Beatha

This post has been deleted.

Sgt Pepper 64

jcf wrote: »

Great , I can't wait to win the league again in 2135...

Its not that bad - I only waited since around 1970 for the 2nd one!

Soby

Sgt Pepper 64 wrote: »

Well the league is gone - it would take a massive melt down and us to win both games with them to claw back the lead that City have.
I reckon AVB to avoid the sack needs a top 4 finish and reach a cup final.
I think everyone at Chelsea will be shocked at Drogba's decline - I think everyone was counting on him to lead the line one last time.
The same could be said of Terry.
I dont wont AVB to go, but he needs to cop on quick that gung ho attacking is something that not even Barca do, and he just doesnt have the players he needs to play such a high line.
I hope that Roman also watches and realises that the attacking football needs some substance at the back.
Probably the best blend of this was Mourinho's team when we had Duff and Robben or Carlos Double season
AVb knew we were suspect at the back and now we can see why we were so strongly linked with defenders and the offer went in for Pereira

As much as i wanna say this myself we are wrong.Cant be saying this in October .I think we should last year the league is never won till its won

pandaboy

Sgt Pepper 64 wrote: »

Steven Howard slams the Blues with stats. “After the shambolic 5-3 defeat by Arsenal, the stats are growing increasingly grim. In 10 league games this term, Chelsea have conceded 15 goals — as many as Mourinho’s team let in winning the title in the ENTIRE 2004-2005 campaign. In fact, the five shipped against Arsenal was just one less than the six surrendered in all 19 home league games that season. In terms of league defeats — three in the first 10 games — it’s the worst start by ANY Blues boss under Abramovich… Under Villas-Boas, Chelsea have failed to keep a clean sheet in nine league games, their worst run for a decade.”

To be fair though, Cech (this season) has not been on form in comparison to other seasons. Some of the goals scored against him this season have been pretty soft for his standard. I remember his first three seasons when the guy was pretty much unstoppable for a while. Whether this is down to a defensive issue or Cehlsea are playing too much counter attacking football (I'll leave that up to yourselves) but if I were in AVB's shoes I would be considering a well blooded stand in. Haven't seen too much of Courtois so I can't comment on how good he'll be next year.

gosplan

pandaboy wrote: »

To be fair though, Cech (this season) has not been on form in comparison to other seasons. Some of the goals scored against him this season have been pretty soft for his standard. I remember his first three seasons when the guy was pretty much unstoppable for a while. Whether this is down to a defensive issue or Cehlsea are playing too much counter attacking football (I'll leave that up to yourselves) but if I were in AVB's shoes I would be considering a well blooded stand in. Haven't seen too much of Courtois so I can't comment on how good he'll be next year.

Cheh was very poor against Arsenal but as an Arsenal fan I'm used to reflecting on goalkeeping errors and defensive cock-ups. This can't just be attributed to reorganisation of the defence. By my reckoning only Arsenal's first goal would have been stopped by a different defence. I'm kind of discounting the last because Chelsea were piling forward searching for the equaliser. Defensive systems don't come into the other goals, just massive individual errors.

It's been the same for us for a couple of years, you can change systems and personell but when the our goalie and CB go for the same ball, or when 5 players decide not to tackle Walcott or when Malouda sends a hopeless back pass past Terry, then you're not talking about the manager's organisation any more, you're just looking at silly errors from players who should know better, however they're being coached.

Probably the change in system has gotten into the heads of the players a bit but you can't expet to take a system that's been in place for 6-7 years, reverse it and experience no period of adjustment.

A perfect example of this was when Benitez took over at Liverpool. The media were all over the new system and it was really easy for everyone to have a bash at zonal marking but after a while it clicked and the clean sheets started to roll in.

More than anything AVB deserves a bit of patience. Unfortunatly that's usually in short supply in football. I do worry a bit about player power at Chelsea and one player in particular. For AVB to succeed in his transformation of Chelsea, players that have gone through a career playing one way for one club are going to have to accept huge change.

Edited to include: I think Chelsea fans should really embrace AVB and what he might do for the club. With Barca/Madrid and City/United you're realistically not going to win either the league or CL anytime soon so enjoy the ride, hope you get in the top four and let's see who Chelsea buy in Jan/Summer.

pistolpetes11

A bit of good news , not really used to that on this thread lately !


