pipoldchap

many congatulations to dkw and missus - if memory serves me - (which it doesn't so much theses days) you are cumbria boy ? I had enjoyable evening in the Royal in Penrith tonight - just 4 of us Chelsea boys - no mancs or scousers just sensible people.

Took the missus to see The Guard last week - excellent - Brendan Gleeson on top form

I too liked the overhead shot of barcelona pressing - have always been impressed with how quickly they win the ball back - not just with their incessant passing. Ruud Gullitt commented on one of our home games against Barcelona that we were giving away free kicks because we were panic tackling whereas they were just pressing - not really tackling - if you tackle they can dive, break your rhythm, yellow card, frustration, red card. I thought we were at our best for pressing a few years back with Lampard, Essien and Makelele - it was like watching a pack of dogs - a bit of miss control by the opposition and they spotted the weakness and hunted them into another mistake and eventually break - Jose's great philosophy was the speed to convert defence into attack. I'm tired now - three posts in one night - nice wine.

And me - why is it that we left footers (in footballing terms ) - are described as having an educated left foot ? or do they not use that expression anymore.

I see there is now video evidence emerging of a couple of sly elbows by Knobhead on JT - sorry if this is not new? My take on the slag JT off at every opportunity is that it seems to have increased since he ditched his former agent - hell hatch no fury like an agent scorned ?

oops !! dont know what happened to my reply - well I do - it was some sort of error (sorry there has been a system error and our technical team are looking into this) I think I was moaning about the itv commentary tonight - when Bale dived in the are - "ah well you have to expect some desparation tonight " (ok to cheat then if its spurs) - so gushing in anything spurs did - they lost 5-0 ffs. Can you imagine if Drogba had dived in the area - "ooh its not nice to your own players cheat - I'm sure he will regret that tomorrow".

So - women don't understand the offside rule - I remember when Man utd beat Chelsea at the bridge about 10 or so years ago - their second goal was way offside but Andy summarised by saying it was a great move and he was only a yard or so offside before he crossed it - so the goal was deserved !!! So girls - rule 1 - if it's a great move and it's Man Utd - it can't be offside rule 2 - if it's only a yard or so offside and it's Man utd - it can't be offside. Simples

I agree with WestWay Wonder about Martin Samuel in the Mail - he has not been so critical of JT - its Matt Lawson who has a real grudge against him - all this crap about failed coup etc. Seems as though some of the players were having a bit of a moan but when JT stepped up the others backed off. When Lawton was quoting the press conference - the part where Terry mentioned the Anelka being sent home and said there might be a few of us who will be sent home after tonight - it was a light hearted throwaway remark - but in print made to look like a threat. John Terry is not a politician or PR man (thank god) - it was not a carefully worded statement - it was a conference - the press know they can get people like JT fall into their trap.

Jimmy was a great player for us - my first Chelsea hero. When one on one with the keeper you could guarantee a goal - a lot of his goals were the poacher type in 6 yard box but he could dribble at pace and create something from nothing. He sometimes tried to do too much for Chelsea especially towards the end. When he joined Spurs I used to go and watch Jimmy if Chelsea were away (sorry). I would be so cheesed off as Spurs fans were saying "just give it to Greaves" - this was my jimmy!!! In his debut for Spurs against Blackpool (I think) he scored 3 - a scissors kick and 2 headers. There was a game Chelsea v Man City which was billed as Greaves v Law - the 2 great goalscorers of the time - Jimmy scored 3 in a 6-3 win - ah those were the days.

I remeber (vaguely) a game where we scored and Barota ran behind the goal towards the shed - in the days of the dog track - celebrating with the fans - but the goal was disallowed and play coming towards the empty chelsea goal- it was a bit like the old xmas pantomime - the shed shouting "behind you" - what a character he was.

I dont understand how this pr*t has been allowed to reinvent himself as a sport journalist, travel expert and talent judge. He was the odious sh*t who endangered the lives of British soldiers when editor of the Mirror by publishing obvious fake photos of the squaddies supposedly peeing on "Iraqi" prisoners. He has even been allowed on Question Time and give his opinion on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan saying we should think of the soldiers suffering - he wasn't thinking too much of their suffering wheb the photos appeared. The mind boggles - he is such a smarmy supercilious (is that right ?) etc etc.

