just

Saw Kalou give a recent interview in which he said he preferred to play as a striker and that he was privately learning from one of the best finishers in the game. Unfortunately, it turned out that game was Rugby and he was getting shooting lessons from Jonny Wilkinson! Next time he's lining up a shot Gem have a quick look at the crowd behind the goal. You'll see everyone in row Z is ducking out the way.

Coco could I ask you to keep a careful eye on Carvalho's distribution in the next couple of games? Overheard a fella in the Maltsers afterwards saying to his mates how bad Riccy's passing was. 100% agree. IMO his passing, (normally, one of his strengths), has been iffy in all three games so far. Best on the pitch yesterday was Gareth Bale. Quality player.

Rob, I thought you'd fancy Rotherham. We owe them a lashing big-time.

To mark Duff down as a loss is laughable. But to list Maka as a loss is faucking hilarious. The £16 mill for Maka should be listed in the top ten bargain buys of all time. Not alot of argument with most of the others though. Veron and Sheva especially.

Yeah, but the other way of looking at it is that they will eventually start playing better. Personally, (unfortunately), I think that will happen. They have a decent enough squad IMO. And I would have thought that three last gasp wins in a row will only strengthen their self-belief and boost confidence. They could have, maybe should have, lost all three games they have played so far. The fact that they won them all worries me. Incidentally, the ref last night second-half! How much was in that brown envelope? Maybe we could get a ref rating from Liam using his official UEFA iffy-o-meter.

............ Liverpoo just scraped through at home last night against Liege. Anyone watch it? The mousers were crap, (only Skirtel looked any good), and the Belgians hardly got a decision from the ref all night. The "calm downs" have now played three games, looked rubbish in all of them, but have scored very late goals in each to win. I find that worrying.

Clive Wilson Not a lot of people know King Kerry was on their books as a youngster. They released him without ever giving him a senior game. That still makes me smile. Let's all laugh at Tottenham

Disagree with a couple of points there. Carvalho's passing was iffy throughout and Anelka didn't dive. Didn't play brilliantly but got three points. Wigan made it tough. I'm happy.

Jesus I still miss this sort of stuff. “And Sacchi, like me, never played football at a high level. My dentist is great, but he’s never had tooth ache…†:D There is only one Jose Mourinho.

As I said to Loz on another thread: I don't for one second think "nobody wanted Drogba". Simply not logical. He is, unarguably, one of the top six centre-forwards in the world. Any team, and any manager, would love to have him in their squad. I believe it's more a case of: 1. We put such a high valuation on a proven player, who is still at his peak, that it frightened off most potential suitors. 2. We simply refused to sell him to anyone on the cheap. 3. Grant going and Scolari coming in and rapidly making it clear he wanted Drogba." Inter, AC and Barca have all been casting coveteous eyes at Drogba over the summer. There may have been talks. Who knows? There may have offers made. Who knows? However, what has become increasingly clear is that we haven't wanted to sell. Quite right too IMO. Rejoice in this KB and Jimboola. It's wonderful news.

I don't for one second think "nobody wanted Drogba". Simply not logical. He is, unarguably, one of the top six centre-forwards in the world. Any team, and any manager, would love to have him in their squad. I believe it's more a case of: 1. We put such a high valuation on a proven player, who is still at his peak, that it frightened off most potential suitors. 2. We simply refused to sell him to anyone on the cheap. 3. Grant going and Scolari coming in and rapidly making it clear he wanted Drogba. Which ever it is. Hooray.

............... quite possibly. For once we didn't go mental and spend multi-mega-bucks on any 30+ has-been, or the latest yet-to-be-proven, young gun with one good season and a dodgy hair-style from the Dutch League. Instead against all the odds we retained the services of: 1. The most consistent, best goal-scoring midfielder in europe, (possibly the world), and a player synonymous with our club. 2. The most complete centre-forward in europe, (possibly the world). 3. Ricardo Carvalho. I'm not his no:1 fan by any stretch of the imagination, but I do realise his worth to the team and the fact that there isn't, currently, many better and available. 4. Shaun Wright Phillips. And, to cap it all, just when you don't think you could possibly hate Liverplod anymore, they go and sign Robbie Keane for well over the odds! Genius. Restores your faith in football and God. Let the season commence.

