just

I thought it would be interesting on here after that 2nd half. And I'm not disappointed. Here's a couple of things I heard said during the first half, and at half-time. "Men against boys" - Alan Smith on Sky. "A huge gulf in class" - Radio commentator. "They're crap" - A Palace fan standing at the bar in the pub. And they were all right. Fenerbache, at home in their own stadium, were being totally dominated. Totally outplayed. They weren't in the game. They held no threat to us whatsoever. They were what they were. The worse team left in the tournament. At half-time it was an absurdity to even think they couldn't win it. Impossible. It was over, finished. This game was deceased. It only needed Avram to apply the coup de grace and put them out of thier misery. I, and probably most of you, was expectant. At half-time, having seen what had occured in the first 45, against that calibre of opposition, Alex Ferguson would have brought on another forward and gone out to finish the job. Wenger would have brought on another forward and gone out to finish the job. Jose Mourinho would have brought on another forward and gone out to finish the job. Rafa Benitez would have took off Torres, brought on Kuyt and settled for a point. Ok, forget the last example but you catch my drift. Surely, Avram was going for the kill. He was gonna bring on Anelka, (and play him centrally alongside Drogba), take off a completely redundant Maka, and as a gesture of goodwill after the match, pay the cleaning bill to take the pooh stripes out of the Fenerbache defender's shorts. Off you go Avram. Put them out of their misery. Make that switch. Go for the juggular. After all, this is the new era of Chelsea's exciting, attacking football. The vision Roman has entrusted you to fulfill. But, wait. No. Hang on. Avram makes no move. Is that uncertainty? Is that trepidation? Is that lack of belief? Is that an ex-Brighton and Sheff Utd all-star coming on for them and, in one tactical masterstroke, handing the attacking initiative to them? Is that the tide turning? The game spinning on it's head? Com'on Avram bail us out. What will you do? Yes, yes after 76 minutes here comes his answer. Lampard off............ Mikel on. Can't see that one but then I'm no expert like Avi. And there's more. Joe Cole off.......... Anelka on. Ok, would have had Malouda off before Cole, but hey, at last. Some support for Drogs through the middle. Now we'll see them back under the cosh. It'll be a ten minute goal-fest. But why is Nic standing out wide? What's he doing? Who told him to stay out there? And then............ parp. Final whistle. Cue lots of hirsute men, (who were silent for pratically the entire first half), in naff stripey shirts, bouncing up and down, throwing bits of paper in the air and generally acting as though the have faced a firing squad and found it comprises of Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles and David Blunkett. So onto next week. And unlike Avram, I'll stick my neck out and say, "make no mistake. We'll go through". We will cream these at home. Regardless of who Grant puts out. Why so confident Just? Well, because the players and fans want this enough to make any input from him practically irrelevant. And also because, as we saw in the first half tonight, Fenerbache are, ability wise, on a par with Olympiacos. They say a weeks a long time in football. And I'm sure next week it will all be different. We'll be patting each other on the back remarking on a job well done. We'll be talking about the value of our "away goal". But you know what? We'll all be missing the point. The point that this should have been finished today. Done and put to bed. As indeed it would have been by a skilful, competent team that was run by a skilful and competent manager. PS: AVRAM, NICOLAS ANELKA IS NOT A WINGER!

Thought exactly the same as you Loz, but I have heard two reports this morning, (Talksport and Sky), saying Drogba and Ballack are going to start on the bench!!!!!!

It was a great result for Manure but I don't think they played brillantly. Roma played some nice posession football but didn't really look like they had a cutting edge. When United had Vidic go off and O'Shea come on I thought that Roma would have more chances, but the second goal totally deflated them and after that the Mancs could have added to the scoreline.

Is he that big a loss? Read in a paper today they have played 12 games without Totti this season and lost only once in his absence.

It was a 52,000 sell out but because of the switch there were only about 300-400 Chelsea fans at the game. I was one of them. In the ground we were behind a clear plastic, screened compound with riot police all around us inside it. The turks threw a constant barrage of coins and objects into our section and when we went in front, some of them charged the screens. A few Chelsea fans who had got in without tickets from the club were outside the screened compound and they took a beating. I got hit on the nut by a full plastic bottle thrown from the tier above us. I've got six friends flying out today for the game and coming back Thursday. I decided not to go.

