ethicalstrategy

I'm going to enjoy the City v. Bayern match tonight. Big test for both teams. Bayern have been going like a house on fire and they now have Robben back as well (from injury, I know, can you believe it?!!) We'll see just how good City really are. Hopefully they will get well and truly stuffed!

What the f**k are cleats? Are they some kind of footwear for playing soccer in? I know they wear boots to play football.

I voted Ramires but agree that Mikel was excellent. He is getting forward a bit more and he made three crucial blocks in the space of a couple of minutes early in the second half.

Sorry, but I'm calling bollocks on that. Frank is not playing anywhere near his best and AVB is quite justified in leaving him on the bench. However, saying that he doesn't have a great range of passing suggests that you either have a very poor memory or you really haven't watched him play much. I really don't understand why so many people find it necessary to reinvent history in order to justify dropping Frank. Just because he has been the best midfielder in England for the last 7 years doesn't mean that he can't be dropped now. Equally, because he is no longer an automatic choice now doesn't change the fact that he has been the best midfielder in the past. For the record, Meireles isn't and never will be half the player Frank was.

Anelka was poor when playing on the right but did well when playing up front on his own. Malouda was excellent when he came on. Ashley was brilliant. Ramires played well and with two goals had to be motm.

The match against Valencia next week makes this a tricky one for team selection. At home to Swansea should be a piece of cake but we can't afford to take it for granted. At the same time we do need to have a fresh lineup for the Valencia game as it will be very difficult out there. The players who ended up putting in a 120 minute shift on wednesday will probably get rested for this one. I think we will see this: Personally, I'd play Ivanovic instead of Bosingwa particularly as Swansea have a lot of pace. I don't think Josh has a hope of starting this match. Based on his CC performance he desperately needs to go out on loan and get a run of games with a second tier premiership side. I don't really understand why we didn't let him do that.

A very interesting match. We had a bit of a mix and match side out and didn't play particularly well in the first half. When we went behind we really showed a lot of spirit and determination and most importantly found a way to win. We saw some good and bad. In general terms, our finishing was still very poor. We had numerous chances which where wasted. Individually - The good: Turnbull had an excellent game. One dropped cross apart, he was flawless and made some crucial saves. Ferreira was also very solid. Managed to get forward well but did his defensive duties too. Luiz was my man of the match. He is a top class player who should be starting for the first XI. His ability on the ball makes life so much easier as he can bring it out from the back and either go past his man or find a pass. Romeu also looked extremely good. Made a couple of rash lunges but was composed on the ball and his positioning was excellent. He did his cause no harm at all. The bad: Sturridge had another poor showing after sunday. I like the fact that he is direct and will get a shot off, but he needs to make some better choices. Josh looked very nervous and seemed to play too deep. There was the odd flash from him but he looks like he needs some games. I think a loan would have been better for him as he isn't going to see much first team action outside of the Carling Cup. Alex seems to have lost his mojo. Perhaps he's not fit? He is a bit lumbering and doesn't really suit our style of play which can leave the centre backs exposed against pace. Malouda was good on the ball and did some nice things but he wasted so many good positions with poor shooting Kalou must be on his way out. He was totally ineffectual and frustrated the hell out of me. Great penalty though! Finally, a word about Lukaku. He ran his heart out. I'm sure that he would only have played 60 mins if we hadn't needed to use our subs for the injuries and sending off. Instead he played 120 mins and was shattered by the end. His hold up play and touch was generally pretty good but I have to say that he didn't look like a natural goalscorer to me. He had some chances and he never looked convincing. Early days I know but that was just the feeling I got. I also don't think he fits well in to the style of game we are now trying to play. But we will see.

Full match shown on Chelsea TV from midnight tonight.

I'd have preferred to see Ivan at right back and Luiz in the middle, for that exact reason. (or possibly Ivan in the middle and Luiz at right back - must be worth a go)

I think I must have accidentally taken some hallucinatory drugs before clicking on this thread - it is so unbelievably bizarre. Mata was clearly our best player. He is a class apart. I just hope he stays fit because we need him if AVB's style is going to work. Anelka played a beautiful little pass for Torres' goal but didn't off much after that for me. Ramires played pretty well but his miss was crucial. He took the ball off Sturridge's left foot and if you do that then you have better score. Torres was a mixed bag. Had some good opportunities in the first half which he botched, took his goal exquisitely and then went back to being a donkey with his "Ronnie Rosenthal" moment. Overall though I thought his contribution was a lot more positive than before, so it was encouraging. Both Bosingwa and Cole got pelters for their defensive display. Neither really got any support from the midfield, particularly in the second half, although that was deliberate rather than accidental. Whilst that gave us problems it didn't actually cost any goals. I've more sympathy with Cole than with Bosingwa. Bosingwa is just so bad defensively that I wouldn't have him near the team. He doesn't give us enough extra going forward to make up for it. Was also very disappointed with Sturridge. He has been doing well but had a stinker yesterday. Kept making the wrong decisions and posed no real threat.

Haha! Good old defensively minded Frank. If only we could persuade him to get forward more, he might have scored the odd goal! Seeing that he only managed 24 games in the PL last season and still scored 10 times doesn't really back up your contention that he's completely lost that side of his game does it? I agree with what Nibs said. He is clearly coming towards the end of his career and he isn't going to get any better, but he still has an important part to play. Ramires is a good player, but he isn't going to get you 10+ goals a season. We played very well in the first half - how we ended up 3 goals down I'll never know.