Er. Well. Scuse me? Probably because he is Tottenham thro and thro and hated with a passion by a great many Chelsea fans. Poyet? Rather have Dean Saunders myself.

Jesus H Christ people. When will you learn. Great as he once was, Sheva frightens EPL defenders aboiut as much as Brian Mc Bride. The man is an ex-striker.

I do. It's the only Leeds shirt I have.

OK, no humour contained in that post, but Lofty has hit the nail on the head. It's totally representative of the public bar "football fan", who learns all he needs to know about football from the daily papers. The type of bloke we all bump into on a Saturday night down our local. Can I nominate it for the memorable quotes section?

Top. top reply Lofty. Qaz, you're on a loser here. I'm afraid you really don't know what you're talking about in respect of the Chelsea hating English media. PS. The piece was 100% written by a mouser.

Not true Barn. Some names last forever. Dixon 9

Spot on. That's how I see as well G4. I think Frank wants to go and he has known that for a long time now. Good luck Frank whatever you do.

Good points. Totally with you there Barn. It's very murky waters but I think it's probably 50-50 here. I don't feel the club admin have covered themselves in glory with their handling of the contract negotiations. IMO it all sounds very similar to their modus operandi in the Gallas re-neogations and we all know how that turned out!! But I do also feel Frank is asking for alot given his age. Is he holding the club to ransom? Does he have a hidden agenda? Who knows? But if he really wanted to stay I do believe him and his people could have made more of an effort to end this saga a longtime ago. I think he does want to go and has known that for quite awhile.

Fantastic news if true. You can stick your Van Der Farts, Huntelaars, Zlatans and Villas. Frank and The Drogs are better.

In terms of what he can do on the ball, I like Deco. I think most people like techincally gifted players be they foreign or english. I know I do. But I think most folks also realise that, to be a consistent player in an EPL midfield, that technical ability/flair has to be allied to a work-ethic and a level of physical robustness. Traits that, arguably, are not so important in other leagues. I hope Deco has those traits. Zola did. PS. Just a thought. If Deco does a Veron and fails in spectacular, flicky-sh*te fashion. Will it be judged down to the player's limitations this time, or the system he's played in?

Well, I guess it would be hard for him to top the previous season. He won both the Player's and the fan's Player of The Year awards. However, I can only comment on when I have watched him last season and invariably he always played well. Back a few years ago when Ranieri took over at the Bridge and possible new signings were being mulled over. There was a persistent "Barry To Chelsea" rumour at that time. Never happened of course, (we eventually had to make do with some bloke called Lampard), but I remember myself, Butch, Jack and others were strongly in favour of us signing him. What do I like about him? All of it really. Reads the game well, good passing, strong on the ball, hits a tackle etc. Yes, his versatility is a big plus but I feel he has suffered because of it. Left back/left midfield/centre midfield even centre-half for a spell. The shuffling around to different positions, (especially for such a relatively young player), didn't help his career at times. However, IMO, he has matured and always looks quality anywhere across the middle of the park. And at 27 he's just coming into his peak years.

Bit more mundane I guess but one player I used to like was Ben Haim when he was at Bolton. Didn't pull up any trees with his technical skills but knew his job and always looked assured and solid as a central-defender. He was a very good player for Bolton. Don't know what the hell happened to him when he came to us.

Looks like I'm sitting at a table for one with my assessment of Barry then. Well, I guess time will tell who's got it right. What I would say is, anyone who thinks Barry is a one season wonder, (or a lesser player than Alonso), has not watched alot of him. And they certainly weren't up at Villa Park for our night game a couple of years back when he was the best player on the pitch by a country mile.