AVB among the top ten

http://www.chelseafc.com/page/LatestNews/0,,10268~2501468,00.html

People asking will he be let go, I really dont think so , could be the start of something special for Chelsea !

pistolpetes11

Another nice little bit of news

SamWallaceIndy Sam Wallace
Interesting: Hammersmith & Fulham council statement pledging to help #cfc explore all possibilities to expand Stamford Bridge capacity.

SamWallaceIndy Sam Wallace
H&F: 'We recognise all our clubs need greater capacity [for] fan base & financial fair play rules'. Will 'examine planning options' for #cfc.

Sgt Pepper 64

My 6 point plan to get us back on track!


1/ Drop Mikel for Romeu
2/ Drop Bose for Ivan at RB
3/ Play Alex\Luiz at CB
4/ Buy a top class RB and or CB in Jan
5/ Buy Cahill if none available in Jan
6/ Buy another Striker in Jan

pistolpetes11

Chelsea FC respond to Council

CHELSEA FC wrote:

COUNCIL RECOGNITION OF CAPACITY NEED WELCOMED
Posted on: Tue 01 Nov 2011
Chelsea Football Club has today (Tuesday) released the following statement in response to an earlier statement from the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham regarding the future of Stamford Bridge, which is situated within the Borough.
The statement reads:
Chelsea Football Club welcomes the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham's commitment to see the Club stay in the Borough and importantly their recognition of our need for greater capacity at Stamford Bridge.
As an initial step in a renewed dialogue with the Borough, we would like to explore promptly with LBHF how they propose helping us address the club's current problem of Stamford Bridge having substantially reduced capacity for big games.
We will be happy to meet Borough officials to discuss this further and especially their desire to see us stay at Stamford Bridge.


The London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham's statement read:
Hammersmith & Fulham Council is proud that our Borough uniquely contains three Premiership football clubs; Chelsea FC, Fulham FC and Queens Park Rangers FC.
In light of the recent decision by Chelsea Pitch Owners PLC to retain its freehold of the ground, we reaffirm our desire to see Chelsea FC remain in the Borough and our commitment to help the club to remain at its historic home of Stamford Bridge.
We recognise that all our clubs will need greater capacity to accommodate growth in their fan bases and that new financial fair play rules necessitate generating extra match-day revenue to remain competitive with the leading English and European teams.
We are currently assisting Fulham FC with its plans to expand the capacity of its historic ground at Craven Cottage and we have already agreed to grant planning permission for additional capacity.A new scheme is about to be consulted on.
The Council now proposes to examine whether there are planning options to expand Stamford Bridge to accommodate a larger capacity, recognising that such a project must be economically viable, benefit local businesses and not unreasonably affect residents.
We look forward to working closely with Chelsea FC and all local stakeholders as soon as possible to examine the options of redeveloping Stamford Bridge

Masked Man

1/ Drop Mikel for Romeu

Don't really want this, Romeu is too inexperienced. Plus if he does actually turn out to be great, chances are he goes back to Barca in a year or two.

6/ Buy another Striker in Jan

This should include getting rid of Drogba, Kalou and Malouda.

Johner

Well Saturday was very disappointing. We were all over the place at the back and Mikel didn't offer any protection to the back 4. He is a decent player in games against the lesser teams but he is just not good enough for the big games. Arsenal looked like scoring every single time they came forward. Lampard and Mata are the only two that come out of the game with any credit. Torres and Sturridge were poor as was Ramires. Cech had his worst game in a Chelsea shirt for a long time. Anyway onto Genk tonight.

pandaboy

gosplan wrote: »

Cheh was very poor against Arsenal but as an Arsenal fan I'm used to reflecting on goalkeeping errors and defensive cock-ups. This can't just be attributed to reorganisation of the defence. By my reckoning only Arsenal's first goal would have been stopped by a different defence. I'm kind of discounting the last because Chelsea were piling forward searching for the equaliser. Defensive systems don't come into the other goals, just massive individual errors.

It's been the same for us for a couple of years, you can change systems and personell but when the our goalie and CB go for the same ball, or when 5 players decide not to tackle Walcott or when Malouda sends a hopeless back pass past Terry, then you're not talking about the manager's organisation any more, you're just looking at silly errors from players who should know better, however they're being coached.

Probably the change in system has gotten into the heads of the players a bit but you can't expet to take a system that's been in place for 6-7 years, reverse it and experience no period of adjustment.