I have to agree that I was surprised how negative the coverage of the game was in the media generally. We played pretty well and won fairly comfortably - something that none of the other English clubs or Barcelona managed. On the other hand, I quite like the fact that we are just getting on with winning matches whilst the media are creaming themselves over the Manchester clubs. We know only too well how you can't win anything in September.

We'll learn a little more about the manager during this match. We are relying on our fullbacks to push on and that will leave space in behind for Young and Nani. That will mean Ivan and JT getting pulled wide where they could struggle for pace. Hernandez and Rooney will hassle us at the back when we have possession. In the recent past SAF has played Park who is like the duracell bunny and has caused us all sorts of problems. On the other hand, if Utd do play 2 up with 2 wide then we should be much stronger in the middle of the park and ought to be able to dominate possession. Our fullbacks need to make sure that Young and Nani spend more time defending than attacking. Last season Ancelotti made a pigs ear of his tactics in the CL and PL matches at the end of the season. Will AVB be any smarter? We'll see.

It's hard to believe that so many people can be so blind to the obvious. No amount of excuses - system doesn't suit him, players not passing to him blah,blah, blah -can justify the fact that since he has arrived, and even before he arrived, Torres has been poor. Very poor. sh*t even. It's not Frank's fault or Malouda's or Drogba's or the ballboys or the tea lady or anyone else. At the moment he is not worth a place in the team or even on the bench. AVB is doing the right thing. He is thinking about the team first. If we win the league and Torres doesn't play I really couldn't give a toss. We need to evolve as a team against very strong competition from Utd and City and that's all I care about. Torres will go down in history along with Sheva and Chris Sutton and others.

Surely it will work itself out? The reason that tickets for the champions league groups stages, and the FA and Carling cups, were reduced was because they couldn't fill the stadium. Now they have pushed prices back up for the CL we'll see if they have the same problem again. If they do then I would expect them to be marked down again. If not then they will stay up. If you can't afford the prices then I understand why you'd be unhappy, but not going just to prove a point seems "pointless".

I've had some experience with a variety of tablets. The iPad is undoubtedly the best on offer in terms of the ecosystem and slickness and general ease of use. BUT, it doesn't have flash which could be an issue and it is quite large. The old 7" Galaxy Tab is a good size and feels comfortable to hold but it is slow and clunky and isn't running android designed for tablets. The HTC Flyer is an alternative if you want a smaller tablet. It's 7" but a bit more substantial than the Tab. Currently it is still running android 2.2 but it has the HTC Sense overlay and this has been tweaked for tablets. It will get a honeycomb update shortly which will improve it further. It is quite a heavy tablet though. The Galaxy Tab 10.1 is very slick. It is very similar to the iPad 2 which has got it in to trouble with Apple and it has been banned from sale in some parts of Europe. It's still available over here and is the best android tablet for hardware. It is though quite big again so it depends what you want to do with it. Using it around the house should be fine but if you want to use it on a commute you might find it too big. Samsung did announce a new 7.7" Tab last week and that looks very nice. Basically just a shrunk down 10.1. I'd be quite tempted by that one. The Xoom doesn't offer anything over the tab 10.1 and it costs more. I wouldn't touch the Blackberry Playbook. It's pretty slick but the eco system is very lacking. I'm not a Sony fan. My experience of their android phones would keep me away from their tablets. Hope that helps.

He was left out/dropped, call it what you will. Brazil have been pretty poor recently and he seems to be one of those who has paid the price.

Enjoyed watching that! I hope he gets the terrific reception he deserves next week. A much underrated player for us in my opinion. A really class act. How we missed him last season.

There is no way Frank will turn his back on England. If Capello wants him in the squad, on the bench or in the team he'll be there and he won't be complaining about it. Laughed to see the sunday headlines all proclaiming his England career was over and now on Monday they are saying he'll start against Wales. He's nowhere near his best form and the setup we played on Friday would have required him to play a fairly conservative holding role which is not designed to get the best out of him anyway. Hopefully he will get back nearer to his best during the season but it will be hard for him.

I agree with your analysis of where our weakness lies, but don't think the Benayoun meets your criteria of genuine quality in midfield. He was just another of those squad players, albeit with a different skill set. Not only I am I not unhappy to see him go, I never understood why we bought him in the first place.

I've removed the email address. As always, I would advise any member to proceed with care when dealing with anyone they don't know on the boards. Also, if anything does go wrong it's not our fault. The value of your investments can go down as well as up. You may not get back the amount you invested etc. etc.

Benayoun has never been anything more than an average, lightweight player well suited to a mid table team. He is no great loss to us. We should never have signed him in the first place. A sale would have been preferable, but at least he didn't go to a rival team.

Interesting program right now on ESPN Classic. Marcotti interviewing Carlo and Sacchi about their time at AC Milan. Worth a watch

The truth is that whether we get Modric or not, it's unlikely that Josh will get much in the way of playing time this season. A loan at Bolton or somewhere similar would be a good thing I think

I'd be disappointed if we let him go. I agree that there have been times when he has appeared less than interested, but since Guus arrived he has been pretty good for us. He's scored plenty of goals and provided a lot of assists. Used correctly, I'd say he was an asset to the team. I'd be a lot less worried about losing Alex.