ethicalstrategy

He's been injured most of the season, he let 4 goals in against Villa, but was doing his warm up with the club doctor pre-match, I think that tells it's own story. Let's hope they're not rushing him back again Exactly! I can't see the logic of rushing him back. He needs to be 100% fit. If he comes back too soon and then makes another error it will hurt the team and be a big blow to his confidence. The mark of a great goalkeeper is not just about playing brilliantly, but also how they handle the inevitable errors that they will make from time to time. At the moment Cech seems still to be able to continue without them affecting the rest of his game - unlike Robinson whose confidence is shattered. Seeing as we have decent backup in Carlo and Hilario and we are missing half the 1st team anyway I say let's get him right before he comes back. The same applies for JT too.

Hang on a bit here guys and gals!!! Aren't we getting just a little too excited? Firstly, we have been doing pretty well recently so we don't exactly need to press the panic button just yet. Secondly, it is a little bit unreasonable to expect Anelka to drop straight in to our team and be a world beater. He's a good player - better than what we currently have available - but we seem to be expecting an awful lot from the get go. I'd be much more concerned about Sheva being available for saturday. Barring that we could always go with the SWP "new Drogba" up front with his aerial prowess!

The problem we have is that we really need the new signings now. If they don't come until 31st Jan we won't need them quite so much, except maybe a striker still.

If only one player will go then it wouldn't matter if both Ashley Cole and Wayne Bridge were unprotected because we would always be left with at least one or the other or possibly both and it doesn't especially matter which one does go. Same goes for Ferreira and Belletti. Here's my protected XI 1. Cech - no brainer 2. Essien - no brainer 3. Carvalho - no brainer 4. Lampard- no brainer 5. Ballack- no brainer 6. Terry- no brainer 7. Mikel- no brainer 8. Malouda - I think he has a lot of potential for us 9. Kalou - ditto 10. Sheva - as we don't have any other strikers 11. Alex - We definitely need a good back up for centre half The others I would be happy to leave unprotected either because we have two players for the same position and I don't feel too strongly about which stays and which goes: Cudicini/Hilario Cole A/Bridge Ferreira/Belletti SWP/Cole J or because I really don't care if they go: Makelele Sidwell Pizarro Ben Haim

Glad to see the effects have now worn off! I didn't think Joe and SWP played centrally together last night. We started with Joe behind Pizarro and then switched him with SWP. The good thing about Joe's performance was that he managed to get turned and to run at the defence which is by far his strongest asset. The general fluidity of our formation and the crisp passing was great to see.

http://www.chelseafc.com/page/NewsHomePage...1210181,00.html "And almost certainly, they would have emerged from their meeting and said, 'You know, we were played off the park for the best part of an hour tonight - made to look utterly League One by a side supposedly well below full strength. And then, of course, fate played into our hands when the referee sent off one of your players for committing a one-footed sliding tackle which made no contact with our player at all. 'But even then we didn't have the wherewithal to capitalise, and the sight of our players pressed back into their own half for the last quarter of an hour by a team reduced to 10 men, has left us, inevitably, thoroughly demoralised and uncertain about ourselves. So, all things considered, we'll leave it there, I think.' And then they could have climbed on their bus and gone away for ever. Especially Phil Neville." Now that's what I call a journalist!

It starts with Saturday's game against Spurs ( I think. It could be the next match after that). It will be finished by the time he returns from the ACN

Nibs! What are you on mate? The boy will be fantastic for us - he was last night until the ref threw a wobbly and decided to send him off. He has been sent off 4 times - of those only one was justified, against Reading for two stupid yellows not for violent conduct. The card at the end of the CC final last season was a joke. He pulled Toure's shirt. Not normally a sending off offence. Against Man U he went in for a robust tackle and was wrongly adjudged to have gone in over the top. Last night he was rash but it was no more than a yellow. He has played 68 times for us and been dismissed 4, in the circumstances given above. I don't think that equates to a "fair chance" he will be sent off each time he plays. Anyway, I gave MoM to Ballack because he was the best player on the pitch. SWP did very well too and I'd like to see us persist with him in that floating role. Contrary to popular opinion I thought Malouda did well too. He hasn't played for 2 months and managed to last the whole match. He finished at left back with Bridge playing left midfield! He is very calm on the ball and retained possession really well which was important particularly after the sending off. If he can stay fit then I think he will be very good for us with Bridge on the left. Overall it was a terrific team performance.

Can you try and stop sounding like my father - it's bad enough sitting next to him at the matches without having his spirit haunt me on here too!