A perfect example of this was when Benitez took over at Liverpool. The media were all over the new system and it was really easy for everyone to have a bash at zonal marking but after a while it clicked and the clean sheets started to roll in.

More than anything AVB deserves a bit of patience. Unfortunatly that's usually in short supply in football. I do worry a bit about player power at Chelsea and one player in particular. For AVB to succeed in his transformation of Chelsea, players that have gone through a career playing one way for one club are going to have to accept huge change.

Edited to include: I think Chelsea fans should really embrace AVB and what he might do for the club. With Barca/Madrid and City/United you're realistically not going to win either the league or CL anytime soon so enjoy the ride, hope you get in the top four and let's see who Chelsea buy in Jan/Summer.

Some great points there though I think Cech could have saved the 4th and the 5th. He came out too far for the 4th instead of staying on his feet and forcing RVP to the corner; though this could be a contentious point but being a goalie myself it's what I would've done. (it all sounds great when you're sitting in an armchair watching the game) The fifth I blame on his positioning, he was caught flat footed but of course the defence and the errors made by other players were to blame, especially the 4th. What was Malouda thinking?

The new system has its pros and cons. When it comes together they provide some of the best attacking play I've seen all season and Mata is the key for this hence his cracker of a goal.

To get rid of AVB would be extremely cynical I think. The politics with players at Chelsea is apparent and there are some players there that should be scrapped from the squad.

Sgt Pepper 64

Masked Man wrote: »

Don't really want this, Romeu is too inexperienced. Plus if he does actually turn out to be great, chances are he goes back to Barca in a year or two.



This should include getting rid of Drogba, Kalou and Malouda.

I'm still hoping that Drogba will come good - maybe he just needs to be loved/played?!!

Re Romeu - we have to try someone diffferent to Mikel. Maybe Josh?

growler

Saturday was my first time at the bridge this year, and though i left very disappointed and not at all looking forward to my trip back to my home in goonerland, it wasn't all gloom. Chelsea could have won that game 7-6, drawn 3-3 or conceded even more. This isn't AVB's team and he's trying to make it do things its not used to, so i'm not going to get too stressed out about it but hope that all the lessons we learn this season will set us up for a proper challenge next year ( well ,either than or AVB gets the sack and we start all over again).

Johner, i came away from the game thinking Mikel was one of the few decent performances, when he came off we conceded 2 and Meireles offered no protection or tackles, we always play best with a Makalele style holding player , Mikel has his many faults but we need him. I thought Lampard was pretty awful myself, too slow and not enough quality passes, though nowhere near as bad as Torres. The only chelsea player i thought could hold his head high after that game was Mata, who played his heart out.

onwards and upwards.

Johner

I would honestly prefer Romeu over Mikel. He hasn't put a foot wrong so far and I think he deserves a chance in the league.

Johner

Torres and Anelka start.

Johner

Chelsea : Cech, Bosingwa, Ivanovic, Luiz, Cole, Romeu, Ramires, Miereles, Malouda, Torres, Anelka

Happy enough with that team.

Johner

Chelsea subs: Turnbull, Terry, Lampard, McEachran, Mata, Kalou, Sturridge

smuckers

Jesus that was a diabolical second half, should have won it though. Malouda was poor apart from 2 good moments, Anelka was awful and Torres disappered in the second half.
Sturridge was very brigh when he came on.

The positives:

Luiz Romeo Cech

The negatives:

Torres (despite setting up first goal)
Anelka
Malouda

Crann na Beatha

This post has been deleted.

smuckers

Rambo played well too!

Masked Man

meh, we did enough to win it. Sucks that we didn't was hoping we'd have a couple of easy games in the cl to let the second team play (Cole really should be rested more).

Really starting to miss the days when we were just quietly going about our business. Knew it wouldn't last long.

MUSEIST

Lads, it was poor to watch and we missed some good chances. Pity we did not win but a draw away in genk is no bad result, valencia drew 0-0 there and they are a top side.

willmunny1990

We were woeful. We could of won it but then again Genk could of sneaked it as well.Apart from setting up Ramires Torres did nothing, he was a ghost and kept getting crowded out.

Second half was worse, Genk did well but we didnt help ourselves. We should of won this game now we go to Blackburn away, which is a game we need to win with a string of poor performances behind us.