Like Coco says, would be funny if it weren't for our "that's not football, it's hockey" result at Three Point Lane. Incidentally, should we still call it Three Point Lane?

Phillip, I've always felt you're actually a ManU fan. Why is that?

I'm actually quite happy with this result. It could benefit us. It means the gooners still believe they are in with a shout. Don't forget, they still have to play United yet and I want them to go to the Theatre of Muppets with them still being in the frame. It will make old Red Nose's job a bit harder.

Chippy, if you're Ok with it, I'll reply in your style to your response to Ethical, as it is undoubtedly a good way to address individual points. Thats a reasonable observation, But does'nt explain why Grant played him at RB, I agree. Especially when you consider Essien hasn't started a match at RB since last August I feel he wanted Essiens power and felt he would be as good as Belletti defensively but better at pushing through midfield and/or allowing Lamps Ballack a bit more freedom to go forward, I think he felt Paulo was less likely to be an attacking threat and Belletti more likely to threaten down the wing. OK. Let's go with that scenario for a moment. Let's picture Cole and Kalou giving us the attacking width, Frank and Ballack playing further up behind Drogba, and Essien pushing over into midfield with Maka to cover Frank and Ballack's absence through the central midfield area. The obvious question is, who's got the right back position in that scenario? No-one as far I can see, (unless you assume Cole drops back into the RB spot to cover it and, for obvious reasons, that's not an ideal scenario either), and as a result we're left with a hole the size of Wales down our right flank. I dont think this happened nor that he had a good game, just that I could understand Grants possible reasoning for using him there. For the reasons given above I can't share that understanding. I doubted that any ideas of keeping him happy were involved and thought although it never really worked it was not a decision that should be used to show he got something wrong or that in fact Drogba saved his blushes in some way, I think the very fact Grant made the switch a short while after we had conceded, and brought on a proper right back, (unlike with Anelka in the CC final, where he persevered with a player playing out of position until the bitter end), shows he knows he got it wrong. Essien wasn't comfortable there. We looked more solid and balanced down that side when Belletti was brought on. And also, just as importantly, we had more attacking threat down that side with the introduction of Belletti. Finally, I never said Drogba saved Grant's blushes. What I said was Drogba gave the type of rare performance that, practically single-handedly, wins matches. Regardless of how those around him were contributing. And that Grant personally, can't take credit for a staggering 2nd half forward display that was actually down to the determination, ability and brute power of one man. Didier Drogba

I'm not suggesting for a minute that there was any form of favouritism Chippy, but I do think he felt Essien was too good to leave out in a crunch game and if he didn't have a spot in midfield for him he was going to fit him somewhere, and that somewhere was at the expense of a natural right-back. Again, I'm sure there was no form of favouritism in his previous decision, but he did do exactly the same in the Carling Cup final. Leaving Cole and Kalou on the bench and playing Anelka out wide. I know you have admitted you felt that that was a mistake by Grant. Well, for me Essien at RB on Sunday was the same mistake repeated. Difference was, this time, he got away with it.

Agree with all of that mate. If Essien, Maka, Lamps and Ballack were all going to start, then logically it should have really been with a different formation accomodating Essien, (and all the others), in their natural, midfield positions.

I honestly can't see that as the plan Chippy. Maybe if we employed a system with an out and out sweeper covering all the way across the back. But not with a flat back four like we played on Sunday and Maka holding in front.

Could the answer be that Avram has no faith in Paulo or Belletti defensivley @ RB ? It's certainly not because Essien is a better player than those 2 @ RB. It was a hell of a gamble, especially with Van Persie covering that side of the pitch. Doubt it's the first part of that answer Coco. He's just given Ferreira a new five year deal. And I also don't buy Chippy's "Essien pushing forward" theory. Belletti is far better at getting forward and giving us width than Essien. Belletti is also, IMO, the best crosser of the ball in the club. I think Bluenut is probably right on this one. Grant felt he had to shoe-horn Essien in somewhere and RB was the only place. Given the amount of playing time Essien has had there it was a big gamble. Especially in such a huge game. This time, fortunately, he got away with it.

Welcome back mate. Belletti > Anelka > Drogba (scuffed shot)> Goal [youtube:3t39c9lw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9TBRJDdK1k[/youtube:3t39c9lw] Trouble with that as an illustration Coco, is that you could argue Belletti or Ferrira should have been in the line-up from the off. I know Grant has been criticized in some quarters for starting such a big game without a recognized right back in the starting line-up! And I have to say they have a point. Essien didn't look comfortable at RB, (unsuprisingly perhaps, as he hasn't played there much this season), and we looked tighter and had better shape when he went into his usual mid-field role and a natural RB came om. So the question you could ask was, why did he start with Essien there in the first place?

I'm a bit late into this one. I only got back from holiday last night. I watched it in a bar in Egypt. There was a few Chelsea fans, but mostly it was gooners. After the Carling Cup final defeat Chippy argued that Grant couldn't really be hammered because, (in his opnion), it was simply a case of the players just not turning up. I understood what he was saying and, to a point, had some sympathy with that view. For some reason the players didn't look up for it on the day, though IMO Grant did make mistakes with his starting line-up and sticking Anelka out of position. However, I think for the Arsenal result the reverse is true. I don't think anything Grant did had a huge bearing on us winning. The substitutions. The formations. The starting line-up. etc. But then I also don't think many of the players had much to do with it either. IMO it was all down to one player........................ Didier Drogba. He gave a second half demonstration of centre-forward play that was as good as anything I have ever seen. His control and power had Gallas and Toure, (and they are both top quality centre-backs), cacking their pants everytime he had the ball. I spoke to a group of the Gooners in the bar after the game. Obviously they were gutted. But they were reasonably gracious in defeat, (would never get that from Spurts fans), and they all held the same opinion about Drogba. On the day, he was simply....................... unstoppable.

Same as me. I expected a 99.9% vote for Drogba and 0.1% vote for Sheva or Pizarro from Henry/Enrico.

Simple question with a simple answer. No-one can replace Drogba. IMO he and JT are the only players we have who are totally irreplaceable. He can be a tit. He can be a big girl's blouse. But in pure football terms he's the very best centre-forward in the world and has been for quite awhile.

Sorry Chippy, but for me, your arguments are starting to lose any form of coherence. What teams in the CL, (so far), have put us under any sort of sustained pressure? None. Do you really, honestly think a Mourinho team would defend like we did against Villa, Spurts or Everton in the 1-1? Our marking at set-pieces tonight was an absolute farking joke. Three goals conceded from set-pieces in one game !!!!!!!!!!!!! The players looked like they didn't know what they were doing and that has to be down to the manager. Don't they work on these situations in training? Aren't they told who to pick up before going out to play?

...............as the Special One once said. It appears our ability to defend with any kind of method, composure and shape, not to mention our ability to defend set-pieces left on the 20th September 2007. The day Mr Jose Mourinho went. Another 4-4. I wonder if Roman is happier with 4-4 draws or 1-0 wins? One point or three? I suppose it's entertaining, if you like that sort of thing. Doesn't win you much though. Did you all see JT's face walking of that pitch tonight? Knew the league had probably gone with that result. Looked like he was going to burst into tears. I know exactly how he felt.

Some people will want to vote for Carlo. For two fine point blank saves and his loyalty. I urge them not to. Despite those two magnificent saves he did have errors in his game tonight. However, Joe Cole was staggeringly good. World class, (yes Ethical, world class), performance.

Personally, I'd give it to the ref for blowing the final whistle. Still. 3 points is 3 points.

Frankly we were very lucky to take the 3 points. We were falling to pieces near the end of the match. That being said was great to see our boys battle out that win. Very satisfying Did you watch the game? I did. The whole 90. First half was like we played against Derby. Second half was like we played against Barnsley. Glad when the final whistle went.

How about this for a debate? Based on overall form, Alex has been our most consistent defender when he has played. Carvalho had an absolute nightmare against Barnsley. Alright, he wasn't the only Chelsea player to have a mare that game, but he was also very poor against Villa. Off the top of my head I can't think of any real shockers for Alex. But I'm sure someone can remind me of some?

Star would be the fella on here who could answer that.