just

When I did the tour of the ground with my daughter we got to visit the player's treatment area. There was a roll of masking tape on one of the chairs. I so wanted to stick a piece on the door and write, "The Arjen Robben Suite - Booked until further notice". Do you think it's possible that JM's redundancy package was partly financed by the money Roman has saved on physio's bills and bandages since Robben has left?

I have reconsidered, and I think all of you that have called for Cech to be added to that list are correct. There was a dip in form for Big Pete, but when you consider the injury he sustained, it's entirely understandable he was always going to take time to get back to his best. I think he is back there now. However, I would totally disagree with Loz's call on Drogba. He could play up top in ANY system/formation/style and still be the key man up front. If you are going to argue that he wouldn't be effective in a team that played short, passing football, I'd bet money that he'd be even more lethal.

IMO, in our team, we have two. Two players who if they left tomorrow, or had to retire for whatever reasons, we could never find replacements as good as them anywhere in the world. It's not Frank Lampard. It's not Carvalho or even Cech, (very close call for him though). It's not Maka, great player though he still is. I think we could lose any of those players and, though it would be a big blow, we could find players who are as good or better in their respective positions. But John Terry and Didier Drogba. Irreplaceable.

That's a bit harsh. I thought he did a couple of good things tonight. We'll take that. It's a begining. Akin to Liam Gallagher admitting Blur made a couple of decent tunes.

He's a can't pass, can't tackle, no discipline, showpony.

Joe Cole for me too. And the darts team at the Chequers, (2 Gooners, 1 Spertz, 1 Plastic Manc and a Norwich fan!), asked if I could register their votes as well. Can someone please post a clip of Drogba's goal so that I can watch the boy who cannot pass, caress that ball with the outside of his right foot once more. And another thing, in the build up to that goal, ............................. what the hell was he doing in the middle?

I hadn't given that much thought, although I have a fairly good idea of the colour when she's finished. Quality Liam.

Spot the difference. Manure last night. Another scrappy 1-0 win. They've only scored more than one goal once this season, against us. They really rode their luck as they have done for all of the games I have seen them this campaign. No free-flowing, attacking football. No fans complaining. No Chairman or owner demanding more entertaining football. No sign of the manager being sacked.

I think we must have a different idea about what constitutes a good player! If I wanted to see someone who is good at flicks and tricks I would go to the circus. I would much prefer it if he actually did something with the ball. Like hit the target when he was through on goal, or pass to someone on his own side after he has beaten two players. Or maybe not sell his centre half short with a careless ball in the middle of the pitch (and what exactly was he doing in the middle of the pitch when he was playing out on the right?) Joe is a very skillful player, easily the most talented player in the squad, and probably one of the most talented in the whole premiership. The goal he scored for England against Sweden in the World Cup, the goal he scored against Man U in the PL two seasons ago - both sheer genius. But he has sh*t for brains and no discipline whatsoever. Watch Messi and see how it should be done. Well, it seems like quiet a few people have a different idea to you as to what constitutes a decent performance. Cole has picked up a very healthy slice of the votes judging by the poll so far. That's not unusual. We all see players and games differently. Must say though, I really can't see the truth in your comment about him not passing well. That's not what I saw from the Shed Upper at all. Cole made two outright bad decisions all game as far as I was concerned. Firstly, as you rightly point out, when he got disposessed in the 2nd half in the middle of the park. And then when he elected to volley that effort near the end. There again, if it had gone in, another genius goal for you to add his list. But let's look at the positives. What he did give us was the ability to go past opponents 1:1, passed the ball well, retain posession in tight areas. He was involved in practically all of our good moments going forward. Pity we had no-one there to finish them.

Maka had a great 2nd half, and we would have lost the game without that saving tackle. Still a wonderful player. But Joe Cole gets my vote. Best player on the pitch in the first half by a country mile. Invention, touch, passing, ability to go past opponents. Everything really.