We are 9 points behind City i think its a safe bet we wont win the league this season.

jcf

Another **** display .. My god what a **** useless team

Sgt Pepper 64

On that performance we are in deep, deep do do

The first team only seems to have 5 decent players - scary

Danny
Mata
Ramires
Romeo
Cech

The rest can feck off as far as I'm concerned

We should offload Torres to Russia, Danny comes on and immediately shows him up for the one dimensional bag of ****e he really is

MUSEIST

I hope we go for de bruyne in january, he is such a good passer and also put in a great defensive job for genk. Good all round player.

I dont see why romeu does not play every game, class player and ramires is probably my favourite chelsea player at the moment. Class act. Poor performance from torres and a few others

the_monkey

Chelsea's main problem - an aging team and we are not replacing the talent.

JT - getting Old
Frankie Lamps - getting old
Drogba - getting old
Cech - getting old/not the same since that head injury...
Malouda - an embarrasing shadow of the great player he was in 09/10..



So ... we replace them .

Torres - a fat waste of money, sell him to Bohs
Romeu (or whatever the **** his name is) - Barca player, those gangsters will have him back to the camp shít Nou as soon as he gets good - so apart from 1 or 2 good performances his acquisition is a complete waste of time

Mata - ONE good signing !!! ONE !!!!!

Did City sign ONE good player ???

Typical Chelsea 1 step forward 20 back.

blue-army

the_monkey wrote: »

Chelsea's main problem - an aging team and we are not replacing the talent.

JT - getting Old
Frankie Lamps - getting old
Drogba - getting old
Cech - getting old/not the same since that head injury...
Malouda - an embarrasing shadow of the great player he was in 09/10..



So ... we replace them .

Torres - a fat waste of money, sell him to Bohs
Romeu (or whatever the **** his name is) - Barca player, those gangsters will have him back to the camp shít Nou as soon as he gets good - so apart from 1 or 2 good performances his acquisition is a complete waste of time

Mata - ONE good signing !!! ONE !!!!!

Did City sign ONE good player ???

Typical Chelsea 1 step forward 20 back.

Chillax like.

Ramires has been a great signing. Sturridge is one of the best young strikers around. Lukaku will replace Drogba.
Mikel and McEachran are coming on bigtime. We have Essien to come back.
Cech is 29, young in goalkeeper terms! Plus Courtios at Atletico has kept 4 clean sheets in 6 La Liga games.

There's been plenty of positives this season. Our 3 losses were as down to luck as much as anything.

Jesus, we should've beaten QPR with 9 men. They practically had 12 men with that ref!
The Arsenal game was 3-3 on 83mins... only for JT's slip, it could've gone either way.
We did not deserve to lose at Old Trafford - Even United fans were impressed at how we played that day.


It's stupid knee-jerk reactions like this that annoy me. Give Villas-Boas time, we're clearly going through a transition period. The defence is shaky but we're playing some great attacking football at times.

Essien

I won't get to see highlights until tomorrow but I suppose I don't have much to look forward to.

Also, when I saw the score and "D Luiz missed pen" I assumed the mad bastard tried to take it with his head or something.

jcf

yeah he slid on the ground and tried to nod it in, the keeper guessed wrong but it slid wide..... what a clown Luiz is...

Sgt Pepper 64

blue-army wrote: »

Chillax like.

Ramires has been a great signing. Sturridge is one of the best young strikers around. Lukaku will replace Drogba.
Mikel and McEachran are coming on bigtime. We have Essien to come back.
Cech is 29, young in goalkeeper terms! Plus Courtios at Atletico has kept 4 clean sheets in 6 La Liga games.

There's been plenty of positives this season. Our 3 losses were as down to luck as much as anything.

Jesus, we should've beaten QPR with 9 men. They practically had 12 men with that ref!
The Arsenal game was 3-3 on 83mins... only for JT's slip, it could've gone either way.
We did not deserve to lose at Old Trafford - Even United fans were impressed at how we played that day.


It's stupid knee-jerk reactions like this that annoy me. Give Villas-Boas time, we're clearly going through a transition period. The defence is shaky but we're playing some great attacking football at times.

Good post - hard to remember though on recent winning history

Johner

I thought we were good in the first half should have killed the game off, second half was very poor. Was annoying to hear everyone going on about how Torres should have taken the penalty, he hasn't taken one in his English career ffs. Luiz already scored a penalty in the Carling Cup shootout against Fulham and he has a great strike, it was just a bad penalty. Torres wasn't great but the move for the goal with Ramires and assist was lovely, as much as it pained Tony Gale to give him a compliment. :rolleyes: