ethicalstrategy

Two matches in 5 days to make or break our season. We could wake up on Easter Monday top of the table or 9 points behind Utd I suspect we will play Cole at left back as Bridge didn't cope too well with Lennon when he was switched at Wembley. Probably Ferreira at right back - but he has had his problems with Lennon too - remember he was subbed in the first half last season. But Belletti was shocking at Wembley as well. That aside, we should be good enough to win. Drogba needs to play up front and not be rotated in and out, otherwise he will never get any rhythm back. The old nerves are starting to jangle and the game isn't live on sky tomorrow either.

They play in orange? Really? I would think it very unlikely that it has anything to do with religious tensions - in Northern Ireland maybe, but not on the mainland. Maybe we are just not quite so loud and brash as the Yanks! The only British team I can think of off the top of my head is Dundee United.

Yep. Last season Arsenal had the best record from games between the top 4. Didn't help them much. One thing is sure though and that is you do need to have a decent record if you want to win it. Three wins from our last three games would give us 17 points out of a possible 36. Not great, but not terrible.

An interesting article from Kevin MaCarra at the Guardian Article This is the league table for matches between the current top 7 clubs this season. Man U------P8--W6--D2--L0--Pts 20 Arsenal-----P8--W4--D4--L0--Pts 16 Liverpool----P9--W3--D5--L1--Pts 14 Portsmouth--P12-W2--D5--L5--Pts 11 Aston Villa---P10-W2--D3--L5--Pts 9 Chelsea-----P9--W1--D5--L3--Pts 8 Everton-----P8--W1--D2--L5--Pts 5 We really need to win those last three matches to claw back some of that deficit.

Wednesday sees the start of the run in to the title. With 9/8 games to go it's neck and neck between the top three and not only do we all have to play each other but Arsenal and Man U have to face Liverpool too. Here are the remaining fixtures: Chelsea: 5 Home and 4 Away - 4 tough matches Tottenham (A) - tough match Arsenal (H) - tough match Middlesboro (H) Man City (A) Wigan (H) Everton (A) - tough match Man U (H) - tough match Newcastle (A) Bolton (H) Arsenal: 3 Home and 5 Away - three tough matches Chelsea (A) - tough match Bolton (A) Liverpool (H) - tough match Man U (A) - tough match Reading (H) Derby (A) Everton (H) Sunderland (A) Man U: 5 Home and 4 Away - 5 tough matches Bolton (H) Liverpool (H) - tough match Aston Villa (H) - tough match Middlesboro (A) Arsenal (H) - tough match Blackburn (A) - tough match Chelsea (A) - tough match West Ham (H) Wigan (A) It's really hard to say who has the toughest run in. Hopefully we will start the last 8 matches level with Arsenal and probably 3 points behind Utd. If w can get wins against Spurs and Arsenal then the race will be well and truly on with the game against Utd being pivotal. I'm starting to get quite excited.

So we have! That'll teach me to post late at night!

If that's what he meant then he's right. But as mourinho was only in charge for six games its a meaningless stat. Otherwise, I agree with you. Credit if we win, brickbats if we lose. My main concern is that we have to play, and beat, Man U & Arsenal at home and Spurs, Everton & Blackburn away. I really hope we can do it.

What planet have you been living on?

Right, I mean look at last season. Mourinho hardly played Joe at all - what with him being injured all season! Season before he was one of the stars in our league winning season. Playing the best football he has ever played. He's played 18 games this season. Last year he was settling in and injured for a big chunk of the time. I'm not sure you can attribute any improvement to anything that Grant has done. That's nice. Really? Seems to me that Sheva playing too much was one of our problems last season. Hardly seen him at all this year as he went missing just when he was really needed. He might have bought Anelka if he had been given some money by Roman. Why did Mourinho change? to accomodate Sheva at the wish of Roman. Not better second halves too? 1 appearance as a sub in the league? That's less than last year. Now on loan again. (OK, he did get some games in the CC and FAC although mainly due to injuries and the ACN) How about: 1. Poor team selection/formation for the Carling Cup final 2. Lost to lower division side Barnsley in the FA Cup after leaving out our two main goalscorers 3. Continued inability to make tactical changes during the course of a match if things are going against us 4. Failure to record a single victory against any of the current top 7 in the league. 5. Turned Anelka from one of the top scorers in the PL in to a player who hardly looks like scoring

As Loz is busy being a good dad, here is the poll for today's match

Just to say, I've merged the two topics on this subject to keep things tidy.