There were photographers positioned there taking pictures of him. He was sat about a dozen rows directly behind me. It was a stupid, contrived PR stunt that went badly wrong. At first it was all good natured stuff. People going up shaking his hand, taking pictures. But as the game wore on and things weren't going our way it became increasingly hostile. Mass chants of "Jose Mourinho" aimed at Roman. And he looked more and more uncomfortable, as did the stewards and his security people. By this point he was in a catch 22 situation. He couldn't get up and walk out early the way the game was, he would have got slaughtered by the fans. All in all I couldn't believe he had taken the decision to sit there. To me it highlights everything that is wrong about our club at the moment.

Nobody had ever that kind of money available to them,either. I'm not knocking JM's accomplishments, they're quite remarkable but he had inherited a top quality squad that had finished second only a season before and was given unlimited budget to play with. Ranieri had that kind of money.l And the advantage of having been already managing the club for 3 or 4 years. He couldn't win it in his first season. Real Madrid threw money at it like it was going out of fashion but it didn't bring them success. As soon as Capello came in, after some of the big money names had gone, he won it. It's not about tha money. It's about management. There are few other managers who are as good as Jose. So the real answer to this question is that it could be possible but fairly unlikely....and no chance with Grant. Ranieri's old squad was largely irrelevant when RA came in, he made something like 14 signings and obviously needed a year to see how the team reacted and where he needed to fine tune things, which he was doing with the exit of marcel, melchiot, jimmy, gronk and his looking to put the finishing touches on what would have been a stunning team with a right midfielder to suit his system. I'd say he did *fairly* well in his first season having made 14 changes after the club changed... Whatever- they kicked him out and the rest is (successful and good) history- well done. We got a manager who was great in the situation he was presented with (which doesn't preclude that CR would have had success had he continued with his method) and who took that squad to great achievements. Pauly, I don't think I've ever disagreed more with any post you have ever written! And that is saying something. Ranieri had lost the dressing room. John Terry, Frank Lampard the key men had completely lost faith in him. John Terry's words after Ranners' tactical madness in Monaco?............................. "What the f**k was that". He signed some excellent players yes. But he was no closer to putting the finishing touches to his squad. He still didn't know what his best team was! And he certainly didn't have a clue what his best formation was. The Tinkerman. Was ever a manager more aptly named? You mention the exit of Jimmy. Why? What signs were there that CR was going to get shot of him? None at all. Crespo was regularly being left out in favour of Jimbo! No Jimmy would, in all likelyhood, have still been there the following season pulling on his boots under Ranieri. He had only two real moments of triumph in his four years with the club. Liverpoo at home to qualify for the CL, and Arsenal in the CL at the Library for which he will be forever praised. OK, rightly so, although people choose to forget Wenger had tactically took him to the cleaners on numerous occaisions prior to that. But that was it and we would never, I repeat ever, have won the EPL or CL with Claudio Ranieri in charge. Ever. And though you always defend him, (please tell me it's nothing to do with the Italian connection), I think you know it as well.

See he still got the old irony reference in there. I should sign up to that forum as Slimmy Floyd Haddaw**k, then sit back and enjoy the response.

If I wanna post polls I will post polls. No one is forcing you to read them, to vote or to post a reply in them. Sorry to sound rude, but I need to make clear that I will decide what I write and don't write on this forum (assuming its within the forum rules) no one else. No mate you dont sound rude......bit up tight but never rude Im only joking! We got plenty of Poles over here,under-cutting our tradesmen. These are hard times mate!! But NO to Marmite. Good point Rob. We could have a poll about Poles.

I go for Tea Bar's choice......................... Ken Bates. Without Uncle Ken winning the battles with Marler and Cabra there would still be a Chelsea. But we would be playing in Milton Keynes today. Qaz, if you need to fill some time, who is this on my avatar?

We can't make this game unfortunately, (saving it up for Rosenborg in November), and therefore may have up to 5 tickets to sell to genuine Blues fans. All official tickets in the Chelsea end. Face value only. No time wasters or idiots. Regular posters only. PM me.

That's what I mean. The problem is that "the likes of Cole, Essien, Malouda etc" are not creating any forward passes. How can they hit forward passes if there is no-one there to recieve them? There were a few occaisions yesterday when we did work the ball into the final third and Shev was either standing out wide or positioned behind the man in possession. We had no-one in front of the ball.