I'm definitely one of those who falls in to the unconvinced category with Grant. BUT, I think he (or Clarke or Ten Cate or Roman or all of them depending on who you believe is pulling the strings) deserves praise from last night's game. He picked the right team - albeit the choices weren't that hard. He had the team motivated to go out and try to win the tie in the home leg. He switched SWP and Joey after 10 mins and it worked a treat. Joe had some space to run in and SWP looked a whole lot happier without the pressure of having to beat someone every time he got the ball and without having to cross it. He made the right substitution when he brought Sidwell on and took Joe off. We needed SWP's pace to counter and Malouda kept possession of the ball really well - not one of Joey's stronger points. Bringing on Ferreira and pushing Belletti on was also clever. Ben Haim was stripped and ready to come on before we had finished celebrating the second goal - the boy s learning! There is clearly no problem with the team's fighting spirit and it was good to see Grant up and celebrating the goals. On top of that, it was the best football we have played for a while. We looked good, passed it well and thoroughly deserved the win. I really enjoyed it.

Mikel had a great match up to the sending off, which was a joke. Phil Neville is a c**t. The ref bottled it big time. Carsley should have been off after 10 mins and Neville should have followed him in the second half. If Cole was fouled on the edge of the box (it didn't look like it to me, but the ref gave it) then the defender was the last man and should have walked too.

I can't believe it's not a wind-up, Loz. As this is this new member's first post, s/he may want to get some attention. Damn, the smilies don't work on my work computer, there are so many apt ones... Perhaps I can help you out Val! Here's some you can aim at Mr TrueBlue89 Starting off gently: More appropriate: Hope that helps!

Paddy Power are offering 10/1 on Sheva to score the first goal tonight. Taken from the Official Chelsea website. Do we take that to mean he might be playing?

Surely the reason his place has not been in question is because he has earned that right through is performances? It's harsh to raise a question mark about his loyalty based on that evidence. And has Joe's loyalty been tested? Maybe if he wasn't being paid a shed load more money than he would get elsewhere, along with playing in the CL and regularly winning medals, then sticking it out when times were a bit hard might indicate loyalty. I can sort of understand why opposition fans might want to have a dig at Frank but I am at a loss as to why anyone Chelsea fan would feel that he has been anything other than exceptional for us. (That's not aimed specifically at you Loz) Anyway, I'm off to the Bridge now.

I was there!! My old man had money on Poyet to score first and a 2-2 draw. I've never seen him jump so high when that shot went in. He pocketed £400.

Surely Bridgey is a legend for "that" goal at Highbury?

I'd just like to say that the players and manager that brought us successive Premier League titles after 50 odd years are all legends to me!

I'm with Bluenut on this one. We hear about big name players that don't step up to the plate when it really matters - that's not Drogba. Big goals in big games - not just cup finals, but think about Barca last year too. In 20 years time he will be remembered for what he achieved at Chelsea and what Chelsea achieved whilst he was here. Personally I think it was scandalous he wasn't voted player of the year by the Chelsea fans last year - I'd have felt very unloved if I were him.

Not so much hated as pitied.

I believe that "Bill" Balague is a big Liverpool fan - is there a Spanish interest at that club? Marcotti is a regular at the Bridge. Perhaps we can ask him? My inside information (from inside my mind, small as it is,) is that Lamps will be off in the summer. If so, I will wish him all the best, thank him for the 5/6 years of loyal service during which time he has been the most effective (personally, I think the best, but most effective is unarguable) midfield player in the country, and remember him as one of, perhaps even the major contributor to our winning back to back PL titles and as a Chelsea legend!

I do take it as read that he likes playing in the way that makes him happy. Unfortunately, that's his big problem. He needs to play in the way that is best for the team not just how he prefers. If he could understand that he would be a better player. Interestingly, I don't recall a lot of clubs clamoring to buy him when he couldn't get a regular place under Mourinho - all though, to be fair to Joe, he was prepared to knuckle down and win back a regular place which does earn him a lot of respect from me. And why should Joe get the benefit of the doubt when Frank is being slated even though he has said more or less the same thing? Frank has done a hell of lot more for the club over a longer period.

There seems to be an assumption that Sheva won't be available for tonight. Is that definite? I haven't seen anything either way but I didn't get the impression that his injury was very serious. I'd be quite happy with: Hilario/Carlo/Cech (one of, not all three!) Belletti, Alex, Carvalho, Bridge Cole, Mikel, Ballack, SWP Sheva, Pizarro or whatever formation Grant can make from those same players.

Hmm. Sod's law. The player we need to keep wants to leave and the player we could afford to lose wants to stay! Its not surprising that he's happy. He can do what he likes without worrying about getting a bollocking!

Joe Cole? Seriously? Based on what? a few step overs? a london accent? Do me a favour. I'd take Drogba over Joey any day of the week. Don't get me wrong - I wish players wouldn't wash their dirty laundry in public - but Drogba has never been less than 100% committed on the pitch. Interesting to see that he was given the captain's armband when he came on - and that he didn't give it to Ballack when he came on! I've always maintained that Drogba is a real leader amongst the players and he would be my first choice for captain when JT is out. The sight of him up front for us on Saturday just reminded me of what we are going to be missing over the next few weeks. I just hope that we are able to keep him in the summer, unlikely as that seems.

You have to consider though Gem - what has Frank ever done for us?