It was a struggle but we took the chances and they did not create many clear cut ones. I thouht Frankie was really good in his defensive play, chasing and tackling. Also thought Mikel was good but he just lacks that creative pass - there were a couple of times when he had the chance to really open them up but he just missed the pass.

I Think its no coincidence that all these JT stories are coming out after he split with Aaron Lincoln as his manager/agent. Smacks of revenge - he is often referred as the "thoroughly decent" Aaron Lincoln. He may well be thoroughly decent but it does seem to be an orchestrated campaign against JT - they even blamed him for selecting Ballack as one of his choices in a poll of best footballers - "should this man be captain of England if he thinks Ballack is better than Messi". Should be some good chants this evening .

Back to watching the game in the pub after my excursion to Preston. Thought it was a really good performance - there was only 10 minutes in the 2nd half when we went to sleep but you have to expect any team to have their moment. Even Deco did his bit - he does give it away but every now and then he does something special - like starting move for 3rd goal (I think). Things are starting to look good again. btw dkw - where are you in Cumbria

In Penrith - We were close to the side of the stand where the subs warmed up - quite a bit of banter between the PNE and Chelsea boys. Were you near the Preston fan that got slung out - thought that was a bit over the top - he was providing entertainment for us.

Had a great day with my son at the game. First time he has been to an away game and he loved the support Chelsea got. It was a great atmosphere though Preston fans were a little subdued. We moved from London to Cumbria when my son was 2 (now 15) so he has strange accent. One great moment when the Preston fans tried a song and the Chelsea boys came back with "Speak f**kin English" and there he was joining in !!- he did say afterwards that he had been practicing a cockney accent. Game was fairly average and a few dodgy moments in the first 20 minutes but we were strolling. Not a lot of invention and lots of sideways passing. Deco did give the ball away a couple of times but he was fairly steady. Malouda makes some strange decisons/passes sometimes - certainly confuses his teammates (and me). Joe Cole was lively Zhirkov was more threatening in the last 20 minutes. Anelka and John Terry were class. Found a pub and watched 2nd half of Man Utd and Hull - why so little being said about Ferdinand laying out the Hull bloke ?? Watched 1st half of Spurs Leeds at the station and the finished the day with a curry and vino - perfect.

Very poor game quality wise but was always going to be like that - nobody else seems to think Essien deserves a mention but I thought he was strong - tosser Fletcher caught him twice after the ball had gone but not a word from ref ?? Every time Fletcher challenges its more or less a foul - they use the same tactic with Park when he plays - why was Jokanovic booked when he played the ball off for throw in - didn't see that being over analysed on Sky.

Yes the original Carragher "dignity" man who was telling Frank to "miss it miss it your gonna f**k it " when Lampard was taking the penalty at Anfield - of course Frank got the yellow card fot the hush hush sign but of course nothing for that pri*k Jamie C - I enjoyed this link http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/animals/anim...s-200908282018/

can someone describe the goal - left the pub at 90 mins and got home to see scoreline !!!

streams down for me too

Has to be Chopper for me - I remember a Scottish winger Bertie Auld playing for Birmingham and he charged unnecessarily into lightweight Bonetti - Chopper grabbed his shirt by the neck and marched him back (like Dave Mackay did to Billy Bremner) as much as to say "just watch it mate thats my goalkeeper".

I saw David Cliss play once but dont remember much of that game or him - he was apparently regarded as a better prospect than Jimmy Greaves initially (by my older brother and his chums) but did not seem to progress. Ken Shellito was a great full back and had just got into the England team when he had a cartilidge injury. That left the way open for George Cohen who was good but not as classy as Ken. Shellito did come back but I dont think he was quite as good after the injury.

Me and mate were behind Watford goal for the second half - I think it was 1-1 at half time. The Watford keeper (can't remember name) gave us the V sign and had a smirk on his face as he came out for second half. Some priceless comments to him as the goals kept going in - he could not look us in the face and was desperate to get off at the end.

I am terrible at this - I might even have invented it back in about 1960 - keys in this pocket change in the other etc - my latest is it has to be red wine and sitting on the floor - that didn't work on Tuesday - tried several different positions for me and the red wine - in the end I won the game for us by standing up and the red wine on the mantelpiece - nothing to do with Drogba or Lampard you fools. It was made more difficult by the fact I had packed in the fags 2 weeks ago after 40 years - I wont go into the superstitions with ciggies.