And you think he's to blame for that? Having no support at all. Being left alone with no passes and no support. I think we should have played without any forwards then. It would have been better probably. Maybe we'd get 0:0. Yes. Of course he has to take some blame. If he's often playing out wide or dropping deep in midfield, who are the likes of Cole, Essien, Malouda etc meant to find with forward passes? Especially when playing with a central, lone striker?

He was no man of the match but he was certainly one of the better ones, worst performance awards for me go to Makele, Essien, Malouda, and Mikel, although Mikel was very unlucky. He was one of our better midfield players Kev. Unfortunately, he's not paid to play there. Cech was the only possibility for MOTM

I'm certain Roman has a go on these polls after the games. How else could Sheva have got a vote?

The ref. I think Jack said, after the Liverpoo game, we won't get another major decision go our way all season because of the media outcry surrounding that. And so it is proving. Villa = The Lauresn foul on SWP nailed on penno. Blackburn = The disallowed goal and practically every other decision Howard Webb made in the 90. And now today. Dean had three major decisions to make in the match and he got them all wrong. Joe Cole's 1st half challenge was a penalty every bit as much as Laursen's was at Villa. Mikel's challenge was not a sending off. Whilst it may have been a free-kick, I don't think it even warranted a yellow card. Saha's dive was blatant simulation. He should get slaughtered for it tomorrow in the media but don't hold your breath. I expect Dean to be given a week off by the EPL for such a dire performance, but again I'm not holding my breath. Can't really comment in depth on the team's performance because the sending off changed everything. Up to that point I felt we had looked OK without offering any threat up front.

Here, here. Interesting he totally exonerates Bates.

Interesting Sofa. So it appears that Jose CAN assemble a top notch squad and is not simply a Mr Motivator manager. Logically, with all that he has won in the game already, he obviously must have far more to his coaching/management methods than the ability to gee players up and get them to bond as a team. The fact that he built and won so much with a relatively unfashionable club such as Porto, and on a shoestring budget compared to the other big hitters in european football, only makes it all the more impressive. PS. Pauly, I changed my avatar after you changed yours to Mr Grant. The day Jose was sacked.

Get organised then. I'm sure as hell not going to make separate trips for you. Henry, you could have been gracious and given mention to some of my previous successes. "We'll never win anything under Ranieri". "Veron will be an even bigger flop with us than he was with Man U". "I don't believe Kezman has the quality we need" Wrote that last one before he even set foot in the door at SB. To be honest Enrico I'm not too sure what, if any, opinions you have on football. I've never seen you offer much in-depth opinion on any footballing subject. Either here or on the old CSR in your original incarnation - Henry from Singapore. I do remember you saying you didn't rate english football. I do remember you saying you liked Italian football. I do remember you revelling in Zidane's sending off in the WC final. Other than that, not much else. Does beg the question though, if you don't like english football why pretend to follow an english team? At least your two old friends, Pauly and G4, do voice opinions and are prepared to argue them at length, (always at length! You two have waaaaaaaay too much time on your hands). And although I might not agree with them very often, I do respect the fact they are prepared to state their case and debate the finer points of something they believe in. Which you don't do. What you do spend most of your posts doing is intentionally winding up some of the other regulars in a pretty inane, humourless and nasty way. Your choice to follow that path of course, but like I said before, it's always you that ends up looking the wally.

Here you are again Henry! With yet another lame attempt at being funny at somelse's expense. Your schoolboy little digs and antagonisim of other posters is very Brian M esque in style. To be fair to Bri, he could, on occaisions actually write something, (often unintentionally), that was funny. Whereas you, as has been pointed out before, have never written anything with even the slightest comedy value. You have never been able to do humour. I don't know why. Perhaps it's because you are from Singapore and the humour is different. Anyway, in case your mum hasn't told you, the net result is you come across as a bit of a wally. Back to the thread. G4, did Jose inherit his team at Porto or was he the main architect of that UEFA Cup and CL winning side? I don't know, perhaps Sofa Manager could answer that for us?