hutch55

Blades also look very jaded tonight

I think we were that bad we made The Blades look half decent

Get in!

Pen!!

And a sending off!!

Our defence must be sh*t if Benteke can score, first goal at Selhurst since 2018!,

I don’t comment on here much really falling into the category of being an old git and not being surprised by anything in football, although results like last nights still leave a bloody nasty taste! Anyway here are some of my observations most of which have probably been highlighted on here!! Kepa: not a bad keeper but he’s typically continental, crosses are a definite no no which means you need a very powerful centre half or twin centre half’s to defend the six yard box. I watched Rudiger when he was playing in the Bundasliga and while he’s been with us, a good player but the uncertainty of the keeper behind him seems to have affected his confidence. Definitely think he needs a Terry like figure alongside him then I think he’ll be fine. Christiansen btw is not the answer as a defender nor is Zouma, you can see the panic in his eyes when Kepa bowls the ball out to him and his defending is very questionable as well, can’t fault his enthusiasm though. The collection of full backs we have are ok, but we could probably do better in the transfer market if anything decent is available (don’t think we will ever be fortunate to have another Ashley Cole or Ivanovich again) The midfield boys and the forwards we are very strong in that area, especially with Werner and Ziyech to come, it’s a question of Frank just finding the right combination and the players he selects understanding his system. So in effect we need to get a dominant centre half alongside Rudiger and if Kepa still looks dodgy with a pretty decent defence in front of him get Kaspar Smeichel!! Our forward line and midfield players have the potential to be as good as anything in the Premier league at the moment It’s also Franks first season so I don’t think you’ll see the consistency he so craves from his team this year. Oh and while I think John Terry was one of the best centre halves this country has produced I don’t think he’d be the answer to our defensive frailties from a coaching point of view, just look where Villa are!!!

Bloody shame I loved those Boxing Day derbies, that's why this site is so great the old days are the best.

'Tommy Baldwin he's the leader of the team'........ Great pictures CB, especially the one of the Scottish wizard, how are things at Colston Avenue this season?

'Tommy Baldwin he's the leader of the team'........ Great pictures CB, especially the one of the Scottish wizard, how are things at Colston Avenue this season?

BTW Carshalton Blue fabulous pics, keep em coming

Ossie was handed the ban by the FA for being booked 3 times!, he was also given a £150 fine. This was looked upon as being draconian at the time (some may say still is compared to today) but the FA were determined to clamp down on consistent offenders and made an example of Osgood and CFC (nothing changes does it) In my original post I stated the ban was for six weeks, actually it was eight and the ban only finished two days before the Brugge match

The Brugge return leg at the Bridge was the best evening game I've attended outside the FA cup final replay and the Inter Milan Fairs cup match in the 60's ( an Ossie special in that game) Incidentally the king had comeback from a six week ban by the FA that night, what an evening!!

Reading some of the posts on here you would think we lost tonight, without our top scorer without the man who pulls the strings for us and on top of that an intense 120 minutes of football Tuesday night. Its about grinding out some sort of result when your in these situations, Jose knew he couldn't shuffle the pack tonight and had to go with the strongest 11 he had despite the fatigue levels the boys may have been suffering. I think I know which manager will be happier.

BlueBeard your right on the money with that '72' team, although the '65' side (Venables, Graham, Bridges, Murray etc) were a bit near the mark even though they may have under achieved.

Yes I was there that day, every time the rozzers thought they had a fight under control another one would start elsewhere. Thousands of Chelsea in the ground and as mentioned previously a lot more locked outside. Great days

I like the Bosnich/Mutu comparison very funny, I must be getting on a bit not sure I understand the Rix/Wise one

Any body else think there is a slight correlation between these two 'strikers', both were signed when we already had superb forwards in both era's (Osgood and Drogba) although Ossie was out at the time after the leg break. Both would probably be looked on as failures especially as there previous goalscoring feats were excellent, and both whilst playing for us will possibly only be remembered for scoring in crucial semi finals. What do you think? I can't remember any two other players in Chelsea colours with such close parallels, can you come up with any?

65 and 66 FA cup semi's for me, I was only 11 then and defeat at that age was heart-breaking I cried all the way home. As you get older most of the losses I could take on the chin, but that Barca semi was one of the few games I felt we were cheated and still leaves a nasty taste.

I don't come on to this forum very often but just wanted to have my twopenorth, we were masters of our own downfall tonight. Good first half was undone by a fairly inept second half were we sat back and invited PSG onto us, they have some quality players but so do we and in the second half ours were pretty much non existent. We worked the goalkeeper twice in the whole game once from the pen and when Hazard hit the post, also thought Jose got the team selection wrong tonight Shurrle is not a centre forward. Still onwards and upwards it aint over till its over but boy have we got a mountain to climb second leg. Rant over but just one more thing, what the bloody hell was Lamps, Azpa and JT playing at for the third goal?

I would have taken 1-1 before the game but we may have missed an opportunity to kill the tie off tonight. BTW Mikel is not the player he was and looks a liability when he plays now.

Excellent post Fillerywhereru I started following Chelsea early 60's, attendances then were very good as they were in the 70's (remember a game with Ipswich at home Webby had to play in goal, 40,000 odd for that one) Into the 80's the gates dipped fairly alarmingly although this coincided with the 'white elephant' being built which led to having poor investment in the team. There were a couple of good sides then (Wilkins Wicks Stanley etc) but everything you allude to in your post is very true.

I remember my dad giving me £1 pocket money during the 65-69 seasons, that used to get me from Cheam to the Bridge and back buy a hamburger and programme then get me into the ground. Happy days

Monday night magic from the boys what a player Matic looks, phenominal!!

Yep that's the one it was packed in the old Goldstone ground, great day out I think the rozzers were pleased to see the back of us that day but I don't think there was much trouble. It was just the shear size of support we had, did the game finish 2-0 to us? I think it was a pretty bad tempered affair on the pitch though