Fenerbache - Chelsea Arsenal - liverpool Schalke - Barca Roma - Man U Semi's Arsenal/Liverpool v. Fernerbache/Chelsea Schalke/Barca v Roma/Man U

I'm a great believer in warm balls.

Just been reading a bit more about this in the papers and it seems somewhat strange. Lamps is saying that he wants it sorted but that the club won't discuss it until the summer. Whereas I thought it was Frank who deferred further talks until the summer! You'd think that if the club wanted him to stay and the player wanted to stay that it wouldn't be that difficult to sort out

According to this morning's Times, the money isn't the issue. The club have made an offer which is acceptable. They seem to be haggling over the other terms - including, presumably, the length of the contract. It really wasn't very clear as to whether it was the club or Frank who was stalling on this. There was some suggestion that Frank was waiting to see what the club were up to in the summer in respect of new signings etc. My gut still tells me he will be off.

Don't worry about duckie, I don't take any notice! At the risk of being ridiculed by Liam again, you make it sound like I'm the only one who isn't happy with Grant! I don't think that is true. If anything I'd say you were in the minority on this issue, not me.

I had a look and you are right and wrong! He hasn't scored more than 2 in a single game, but a lot of his goals have come against what you might term lower class opposition. Hull, CC, 2 Bolton, PL, 1 Man City, PL 1 Derby, PL, 1 Newcastle, PL, 1 Fulham, PL, 1 Huddersfield, FAC, 1 Olympiakos, CL, 1 Derby, PL, 1 I think he is better than SWP. Still frustrating, but has potential.

You feel the way you do because you formed an erotic attachment to Mourinho. Even your avatar is testament to that. Attachment, yes. I wouldn't go quite as far as erotic though! Strange that I found myself becoming attached to a manager who got us winning things. It must be some kind of peculiar fetish.

I agree with that in principle. The formation and the players you named. But realistically, we will tinker around the edges. Drogba or Anelka, Essien or Maka. Maybe swap the fullbacks etc. I would have thought that Mikel ought to be involved in that. Not even to be in the squad suggests that all is not well.

It's to do with circumstances Chippy. The Barnsley selection was a choice he had. It didn't work out. He has to kop the blame for that. The Man U and Arsenal matches are different. When Mourinho lost at Old Trafford it was easy to say, oh well, we played well but didn't get the rub of the green and a loss like that is expected from time to time. Why? because the season before we went there and gave them a football lesson. because we won the league the previous season. So Mourinho had already established his credentials, having come off the back of winning the CL with Porto. So no-one seriously thought Mourinho was incapable of winning the title again that season as a result. And we did go on to win it - in style, against Utd at the Bridge. With Grant, the reasons that you give for why it was reasonable that we lost to Utd and Arsenal are all good ones in their own right. And had they happened after he had already taken us to the PL title, or if he had subsequently won the CC and FA cup then I don't think they would have been much of an issue. But when you take those, along with the CC final and the Barnsley match, our inability to win against the other top 6 teams and the fact that he has no track record of success in a top league or managing a top club that he can point to then it makes me wonder whether the guy has what it takes. I know you don't agree, but I hope it at least explains why I, and many others, feel the way we do.

Chippy. I know that we disagree on Grant, but Qaz asked the question as to whether another manager would be afforded more time and patience from the fans if he came with a top CV. My response was specifically to that and why it was likely that he would get more leeway. As for the lack of Drogba and Lampard against Barnsley, it is clear with hindsight that it was a mistake because we lost. We might still have lost if they had been involved, but we will never know!

I'm not so sure I agree with that. There are some games where playing Maka is a no brainer - Arsenal, Man U etc - but games like last night cried out for someone who was better on the ball than Maka. He had so much time on the ball and very little defending to do and I don't think he made the most of it. He is tidy and comfortable but if he needs to do more than that he is inconsistent. He played a lovely ball for Anelka but more often than not his attempts a through ball were poor.

Since the CC Final and the revelation that JT and Ten Cate's bust was over him, what has happened to Mikel? He made it on to the bench against Barnsley but otherwise seems to have disappeared in to obscurity. I would be very disappointed if he doesn't feature in the run in as last season he was exceptional for us.

I thought we were going to see Drogba and Anelka together up front for the last 15 minutes or so, which would have made a lot of sense. In fact it was the only reason I could think of for bringing Drogba on, especially if he was carrying a knock. Unfortunately, we only saw 8 minutes of it before Sheva came on for Cole and Anelka went out wide right. Which was slightly puzzling.

I was in the west lower and didn't hear it, which is surprising given the ground was like a morgue for big patches of the game. There is no doubt that the consensus is that Grant should go though.